“I think we should look for a place where we can get a map and use the phone,” I say. “The police still want to talk to us.”

“They do,” Harper says, “and they have no idea when they’ll show up. They did give us phone numbers so we can call when we get home if nothing else.” She doesn’t sound too pressed. She sounds exhausted. Resigned.

Brecken’s eyes flick to the rearview mirror, meeting mine. “We don’t know where the station is,” he says. “But we can go back if you’d like to chat with our creepy yellow hat friend to see if he knows.”

His words slither up my spine.

“You said we needed to stay away from him,” Harper says.

“Yes, but we’re not doing what the police told us to do,” I say.

“There was a power outage,” Harper says. “I doubt they’d want us to sit in a dark parking lot with a scary drifter, hoping we don’t succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning or whatever.”

“So, we just drive off and keep heading home?” Josh asks.

“Of course not.” A frown pinches Harper’s face. “We’ll stop the second we find something open. We will call.”

“It’s not like we’re trying to get away with something,” Brecken says.

I don’t respond, but Josh and I share another brief look. He holds up his hand in a signal that I think means ease up. Or give me time to think. I don’t care what it means. In this moment, I feel a little less alone, and that’s enough.

Kayla’s passed out again. Or faking it convincingly. Harper looks sleepy, too. Brecken is fiddling with the radio, of all things. And Josh seems lost in his own thoughts, a tendon in his jaw jumping. He’d better think fast, because if he’s right about Brecken, we’re in real trouble.

Or, wait… Am I the only one in trouble? What if this ominous feeling has mostly been mine because I’m the one being hunted? Brecken’s eyes find mine in the mirror again and I remember—Josh’s book was in his bag. And I either lost my phone when I was in the front seat, or when I was running through the campground. The common factor in both situations? Brecken. And at the gas station. I remember Harper and Brecken talking.

Josh lost a book, I lost my phone, Harper lost her wallet, and Kayla lost something she won’t name. Probably drugs. Brecken said he lost something, too, but doubts are pooling in my belly, cold and slippery. Did he stage that to see our reaction?

Did he take our things?