Caroline didn’t see the point. Why would you need a beach if it was too cold to sit on it and too frigid to swim? And it wasn’t like they weren’t in the most secluded spot on the lake, a place to hang out where other vacationers couldn’t bother them.

Johnny and his friends had used the private beach for their end-of-summer party, figuring if they got caught, it wouldn’t matter since they’d be going home the next day.

Thinking about Johnny hurt, and she pushed the thoughts away. She turned toward Adam. “You better lead from here.”

“This way.” The moonlight caught the back of his ears, making it look as though he had two big orbs on the sides of his head.

She followed close behind. The twins pushed and shoved each other, cackling about how this was nothing but a waste of time. Jeff and Megan dropped back from the pack.

“You go on ahead,” Megan called. “We’ll catch up with you.”

Ned made kissing, sucking noises. Ted mumbled, “Gross.” They continued on, leaving Jeff and Megan on the beach. Caroline didn’t want to think about what Megan was doing. The idea of kissing a boy still made her feel icky.

“Here,” Adam said.

They had been walking a good ten minutes. Mud caked to their sneakers, and it was hard to find a safe place to step. The brush was thick and trees lined the water’s edge. Not many people came down this far where the lake narrowed and eventually emptied into a stream that really wasn’t much of a stream at all, but a trickle of water that ran through the woods another half mile until it dried up altogether. Some believed with the rate of erosion, global warming, and dry summers, the lake would one day cease to exist. But Gram had told her it wasn’t possible. The lake was a natural lake made from a glacier and fed by underwater springs from deep inside the earth’s core.

She believed Gram’s version and realized she still trusted her. She had to trust in someone. And she didn’t doubt Gram would’ve told her about Billy and Johnny if she could have. She found comfort in the thought.

The twins and Adam approached an area where it did look as though the water was blacker, deeper.

“There’s big fish in there,” Adam said. “I know it. I’ve seen them swimming around.”

“Yeah, but who’s going to come all this way to prove you pulled a trout out down here? You need a parent with you for it to count,” Ned said to Adam.

While the boys argued over the rules and whose parent would be willing to walk all this way, Cougar had wandered farther down near the stream. He yipped and whined. Caroline went to see what was wrong. She had to weave around trees and wind her way around moss-covered rocks. A thorn bush pricked her thigh, and her sneakers sunk in the deepening mud.

“What did you find?” she asked the dog. “Bring it here so I can see it.”

Cougar yelped and whimpered.

Her first thought was that he must be hurt, but then she saw something lying on the ground near his paws. She took a couple of steps closer. In the mud, not far from where she stood, was Sara’s body. Her braids splayed in the puddles surrounding her head, and her eyes, cold and lifeless, stared into the night sky. Her bathing suit was tattered and torn. The skin on her arms and legs was shredded. Only the ghostly glow of her face hadn’t been touched, as if the snappers had known to leave something for her mother.

“Guys.” Her voice cracked. “Guys,” she said a little louder. Cougar continued to paw at the muddy water near the body, whimpering and whining as if he knew he had found what everyone was looking for.

“Guys!” she yelled, and stumbled backward. She turned and ran back the way she came, slipping on the rocks, tearing through the thorny brush. Cougar followed on her heels. “Guys,” she said out of breath when she had finally reached them.

Adam looked as though he had been crying. The twins must’ve been really giving it to him. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees. She thought she might be sick. The boys stared at her, sensing whatever was wrong was important.

“Cougar,” she said. “He found Sara’s…” She couldn’t finish. She couldn’t say the word body.

They didn’t ask what she meant. They didn’t have to. Every kid knew Sara’s name. Every kid knew she hadn’t been found. They may have been pretending she hadn’t drowned the last few days, but they didn’t forget even if their parents had moved on. Kids wouldn’t forget about another kid dying.

“Are you sure? Where?” Ned asked.

Caroline pointed downstream. “It’s her,” she said, swallowing the warm saliva in the back of her throat.

“How did she get all the way down here?” Ted asked. “It doesn’t seem possible.”

“It’s totally possible,” Adam said, his wet eyes darting from Caroline to the twins. “The water current carries a lot of cool stuff here.” He scrunched up his face. “You know what I mean.” He continued, “Once, I found an old license plate and a Coke bottle. And don’t forget about the snappers. They love the mud. Maybe they drag stuff here and, you know, eat it. I know they like to burrow in mud so only their eyes and nostrils stick out. Then they wiggle their tongues like tiny worms to attract small fish. When the fish gets close”—he smacked his hands together—“they grab it and chomp it to pieces.”

“I thought they only ate dead stuff,” Ted said.

“No. They eat small fish and plants, too. But I think they prefer the dead stuff.…” Adam’s voice trailed off.

Maybe they realized the impact of what Adam was saying because after this, they were quiet. Even Cougar didn’t make a sound. In the silence Adam and the twins stared at one another, each muttering to the other, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” All Caroline heard was the sound of her own breathing.

Adam put his finger to his lips.

She strained to listen.

“There it is again,” Adam said.

“I don’t hear anything,” she said.

Adam looked at her. “It’s a full moon,” he said, and pointed to the sky, his hand shaking. “You can hear the horse during a full moon.”

“I bet it’s because you found Sara,” Ted said to her. “I mean, she drowned the same day Adam found that bit.”

“It was probably the wind,” Ned said.

“You didn’t hear anything?” Adam asked her.

“No,” Caroline said. “I didn’t.” She knew Adam was disappointed in her. But what could she say? Too much had happened. She no longer believed in the things she once had at the start of summer, the kinds of things that only kids believed in like lake legends. She wasn’t the same girl who had once accepted the world as it was without question. For her the world had forever changed.

Megan and Jeff came crashing through the brush. “What?” Megan asked, and looked at them. “What’s going on?” It was obvious Megan and Jeff didn’t hear anything either.

“Cougar found Sara,” Caroline said, because finding the little girl was the most important thing. “I know where she is.”

“You do?” Megan asked. “Where?”

“Maybe it’s not even her,” Ned said. “We’re all a little spooked right now.”

Caroline shook her head. “It’s her.” There was no mistake. The image of Sara’s body flashed in her mind’s eye, the face of an angel resting peacefully on a tattered body.

“Let’s make sure,” Ted said to the others. “Adam, you stay here with Cougar. We don’t want that dog to get a hold of her. If it’s really her,” he added.

“Cougar wouldn’t do that,” Caroline said at the same time the dog lowered his head as though he were ashamed. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said to Cougar.

“I’m coming with you, guys,” Adam said.

“No.” Caroline reached for Adam’s hand. “Stay here with me. You don’t want to see.” She didn’t want to treat Adam like a baby, but she knew it wasn’t something he should look at. He was too young. It was bad enough the others were going to look.

No kid, no matter how old, should ever have to see another kid’s dead body.