Felicia leaned down to accept the rucksack, and the young woman stepped into the van. She looked like she was in her early twenties, but there was something worn and aged about her. Jamie and Louisa shifted farther into the van to make room for her on the seat. She slid the door shut and settled back.
"Thanks," she said. "It's getting nasty out there."
"Dontcha know it's, like, totally dangerous to hitchhike?" Bertram leaned forward. "Like, you could die or something."
"Watch out for him 'cause he might puke on you," said Jamie.
Gee, did he learn that dry, sarcastic tone from me?
"Will not! I'm 'kay now 'cause of that stuff Ms. Rowan gave me."
The young woman smiled, and her eyes lit up, making her look younger. The conversation continued in a light vein, and I didn't pay attention to it. It passed the time, and there was no need for me to contribute. We turned into the Lake Justice campground. We let the young woman out, with her thanks, and stretched our legs, while Kyle and Mark Andrews sorted out the campground. The snow had lightened back up to sleet, thank goodness. From where I leaned against the van, thus able to keep most of the kids in view, I could also peer into the office area. I didn't like the way the caretaker eyed us, especially the young women in the group.
I stood up straight and rounded the van to find Fay Williams, who, unfortunately, was in the middle of a parent-daughter melee.
"I'm just not Fawn, Little Miss Perfect Daughter." Felicia's eyes filled with tears. "I know you'd rather trade me in for someone like Tessa, but you're stuck with
me!
" She stomped past me.
Fay shook her head, making the curl in her blonde ponytail dance. "I just don't know what to do with her. I do love her for herself--most of the time, anyway."
I shrugged. "She's a teenager, and being a teenager sucks. I should've been drowned the year I was fourteen. I was a disgusting human being. Fortunately, I've outgrown it. Well," I amended with a laugh, "most of it."
She laughed, too. "Were you looking for me?"
"Yeah. I wanted to give you a heads-up. The caretaker gives me the skeeves. He keeps eyeing the girls. The men will think I'm overreacting, but you know what I mean."
"Yes, I do know what you mean," Fay said, "and thanks for picking up on it so quickly."
Kyle and Mark returned with directions to our area, and we piled back into the vans and drove farther into the woods. The leaves were already burnished reds and golds, there was a snap in the air, and even the sleet let up enough to let glimmers of sunlight through. We pulled into the parking area and, getting out of the vans, gasped as we caught sight of the lake.
* * * *
The boys shared one tent; the girls shared another. Mark and Kyle shared a tent, and Fay and I shared a tent. I understood Jamie's comment about Fay's organizational capabilities: she'd brought a round, domed tent with plenty of room for all of our belongings and probably a few extra people. She'd even been thoughtful enough to bring an extra cot, so she wouldn't be on a cot while I was on the ground. I appreciated it. I unrolled my sleeping bag on top of the borrowed cot, stuffed the pillow in, and dumped my duffel underneath.
"Mrs. Williams? Ms. Rowan?" Tessa Johnson stuck her head into the tent. She was a junior, a tall, svelte athlete. Felicia was right--she even looked more like Fay than Felicia did. "I'd really like to go for a run, but Amy doesn't want to, and Mr. Andrews and Mr. Everett said I can't go by myself."
Amy was Tessa's best friend, and as far as I could tell, Amy wasn't interested in anything that didn't have to do with a boy or a Hostess Twinkie.
"I'm not going to override the other chaperones," Fay responded. "It's too dangerous to go alone."
"I'll go," I offered. "But on one condition: you don't wear your iPod."
"Uh, yeah, okay." Tessa looked confused. "But why?"
"We're out here camping," I pointed out. "We're supposed to be aware of our surroundings. And, since they're unfamiliar surroundings, we need to be alert." I left out the whole "undead neighbors" thing until I gathered more information. Maybe that was something I could do while we were out running.
"Sounds logical," Tessa agreed.
I sat on the cot, slipped out of my boots and into a pair of running shoes I pulled from my duffle. I was careful to make sure my jeans covered my ankle sheath.
"You sure you want to do this?" Fay asked. "We can just say no and leave it at that."
"Unless I'm needed here to put up another tent or unpack the cooking utensils or something, I'm happy to go."
