As she sat down, Darcy noticed a small note taped to her desk. She always sat in the same place by the window, so whoever wanted to leave her a note would know where to put it. Darcy’s hands shook a little as she opened the note. Maybe it was an apology from Tarah and Cooper. That would be so great. That would make everything okay again.

The note was not handwritten. Instead, somebody had cut out letters from a newspaper or magazine and pasted them together to form words:

You’ll pay for what you did, Darcy.

You can run, but you can’t hide.

Darcy stared at the note in stunned silence. It was obviously written by someone who hated her. Could Tarah and Cooper be this angry at her? Was it possible that Brisana was right after all, that these were dangerous people?

Or was this note placed on Darcy’s desk by some kid acting for someone else—like the fat man in the silver Toyota? Was some deranged stranger after her?

Chapter 5

Tarah came into biology and sat in her usual place. Darcy swallowed hard and walked over to her desk. Before Darcy could say a word, Tarah sheepishly mumbled,“Hey, sorry about Saturday. It was a dumb thing Cooper did. Me too. Hope you’re not still mad. ”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Darcy said, flooded with relief. She had dreaded this moment for so long, and now the problem was resolved. “I got some books from the library for our report. I came up with a good problem for our project—we can focus on what happens to the plant and animal life when the water level rises twelve inches. ”

“Works for me,” Tarah said with a wide grin.

“We can observe things like mussels and scallops in the real shallow water, and clams and anemones in the deeper water,” Darcy said.

“Huh? What was that last thing you mentioned?” Tarah asked.

“An anemone. They’re like flowers under the water, red and pink and green. I saw a brooding anemone down at the tidal pool. ”

“What was it brooding about?” Tarah asked with a twinkle in her eye. “Somebody coming after it?”

Darcy had to laugh. “They can take care of themselves. They’ve got this mouth with ninety stinging tentacles. ”

“I thought you said they were pretty flowers! Ewwwww!”

Darcy had almost forgotten about the threatening note on her desk. In her relief at making up with Tarah, she found it hard to believe that either Tarah or Cooper had anything to do with the note. Even if they had, now that she and Tarah were reconciled, the trouble would be over. She decided to put it out of her mind along with the memory of the water bug down her back.