Chapter 1
Mara had remembered the pepper spray, the playing cards, and three kinds of instant noodles. She had forgotten the tent poles.
She stood in the rain with the empty nylon sleeve in her hand.
“Branches,” she said.
Nina looked up from the muddy tent. “That’s what people say right before they sleep in a puddle.”
“We’ll make it work.”
“You say that about everything.”
Their friends, Dev and Lottie, were already arguing over the map. The forest smelled of wet bark and old leaves. Smoke from their small fire kept blowing into Mara’s face, and she kept blinking it away rather than admit she’d built it badly.
By dusk the tents were up, more or less. The rain eased. Somewhere beyond camp a bird made a noise like a rusty hinge.
Mara liked being out there. No emails. No traffic. No one asking whether she’d finished the mystery novel she’d been carrying in her backpack for a month.
She had, actually. The butler did it. She’d known by chapter four.
