In the camp, the four of them were sitting around the fire.
"Okay I've been meaning to ask this since summer," Enid said, looking between Ethan and Selene. "What exactly is going on between you two?"
She'd kept forgetting to ask. She wasn't forgetting now.
Ethan had been mid-drink. He choked on it.
Wednesday, holding her mug, didn't react. Technically. But Ethan could have sworn something in her expression shifted — eyes just slightly more attentive, the half-dead look she usually wore replaced by something that was absolutely go on, get out of this one.
"You want to know our relationship," Ethan said.
"Yes," Enid said.
"It's more of a—" He set his drink down. "You know. The relationship between a boy and a — well not a girl exactly more of a woman and a — it's a relationship between — there's a dynamic there that's—"
Enid stared at him.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying it's a relationship."
"Between."
"Between us."
"Ethan."
"Yes."
"That is the least amount of information anyone has ever given me."
Selene was looking at the fire and saying absolutely nothing, which was somehow the most telling thing in the conversation.
"Enid there's something you should know, it's just that—"
"Spare us the flowery lead-up," Wednesday said, not looking up from her mug. "I'm not in the mood for dramatic buildup. Just say it. Enid isn't stupid. She's been watching us since summer, and she's observant enough to notice something is going on."
"Can you give me five seconds to actually speak instead of narrating over me—"
"I'm saving time."
Enid was looking between all three of them. Wednesday. Selene. Ethan. Three timing.
She'd always known it somewhere in the back of her head — had filed it under things she didn't want to look at directly — but it was right in front of her now, around a campfire, with nowhere else to look.
"Okay." She stood up. "I need a minute."
She walked into the woods.
Ethan watched her go.
"Go on then," Wednesday said, still looking at the fire. "She needs someone to talk to. And before you ask — not you. Not right now."
"You know Wednesday," Ethan said, "you're kind of mean."
"Takes one to know one." She looked at him over the rim of her mug with something that was almost a smile. "You're the one three timing."
Ethan opened his mouth.
Closed it. Then he stop up and followed Enid into the woods.
"It's kind of entertaining watching him squirm," Selene said.
"There are very few things that put that expression on his face," Wednesday said, looking back at the fire. "Otherwise he's an absolute menace."
***
In the woods, Enid was walking fast and not really going anywhere specific, which was fine because she didn't have a destination in mind.
"Enid." Ethan was behind her. "We can talk about it. Just — don't go too deep, it's dark and there's no telling what's out here at night—"
"Can you give me a minute?"
"I'm giving you a minute. I'm just giving it while walking behind you."
Enid stopped.
Turned around.
Looked at him standing there in the dark with his hands in his pockets, and the thing was — she wasn't even angry. She didn't know what she was. It was more like someone had rearranged furniture she'd gotten used to walking around in the dark and now she didn't know where anything was.
"Just—" She turned back around. "Give me a minute, Ethan. Just a minute."
"Okay," he said.
He kept walking behind her.
She didn't tell him to stop.
She walked for five minutes, not really paying attention to where her feet were going, and then stopped.
Looked down.
Her first thought was that she'd stepped in something. Her second thought, half a second later, was considerably worse.
Human organs. Spread across the ground like they'd been dropped there. Not placed. Just there.
"AHHHHHHH—"
She spun around and ran straight at Ethan, jumped, legs around his waist, arms around his neck, face buried in his shoulder before she'd fully processed what she was doing.
"Okay—" Ethan caught her automatically, one hand on her back. "Easy. What happened, did you step on a snake—"
"Human organs," Enid said into his shoulder.
"What?"
"There are human organs on the ground."
Ethan looked past her at the dark ground ahead.
"Huh," he said.
He patted her back once. "Didn't expect that, did you, Enid."
"That is not a helpful thing to say right now—"
Something crashed through the trees to the left, hit the ground, scrambled upright — a cadet, uniform torn, face completely drained of color. He looked up, saw Ethan's eyes glowing red in the dark, and screamed harder than Enid had.
"Stop screaming," Ethan said.
The cadet kept screaming.
"Stop." Flat. No room in it.
The cadet stopped.
He was breathing in short pulls, hands shaking, staring at Ethan like he couldn't decide which thing in the dark was more dangerous.
"Talk," Ethan said. "What happened?"
"There was — something — in the woods — it killed them—" The cadet's voice kept breaking. "My friends. Kruger. All of them. It just — we were running and it was just—"
His eyes dropped to the organs on the ground.
He started hyperventilating.
"Eyes up," Ethan said. "Look at me. What did it look like?"
The cadet opened his mouth.
Then his eyes rolled back and he dropped.