"Okay, then"--Fay smiled at me--"you two have fun."
I followed Tessa out of the tent and nearly walked into a sulky Jamie. "What's your problem?" I asked. "You look like you ate the sun and it gave you indigestion."
"I'm not five anymore."
"With that face, you look like you are."
"Mr. Everett put me with Phillip and George to dig the latrine."
"Someone's gotta do it."
"Yeah, but--"
"Yeah, but nothing. Now you know yet another reason why I prefer the inn." I walked past him. "It looks like there's a path leading right around the lake's edge. Do you want to try that?"
"Sure." Tessa nodded.
Man, I wish I'd been that self-possessed at sixteen.
"How far do you want to run?"
"How far do you usually run?" I wasn't about to be outrun by a high school junior.
Tessa tilted her head to one side. "I usually do a four-mile run every morning, and then a six- to ten-mile run two or three evenings a week."
"Four to five good?" I was relieved she hadn't suggested ten miles or more.
"Great." She flashed me a smile, looking, once again, very much like Fay Williams. Somehow, though, I doubted they shared a secret family heritage. Blood calls blood, even if you don't get along, and there was no blood call there.
We took off on the path at a nice, steady pace. Neither of us was trying to show off, which was a good sign. I focused my eyes on the ground ahead, with occasional sweeps to the trees, brush, and foliage around us. All I needed was to trip over a damned tree root and wind up medivaced somewhere. Now that we were here, I wanted to know the lake. I wanted to know who asked for my help. I wasn't surprised or unnerved by the fact that whoever was asking was probably dead; I spent a lot of time with the dead, and they know I listen. Now, should we cross paths with a bear, I'd be a little nervous, but ghosts? No. They've usually got a good reason for being there, and if you can get them to tell you about it, you can figure out a solution. Ghosts are usually lonely, so they like to chat.
Of course, it might be some other sort of entity--such as a nature deva or a dryad or someone like that. It didn't feel like vampire--they like to think of themselves as subtle, but once you know how to feel them, their psychic touch is like a lead vest. It felt like ghost energy.
We ran along at a comfortable pace for both of us. There was no need to talk. I started to relax. I started to wonder if perhaps I'd made too much of it. Maybe it was my anger at Jamie's dad manifesting in odd sensations.
And then I had another premonition. This wasn't the gentle whisper of a spirit needing help. This was heavier. Human.
I slowed down, letting Tessa pull ahead, as I tried to sense what was around us. Had that creepy caretaker followed us out here? If he thought he could make trouble, he had no idea what he was getting into.
"Ms. Rowan?" Tessa stopped a few dozen yards ahead of me. She was staring at something.
I moved toward her, the heavy feeling growing stronger. "What is it?"
"I think it's blood." She pointed to a smear on a tree trunk and on a few of the larger leaves around it.
I stepped forward, careful not to touch it. "Yeah. Looks like it."
"Do you think something's hurt?" She shivered. "I mean, what if someone's fallen and is unconscious?"
"Or a small animal attacked by a larger one."
"Whatever it is, we can't just leave it out here to suffer, can we?" Her dark blue eyes looked into mine.
"No, we can't," I agreed. "Let's see if we can follow the blood trail."
Tessa shivered again. "Blood trail. Ick."
"There's no delicate name for it."
"I know. But still..." She shook herself. "Okay. Let's find whatever's bleeding and see if it needs help."
"It?"
She gave a weak smile. "Well, like you said..."
I laughed. "You're right. Come on. Let's take a look around. Be careful, though. If it's an injured animal, it could lash out in fear or pain."
Tessa nodded. We made our way carefully all the way around the tree and found more blood in the foliage on the far side. We stayed fairly close together, finding spatters of blood and broken branches, and looking around until we saw the next spot on the trail.
We heard something coming toward us and froze. I wished I'd worn my wrist sheaths as well as my ankle sheath. But, a moment later, we relaxed as Kyle Everett came out of the trees toward us. "What are you doing here?" He frowned. "Why'd you leave the trail?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I retorted.
He flinched, surprised. He'd expected an explanation, not an attack. I guess being a teacher made him used to people answering him instead of questioning him. "I was checking on the boys digging the latrine. I heard something and thought it might be a wild animal."
