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Elin

Parque Nacional, Portugal, October 2021

Elin places the piece of paper on the table, smoothing out the creases with her fingertips. ‘Some kind of leaflet,’ she murmurs. The paper is shaped like a bookmark, the name of the tourist office in the middle. It’s similar to the leaflets they’d seen there, but something about it feels off. Amateur in comparison.

‘Logo looks grainy.’ Sitting beside her, Isaac runs his finger over it. ‘And the print quality’s not great.’

The paper too. Matte, not the gloss finish you’d expect on a leaflet.

Intrigued, she flips it over. Her breath catches in her throat.

‘My thought exactly,’ Isaac says, watching.

This isn’t what she was expecting. Having seen the name of the tourist office, she’d assumed the back of the leaflet would detail some kind of attraction at the park, but no.

A pira.

A chill moves down her spine. No doubting what it is, but it’s nothing like the iterations they’d seen before – either the physical creation hewn from wood or the one daubed on the van wall in the forest.

This has a looser colour palette and style. Sweeping, fluid brushstrokes.

‘Do you notice something about how it’s been painted?’ There’s an edge to his voice.

Elin studies it again, this time picking up on the inference of his words.

She’d been so focused on the idea of the pira itself, what it told them, that she hadn’t even considered who might have created it. ‘It looks like Kier’s work.’

Isaac nods, pointing to the words written below. ‘And see what you make of this.’

Para mais informa??es, consulte Posto de Turismo,

Pe?a para falar coma Maggie.

For more information, go to the tourist office . Ask for Maggie .

Elin reads and rereads, the blood pounding in her ears.

If any doubts remained over whether the camp and the pira are linked, they’re gone. Whatever these piras represent, it’s clear that they’re significant to the camp, and to Kier too.

‘No way we can approach Maggie directly about this, but we can go to the tourist office. See what they know.’

Isaac looks doubtful. ‘Not sure we’ll get much joy. He wasn’t exactly keen on talking the last time.’

‘No, but I think it’s going to be pretty hard to deny all knowledge’ – Elin puts a hand on the leaflet – ‘when the name of the tourist office is slapped across the front of this.’