Blood pulsed in Emma’s ears. It took everything she had to keep her feet moving forward, because if she tried to turn back, she might get lost . . . or worse.

“But if that’s the lie, that means you cheated to get on the court,” Madeline murmured. “You couldn’t do that, could you?”

“I don’t know, could I?” Gabby taunted. She twisted around and stared straight at Emma. Emma couldn’t see her features, but she could tell Gabby was smirking. “What do you think I’m capable of, Sutton?”

Suddenly, the trail hit an abrupt dead end, and the girls stopped short. Instead of a hot spring burbling before them, they stood at the edge of a cliff. Pebbles cascaded over the side. The faded light showed silhouettes of criss-crossing branches below. It was too dark to tell how far of a drop it was.

A gust of wind howled along the trail, rustling dead leaves at Emma’s feet, and she realized with a jolt how wrong she’d been to think she could handle Gabby. They were in the desert with no flashlights and no cell phone service. One wrong step, one stumble, and Emma would become the headline Gabby and Lili wanted: Teen Dies in Tragic Desert Accident. It was the perfect scenario, really. Because if Emma died out here, everyone would think Sutton Mercer met her end during an ill-fated drinking game. There would no longer be a murder to cover up, no reason for anyone to take Sutton’s place. It would all just be over.

“Uh, Gabby?” Madeline shuffled her feet. “Did we take a wrong turn?”

“Nope.” Gabby smacked the flashlight she was holding and tried the switch again, but it still didn’t work. “The path continues on the other side of this cliff. It’s a really easy jump, I swear.”

Gabby pointed a few feet in the distance. A ravine separated one side of the trail from the other.

“I’m not jumping,” Emma said in a shaking voice.

“Yes, you are.” Gabby sounded amused. “It’s the only way to get to the springs.”

A pair of eyes glowed from a tree branch above Emma’s head. She made out the shape of a great horned owl.

Madeline pushed around them. “Let’s just get there already, okay? I’m sick of hiking.” She held on to her backpack straps and did a graceful, ballet-dancer leap over the chasm, clearing it easily. “Piece of cake!” she yelled from the other side.

Gabby let Charlotte go next, then Laurel. But when Emma tried to edge past her, Gabby stuck out her arm to stop her. “Not so fast,” she said in a low voice.

Emma’s stomach dropped to her feet. This was it.

“Run, Emma!” I screamed at my sister. “Get out of there!”

Across the ravine, the other girls shifted, waiting. “C’mon, guys,” Madeline called out. “What’s the holdup?”