"Don't walk so close," Julie warned Benny.
"Maybe I'll just go back to camp."
"Good idea. Why don't you?"
Turning away, he looked down the dark trail. They were near the end of the lake. There was no sign of the campsite.
Someone tugged the sleeve of his parka. "Come on," said a girl's voice. "It's all right." He looked around, and saw one of the twins behind him.
"I'm sorry I stepped on you," he mumbled.
She smiled up at him. "That's okay. Don't go back, okay?"
"I guess not," he said. "Thank you."
They started walking again. Benny grimaced as he noticed that Heather was limping. He was careful to stay well behind her until the narrow path curved upward and vanished in the rocks at the lake's end. There, he stepped up beside her. She looked at him and smiled. Side by side, they walked over the low slabs of granite near the shore.
With no trees to cast heavy shadows, the night seemed very bright. The lake still looked almost black, but the bare rock was pale, as if painted with milk. Benny was amazed that he could see so well. He saw Julie's hair blowing in the wind, the pattern of Nick's plaid jacket, even the three stripes on the side of Rose's left sneaker. No colors, though. He couldn't make out any colors. Even Heather's jeans, which he knew were bright red, appeared to be a dark shade of gray. He wondered about that. You can see colors with a flashlight, but not by moonlight. It seemed strange.
Nick stopped and took hold of Julie's arm. "Look," he said, pointing high.
"What?" Julie asked.
"Way up there. Near the top."
Benny scanned the pale slope. He saw patches of darkness, a few scrawny trees scattered about like solitary, watching men.
"Oh, yeah," Julie said.
"I don't see anything," Heather muttered.
"I do," Rose said. "Are they dogs?"
"Coyotes," Nick explained.
Then Benny spotted a pair of lean, gray shapes strutting stiff-legged across a ledge high on the slope. They had long snouts, and tails as bushy as a squirrel's.
"I still don't…" Heather began.
Benny crouched to her level and pointed.
"Oh, gosh," she said.
"Don't worry," Benny told her. "They don't hurt anyone."
"Is that so?" Julie asked. "A coyote killed a four-year-old girl, last year, in her own backyard."
"Where?" Nick asked.
"Back home, in L.A. One of those canyon areas. It just came down from the hills behind their yard and mauled her to death."
"Let's get out of here," Heather whispered.
"It's all right," Nick said. "They're way up there. Besides, they wouldn't try anything with five of us."
"Unless they're hungry," Julie added.
Nick laughed nervously, and started walking again. Soon, Benny saw the glow of the campfire on the other side of the lake. When they were directly across from it, he could see the tents and the adults sitting around the fire.
"Hel-lo!" Julie called.
Nobody answered. The wind must be too loud, Benny thought.
They kept moving. Benny stayed close to Heather. She continued to limp slightly. Sometimes, when they had to climb over clusters of rock, Benny went first and gave her a hand. He liked helping her. She wasn't a snot like her sister. And she still seemed nervous about the coyotes. Every few steps, she looked back. "I don't like it here," she said after a while.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," he told her.
She glanced behind her. "What's that?"
Benny spun around, his heart thudding. "That? Just a bush."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure," he said, but he kept staring at the dark, hunched shape. It was barely visible in the shadows of an outcropping no more than two yards away. It was a bush, wasn't it? An icy feeling of dread crept up Benny's back. "Come on," he said. He took Heather's hand and pulled her away. She sidestepped behind him, still looking back. They hurried to catch up with the others.
Benny was glad to see that they had almost reached the end of the lake. Just below an outcropping ahead, the forest would start again. They would merely have to pick up the trail there, follow it around a bend in the shoreline, and hike straight back to the camp.
Nick, in the lead, disappeared over the top of the outcropping. Julie followed. Rose waited for Benny and Heather, then started down.
Benny looked back. Nothing was approaching from the rear. He let Heather go ahead of him. As she climbed down, Nick, at the bottom, suddenly lurched backward and swung an arm against Julie. With a yelp, Rose whirled around and began to scurry up the rocks. "It's them!" she cried out. "Doreen and Audrey!"
Heather twisted around. Benny saw terror on her moon-washed face. She lunged up and he grabbed her outstretched arm and yanked her to the top.
Julie pressed a hand to her thumping heart. "Christ, you scared the crap out of us."
"We were. uh. getting a trifle nervous ourselves," said the buxom girl in the sweatshirt.
"We heard you coming," said the one in the cowboy hat. She had a husky, confident voice. Her face glowed as she sucked on a cigarette. "You from the campfire?"
"Yeah," Nick said. Turning away, he called to the twins and Benny. "It's all right! Come on down."
"We didn't know anyone was around," Julie said. "Are you camped here?"
"Just off in the trees," said the one in the hat.
"Don't you have a fire?" Nick asked.
"I wanted one," said the other.
"A fire just makes you colder. And it kills your night vision. And it lets everyone for ten miles know you're there. Not real healthy when you're three girls camping alone."
"Three of you?" Nick asked.
"Barb's back at camp."
"You're not Doreen and Audrey, I take it," Julie said.
"Who?"
"I didn't think so." At the sound of footsteps behind her, Julie turned around. Benny and the twins were coming slowly forward. "They're not Doreen and Audrey," she said.
The girl in the cowboy hat tapped ash off her cigarette. "This Doreen and Audrey, you looking for them or something?"
Julie explained, telling briefly of Karen's story and how they'd used it as an excuse, tonight, to explore the lake's shoreline.
"Something like a snipe hunt," said the girl in the hat.
"More like a ghost hunt," said the other.
"If we'd known, we could've screamed it up for you."
"I almost did anyway. Still jumpy from that nut case."
"What's that?" Nick asked.
The girl folded her arms across her sweatshirt and looked at her friend. "We'd better warn 'em."
"Which way are you guys heading?"
"Over to the Triangle Lakes area," Nick said.
"Then you'll be heading over Carver Pass, tomorrow. You know the area?"
"Just from maps."
"Well, there's a couple of lakes just the other side of the pass. The Mesquites. We stopped at one of them for lunch today, and ran into some crazy old bag."
"A real weirdo." "We went in swimming, and she popped up out of nowhere and started raving about water snakes."
"Scared the hell out of us."
"Speak for yourself. Anyway, I didn't see any snakes. I think she was just some kind of lunatic trying to get rid of us. I wouldn't worry much about her, if I were you guys. She might even be gone, by now."
"Might not," her friend countered.
"If you stop there, just don't be too surprised if you run into her, that's all."
"Sounds like a good place to avoid," Julie said. The ranger, she remembered, had already advised them to pass up the Mesquites. Did he know about the crazy woman? That didn't seem likely.
"I mean, we don't want to scare you," said the girl in the sweatshirt. "She didn't do anything. Just yelled at us. But she was definitely creepy. She had this look in her eyes. And she wasn't even dressed like a camper. I mean — do you believe it? — she was actually wearing a dress!"