The Lost Daughter (Denali #2)

Chapter 12

I try to sleep, but mostly I stare at the shadows in my room. Where’s Ray? He hasn’t come back. He didn’t say he’d come back, but I thought he would. Wouldn’t he at least send me a message saying he found LV and that everything was honkey dorie?

I pull on some jeans and my coat and wander once more back into the cold. I hold myself as I head down to the path. The moonlight shimmers along the lake, which is a pretty good thing, because even with a full moon, the roots are unruly and hazardous. I walk slowly, feeling my way through the dim night. 

As I approach the dock, something moves out of the corner of my eye. I freeze. Two sets of footsteps thud along the wood and, behind the trees blocking my view, a figure emerges. It’s dark, but I’d know that determined gait and stiff shoulders anywhere. Ray.

I dash toward him, but a root catches me first. As I hit the cold, hard ground, I grunt. I shake my head and look up, ready to call to Ray, except…he’s flytting something. A large mass on a plank. I squint and make out that gray charcoal dress, those silvery stockings shine in the moonlight. Her arm flops over the wooden plank and limply bobs along as she floats in the air behind Ray

What the hell? Why is Ray flytting LV?

The owner of the second pair of footsteps emerges behind him. The Captain.

I hunch down behind some bushes, but my feet slip on the mud and I fall, crackling leaves and branches. If there was any night not to be a klutz, this would be it, yet here I am fumbling around the forest.

Sh*t. I close my eyes and wait, in the dirt, my hands against stones and twigs, my white, cloudy breath coming out in short, hot wisps. There’s no sound. I peek an eye open. Through the branches, they look in my direction. My heart slams against my breastbone and I hold on to the twigs because even flimsy twigs are something to hold on to.

Finally, the Captain turns to Ray, and Ray puts his hands behind his head and looks at the stars.

He’s calming himself down. I suppose flytting a body would be rather stressful.

Sh*t.Sh*t. Sh*t.

I carefully get up to a squat and curl my fingers around the trunk as though it will protect me. I rest my cheek against the bark and wait.

Ray keeps walking and flyttes the body into one of the boats. He blows warm air into his hands and rubs them together like he’s trying to make a fire, before he turns to the Captain and shakes his hand. The Captain pulls Ray to him. Brief. Quick. He puts his arm around him and gives him two back pats, before pulling away, turning, and walking swiftly down the dock.

Ray steadies the boat with his mind as he steps into it. The boat streams through the water. There’s a motor on the boat, that could give his mind a break, but he has to keep quiet, at first, of course… Stealing away in the night with a body is a clandestine sort of activity.

I bite my lip so hard, I hardly hear the approaching footsteps crunching the moonlight gravel. The Captain.

I shift as carefully as I can to shield myself from the path. I clutch the tree hard as he gets closer and closer. What if he remembers the sound from before? What if he wants to scope out the area to see what might have caused it? What if he decided perhaps my life should also end and I should also lay limp on a boat that thumps along against the ebbing ocean.

The footsteps crunch in front of me. The Captain’s quick rhythm stays constant as he walks right past me.

I let my breath out slowly. Once he’s good and gone, I turn back to the lake. Ray has flytted the boat so far by now that I can barely make out his figure as he stands and starts the motor. The faintest buzz permeates the air as the boat smoothly chugs to the mainland.

So…who saw that coming? :)

Also, if you missed it, I reveal the actor I have in mind as I write the Captain here: http://www.wattpad.com/112644432-special-feature-my-dream-cast-for-heartsick. Before you have a look, any guesses? Who do you think would be good casting choices for Denali and Ray?