Page 46 of Hide And Seek

Rhys cleared his throat and spoke up again. “I remembered something while we were out there,” he said. “During the Wilderness Wander a few days ago, some kids found a beanie. It looked brand new. Alissa, Caitlin, Zach… you guys remember that, right?”

Jensen raised a palm. “I was there too,” he said. “And yeah, it was definitely new. The kids were all joking about it belonging to the Woodsman.”

“Not so funny now, is it?” Jasmine said under her breath.

Sutton raised a brow. “So what’s your point?” she asked, eyes fixed on Rhys. “You think that beanie belongs to whoever’s doing this?”

“Maybe.” Rhys scratched his jaw. “Maybe he even left it there on purpose, to taunt us. Let us know that he’s lurking out there.”

“Or maybe a hiker dropped it a few weeks ago and that’s why it looks new,” Sloane said, rolling her eyes. “Either way, some random beanie doesn’t really help us, does it?”

“It could be evidence that it’s an outsider behind all this shit,” Rhys said. “I think that matters.”

“How?”

“For one thing, it stops us all from turning on each other,” he said. His gaze moved across the group again. “Cohesion matters right now. It’s pretty much all we’ve got.”

“He’s right,” Jasmine said in a grudging tone. “We need to stick together. Whoever this asshole is, he probably wants us to lose it and start splitting off into smaller groups, because that makes it a hell of a lot easier for him to pick us off.”

The words landed hard, cutting through the room with grim clarity. Beneath today’s forced calm, we’d all known this was a possibility.

Delia might not be the only victim.

Just the first.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then someone near the back cleared their throat. “So… what do we do now?”

A few people shifted, glancing at each other, but it was Jesse who finally answered. “I don’t think there’s much wecando right now,” he said. “Not until Brad and Olivia get to town. All we can really do is sit tight. Wait it out.”

“That’s it?” Maren asked, her voice catching. “We just sit around and hope nothing else happens?”

Jesse lifted a shoulder. “Pretty much, yeah. But we don’t have to just sit here in silence freaking ourselves out. We can stay together in the dining hall for a bit. Eat, drink, maybe play cards or something. Or just talk.”

“And when it gets dark,” Caitlin added, picking up the thread, “we can head back to the fire pit and hang out together. Same as last night.”

“Good idea.” Garrett nodded. “Just be careful moving around once it’s dark. Take a flashlight or phone. And watch where you step.”

He didn’t need to spell out the reason for that.

“Wait.” Jasmine frowned. “Is it really a good idea to be sitting out in the open tonight?”

“Honestly, it’s probably safer than splitting up across a bunch of buildings,” Caitlin said. “At least out there we can see if anyone’s coming. So no one can sneak up on us.”

“And acting like everything’s normal might stop us from losing our minds,” Jesse added. “Because I’m about five minutes away from doing exactly that.”

A few strained laughs slipped out. Then Rhys spoke up again.

“You’re right. This whole situation is insane, but we can’t let it get to us too much,” he said. “We have to try and keep things as normal as we can. Stick together, stay busy, wait for help.”

No one argued with that, because right now, it was the only plan anyone had.

A few hours later, we were back out at Blackpine’s main firepit. The sky had deepened into that rich, inky blue that came just after sunset, the last traces of light bleeding out behind the tree line. The fire had been lit again, flames licking steadily upward as the wood caught, casting a warm glow over the clearing.

This time, no one drifted too far away from the rest. The night before, the group had naturally split into separate clusters; an invisible line dividing Legacies from Dirtbags. Now we all sat in a loose circle around the fire, shoulders close and knees almost touching, like we were subconsciously trying to shrink the space between us.

Not that it made the unease go away.

A handful of people eventually pulled their benches or logs together near the center so they could focus on the mainconversation. Off to the sides, smaller pockets had formed, speaking in quieter tones, heads bent slightly toward each other.