I shake my head and take another step back. “No way. I’m not going anywhere with them. You shouldn’t either—they’re…they’re dangerous.”

She laughs. “Dangerous? Oh Tess, don’t be daft!”

I watch her climb onto the bus, that massive smile still on her face, and I waver, rising onto the balls of my feet. If I run, I could make it, jump onto the bus with my sister, off on an adventure with the “amazing” brothers, the Insanely-Hots. Or I could wait while the bus pulls away, taking my sister on an adventure while I stay at home. Safe. Alone. No massive smile anywhere near my face.

I’m still wavering when she turns back to me, two tickets in her hand. “Max and Lena might be there,” she says, and it breaks my trance. I jump onto the bus after her, snatching my ticket out of her hand as she laughs.

I know it’s a mistake the moment we get off the bus and I see Jack and Sean already waiting. Jack’s eyes are hidden behind sunglasses but he’s grinning that hateful grin of his. Sean is leaning against the bus stop, hands in pockets, shoulders hunched, looking down at the ground rather than at us. Bella said they were taking us for a picnic, but neither of them is carrying anything.

“Where are Max and Lena?” I say as I follow Bella off the bus.

Jack cocks his head. “Is that the only reason you came? To see the lovely Maxie-boy?”

“Shut up, Jack,” Bella says, rolling her eyes. “Stop winding her up. Where are they? And where’s this picnic you promised?”

“They couldn’t sneak out of school. Not as practiced as us. And the picnic was a bit of a red herring to get you here.”

“To get us where?” Bella says, looking round at the dead-end street. We’re in a town half an hour’s bus ride from our village, nothing about it standing out as worth a visit—a few tired-looking cheap shops, some ugly houses.

“Come on,” Jack says. “You’ll see.”

He leads us away from the town center, Bella and Sean flanking him, me trailing behind, wishing I’d never come. It’s a two-hour wait until the next bus home, so I’m stuck with them until then. And I swear it’s colder here—my toes are going numb in my sneakers. Some bloody adventure.

We’ve been walking for fifteen minutes when Jack stops. We’re well out of the town center, surrounded by trees and fields. Jack stands by a fence bordering a scrubby field surrounded by woods.

“This is it,” he says, looking back at the rest of us.

“This is what?” Bella says, a note of irritation in her voice.

“This is where the other girl—Annie Weston’s body was found.”