Finally, I saw trees and my heart stopped pounding. I walked faster, needles crunching under my feet, the sound, the smell so familiar that my throat ached, and I had to reach out, fingers brushing the boughs as we passed. The fog disappeared, as if kept at bay by the trees. Safe. I was in the forest, Daniel was beside me and I was safe.
Uh, Maya? Corey said behind me. Maybe this isnt such a good idea.
I turned. The others were ten feet back, barely inside the tree line. Nicole and Hayley had moved closer to Corey. Sam hung back, looking into the woods as if I was asking her to jump off a cliff.
The fogs gone in here, I said. It was marine fog. It doesnt penetrate the forest.
Yeah, Corey said. Im thinking the fogs not such a problem. Its very dark. We dont know whats in there.
Yeah, we do, Sam said. Bears, cougars, wolves
None of which are nocturnal, I said. Actually, they were crepuscular, which meant they were most active at twilightboth dawn and dusk. In other words, right about now. But I wasnt telling these guys that. Theyll stay out of our way if we stay out of theirs.
But how can we stay out of their way if we cant see them? Hayley asked.
I turned and looked into the forest. I could see fine, but I was part cat. To them it would be dark. Very dark.
Ill lead, I said. Kenjii and I spend so much time in the woods that our eyes adjust quickly.
I dont know, Hayley said. Its really dark. And really spooky.
I turned again and saw a scene worthy of a tourist brochurea rocky, natural path dotted with unfurled ferns and soaring, vine-ribboned redwoods. Somewhere to our left, a nighthawk trilled. Even the leftover fog was like fine lace drifting past on a cedar-perfumed breeze.
Im not seeing spooky, I said. Dark, yes, but whats spooky about it?
Whats not spooky? Sam muttered.
Hayley pointed. You cant tell me that isnt creepy.
I followed her finger to see branches draped in elegant, pale-green Spanish moss.
That? Seriously? Its moss, Hayley, not an alien life-form. We just escaped a helicopter crash and a death brush with something in the water. That was scary. This is the forest. This is where were going to find shelter and water.
Shelter? I dont want a damned cave, Maya. I want a house, and were not going to find that in the middle of
Daniel stepped between us. All right. This isnt helping. We have to get through these woods in order to find help. That could mean holing up for thenight, but well be okay. Maya knows her way around the woods and so do I. You need to trust us to look after you.
He spoke to them, but it was for my benefit, too. A reminder that they didnt have our experience and they were not going to see the forest the way I did.
I led everyone for a while without any sign of light or noise from a road, then I veered south. Instinct, I guess. On Vancouver Island, like anywhere in Canada, the population tends to shift south. Most times thats for warmer weather. The island, though, is temperate rain forest, meaning we rarely see the white stuff. We gravitate south because its simply more hospitable land. While my sense of where wed crashed was vague, I knew it was north. Probably a long way north. The pilots goal, I suspected, had been someplace more remote.
It wasnt a stretch to think that the people responsible for thisand for setting the fire that got us out of townwere the scientists my birth mother had escaped sixteen years ago. Yes, Sam seemed to think they might be after her, but I was sure I was the target. That meant I had to rescue myself. Get to a phone, call my parentsmy adoptive parentsand tell them everything. Yet my escape couldnt jeopardize my friends. If it came down to it, Id need to get away, separate them from the danger I posed.
For now, they needed me to navigate the forests and find help. Heading south was easy so farI could hear the crash of waves and smell the ocean to my left, meaning we were going the right way. We hadnt walked very far, though, before Corey stopped as we were circling around an outcropping of rock.
Is anyone seeing lights anywhere? Corey said. Because all I see is bushes. We need to get higher.
He started scrambling up the rock pile. The stones were dark. Covered in lichen. Slippery lichen.
Stop! I said.
His foot slid and the leg hed hurt in the crash buckled. We jumped to grab him, but his knee cracked against rock as he fell. He let out a yowl and a string of curses. His jeans had split and underneath, his knee was bleeding. When I tried to touch it, he grabbed my hand.
I need to check it out, I said.
The skin had been scraped from his kneecap. It felt whole underneath, but he gritted his teeth at my touch, meaning it was probably badly wrenched.
Were going to need to wrap it, I said. Or you wont be able to walk.
The only thing we could spare for wrapping was socks. Daniel gave his and I tied them together. When the socks were wrapped around Coreys leg, he could stand, with effort and Daniels arm for support.
