Page 145 of Crucible

Before I can answer, I hear Seth call for me again. “Sunshine!”

Looking over my shoulder, the alarm bells in my head start clanging wildly in time with my racing heart when I see Seth burst through the trees at the edge of the meadow. I know the moment he spots us. His surprise to see I’m not alone stops him in his tracks, but I know it won’t last.

“Don’t talk, just run!” I order Pete.

We run for a few minutes before Pete says, “This way.”

Too spent to argue, I follow him while stealing glances behind us every few seconds. Seth isn’t following us anymore, but I know better than to believe that makes us safe. After running until we’re both gasping for breath, we finally reach Pete’s camp at the edge of the frozen lake. Little Bear looks so much closer from here, and I nearly fall to my knees when I recall Thorin’s words from the night I found them.

“You made a mistake coming this far south. You were closer to town where you crashed.”

On Little Bear.

I’d crashed on Little Bear, and it isright there.

Just across the frozen lake.

But in which direction is Hearth? Definitely not south, so I can rule it out with absolute certainty.

“Pete, you’re back! How was your shit?”

It’s then I finally notice the three guys lounging around, shooting the shit, and drinking next to a van, just as Pete said. They drunkenly greet the return of their friend and then cheer even louder when they notice me and get the wrong impression.

“Pete! Ronnie found the weed,” a pudgy guy with brown hair and smudged glasses says. “Does your friend smoke?”

Pete, apparently forgetting all about the fact that we were just chased through the woods, looks down at me and asks, “What do you say, Aurelia? Want to get high?”

“No. I want to go to town like you promised me. We need to gonow.”

“Chill. You’re among friends.” Pete ambles toward the campfire his friends are huddled around and pops a squat on a log. “Come sit, Aurelia. Guys, check it out. You know the celebrity that was in that plane crash a couple of weeks ago? It’s her! It’s Aurelia George.”

All four heads fly toward me, and they gawk.

“No way! Hey, my girlfriend and I love your music,” the short one with huge dimples and a mop of copper curls gushes. “We listen to it all the time. My name is Sam, by the way.”

“Oh, right,” Pete says, remembering his manners as if this is a social call, not a rescue mission. “These are my compadres. Ronnie, Sam, and Jonah.”

“Hi, Aurelia.” Pete’s stoner friends all say and wave at the same time.

I ignore them. “Pete, you promised me a ride to town. Remember? I’d like to go now.”

He shrugs and accepts the joint Ronnie hands him. “What’s your rush, Aurelia? Stay and party for a while.”

“What’s my rush? You did see the guy chasing us, didn’t you?”

“No.” He blinks slowly. “What guy?”

Oh God, what have I done?

They don’t stand a chance against my mountain men.

Huffing, I walk closer to the fire. “That doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that he’s dangerous, and he’s not alone. Wehaveto go.”

“Okay, okay, we will,” Pete promises as he hits the weed and pats the empty seat next to him. “Just let me smoke a few rounds first. I drive better high.”

I debate simply leaving to find my way back to Thorin, Seth, and Khalil and hope they’re in a forgiving mood. I look at the blue panel van and the first faces I’ve seen outside of my captors in two weeks, and I know that I can’t.

I’m so close.

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