Shadowed Eden Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t even feel sweaty and hot.
    They helped Benny up and quickly made a plan to mark the path so they could come back with containers, but it turned out that they didn’t need the plan. The path back to the van was easy to follow—it looked like elephants had trampled through the jungle.
    Avery smiled as she glanced around at their group. It wasn’t a bad effort for a bunch of kids who had never been in the jungle before.
    Her gaze landed on Luca and she paused to amend her thought. They may not have been in the jungle before, but Luca had spent a lot of time in the woods. Maybe some of the others had, as well.
    June raced to meet them at the tree line, and Avery grinned, waving. As June got closer, though, Avery paused. Something was wrong. Tears raced down June’s cheeks and panic was written all over her face.
    “What happened?” Avery asked.
    “The other girls—the ones who stayed behind—they’re gone.”
    Luca frowned and stepped forward. “What do you mean?”
    “They said they had to go to the bathroom, but they never came out.”
    Avery glanced past June and saw Erin. The youth leader’s wife frowned toward the sand and paced back and forth at the driver’s side of the van.
    The driver stood at the driver’s side door, frowning and gazing toward the jungle.
    “What do we do?” Avery asked, turning to Luca.
    He watched Erin for another few moments before he sighed and pulled himself up straighter. “Simple. We find them.”

4
    Luca
    Luca turned his back on the group, searching the jungle they’d just come from. How could two girls disappear? They had to have known the way out, and surely, they’d only gone a few trees deep. The jungle was thick, but the sun coming in from one side was obvious.
    The flash of white from that morning bugged him. It might have been his imagination, but what if it wasn’t?
    “Luca, wait.” Avery grabbed his arm and he tried to ignore the way his skin buzzed when she touched him. The jungle was no place for thoughts like that.
    “We have to find them,” he said. “The faster we get in there, the better our chances.”
    “Shouldn’t we wait for the food group to get back?” she said. “We need a more solid plan; some guidelines to follow so no one else gets lost.”
    “You stay behind and explain to them that no one should go into the jungle except in groups. I’ll be back.”
    Her eyes flashed. “What? You can’t go in there alone. You have to follow the same set of rules as everybody else so that you don’t get lost, too.”
    He gritted his teeth and looked back at the trees. The longer he waited to go after them, the further in they could wander. He wasn’t losing anyone or leaving them behind, and he wasn’t worried about getting lost himself. Dad taught him to track, even if he hadn’t done any other good for Luca.
    But when Luca looked back at Avery, his decision was made for him. She stared up at him with her sparkling blue eyes, and he knew he wouldn’t go against her. “Come on,” he said. “We need to come up with a plan.”
    Everyone followed him to Erin and the driver. Erin still stalked next to the side of the van, staring a hole through the sandy ground.
    “We need to go in after them,” he said.
    Erin looked up for a second but then went back to pacing. She took a swig from one of the water bottles she’d brought from home. “You’re right. Why haven’t they come yet?”
    “They could be lost,” Avery piped up.
    “No.” Erin stopped moving and frowned in their direction. “I mean the other van. It’s been hours since the sun came up. Why aren’t they here by now?”
    “They’ll be here,” Luca said. “And that’s why we need to find the other girls. What are their names?”
    “Gabby and Katelyn,” June said. “They came from my church.”
    “Good. You can help us go in and look for them. Benny, you and the others will stay with Erin. You can wait for the other group, and tell everyone to stay put until we get