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tree, about twenty feet away, and dropped those dirty shorts. No sooner was I zipping up after the best pee of my life than I heard footsteps crunching on the beach.
    Human footsteps. Maybe Winters had found a way down the hill. Good. One out of three rescues was complete.
    I peered out around the branches of the evergreen, expecting to see the old guy but found Austin in front of my tree, a half smile on his face. He looked perfectly at home against the backdrop of the river. His dark hair waved in the light breeze, and his eyes shined golden in the sunlight. For a city boy, he looked almost at one with nature.
    I stepped out. “Hey! Do you know how much trouble you guys have got me into? You had no business running off into the woods.”
    “Shelby, wasn’t it? Lovely to see you, too,” he replied, the smile morphing into a smirk.
    “Yeah, so lovely I’ll probably be shipped off to the lower level of hell the minute we get back to camp. You could have been killed—there’s a freaking wild animal up on that bluff above us! If I hadn’t slid down here I would have been dinner!”
    Austin’s gaze traveled down my body. “So that’s why you look like a garden trowel.”
    “A what?”
    “You’re filthy.”
    So much for British charm. I glared at him. “Mr. Winters is probably some cougar’s snack right now. The last thing I’m worried about is looking good. Let’s find those other idiots and get back to the bus, okay?”
    “Right.” Austin scratched at the back of his neck. “I tracked Charles to a ravine, but then I lost him.”
    “Tracked him?”
    Austin’s cheeks pinked up for some reason. “You know, broken twigs, footprints, that sort of thing.”
    “So you do know something about the woods,” I said.
    “A bit.” Austin held a hand up to his eyes, shielding them from the sun sinking in the distance. “We
    ’ve about two hours of light remaining. We need to keep searching.” He turned and started up the beach again.
    I marched after him. “We need to hike back to the road. Things are only going to get worse if we stay out here.”
    Austin shook his head. “I’m not leaving until I find Charles. And what he took.”
    “So it was your backpack—great reason to get lost in the woods.” I fought the urge to punch him on the arm. “Dude, what’s in your stupid bag, gold or something?”
    “You’d be surprised,” he said with a grim smile.
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    We hiked the shoreline of the river, searching for Charles with no luck, and we couldn’t scale the cliff to find Mr. Winters, but at least we didn’t hear any screaming. Then again, the human voice can only carry so far.
    Finally, when the sun was sinking behind the hills on the other side of the river, leaving streaks of red and orange in the sky, we gave up. It had to be about nine o’clock, judging by the growls coming from my stomach and the cheerful flock of mosquitoes beginning to circle my head. In the distance rose the pale face of the nearly full moon.
    Geez, what if we were here all night? We didn’t have a tent, we didn’t have food, and I didn’t have any toothpaste. Ick. I mean, I was all for survival, but you were supposed to have basic stuff. We had nada. Well, except for the matches in Austin’s pocket, which somehow he must have thought were okay to bring to brat camp. I was pretty sure that had to be on the list of no-no’s along with my beloved PDA.
    As Austin piled little sticks into a makeshift fire pit, I stared out at the dying sunset and thought of my friends partying in Cabo at this very moment, probably dancing with some hunky guys. And here I was, on a rock in the middle of nowhere with a guy who’d only said three words in the past hour. My gaze drifted up to the darkening sky.
    “I think I see the first star tonight,” I said. “Maybe I can wish myself away from here.”
    “Not bloody likely,” Austin said,