“He thinks that the others are dragging you two to Shepherd Falls. That’s where he took Sarah. He wanted her to see him beat the crap out of you, and then he was going to let you go.”

“Lead me,” I say.

He shuffles forward and I turn my light off. Sam takes hold of my shirt and follows behind us. When we walk through a small clearing lit by the moonlight overhead I can see that he’s looking at my hands.

“They’re gloves,” I say. “Kevin Miller was wearing them. Some sort of Halloween prop.”

He nods but I can tell he’s freaked out. We walk for nearly a minute until we hear the sound of running water just ahead of us.

“Give me your goggles,” I say to the guy leading us.

He hesitates and I twist his arm. He writhes in pain and quickly rips them from his face.

“Take them, take them,” he yells.

When I put them on the world turns to a shade of green. I push him hard and he falls to the ground.

“Come on,” I say to Sam, and we walk ahead, leaving the guy behind.

Up ahead I see the group. I count eight guys, plus Sarah.

“I can see them now. Do you want to wait here or come with me? It might get ugly.”

“I want to come,” Sam says. I can tell he’s scared, though I’m not sure if it’s because of what he’s seen me do or the football players ahead of us.

I walk the rest of the way as silently as I can, Sam tiptoeing behind me. When we are just a few feet away a twig snaps beneath Sam’s foot.

“John?” Sarah asks. She’s sitting on a large rock with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She isn’t wearing goggles and squints in our direction.

“Yes,” I say. “And Sam.”

She smiles. “Told you,” she says, and I assume she’s talking to Mark.

The water I heard is nothing more than a small babbling brook. Mark steps forward.

“Well, well, well,” he says.

“Shut up, Mark,” I say. “Manure in my locker was one thing, but you’ve gone way too far with this one.”

“You think? It’s eight on two.”

“Sam has nothing to do with this. You scared to face me alone?” I ask. “What are you expecting to happen? You’ve tried kidnapping two people. Do you really think they’ll keep silent?”

“Yeah, I do. When they see me whip your ass.”

“You’re delusional,” I say, then turn to the others. “For those of you who don’t want to go into the water, I suggest you leave now. Mark is going in no matter what. He’s lost his chance to barter.”

All of them snicker. One of them asks what “barter” means.

“Now’s your last chance,” I say.

Every one of them stands firm.

“So be it,” I say.

A nervous excitement plants itself in the center of my chest. As I take one step forward Mark steps back and trips over his own feet, falling to the ground. Two of the guys come at me, both bigger than me. One swings but I duck his punch and send one of my own into his gut. He doubles over with his hands holding his stomach. I shove the second guy and his feet leave the ground. He lands with a thud five feet away and the momentum pushes him into the water. He comes up splashing. The others stand rooted, shocked. I sense Sam moving over toward Sarah. I grab hold of the first guy and drag him across the ground. His errant kicks slice through the air but hit nothing. When we are at the bank of the brook I lift him by the waistband of his jeans and throw him into the water. Another guy lunges at me. I merely sidestep him and he lands face-first in the brook. Three down, four to go. I wonder how much of this Sarah and Sam can see without goggles on.

“You guys are making it too easy for me,” I say. “Who’s next?”

The biggest of the group throws a punch that comes nowhere near hitting me, though I counter so swiftly that his elbow catches me in the face and the goggle strap snaps. The goggles fall to the ground. I can only see slight shadows now. I throw a punch and hit the guy in the jaw and he falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He looks lifeless, and I fear that I’ve hit him too hard. I rip his goggles from his face and put them on.

“Any volunteers?”

Two of them hold their hands up in front of them in surrender; the third stands with his mouth gaping open like an idiot.

“That leaves you, Mark.”

Mark turns as though he intends to run, but I lunge forward and grab him before he can, pulling his arms up into a full nelson. He writhes in pain.

“This ends right now, do you understand me?”

I squeeze tighter and he grunts in pain. “Whatever you have against me, you drop it now. That includes Sam and Sarah. You understand?”

My grip tightens. I fear that if I squeeze any tighter his shoulder will pop from its socket.

“I said, do you understand me?”

“Yes!”

I drag him over to Sarah. Sam is sitting on the rock beside her now.

“Apologize.”

“Come on, man. You’ve proven your point.”

I squeeze.

“I’m sorry!” he yells.

“Say it like you mean it.”

He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he says.

“You’re an asshole, Mark!” Sarah says, and slaps him hard across the face. He tenses, but I’m holding him firmly and there isn’t a thing he can do about it.

I drag him to the water. The rest of the guys stand watching in shock. The guy I had knocked out is sitting up scratching his head as though trying to figure out what has happened. I breathe a sigh of relief that he isn’t badly hurt.

