Free The Departed by J. A. Templeton

“Just in case. We want to be sure we stay hydrated.”
    “We’re just heading to the top of that hill.”
    Her lips quirked. “The top of that hill is miles away, Ri. I know that it looks like it would be a quick sprint, but honestly, it’s much further than it looks, and the terrain can be a bit dodgy at times.”
    Not the most comforting of words, especially with the afternoon sun beating down on us.
    “Let’s get moving,” she said, and we started off at a clip, both of us excited and nervous as we made our way into the woods. It wasn’t too far in when the pathways started veering off in different directions…just as Hanway had told Maddy.
    At first, Cait used the compass on her iPhone to track direction, but soon the phone dropped out of range, and there was no signal. That made me nervous. If we got into trouble, we were shit out of luck.
    Cait was obviously in better shape than I was, because she hiked about ten steps ahead of me. Every once in a while she would wait, but inevitably she’d pull ahead again.
    I knew it was wrong of me to do, but I wanted to be distracted, and I wanted to know what Cait was thinking. Out of all my friends, she was the toughest one to figure out.
    What I didn’t expect were thoughts of my brother, mostly the two of them making out and rolling around on his bed. Apparently they had done more than just sleep at the slumber party. I quickly pushed the thought away before I “saw” more than I wanted to.
    “Our brothers would kill us if they knew what we were doing,” I said, speaking my fears aloud.
    She glanced back at me and grinned. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them. And I’m sure as hell not saying anything to either one of them. Let’s just hope we’re successful, we bind the grave, and we return home and our lives become peaceful again.”
    I hoped she was right. I needed peace. Scratch that, we all needed peace.
    “He likes you…a lot. I can tell.”
    “Really?” She slowed down, and fell into step beside me. “Has he said anything?”
    “Yeah, he asked me if I had a problem with him seeing you.”
    She actually looked nervous. “And what did you say?”
    “Do you seriously have to ask me that?” I said, surprised. “I kind of have a thing for your brother, too, you know? I’m assuming you don’t care that I’m seeing Kade, so why would I feel weird about you seeing Shane?”
    She grinned, obviously relieved. “We’re still sort of friends. I was relieved to hear about Joni and her boyfriend, though. I thought maybe I didn’t stand a chance in hell, especially since she’s so cute. He seemed really into her.”
    I wasn’t about to bring up Joni’s boyfriend since I didn’t know how much Shane had revealed to his friends. “Have you looked in the mirror?” I asked, and she nudged me and shook her head.
    Cait was definitely one of those girls who didn’t realize just how gorgeous she was, and I found that refreshing. I’m sure Shane did, too.
    I tripped over a tree root. The branches became so thick that they were hiding any sunlight from view, and I didn’t know if it was just my imagination, but I swore I heard movement behind us.
    Cait glanced at me, some of her bravado fleeing. “I’m sure it’s just an animal.”
    That was hardly reassuring. I hadn’t given any thought to animals until now. I’d been too terrified of supernatural beings to worry about anything in the living realm.
    “I brought a knife,” she said, reaching into the side pocket of her cargo pants. It was a pocketknife, and she flicked a button, exposing a long, shiny blade.
    My eyes widened. I didn’t know if a knife would be any help with Laria or any other ghost, but I’m sure it would come in handy if we came across an animal.
    “How much further do you think?”
    “Probably about an hour.”
    An hour! Oh my God.
    I distinctly heard footsteps behind me, running up on us. I stopped and turned, expecting someone to be there.
    Cait swallowed hard. Her