The Dark Divine(35)

Daniel dusted off his hands and grunted. “Yes.”

“Then why did you send everyone down to the farm? Don’t we need them here?”

“I don’t want them mucking up the trail.”

“What?”

Daniel grabbed my hand. “Doesn’t this path lead to the creek?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”


Daniel wrapped his fingers around mine. “Hopefully, it’s dry by now.”

We jogged down the trail for what felt like half a mile. The farther we went into the forest, the muddier the path became. And the more my feet sank into the earth, the more I doubted that James could have toddled this way.

Daniel stopped. He turned in a small circle like he’d lost his bearings.

“We should turn back.” I pulled off one of my flats, and thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t worn the stupid kitten heels Mom had wanted me to wear to dinner.

“This way.” Daniel stepped off the narrow path into the brush. He drew in a breath and closed his eyes, as if savoring the taste. “James is this way.”

“That’s not possible.” I flexed my foot. “He’s not even two yet. There’s no way he could have come this far.”

Daniel stared into the dark of the woods. “On his own, no.” He rocked up on the balls of his feet. “Stay,” he whispered, and bolted into the thicket of trees. He was there and then gone.

“Wha …Wait!”

But he kept moving.

And I’m apparently not very good at doing what I’m told.

“He’s my brother!” I yelled, and crammed my foot into my shoe.

I could barely see Daniel as I followed. Only flashes of his back in the distance as he wove through the trees. He was like an animal, running on instinct without even looking where his feet landed. I, on the other hand, lumbered and crashed into trees that seemed to leap right in front of me. Branches cracked under my shoes, and I stumbled over rocks and roots as I tried to catch up to him.

It seemed like he’d picked up on a scent or something. Was that even possible? All I could smell with each stabbing breath were decaying leaves and pine needles. Those smells reminded me of only one thing—it was nearly winter. And if Daniel was right, Baby James was out here somewhere.

The temperature fell as the sun sank below the tall pines. Looming shadows made it even harder to pick my way through the woods. I caught my heel in the root of a large pine and toppled forward. Pain slammed up my arms as I hit the ground. I pushed myself up and brushed my hands off on my slacks, leaving a bloody smear on the fabric.

I looked around. Daniel was nowhere. And another few steps would have taken me down a deep ravine. If I hadn’t stumbled, I would have fallen a sharp thirty feet. Was that what had happened to Daniel, or did he veer left or right? I grabbed a branch of a nearby tree and leaned out over the steep slope. I could only see more rocks and dirt and thick ferns at the bottom.

“Daniel!” I shouted. All I got in return was my echo. Wouldn’t I have heard something if Daniel had fallen? Wouldn’t I be able to make out his path if he’d climbed down?

A half-moon would rise soon to replace the sun. I didn’t have a flashlight, and I’d never ventured this deep into the woods before. How would I find James, or Daniel, or even my way back now? Maybe I deserved to be lost. It was my pie that had burned, and I was the one who had opened that window. It was so stuffy in the house from the two ovens going all day; Charity wouldn’t have noticed that it was still open when she put the baby down for his nap.

How can I go home without James?

A howl filled the void below, echoing off the walls of the ravine. Only an animal could have made that noise. But it was like a shout of frustration. Like a wolf anxious to capture its prey. I had to find a way down. I had to find my brother before that animal did.

Parts of the ravine wall were much steeper than others—a sheer drop-off in some places, but where I was seemed like a somewhat doable incline for climbing down. I grabbed at the roots protruding in the eroded hill and climbed, with my back to the open air, over the side of the steep slope. The toe of my shoe slipped in the mud, and my chest hit the earthen wall, knocking a scream right out of me. I slid several feet before I was able to claw my hands into a tangle of roots above my head. I held on with desperate force, the roots searing like lightning in my injured hand. I tried to determine with my dangling feet how far I was from the bottom. Please be only a couple of yards. I couldn’t hold on much longer.

“You’re safe,” Daniel shouted from somewhere below me. “Push off and let go, and I’ll catch you.”

“I can’t,” I said. His voice sounded too far away—too far to fall. I couldn’t look.

“It’s just like jumping from the gate in the Garden of Angels.”

I panted into my shaking arms. “I almost killed myself then, too.”

“And I caught you then, too.” Daniel’s voice seemed closer now. “Trust me.”

“Okay.”

I pushed off and fell. Daniel whipped his arms around my chest, stopping me before I hit the boulder-strewn ground. He pulled me tight against him.

I couldn’t breathe.

“So what part of ‘stay’ did you not understand?” he whispered. His warm breath brushed down my neck like caressing fingers. Heat encircled my whole body.