The Stolen Bones Read Free Page B

mumbled their agreement. The night was filled with the chirping of crickets. It was hardly quiet, but made a nice change from city noises. I felt myself sinking into sleep.
    Until someone screamed.

3
Footprints in the Dark
    I tried to jump up, but I hit my head on the
     tent and stumbled in my sleeping bag. I collapsed back. Bess squealed and pushed me off
     of her. I fumbled for my sleeping bag zipper, but by that point I was tangled and
     disoriented. I started wiggling out the top.
    A light flashed in my face. It danced around the tent, then settled as
     George hooked a big flashlight to a loop in the roof.
    “That was a scream, right?” George asked.
    “That was me,” Bess said. “Nancy sat on me.”
    I shoved my sleeping bag aside and unzipped the tent. “Before that.
     Someone definitely screamed out there.” I found my shoes just outside the tent and
     slid my feet into them.
    George and I crawled out of the tent together.Someone
     ran past, and I thought I recognized Kyle.
    “Kyle!” I called. “What’s going on?”
    He yelled, “That was Steffi,” and kept running.
    George and I followed, stumbling in the darkness. It was a good thing Kyle
     knew where Steffi had pitched her tent. She was pretty far from the camp, hidden between
     a rock outcropping and one of the few small trees. She was crouched in the tent opening
     when we arrived.
    Kyle knelt in front of her and took her arms. “Are you all
     right?”
    “I’m fine.” She sounded perfectly calm. “I’m
     sorry I startled you.”
    “You scared me half to death!” Kyle exclaimed. “What
     happened?”
    A light came bobbing up, and I turned to see Bess. Somehow she’d
     managed to get fully dressed. She handed George and me our coats and we pulled them on
     gratefully.
    Tom and Russell jogged over from the campsite. Grayson trailed behind
     them. We were missing only Abby and Felix. Maybe they’d slept through the
     noise.
    Steffi stood up. “I’m sorry I frightened everyone. I heard
     noises outside my tent. Probably just an animal.”
    Kyle said, “But you’ve never—”
    Steffi shot him a look and he closed his mouth.
    Bess wedged herself between George and me and shone
     the flashlight into the shadows. “What kind of animals do you have here? Anything
     dangerous?”
    “Not really,” Steffi said. “Just rabbits, possums,
     skunk, maybe deer or coyote.”
    Bess’s light jerked. “Coyote?”
    Steffi laughed. “I’ve never heard of them attacking a person.
     Now why don’t you all go back to bed?”
    Russell and Tom headed back toward camp. Grayson said, “Save the
     next wake-up call for nine a.m.,” and gave us a friendly grin as he passed.
    “Do you really think it could have been a coyote?” Bess
     whispered. “Maybe I’ll sleep in the car.”
    “Probably just a rabbit,” I said, to comfort her. “Let
     me see the flashlight.” I examined the ground around Steffi’s tent. I saw
     tracks all right, but they weren’t animal tracks. I found human footprints, with
     the thick heel and pointed toe of cowboy boots. They came from the direction of the
     road, toward the tent, and away again. The return tracks were deeper at the toes, and
     farther apart, as if the person had been running. And they looked fresh. The wind that
     afternoon would surely have softened the edges more.
    I put my foot next to the track. The footprint was much longer, probably a
     man’s. I glanced at Kyle’s heavy hiking boots.
    He was watching me, and must have seen what Isaw, but
     he didn’t say anything. Steffi spoke sharply. “I said everything’s
     fine. Why don’t you go back to bed?”
    Steffi didn’t sound scared—more like angry. Was she just
     embarrassed because she had screamed? She didn’t seem like the type who would
     scream for no reason. But if a man was sneaking around her tent at night, maybe she
     should be scared. “Steffi, someone was here,” I said. “A man.
     Don’t you think it would be safer to move