Galen led the group back to the trail, but only because he walked faster than anyone wanted to walk. He refused to take Mike’s advice to head straight out to the trail from the river bend, just as they had come, and he cut over to it at an angle. Jo tsk’d and shook her head. Rancor crossed Mike’s face. But the sun was sitting lower in the sky and Galen’s angle kept its blinding rays out of their eyes, so no one complained. His pace was brisk and relentless. In a while, he was far ahead of the group, but no one seemed to care.
Jo wanted to talk to Mike and offer words of camaraderie (gripe about Galen), but she was too intimidated to walk up beside him with Red there. She stayed some feet behind them, walking alone.
“Does he really think we’re going to kill ourselves to keep up with him?” Red asked the rhetorical question. “Hell with him.”
For once, Jo agreed with her. She walked with her head down. Mike and Red’s shoes struck the dirt in unison. She followed the crunch of their shoes.
Somewhere on the mountain, a bird screamed. Jo lifted her head. Her gaze went straight into the limbs of a thousand perfect Christmas trees. Gnats, with tiny golden bodies swarmed above the grasses. Coolness wove itself into the warm breeze—a warning that the sun was going to leave them.
She began to look closely at the hills and land around her, and an odd, familiar feeling stirred inside her: something was wrong.
On the way to river, she had noticed the plentiful aspen trees, their leaves convulsing in the breeze, as if they would shake right off the branches. The white bark against the greenery was beautiful. She remembered thinking how gorgeous the area would be this fall, when those quaking leaves would turn bright yellow. But there were few aspen trees along this trail, more pines and cottonwoods, more shrubbery and boulders. It seemed odd to her. Why hadn’t Ben noticed? That might be easy to explain. He was usually preoccupied examining things up close, too involved at times to see the big picture. Or…was it her imagination?
She wanted to say something to Mike, but causing another conversation like the one about the birds made her hesitate. Behind her, Dove and Lary were murmuring to each other. Their heads were close together and tilted down, but their eyes looked outward. Their expressions resembled what she imagined her own looked like: troubled.
Jo waited for them to catch up to her. “Guys, does this trail seem right to you?”
Dove and Lary glanced at each other. “We were just talking about that,” Lary said.
Dove was quiet, her eyes clouded with worry. Jo’s chest tightened.
“Mike!” Lary yelled.
He and Red stopped and looked back. Mike grinned, but in a second his smile vanished.
Galen had heard Lary’s yell too. He stopped and his hands flew to his hips. Jo imagined the consternation on his face and his eyes glaring at them.
“What’s up?” Mike asked.
“I’m not certain we’re on the right trail,” Lary said.
Jo saw her own uneasiness mirrored in Dove’s eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Mike asked. He rummaged for the map in his pocket.
Drew, April and Ben caught up to them.
“What’s goin’ on?” Drew asked.
“We’re lost,” Red told him.
April’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Quiet, Red,” Mike said, frowning at her. He looked at April’s fretting face and smiled. “Hey…we’re not lost.”
Red huffed.
Mike studied the crinkled map. “There’s nothin’ else on here. This has to be the trail.”
“Looks the same to me,” Drew said, his eyes roving the landscape.
Ben disagreed, now that he’d taken a moment to look around. The fleshy creases forming in his forehead and the squint of his brown eyes told them all that something was amiss.
And here came Galen. Jo braced herself.
“Galen, did you take a different way back?” Mike’s tone was hard and accusatory.
Galen answered defensively, “I stepped on a trail and went the direction we came from.”
“This isn’t the right trail, Galen.” Red’s tone was sharp.
Galen glanced at the faces in the group. He looked steadily at Mike. “What’s the difference? It’s headed in the right direction. Let’s just keep going.”
Mike started to speak. “I—”
“Wait.” Ben lifted his hand. “You know, we went back to the trail at an angle. What I think happened, is that we encountered another trail—a trail inside a trail.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Red snapped.
“Red,” Dove spoke to her like a mother to a child, “that’s enough.”
Red’s green eyes brimmed with indignation. She flashed them at Dove, but they were no match for Dove’s confident blue gaze. Red folded her arms and fumed.
Mike turned and gazed back in the direction they had come from. “Yeah, maybe that’s it.” But he didn’t sound convinced.
Jo relaxed. That didn’t seem so terrible. A trail inside a trail—the inside trail should be shorter. She grinned. That’s clever, Jo. But she didn’t have the guts to mention it out loud.
