The beams of four flashlights began criss-crossing the water. 'Hey, Cora!' Finley yelled. 'You're making the babes nervous!'

Something pale moved in the archway.

All the lights hit Cora at once. Wincing, she squinted and ducked her head. 'Gimme a break.'

They lowered their lights.

'It's really neat outside. Come on.' She started to turn around. 'Just wait for us,' Vivian said. She sounded upset. 'You shouldn't have gone out there alone.'

'I'm a big girl.'

'Just wait for us,' Vivian repeated.

'Okay, okay.'

The idea of venturing to the outside pool changed Abilene's mind about wearing a suit.

Finley finished undressing, entered the pool, swam to its far side and waited near Cora while the others put on their swimsuits.

'I'm taking my flashlight,' Helen said.

'Me, too,' Abilene told her.

'What about the lantern?' Helen asked.

Vivian grimaced. 'No. Leave it here.'

'It'd ruin the view,' Cora said from the archway.

'It'd light us up like 'Sitting ducks?' Finley suggested.

'That's right,' Vivian said.

Finley, laughing, waded after Cora. The two of them vanished through the archway as Abilene, Vivian and Helen jumped into the pool.

The hot water felt wonderful sliding against Abilene. She made her way to the center of the pool, found the barred opening, and stepped on top of it. She lingered there, savoring the soft rub of the currents that rolled up from below. Raising the flashlight overhead, she squatted so the water covered her to the neck.

Then she realized that Vivian and Helen were already outside. She was alone. As she looked around at the bright lantern and the darkness beyond its glow, she felt a crawly sensation on the back of her neck.

She waded quickly to the archway and hurried through it.

The others were all in the smaller pool, sitting on the submerged ledges along two of its sides. Helen and Finley sat at the south end. Facing them across the water were Vivian and Cora.

'Isn't it terrific out here?' Cora asked.

'Nice,' Abilene said. She waded over to the north end, put her flashlight on the edge, then sank down and sat beside Cora.

'Fresh air.'

The air was warm, but cooler than inside. Its sulphur odor was not so strong, and Abilene could smell the sweet aromas of the forest.

Directly overhead was the porch. From its edge all the way to the treetops at the far end of the lodge's grounds, the night sky was sprinkled with stars. There were no clouds that Abilene could see.

The high, full moon cast its brightness down on the woods, the field, the ruin of the swimming pool, the brick barbecue and the old picnic table. It lit the area under the porch, as well.

It glinted silver on the rippled surface of the hot pool.

It shone on the girls, gleaming on their hair, painting their skin with its milky glow, leaving black shadows where it couldn't reach.

Nobody looks quite right, Abilene thought.

Faces pale on one side, dark on the other. Faces that seemed to have holes instead of eyes. She supposed she must look just as strange.

'Look at all those stars,' Cora said.

'I know I'm thrilled,' Finley said.

'Bet you don't see stars like this in L.A.'

'Maybe we should go back inside,' Vivian suggested.

'It's much nicer out here.'

'We're so exposed.'

'With moonlight like this,' Abilene said, 'I could probably read a book by it.'

'Anybody could be out there. Watching us.'

'Still worried about that kid,' Cora said.

'Maybe he'll come over and join us,' Finley said, if he does, I call firsties.'

Abilene realized that they all had their heads turned, were gazing out at the moonlit grounds as if expecting someone to creep out of the forest.

'What if someone does come along?' Helen asked, her voice hushed.

'Stop it,' Vivian said.

'We'll just let Finley keep him busy,' Abilene said, 'while the rest of us skedaddle.'

'My pleasure.'

'Nobody's gonna come along,' Cora said. 'Why don't you all just settle down and enjoy yourselves. Helen, you've got a story to tell us, don't you? About the murders?'

'Maybe this isn't the best time to tell it.'

'I'll second that,' Vivian said.

'This is the perfect time for it. Just pretend we're sitting around a campfire.'

'This is like sitting around a campfire,' Abilene said. 'You know? Supper's over. Nothing else to do before bedtime. It's warm and cozy. We're all gathered here, surrounded by the dark.'

'Campfires are bright and cheerful,' Helen pointed out. 'Finley's bright and cheerful. She can get in the middle and make crackling sounds.'

