Another girl, a petite brunette, hurries after her and closes the door behind them. "Let me help, Ali!"

If the taller girl, with long wavy honey-blonde hair, hears the other girl's call, she doesn't answer. Instead, she runs out to the dock, her eyes looking around the lake anxiously.

I quickly duck under the wooden beams and press my body up against the muddy bank, hoping that the shadows will conceal me as I cower in fear. I don't even notice the rock digging into my shoulder blade as I hold my breath. Looking up between the boards, I see the taller girl directly over me sniff loudly. The brunette pulls up next to her and Ali hands her the blanket. She drops to her knees and I don't even get a chance to move before her face is there, her hazel-green eyes looking back at mine through the crack in the boards.

She smiles at me with pity. "There you are! Hurry out of there before you catch a cold!"

I hesitate, feeling half naked still and a trespasser on their property. Taking a deep breath, I step out from under the dock. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"What?" she interrupts with a shrug. "Go skinny-dipping in the lake? We all do it. It's no big deal. Come out this way."

She steps off the dock and onto the bank that I had been peering over. She reaches her hand out to me and I accept it as I pull myself up with some difficulty.

Wincing as the petite girl wraps the blanket around me, Ali asks in concern, "What's wrong?"

I lower my gaze. "It's nothing. Just a twisted ankle."

She swears under her breath. "I am going to kill that boy."

I can't help but furrow my brows as I clutch the blanket tightly around me. It smells of mildew and falls to my knees, but I can't be picky about something warm and dry. The wildflowers tickle my legs as a gentle breeze blows.

With a sigh, she wraps an arm around me and steers me toward the cabin. "Well, let's go inside and introduce you to the guys. I'm Alicia by the way, but everyone calls me Ali. That's Emily," she says, gesturing to the brunette.

Emily looks like she's fifteen or sixteen and a little over five feet tall. Her chestnut brown hair is in two long braided pigtails with matching brown eyes and a round face. Freckles are sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. She smiles at me warmly with dimples in her cheeks.

Alicia, I note, looks to be about ten years older than me, and a few inches taller as well. Her long blonde hair hangs loosely and falls to the middle of her back, the front strands shorter to frame her almond-shaped face. An air of confidence and authority surrounds her and the way she carries herself.

She turns to Emily. "Can you hurry inside and fetch some water?"

Emily nods and runs to the cabin.

"I don't want to be a bother," I start, but Ali shakes her head at me.

"Nonsense," she says, pausing in her steps. She releases her arm from my shoulders and reaches down to the ground, picking up my jeggings from a patch of purple flowers. She raises an eyebrow at me. "Yours?"

My face grows hot. "Um, yeah. Thanks."

I reach for the pants, but she holds them away and shakes her head. "No way. I'm giving you a proper bath, clean clothes, and I'm going to wash your clothes later. You've been wearing them for how many days now? They're filthy!"

She drapes the jeggings over her left arm as she wraps her right around my shoulders again.

Emily runs out of the cabin then with the bucket in hand. Alicia tells her to fill it with some water from the lake and leave it on the porch. With a silent nod, she takes off for the lake.

Before we begin our ascend up the porch, she stops and looks me over, pinching her chin between her thumb and index finger. With a shake of her head, she sighs. "Uh huh. Not going to happen."

I purse my lips in confusion. "What?"

"Here's what we're going to do," she says, reaching out to me and leaning in, as if she has a secret to share. "You're going to cover your head with that blanket and I'm going to order those boys out and tell them to bring us some dinner. While they're gone, I'm going to give you a hot bath, scrub you up good, and put you in some clean clothes. We're going to do this right, not some wishy-washy half-naked kind of way."

I have no idea what she's talking about, but a hot bath sounds like heaven. I can't refuse.

She sits me down on the storage chest I first saw last night, pulls the blanket over my head, and wraps me up in it. Then she leaves me momentarily, as she disappears into the cabin. I can hear her ordering the guys to go out and bring home some dinner, along with some whispering that I can't catch.

My heart starts pounding in my chest as I hear the guys, three of them from the sounds of it, grumble under their breaths and shuffle out the door. I start thinking about her last words to me as my heart continues to flutter and my stomach does a summersault. What are we going to do right? What was she referring to? I agree with the half-naked bit, but the first part still makes no sense. Was she just talking about introductions to the guys, or what?

