See How They Run (Embassy Row 2)

“No wonder people say this place is haunted,” Rosie says. Then, undeterred, she turns, ready to get back to business.

Slowly, we pair off. Megan and Lila start toward the rocky cliffs at the far side of the island. Rosie and Noah comb the beach.

“I guess that leaves us,” Alexei tells me.

Together, we start toward the trees.

I know exactly where I’m going. My feet move on their own. The sun burns above us, but its light is fractured as it cuts through the trees, shifting, swirling. I’m inside a kaleidoscope, I have to think as I make my way toward the clearing.

I close my eyes and try to remember it as it was that night. There was music in the distance. Shadows played across the forest floor. But in the light of day, I see the details that were invisible then, especially as I stare up at the high structure that disappears inside a rocky hill.

“Wow,” Alexei says. “It’s … bigger than I thought.”

The stones of the structure itself are staggered, so it looks almost like a pyramid built into the hillside, so utterly out of place among the trees and crawling vines, the thick bushes that almost swallow one side of it whole. From the air, you’d never even see it, and I know now how this place has remained almost a total secret for so long.

As I creep closer I see flowers and smell honeysuckle — see a piece of a hand coming out of the ground, as if Neptune is trying to wrench a sword free from the flowers and the vines. It feels like I’m stealing into some ancient burial ground and if we disturb anything the giant is going to wake.

But a part of me swore I’d never wake a sleeping giant ever again. That’s why I’m careful as I head toward the place where Spence and I stood not long ago. The emblem is right where I remember it, so much clearer in the light of day.

“What is that?” Alexei is right behind me. I can feel his chest against my back as he leans closer to see.

“I don’t know,” I lie.

He’s too close.

We’re back at the place where it happened — the kiss, the argument. The fight. And it’s like we’re both only just realizing it.

“Grace.” Alexei’s breath is warm on the back of my neck.

When I turn, he’s just right … there. I don’t even have to reach out to touch him.

“I didn’t mean it,” I say.

“What?”

“The kiss. Kissing Spence. He was here and he seemed like he liked me and I thought maybe he did like me. He was just … new. He didn’t know me. So I thought that maybe …”

“You thought that no one who does know you could possibly like you.” Alexei is still too close. He sees too much.

“What I’m saying, Alexei, is I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

Everything is my fault.

“If I hadn’t kissed Spence — or let Spence kiss me — then you wouldn’t have fought with him and there wouldn’t be any stupid videos online and you wouldn’t have to live in a cave for the rest of your life.”

Then Alexei does the strangest thing.

He laughs.

“Oh, Gracie.” He leans closer, takes my face in his hands and looks straight into my eyes. “I am fairly certain the cave is temporary.”

I hit him in the chest. “You know what I mean!” I say, but Alexei just laughs harder.

He glances at the massive overgrown fortress behind us.

“Now. Are we going in there or aren’t we?”

It takes a half hour to find the entrance. It’s covered by brush and vines. But here, at last, there are signs of life. The vines are crushed, like they’ve recently been pushed aside. And maybe it’s my imagination, but in the dirt I can almost swear that I see footprints.

“Spence?” Alexei asks.

“Maybe,” I say. “I doubt the police would have looked here very hard. Spence was a pretty big guy. If he’d been killed here, it would have been hard for him to end up in the water.”

I squeeze through the vines and step inside, dragging my leg after me. A moment later, Alexei follows. I can feel him at my back as my eyes adjust to the dark. It’s still the hottest day of the year so far, but inside the narrow opening, the air is so much cooler, darker. Dust dances in the slim rays of light that slice through the darkness beyond the entrance. But it’s too dim to see much, so I reach into my pocket for the flashlight I always carry. The light slashes across the space. I watch it sweep across the ancient walls. Moss grows between the cracks in the mortar. The stone floor beneath my feet is dirty and damp. And in it I see footprints, too big to be my own.

Alexei’s gaze catches mine, and I can almost hear what he is thinking. Probably because I’m thinking it, too. And so we follow those footsteps into the shadows, no matter where they might lead.

It’s not a tunnel. Not really. I know I’m not underground, at least not yet. It’s more like a corridor made of stone. Only tiny slivers of light cut through the darkness. Moss and vines creep through the cracks. I see signs of wildlife, too. Probably some small animals have nested here, but there is no other living thing inside the passage now. No movement. No sound. Alexei and I are alone as we walk on and on.

We’re inside the hill by now; we have to be. We’ve been walking for too long, and it’s too dark — too quiet.

Then the passage ends, opening into some kind of chamber or room. All I know is that the air feels different here. When I try to sweep the beam of my flashlight across the walls, the beam stretches then fades, reaching out so far that it doesn’t find an end.