It was tough on me, sitting and waiting, watching as the sun crept lower and lower toward the trees. There was no way I could leave to get help when the sun set, it was too dangerous. Plus I didn't want to leave him alone in the dark. As eight o'clock rolled past I forced myself to eat another half of the sandwich, along with an apple. I wouldn't be any good to Ace if I collapsed from hunger. In order to pass the time waiting I had started reading the book he'd brought with him (since mine had washed away in the river), though it wasn't exactly to my taste – too much violence. It wasn't exactly something I had pictured him reading anyway, it was awfully long and had been translated from Japanese. I'm not really sure what I expected him to like reading (probably books on sports, like Teddy), but a six hundred page book with small text to boot wasn't it.

When it was nearing nine o'clock I decided I'd better wake him up to check on him. Since it was so late I was staying put for the night, even though it would undoubtedly be a crappy night. I crawled over to his side and put my hand to his forehead again, and felt that it was still cold and clammy. Not a good sign. I pulled the sleeping bag back from his face, since the sun was now down behind the trees and wouldn't bother him. His skin still looked very pale. I decided I might as well try to wake him, if only to make sure that I still could. I touched his arm and shook it gently.

He stirred then, blinking his eyes open and looking up at me. "Lancer?"

"Yeah, just checking on you to see how you're feeling." I watched him to see if he looked confused and out of it, or if his senses were at least returning to him somewhat.

"My throat, kinda burns," he said, speaking slowly but surely, at least. He sounded aware of himself.

"Probably because you threw up before. Do you remember that?" He said he didn't, and I felt worried again. All of this waking up and never remembering what had just happened was unnerving me greatly, because I wasn't sure if it was normal or not. I got him the water and had to help him sit up so he could drink it. He could barely sit upright on his own.

"So, aside from your throat, how do you feel?" I felt kind of bad about asking him to talk when his throat was sore, but I needed to know how he was feeling.

"Tired," he said, and even his voice sounded sleepy, "and dizzy."

"You should probably lie back down then and sleep some more. I just wanted to check on you." I watched as he slid back down into the sleeping bag, closing his eyes and passing out again instantly. It was so eerie, seeing someone who had more energy and stamina than anyone I knew being so weak.

In another half hour the sun had finally set completely, leaving us in the dark. That was also when I noticed that the flashlight that was supposed to be in Ace's pack was also gone, which made me quite uneasy. It was really dark out here, though the stars were gorgeous. I lay on my stomach, my hands clasped beneath my chin, staring up at the sky above the river. There were too many tree branches overhead for me to lie on my back, and I didn't want to leave Ace to sit by the river, because knowing my luck so far on this trip, I probably wouldn't be able to find him again.

As I laid there I let my head wander, thinking of the different constellations. There was Canis Major and Minor, the two dogs. I smiled when I thought about them, because they made me think of my family. Both of my parents were very interested in astronomy and had taught me the constellations from a young age. Canis Minor had been my favourite as a little kid, because everyone called it the "hotdog". Thinking of my parents was both comforting and bittersweet.

If they were here right now (or if I could talk to them) they would know exactly what to do in this situation. They'd both spent a lot of time doing wilderness exploration when they were younger, and I'm sure they'd come across this sort of situation before. But it also felt bittersweet because if only I'd gone with them instead of begging to come here, Ace wouldn't be hurt right now, and I wouldn't be feeling so useless. And guilty.

I knew that the last thing I could do right now was allow myself to give in to my bad emotions, so instead of curling up into a ball and telling myself how worthless I was, I looked to the northeast of Canis Major, finding another favourite constellation - Orion the Hunter. When I turned eight years old, my mother had had our chef bake me a birthday cake shaped like the constellation, because I'd become obsessed with it. So obsessed that I'd begged my dad to let me take up archery, despite the fact that I was a kid. I so badly wanted to be a hunter; even though I didn't fully realize at the time that being a hunter would mean that I would have to shoot animals (which I now thought was a little barbaric).

He'd told me I was too young to take up archery, and I'd sulked for a week. But then he'd bought me a Nerf bow and arrow set, and all was forgiven. I ran around outside shooting foam arrows at everything that moved (and a few things that didn't). The usual victim was our gardener, who never really seemed to mind. Sometimes, if he wasn't that busy, he would play with me and pretend to be a stag running around our lawn. I would shoot him and he'd start limping, and after I shot him a second time he would make a big production of falling to the ground and dying, and I would do a little dance around him before jumping on him.

