The Lies They Tell(44)

“It wasn’t your responsibility to stop her. She had a chance to prove herself and she failed. She panicked, exactly like I knew she would.”

“Why’d you give me the lighter?”

“Because I knew you’d have the presence of mind to look for it.”

Pearl turned to him, choked with all the things she wanted to say. Speech seemed impossible, pointless. Even if she slapped him, he’d just look back at her, impervious, filing her actions away for further consideration. All she could manage was, “Hadley’s terrified. She could be anywhere by now.”

Tristan exhaled through his nose, straightening up. “The cave system isn’t that big. Six interlocking passages. Between all of us, it won’t take long to find her.”

He walked back through the arch, and Pearl followed, gripping the lighter in her fist in case he tried to lose her again. Tristan blinked the flashlight three times in the tunnel, then again when they reached the opening Pearl had come through earlier: a signal for the other boys to come back from wherever they were hiding.

Pearl reached out and grabbed the flashlight. “How about I carry this.” He didn’t argue.

It wasn’t long before footsteps came up behind them. As the boys’ flashlight beams fell on Tristan and Pearl, Bridges said, “They didn’t stay together?”

“Obviously not,” Tristan said.

“She just ran off? By herself?” Bridges swore. “I knew she’d freak. Crap. We better find her.”

Pearl didn’t turn or slow down, ignoring all three of them as she pressed forward, running her free hand along the wall to keep from slipping. The floor was noticeably wet now; the tide was coming faster, little streams running along the rocks, soaking her already numb bare toes.

Pearl tried not to think about the water rising higher and higher, about what it might be like, trying to get out of here with it up to their waists, their chins, over their heads. The passageway sloped upward, curved left. They walked on. Pearl sloshed through water now ankle deep, and when she glanced up, it was into a white face, all sightless eyes and keening mouth.

It fell on her, clinging, fingers digging into Pearl’s arms. Pearl gasped, her mind registering a moment too late that it was Hadley, of course it was, and she dropped back against the wall to keep from collapsing under the girl’s weight.

“Had, it’s okay—it’s okay, we’ve got you.” Bridges tried to pry her free. Hadley was shuddering uncontrollably, her fingertips ten icy pinpoints, her breath gusting against Pearl’s neck.

Tristan said nothing, watching as the rest of them, even Akil, tried to talk Hadley down. Finally, her hyperventilating became sobs, and she let Bridges put his arm around her.

Once they reached the cave entrance, rising water was sloshing over the outcropping beyond the arch. It was a struggle to get back into the boat, and Hadley had to be carried. She sat hunched beside Bridges, refusing to speak as he rubbed her back and asked repeatedly if she was okay, to please say something. There was blood trickling down her shin from a gash on her right knee, and her palms were scraped. Akil sat across from her, watching the scene uneasily.

Pearl, meanwhile, still gripped the flashlight. She didn’t let go until Tristan moored at the yacht club landing, at which point it dropped from her stiff fingers and rolled across the deck.

Bridges looked up at Tristan. “I think maybe she needs a hospital.”

Tristan turned, folding his arms over his chest, studying Hadley. Then he went to the storage box, brought out a first-aid kit, and knelt to apply alcohol to the cut on her knee. She winced, her eyelids fluttering. “It’s shock.” He opened an adhesive bandage and applied it, then reached into his pocket and handed Bridges his car keys. “Take her home. She’ll be fine.”

Bridges looked at him for a long moment, finally saying quietly, “Don’t you even care?”

Tristan gazed back. “Any sensible person would’ve followed the sound of running water to the chamber. She could’ve been out of the tunnels in minutes.” He tilted his head slightly, regarding Bridges. “You managed to figure it out. Didn’t you?”

Hadley watched as Tristan walked back to the bow, her eyes wide and wounded.

Pearl got off the boat, leading the way down the dock, too furious and half-numb to look at anyone. She only glanced back when she heard the Rivelle’s engine roar to life. Tristan, going out again by himself, onto the bay.





Fifteen


THE FOUR OF them drove through the streets in the Bentley, Hadley and Pearl in the backseat, both staring out their respective windows. Hadley still wasn’t speaking.

They went back to the club to pick up the Mustang. Akil took the Bentley keys from Bridges, glancing at the girls. “Listen, dude, do you—I mean, you got this?”

“Yeah. See ya.”

When Bridges and the girls reached the Spencer compound, the big house was dark, but the porch lit up with motion-sensor lights as they drove in. Bridges parked, came around to open Pearl’s door, but she let herself out, her gaze following the line of lampposts leading down the driveway to the cottages. She’d been in that living room with Bridges just hours ago, touching him, talking around the subject of going upstairs together.

Now she said, “I need my car,” in a tone that made him glance up from Hadley’s wan face.