The Memory Jar (7 page)

She looked down the new trail, noticing that it wound gently down the hill. It looked easier to go down. Easier than jumping down the rock slide to get to the lake.

“Lord, I think finding this trail was from you. Please watch my steps.
Guide
my steps.” She moved forward, thankful the ground was softer on this trail.

She continued on, step by step, hurrying as fast as she could while hoping the others weren’t as worried about her as she was about them. She walked farther and the trail narrowed. The trees pressed in. Instead of looking to the left and right as she had coming up the mountain, Sarah focused her eyes forward. If something was out there, she didn’t want to know.

Then, just when she thought she should be upon the lake, the foot trail disappeared before her. The trees had grown thicker, darkening the sky around her. Snow clung to their bases. Sarah turned in a slow circle, eyeing the ground. If the trail was here, it was hidden under a layer of snow.

Suddenly, she wasn’t sure why she’d headed off the main trail or even what direction she’d headed. Even the trail she’d just walked down seemed no more than a steep, narrow path when she looked back up at it.

She could have been walking in the opposite direction of Lake Geneva for all she knew. She cocked her head and lifted her ear, listening for the roar of water from the waterfalls and creek. Only silence met her ears.

To make things worse, Sarah’s ankle was past the point of only throbbing.

She looked around and noticed a fallen log. Part of it looked dry. She sat on it, and as she did, the pain radiating up her leg caused her heart to pound harder. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she considered rolling down her stockings and checking her ankle for swelling and bruising, but fear changed her mind. She didn’t want to see. Didn’t want to know how bad off she really was.

Stupid, stupid
, she’d told herself. She pressed her hands over her white apron, smoothing it. She pressed and smoothed it over and over again, while her heart pounded in her chest.

She’d lived here long enough to have heard many stories
of people who set off by themselves in the woods only to get lost. It wasn’t like she was a tourist. It’s not like she didn’t know better.

The cold wind picked up again, and Sarah pulled her arms closer to her chest.

She also thought about her friends, but instead of worrying, anger heated her cheeks. Why had they taken so long? Didn’t they know she couldn’t wait all day?

A sick feeling settled in her heart — the same feeling as when Patty had paddled out onto the lake.

“Ach, ne.”
Maybe the feeling came not because something was going to happen to her friends, but because something was going to happen to her. Who was she fooling? She was lost and injured and afraid. Something had already happened.

Don’t be afraid
. It wasn’t an inner voice that spoke to her, but rather the memory of what she’d told Eve.

Sarah lowered her face into her hands and shook her head. Then she lifted it up quickly, eyeing the trail — the path she’d just struggled down.

Maybe this was a path worn down not by humans but by the animals that called this mountain home. She studied the trees as if expecting a bear to lumber through the forest at any moment.

Don’t panic, Sarah. Think, think
.

What had Jonathan told her about his hunting trips? Ah, she remembered. An expert hunter was like a detective, searching for clues. She hadn’t spotted any animal footprints on the trail, even though the ground was soft. That had to be a good sign. She looked around, searching for any sign of freshly broken limbs or old, dead leaves that had been disrupted on the forest floor. She didn’t see any signs that an animal had used this path in a while. Sarah breathed out a sign of relief and then bit her lip.
That didn’t mean one wouldn’t come this direction though.

She considered heading back up the trail, the way she’d come, but the pain in her ankle made that impossible. Besides, what had
Dat
told her to do if she ever got lost? Don’t move. The people who tried to find their way out were often the ones who were never found alive.

Something didn’t seem right to Jathan. They walked the dirt path down the mountain, but the path seemed slightly different than before. Wider maybe. He also noticed dried horse manure on the trail. Had he seen that on the way up? Maybe it
had
been there, but he’d been focused on other things, or rather people — Sarah.

“So Jathan, what type of game are you hoping to hunt for this season?” Hope stretched her legs as she walked beside him, trying to keep up with his long-legged gait.

“Deer, elk, not sure.”

Their pace was quicker than when they’d headed up. The slope helped with that. His eagerness to see Sarah and make sure she was safe had something to do with it too.

“Oh,
ja
.” Hope gave a simple reply, most likely guessing he didn’t want to talk.

