Allie took a single, tiny step forward. All she had to do was get back to camp, where it was safe. But where was camp? She wished Diego’s voice would get out of her head. If only he hadstopped speaking about spiders. They did not need to know all about bullet ants, named because the sting felt like being shot. She didn’t want to think about the bark scorpions hiding beneath loose wood, or poison dart frogs small enough to miss entirely until you touched them.
And if that wasn’t enough, Diego had smiled as he said, “Howler monkeys sound like predators.” Allie couldn’t even remember what his smile had looked like because she’d been too focused on the list of creatures that could kill her. “But they’re not dangerous. Jaguars are very dangerous, although you probably won’t see one. They’re elusive in these parts.”
Probably. Did that mean there was a chance she could walk into one right now?
The thought had barely entered her mind when something screamed in the distance. It was a long, loud wail that seemed to rip straight through the canopy and slide down her spine. Was that what a howler monkey sounded like? Or was that something else? Did jaguars wail?
Allie wished she could go back in time and tell Diego to stop showing photos of snake bites. She’d never known skin could fall off bone like that. Instead, she wished he had played the sounds of the forest so she could know for absolute certainty when to panic and when to remain calm.
Another wail.
The forest suddenly felt smaller, like four walls pressing in. Allie’s vision blurred. Her hands trembled violently at her sides. She couldn’t tell if the crawling sensation on her calves was ants or her imagination. Or if the shadow to her right was just a vine or a snake.
What the hell was she doing here? And not just here, in this jungle at night, but in this game. Why had she enteredOutlast Her? What had even possessed her? Whenever Allie traveled, she did it first-class. She was accustomed to lie-flat seats andchampagne before takeoff. When she stayed in hotels, there were turn-down services and blackout curtains, and rainfall showers the size of small apartments. She did not belong out here in this death trap.
Her breath hitched. She tried to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. She tried to breathe like every meditation app she’d ever downloaded had instructed her to. But it wasn’t working. Allie was about to hyperventilate in the Costa Rican jungle because she’d tripped over a branch. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to conjure up an image of somewhere safe. A rooftop pool in Santorini. A perfectly chilled glass of malagousia.
“What the hell are you doing?” a voice came so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that Allie couldn’t help it. She screamed. And it wasn’t just a scream; it was a feral shriek.
Then a hand closed over her mouth, and she could feel the warmth of a body against her back as an arm locked around her waist to keep her from thrashing. For one disorienting second, Allie realized jaguars weren’t the scariest thing in the jungle.
She was just about to scream again, this time directly into whoever’s palm was suffocating her, but then the voice spoke. “You’re going to wake everyone up.”
Allie knew that voice. It had to be Barra.
Allie wrenched herself sideways and snapped out of Barra’s arms with more force than necessary. She stumbled back a step, her heart sprinting a million miles an hour to see Barra standing just a foot away in a grey GAP sweatshirt with matching sweatpants.
“What is wrong with you?” Allie hissed. “You nearly gave me a cardiac arrest.”
“You mean a heart attack?” Barra said, sounding amused.
Not that any of this was amusing. Allie’s heart was going off like a jackhammer. She was only just getting her breath back.
“That’s what I just said,” Allie replied stiffly. ER had just launched on Netflix, and she’d spent the evenings of the last two months watching reruns and salivating over a young Alex Kingston. Cardiac arrest was a perfectly good medical term. She had every right to use it.
“Never mind,” Barra said, blinking at a strip of moonlight pouring over the roots of a large strangler. “What are you doing out here? Everyone’s asleep.”
“You’re not,” Allie shot back.
“Well, it’s not safe to be out here at night.”
“You do realize you’re out here, right?” Allie said, pointing to Barra.
“Are you looking for the bracelet?” Barra asked without answering Allie’s question. Then she flicked her gaze to Allie’s wrist as if she’d already found the bracelet and was dumb enough to wear it. Which she wasn’t. If she ever set eyes on that protection bracelet, she’d shove it into her backpack so no one would ever know. Not even Sutton.
“Are you?” Allie said, snapping the question right back. She did it all the time when dealing with collectors and artists.
Barra toed a rock lying on the ground, and Allie nearly reprimanded her. Who knew what kind of thing lurked beneath it? Did she really want to get them both killed tonight? “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I got turned around looking for Moon Pit.”
“Moon Pit?” Allie said, frowning. If that was Barra’s excuse, it was the flimsiest one she’d ever heard. The small clearing that had been designated as the communal bathroom, called Moon Pit, was on the opposite side of the beach. “That’s a terrible lie. Try again.”
“I’m not lying,” Barra replied, though her voice wavered, and if that wasn’t another tell, then Allie wasn’t sure what was. “Fine,I couldn’t sleep,” Barra added before Allie could shake her head disappointedly.
“So you came wandering out into the jungle,” Allie said, folding her arms over her chest. She wasn’t cold; she was dignified. “Try again.”
“Fine,” Barra sighed. “I came looking for the bracelet, alright. What’s your excuse?”
Allie chewed the inside of her cheek. Was she really going to share? It felt humiliating enough just thinking about it. She’d thought she would come into the game and automatically rise to the top. Queen bee. But there were so many other queen bees she’d fallen down a few statuses to the worker bee. “I’m at the bottom,” she said. “I need that bracelet.”