Chapter 2

"All right, it's time for us to go bathe."

"Time's up."

I forced down the panic clawing at me, let go of the handle, and slipped out of sight.

The whole group came out of the karaoke room in high spirits.

I hesitated, then followed close behind anyway.

They got back to Aria's place, horsed around for a while, and then the friends left.

Once they were gone, Aria led Ezra into the bathroom.

The huge tub had been filled with water long ago.

Rose petals were scattered across the surface, along with some kind of perfume meant for setting the mood.

It was the kind of scent that went to work the moment you breathed it in.

"Aria, you sure know how to have fun!"

Aria laughed and darted away across the wide bathroom. "Come catch me! Every time you catch me, I take something off."

The door wasn't latched. My hand shook as I gripped the handle, and my whole chest felt like a fist had closed around my throat, my breath coming ragged.

Through the crack, I froze cold.

Ezra pinned Aria down, and one piece of clothing after another went flying.

Then they started doing the things I couldn't put into words.

The tears spilled out of me on the spot, and that mood-setting scent drifted out through the crack too.

It nearly made me throw up right there, and I could only stumble away as fast as I could.

I walked out the door into deep night.

I didn't know which way to go, and I didn't even know where I'd ended up.

Then the roar of a motorcycle cut through the dark.

It came at me at full speed, and one look told me these weren't friendly people, so I picked up my pace and hurried away.

"Ha! Stop that out-of-towner!"

"Boss said to teach him a lesson if we see him, so he never dares come back to Camelback Village again."

I couldn't outrun a motorcycle. In the end it slammed into me.

I hit the grass, and a searing pain shot through my thigh.

They didn't leave. They kept talking in the local dialect, taunting me.

The second they weren't watching, I bolted.

They were in no rush to chase. It was like they wanted me to get a little farther first, so they could hunt me down like prey.

My face went white with fear, and I fumbled out my phone and called Aria, since she was from Camelback Village after all.

But the call rang for a long time and never connected.

The second time the motorcycle hit me, I heard the sound of my ribs breaking.

Right at the depth of despair, the call went through.

"Nat? Why are you calling at a time like this?"

"Aria, someone hit me with a motorcycle on purpose—"

"Aria, ten more minutes and the bath's done. Don't tell me you want to break the rules and start all over!"

My cry for help was cut off by Ezra's voice pitching up several notches, and Aria wavered.

"Aria, come find me first. Those people are from your Camelback Village. I didn't provoke them. Unless it was locals coming after—"

"Nat, people in our village are very friendly to outsiders. You mustn't go dragging Camelback Village's name through the mud."

"Relax! They're just having a bit of fun with you."

"Here's what we'll do. Put me on speaker and let me talk to them."

I quickly hit speaker, and Aria switched into the local dialect to talk to the man.

"Rod Clayton, it's got to be you, right!"

"Heh, yeah, it's me!"

"Here's the thing. Right now I'm bathing with your Ezra…!"

"Get it?"

Rod caught on at once and spoke up, grinning. "Aria, so you're rolling around in bed with my brother right now?"

"Yes!"

"So stall him for me. We've got about ten minutes left before we're done."

"Heh, you got it!"

"Have fun with my brother!"

I froze as if I'd been struck by lightning.

They thought I couldn't understand the dialect. What they didn't know was that until I was ten, I lived in Camelback Village, so of course I understood every word.