of the dam where they’re all stripping to their boxers.
“Suit yourself,” he says, his voice muffled as his shirt goes over his head. He turns, grabs something from the ground, and starts hunting around in the backpack he’s holding up.
Thank God I haven’t lost my reflexes. A dark bottle comes flying at me, and I barely have time to snatch it from the air before it shatters in my face.
“The fuck, man?” I lift it by the neck, glaring first at the anonymous bottle of alcohol and then turning that scowl to Sylvester.
He shrugs, takes two long steps closer, and snatches the bottle out of my hand. “That’s only for the cool kids, the ones going swimming,” he says through a chuckle.
Jesus.
“Yeah, enjoy the hangover,” I mutter, turning on my heel.
I wander off into the overgrown woods pressing up against the dam. What was on this land before Happy Mountain decided it would be put to better use as a prison for juvenile delinquents?
Doesn’t matter now.
Probably didn’t matter back then either.
An hour or so later, the forest clears up. I sit down on a flat rock and then lay on my back, staring up at the few stars glimmering between the clouds. Thoughts like mine aren’t good company—especially when they revolve around Emma and Candy and all the friends I had to leave behind.
I shove up from the ground with a growl stuck in my throat, already wishing I’d just stayed at the fucking lodge in my fucking bed waiting for sleep.
There’s something sweet in the air—a night flower that’s only now opening its petals. I change course, meandering back toward the dam to find the source of that elusive scent.
That’s when I hear girls’ voices. Giggles.
Some of the girls are out too. Wait…could Candy be one of them?
I’m not allowed to talk to her—or any girls—back at the lodges. In fact, since Dad shipped us out here, I haven’t had more than two words with her, and been punished for them every time.
But not out here.
I storm back, now following laughter and splashing. The dam wall rises ahead, black and impenetrable, and the surrounding land I’m standing on is too low to see over the brim. I grab a nearby branch and start climbing a tree hugging the embankment.
A moment later, my head clears the bushy leaves, the dam spread out below.
I have no way of telling if Candy is any one of those shapes moving through the water—it’s too dark to make out faces down there.
But there’s a shape I do recognize.
Sylvester moves through the water like a shark, leaving V-shaped ripples in his wake. And, just like a shark locked to its target, he makes a beeline for someone climbing out of the water on the other side of the dam.
It only takes a glimpse of that pale leg before I know who’s trying to escape the dam wall. And her name is already on my tongue when Sylvester catches up with her and drags her back into the water.
My chest closes.
Candy’s name withers on my tongue.
Icy water snaps around me like a leaden sheet, stealing my breath and making me gasp when I break the surface. I absently kick off my shoes and drag off my shirt so I can swim faster.
Both of them are under the water.
All I can think about is that bottle of alcohol. How much of it is left?
If any.
Fuck.
I reach the spot where they went under just as Sylvester’s head breaks the surface.
“Where is she?” I yell, flicking wet hair from my eyes with a twist of my neck as I scan the inky water for signs of movement. “Where is she!”
“I took care of her for you, bro. Not gonna be your problem anymore.” Then Sylvester starts laughing.
The stench of whiskey hits me, and I’m not even that close to him.
I never thought anyone would dare break a cardinal rule like ‘no alcohol’ in a place like this. But Sylvester has nothing to lose.
I catch a breath and dive. Opening my eyes is useless—there’s nothing to see, and no light to see it with if there was. Bubbles stream from my lips as I let out a soundless yell of frustration and claw myself back to the surface.
Noise pours over me, and part of that is something I recognize intrinsically.
Screams.
I swing around and start forward before my mind’s fully caught up to my body’s instinctual motion. What’s important is Candy’s body bobbing motionless on the black surface of this godforsaken