Page 2 of Soul of Shadow
Though they were only a year apart, Charlie wasn’t close with Mason. Not anymore. Once upon a time, they’d been thick as thieves. Mason was annoyingly mischievous, always pulling pranks on his sisters: leaving buckets of water atop their bedroom door, putting lizards in their desk drawers, replacing their shampoo with purple hair dye. Charlie spent most of her childhood yelling at her older brother, but she secretly reveled in his attention. Sophie and she both did.
Charlie cut off that train of thought before it could go any further.
She went back to studying Mason and his ex-girlfriendthrough the flames. What was her name? Katie? Michelle? She had a vague memory of walking in on them making out on the couch over a year ago. Was it Susanne? Or—
That was when she heard the first yell.
It was quiet, distant. Someone way back in the woods.
“—and the admissions committee considerseverythingon your application,” Abigail was saying loudly to Lou, long braids swishing animatedly down her back. “In fact, seventy-five percent of schools—”
“Shhh.” Charlie put a hand on Abigail’s shoulder. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Abigail asked.
“I hear it.” Lou pulled a twig from the sand and tossed it toward the bonfire, missing by a few feet. “It’s the sweet, sweet sound of Abigail finally ceasing to nag me. Well done, Charles.”
Lou knew that Charlie’s real name was Charlotte. But that didn’t seem to matter—just as it didn’t matter that her own real name was Louise. Charlie couldn’t think of a single person who referred to Lou with her given name, except maybe the occasional substitute teacher.
“That’s not what I meant,” Charlie said. “Listen—do you hear that yelling?”
All three girls fell silent. They quirked their ears up toward the sky.
It didn’t take long. The yells grew in volume and quantity, multiplying into what sounded like a pack of teenagers running through the forest, calling loudly into the night.
“What the—” Lou stood from the log, turning to face the trees.
Moments later, a group of boys burst out into the clearing. One was waving a pair of white shoes over his head.
“We found them!” the boy with the shoes yelled. “We found Robbie’s sneakers hanging from a tree!”
The partygoers erupted. Whispering or loudly arguing about what the discovery of Robbie’s shoes meant to the investigation. Many thought he was dead. Others thought he’d been kidnapped. No matter the theory, everyone was excited by the prospect of new evidence.
On the other side of the fire, Mason leapt to his feet. He looked thrilled as he took off toward the freshmen.
“Wait.” Lou turned to Abigail and Charlie. “They found hisshoes? And nothing else?”
“Did you get a closer look at the tree?” Mason yelled from across the fire. “Search it for other clues?”
Charlie kept herself from rolling her eyes. Always eager for trouble, her older brother.
“No,” said the freshman. “We just grabbed the shoes and dipped.”
“It’s about a hundred feet in,” said one of the other freshmen. “The old ash beside that one big cluster of rocks.”
“Great.” Mason snatched the shoes out of the lead freshman’s hands.
“Hey!” the freshman said, trying to grab for them.
Mason held them just out of the freshman’s reach, waving them in the air. “Looks like it’s time for a little field trip, kids.”
A cheer rose from the crowd. Then the students of Silver Shores High took off, Mason in the lead, and stormed over the beach, toward the tree line. They surged into the forest as one.
“Excellent.” Lou rubbed her hands together. “Some excitement at last.”
Charlie stood, her chest fluttering unexpectedly at the prospect of following them into the woods. What was that feeling? Fear? She wasn’t sure. It was an unfamiliar sensation, like something long dormant was awakening within her. As a reflex, she reached around herself and touched her back pocket, checking to make sure her lucky deck of cards was still in place.
“No way.” Abigail crossed her arms over her chest, staying firmly seated on the driftwood. “Nuh-uh. This is a disaster waiting to happen. I refuse to be arrested at sixteen.”
