could be Sam! She was always the best one at starting fires.” She stepped from foot to foot, itching to go past Gabi. “Come on. We have to go check it out.”
Just then, they heard a piercing whistle coming from the same direction as the smoke. Luke!
“Is that the signal?” Eve’s eyes widened. “Can we go?”
“Yes!” Gabi practically pushed them by her. “Go! Go! I think he found her!”
Five minutes later, they emerged into a tiny clearing and broke into a run when they saw Sam lying on the grass against her backpack. Luke stood right next to her, digging into his own backpack, and when Sam spotted the girls sprinting toward her, she smiled wider than Gabi had ever seen her.
Eve, Madison, and Waverly slid their backpacks off and fell down on the ground beside Sam, hugging her while Gabi watched. She met Luke’s eyes, and he gave her a tiny thumbs-up. She turned away and blinked hard, trying not to let the relieved tears flow. Sam was okay. She was really okay.
“Gabriela, I need the radio.” Luke reached out for it, then called in their coordinates as he checked his compass, then the map.
Madison looked up. “This would be an awful lot easier if you could use a cell phone up here.”
“Nah. Cell phones are for sissies. I got this.” He turned away, walking a few steps toward the woods as he talked to Oliver.
“He’s such a dinosaur,” Madison grumbled.
“He has a GPS, Madison.” Gabi winked. “He’s just playing you.”
Madison narrowed her eyes as she watched Luke walk away. “Figures.”
Gabi crouched down beside Sam, touching her hand as the dogs jumped up to kiss her cheeks with their cold noses. The poor girl had dirt everywhere, and for the first time, Gabi noticed her right boot was off and her ankle looked huge. Before she could formulate the best way to start talking with Sam, the teenager saved her the trouble.
“Gabi, do you remember that day back in June when you came up to the lounge to deliver our doom?”
Gabi’s eyebrows went upward. “Yes?”
“And remember how you admitted you were plotting our murders?”
“I don’t think I ever admitted that, really.” Gabi smiled. “Considering, maybe. But definitely not plotting.”
“Well, I was just thinking that the murderous feeling you had then is probably nothing compared to the one you have right now.”
“Not true.” Gabi shook her head. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Gabi?” Sam’s eyebrows matched her own. “You are a seriously sucky liar.”
“True, but I’m not lying right now. I’ve been far more worried than mad this whole time.”
Eve nodded. “It’s true, actually. She didn’t even threaten to leave you out here for the bears once.”
“Thank you, Eve.” Gabi rolled her eyes. “See? I even let them call a search team.”
“What?” Sam’s eyes looked suddenly frightened. “Oh, God. I’m in so much trouble. I was already in so much trouble. But now?” She laid her head back on her backpack, closing her eyes. “I’m dead.”
“Actually, you’re not.” Madison pointed to her. “Disgusting and dirty, but definitely not dead. What the hell happened, Sam? Why did you take off without telling us?”
Sam kept her eyes closed for a long moment, then opened them. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Luke came back over just then, clipping the radio back to his pack and pulling out a med kit. He pointed to Sam’s ankle and raised his eyebrows.
“Okay, team. What do we have here?”
All three girls leaned over to view her purple, swollen ankle. It was at least sprained badly, maybe broken. Gabi glanced at Sam’s eyes. The girl had to be in some serious pain.
Waverly tipped forward onto her knees. “She’s got a sprain or a break. We need to splint and wrap it, and somehow we’re going to need to carry her out of the woods, because there’s no way this girl can walk on this foot.”
“Good,” Luke replied, handing her a med kit. “Go to it.”
“Me?” Her eyes widened.
“Yup.” He shrugged. “You diagnosed the problem, you get to direct the treatment. Eve and Madison? Do what she asks.”
Gabi watched as a glow came over Waverly’s face. Then she turned to Madison, and probably for the first time in her life, gave her a command. Madison, probably for the first time in her life, merely nodded and did exactly as Waverly directed.
As Gabi watched, she felt Luke’s eyes on her, but when she looked up to meet them, he suddenly got busy with the map.
“We’re about two miles in from