Page 14 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

I couldn't have cared less about the be-there-or-commit-social-suicide event of the school year, or the outfits they were strategizing, but I nodded and smiled anyway.

Even as he branded the side of my face.

“This is a terrible idea,” I hissed for the umpteenth time as Katie and Shay swiped on sticky-looking lip gloss later that night. Our cabin mates slept soundly, oblivious to the ruckus of the three of us wriggling into too-tight skinny jeans.

“Loosen up, Grandma,” Katie shot back. She and Shay wore their matching blonde locks in double French braids, and despite all my better judgment, I was finishing the last twist of my own. Shaking my head, I glared at Shay, silently pleading with her to back out.

“These are literally the boys your mom warns you to avoid like the bubonic plague.” I fastened the hair tie and tucked my Buck knife into my back pocket. Technically, it was my brother James’s, but the idiot had left it behind when he was home for break, so it was mine now.

“If you’re gonna be a freaking drag, just stay here, Freya.” Katie glowered, tucking her lip gloss into her front pocket.

“Seriously,” Shay mumbled. Even as she crossed her arms, I caught the flicker of fear beneath her dark brown irises.

I sighed. “Jesus Christ. Fine. Let’s go.”

Katie chuckled in victory, and two heartbeats later, we were out the door and down the steps. Blinking into the darkness, I spotted the gaggle of girls waiting in a circle of pine trees. They were all freshmen—a year ahead of us—and a few had made it onto JV and varsity cheer at their schools, which explained Shay and Katie’s obsession.

Personally, I’d rather fling myself off a cliff in my birthday suit than trust another girl to hold me six feet in the air in front of the entire student body for sport. Back home—miles away from this Appalachian music camp—I’d grown up in gymnastics. That was how I met Shay, but unlike my friend, I had no interest in the spotlight.

“You came!” one of the girls squealed, throwing her arms around Katie’s neck. I sighed, earning a concerned glower from the freshman—Ashley, I was almost certain. Some generic ’90s name I was tired of trying to remember. Raising my brows pointedly, I all but dared her to challenge our presence.

She didn’t. Instead, she motioned for us to be quiet and follow. Silence fell as we trudged deeper into the woods. The camp’s perimeter faded behind us, swallowed by trees so thick they blotted out the moonlight.

I snatched Shay’s wrist, yanking her back just as probably-Ashley—who was supposed to be a camp counselor—raised her voice.

“We’re going snipe hunting tonight, ladies.”

A chorus of oooohs rippled through the group. She lowered her voice, flipping her flashlight upward to cast eerie shadows across her face, the kind of scary-story-around-the-fire effect that kids always ate up.

I huffed in exasperation as she continued.

“But be warned,” she said. “They say these woods are haunted. That deep within them lurks a pack of great beasts, stealing away campers every summer when the full moon glows—just like tonight. Some say it’s a pack of werewolves. Others claim Bigfoot roams these mountains. The truth…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “…is one you never want to know.”

As another high school girl moved through the group, handing out blindfolds with an absurd level of theatrical foreboding, Ashley droned on.

“But also within these woods is a little gold bird worth nearly a million dollars. Does anyone know why the snipe is so valuable?”

The campers shifted—some rapt, others skeptical, and then there was me, already annoyed.

Ashley took their silence as an invitation to continue.

“The snipe has the power to grant one wish to its bearer, making it the most valuable animal in the world. Tonight, we’re going snipe hunting. Now, snipes are drawn to glitter, which is why we’ll all put these—” she flashed her light onto a sheet of glittering star stickers “—on our cheeks. But beware—the beasts must look into your eyes to steal you under their spell. That’s why we’ve given each of you a blindfold.” She gestured ahead. “We’ve marked the path and will lead you through until we find our snipes.”

I tugged on Shay’s wrist, staring at her pointedly. “This is the part in the movie where the audience is insulting our intelligence.”

“Oh, come on, Freya, lighten up a little. It’s all good fun.” Shay shook her head, more frustrated with me than with the ridiculous game.

“They hang out with Crew and his thugs.”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding enthusiastically. “That’s the whole point.”

Shay turned away, tying her blindfold into place as she stepped into line.

My gut twisted—one of those moments where you just knew things would end badly. But I wasn’t about to let Shay wander into the woods with these idiots alone.

So, with a resigned sigh, I stepped into line.

Ashley stopped beside me, eyes flicking to the blindfold in my hands before a smirk curled across her lips.