Anima's Ghost: The Summer Before (Song Line Echoes, book 2)

Chapter 19: Into the Night

The world stays dark, for so much longer than it should. We all stay close, to each other and to the fire, staying in the center of our camp site. Exhaustion drives me to the tent before anyone else, weariness from all the pain catching up to me as the pain itself slowly lessens.

It's light again when I'm startled awake by noises in the camp, just like the other morning. For a second I wonder if Stryker's back to try to steal the map again. Then I wonder if it's Borden coming back.

I unzip the opening of my tent and peak outside. Sure enough, there's Borden, just entering the camp area. Gatsby and Rune open their tents, both of them, along with Spyro, coming out once they see Borden. I crawl out of my tent too, not realizing that Edelweiss is already awake until she follows me.

"Where have you been?" Gatsby asks Borden. Borden doesn't answer though. He just holds up something that he's holding, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"What is that?" Spyro asks as Rune goes over to take the tablet. I go over to get a closer look, realizing it's an e-reader. When Rune turns it on, it's open on a book. He taps the screen so a bar pops up at the top, showing the title of the book.

"The Bridgewater Triangle," Rune reads, then looks at Gatsby. "He's barely into this book. He doesn't know what he's doing, that's why he wanted my map. I have all the sighting locations marked." It's not until then that I realize they're talking about Stryker. That Borden snuck away to steal that from him.

"We've been sitting here for two days, and so has he. He's following us. He has binoculars. He can see us from where he is through them," Borden says.

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Rune asks, turning off the reader and handing it to Gatsby. Gatsby taps it against the palm of his other hand, thinking for a minute. "We stay here again today. Tonight, once it's dark, we move. We have to get away from Huntington."

"What about the ATVs?" Spyro asks. "He'll hear them."

"Does he have wheels?" Gatsby asks Borden.

Borden nods, "Dirt bike."

"Those are faster than ATVs..." Gatsby says quietly, mostly to himself, as he starts pacing. "Okay, we'll split up. He can't follow three of us on one dirt bike."

"Should we head back to the cabin?" Rune asks.

Gatsby thinks for only a moment this time before answering, "Well we do have to meet back up somewhere, don't we, sport?" He nods, "We'll split up and go three different directions. Once we're sure we're not being followed, we'll go back to the cabin."

"What about the one who is being followed?" Spyro asks.

"Could we shoot his tires?" I ask. Now everyone turns to look at me, surprised. It takes all my will power to keep from squirming under their gazes, as my lungs feel like they're shrinking a little bit.

"Yes, actually," Gatsby says after a moment, grinning.

"Then we have to make sure it's either us or Rune and Borden that he follows," Spyro says.

Gatsby nods, "Alright. Tonight, we'll go, when it's too dark for him to be able to see who's on which ATV. Whoever he follows, make sure you lead him far from the cabin, as in the middle of nowhere as you can go, before you blow out his tires. Make sure he's stranded and can't follow you and can't see where you're coming back to. By then he'll definitely realize it's a trap."

The rest of the day is spent the same as the past two days have been. The boys continue to explore the surrounding area, and even though it's just to make Stryker think that everything is normal, they seem to it just as thoroughly as before, just in case there is something here that they've missed so far after all. I wonder if they're always this thorough, but I don't ask.