Four of Clubs

5

Unlike the previous challenge, this location wasn't all that extraordinary: we were in the woods not too far from Rutherford. But even though the location was comparably subdued from yesterday's, it was proving to be just as difficult.

The house was easy to find- it was an obvious sore thumb in the middle of nowhere. But in the woods, every tree looked the same, and we weren't even sure what we were looking for, or where to look to find it. The coordinates were hard to narrow down with the maps on our cellphones, and we were wandering around a parking-lot-sized radius of dirt and pine needles, repeating the poem in our heads as we scoured the ground and the branches we could reach. And, of course, it was starting to get dark.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Daniel asked again. I bit my lip, wishing he'd stop questioning the situation and just help us search.

"We've triple checked it," Roy said, his voice sounding testy for the first time since I'd met him, "I'm pretty sure we're in the right place."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, obviously offended by the other boy's tone. "Okay, well then why aren't we finding anything?"

"Hmmm," Roy pretended to think, "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you haven't looked for more than a minute without stopping to-"

Roy was cut off by a loud rumble, the thunder echoing off the trees around us as we all looked at the sky, and then at each other in mutual disbelief. My stomach dropped. It could not be about to storm.

"We should go back to the car," Daniel suggested, tone already cooled down. I was grateful the thunder distracted him from the argument he was about to have, even if it did mean we were about to have a whole other problem.

"You can go if you want, I'm staying," Roy said. I noticed him shoot a glance over to Jade.

She met his eyes, nodding in response. "Same."

I guessed that was just how things were, whether I liked it or not-- Daniel was my boyfriend, and no matter what, they were going to assume that I would take his side. 

Unfortunately for Daniel, they were wrong.

"I'll stay too," I added, feeling the first drops of rain land on my head. I shivered as they settled into my scalp and I quickly pulled the hood of my jacket over my hair.

"Maddie," Dan sighed, coming closer to me and lowering his voice as the other two walked away to continue their search. "We don't even know what we're looking for."

He grabbed my hand and I shrugged, trying not to let my decision sway under the weight of his touch. "Doesn't mean we won't find it."

He stayed silent, and I could tell he wasn't happy. It was more than the fact that he didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be involved in this competition altogether. I almost wanted to apologize for dragging him into it, but also knew I shouldn't feel the need to. He knew what he was signing up for, and if I was being honest, I still wanted him to want it. I wanted him to care about vengeance as much as I did. Shouldn't he?