My thoughts are interrupted as she returns and lifts the blanket from my head. "The coast is clear."

Emily returns then with the bucket full of water. Alicia orders her to fill some pots up with it and put it on the stove. "I'll be in shortly to start the fire once I help..." she trails off, realizing that she doesn't know my name.

I clear my throat. "Zara."

Her eyes crinkle as she smiles broadly at me. "Once I help Zara inside."

"It's okay, really," I say, feeling like a burden. "I've managed a few days on this foot out in the forest."

Alicia nods her head, but still insists on helping me into the cabin. Curiously, she doesn't question why I'm here, how I got here, or what I was doing out in the forest. Shouldn't she want to know these things? I am technically on her property without prior invitation.

I chew on my lip instead of offering any more information, or asking any questions about her and the rest of her family for that matter. I wonder what her relation is with Emily because they don't look alike at all.

And where did Cody disappear off to? Did Alicia and her family startle him, and he ran into the forest near the cabin?

Or is he... gone? Gone without a word or a goodbye?

After she sits me down on the couch and hurries to the wood-burning stove, I'm overcome with sadness at Cody's unexpected departure. Is this how he felt when he discovered that I had left without a word? I never realized how hollow it left a person. Tears begin to pool in my eyes at the thought of never seeing Cody again, or getting to say goodbye to him. We were just playing moments ago, and that was it. Game over.

He really was something special. He was always looking out for me, and was there for me when I needed him. He brought me food and kept me warm. He was better than any dog or pet anyone could ever have.

Maybe I'll get to see him one last time before I can go home? I hope so.

Emily hurrying by with another bucket full of lake water snaps me from my thoughts. My eyes follow her to the bathroom where I hear the rush of water falling into the bathtub. Then she's hurrying back out the front door with the empty bucket swinging in her grasp.

I look over the back of the couch to see Alicia feeding thin sticks into the orange-glowing stove. Was she serious about drawing me a hot bath?

As if sensing me watching, she looks up and smiles at me.

Quickly, I turn back to a forward-facing position.

"So where are you from, Zara?"

My eyes dance over the plaid pattern on the blanket around me. "Portland."

"Portland? You're a little far from home, doncha think?"

My voice catches in my throat. Dare I ask a question that sounds insane? Turning in my seat, I chance a look at her and see her watching me from the corner of her eye as she feeds more twigs into the fire. "Where," I hesitate, "Where are we?"

She shrugs but doesn't meet my gaze then. "Maybe sixty or seventy miles from Portland."

My hearts starts working overtime as this information seeps into my brain. How did I get so far away from the city? I return to a comfortable sitting position, afraid of her asking me the questions I don't even know the answers to.

Why am I all the way out here? How did I get here?

A few moments later, Emily returns, panting, with another bucketful of water. Alicia follows her into the bathroom, where there's an exchange of whispers before Alicia audibly orders Emily to fetch water two more times. Emily groans softly, but does as she's told.

Alicia disappears in the storage room, but returns a moment later with an oil lantern identical in design to the one I used last night. She takes it to the counter in the kitchen and masterfully opens it and lights it in a matter of seconds. She places it in the bathroom before disappearing into the bedroom at the front of the cabin. There's some rustling, a zipper zipping, and then she exits with a few bottles in her hands and goes back into the bathroom. Clearly, she's getting that bath ready for me.

I watch as she moves around the cabin, and Emily darting in and out two more times for water, before she takes the pots of hot water into the bathroom and dumps them into the tub. She wastes no time in returning to my side to help me to my feet and guide me into the bathroom.

To my great embarrassment, she helps me undress and climb into the tub.

She doesn't seem to give my awkwardness any thought and starts to lather up a loofa with a bar of soap. I notice that she's avoiding making eye contact with me as she gently scrubs my skin. She orders me to lie back and relax as she shampoos my hair. Conceding, it feels like heaven and I can't help but sigh. The gentle massage of my scalp eases all of the tension I have in my body, leaving me feeling all tingly and light.

Once rinsed off and wrapped in a towel, she takes me into the front bedroom and puts me in a white sundress with red polka dots that must belong to Emily. There's no way I can fit into Alicia's clothes. I wouldn't call her well-endowed, but she did have the perfect hourglass figure. I also noticed her muscles while in the tub; she is fit and strong, just one more thing for me to envy.