Figures, Corey muttered. Survive a forest fire, helicopter crash, and killer eels, only to slip on a rock.
Uh, Maya? Corey said behind me. Maybe this isnt such a good idea.
I turned. The others were ten feet back, barely inside the tree line. Nicole and Hayley had moved closer to Corey. Sam hung back, looking into the woods as if I was asking her to jump off a cliff.
The fogs gone in here, I said. It was marine fog. It doesnt penetrate the forest.
Yeah, Corey said. Im thinking the fogs not such a problem. Its very dark. We dont know whats in there.
Yeah, we do, Sam said. Bears, cougars, wolves
None of which are nocturnal, I said. Actually, they were crepuscular, which meant they were most active at twilightboth dawn and dusk. In other words, right about now. But I wasnt telling these guys that. Theyll stay out of our way if we stay out of theirs.
But how can we stay out of their way if we cant see them? Hayley asked.
I turned and looked into the forest. I could see fine, but I was part cat. To them it would be dark. Very dark.
Ill lead, I said. Kenjii and I spend so much time in the woods that our eyes adjust quickly.
I dont know, Hayley said. Its really dark. And really spooky.
I turned again and saw a scene worthy of a tourist brochurea rocky, natural path dotted with unfurled ferns and soaring, vine-ribboned redwoods. Somewhere to our left, a nighthawk trilled. Even the leftover fog was like fine lace drifting past on a cedar-perfumed breeze.
Im not seeing spooky, I said. Dark, yes, but whats spooky about it?
Whats not spooky? Sam muttered.
Hayley pointed. You cant tell me that isnt creepy.
I followed her finger to see branches draped in elegant, pale-green Spanish moss.
That? Seriously? Its moss, Hayley, not an alien life-form. We just escaped a helicopter crash and a death brush with something in the water. That was scary. This is the forest. This is where were going to find shelter and water.
Shelter? I dont want a damned cave, Maya. I want a house, and were not going to find that in the middle of
Daniel stepped between us. All right. This isnt helping. We have to get through these woods in order to find help. That could mean holing up for thenight, but well be okay. Maya knows her way around the woods and so do I. You need to trust us to look after you.
He spoke to them, but it was for my benefit, too. A reminder that they didnt have our experience and they were not going to see the forest the way I did.
I led everyone for a while without any sign of light or noise from a road, then I veered south. Instinct, I guess. On Vancouver Island, like anywhere in Canada, the population tends to shift south. Most times thats for warmer weather. The island, though, is temperate rain forest, meaning we rarely see the white stuff. We gravitate south because its simply more hospitable land. While my sense of where wed crashed was vague, I knew it was north. Probably a long way north. The pilots goal, I suspected, had been someplace more remote.
It wasnt a stretch to think that the people responsible for thisand for setting the fire that got us out of townwere the scientists my birth mother had escaped sixteen years ago. Yes, Sam seemed to think they might be after her, but I was sure I was the target. That meant I had to rescue myself. Get to a phone, call my parentsmy adoptive parentsand tell them everything. Yet my escape couldnt jeopardize my friends. If it came down to it, Id need to get away, separate them from the danger I posed.
For now, they needed me to navigate the forests and find help. Heading south was easy so farI could hear the crash of waves and smell the ocean to my left, meaning we were going the right way. We hadnt walked very far, though, before Corey stopped as we were circling around an outcropping of rock.
Is anyone seeing lights anywhere? Corey said. Because all I see is bushes. We need to get higher.
He started scrambling up the rock pile. The stones were dark. Covered in lichen. Slippery lichen.
Stop! I said.
His foot slid and the leg hed hurt in the crash buckled. We jumped to grab him, but his knee cracked against rock as he fell. He let out a yowl and a string of curses. His jeans had split and underneath, his knee was bleeding. When I tried to touch it, he grabbed my hand.
I need to check it out, I said.
The skin had been scraped from his kneecap. It felt whole underneath, but he gritted his teeth at my touch, meaning it was probably badly wrenched.
Were going to need to wrap it, I said. Or you wont be able to walk.
The only thing we could spare for wrapping was socks. Daniel gave his and I tied them together. When the socks were wrapped around Coreys leg, he could stand, with effort and Daniels arm for support.
Figures, Corey muttered. Survive a forest fire, helicopter crash, and killer eels, only to slip on a rock.
