Page 33 of The Hideaway

Scott rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows; Mira wondered if a headache was starting to form for him too, the likely consequence of the mix of exhaustion, dehydration and the cloying humidity.

‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘We’ll be OK without food and water if we get going now – we should be back at the house in a couple of hours.’

‘Exactly,’ said Carly. Then quietly, ‘To be honest, I don’t know how you can eat at the moment. I’ve got no appetite.’

‘Agreed. Let’s get going, then. The sooner we start walking, the sooner we’ll get out of here,’ said Ben. ‘Carly, if you don’t think we can use the sun to find our way, shall we take a look at the map? And how about the satellite phone – can we try and give it one more go again before we set off? It might have gotten itself just a spark of extra charge by now, right?’

‘I doubt it’ll work, but knock yourself out,’ said Carly, digging the phone from her bag. She handed it to Ben.

‘And here’s the map,’ said Scott, walking over to Ben so they could study it together. ‘Look, I reckon we’re about here now – see, this area, about halfway between the waterfall and the house – a bit closer to the stream? Mira, Carly, Naya – does this look right to you?’

They all peered at the map, then looked up at the sun. ‘I can’t be totally sure, but I think so,’ said Carly.

‘I’ll mark the trees again as we go, to make sure we’re not going around in circles,’ said Scott.

‘This thing is still dead,’ said Ben crossly, waving the satellite phone at them and then shoving it in his backpack. ‘Let’s get going, then. Everyone ready?’

Mira nodded, then turned wearily to do up her bag, pausing for a moment at ground level to survey the area around her in case she’d dropped anything. Eyes roaming the earth, she caught a flash of colour that stood out from the browns and greensof the forest floor. Something shiny, metallic. She lost it, then searched the ground again, and there it was.

A small silver package.

She frowned, crouched to pick up a stick and nudged it out of the earth; stared at it. Even half-buried under the leaves, with soil and dirt now encrusted across its face, there was no doubting what she’d found: a cereal bar. A kind of snack bar that definitely wasn’t in the collection they’d pooled together yesterday.

Someone had been keeping extra food to themselves, then. Not the worst thing in the world – understandable, maybe, under the circumstances. But still, a bit selfish, and sneaky with it.

Should I say anything?Mira was genuinely stumped. She didn’t want to make too much of a fuss over it – in the grand scheme of things, it was only a snack, and if she drew attention to it, it might cause an argument. What they needed now was to all stick together – it was their best hope of getting back to safety, as fast as they could.

‘Are you all right, Mira?’ Naya’s soft voice caught her off guard. Mira knees creaked; she felt suddenly even weaker, too weak to walk. She blew the air out from her cheeks then, slow and steady, made her way up to standing. Before she could think about it too hard, she started to stuff the bar in the pocket of her trousers – but, too late, she caught Naya’s eyes tracking the movement.

‘What’s that?’ she said, pointing at her pocket. ‘Did you forget something?’

Mira felt heat flood to her cheeks.No, no. Was she going to think it was hers, now? That she’d dropped it there, andnow she was trying to hide it? She decided to come clean; it was her only option now anyway.

‘Ah – it’s, well, I’m not sure. I just found it. On the ground, there.’ She pulled the bar back out of her pocket, held it in Naya’s direction. Naya stared at it for a moment.

‘What’s that?’ said Ben.

‘It’s a snack bar,’ said Naya. She reached out, took it from Mira’s hand, then turned to show it to the others. ‘A Costa Rican one. I don’t remember anyone having one like this – I thought we’d run out of stuff, to be honest.’

‘Me too. So what were you doing with it?’ said Carly, turning on Mira, eyes flashing.

They think it was me hiding food, eating it in secret.

‘Oh, no – it’s not mine,’ said Mira. ‘I just found it – right here.’ She pointed to the patch of earth where she’d picked it up, lamely waited for someone to speak. Then she looked around at the others’ faces: all the same picture of mild confusion, with flickers of irritation.

Except for Scott’s. Scott’s expression was different.

He wore a look of guilt; of panic.

As Mira watched, Scott began to shake his head. He moved it slowly at first, then more and more quickly, frantically.

‘Scott?’ said Naya. ‘Are you OK? Is there something you want to say?’

His face flushed purple. ‘It’s not what you think... I just... I was trying to...’ he said.

And then, as Mira watched, rooted to the spot, Scott started to move backwards, bumping into branches and vines, brushing against the enormous leaves, eyes darting wildly from side to side.

‘I... I...’ Scott stuttered. ‘I can’t do this. I’m so sorry—’

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