enjoy the cool breeze that rustled the grasses and herbs, letting the sensations wash over me and ease the edge off of my agitation. The heady scent of lemongrass was drowning out the more subtle smells. Someone had cut a swath through it recently, maybe for something Mrs. Cassidy was whipping up in the kitchen tonight.
Breathing in the sour-sweet smell, I turned off the main path and walked into the garden, following the less-packed dirt trail that led through the herbs and vegetables. There wasn’t much still growing this late in the year, and much of what was left had been harvested already, but a few of the hardier plants were still going strong. I brushed my fingers through the rosemary and basil, liking how their dusky scents clung to my skin. There was peppermint out here, too. I could smell it, but they must have had it hidden in pots away from the rest of the plants to keep it from taking over the garden.
There were no benches or gardening tools that I could see, and I wasn’t sure Mr. Cassidy would take too kindly to my digging around in his garden anyway. I used to love gardening growing up, but apartment living wasn’t exactly conducive to growing my own produce. After sampling the amazing food they served here, I was starting to regret that a little.
Wanting to sit down, forget about Jim Pradiz, and just enjoy the sun for a while, I ambled my way out of the garden and toward the creek. After the rain, it was swollen with runoff from the peaks around us. I found a good-sized rock a little way off the path to sit on, dipping my fingers in the icy cold water and turning my face up to the sun. It was pleasant, doing nothing, just enjoying the sounds of birds calling to each other in the trees and a couple of kids running around nearby. Probably Billy and one or two of the other Weres’ kids.
Out here relaxing in the sun and fresh air was nice, but at this rate I knew I’d be bouncing off the cabin walls to go home by Sunday at the latest. I sorely hoped Ethan wouldn’t keep everyone for too long, and that he hadn’t hurt himself or anybody else. It bugged me that nobody was around, that it was so quiet, and that there wasn’t much to do since I couldn’t go walking or hiking by myself.
Actually, it was really quiet.
Now that my attention was on it, I opened my eyes and looked around. There were no people walking around. The kids had stopped yelling and carrying on. Even the birds singing in the trees had quieted.
Uneasy, I rose to my feet, wiping my wet hands off on my jeans. I took a look around but didn’t see anyone hiding in the greenery. The woods grew thick near the bank of the creek not that far off the trail, and somebody could theoretically be hiding in the tree line. The sun was bright and high in the sky, but the bushes were dense and rife with deep shadows.
I carefully moved up the bank to the grass, rubbing some of the mud off my sneakers before taking the path over the creek and toward the cabins. I hoped I could find Kimberly, but I wasn’t sure where she was staying, and there was the added worry that she and Paula seemed to be good friends. Kimberly hadn’t been rude to me like Paula, but I wasn’t sure how she felt about me after hearing the news I’d been Royce’s little pet blood doll.
Chaz, followed closely by Simon and Dillon, was ambling up the path toward me. Whatever was in the brush hightailed it, making quite a lot of noise as it rushed off on their approach. Chaz frowned when he reached me, staring off into the bushes even as he gave me a quick hug.
“Hey, love. Hope you weren’t too bored without me.”
“Nah,” I replied, getting up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Heard the new guy was giving you trouble. Everything okay?”
Simon and Dillon exchanged a look I couldn’t read. Chaz’s brows arched in surprise, but his smile eased my worry I’d said something wrong.
“Ethan will be fine. He’s having a rough transition. I left a couple of the guys with him. As for you”—I squealed when he picked me up, laughing as he spun around to face the woods and cabins before setting