Page 2 of The Hunt

The rest of the boys snorted with laughter, and Merritt giggled. Samantha pouted, but she didn’t say anything.

Up until this exact moment, I’d never liked Rhett very much. The other kids had mostly been nice to me this week, apart from the occasional ignorant comments from Samantha, but Rhett wasn’t nice to anyone. He always seemed angry, even when he was quiet. Boys like that scared me, so I usually tried to avoid attracting his attention.

I was glad that he’d stuck up for me against Samantha’s comment, but I was also surprised it had happened. It wasn’t like him to defend someone. Then again, he might’ve only done it so he could have an excuse to be mean to Samantha.

He seemed to enjoy that—being mean. Even though he’d never actually said or done anything cruel to me, I’d seen him do it to the other kids a lot this week, so I always felt on edge around him, like I was just waiting for it to happen.

He turned his gaze to me and cocked his head. “Why are you here again? I forgot.”

For a stomach-twisting second, I thought he was asking me the question in a hostile way, like ‘Why are you even here? You aren’t one of us.’But then he added another question, and I realized he was genuinely curious.

“Wasn’t it something about your mom being sick?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes. She can’t take care of me right now, but my dad had to come here for work,” I said. “So Jake’s dad said it was okay for him to bring me here while they do… whatever they’re doing.”

“What’s wrong with your mom?”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t like to talk about this much. “Um… I was going to have a baby brother, but then she got sick.”

Rhett’s dark brows rose. “Oh, she’s pregnant?”

“No. She was. But something happened and she’s been sick ever since then,” I mumbled.

None of the other kids responded to that. They just stared at me with looks ranging from confusion to pity.

Finally, Merritt broke the awkward silence. “Okay, guys, no more whining about being bored. We have to cheer up Everly about her mom by doing something really cool. Right?”

The others nodded enthusiastically.

“More ghost stories?” Jake suggested.

Merritt rolled her eyes. “Oh my god,no.No more stupid ghosts!”

“I know what we can do.” Rhett abruptly stood, casting a commanding look over the rest of us. “We’ll sneak out.”

“Where? Down to the beach?” Ari asked.

“No.” Rhett sighed impatiently. “I meanoutout.Like past the fence.”

“Our parents said we aren’t allowed to go past the fence when we’re at Wildercliff.Ever.It’s too dangerous,” Benji said, eyes wide.

“But there’s so much to explore out there. You can see it all when you fly in,” Merritt chimed in, folding her arms. “There’s a forest and mountains. More beaches, too.”

Samantha frowned. “How would we even get out? The gate’s locked, and the fences are too high for us to climb. Also, they’re all spiky at the top.”

“I might have an idea,” Jake said. He paused, waiting for every pair of eyes to shoot to him. “There’s old tunnels here. My dad told me about them last summer.”

“What?” Samantha’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Why didn’t you tell us there were tunnels?” Rhett asked, eyes flickering with annoyance. “We could’ve spent the whole week exploring out there.”

“Well… Dad told me they’re dangerous. I’m not supposed to go in them.”

“Why did he tell you about them, then?” Merritt asked, tilting her head to one side. “It kind of seems like he secretlywantsyou to explore them, right?”

“No.” Jake shook his head. “He only told me because he was worried I’d find one of the entrances by myself when I was playing outside. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d probably go in.”

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