Because the Night

not your toy

The car drove off. The night did not. The night was still around them, a dark so dark it smothered. 

For the first time, the thought rang out in her gut, like a bell: I should've gone home with my mom. Maybe she could call her. "He didn't take cell phones," she said aloud. 

"Look at your cell phone," Diego said. "Just look."

She did. No bars. It as about as useful as a brick in this situation—unless the latest iPhone upgrade happened to contain an "eject" button that could catapult her into tomorrow, or onto a LA-Z-BOY, or into an alternate reality. 

"They brought us to the dead zone> This part of the resort hasn't been developed yet. Dad always planned to, but. Guess they saved the wilderness for their little ritual."

"So you haven't been here much," she said, inching closer to him. He was as tall as a tree, but unlike the many trees around them, he probably wasn't enchanted to appear scary by a malicious witch o' the wood. Those had been the product of a fairy tale, just a few hours ago. Now, witches were real, and so were monsters. That's what happens when you spend too much time in the woods at night. 

"No at all," he said. "Not. At. All. Much to my dad's disappointment, I was too busy dancing to traipse around in the woods. Learn which moss was edible. Which mushrooms could kill your enemy if you mixed it into their food."

"Right. And the hyper useful stuff. Like how to get home." 

"Yes,' he said, resigned. That wasn't the tone she wanted him to strike. Lily wanted him to be the brave leader he as on the dance floor, when he guided her with a flick of his eyes, so effortlessly that she didn't need to know where she was going. 

She knew he'd take her there. 

Now, it was his turn. "Well, I did lead a few treks in college. Coincidentally. I was a leader for the orientation trips. Rafting, but still. It required outdoors skills. I know how to build a tent when sopping wet, for example."

Diego turned to her. "You have practical skills, Lily?" 

"Don't look so surprised. As a matter of fact, I do. I can use a compass—and wait till you try my scrambled eggs."

He wrapped her up in a hug. "You know, you're just full of surprises," he murmured into her neck. "Why didn't I know this before?" 

"There's a whole lifetime you still need to learn about me," she whispered. It was getting cold. "Right. So, we should follow the road back in the direction we came." 

That seemed simple enough. 

There was just one thing. 

She didn't know which way, exactly, they'd come from. The car continued in the same direction, but it had made loop-de-loops on the way. Diego's sinister cousin had thoroughly turned them around. 

"Which way do you think is the right way?" She asked. If they ended up half-eaten by the side of the road, she didn't want to have all the blame. But he raised his arms, as if to say: Don't pick me, and don't blame me for what happens next. Lily experienced a spark of white-hot rage, the first of the night, at how he was abandoning her to deal with his own family's madness. Are you kidding me? She thought. 

So she picked a direction. They'd go the way they came. Downhill—hopefully in the direction of the hotel. 

"Aye aye, captain," Diego said, as she started walking in that direction. She wondered if he could tell how she didn't walk in that direction, but stormed off in that direction. "Are you sure—"