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my pace on the brushy trail. It looked like someone had definitely gone this way. But after a while, the trail petered out. I couldn’t see where the person had gone off, and there were no more broken twigs to follow. Frustrated, I paused against the trunk of a giant cedar, catching my breath.
    Wait. The sound of running water. A stream? A river? I was willing to bet one of the guys would have headed toward the sound. You had to have a water source to survive in the wilderness. Oh, man.
    The sound was going to make me pee! I tried not to think about it and pushed my way through bushes and snaggy tree branches, glad for the protection of my sweatshirt.
    Ahead of me, the path continued through a thicket of blackberries. There didn’t seem to be a way around. I’d need a big stick to swack the vines. Turning around to search the sides of the trail, I saw a likely branch. I took three steps forward.
    Snap!
    I froze, looking down. No branch under my foot. Someone or something was close by.
    “Hello?” I yelled.
    A few crows flew off branches overhead.
    I let out a little sigh of thankfulness. Birds. I went back to looking for a stick, laughing at myself for being so jumpy. Then I heard a growling sound.
    Ariel’s stories about the forbidden forest flashed through my mind as I scanned the ferns, evergreens, and bushes ahead. Holy crap. What if she was right? What if something was lurking in the brush ready to pounce? My gaze traced over the dense foliage, but nothing moved. I let out the breath I’
    d been holding.
    The growling started again, sounding closer.
    Crap. Something was following me. Something that thought I looked delicious and didn’t know about my bladder issues. I was so dead. I was going to literally pee my pants and die. Or be eaten—
    which is totally worse.
    The thing growled again, meaner this time.
    Forcing myself to look, I swiveled my head to the right. The bushes were swaying. That I could almost handle, but then something brown darted between two huge tree trunks. An animal. A coyote? A cougar?
    Suddenly, my search for a stick seemed like a really good idea. A big stick to whack that wild animal on the head before it shredded me. Without taking my eyes off the tree trunks, I lowered myself, my hands feeling around for any kind of sticklike materials. My right hand hit a loose-barked branch about the thickness of a rolling pin. Perfect. I rose up from the ground.
    “ Psst! Don’t make any sudden moves!” a voice said.
    I spun around and saw Mr. Winters. One front pocket of his khaki shorts was ripped open, and two scratches leaked blood down one of his pudgy calves. His face, already pasty white, now looked positively drained of color.
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    He raised a finger to his lips to quiet me and pointed into the blackberry thicket. “Easy, fella. We’
    re leaving now.”
    Whatever was growling didn’t move, but the sound intensified, raising pricklies on the back of my neck. I took a few steps backward. And then a few more.
    That’s when I fell down the bank.
     
    The sliding wasn’t so bad. It was the landing on the rocks that really hurt.
    When I stopped moving, I was spread-eagled on two boulders overlooking a whitewater river that you probably needed a helmet to go wading in. I glanced up to the top of the cliff where I’d fallen. It was so densely covered with bushes, trees, and brambles, I couldn’t see where I’d stepped off or Mr.
    Winters.
    I struggled to my hands and knees and crawled off the boulders, onto the beach. My shorts were loaded with dirt and pebbles from my slide. Ick. I winced doing a little de-dirting shake. Double ick. The amount of soil that fell could have potted a rosebush.
    Nothing on my body seemed broken, but I was incredibly sore. Scratches and raised welts streaked the backs of my thighs. And I still had to use the forest’s ladies’ room.
    I stumbled over to the nearest