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somewhere.”
    “There’s no one else,” Alec returned.
    The guy snorted and, in a flash, lunged at Alec and pinned him against the rock wall as I watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “What do you want with her?” he growled, and shoved Alec’s head against the hard earth wall.
    It looked like it hurt, a lot, but Alec barely seemed fazed. If anything, he looked annoyed. “So…you’re the one?”
    The one? It wasn’t possible. Alec couldn’t know my secret. Yet, he knew something...
    “I’m surprised you kept such a distance until now.” Alec’s gaze fell on me and, in that second, he didn’t look like the Alec I knew. He looked dark, dangerous even.
    My eyes flicked between the two. Both of them, both of whom I thought I knew, in different ways, at different times, were strangers to me.
    “You let me get so close...” Alec continued his icy taunt.
    “Long enough for me to realize you’re up to something.” The other guy slipped a hand under his shirt and produced a knife, which he pressed to Alec’s neck. Alec pushed against the wall, in an attempt to put distance between him and the blade, but he had nowhere to go.
    It took me a stunned moment to register the appearance of the knife, and now that I saw it, I realized it didn’t look like any ordinary knife. Its sharply curved blade caught the faintest light, and seemed to sparkle with an unnatural radiance. It was actually a pretty knife. Aesthetics aside, it was deadly, and currently pressed to Alec’s neck.
    I stepped forward in Alec’s defense. Both sets of eyes turned to me, both looking as if they had forgotten I was there.
    The one with the knife looked irritated. “Stay out of this,” he said.
    “Like hell I will.”
    Before I could take another step, I was shoved to the side, and fell to the ground several feet away. Sounds of a struggle reached my ears as I got to my feet. Apparently, after my mystery guy had pushed me out of the way, Alec had tackled him. The two toppled over in a deadly wrestle for control—fists flying and connecting. The occasional flash of the blade caught the light.
    Someone was going to get killed.
    I looked around helplessly. It was just the three of us, alone on the trail, and they and the knife were blocking my way to the beach, to others who could help. I turned for the parking lot. For what, I wasn’t sure. It was one of those I-would-know-when-I-saw-it kind of things, but when I got there, I knew I wouldn’t find anything helpful.
    No one was there to help. It was just me. Or was it?
    A streaking dark shadow moved in my periphery, near the back of the lot. I zoned in on it and thought I glimpsed someone slipping between two cars, before moving behind the cover of a large black truck. I focused on the area, straining my eyes as I looked for more movement, while trying to convince myself I had imagined it. A second shadow moved nearby, closer, and I backed up into the cover of the dark trail.
    Whoever was there wasn’t someone that was going to help. My eyes scanned the parking lot suspiciously. What had my mystery-guy said about Alec having buddies nearby? Alec had denied it, but there was definitely something menacing going on in the parking lot.
    It was too quiet. Only the grunts of fighting behind me reached my ears. I didn’t look back, fearful of what I might see. Besides, I was more alarmed by the formation of additional furtively moving shadows around us. Real or not, they were freaking me out.
    I started to retreat another step when an arm hooked my waist and pushed me forward, into the parking lot.
    “Go, hurry.” It wasn’t Alec, and I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or worried. “There!” He pointed at a familiar black Jeep, and pushed me toward it. Weakened by confusion and fear, I didn’t protest. 
    “Get in,” he ordered.
    That was when I planted my feet. A shadow darted to my right, scarily close, but I held firm. Somewhere out there, Alec had been left. Was he okay?