Chapter 25

Elmi slammed her wrist down on the loud motor at the sound of the whistles. The other girls were suddenly slammed against the seat and the spray of salty water hit them painfully fast. As soon as Kaylin got the wind back into her lungs, she yelled, “Slow this bread smackin’ thing down!”

Elmi smirked in an embarrassing way, still balancing her elbow on the motor. “‘Bread smackin?’ Isn’t that what Grey said?” The girls still felt bad for leaving so abruptly. But, they forced themselves to push regrets out of their mind. Bear was just too close now.

Kaylin’s eyes widened as land rushed closer and closer. “ELMI!” she screamed. “I wasn’t joking! Stop!” All Elmi could do was swing around with terror as the rental boat went full speed towards the rocky shore.

Thunk!

--<0>--

After being launched into the sand, Annabel was nearly impaled by a sharp, black rock, and the rest landed beside her in a pile of dry seaweed and itchy, white sand. They sat up in a slow, crooked fashion.

“Thanks, Elmi, for really-” Kaylin couldn’t finish her sarcastic statement before Della muffled her mouth with a small hand. Kaylin spat it off, but stopped herself, this time, because she heard footsteps and knew they could only be from one source; the people in the black boat.

The footsteps were hard to hear in the soft sand, so it was difficult to judge where the people were relative to the Cubs. They were hiding behind a spiny bush. In the day, they would be a plain sight behind the scraggly branches, but with it being so dark, they sunk right into the vegetation. If you were standing to the front of the bush, the girls would be invisible.

Annabel’s face turned to pure concentration for a few seconds, here glasses sunk down her nose. “They sound like they’re right in front of the bush now, or else they’re real near.”

“Sure are,” said the chill voice of a young man.