“You think this was too soon?” Mariah asked worriedly as she lay on her cot. “I mean, too soon for one of these trips—after Marcus died?”
Sandra, ready to turn down their lantern, sighed. “Mariah, we have to go on as usual. You’re just telling stories that you grew up with. It’s fine.”
“I guess,” Mariah murmured. “What do you think? Did they all like the little cemetery?”
“They seemed to,” she said.
“No one ‘saw’ the general?” Mariah asked.
“Oh, we all see him one way or another, don’t we?” Olivia said.
“No,” Mariah told her. “I never have. I wish I could see him. I should see him. You can trace my family back in this area for two hundred years! You’d think he’d appear to me.”
“He’s an image in people’s minds!” Sandra said impatiently. “Let’s get some sleep!”
The tent went dark. The night was lit by an almost-full moon and the remnants of the fire in the clearing. Olivia lay still, listening to chirping of insects around them. There were coyotes in the hills, but they’d never bothered them, not here at the campground. The cows were sometimes in danger—the Horse Farm dogs occasionally came back with a piece of beef that hadn’t been processed. But there was really nothing to fear at their campground during the night.
She’d never felt edgy before.
That night, she lay awake in her sleeping bag.
Through the canvas walls of the tent she could see the shapes of distant trees, making giant shadows that waved and moved in the breeze, looking like monsters that might reach into the tent and drag someone out. She told herself that was a childish fantasy, but couldn’t quite dispel her nervousness....
She was just staring at the trees when she became aware of something moving outside—coming toward the tent.
She bolted halfway up, glancing over at the other women.
Neither Sandra nor Mariah was in the tent. She hadn’t heard them rise; maybe she’d dozed off, after all.
Whatever was coming toward her seemed to grow large with menace—as if a tree had uprooted itself and become a monster stretching its skeletal fingers toward her....
She jumped to her feet, ready to rush out and scream an alarm. But even as she did, she heard someone speak sharply. She recognized Dustin’s voice.
“Aaron!”
There were no monsters and trees didn’t uproot themselves to attack.
She hurriedly left the tent to see what was happening.
Aaron was out there.
And Dustin was right behind him.
“What’s wrong?” Dustin asked.
“Nothing—I think,” Aaron said. He looked at Olivia. “I heard something rustling over here. I wanted to see if you three were okay. We should’ve put the women in the middle tent.”
Sandra came walking out of the woods. “Aaron Bentley! You employ extremely capable women. I had to make a dash to the powder room, so to speak.”
“Where’s Mariah?” Olivia asked.
“Well, she must have taken a bathroom break, too,” Sandra said.
“I don’t like this,” Aaron muttered. “I want to make sure she’s in her tent before I go back to sleep. I thought...”
“What?” Dustin demanded.
“I don’t know. I thought I heard someone prowling around.”
“You did! Us. So much for privacy,” Sandra said, shaking her head.
“How long can a break in the bushes take?” Aaron asked.
He probably meant it as a rhetorical question, but Joey emerged from the tent, saying, “Um, it takes as long as it takes, doesn’t it? Especially for women...”
Aaron ignored that and walked toward the bushes. “Mariah!”
She didn’t answer.
“Mariah!” he shouted louder.
“Hey!”
They heard her call back to them. Her voice didn’t come from the bushes. Olivia saw that she’d been down to the stream; she’d apparently filled her canteen. Her face was damp and she was smiling. “What’s wrong?” she asked quickly, her smile fading.
“Nothing.” Aaron let out a sigh. “I was just worried about you.”
“Oh, Aaron, I’m sorry,” Mariah said. “I went down to the stream for some more water. And it was so beautiful in the moonlight! I was looking across the water—hoping maybe I’d see the general on his horse on the other side.”
Somewhere, far in the distance, a coyote howled at the moon. The sound was so forlorn, so chilling—and foreboding.
“Well, we’re all here now,” Sandra said with a shrug. “Let’s get some sleep.”
“Dustin, you’re going back in the tent, right?” Joey asked. As he spoke, Brent, too, came out. He looked frightened. Brent was a joy to be around, always loving, but he was also easily frightened when things weren’t precisely as they were supposed to be.
“Livia?” he said worriedly.
“I’m here, Brent. We’re all here. Everything’s fine,” she assured him, going over to give him a hug.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Sandra said. “We’ve got to get some sleep!”
“Okay, okay, everyone back where they belong.” Grinning, Aaron joined Olivia and put his arm around Brent. “It’s all good, buddy.”
Brent nodded solemnly. “The general is watching over us,” he said.