Rachelle, who was closest to me, turned in my direction. ‘This is what happens when you work together and when you’re nice to others,’ she sniped.

My jaw worked uselessly. Whatever I’d seen had already gone. The river was in that direction so maybe the bloody thing would drown. I could only hope.

‘Be as nice as you want,’ I shot back to them as they skipped away in front of me. ‘But just remember that only one person can win!’

They ignored me. I twisted away and stared back through the undergrowth. If this really was another undead necromantic being, I needed Winter and I needed him now.

Chapter Seventeen

In the end I came last, a very bedraggled last at that. The rest of the contestants clapped politely as my name, quite literally, went up in smoke. Then Belinda stepped forward and pointed at Harriet as the winner.

Despite my fear about what I may or may not have seen, I was surprised. She must have come ahead in the puzzle section. I raised my hands to clap then caught Barry frowning at me. I dropped my arms and pouted instead. Being mean was rather hard work.

The only saving grace was that we were given an hour’s break before voting. I knew that I’d be free from the cameras because, on screen, the transition between the challenge and the voting happened instantaneously. All the producers made a beeline for their contestants. No doubt this ‘break’ was to make sure that everyone voted the way they were supposed to.

‘Ivy!’ Barry stretched his arms out expansively. ‘Bad luck.’

I shrugged. ‘Whatever. I have to go.’

‘Huh?’

‘You want to talk strategy for the voting, right?’

‘Of course. What else is there?’

Bloodthirsty zombies lurking in the trees less than half a mile from here. ‘You’d be surprised,’ I murmured. ‘But either I’ll be voted out or I won’t be. Nothing else I do will make a difference now.’

‘Ivy…’

‘I have to go.’ I paused for a beat. ‘I’ve got my period.’

As expected, Barry blanched and backed off. I stalked away from him, my posture ramrod straight to ensure he didn’t come after me. Now all I had to do was hope that Winter had returned from his snooping.

Ignoring the crew members busying themselves rigging up the voting area, I swept along as if I knew exactly what I was doing. I couldn’t see Winter anywhere. Moonbeam, however, was coming straight towards me so I veered away and moved into the trees. I didn’t dare go far; after all, there might be a damn zombie lurking there. All the same, the last thing I needed now was to be drawn into yet another chat with Belinda’s plotting son.

Keeping to the fringes of the small wood, I looked desperately for Winter’s familiar form. I was so busy searching for him that I almost tripped up again. This time it wasn’t on a pesky tree root, however; it was Brutus.