Page 118 of Beautiful Prey

He turned for the door. “I’ll make sure we tread carefully.” He turned the knob and pushed, letting the door swing open.

Cool night air touched at my face, and I breathed in the scent of fresh earth, pine, and water. Emery stepped out, then backed away, giving me space. I noticed he’d made sure the backyard lights didn’t go off, keeping everything dark in case boats passed by the river. Still, from the clear night sky and the quarter moon above, I could see the shapes of the boathouse and the dock close by. I went out and felt the cold ground underneath my feet. There was hardly a breeze and it wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be. Still, I shrugged my jacket closer. Besides the slight rustling of leaves and slosh of water against the dock, there was littlenoise. I could barely hear the generator in its small, enclosed box near the side of the garage humming away.

Emery opened it, switching it off. We had no need for it right now anyway. He closed the garage door and returned to my side, his steps quiet.

He watched me with sharp eyes, waiting to see what I might do.

At first, I stood there just taking it all in. I looked up and could see some of the stars. From the other side of the river, I saw dim orange lights from the houses. I turned my gaze to the woods on my left and right, only able to see the edges from the moonlight.

It was a perfect campfire night.I took a step, then another, and started for the woods on the right side of the house, crossing over the yard. A fresh memory came to me and I knew of a place I wanted to go.

I didn’t hear him follow but I knew Emery was walking behind me like a large, ominous shadow, watching my back. I could feel the tension growing in him as I made for the woods. I could imagine what he was thinking. Would I bolt as soon as I stepped foot beyond the tree line? Would he have to chase me down?

I tensed at the thought. But there had been no plan to run. Not as long as Emery allowed me to wander freely.

As my memory served me right, I found a narrow path. My family's territory went some ways in. Only a small creek marked the boundary between our property and the neighbors. I didn’t expect to get that far, but the place I wanted to go was only a little ways through the woods.

Emery didn’t ask where I was going. I knew he was curious to see what drove me into the woods. I wish I could have held his hand to reassure him, but the path was too narrow for us both towalk beside each other, a path that had become very overgrown since I last used it.

When I came to a small clearing, I stopped, knowing even in the dark, that I had found what I was looking for.

The sandy ground made way to a small circle of rocks that enclosed a shallow pit. Chairs were scattered around the pit, some broken or on their sides.

Several feet away there was an oak, its branches hanging low. Above, near its top, was a small wooden treehouse. My uncle had built it years ago for us as kids. Now some of the wood had fallen and bent. Close to the tree was an old swing set with one chain link broken, swinging softly. Beside it was a sandbox.

“My brother and I used to hang out here,” I said without thinking. “We would sneak out sometimes at night to have a fire.” I walked along the clearing. My foot hit against something and I saw my brother’s old toy water gun on the ground. I picked it up and turned it over.

It was just another lost memory but it was also another piece of this place I had to see.

Emery didn’t say a word and I didn’t expect him to. He kept his distance, letting me take in my childhood if only for a moment. I dropped the water gun and noticed crushed beer cans in the grass. I frowned as I kicked one aside. Maybe dad and my uncle came out here too and I’d forgotten.

Emery crouched by the pit and took out a pocketknife, one he must have found in the garage. He flipped it open and used the blade to dig through the pit. There was something buried there in the ashes.

I got closer, trying to get a better look. It looked like a blackened pile of sticks.

“What is…” I started to say. Emery flipped one piece out and I saw more clearly what it was.

Bone.

“Someone’s been here,” he said in a detached voice.

My pulse quickened. I opened my mouth to ask “who?” when he leapt up and lunged toward me, grabbing my hand, and pulling me quickly behind a set of trees, one thick enough to hide behind.

He pressed my back against the wood, shielding my body with his. He clamped my mouth shut by placing his hand over it.

He watched the clearing from one side of the tree.

And then I finally heard what he had. The snapping of twigs, the crunch of leaves, the sounds of laughter.

People were coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Light flickered across the tree line, dancing from side to side as the group broke into the clearing.

“Yo, found it,” called out a low male voice.

Someone hollered back in response. The sound of giggling broke into the clearing not long after.

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