"So you followed? Unarmed?" I raised an eyebrow.
"There are plenty of big sticks around."
"You're not carrying any."
Before Kyle could retort, Tessa intervened, looking from one to the other of us as though our mutually suspicious banter confused her. "We were running. Ms. Rowan agreed to go with me for safety."
"For safety?" A corner of Kyle's mouth twitched upward. "Aren't you the one who prefers the inn?"
"That doesn't mean I don't know how to take care of myself," I shot back.
"Um, Mr. Everett, we found blood. And we're trying to make sure nothing's suffering."
"Where?" Something changed in Kyle's face.
"It started at that tree near the trail about fifty yards back." I pointed. "And we've followed it so far to here." I gestured to the smear of blood on a nearby leaf.
"You two go back to camp."
"And leave you unarmed? What if it's a bear or a coyote or a mountain lion?" I shook my head. "We're sticking together."
"You're not armed, either."
I stared at him. "Wanna bet?"
He sighed, as though I exhausted him. "Fine. But be careful."
"Gee, I never would've considered that on my own."
We glared at each other for a minute, before moving forward. Tessa slid beside me and whispered, "Are you really armed?"
I nodded. "Never bluff about a weapon. You'll wind up dead."
We moved forward, slowly, cautiously, leaf to leaf. "It almost looks as though whoever or whatever did this left an intentional trail," I said, after a while.
Kyle nodded. "I was just thinking the same thing."
"Which means it's more likely to be a person than an animal, and that person is in pretty bad trouble."
"Then why does it just stop?" We looked around in a small clearing. We walked from tree to tree, circling completely around each and checking the foliage. I shaded my eyes and looked up, wondering if some sort of predator took whoever it was up into a tree. The trees waved gently in the late October breeze, but that was it.
"It doesn't make sense." Kyle frowned.
"No. It doesn't. It looks like the injured person just vanished."
"Or was carried. Or hidden." He began staring at the ground. "I don't see anything that looks like--" He paused and looked at Tessa.
"A grave?" I asked.
"What do we do now?" Tessa asked.
"We look around, radiate out a few feet in all directions, but stay within site of each other," said Kyle. "If we don't find anything, there's nothing we can do except go back to camp."
Which, fifteen minutes later, is exactly what we did.
* * * *
"Lake Justice has a fascinating history." Mark Andrews looked around at all of us, settled in a circle around the campfire. The weird little skillet stew was eaten, all the dishes washed, and we were making, of course, s'mores. "Does anyone know why it was named Lake Justice?"
"Probably 'cause some guy named Justice owned all the land around it." Amy shrugged. "So what? That's the way it always works."
"Not around here." Mark shook his head. "Lake Justice got its name because those who wrong others are drawn here, and the lake brings them to justice."
"The
lake?
" Jamie stopped just short of an eye roll, another bad habit I bet he'd picked up from me. "You mean, like if you do something wrong, it rises up and drowns you?"
"No, it's these seaweed creatures and they grab you and pull you under!" Tobias leapt toward Louisa, who squealed and scuttled back behind Felicia.
"There's no seaweed here," Bertram pointed out. "It's a
lake.
"
"The spirits of the dead are drawn to water. So the ghosts of the murdered are drawn to the lake. Every year, around this time, close to Halloween, the ghosts of the dead rise up and seek their killers. Seek justice." Mark gave Kyle a narrow-eyed look, which surprised me.
"So this place is haunted?" Phillip looked around. He looked sturdy enough to tackle anything corporeal, but not thrilled at the idea of wrestling ectoplasm.
"Why? Got something on your conscience?" George snickered.
"I am
so
outta here if this turns into Truth or Dare," Felicia declared.
"The legend is that the spirits only go after those who did something wrong." Again, Mark looked at Kyle. Even Fay picked up on it this time, and she frowned. "So we should be all right. Unless, of course, someone's hiding something."
"Jeez Louise, we're the brightest kids in the school." Tessa picked up a small pinecone and tossed it into the fire, where it popped, and the flames momentarily blazed up. "We haven't wronged anyone by being smart."
"You're saying you don't keep any secrets? From anyone?" Tobias challenged.