“You know what’s funny?” Ashley said, though her voice held no humor. “My driver, before we got here, you know. She was this young woman. And after she put on my blindfold, and took my phone away, and we were driving, and she knew I couldn’t see, she said, ‘This is the part where we harvest your organs.’ Obviously it was a joke. And I laughed, because what else could I do? But part of me was like, She could be telling the truth. And I wouldn’t know the difference. And I would probably react the same way.”

“That’s an awful joke,” said Mara. “If you don’t know the person.”

Ashley shrugged. “It’s kind of funny.”

Then Mara had a terrible thought. Worse than the missing crew. Worse than Kyle in the tree. Worse than all of it. And she knew, as she thought it, that it was true. That it was the most dangerous possible truth. And she couldn’t believe it took her this long to understand.

“You thought it was good TV,” she said. “You fucked me to make good TV.”

Ashley didn’t answer.

Mara felt herself sinking, collapsing. As if the forest floor was rising up around her. And then it got worse. “What did you mean,” she said, “when you said, ‘You’re all the same’?”

Ashley turned her face away.

“You owe me this,” Mara said.

“It’s not your business.”

“No. Tell me. Who else did you sleep with?”

“It doesn’t hurt to get along with the crew,” Ashley said. “You would know. You did the same thing.”

“Who was it?”

“Lenny.”

“Of course it was. Of fucking course.”

“It’s not like you’re single.”

“I’m not jealous,” said Mara. “That’s not the problem. I think it’s disgusting.”

“Do you hear yourself?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. I’m not mad that you fucked Lenny to be a star. I’m mad that you made me part of it.” Mara knew it was cruel as she said it. But she couldn’t bear the questions in her mind. When Ashley let Mara touch her, that first time by the lake. Was she doing it for Mara? Because she thought Mara was crew, and she wanted to keep the crew happy? Was it for the audience, a performance? Was it for him?

Did she think she had to? When Mara kissed her. Each time that Ashley kissed back. Did she think she had to?

Mara felt nauseous. She couldn’t look at Ashley. Was that fair? Maybe Ashley was the one who should look away. Maybe they had both been used. Her throat tightened, and she thought she might vomit, bracing herself while the wave passed. She knew Ashley was breaking beside her, and she didn’t care.

Mara broke, too. She started to run. In no direction, in every direction, stumbling through the dark. Something tore at the sole of her foot, and she felt her sandal growing wet, but she didn’t slow. Not until she reached the bank of the creek, where she fell to her knees on the stones.