Gabby pointed a few feet in the distance. A ravine separated one side of the trail from the other.
“I’m not jumping,” Emma said in a shaking voice.
“Yes, you are.” Gabby sounded amused. “It’s the only way to get to the springs.”
A pair of eyes glowed from a tree branch above Emma’s head. She made out the shape of a great horned owl. Madeline pushed around them. “Let’s just get there already, okay? I’m sick of hiking.” She held on to her backpack straps and did a graceful, bal et-dancer leap over the chasm, clearing it easily. “Piece of cake!” she yel ed from the other side.
Gabby let Charlotte go next, then Laurel. But when Emma tried to edge past her, Gabby stuck out her arm to stop her.
“Not so fast,” she said in a low voice.
Emma’s stomach dropped to her feet. This was it.
“Run, Emma!” I screamed at my sister. “Get out of there!”
Across the ravine, the other girls shifted, waiting. “C’mon, guys,” Madeline cal ed out. “What’s the holdup?”
Slowly, Gabby reached out and grabbed Emma’s wrist. Emma flinched. What was going to happen next crystal ized before her: Gabby was going to throw her over the side of the cliff. She was going to kil her swiftly and neatly in a matter of seconds, and then tel everyone that Sutton had tripped or stumbled. A new headline formed in Emma’s head: Girl Gets Away With Murder—Twice.
Al at once, something broke loose inside Emma’s body. She wasn’t going to die—not tonight. “Get away from me!”
she cried, shoving Gabby backward.
Rocks cascaded beneath Gabby’s feet. Gabby’s mouth made a smal O. There was a scrambling sound, and her arms wheeled in the air for balance. Time seemed to slow down. Gabby’s sneakers slipped beneath her as though she were skating on ice. She grappled for something to steady herself, but the only things around her were thin tree branches and razor-sharp cacti. A startled screech rang out in the darkness. There was a deafening swoosh of rocks, another shril wail, and then Gabby was fal ing.
“Gabby!” Madeline cried, rushing to the edge of the cliff.
“Oh my God!” Charlotte screamed.
A single wail punctuated the air. A series of crashes sounded, a body smacking against tree branches, jutting rocks, sharp cacti. And then, agonizing moments later, there was a crash, a clear but distinct sound of a heavy fal ing object final y hitting bottom.
Chapter 28
Walled In
Emma’s stomach lurched like she was about to throw up.
“Oh my God.” She stared at her hands as though she didn’t recognize them. She hadn’t just pushed Gabby. It couldn’t have been her. She was a nice girl, Emma Paxton, not capable of violence, even if the person she’d hurt was about to hurt her.
“Jesus, Sutton!” Charlotte pressed her hands to her head. “What did you do?”
“Gabby?” Laurel’s voice echoed in the rocky ravine.
“Gabby?”
“She isn’t dead.” Madeline’s voice shook. “She can’t be. She’s okay down there.”
Emma peered over the ravine. She couldn’t see the bottom. She looked at her hands again, and they began to tremble. Al at once she felt horribly disgusted with herself. Who had she become? “I didn’t mean . . .” she sputtered. “I didn’t think . . .” Tears began to rol down her cheeks.
“What the hel happened?” Charlotte demanded. “Did you push her?”
“No! She grabbed me, and I . . .” Emma cried, the words coming out in a combination of a moan and a sob. “I didn’t think she’d . . .” But she couldn’t say anything more. Had it been an accident, or had her fears and anger gotten the best of her? Had she pushed harder than she thought? Guilt sloshed through her veins. This had to be a mistake. A dream. A nightmare. But then she remembered grabbing Gabby’s taut shoulders and pushing her away. Fresh, terrified tears swarmed her eyes.
“Haven’t you put Gabby through enough, Sutton?”
Charlotte screamed. “What if she’s hurt?”
“I told you, I didn’t mean to do it!” Emma shouted, her head spinning. She squinted through the darkness to the bottom of the ravine. Gabby had to be there, alive, fine. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. She wasn’t supposed to be the vil ain—Gabby and Lili were, for kil ing Sutton! She was just defending herself! But Sutton’s friends wouldn’t buy that. Neither would the cops—not without proof of what the twins did.
“Someone cal nine-one-one,” Laurel yel ed.
Emma looked helplessly down at Sutton’s phone.
“There’s no service out here!”
“What are we going to do?” Madeline shrieked. Laurel pointed to a dark, narrow path that led down the mountain, practical y overgrown with cacti, brambles, and shrubs. “We have to get to her. We have to see if she’s okay.”
Laurel bushwhacked through the brush and started down the slope, using her cel phone as a dim flashlight. Emma leapt over the ravine and fol owed them. Cactus spines poked her arms, insinuating their way under her skin, but she felt impervious to the pain. It was an accident, Emma repeated over and over to herself, but a tiny voice inside her kept crying, Was it?
“Gabby?” Laurel cal ed out.
“Gabs!” Madeline screamed.
No answer. A chil y wind gusted, piercing through Emma’s thin sweater.
“What if she’s unconscious when we get to her?” Laurel sobbed. “Does anyone know CPR?”