He'd died last year, so thinking about him made me a little sad. He'd been a really nice man, and had always been willing to help me with things when my dad hadn't been around. He once spent six hours helping me make a robotised Venus Fly Trap, which had been a project for my science class.

My parents hadn't exactly been around a lot, but I wasn't mad at them about it. I knew they loved me, but they also loved their jobs and they loved exploring, and besides, everyone who worked for us became like family, so I always had a lot of people around at home.

But thinking of them all was making me upset still, so I turned on to my back and stared at the dark canopy of branches and leaves above our heads instead. I was going to have to leave Ace here by himself tomorrow to go and get help. I just hoped he would be coherent enough to understand that and remember it; otherwise we were going to be in some trouble.

Now that it was dark it got a little chilly, but I wanted Ace to be warm, so I couldn't use one of the sleeping bags. So instead I pulled his sweater out of his bag and put it on, hoping it would help somewhat. I had a feeling this would be a very long night.

Leaf Sparrow hummed silently while behind the wheel of the Jeep, heading north. He and his partner Magnus had just checked in on one pair of boys, who'd made it to their site safely. That had been the fifth pair on their route they'd had to check, and so far everything was going well. The boys were finding their proper spots and setting up for the night perfectly. They were now en route to their sixth pair, the ones who were furthest north. Leaf wasn't worried about them and actually didn't even feel the need to check on them, but it had to be done.

One of the boys, Ace, was in his cabin. Leaf knew the kid wouldn't have any trouble navigating and getting set up, and he had actually brought him a bit of a snack as a surprise (so he played favourites, he wasn't ashamed to admit it). The kid reminded him a lot of himself when he was thirteen. That was ten years ago, though it didn't feel that long.

"Make a right here," Magnus called out, consulting the map. Leaf turned and drove straight, the Jeep rumbling along the side of a stream. The boys should be another few hundred metres ahead. But when they got to the designated site, they didn't see anyone. He turned off the Jeep and looked at Magnus.

"They should be here, right? Did we go far enough?"

Magnus consulted the map again, "they actually should have been just a little further back, but there was nothing. Do you think maybe they went on ahead?"

Leaf shook his head. "No, Ace is pretty by the book, he'd be setting up precisely where he was told to set up. What about the other kid? He's in your cabin, right?"

Magnus nodded. "Yeah, Lancer would just go with whatever Ace told him, probably. Not exactly the most outspoken of my boys." Magnus was two years older than Leaf, but they'd actually met each other at this very camp twelve years ago, where they'd been coming ever since in the summer.

"This is so weird. Should we drive a little further anyway, just to check it out?" Magnus agreed and Leaf revved the engine again, turning on the lights and driving slowly up the stream. They both kept their eyes peeled on either side of the stream, looking for a camp. After driving for a kilometre they turned around and headed back to the river, slowing down when they got back to where the boys should have been.

"Ace? Lancer? You guys out here?" Magnus called out, shining his flashlight into the trees. He didn't see anything, no sign of anyone having been here. "This is weird," he said, looking into the other side of the stream.

"You don't think anything happened, do you?" Leaf followed Magnus' flashlight around the area, looking with his own eyes and starting to worry.

"Maybe they just read the map wrong," Magnus offered, though he was also a little worried.

"No, Ace is perfect with a map and compass."

"Maybe the compass was defective?"

Leaf shook his head again. "I don't think so. Besides, he probably would have climbed up to the ridge and followed the river along, knowing him."

Magnus frowned. "Maybe we should go back and drive along the river, maybe something happened. Or maybe they overshot the location; there are a few streams that branch off further north. It's worth a shot before we send word back to camp. No point in having a search party go out if we find them five minutes later in the wrong place."

Leaf would have preferred to go looking further back instead, because he just knew that there was no way Ace would go to the wrong spot. The kid was too much of a perfectionist to get something this relatively easy wrong. But he did as Magnus suggested anyway, driving further north. After they checked the next three streams, Magnus admitted that Leaf was probably right, and that something more dire had happened.

"Do you want to check on our other pair first? They're not too far from here," Leaf asked, though what he really wanted to do was look for Ace. But if they started doing that without checking for the other team first and something had also happened to those boys, then they'd both be in a bit of trouble.