They continued on for what seemed like thirty minutes, forty. The sky to the south darkened and at each turn Jathan was sure they would come across Sarah.

Where was she? He picked up his pace to a jog now, worry flooding over him.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Amos called behind him.

Just ahead, something on the trail caught Jathan’s attention and he paused. It was a log. He rushed up to it and looked
down. It wasn’t a new log, but one that had been there a while. One he surely would have seen on his way up. Fear stabbed his heart like a hot knife, and suddenly he knew why he hadn’t seen it. Why they hadn’t come upon Sarah yet.

His hands balled into fists at his sides and he kicked the log. Bits of wood splintered off and scattered on the trail. Jathan removed his wide-brimmed hat from his head and tossed it to the ground. How could he be so stupid?

“Hey, Jathan …” Amos bent over and picked up the hat, handing it to him. “What’s wrong?”

“We took the wrong trail. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

Eve and Hope rushed closer. Their cheeks were red from exertion. They stood silently, unsure of what was happening.

Jathan pointed to the log. “That wasn’t here. And where is all the snow we trudged over? I’ve been noticing horse manure on the way down that wasn’t there on the way up. This isn’t the right trail. We went the wrong way.”

Amos’s eyes widened and a gasp escaped his lips. “Sarah.”

“Ja!”
Jathan ran his hand through his hair. “And it’s my fault.”

Amos sank into a squatting position and shook his head. “Come to think of it, we faced the cabin when we climbed the hill and we walked parallel to it when we left.”

“Oh
ne
.” Hope’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh
ne
, oh
ne
.” She looked to Jathan. “It’s not yer fault, it’s mine.”

Her sister grasped her arm. “What? What is it?”

“
Dat
told me something important this morning when we were leaving. You were still putting on yer hiking boots, but when I walked outside, he paused from chopping wood and told me to watch ourselves. He also told me to watch the trails, because there are two that go to the summit of Robinson Mountain. One for people, one for horses. He said horses can
get jumpy, so it’s best not to take the horse trail up … or down.” She looked to Amos and then Jathan. “I’m so sorry. I was upset with my sister fer going so slow and was not paying
gut
attention. I forgot he mentioned it until now.”

“That means Sarah’s on the other trail,” Amos spouted.

“It also means we have to find a way to get back to her, and fast.”

“Look!” Eve pointed through the trees. Jathan followed her finger and noticed a glimmer of light blue. It was the lake. It was farther down than he thought it would be. He doubted they were even halfway down this trail. Who knew how it wound around to the lake? It could take another hour — time they didn’t have.

“I’m heading back up.” Jathan rolled up his sleeves, adrenaline pumping through him.

“Why up? Don’t you think it would be better to go down? Maybe Sarah has already started that way.” Amos looked to the sky. “Surely if she saw the storm coming she would have started down.”

A stirring in his chest told Jathan otherwise. “Maybe not. Maybe she’s still waiting. Maybe she headed up the hill looking fer us.” He blew out a breath. “I’d rather run up this path and find the right trail than go all the way to the bottom and have to climb back up the other side. And also, what if we get to the lake and she’s not there? We won’t know if she continued on to where our driver is going to pick us up or if she’s still on the hill. If I go to the top and head down, I’ll be able to check the path she was on all the way from the top.”

“
Ja
, that makes sense.” Amos crossed his arms over his chest. “Should I go with you?”

Panic widened Eve’s eyes, and Hope clung to her sister.

“Ne.”
Jathan shook his head. “Make sure these two get
down safely. If Sarah’s not at the lake, keep going. Go all the way to the van.”

“And then what?” Eve asked. “Should we ask the driver to wait, or should we go back to town and get help?”

Jathan rubbed his eyes, unsure of the answer.

“I doubt you’ll get there before three o’clock, and the driver will already have been waiting for a while.”

“Wait a while more, I suppose. Maybe thirty minutes. And if we don’t come by five o’clock … or it gets too dark because of the storm … then go for help. Sarah’s injured, and I don’t want her trying to walk down a dark trail. If worse comes to worst, we’ll have to stay the night in these woods … but I want to make sure Sarah won’t have to do so alone.”