Secret at Mystic Lake (7 page)

We all got up slowly and followed Henry over to where he and Caitlin had slept under the tarp, and where they'd placed their packs. Looking a little uneasy, Henry walked over to Caitlin's backpack and gingerly unzipped it. As we watched, he began searching the main compartment, then the front pocket, the side pocket, a rear pocket. . . .

“You have no idea where she might have kept it?” George asked.

Henry looked up, wearing a frustrated expression. “I told you, Caitlin knew all the logistical stuff for these tours,” he said.

“And what
do
you know?” Bess asked pointedly. “What are you usually in charge of?”

Henry looked uneasy again. He didn't answer, just looked back into the pack and rooted around some more. “It's not here. Maybe she put it in the cooler bag with the food.”

We all waited while Henry trooped us back to the
fire pit, where the cooler had been kept. He walked over to where it had been set the night before . . . and frowned. Then he looked around the fire pit, then back at the same spot, then at us.

“You don't know where the food is?” Zoe asked incredulously.

Henry shook his head. “It's not that,” he said. “It's that I think the food's been . . . taken.”

“STOLEN?” I ASKED. WAS HE
serious? first the tents, then Caitlin, then the food?

Henry nodded. “I know we left it here last night. And now . . .” He gestured at the empty spot.

Dagger moved forward, looking down where Henry had been searching and then scanning the whole fire pit, as Henry had. “Is there any chance Caitlin moved the food because of the rain?” He had a point. Knowing how sensible Caitlin was, she'd probably stashed it under a rock or something to keep it from getting soaked.

Henry shook his head. “I seriously doubt it. We were scrambling around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get that tarp up. I don't know when she would have had a chance to move the food.”

“So just to clarify,” I said, “we're without food and without the emergency phone. Right?”

Henry looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “We can keep looking for a bit,” he said, “but it seems that way, yeah.”

Bess sighed. “So now we really have to ask ourselves: What do we do now?”

Henry looked pained. “I . . . what do you guys think?”

“We should contact the police,” I said, “one way or another. Caitlin's been missing for about an hour now, by your timeline, Henry. And now it looks like someone's stolen our food, and our emergency phone is gone,” I added. “It seems like . . . someone is out to sabotage this trip.”

At my words, I could see everyone shudder a little bit. I'm sure the thought had occurred to all of us, but saying it out loud made it seem truer somehow.

Henry sighed. “I just hate to leave Caitlin,” he said. “On the off chance she did get mad about something and wander off and get hurt, or something like that.”

“I thought you said you didn't fight,” George pointed out.

“We didn't,” Henry said, “but you know how girls are.”

When his comment was greeted with stony silence, Henry looked up and seemed to recognize that he was talking to four girls, and only one guy.

“I mean . . . ,” he said. “Uh . . .”

“If we left, where would we go?” Zoe asked in a crisp voice. “Do you even know how to get to the police?”

Henry nodded. “I mean, I'm not totally useless,” he said, with a crooked smile nobody smiled back at. He dug into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a crumpled paper. “I have a map of our ride, and the area,” he said, unfolding it. “According to this, there's a ranger station about”—he squinted at the map and frowned—“two hours' ride from here? Give or take a few minutes.”

He passed the map to Dagger, who was standing closest, and Dagger spread it out on the ground so we could all look. The map looked incredibly confusing to me, but Henry pointed out the ranger station, and it didn't look impossibly far.

“I think we should go,” Zoe said, crossing her arms again and hugging herself. “If nothing else, we'll be safe with the police.”

She didn't say more, but she didn't have to. Her meaning was clear.
We're not safe out here.

Henry looked sincerely pained. “I agree. I just . . .”

Dagger looked at him, raising his eyebrows. “If we leave, we could be leaving Caitlin?” he asked.

Henry nodded, looking grateful. “Exactly.”

Dagger nodded sagely. Then he looked around at the rest of us and raised his hand. “I propose that we stay here at the campsite for one hour more. We can gather our things, try to find something to eat. If, in one hour's time, Caitlin hasn't returned, we'll leave for the ranger station. Okay?”

We all looked around at one another, nodding.

“Okay,” I said, and was soon echoed by Henry, George, Bess, and Zoe.

Once we'd decided, Henry went back to the woods to pack up his and Caitlin's gear, and Zoe and Bess took off to start breaking down the tent. Zoe quickly rebuffed my and George's offers to help.

“No offense,” she said, “but it's a small tent, and I think this is a ‘too many cooks' kind of thing.”

After Bess and Zoe departed, Dagger went back over to collect his meditation supplies and move them down to the little plateau he'd slept on by the lake. “This seems like a perfect time to clear my mind and connect with the universe,” he explained to us. “Care to join me?”

