Deep Betrayal

of their senses. Leaving a dead body on land … it’s completely reckless. We’re lucky they didn’t wipe out the whole campground. This is insanity.”
    “Really, Calder?” My tone was scathing. “Tell me what a sane murder looks like.”
    He gritted his teeth until bands of muscle jumped in his jaw. “That’s just it. A sane murder wouldn’t look like anything.You’d never see it. They’d hide the bodies underwater. They’d be inconspicuous. This is anything but.”
    I waved the flies away from Connor’s face. They swarmed around me before settling back on his corpse. “Such a waste,” I said, waving them away again. I reached toward his face and tried to close his jaw—I couldn’t let the flies have their way with him—but it was locked in place. “Can we move him?”
    “Best that we leave the body alone.”
    “Then let’s go,” I said. “There’s a radio on Jack’s boat. We can call the Coast Guard.”
    “No, Lily. We can’t.”
    “Obviously we won’t tell them the truth, but we can’t let Connor rot out here. And the others are going to wonder where he is.”
    “You’re right,” he said, hanging his head. “Of course, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
    But I wasn’t paying attention. I already knew I was right, and I was distracted. Someone was crying. First, low snuffling, followed by deep gasps at the air. Someone was crying and trying to hide it. It was coming from the woods, farther up the embankment.
    I climbed after the noise. Calder held me up when my feet slipped in the loose sand. We made our way over the rocks and up the bluff and into the trees. Below a white pine, a dark, hooded figure sat curled into a ball, a blanket bunched in his arms.
    Jack Pettit looked up, his face wet with ugly red blotches. He quickly wiped his nose, and his expression darkened. Hatred burned in his eyes when he saw Calder behind me. “Did you see?” he asked.
    I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
    “ You did this,” Jack said, glaring at Calder.
    “Of course he didn’t!” I cried. “Why would you say something like that? Besides, he was with me the whole night.”
    Jack snorted in disgust. “Then another one of your kind.”
    Calder’s silence was his affirmation.
    Jack choked on the air and his face contorted with pain. “This should have never happened. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
    “She’s grieving,” Calder said, and I recognized his effort to physically restrain himself. “We did lose a sister. Perhaps you remember.”
    “ She’s grieving,” Jack scoffed. “So she gets a pass on murder? What about the rest of us? What about him ?” Jack couldn’t bring himself to look toward the body. “Where is she? Where’s Pavati?” Jack was yelling now. “Tell me where your sister is!”
    “Jack,” I said, trying to calm him. “You can’t tell anyone what happened here.”
    He laughed one short, humorless laugh. “People need to pay attention.” His words bit at the air between us. “If this keeps up, everyone will have to listen to me. It’ll be like ’67.”
    “Then let me handle it,” Calder said, and his voice was rigid.
    “Yeah, you go ahead and handle it,” Jack said. “You’re a real pro at that, aren’t you? You did an awesome job protecting Lily from them. If it wasn’t for me, she’d be no better off than this kid.”
    Calder was as much bird as fish. He flew through the airat Jack, tackling him to the ground. Sand spit up in all directions before Jack was skittering out of the way and yelling, “Get off me! Get off me, you freak!”
    “Stay away from Lily, and stay away from me. Don’t think I don’t know who killed Tallulah. You set this ball rolling. This boy’s death is as much your fault as theirs.”
    Jack’s face burned red, and he looked nervously at the body. “I acted in defense. In defense of Lily. What they do … it’s disgusting.”
    “Yeah, but you didn’t always think so, did you?” Calder’s voice rose above Jack’s, and Jack cowered back into the trees. “You were all right with it when you thought Pavati was yours forever.”
    “Shut up!” yelled Jack, covering his ears. He turned away from us and banged his forehead against a tree.
    The sound of voices coming up the beach pulled us out of the trees, back toward the spot where Connor lay.
    “What’s this? Hey, guys,” said Brady Peterman. Three people followed, including Connor’s roommate, Eric, and Serious Boy. “What’s