“Hey,” C.P. said, his face changing. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
“You were shouting, you idiot,” Jen said, but her own voice was much softer now, her tone gently chiding instead of angry. “And I was, too. I’m sorry. I’m sorry we scared you.”
Jen crouched down in the snow, her hand out, like she was trying to lure a small frightened animal to her palm. “It’s okay now. It’s okay.”
“Hit . . . you,” Mattie said, looking from Jen to C.P. and back again. “Punish.”
C.P. looked outraged. “I would never hit a girl! Or a woman, for that matter. What kind of man do you think I am?”
“I think,” Jen said, very softly, “it’s more the kind of man that he was.”
Mattie’s heart was still rabbiting away in her chest, but the sense of panic receded. She looked at Jen, and saw something that made Mattie turn her head away in shame.
Pity.
The other woman pitied her.
That pity made everything she’d endured somehow worse than before, made all the years of hurt and fear bloom afresh.
“Sorry,” Mattie said. “I . . . didn’t . . .”
“It’s okay,” Jen said again. “It’s okay.”
“We’ve gotta find somewhere to rest,” C.P. said. “We’re all half out of our minds. I can’t remember the last time I ate, and Samantha and Griffin are dead on their feet.”
“Not . . . cave,” Mattie said. She might not be certain how to get off the mountain, but she was absolutely certain that they should not go in the direction of the caves.
“I don’t really know that the wacko with the shovel is a better option,” C.P. said.
“We’ve got to go in one direction or another,” Jen said. “We might as well try to make some progress going down.”
They both glanced at Griffin, looking for his opinion, but his eyes were closed.
“Griffin?” Jen said, kneeling in front of him and tapping the side of his face. “Griffin, come on.”
Griffin’s eyes cracked open, but it was clearly a struggle. “Want to sleep.”
“You can’t sleep yet,” Jen said. “Come on, you have to wake up. It’s not safe here.”
It’s not safe anywhere, Mattie thought, but as she watched Jen and C.P. try to bully Griffin into waking and standing, she realized they had no choice but to find a place to stop and rest.
But not here. It’s too exposed here. We’re too close to William.
Of course, William might be dead already, killed by a creature that he’d angered with his trap. And even if he wasn’t dead then surely he was seriously injured. He wouldn’t be able to chase after them—at least not right away.
The back of Mattie’s neck itched. She was still sitting in the snow, and she pulled herself up, using a tree trunk as a prop. She clung to the tree, her eyes darting all around.
Something’s near.
Something’s watching.
The woods had gone silent, the way they always did when the creature was close.
Jen and C.P. were loudly cajoling Griffin to wake up, to stand up.
“Shhhhhh,” Mattie said.
She stared up into the heavy canopy of the pines and realized then what good cover it was for the creature—a permanent camouflage, never lost in the winter.
The other three didn’t seem to have heard her.
“Qu-quiet,” she said, much louder than she’d intended.
They stopped their fussing then, and Jen said, “What is it?”
“It’s . . . near,” Mattie whispered.
“The cryptid?” C.P. said.
Mattie put her finger to her lips, then signed that they should both help Griffin up. She didn’t know why she was bothering to be quiet—surely the creature could sniff them out—but her instinct, when faced with danger, was to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible.
Jen moved toward Mattie, to help her, but Mattie shook her head. She still felt wobbly but she thought she could walk—or at least hurl herself from tree to tree as she’d done when William abandoned her in the woods. Griffin, on the other hand, seemed to be unconscious, and C.P. would not be able to carry Griffin on his own.
If I can only let them get ahead of me, they’ll be safe. The creature wants me, me and William. We’re the ones it warned.
（But how do you know it only wants you? The other three went into its cave, too.）
Mattie’s teeth chattered. Her tongue felt heavy and numb inside her mouth. She didn’t know the right thing to do. She didn’t know how to save all of them, or even herself.