Abi held out her hand. ‘Give me my phone back,’ she said to Cora. ‘Enough messing around.’
‘I don’t have your stupid phone! And I didn’t touch your water, Luke!’
Luke was holding his bottle to his mouth, tipping his head back to try to catch another drip.
‘Here,’ said Fash. ‘Have some of –’
But when he picked up his bottle from the floor, he shook it and it didn’t make a sound. Then I checked my bottle, which was lying at the foot end of the groundsheet. It was empty, and so was Abi’s.
‘What about yours, Cora?’ Abi said.
Cora was already reaching into her rucksack. Her bottle was still half full.
‘That … that doesn’t mean anything,’ she said, seeing the way everyone was looking at her. ‘I was using my rucksack as a pillow!’
‘So?’ Abi said.
‘So whoever messed with your bottles couldn’t have got to mine! That’s the only reason mine’s still full!’
Abi rolled her eyes. She took a step and made a lunge for Cora’s rucksack.
‘What the hell, Abi! Get off.’
Abi had Cora’s bag by one of its straps, and Cora was trying to keep her from taking it.
‘Whoa,’ said Fash, ‘what are you doing?’
‘I’m going to look inside her bag, that’s what,’ said Abi, giving the strap another yank. ‘I bet she’s got our water in a secret flask or something. Not to mention my phone.’
‘A secret flask?’ said Cora. ‘Seriously? And will you stop going on about your stupid phone! The rest of ours are missing, too!’ She was still having a tug of war with Abi, until Fash and Luke pulled them apart.
‘Everybody calm down,’ said Luke. ‘Let’s just … I don’t know. Try to work out what’s happening.’
‘It’s obvious what’s happening,’ Abi said, and she jabbed a finger at Cora. ‘She thought it would be funny to –’
‘All right, all right!’ Fash cut in. ‘Jesus.’ He pressed the heel of his palm to his head as though he had a sudden headache or something. I watched him for a moment, curious.
‘Look,’ said Luke. ‘There’s no point blaming one another.’
‘So who else are we supposed to blame?’ said Abi. ‘There’s nobody else out here but us!’
I saw Cora open her mouth, her eyes flick towards the trees. But whatever she’d been about to say, she swallowed it.
‘Why don’t we all have another look around?’ said Luke. ‘For the phones, I mean. The water’s not the end of the world. We probably could drink the stream water if we boil it.’
‘How?’ said Cora. ‘I mean, I don’t suppose anybody brought a kettle, did they? And a five-mile-long extension lead?’
‘We could … build a fire or something,’ Luke answered. ‘Heat it up over that.’
‘What, in our hands?’ said Cora. ‘Unless someone’s carrying around a saucepan that the rest of us don’t know about?’
‘Jesus Christ, Cora!’ Luke snapped. ‘I don’t know, do I? I’m just trying to be positive, that’s all! You’re the one who …’
‘Who what?’ said Cora, when Luke abruptly stopped talking. ‘Who stole the phones? Who tipped out the drinking water? You still think it was me!’
‘No one’s saying that,’ said Fash. He wasn’t clutching his head any more, but there was no denying he looked tired. Exhausted even, as though he hadn’t slept a wink all night. ‘Let’s just do what Luke suggested. OK? Have another look around. See if anything else has been messed with.’
Cora stood fuming for a moment, as did Abi. But when me, Fash and Luke turned to get on with it, they had no choice but to start looking around, too.
We searched for a good ten minutes, but we couldn’t find the phones. Or any secret flasks, come to that.
‘What about the bags?’ said Fash. ‘Is anything else missing from them?’ He’d made a start on laying out his belongings on the ground. Fash is the kind of person who, when he goes to the supermarket, places his stuff on the conveyor belt like he’s building a jigsaw. Me, I just upend my basket and hope none of the contents fall on the floor.
‘Not from my bag,’ said Cora. ‘It’s empty already. See?’ She held her rucksack upside down and gave it a shake. She made a point of staring at Abi.
Abi ignored her, thank God. She was picking up the sunflower seeds, blowing on them one by one, and then dropping them back into the packet.
‘Mine’s fine, too,’ said Luke, peering into his rucksack. ‘It’s only my phone that’s missing.’
I almost didn’t bother checking my bag. I was watching the others, for one thing. I wanted to see their reactions. And there was nothing I’d brought with me I gave a toss about. That’s what I thought … until I remembered.
‘Mason?’ said Fash. ‘What about you? Have you got everything you came with?’
I’d turned away and dropped to my knees. I was running my hand around the inside of my rucksack, feeling into every corner. Carefully at first, then faster and faster.
‘Mase?’ said Fash, when I didn’t answer. I sensed the others looking over, too.
I raised my head. ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Couldn’t find my iPod for a sec, that’s all.’ I pulled it from a side pocket of my rucksack and held it up in the air.
‘So that’s it, then,’ said Luke, sitting down. ‘It’s just the water and the phones.’
Abi didn’t answer. She flopped on to the ground beside her bag. Cora, standing, folded her arms. Fash was still surveying his belongings, double-checking that nothing was missing.
‘Looks that way,’ I said to Luke, shrugging. He shrugged back, then made a start on doing up his rucksack. I took the opportunity to sneak another look in mine, even though I knew exactly what was in there. Or, rather, what wasn’t.
Because Luke was wrong. It wasn’t just the water and the phones.
That knife I brought? The kitchen knife?
That was missing, too.
