The Rising
Page 32

Sam shrugged again. “They haven’t hurt us. They’ve helped Annie. They’ve fixed up my leg. It’s not so bad, really.”
“Not so bad?” I said. “We—”
Rafe caught my hand and squeezed. “We’re having a difference of opinion that I’m sure we’ll get into later. For now, let’s just take a breather and get caught up.”
Hayley nodded. “What’s happening with Corey and Daniel? They’re okay, right? Still running? Still safe?”
The room seemed to freeze. My breath jammed in my throat and I could hear my blood pounding.
Rafe led me back to the sofa. “They’re okay, but that’s something Maya needs to talk about. If everyone can just—”
“Maya?” Sam said. “I know you can be insufferably bossy, and I never thought I’d say this, but can you please take back the reins of leadership here? Your loser boyfriend—”
“Sam!” Hayley hissed.
Rafe only rolled his eyes. “As you can tell, Sam and I have not miraculously become BFFs in the last couple of days. I’m sure Maya will have lots of ideas and plans, Samantha. But she just got here and—”
“Hey,” said a quiet voice from the doorway.
I turned. There stood Nicole. For a moment I thought I was seeing things. Hoped I was seeing things.
“Hey, Nic,” Rafe said. “Look who’s here.”
He pulled me up and smiled at us, and I had to stare at him for a moment before remembering. He didn’t know. No one knew except . . .
I glanced at Sam.
She flushed and mouthed, “Sorry,” then whispered under her breath, “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Do about what?” Hayley asked.
Nicole stood there, looking confused. Looking like the same Nicole I’d known for ten years. Sweet and shy and uncertain. The girl Serena took under her wing, trying to boost her confidence. The girl I’d pushed Daniel toward after Serena’s death, thinking she was just the thing to help him get over her. The girl I’d struggled to befriend, even if we didn’t have much in common, feeling guilty that we couldn’t get closer when she seemed to need a friend so much after Serena died.
Now I looked at Nicole and I saw that girl, and I started wondering if I’d misjudged. If Sam and I had drawn the wrong conclusion. There was no way this girl could have done what we thought.
Except I’d seen another girl in Nicole a few days ago. The one who’d lashed out at the campsite when I’d refused to rescue her. The one who’d tried to get me captured, too. Who’d shouted at Moreno to shoot me. To kill me.
What mattered more to me was who we thought Nicole had killed. Serena.
“Get out of here,” I said, barely able to open my jaw enough to get the words out.
Rafe looked surprised at first but seeing my face, that melted away and his own face hardened. He turned to Nicole.
“What’d you do?” he said.
“Wh-what did I do?” she squeaked. Her blue eyes rounded and she flinched, like a whipped puppy seeing a raised hand. “I-I don’t understand.”
“What’s going on here?” Hayley said.
“She . . .” I clenched my fists tighter and my face started to throb, as if I was about to shift. I took a deep breath and tried to find calm so I could explain.
“I-I don’t understand,” Nicole said again, tears welling up.
“Oh, stuff the theatrics,” Sam said. She turned to the others. “Nicole killed Serena.”
TWENTY-ONE
SILENCE.
Hayley stared at Sam. Then at me. Nicole’s mouth opened and closed as she made a strangled noise deep in her throat.
“Did you say . . . ?” Hayley began.
“Nicole drowned Serena. She dragged Maya under, too, probably as a warning. Then she tried to kill her after the crash.”
“No,” Hayley said. “Nicole was pulled under herself after the crash. I was there.”
Sam shook her head. “She faked it. She dragged Maya down and wrapped her foot in some weeds. She hoped in the commotion, no one would realize Maya was missing until it was too late. But Maya got free.”
“Th-that’s crazy,” Nicole said. “Y-you’ve always hated me, Sam. You hated coming to live with us and you were jealous of me and—”
“Um, no, you’re the one who was jealous. Spiking my orange juice with vodka so I’d go to school drunk. Planting drugs in my bedroom. Drugs you got from volunteering at the clinic. Like the drugs you got to dope Maya at her party.”
“That was Hayley. Everyone knows it was. She worked at the clinic, too, and she hates Maya.”
“I did not roofie Maya,” Hayley said. “I didn’t have access to the drug closet.” She turned to us. “Dr. Blair caught me sneaking Ritalin this summer. She took away my key. I couldn’t tell you guys that without admitting I got caught stealing drugs. I asked Nicole to vouch for me, but—”
Nicole crumpled—just let her legs give way and fell to the floor, hunched and sobbing. Hayley looked at me. Even Rafe did. Uncertain looks from both of them. I had to admit, Nicole was a good actor. If I hadn’t seen her switch from “sweet Nicole” to “raving lunatic Nicole” in a heartbeat at the campsite, I might have believed her myself. Even now I felt that niggle of doubt.
Had I been wrong about people before? Oh, yeah. Repeatedly in the last couple of weeks. Starting with Rafe, which is why he stood here now, looking hesitant, studying my expression. He’d been the target of my snap judgments. So had Hayley.
“Maya?” Rafe said. “Is that what you think? She killed Serena?”
Before I could answer, Nicole leaped to her feet with astonishing speed for someone who’d been in a puddle of misery a moment ago.
“Maya hasn’t said that,” Nicole insisted. “Sam’s the one doing all the talking. Maya’s smart. She thinks things through and she knows there’s no way I could have drowned Serena. How could I do that and escape without being spotted?”
“By swimming under the water,” Sam said.
“Seriously? How long would I have had to stay under water? Ten minutes? That’s impossible.”
I glanced at Hayley, who’d gone quiet. “It’s not, is it? At least, not for the members of Salmon Creek’s championship swim team. Serena could hold her breath for at least five minutes. I’m guessing you could do the same, Hayley?”