As soon as I'm dressed, she insists on lightly applying some shimmering gold eyeshadow on my eyelids before stepping back and saying, "There. They're gonna love you now."

I can't help but raise an eyebrow at her. They? Does it really matter whether or not that I impress them?

She grins, but it looks like she's trying to hold back something she's dying to say. Her dancing eyes reveal that there is something on the tip of her tongue, but she won't allow herself to utter the words. Instead, she grabs my wrist and says, "Come on. Let's go gather some firewood before the guys come back."

"Um, okay," I say as she pulls me up to my feet and leads me out the front door.

Emily is sitting on the couch, contently reading a book, but Alicia orders her to come along as well. She sighs, but is quick to follow us out.

I am handed a big wicker basket and told to follow the pair as they search for suitable kindling.

A howl in the distance causes me to freeze and hold my breath. Is that Cody?

What about the guys? Alicia sent them out to get food, but the truck was still parked next to the house. If they're out in the woods and meet a bunch of wolves...

"We better hurry up," Alicia says, as if reading my thoughts.

With her arms full of sticks, Alicia hurries to a firepit I hadn't noticed before on the right side of the cabin. She dumps the sticks on the ground before arranging them in the pit.

Emily diverts my attention as she puts an armful of sticks into the basket I'm holding. "Was it scary to be out in the woods all alone?"

I don't know how to answer. I was at first, until Cody joined me and proved to be more of a reliable companion than a threat. My heart squeezes as my lips pull down in a frown at the thought of him. I decide to give her a simple answer. "Yeah, a little."

She nods and returns to the task of looking for firewood. I decide to join her, putting the basket down and stepping carefully into the forest. I look around me cautiously for Cody. What if he comes and Emily sees him? Would she scream and run away?

A twig snaps somewhere several yards away in the foliage. Without a second thought, I hurry out while looking about me for any signs of danger.

As I'm putting my twigs in the basket, Emily climbs out of the forest as well, her arms full of branches. She adds them to the collection and seems satisfied with the amount. She picks up the dark brown basket that looks about half as big as she is. "Come on."

I follow her, my stomach growling suddenly. "I'm so hungry," I groan.

"Good," Alicia says, meeting us halfway and taking the basket from Emily's hands. "There should be lots to eat tonight. I told those boys to bring back a nice buck."

Emily's eyes light up. "Are we going to roast it?"

"Of course."

I can't help but furrow my brows as I catch Alicia's eye, but she looks away quickly. Venison? So the guys did go out into the forest.

"They better hurry, or I'll wolf the whole thing down," I grumble.

Emily giggles. "That's what Keith always says."

"Yeah, and he's never been able to do it, has he?" Alicia adds as we reach the fire pit.

Alicia orders me to sit down while she and Emily tend to the fire. I nod, supposing I'm a guest and should let them play the roles as hostesses. I glance over at the forest behind me, wondering where the guys will be coming out, or even if I might get a glimpse of Cody again.

With a sigh, I turn back to the fire, watching the flames lick the timber, and crackle and pop occasionally. The warmth makes me drowsy and I rest my head in my hand and close my eyes.

"They're back!" Emily runs off towards the forest behind me.

I shake out of my afternoon doze and pull myself up to my feet. Stretching, I turn around and see three shirtless guys, two of which are carrying a large deer with his hooves tied to a long stick on their shoulders. Alicia hurries to the third man, the big dark-skinned man I saw earlier, leading the other two with the deer. His skin isn't as dark as I first thought, but he definitely possesses a dark tan. And muscles—big bulging ones that made my face grow hot. My eyes nearly bug out of their sockets when I take them all in. Seriously, who are these guys?

Lowering my gaze to the ground in an attempt to conceal my blush, I suddenly feel out of place, like everyone's eyes are on me. I take a few steps back to allow the guys with the deer more space by the fire.

"Hey," the first guy, blond, with hazel eyes says in greeting to me.

I raise my eyes meekly as he walks past, afraid of looking too closely at his thick set of arms and getting caught ogling him.

That's when I see him, almost purposely hiding behind the deer he was carrying. His slightly shaggy brown hair shines with bronze highlights in the afternoon sunlight and curls at the tips. His golden eyes with specks of green and brown throughout the irises glance at me through thick lashes. My heart jumps in my throat as he smiles, somewhat shyly, at me and says, "Yo."