Page 52 of Hide And Seek

A brief silence followed that.

Jensen finally shrugged. “They probably just went somewhere more private. No one wants to fuck in front of their cabinmate.”

“Maybe,” Maren said, but she didn’t sound convinced. Her gaze flicked past us, toward the stretch of trees beyond the path. “I don’t know. With everything that’s been happening… people disappearing isn’t exactly a great sign.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jasmine said. “They’re probably fine, but we shouldn’t just assume that. We should make sure they’re okay.”

Rhys nodded. “Let’s get everyone back together. We’ll split into pairs and look for them.”

“Half the group’s already gone to bed,” Jensen pointed out.

“Then we’ll wake them up,” Rhys replied without hesitation.

We started walking again, faster this time.

“Spread out,” Rhys said. “Knock on doors.”

“And call out while you’re moving,” Jasmine added. “If Sloane and Reid are close enough, they might hear us and show up before we even need to search.”

“Yeah. Whistle, shout, whatever. It’ll carry. And…” Rhys hesitated. “Make sure everyone has their weapons on them. Just in case. You never know what could happen.”

I followed Jasmine and Maren to the closest girls’ cabin while Logan and Rhys peeled off toward the boys’ section of the camp.

Jasmine rapped on the first door. “Guys?” she shouted. “Sloane and Reid are missing. We need everyone outside. Now!”

Sutton and Noura appeared a moment later, wrapping cardigans around themselves as they slipped on their shoes. Behind us, more doors were opening, voices and footsteps overlapping as the word spread.

Out on the gravel, someone let out a sharp whistle that cut clean through the night. Another voice picked up, calling out Sloane and Reid’s names.

The sound carried, but no answer came back.

Ten minutes later, the whole group was assembled in the main clearing, minus Sloane and Reid. Once again, there was a clear divide, with Legacies standing on one side and Dirtbags on the other.

As I peered around, I noticed that the divide between the two ‘factions’ was even more obvious than usual, because withPiper, Brad, and Olivia gone, Delia dead, and Sloane and Reid missing, the number of Legacies had dwindled from sixteen to nine. Meanwhile, all of the Dirtbags were present and accounted for.

Jesse stepped forward and started working through our side, pointing as he went to arrange us into pairs. "I’ll go with Simon. Then we’ve got Cole and Levi. Devon and Caitlin. Siobhan and Danny. Grayson and Garrett. Stevie and Marlowe. April and Tamsin. Wren and Jasmine.” His finger finally drifted over to me and stalled. “Huh. We have an odd number. I guess you can just go with Jasmine and Wren as a trio?”

Before I could reply, Rhys's voice came from the Legacy side of the group. “We’ve got an odd number too,” he said. “Alissa and I can go together.”

“Works for me,” I replied, because what else was I going to say?

Jesse moved closer to me, voice dropping low. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured. “I honestly thought we had an even number. Are you sure you’re okay going with him?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said.

He looked like he didn't quite believe me, but he let it go.

He moved over to Rhys, and after a hushed conversation, they looked up and began calling out the search assignments. Two to the arts and crafts building. Two to the equipment storage sheds. Two to each cluster of cabins.

Then Rhys looked back at me. “We’re doing the administration building,” he said. “Director’s accommodation and all the offices.”

I swallowed hard. “Okay.”

With that, people began to peel off in their pairs, footsteps scattering across gravel and grass in different directions. I glanced sideways at Rhys, heart pounding. He was lookingat the administration building across the grounds, expression unreadable.

He turned his head and caught me looking.

“Well,” he said, cocking a brow. “Let’s go.”