The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

Author:Loreth Anne White [White, Loreth Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542091541
Published: 2019-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 33

Tori wrapped her arms tightly around Ricky’s waist as they sped along the south lake road under the moon. He’d brought her a helmet that was hot pink. He said he’d “acquired” it for her. She didn’t want to ponder the meaning of that, other than that it thrilled her in a way, the illicitness of a hot-pink acquisition. And that he’d done it for her. He was solid and bulky in his gear and felt good. She’d been careful to dress warmly, too. Lots of thermals and layers and a face mask under the helmet.

The old snowmobile engine coughed and spewed choking fumes. The rutted ice on the road was hard, making them slam and rattle and slide and judder where the snowplow tracks had set into ridges. She clenched her teeth against the jolts as speed gathered deliciously in her gut. She felt exhilarated. Free, even if just for this moment, with her arms around Ricky Simon, the skull pattern on his badass helmet glowing in the silvery moonlight.

The forest grew thicker along either side of the road. Like soldiers carrying black spears that stabbed into the moonlit night, the trees became taller, pressing in closer and closer as the road narrowed. Purple shadows swallowed the track ahead. The logging road turned suddenly away from the lake to follow high above a twisting river as it led toward the turnoff that would take them to the abandoned summer camp at the back end of the Haugen Ranch.

Tori and Ricky had been there several times before. Someone before them had hammered pieces of plywood onto the old ruins to fashion a little hideaway. Not much snow reached the ground through the dense canopy in that spot. It was like a protected haven, and always warmer in foul weather because it was insulated from the wind, as if the trees linked arms around the place and watched over it.

Ricky had candles stashed in the hideout. He had a lighter in his pocket. And Tori could detect the hard shape of a moonshine bottle under his jacket.

Suddenly the trees were gone, and they hit a stretch with rocky banks that reared up to their left with a sheer drop down to the river on their right. Fear cut through Tori’s exhilaration, and she held more tightly on to Ricky. This bit of road always made her edgy.

Ricky loved it. He kept the pace as the road swerved in a wide bend. But he slowed abruptly as they rounded the curve. Headlights were coming directly toward them. Worry sparked through Tori.

The lights were bright. As they neared, Tori saw they belonged to a big truck and included a row of hunting spotlights that blazed blindingly along the top of the cab.

Instead of slowing upon sight of their little snowmobile, the truck seemed to speed up and veer right into the center of the snowy road. Surely the driver had seen them? Ricky slowed further.

The vehicle kept coming.

It was now on their side of the road.

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