Of the Trees(67)

“Was it them?” she whispered. A breath Cassie hadn’t known she was holding escaped in a sigh. She nodded into Rebecca’s shoulder, and her friend held her tighter.

Cassie should have known Rebecca would understand. Of course she did. She was there in the clearing; she knew about these men. They were the reason Jessica was dead and the reason Laney was missing. She didn’t realize how relieved she would be that someone understood.

Rebecca and Ryan spent most of the day with her, not doing anything particularly exciting, mostly just trying to pass the time. Ryan asked about school and how long Cassie would be allowed to stay out for. Rebecca caught her eye, a sad smile lingering on her lips.

“I’ll go back tomorrow,” Cassie answered. Rebecca reached out and squeezed her fingers while Ryan just looked confused.

“Isn’t it a bit soon?”

“It won’t get better any faster if I don’t,” Cassie answered.

“I’ll come pick you up then,” Ryan said, even though Cassie sputtered that her dad could bring her. He shook his head, the matter decided.

Cassie preferred to drive in with him anyway.

Ryan left just before dinner, driving Rebecca home. He lingered at her door, leaning forward and pressing his lips to her cheek. “I’m coming back after I drop her off,” he whispered. Cassie felt her eyes widen as he pulled away.

“You don’t have to.” He frowned at her, his eyebrows drawing together in question. “I mean, I want you to, but you don’t—”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he interrupted, giving her fingers a brief squeeze.

Cassie saved a plate of dinner for Ryan, pushing it at him as soon as he came through the door. He ate quickly, and they settled back in the living room. He picked up the book he had dropped on the side table the night before and sat on the couch, his hand outstretched toward her. She sat next to him, letting him pull her flush with his side and drape his arm around her shoulders.

“This is what you came back for?” Cassie asked, looking up at him. He offered a wry grin.

“You look exhausted,” he said, opening the book and flipping through a few pages. “I thought you might want to just rest.”

“I am exhausted,” Cassie admitted, tucking her head against his shoulder. She could hear the gentle clacking of plates and utensils as her parents cleaned up the kitchen. They had been quiet and supportive all day. Her mother had stayed home from work and spent the day with her father, ducking their head in to check on her, allowing her space with her friends. But the effort it took Cassie to pretend that things were normal, that her chest wasn’t seizing and falling, the spiral of nervous panic that Laney was off somewhere, hurt and needing help, had been draining. She appreciated Ryan and Rebecca’s efforts at distracting her, it had been helpful. But now, at the end of the day when she could hear the volunteers packing up, drifting back to their cars in defeat, there wasn’t much that could distract her from the awful certainty that Laney was gone forever.

“Don’t you wish you could be out there with them?” Ryan asked, his head twisting toward the window and the drawn shade as the last of the volunteers’ car doors slammed shut. Cassie shook her head, her cheek rubbing against the soft cotton of his shirt.

“She’s not out there,” Cassie said. Ryan looked down to her in surprise.

“No?”

“No,” Cassie answered firmly. “She’s with them.”

“Her new boyfriend?” Ryan prompted. “At his house you mean? Hasn’t anyone been over there to question him?”

Cassie shrugged. She wasn’t sure what the cops had tried, but she was positive they hadn’t been able to find Corey. “I’m not sure they know where to find him,” she answered after a moment.

“How hard could that be?” Ryan asked. “He went to St. Paul’s, didn’t he? Just head over there, ask around. How many guys named Corey could there possibly be? It’s not that big of a school.”

“He didn’t go to St. Paul’s,” Cassie murmured. Ryan stiffened.

“You’re sure?”

Cassie hummed in acknowledgment. She wasn’t sure of much, but of that she was absolutely positive.

“We’ve been saying that, all of us, to the cops and everything. Did you tell them that he didn’t?”

Cassie nodded, pulling her lip through her teeth and biting gently. She had been doing that, worrying the skin of her lip until it was chapped and raw, a nervous tic that pulled all the anxious energy spiraling in her chest and focused it into the one, exposed area, left it red and aching.

“Where do you think they’re from then? How did she meet him in the first place?”

“She said the cemetery,” Cassie said. “And I’m sure they met up there sometimes. I saw her heading off into the woods with him in that direction once. But I think they met at the carnival. You know, when she took off?”

Ryan nodded, bringing his arm tighter around her. He murmured a soft expletive and Cassie sighed, letting her head rest on the warm crook of his shoulder. His hand rubbed soft circles up and down her side, and she felt, at the same time, pleasantly warm and despondently empty.

The guilt ate at her, left her hollow. She would feel bursts of anger, chastising herself for ever allowing Laney out of her sight, for not chasing her down and tackling her into the bracken to keep her from Corey. Then despair would hit, and she’d realize how fruitless any effort like that would have been anyway, how Laney was drawn, pulled toward Corey and his shifting skin and the way he sucked the energy of the forest around him and concentrated it into that relentless stare.