A soft indrawn breath from Leo Gries. “Then why are you helping us? Why aren’t you warning us away like the others?”

“I’ve walked this island many times before. I’ve fished in its waters. I am familiar with the island’s ghosts, and they are familiar with me. My countrymen will be blamed if anything happens to any of you. My presence might help.”

“You are very kind. Thank you.”

“We’re not going to be intimidated by some old wives’ tales,” Hawaiian Shirt says. “We stand to make a lot of money from this show if we get the ratings we’re after—or at least if we make it good enough for the network to give us a bigger push.” He grins at me. “And when we do, we’ll give you a bonus, Alon, and a nice treat for your dog, too. We’ll finish out this season, whatever happens.”

No sooner are the words out of his mouth than we hear a horrific crash.

The sound comes from the direction of the cabins.

I sprint toward the site before the rest of them can react. Crew members flee, screaming.

By the time I arrive, the damage has already been done.

One of the pre-fab cabins is gone, fallen into a sinkhole that has appeared, seemingly out of nowhere—a perfect circle on the ground, a mimicry of one of the many machines that the builders used for construction.

An ancient monstrosity stands at its center. A tree without a trunk. It is, instead, a fortress of webbed roots and slim ivy-like coils climbing up the pre-fab’s foundation to spread its ossified tree branches. They reach up greedily, as if to claw at the sky above with their gnarled fingers.

Crew members gather at the edge of the sinkhole, unable to look away. Someone screams and points toward the thickness of the strange, twisted mass within the dead tree.

Within the cobweb of branches, a body lies huddled; its head is thrown back, and its mummified mouth is twisted open in an endless, soundless scream.

Four

The Corpse Tree

Armani is beyond elated. “Are you seeing this?” He chortles, prancing around the sinkhole in unfettered glee. “What are you all waiting for? Did we get footage of the sinkhole appearing? Were any cameras rolling when this was…? Why are you all standing around? Go!”

The loss of the cabin has not put a damper on his enthusiasm. The same is not true for Leo Gries, who is appalled to learn that the destroyed bungalow was his. “Didn’t you test the ground?” he yells at the surveyors, visibly shaken. “If I’d been inside, I could have been killed!”

One of the scientists speaks up, looking rattled himself. “The chances of a sinkhole of this size…we ran every test we could, and there was no way this was—”

“Well, run them again! Test the whole island!”

Goatee stares down at the hole, face pale. He mutters something about a drink and staggers away.

Askal hasn’t stopped barking since the tree was unearthed, only calming down when I hug him. He’s shaking.