Free Shadowed Eden by Katie Clark Page A

shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone. “It’s two seventeen, Iraqi time, if you must know.”
    Luca’s hand shot out and grabbed Benny’s arm. “Wait, you mean your phone is getting signal?”
    The rest of the group stopped and stared at Benny.
    He shrugged and laughed nervously. “Of course it does. It’s the latest model.”
    Luca growled and rolled his eyes. “Why haven’t you called for help?” He punched Benny in the arm.
    Avery winced. He shouldn’t go off on Benny, not here, and not now.
    “Get with me when we get out of this blazing, hot jungle, will you?” Luca growled. He waved his hands forward and they re-started their march.
    After a few steps in silence, June continued her questioning. “Do you think the rescue van arrived yet? Or maybe they got our van working.”
    “I hope so,” Avery said. “I hope my dad is there.”
    “Your dad?” June glanced in Avery’s direction and frowned.
    “He’s the group leader. He’s in the other van.”
    “Oh, I remember him. I bet you miss him.”
    Avery smiled and shrugged. She did miss him. Didn’t she? Truthfully, she wasn’t used to him being around anyway.
    He was always off searching the globe. And when he was home, he was dictating her every move—like where she’d go to college. What she would do for a living. Who she was not going to spend time with. Or he was making promises he never kept.
    “Guys, look!” Benny said. The path veered to the left and there was a small, round section of grass and brush that had been beat down. “What do you think it means?”
    “It looks like someone slept here,” Luca said. He squatted beside the spot and put his hand out. “It looks big enough for two people.”
    Avery studied the space, thinking about Gabby and Katelyn sleeping out here for the night.
    It might have been someone else sleeping here, though. What if it was Rae? She hadn’t been dehydrated when she saw him.
    Glancing around, she searched for anything that looked like a house. She even looked toward the trees for a tree house, but there was nothing. He’d said the girls were on their way back, but here was a place where it looked like they’d slept. Besides, they hadn’t made it back yet.
    She closed her eyes and shook her head. He hadn’t been real, either. He’d been as imaginary as the black beetles. She needed to accept that. She opened her eyes and turned to Luca. “What do you think?” She needed to focus on the real. The here and now.
    Luca sighed as he stood. “I don’t know. Do you see any other trails leading out of here?”
    Avery glanced around with the others. It looked like the trail stopped cold with this alcove. Refusing to give up, she stepped into the circle and looked for a way out of it. The move paid off. “Here,” she said, pointing to a narrow but definite path.
    Luca hurried toward her. “Good eyes. This looks like a single person made the path. Would they have walked single file?”
    June shrugged. “Who knows? I think it’s worth it to follow.”
    Luca nodded and looked at June. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
    He agreed with June a lot. Why did that bug Avery?
    Again, she pushed the thought away and refocused on the search. They’d walked for hours and had seen nothing. No people, no houses, no sign of life in this jungle outside of normal jungle creatures. This path was their only hope. It seemed to take a fairly straight shot, and the group walked for an hour without saying a word. The confusion seeped back in as sweat pooled at the small of her back. She swallowed hard, noticing her mouth felt like cotton. Why hadn’t she grabbed a spare piece of fruit?
    Her vision swam, and instead of seeing three companions she saw six. She blinked them away and gritted her teeth. “Luca, do we have any more water?”
    He glanced at her, studying her. Hopefully he couldn’t see her confusion. “Sure. Here you go.”
    She snatched it from his hand and quickly turned it toward her lips.