Page 32 of Winter’s Teeth

Fox lost his balance, but as soon as he found it again, he used the momentum to deck Ben in the jaw.

Right before my eyes, the boys dissolved into a no holds barred fight.

“What the hell is wrong with you two!” I shrieked.

Ben had always been the easiest going guy out of all my friends. He’d been a voice of reason, a sound backboard to bounce all my hair brained ideas off of.

Now he was rolling around in the gravel getting his world rocked. Fox was just a little bigger and definitely a harder hitter.

Picking up handfuls of gravel, I started pelting them, hoping the sharp ends hit the right places to make them stop. With each fistful thrown, I shouted, “Knock! It! Off!”

I ran forward like a linebacker when they rolled, plowing into Ben to shove him off Fox. We all scrambled to our feet, but I threw myself between them with outstretched arms, feeling like the referee caught between a hockey fist fight.

Through panting breaths, I warned, “If anyone starts fighting again, I will use that rifle and shoot them!” My screech echoed on the hilltop, fading after five seconds while the boys cooled off.

“Look.” I turned on Ben first. “I know you’re freaking out, but fighting Fox isn’t going to solve anything.” I turned on Fox next. “You owe me a lot of answers, Creek Boy! So, either start talking, or—Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

He walked away from me when I was in the midst of making demands, going to his car to lift the hood and fiddle with the battery, but even I knew he wasn’t getting out of here without a jumpstart.

We weren’t getting out of here without Riss or Angie who’d taken Ben’s Jeep to get help. Who knew how long that would take... Hours had already passed, and if they weren’t here now, I imagined that meant they weren’t going to get back soon for one reason or another.

My eyes cut to the only other car in the driveway.

Everly’s.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I gave up the fight and went to pop the trunk. “Push your car over here. She’s got jumper cables. Either of you know how to kickstart the ignition?”

The three of us wordlessly worked in the dark to restart Fox’s car so we could get out of there before trouble came looking for us again. Ben held his phone light up, and I hooked up the cables expertly. Being the proud owner of seven old cars throughout my teenage years financed by waitressing tips, I knew a thing or two about getting pieces of crap to work.

When Fox’s car rumbled to life again, his headlights blinding us, I closed up Everly’s car, pretending like we’d never touched it. Evidence integrity be damned. I had all the evidence I needed after hearing Arthur in the woods tonight. It just wasn’t quite enough to bring my sister home yet.

Fox reached to close his door, but I rushed forward to throw a hand in the space and catch it. “Look, if you’re not gonna tell me anything—” I started quickly, but when he looked up, I noticed half of his face was still caked in dirt and dried blood. Dark locks of hair stuck to his temple in mats. All the anger in me snuffed out at once.

Changing course, I blurted, “How much does it cost to rent this place for a week?”

His face shifted, turning into a confused scowl.

“Or two.”

“Are you mad?” he rasped.

“I think I remember it being a thousand for the weekend for Everly’s wedding, right? So that’s...five-hundred a day? Do you do discounts for weekdays?”

Fox shook his head. A hard no.

I did the mental math, and to stay for two weeks, that would be about seven thousand dollars.

The exact amount I had saved up for my tuition bill due in a week.

I squashed down my inhibitions and vowed, “I’m getting to the bottom of all this. One way or another. Your family has something to do with my sister’s disappearance, and I’m not going anywhere till I find out what. If I have to pay an arm and a leg to be here and find it, so be it.”

Fox shook his head over and over, talking over me at the end of my spiel. “Arthur will never make that deal. You need to get out of here, Rae.”

“We’ll see about that.”

I stepped back, letting his door fall shut, and picked up Ben’s rifle. “Let’s get out of here. I have a reservation to book.”

Chapter 15