Page 13 of Hide And Seek

I turned. Rhys had his head tilted slightly, and the expression on his face wasn’t one of fear or shock or even mild concern. It was pure amusement.

“C’mon, guys. This is obviously a prank,” he said. He stepped through the cluster of counselors and looked up at the note. “Someone's been watching way too many nineties slashers. I mean, that's a blatant ripoff ofI Know What You Did Last Summer. All we’re missing is a guy in a rain slicker.”

Sutton frowned. “But what about all the—”

“Blood?” Rhys cut in, cocking a brow. “I bet you it’s not even real.”

With that, he reached up and pulled the knife free from the trunk in one clean, practiced motion. He turned the blade over in his hand, examining the dark substance coating it, then brought it to his nose.

He looked at it for another beat, something unreadable moving across his face. Then he licked the blade.

Several people gasped.

Rhys lowered the knife with a grin. “I fucking knew it,” he said. “Corn syrup. With a little food dye, probably.”

A collective exhale moved through the group, but the relief lasted all of ten seconds before Garrett spoke.

“Who did this?” He looked around the group, flashlight swinging. “And why?”

Nobody answered.

“We've all been at the fire,” Maren finally said. “All night. Every single one of us. And the rest of the staff are all asleep.”

“The cabin checks,” Jesse said, snapping his fingers. "Someone could’ve rigged it up then.”

“But why the hell would anyone do this?” Grace said sharply. “It’s not funny! Only a total psycho would think it is!”

Rhys lifted his palms in a silent gesture for calm and order. “Who did the most recent cabin check?”

“Brad and Knox,” someone called out.

“We didn’t do this!” Brad shot back.

“No one’s saying you did,” Rhys said evenly. “I’m just trying to figure out how and when this thing was set up. When was your check, exactly?”

“Almost twenty minutes ago,” Knox replied. “But there was nothing here then. We would’ve seen it.”

“April and I were due to go next,” a girl named Stevie piped up. “But we didn’t get the chance, because that’s when we all heard Noura screaming.”

“Okay.” Rhys lifted a palm again. “Who else left the fire over the last twenty minutes?”

No one said anything.

Rhys let out an irritated sigh, raking a hand through his hair. “Okay, well,Idid. About fifteen minutes ago, I went for a piss in the woods. And Logan, I saw you go too.”

“That doesn’t mean I did this,” Logan snapped.

A guy named Levi put his hand up. “I left to take a leak too. But I swear, I had nothing to do with this bullshit.”

“I went too,” Garrett volunteered. “Although… I think I might’ve actually gone about twenty-five minutes ago. I wasn’t really looking at a clock, y’know?”

Rhys’s gaze swept over the gathered counselors before narrowing on some girls in the middle. “You four went off into the woods about ten minutes ago, and you were all giggling about something,” he said, cocking a brow.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, are you serious?” Delia put her hands on her hips. “We just wanted to have a private conversation! That’s all!”

“Do you really think any of us even know how to rig up some weird blood bucket?” Piper added.

“Again, I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” Rhys said. “I’m just pointing out that at least eight of us had the opportunity to pull this prank, including myself. Nine if you think Noura did it to herself.” He let that land before going on. “Point is, there are so many potential suspects that we could end up out here all night flinging accusations around and never getting anywhere. Unless we get a confession.”