Page 131 of Hide And Seek

“No one else has thought about it yet,” Jasmine said hurriedly. “They still don’t know you’re alive, remember?”

“Yeah, but it’ll come out eventually,” he muttered. A beat passed. “Wait… if you actually thought it might be me, why did you come here alone today? Why risk that?”

Jasmine fell silent for another moment. When she finally answered, her voice sounded smaller somehow. “I stopped thinking it was you when Alissa didn’t come back.”

“Why?”

“You’ve had a major thing for her since you met her. I could tell from the way you looked at her.”

Rhys groaned again. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yeah. I think everyone noticed, to be honest.” A quiet, tired snort slipped out of Jasmine before she continued. “Anyway, maybe I’m just being naïve, but if you really were the killer… I don’t think you’d hurt her. Me? Maybe. We haven’t exactly had the world’s healthiest relationship over the years.” Her voice softened again. “But Alissa? No. I just can’t picture it.”

For a second, neither of them spoke.

“For what it’s worth, I know we haven’t always gotten along,” Rhys said. “But I’m glad we’re friends now. Assuming we can call it that.”

Jasmine let out a weak laugh. “Yeah. All it took was a psycho killer terrorizing us to bring everyone together.”

Another brief silence settled over the cabin.

“So what do you think I should do?” Rhys finally asked. “Tell the others I’m alive and just hope they believe me? Or stay hidden?”

“Honestly, if it were me, I’d stay hidden,” she replied. “It’s like you said before. If you reveal yourself to the others, then you’ve potentially got the groupandthe killer after you. But if you stay ‘dead’, then you’ve only got the killer to worry about.”

Rhys exhaled slowly. “I can’t believe this is an actual conversation we’re having.”

“Trust me,” Jasmine muttered. “Neither can I.”

Inside the closet, rage twisted hotly through my chest.

This was the damage control Rhys had mentioned last night.

Not killing Jasmine. Manipulating her.

He was feeding her just enough truth to make the lie believable, carefully building this whole narrative where he was the obvious fall guy; the poor bastard being framed by the real killer who was lurking somewhere out there in the woods. And the worst part was that it was smart. Smart enough that Jasmine was already buying into it.

Because now, even if she thought about all the suspicions we’d had about him, she wouldn’t tell the others. Wouldn’t want to risk getting an innocent person killed if he reallywasbeing framed.

It was honestly kind of brilliant, in a deeply horrifying way, and I hated that part of me could still admire how smart and calculated Rhys was.

But beneath all that anger was something else too; something that slowly loosened the choking knot that had been sitting in my chest ever since Jasmine knocked on the cabin door.

She was safe. Just like I’d begged for.

I heard another shaky breath leave her, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded smaller still. “What do you think I should do?” she asked. “Because I honestly have no idea anymore.”

Rhys didn’t answer right away. I could picture him leaning back against the couch cushions, brows drawn together like he was carefully considering it. Like he wasn’t the reason half the people at this camp were dead.

“Stay in the assembly hall with the others,” he finally said. “At all times. Nobody goes anywhere alone, no matter what. And you can’t come back here again.”

“But you need food.”

“I can stretch what you already brought me,” Rhys said. “And I can still raid the Snack Shed too.”

“Oh. Right.”

“I’m gonna start moving between cabins,” he went on. “I won’t stay in one place for more than a few hours. That way the killer will have trouble finding me. If I’m right about him coming for me, that is.”