Page 54 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

One by one, the others stirred. Johann first, then Adelheid. They sat side by side, grim and golden-haired. After the most perfunctory of greetings, the three of them sat in silence, which suited Lorelei fine. She didn’t feel compelled to start a conversation with either of them as they brooded by the fire’s glow. Within a few moments, a cup of coffee and a bowl of porridge materialized in Adelheid’shands—courtesyof Johann. He fed her before he thought to fix himself a thing.

Heike emerged some twenty minutes later. She let out an exaggerated yawn, but before she could issue a single word of complaint, Adelheid shoved a cup of coffee into her hands. Only a few moments later, Sylvia crawled from her tent. It never failed to amaze Lorelei how wild her hairwas—andhow incapable she was of managing it. She’d wrangled it into a loose approximation of a chignon at the nape of her neck. It looked more like a knot, with a few stray curls making their bold escape. Lorelei reminded herself to stop staring.

Sylvia paused at the sight of the four of them. “Where is Ludwig?”

Heike took a sip of her coffee. “Still sleeping, I assume. We’re out of tea, by the by. Sorry.”

She did not sound very sorry at all. Sylvia sighed. “Oh dear. Well, I suppose it’s for the best. What we got in town was hardly worth brewing at all.”

Adelheid rose from her seat. “I’ll check on Ludwig. We’ve wasted enough time already.”

“Good thinking, Addie,” Heike said with a lazy wave of her hand. “We cannot be late for our daily exercise in futility.”

Adelheid pointedly ignored her.

“It’s unwise to make light of evil,” Johann said. “There must be some escape from this foul magic.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure we will find one today.” Heike rolled her eyes. “You are such a bore sometimes.”

Adelheid rustled Ludwig’s tent to announce herself. When no answer came, she made quick work of the buttons on the canvas. After a moment, she turned around with a puzzled expression. “He’s gone.”

Indeed, his tent was completelyempty—asthough both Ludwig and all his belongings had been spirited away in the night.

Consider it my parting gift, Ludwig had said, all but winking at her.

The memory slammed into her with force. At the time, she’d taken it as a self-deprecating joke, but now she wasn’t so sure. Goddamn him. She should have demanded more information fromhim—orat least asked how long he expected to be gone. All that she knew was that she’d been the last one to speak to him, and that he’d told no one else of his plans. The knot of apprehension within her grew heavy. If they knew he’d gone looking for a way up the mountain, would they accuse her of sabotage?

She did not intend to find out.

“Last night, he told me he was going to look for a night-blooming plant,” Lorelei said. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon enough.”

But by the time they struck camp and passed out their meager ration of dried meat for the afternoon, Ludwig still had not returned. Adelheid and Johann bickered over the remains of their campfire. Heike had taken to doodling in one of her notebooks, her head resting in Adelheid’s lap.

Sylvia, however, was pacing restlessly. It was making Lorelei’s blood pressure rise. Just as she opened her mouth to tell her to sit down, Sylvia stopped dead. The color of her eyes matched the eerie violet of the skies overhead. “Do you think he got lost?”

Heike did not look up from her sketchbook. When she spoke, her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Oh yes. I definitely think he’s lost.”

“What are you suggesting?” Adelheid asked wearily.

“Me, suggesting something? Never.” Heike set aside her pen and sat upright. “Lori, what was it you said he planned to do?”

“He wanted to find a night-blooming plant.” Spitefully, Lorelei added, “Although I believe the word he used wasnocturnal.”

“How fascinating,” Heike said. “Which one?”

Her green, catlike eyes gleamed in the twilight. In them, Lorelei saw pure, calculating malice. The other day, Heike had tried to win her over with her sob story. Had she killed anyone but Ziegler, it mighthave worked. Heike clearly knew it; the only recourse she had left was to turn the others against her.

“I don’t know.” Lorelei struggled to keep the hostility out of her voice. “He was rather evasive about it, actually.”

“Mm.” Heike cut her gaze to Johann and Adelheid meaningfully. “And now he’s disappeared. What do you make of that?”

“How mysterious,” Johann said drolly.

Disappearedseemed rather dramatic, but Lorelei did not like the idea of him alone in these woods. Surely, he wouldn’t have tried to summit the mountain alone. He should have returned by now.

“You are only trying to create drama,” Sylvia said exasperatedly. “He brought all his things with him, except for his tent. He obviously intended to be back in time to sleep. He’slost—orinjured. We need to look for him.”

“We need to be strategic about this.” Adelheid smoothed her hands over her skirts. “If he returns and finds us gone, he’ll go looking for us. We’ll never find one another again. It would be wise to divide ourselves into two groups: one to stay here and one to search.”