“Yes, I know, we were kids. But Damian Debo?n was real. That book was real. And the symbols and the sulfur and the tooth are not props meant to scare children away. They are signs of a very old science. Not the kind Kerri took in college.”
Andy gazed back at the round attic window on top of the mansion. The dark, resilient glass returned her tough, jail-inmate glare.
“Okay,” she said, appeasing him. “Point taken. Let’s go back; it’s getting late.”
—
A couple of raccoons had approached the tent in their absence and were keenly admiring the product of human craftsmanship when the detectives returned. Tim took no small pleasure in shooing them away. It was still twilight, but the sun had taken all the warmth with it. Priorities such as finding kindling for the fire and preparing dinner kept them busy.
The night was cold but gentle like an X-rated metaphor. It was crowded too—with owls and fireflies and distant galaxies. Except for the latter, all of those things kept Tim alert for most of the meal, until he decided there were too many living things to chase and settled for not letting any of them steal his food, the same way the humans ate their baked beans in silence. Andy, who had lived on nonperishables for longer periods than some apocalypse survivors in Nate’s sci-fi novels, was amazed to corroborate that beans never tasted better than when cooked in Kerri’s portable aluminum pots. Those Colonel Mustards in England sure knew their shit.
“So,” she chose as the first word in almost an hour, still chomping through the last of her meal. “Not bad for day one. We have some clues to follow.”
Kerri and Nate munched a little slower and said nothing.
“Maybe it was a little late in the day to go to the isle, but I think it was a good move anyway, to prove to ourselves there is no imminent threat. We can go back tomorrow when it’s light and keep searching. Or the owner of the boat might appear and he may have some info to share.”
Kerri side-glanced at her, mouth full, and nodded.
“So what do you think?” Andy invited. “What’s the best piece of intelligence we gathered today?”
Nate put down his plate and fork, wiped his mouth, and carefully considered the question. “That Joey Krantz had a girlfriend?”
Kerri made sure to swallow first, then laughed gently. Nate popped a last bit of bacon in his mouth. “I mean, it’s not a shock, but it kinda hurts. Makes you lose faith in humanity, doesn’t it?”
Andy smiled and mentally dismissed the meeting. It had been a good first day.
—
A malicious wind rose from the lake soon after dinner and the party chose to relinquish the fire and move to shelter. The tent was bound to be warm enough, especially considering it was designed to fit two kids and now had to lodge three adults and a Weimaraner. In the old days, Peter used to bring his own tent to Blyton Hills, thus providing separate housing for the boys. Fortunately, Aunt Margo had kept the extra sleeping bags and Sean’s old blanket. Tim lay on it now, nursing his plastic penguin and whispering into its ear what a dangerous world there was outside the kerosene-lit tent.
KERRI: Come on, you start.
ANDY: Okay. Uh…F.
NATE: (Quickly.) F.
KERRI: F.
ANDY: (Stares at her.) Three Fs? Fuck off!
NATE: (Processing that.) Hey, very good.
(Andy smiles, realizing.)
KERRI: It was actually “fluffy,” but whatever, that deserves winning. (Slipping into her bag and removing her sweater.) Nate, your turn.
NATE: Okay. B.
ANDY: “Boobs.”
(Hush.)
NATE: (Staring, mind blown.) How the hell…That was uncanny!
KERRI: (To Andy.) It wasn’t even your turn! (To Nate.) Why are you thinking boobs, you perv? We’re family!
NATE: Look, I was in the boys’ ward at Arkham until just a week ago, okay? I’m rediscovering the amenities of coed, what can I say? It’s cozy, it smells good, I’m all positive thoughts. I don’t know why you’d ever want to sleep in the boys’ tent.
ANDY: I never wanted to sleep in the boys’ tent!
KERRI: Okay, whatever; lights off before Nate decides to start a royal dynasty with me.
NATE: (Slipping into his bag as well.) Yeah, yeah. Don’t come rubbing on to me for body heat later.
KERRI: If you feel that happening, that would be Tim. (She turns down the Coleman lantern; the dark takes over.) Good night.
NATE: Night.
Andy mouthed good night, zipped her bag up, and closed her eyes.
—
She was only halfway to sleep when she felt the rustling in Kerri’s bag. The clarity surprised her: she was able to discern the silhouettes of everybody in the tent against the blue canvas—all smooth, streamlined shapes, except for the infinitely complex fractal pattern of Kerri’s hair.
“Hey,” Andy whispered. Her head and Kerri’s were very close. “Can’t sleep?”
She heard a smile.
“I’ll never have a warm night again,” Kerri said.
A zipper slid a few teeth back. Andy couldn’t really see it in the dark, but somehow she felt one of Kerri’s hands moving into her line of sight. It stopped there, lying on the tent mat, inches short of her face. Andy stuck out her own hand to meet hers. Fingers clasped gently like plants coiling around each other.
Andy closed her eyes. Kerri’s hand was warm and white and so rarely soft like one of the only three species of flowers native to Antarctica.
“It’s all gonna be okay,” she murmured. And the sound wave from her rosé lips flew like a leaf in the wind across an ocean twelve inches wide, over the island of clasped trees, right into Kerri’s ear, with no one else in the whole universe noticing.
—
The next time Andy opened her eyes, she knew within a second that things were not okay.
If her hand had still been holding Kerri’s up to that point, she failed to notice; she was already sitting up by the time she thought about it. The light outside the tent was white, though it was not exactly light. Light shines; this just hung there like stagnant water. The thought occurred to Andy that the whole tent had been dropped into the lake, which would also explain the solid silence. Tim was up, and so were his ears, to the best of their ability, radaring for insects, birds, wind. In vain.
Kerri was in deep slumber. Alarmingly deep.
Nate’s sleeping bag was empty.
Andy put on a sweater and started shaking Kerri. Tim was already considering digging his way out of the tent.
“Kerri. Wake up. Wake up!”
“What…” Kerri muttered languidly, opening her eyes, then trying to rub the waking world off them. “What’s happening?”
“Put on your clothes, quick.” She didn’t know what was happening. Only that it was happening again.
She zipped the door open.
The lake, the mountains, the sky were gone.
A white mist had drowned the camping site. The colorful plastic equipment and the tent itself could hardly fight it. Tim slipped out, and Andy lost him just three yards ahead. The grass, the dirt, the microscopic pebbles just faded out past that distance, erased from reality.
She squiggled her feet into her sneakers, pulverizing the dirt. Kerri crawled out, now fully awake and fully distressed.
“Where’s Nate?”
“I don’t know.”
“Andy, what the fuck?!”
“Calm down! It’s just fog, right?”
Somewhere out there, Tim burst into a riotous bark.