“We’re headed in the right direction. Let’s keep moving,” Galen said.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should go back and find the original trail.” Mike was still looking behind them, squinting into the sun, his expression doubtful.
Galen’s eyes darkened like storm clouds. Jo swore lightening flashed inside them. “No! We’ve wasted enough time. We’re going on.”
Mike fired back, “You can go on.”
“And you can stay.” Galen’s voice was loud and severe. “The longer we stand here the more dangerous it’s going to get.”
“Are you really worried about it getting dark, or are you rushing us for another reason?” Mike demanded.
No one moved or spoke.
Jo was jumping up and down on the inside. She was so proud of Mike for asking the question and pinning Galen down.
“What’s in this forest that has you so freaked out?” Mike added. “Is this about the dead birds?”
Galen’s rigid expression began to collapse. He dropped his furious eyes from Mike’s face. His whole body, drawn up and ready for a fight, wilted. His voice started out strong. “I don’t know.” With his next words, his voice weakened. “I’m not sure.”
Red bristled. “All this fuss—and you don’t know?”
Galen glanced at Red and then his gaze went out into the trees. He stuffed his hands half-way into his pockets. Emotions roiled on his usually stoic face. “It’s getting stronger,” he said, almost to himself.
“What is?” Lary asked.
“Oh, don’t listen to him,” Red snapped again. “He’s crazy.”
Jo’s lips puckered and she shot a look to April and Dove.
“I think we should go back and start again,” Mike said. “If it gets late—so what? We can make a fire—”
“No.” Galen’s head jerked towards Mike. His hands sprang out of his pockets and he squared his shoulders. He took a step, his fingers curling inward. “That’s not happening.”
Mike jerked his arms from the straps of his backpack and it dropped to the ground. Everyone’s eyes widened. Alarm contracted Jo’s chest. She pulled on Dove’s arm.
“Lary,” Dove invoked his name and pressed her hand to his back.
Lary stepped between the two men. He put a hand on Mike’s shoulder and held the other one out to halt Galen. “Guys, we’ve walked a long way already. I don’t think it’s fair to make the girls go back.”
Jo pursed her lips. That wasn’t exactly the speech she had wanted him to give. She shared a frown with Dove.
“And if by ‘girls’ you mean me,” Drew said, “I agree!”
Lary grinned at Drew. “I didn’t mean you, bud.”
“Ladies,” Galen spoke sternly, “and I mean all of you. We’re wasting time and sunlight.” His eyes, like fiery-steel, looked at Jo. She tried to be fierce but her defiant demeanor turned to bewilderment as
she stared back at him. Her brow crinkled. She was remembering him with the family—their confrontation at the river—the odd moment on the porch—all of it whirring in her head.
His eyes flickered to a softer grey and his jaw relaxed. He looked away from her and spoke to the group. “Listen, this trail curves to the east, just up ahead.” His voice was calmer. “We’ll be headed back in the direction of the chalet. Let’s just keep moving.” He turned and walked away. He didn’t seem to care if anyone followed him, though he glanced back at Jo—a look she caught, but pretended not to.
Mike’s face was flushed. He moved to go after Galen, but Lary grabbed his arm.
“It is the same direction,” Lary said to his friend. “Maybe just another path the Forest Service made.”
“I don’t like it,” Mike said, squinting from the dropping sun. “It doesn’t feel right.”
“I know what you mean,” Jo agreed with him.
Red looked towards Jo and her eyes became slits of emerald fire. “Oh, that’s it! Enough of this!” She pushed past Mike. “Galen!” She trotted to catch up to him. Galen didn’t slow down.
Jo caught the subtle movement of Mike’s head shaking as he watched Red. He picked up his backpack and slipped it on. His hands squeezed the straps and he pressed his lips together. He looked at the trees and hills, the sun heading downward in the day’s demise. He ran a hand through his dry hair. “Everybody Ok with this?” He swept his eyes over the group and everyone nodded in agreement. Jo was careful not to let him see that she was beaming at him.
“That guy’s gonna end up in the drink,” Mike said to Lary, as they walked.
Jo grinned at Dove and whispered, “See? I’m not the only one who wants to kill him.”
Dove produced a weak smile. Jo bumped up against her arm, “Don’t worry, Dove. We’re in good hands.” She nodded her head at Mike and Lary walking in front of them.
She was taking a deep breath of cool mountain air, when she saw Red trudging back. The girl had an angry expression on her crimson colored face. Jo’s breath escaped.
Chapter 16