Page 116 of Hide And Seek

“She knows,” Sutton said, sharper this time. “What we did to Carly.”

The words seemed to suck the air right out of the space between the cabins.

For a moment, nobody moved or spoke. Jensen kept staring at me, eyes narrowed, something calculating settling in behind them. Then he swore under his breath, dragging a hand over his face. “Fuck.”

My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might split my ribcage apart.

“I-I really don’t know what you guys are talking about,” I said. “Can we please just go back to the hall?”

“Don’t waste time,” Sutton snapped, stepping forward. “Look at her. She knows.”

Chris’s jaw tightened. “What do we do?” he asked.

Sutton didn’t hesitate. “Get her.”

My stomach dropped, and I took a faltering step backward.

“Get her!”

23

I didn’t waitto see who made a move for me first. I just turned and ran.

“Help!” The word tore out of my throat, raw and jagged. “Help me! Someone!”

Gravel slid under my shoes as I bolted between the cabins, the ax dragging heavy in my hand. My lungs seized almost instantly, breath coming too fast and shallow, but I forced it out anyway and screamed again, even louder this time. “Help!Help!”

If the others heard me back at the hall, if anyone just stepped outside a little…

“Don’t let her get back!” Jensen’s voice snapped through the darkness behind me. “Cut her off!”

Footsteps split. Multiple sets.

Fuck.They weren’t just chasing me. They were spreading out.

I veered left, aiming for the open stretch that led back toward the main clearing, but before I could reach it, a shape moved out from between two cabins. Chris.

“Stop!” he shouted, already lunging forward.

I swerved hard and doubled back, nearly slipping as my foot hit loose gravel.

Another set of footsteps pounded somewhere off to my right, and Sutton’s voice called out, closer now. “Go around, Grace! Don’t let her circle back!”

My stomach dropped. They were trying to box me in.

I ran faster, vision starting to blur at the edges as I darted past another row of cabins, searching for a gap, a way out; anything that led back to the hall.

Another shadow moved ahead. Jensen. He stepped out just enough to block the path, not even trying to grab me yet. Just standing there.

“Nowhere to hide, sweetheart,” he said, voice dripping with menace. “Might as well stop running.”

I didn’t stop. Didn’t even slow down. I jerked sideways at the last second, cutting off the path entirely and sprinting toward the only available space left.

The woods.

Branches clawed at my arms the second I hit the tree line, and the ground dipped beneath my feet without warning, roots catching at my shoes. I nearly went down twice in the first few seconds alone, catching myself on tree trunks that scraped my palms raw.

I swung hard to the right, ducking between two trees, and almost ran straight into a jagged rock jutting out of the ground. I dropped behind it without thinking.