“You’re not going to say a word to anybody about this, you understand me?” I say, my voice so low that only Mark can hear me. “Everything that has happened tonight, it dies here. I swear, if I hear one word about it in school next week this is nothing compared to what will happen to you. Do you understand me? Not a single word.”

“Do you really think I would say anything?” he asks.

“You make sure you tell your friends the same. If they tell a single soul it will be you that I come for.”

“We won’t say anything,” he says.

I let go, put my foot on his butt, and push him face-first into the water. Sarah is standing at the rock with Sam beside her. She hugs me tightly when I get to her.

“Do you know kung fu or something?” she asks.

I laugh nervously. “Could you see much?”

“Not a lot, but I could tell what was happening. I mean, have you been training in the mountains your whole life or what? I don’t understand how you did that.”

“I was just scared something would happen to you, I guess. And yeah, there was the past twelve years of martial arts training high in the Himalayas.”

“You’re amazing.” Sarah laughs. “Let’s get out of here.”

None of the guys say a word to us. After ten feet I realize I have no idea where I’m going so I give the goggles to Sarah to lead the way.

“I can’t friggin’ believe that,” Sarah says. “I mean, what an asshole. Wait till they try to explain it to the police. I’m not letting him get away with it.”

“Are you really going to the police? Mark’s dad is the sheriff, after all,” I say.

“Why wouldn’t I after that? It was bullshit. Mark’s dad’s job is to enforce law, even when his son breaks it.”

I shrug in the darkness. “I think they received their punishment.”

I bite my lip, terrified of the police getting involved. If they do I’ll have to leave, no way around it. We’ll be packed up and headed out of town within the hour of Henri knowing. I sigh.

“Don’t you think?” I ask. “I mean, they’ve already lost several of the night-vision goggles. They’ll have to explain that. And that’s not to mention the icy cold water.”

Sarah doesn’t say anything. We walk in silence and I pray that she is debating the merits of letting it go.

Eventually the end of the woods comes into view. Light reaches in from the park. When I stop, Sarah and Sam both look at me. Sam has been silent the entire time and I’m hoping that it’s because he couldn’t really see what was happening, the dark for once serving as an unexpected ally, that maybe he’s a little shaken up by everything.

“It’s up to you guys,” I say, “but I’m all for just letting the matter die. I really don’t want to have to talk to police about what happened.”

The light falls on Sarah’s skeptical face. She shakes her head.

“I think he’s right,” Sam says. “I don’t want to have to sit and write a stupid statement for the next half hour. I’ll be in deep crap; my mom thinks I went to bed an hour ago.”

“You live nearby?” I ask.

He nods. “Yeah, and I gotta go before she checks my room. I’ll see you guys around.”

Without another word, Sam hurries away. He’s clearly rattled. He’s probably never been in a fight and certainly never one where he was kidnapped and attacked in the woods. I’ll try talking to him tomorrow. If he did see something he shouldn’t have, I’ll convince him his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Sarah turns my face to hers and traces the line of my cut with her thumb, moving it very gently across my forehead. Then she traces both my brows, staring into my eyes.

“Thank you for tonight. I knew you were going to come.”

I shrug. “I wasn’t going to let him scare you.”

She smiles and I can see her eyes glistening in the moonlight. She moves towards me and as I realize what’s about to happen my breath catches in my throat. She presses her lips to mine and everything inside of me turns to rubber. It’s a soft kiss, lingering. My first. Then she pulls away and her eyes take me in. I don’t know what to say. A million different thoughts run through my head. My legs feel wobbly and I’m barely able to stay upright.

“I knew you were special the first time I saw you,” she says.

“I felt the same with you.”

She reaches up and kisses me again, her hand lightly pressed to my cheek. For the first few seconds I’m lost in the feel of her lips on mine and in the idea that I’m with this beautiful girl.

She pulls away and both of us smile at each other, saying nothing, staring into each other’s eyes.

“Well, I think we better go see if Emily is still here,” Sarah says after about ten seconds. “Or else I’ll be stranded.”

“I’m sure she is,” I say.

We hold hands on the walk to the pavilion. I can’t stop thinking about our kisses. The fifth tractor chugs along the trail. The trailer is full and there’s still a line ten or so people long waiting their turn. And after everything that happened in the woods, with Sarah’s warm hand in mine, the smile doesn’t leave my face.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE FIRST SNOWFALL COMES TWO WEEKS LATER. A slight dusting, just enough to cover the truck with a fine powder. Since just after Halloween, once the Loric crystal spread the Lumen throughout my body, Henri has begun my real training. We’ve worked every day, without fail, through the cold weather and the rain and now the snow. Though he doesn’t say it I believe he’s impatient for me to be ready. It started with disconcerted looks, his brows crinkled while he chewed on his bottom lip, followed by deep sighs and eventually sleepless nights, the floorboards creaking under his feet while I lay awake in my room, to where we are now, an inherent desperation in Henri’s strained voice.