Page 49 of Through The Woods

Chapter Fifteen

“Where are we?” I slid off the bike. Charm had taken so many turns that I’d become disoriented and doubted that I could’ve found my way back to the lodge even if he paid me.

We were surrounded by trees in every direction and had gone off the main road a few miles back, ending up in the middle of the wilderness.

He put the kickstand down and grinned. “You’ll see. C’mon.” He walked off the narrow road and disappeared into the trees.

I set my helmet on the bike and reluctantly followed him in. There was a small path that wasn’t visible from the road and we walked along in silence until we reached a clearing with a lake surrounded by stone. It was nature’s version of an in-ground pool. The sunlight made the surface shimmer and Charm turned around to study my reaction.

“Oh my god, it’s beautiful. I’ve never seen a lake like this before.”

His lip turned up in a small smile, but he remained silent.

I didn’t do well with silence, so I talked to fill the space. “I was thinking, maybe I could start doing the shopping—that is, if it’s okay with you. I’d kind of like to get myself some clothes too—not that I don’t appreciate what I’ve got. No, I just thought—”

“You ramble when you’re nervous, you know that?” His face was unreadable as he continued, without waiting for a response. “Who was in the fire, Neve?”

I looked away and whispered, “Pass,” but he hooked a finger under my chin and brought my face up to meet his. I didn’t want to talk about it, but seeing as to how I already knew most of his secrets, it was only fair to give him one of mine.

I swallowed, feeling as if I was choking as I replied, “My parents.”

His eyes searched my face and, for a split second, I could’ve sworn I saw sadness in them. “It wasn’t just a dream, was it?”

I blinked at the sudden tears that formed and shook my head. “No…it wasn’t.”

Charm nodded, as if he’d known the answer all along. “You blame yourself—why?”

“Because I got out and they didn’t!” I blurted and then immediately covered my mouth. I hadn’t ever spoken the words aloud. I’d spent the last year with a dull ache in my chest and guilt that never lessened.

The fire had been my fault.

“Miss, can you hear me?” The man asked, as he knelt beside me.

Light flickered at the corner of my eye and I turned to see my childhood home engulfed in flames. They’d gotten out—surely they’d made it out. Paramedics yelled over me and I wanted to tell them to go back inside and make sure my parents were safe.

It was nothing more than a little smoke inhalation.

An oxygen mask was strapped to my face as I struggled to sit up. The yellow man pushed me back down and this time, I didn’t fight him. I only caught a quick glance, but it was enough to keep me from moving. The skin on my thighs was blackened and curled up, revealing the muscle underneath.

I felt nothing.

“You ever been cliff jumping?”

I shook my head and frowned at him as I came back to the present.

What the hell was he talking about?

One minute, he was asking me about my dead parents. The next, cliff jumping. I was going to get whiplash just from his conversation skills.

He pointed toward a grouping of rocks on the other side of the lake. “Roaring Springs River feeds into this—it’s actually a rock bowl, not a lake. And back over there, is a small trail leading up to the cliff.”

I continued to stare blankly at him until he grew frustrated and began shouting while pointing. “Cliff jumping, Neve. You and me, we could climb up and jump off—it’s about a twenty foot drop and the water is frigid, but it could be fun.”

I held up my hand. “You want me to jump off a perfectly good cliff and into freezing water?”

He nodded earnestly. “Yeah.”

I frowned again. “But I don’t have a swimsuit.”

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