She took a twisting route to avoid trees and clumps of rock. Then she saw the clearing just ahead. She spotted the fireplace, the stumps and rocks surrounding it like stools, the pile of wood. She was swept by a feeling of pleasure and relief, as if returning home after a long trip.
She staggered forward. She lowered herself onto the flat surface of a stump, stretched out her pulsing legs, and sighed.
"What the shit!" Nick blurted. "Where'd our packs go?"
Karen shined her flashlight into the darkness. The packs were gone.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Benny felt useless. He sat on a rock shivering, his arm throbbing with pain, while Nick and Julie searched for the backpacks. Karen sat on a stump close to him. She held an open pocketknife. "You can help them look if you want," he said.
"That's okay."
"You don't have to stay and guard me."
She smiled slightly. "Sure I do."
"Boy, I really messed things up."
"No you didn't. It could've happened to any of us." She wrapped her arms around herself.
"Are you cold?" Benny asked.
"I'm one giant goosebump."
"Do you want my parka?"
"No, thanks. It wouldn't fit anyway."
"You could put it over your back."
"No. You keep it. Really. You need it more than me. Didn't you know that women have an extra layer of fat?"
"Not you."
She laughed. "It's gonna be a rough night if they don't find the packs. We'll freeze our buns."
"And starve. Like the Donner party."
"Hardly like the Donner party. We can hike out of here in a day if we have to. We've done it before."
"We can't leave without. We've gotta kill the witch first."
"At least we know she's here," Karen said. "She has to be the one who took our packs. That's something anyway." "I knew she would be. She brought us here."
"What?"
"She brought us here. With her magic."
"That's a pleasant thought. What makes you think so?"
"We're here, aren't we?"
"We chose to come."
"Why didn't we have a wreck on the way up? We didn't even have a close call."
"Nick was driving. As your dad said, he's the Great Uncursed One."
"Nothing's happened to any of us since Thursday. Nothing happened till we got here. She wanted us here."
"So she could get Nick?"
"And us. When we're out of the way, she'll go ahead and finish off Dad and Heather and Rose and Mrs. Gordon. She can finish them with the curse."
"We won't let her. Unless we freeze to death."
"Maybe we should make a fire."
"With what?"
"I've got matches," Benny told her.
"You do?"
"Sure." With his left hand, he fumbled open the button of a shirt-pocket flap.
"Oh, you're a life saver. I wish you'd mentioned that five minutes ago."
"It'll mess up our night vision," he said, taking out a book of matches.
"Who cares?" She stood and held out a shaky hand. Benny gave her the matches. She rushed toward the trees. Crouching, she gathered pine needles. As she returned, Benny swiveled around to face the fireplace. He remembered building it, collecting the rocks by himself and stacking them to form a low, circular wall, the afternoon they arrived at the lake and everyone was mad at him because it was his fault they had to stay here.
Karen, on her knees, tore off the matchbook cover. She tucked it into a small pile of pine needles, and carefully stacked kindling on top.
"It's all my fault," he said.
She looked over her shoulder at him. "What is?"
"Everything. If I hadn't tripped on Heather and hurt her foot, we would've gone to Wilson Lake and none of this stuff would've happened."
"Bullshit."
"It's true."
"You sound just like your dad, you know that? Blaming yourselves. It must run in the family."
"But it's true."
"Save the blame for that bitch and her son. We're just victims, Benny. We happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A million things could've changed that. And we would've been just fine, camping here, if that sick maniac hadn't decided to rape me."
"He… he raped you?"
Karen hesitated. Then she said, "Yes."
Benny felt as if he'd been punched hard in the stomach. He hunched over. The movement sent pain pounding through his arm. He started to cry.
Karen stood up. She stepped close to him and pressed his head gently against her. The sweatshirt was soft. It smelled good. He rubbed his face against it, feeling her belly through the material. It was the sweatshirt she'd worn last night in her sleeping bag when she held him and she was so warm and he could feel her breasts against him and worried so badly that she might notice his hard-on. Then she'd whispered, "Don't worry about it," and he'd wanted to die with shame. But just for a minute. After that, it had been fine and peaceful. "Are you gonna marry Dad?" he'd asked.
"Maybe."
"I hope so."
"Why?"
"Because I love you."
"I love you, too, Benny."
He'd snuggled against her. He'd never felt so good before in all his life. Thinking about it eased the hurt.
"You okay?" she asked, stroking his hair.
"I… I feel so bad he did that to you." "He's dead."
"I wish I'd killed him."
"No you don't."
"Oh yes I do."
She backed away. Crouching, she kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Let's get this fire going before we freeze." Turning around, she struck a match and lit the piece of cardboard. Flames curled up. The pine needles smoked and crackled and caught fire, igniting the twigs. Karen added bigger sticks from the nearby pile. The blaze grew high, dancing and throwing out heat. 'Wow we're cooking," she said.
Nick and Julie came up from behind. They huddled close to the fire.
"No luck?" Karen asked.
"We think she might've thrown them in the lake," Julie said.
"If she did," Nick said, "they'd have to be close to shore. We shouldn't have much trouble finding them."
"We're gonna take a look," Julie added. She was bent over the fire, the flashlight clamped between her knees, rubbing her hands together as if washing them in the flames.
"Where'd you find the matches?" Nick asked.
"They're Benny's," Karen said.
"Good going, Ben."
"Yeah." Julie smiled at him. "You're not a complete waste."
He smiled back at her. "No kidding."
Nick stepped away from the fire. "Okay, we'll take a look at the lake."
"Want to go with them?" Karen asked Benny.
"Yeah."
"It's better that way," she told the other two. "It's better if we stay together."
Benny stood up, wincing as the movement hurt his arm. The rest of his body felt stiff and sore, but he was glad to be included. Karen stayed close to his side as they headed for the lake.
Nick and Julie had the only working flashlights. They walked slowly along the shoreline, sweeping their beams over the water. The lights bent off to new angles where they penetrated. Through shallow water murky with swirling specks, Benny could see the bottom. The rocks down there were mossy. Patches of seaweed swayed with the currents. Farther out, the beams couldn't reach the bottom. They stopped a couple of feet below the surface, as if too weak to drive deeper into the gloom.
"Well," Nick said, "I still think they're out there. I'm going in."
"No, that's crazy," Julie said.