'Cracks is more like it,' Cora said.

'I'm hot enough. I just might burst into flame.'

'People do, you know,' Helen said. 'Sometimes, they just bum up for no apparent reason. I've read accounts of that happening. I read where some guy went up in smoke, and it happened so fast that his clothes didn't even get burnt. All they found were ashes and charred bones inside his clothes.'

'They were probably flame retardant,' Abilene said.

'Maybe the guy was a vampire,' Finley suggested. 'We made this movie where a guy - one of your basic Dracula types - just crumpled to crap right inside his duds.'

'Night Fang,' Helen said.

'Yeah, that's the one.'

'You were script supervisor?' Abilene asked.

'Right. It was my last big epic before I moved up to assistant director.'

'I saw it,' Helen said. 'The sunlight got him. But that's different from spontaneous combustion.'

'I feel like I'm gonna spontaneously combust.' Finley stood, turned around, and climbed onto the submerged shelf. She sat on the edge of the pool and crossed her legs. And sighed. 'Ahhh. This is much better.'

'Are you sure you want to be sitting up there?' Vivian asked.

'Yep.' She stretched, folding her hands behind her head, arching her back, twisting slightly from side to side. 'Nice breeze.'

'You really do stick out,' Helen said.

'Do I? Thanks.' Lowering her arms, she gazed down as if inspecting her breasts. 'Not as much as I'd like, actually.' Helen chuckled. 'Not them. You.'

'You are awfully visible,' Abilene said. 'You look like a snowman up there.'

'Gee, I should've brought my camouflage makeup.'

'You stick out like a sore thumb,' Helen told her.

'Why don't you get back in,' Vivian said, 'before somebody sees you?'

'Nobody's gonna see her,' Cora said.

'Ah, the voice of reason. You'd think we were in a war zone, the way these babes are carrying on. We're in the middle of nowhere. Wishful thinking aside, that kid showing up was a fluke. There's probably nobody but us around for miles.'

'That's telling 'em,' Cora said.

'It's not true, though,' Helen said. 'There really are people who live in these hills.'

'The dreaded Hill People,' Finley said. 'Who prowl the woods by night.'

'I'm not joking. I read about them.'

'Are these the same people who spontaneously combust?' Finley asked.

'These are the same people who invaded the Totem Pole Lodge twelve years ago and slaughtered everyone.'

'All right]' Finley pumped a fist beside her face. 'We get to hear the story, after all.'

'Lucky us,' Vivian muttered.

'I guess so,' Helen said. 'Since Fin wants to insist nobody's around for miles. The fact is, half a dozen families live within a few miles of here. Or did, anyway. I don't know if they're still around. But back at the time of the murders, there were the Sloanes, the Hacketts, the Johnsons...'

'The Hatfields and McCoys,' Abilene interrupted.

Finley laughed. 'You've got your geography screwed up, Hickok.'

'Well, it was never my strong suit.'

'Let's shut up and listen,' Cora said.

'Anyway, there were these families. They lived near here and they were hill people. They lived in shacks. They didn't have much to do with the outside world. They hunted and fished and kept to themselves.'

'Probably some terrific banjo players,' Abilene said. 'Apparently, there was a lot of inbreeding.'

'Halfwits and harelips,' Cora said.

'I thought we were supposed to shut up and listen,' Finley reminded her.

'And don't you forget it,' Cora said.

'I was behaving.' Finley leaned back and braced herself up with stiff arms. 'Go on, Helen.'

'Well, Cora's right. The inbreeding did result in some abnormalities. The book didn't go into much detail about it, just that some of them were retarded and some looked kind of freakish. But they minded their own business, and generally tried to keep their distance from the lodge. They were in the woods all around here, though. So when guests from the lodge would go out fishing or hunting, sometimes they'd spot one or two off in the distance. They used to make jokes about bagging one. How they could have the head stuffed, and hang it up in the lodge along with the other trophies.'

'These lodge guests sound like charming people,' Abilene said.

'Hunters are all like that,' Vivian said. 'Macho bastards.'

'You've known some?' Abilene asked.

'Hell, my father was one.'

'I thought he was a neurosurgeon.'

'He was that, too.'