Chapter 5 Is Sienna okay?

The afternoon heat turned lazy and thick, the kind that made movement feel like effort. They'd dragged themselves back to the cabin around two, sun-drunk and waterlogged, and collapsed in various states of exhaustion across the living room furniture.

Mara had claimed the armchair by the window, her towel was wrapped around her shoulders, watching water drip from her hair onto the old wood floor. The drops made dark circles that slowly expanded. She found herself counting them, anything to keep her mind occupied.

Sienna sat cross-legged on the couch, that notebook open in her lap again, but she wasn't drawing. Just staring at a page Mara couldn't see from this angle. Rhett had fallen asleep with his head in her lap, one arm draped over her legs. Every few minutes, Sienna would absently run her fingers through his hair, but her eyes never left the page.

"Alright, I'm bored," Devon announced, breaking the comfortable silence. He was sprawled on the floor like a starfish, still damp. "We need to do something. I didn't come all the way out to the murder woods to take naps."

"Could you not call it the murder woods?" Aria said from her spot on the other end of the couch. She'd barely gotten wet at the lake.

"What? It's funny."

"It's really not."

Juno looked up from her camera, where she'd been reviewing footage. "We could explore more. I saw what looked like a trail heading deeper into the forest. Might be cool to see where it goes."

"Absolutely not." Theo's voice came from the kitchen, where he was making something that smelled like marinara sauce. Apparently, being pre-med meant he could also cook. "We stay within sight of the cabin. That's basic wilderness safety."

"Since when are you the wilderness expert?" Devon asked.

"Since I'm the one who'd have to patch you up when you inevitably trip over a root and impale yourself on a branch."

"That's graphic."

"That's realistic."

Eli emerged from upstairs, hiss hair was still wet, wearing a different shirt. "I vote we stay in. There's a deck of cards in one of the drawers. We could play something."

"Strip poker?" Devon suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"You wish," Juno said, but she was grinning. "I'm down for cards though. Regular poker. I'll take all your money."

"We're not betting actual money," Aria said immediately.

"Pretzels then. I saw a bag in the pantry."

They migrated to the dining table, that massive slab of dark wood that had probably been in the cabin since it was built. Mara joined reluctantly, still feeling that strange heaviness from the lake, like she'd swallowed water that wouldn't quite settle in her stomach.

Eli dealt with practiced ease, his cards snapping against the wood. Mara had forgotten he used to play poker in high school, small games in someone's basement, coming home smelling like cigarette smoke. She'd hated it then. Now, watching his hands move with easy confidence, she felt a pang of something she didn't want to name.

They played a few rounds, the pile of pretzels in the center growing and shrinking. Devon had a terrible poker face and kept losing dramatically. Juno was surprisingly good, reading people with the same skill she used to frame shots. Aria played conservatively, calculating odds before every move.

Mara folded early most rounds, she was more content to watch. Across the table, Sienna had joined them but wasn't really playing, just mechanically checking and folding regardless of her hand.

"You okay, babe?" Rhett asked quietly.

"Hmm? Yeah. Just tired."

But she didn't look tired. She looked worried. Her eyes kept drifting to the windows, to the forest beyond, like she was expecting to see something.

"Okay, this is getting boring," Devon declared after losing another hand. "New game. Truth or dare."

Mara's stomach dropped. "We're not twelve, Devon."

"Exactly. Which means it'll be way more interesting now." He grinned, that manic energy that made him either the life of the party or completely insufferable depending on your mood. "Come on. When's the last time we all just talked? Like, really talked? We're all so busy pretending to be adults."

"Some of us are adults," Aria said dryly.

"Barely. Come on, humor me. One round. If it sucks, we go back to cards."

Mara wanted to say no. Wanted to get up and go to her room, lock the door and pretend this whole trip wasn't happening. But everyone was looking at Devon with various degrees of amusement and interest, and she didn't want to be the one who ruined it.