George and I looked at each other blankly, then shook our heads.

“You have fun,” said George. Satisfied, Dagger disappeared down the rocky slope.

“I think it would take bleach and about three days of scrubbing to clear my mind this morning,” George muttered when he was out of earshot.

I shivered. “Do you think we're in danger?” I asked.

“I don't know.”

I paused, then put voice to the question that had been bumping around in my mind all day—the one I wanted most to ignore. “Do you think someone on the tour is behind all this?”

George was silent for a moment. I could feel her shiver too. “I don't know,” she said, more softly.

For a few minutes we were quiet, just watching the lake, which was still sparkling gorgeously in the sun, like it didn't realize that a girl was missing and our tents and food were gone and we were hours away from getting any help.

I heard George sigh, and put a hand on her arm. “I'm sorry your birthday trip has gone so wrong,” I said.

She shook her head. “Thanks. But I'm not worried about that. I just want Caitlin to be safe,” she said.

I nodded. At that moment Bess's giggle rang out from the meadow, where she and Zoe were struggling to fold the tent small enough to fit back into Zoe's pack. George looked over in her cousin's direction, and all at
once I remembered their argument the night before.

“Maybe you should talk to Bess,” I suggested. “Try to work it out?”

George shook her head. “Why bother?” she muttered. “I'm still kind of mad at her for complaining so much. Besides,” she added, nodding in Henry's direction, “we have bigger problems to worry about.”

AN HOUR LATER, MY STOMACH
was rumbling. Dagger had helped us collect a “breakfast” of edible greens and berries from the forest, and we'd split a couple of protein bars from Zoe's “snack stash,” plus the bars George's parents had packed for us, but I was still ravenous from our long ride the day before.

There was no sign of Caitlin.

“We should go,” Dagger said finally, gently, once we'd finished eating.

Henry nodded, balling a protein bar wrapper up in his hand. “Okay.”

We all dragged our gear over to where the bikes waited, near the side of the road.

We picked up our bikes and climbed on—all except, I quickly realized, Zoe. She held her bike upright but was staring back at the campsite. When I shifted to get a look at her face, I realized she looked stricken.

“Zoe?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head, not taking her eyes off the woods. “Are you . . . are you sure it's a good idea to leave?” she asked. “Maybe we should just wait a little longer.”

Surprised, I looked at Bess.

“We talked about this, Zo,” she said gently. “It's best for us to get help. Come on, she'll be okay.”

Zoe shook her head again, looking down at her feet. When she looked back up, I realized there was a tear trickling down her cheek. She was crying.

“I just can't stand the thought that she might be hurt or . . . or . . .” She swiped at her eyes, shooting me a challenging look. “We don't know what happened to her. She might need us.”

I leaned over to touch her arm. “Zoe,” I said softly. “She needs help right now. Help from the authorities. Come on, we all agreed on that.”

Zoe seemed to pull herself together, then finally nodded.

“Sorry I'm being such a drama queen. You're right. It's just . . .”

“I know,” I said quietly, wondering why Zoe was suddenly so teary. “It doesn't feel right, but it is.”

Henry, who looked utterly bewildered by this whole display, nodded. Everyone lined up in formation, ready to take off. But I lingered back beside Zoe.

“Zoe,” I whispered, “is there a reason you're so worried? You don't . . . know anything we don't, do you?”

Zoe didn't meet my eye. She was climbing on her bike, and she looked down at the ground as she settled on the seat and put one foot on the pedal.

“No,” she said finally, shaking her head.

I nodded and adjusted my bike helmet. But I couldn't resist one glance back at her before we took off.

She was glaring right at Dagger, her expression unreadable.

It was a quiet ride through the woods. Henry had told us that we'd be riding along this road for ten miles, at which point we'd cross a river and turn off onto a smaller path. Nobody seemed able to think of much to say. Even the normally chatty Bess and Zoe were quiet, each staring ahead, thinking their separate thoughts.

As we were riding, something occurred to me, and I noticed that Dagger had fallen to the back of the pack, a few bike lengths behind the others. I slowed my pedaling to fall beside him.

“Hi,” I said, giving him a friendly smile.

“Hello,” he said with a nod. “How are you holding up?”

“I'm okay,” I said with a shrug. “Can I ask you a question, though? Something's bothering me.”

Dagger nodded. “Perhaps it's the same thing that's bothering me,” he suggested.

“Perhaps,” I agreed. “Well . . . you said you heard
Henry and Caitlin having a pretty bad argument before she disappeared. But Henry says they didn't fight at all.”

Dagger nodded grimly. “Yes. I find that troubling,” he said.