"Fine," she heard herself say. "One round."

They rearranged themselves in a circle on the floor, abandoning the formal structure of the table. Someone had lit the fireplace despite the warmth, and the flames cast dancing shadows on the walls. Outside, the sun was starting its slow descent.

"I'll start," Devon said. "Eli. Truth or dare."

Eli leaned back on his hands, considering. "Truth."

"Pussy," Devon said affectionately. "Alright. Real talk, do you still have feelings for Mara?"

The room went very quiet. Mara felt everyone's eyes slide toward her, then quickly away. The fire popped, sending up sparks.

Eli's expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes. "No," he said evenly. "We're friends. That's all."

It should have felt like relief. Instead, it felt like a small death.

"Boring," Devon said, but he was already moving on. "Your turn."

Eli's gaze found Juno. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare. Obviously."

"Go outside and scream as loud as you can."

Juno laughed. "That's it? Easy." She bounced up and headed for the door, throwing it open. The evening air rushed in, cooler than Mara expected. Juno stepped onto the porch, took a deep breath, and screamed.

It echoed through the forest, bouncing off trees, repeating back at them in diminishing waves. Mara waited for it to fade completely.

It didn't.

The echo continued, but it was changing. The pitch shifted lower, then higher, then fractured into something that sounded almost like laughter. Juno must have heard it too because she came back inside quickly with her smile faltering.

"Your turn," Eli said, like nothing was wrong.

Maybe nothing was. Maybe it was just acoustics, the way sound traveled in the mountains. Mara told herself that and almost believed it.

The game continued. Theo was dared to do a handstand and held it for an impressive thirty seconds. Aria chose truth and admitted she'd plagiarized a paper freshman year, something that clearly cost her to confess. Rhett was dared to tell his most embarrassing story and recounted a tale about walking into the wrong apartment and nearly getting pepper-sprayed.

Then it was Sienna's turn, and she chose truth.

"What did you draw at the lake?" Mara asked before she could stop herself. "In your notebook. You looked scared."

Sienna's face went pale. She glanced at Rhett, then at the notebook beside her, then at the fire. "I drew the lake. Just the lake."

"Sienna…"

"It's my turn now." Her voice had an edge Mara had never heard before. "Mara. Truth or dare."

Mara's throat felt tight. "Truth."

"Why did you really come on this trip?"

The question hung in the air like, everyone was watching now, the playful atmosphere was evaporating. Mara could tell them. Could say that she heard Ethan's voice in her dreams, calling from these woods. That she'd been planning this trip in secret for months, waiting for the right moment. That closure was a lie she'd told herself because the truth, that she believed her brother was still here somehow, still waiting—sounded insane.

"For closure," she said. "I thought it would help being here."

The lie tasted made her heart to tighten.

"My turn," she said quickly. "Devon. Truth or dare?"

"Truth. Let's keep it real."

"Does your family really have a connection to Hollow Creek? You joked about it yesterday, but was there any truth to that?"

Devon's grin slipped, just for a second. "My grandfather used to tell stories. About the woods, about things that lived here before people did. But they were just stories. Old man rambling." He shrugged. "Nothing real."

Another lie. Mara could see it in the way his eyes darted away, in the tightness of his jaw.

The game continued, but something had shifted. Every truth felt like a lie. Every dare felt like a test. And when Mara looked at the windows, at the darkness beginning to gather beyond the glass, she could have sworn she saw movement.

Just shadows, she told herself. Just trees swaying in the wind.

But there was no wind.

The fire crackled and someone laughed at something Devon said. Rhett got up to help Theo with dinner. The evening stretched out ahead of them, normal and friendly and exactly what it was supposed to be.

So why did Mara feel like they'd just made a terrible mistake? Like something had been listening to every lie, cataloging them, savoring them?

She looked at the photograph still sitting on the mantle and her breath caught.

Their positions had changed again. Now they sat in a circle on the floor.

Exactly like they were sitting right now.