"Sure. We should radio in to camp though to let them know to start looking. After we find the other kids, we'll look for Ace and Lancer, okay?" Magnus knew his partner had a soft spot for the kid, and he was also a little wary of Lancer being alone in the wilderness. The kid did have good sense about him in the woods, but any kid with a good head could lose his ability to think clearly if a situation went wrong.

It took ten minutes to drive to their final location, where a boy from Magnus' cabin by the name of Teddy was paired with a kid from a third cabin, whose name was Bud. They pulled up and to their relief saw the boys sitting around a fire. They stopped the Jeep and got out, approaching the pair.

"Hey boys, have any trouble finding your place?" Leaf approached first, looking around at their set up. Even though he was worried, he still had a job to do, and evaluating the camp site was part of the assessment.

"No problem at all," Teddy answered, "it was easy!"

"That's good to hear. Teddy, can I have a word with you?" Magnus asked the boy with the mohawk to follow him back to the Jeep, which Teddy did cautiously, worried that he'd somehow gotten in trouble.

"Listen, I need you to be honest with me, okay?" Teddy gulped and nodded, wondering if Magnus had somehow found out about their escapade last weekend. "I know you're friends with Lancer and Ace, and I was wondering if you had seen them anywhere today?"

Teddy's face took on an immediate confused expression. Why was Magnus asking him about Ace and Lancer? "No, they left twenty minutes before us. We haven't seen anyone."

Magnus nodded, believing him. Sometimes, in the past, boys had waited around for their friends and spent a better part of the day hiking around together before separating at night to go to their individual camps. He'd thought that maybe that's what had happened here. Maybe Ace and Lancer had waited for Teddy, and then when they separated perhaps they got lost or turned around. It could happen, no matter how much Leaf believed in Ace's orienteering skills.

"Why are you asking? Did something happen?" Teddy was curious now. Maybe the guys hadn't made it to their site? He didn't know how that was possible, though. They were both really good at navigating. Maybe they lost their map?

Magnus debated telling Teddy about his friends. He didn't want to worry the kid. But if he wasn't honest, then Teddy would come to his own conclusions and spend all night worrying - or worse, he'd leave on his own to try and find them. "They didn't make it to their camp; Leaf and I are trying to figure out what happened."

Just as he'd worried, the moment he told Teddy the truth the other boy started freaking out. "That's impossible! They're two of the best guys at navigating at the camp! They couldn't get lost, I know it! Something must have happened. Can I come with you guys to help you look?"

Magnus shook his head. "No Teddy, stay here. Leaf and I are more than capable of finding them."

"Come on, Magnus! They're my best friends," a tiny bit of fear crept into Teddy's voice. Nothing could happen to them! If anything ever did, Teddy wasn't sure what he'd do.

"Really, Teddy. The best place for you to be is here, where you're supposed to be. Leaf and I will go looking, and other people from the camp will look too. I'm sure they just got turned around out there and are somewhere else, we'll find them."

Teddy frowned, ready to keep fighting. If he couldn't go with Magnus, then he'd just wait until they left and he'd leave by himself to go looking. Maybe Bud would come with him.

"I know what you're thinking, Teddy, and if you leave after we're gone, you will be in huge trouble. Something might happen to you, or you might get lost. You stay here." Magnus wasn't sure how he could convince the kid to stay put.

"But how will I know if you find them? Magnus please, I don't really have any other friends at home." It was sort of true - he did have other people in class he was friends with, but a lot of them he was friends with because of Ace. It would be weird if anything happened to him, or to Lancer. They were his best friends, and he didn't want to lose either of them.

"All right listen, I'm going to give you this walkie talkie," Magnus reached into the Jeep, pulling out the spare one they carried. "I'll set it to our second frequency, and I'll call you to give you updates, okay? But you have to promise me you'll stay here!" Magnus held the piece out, a stern look on his face.

Teddy thought about it for a second, before nodding and taking the walkie talkie. Maybe walking around the woods at night wouldn't be the smartest idea in the world. At least he'd be able to get updates from Magnus. "Okay, I promise I'll stay here. But you better call me! And not just when you find them either!"

Magnus could see past the teenage bravado that Teddy was scared about his friends being lost, and he felt for him. "I promise you, every fifteen minutes I'll call you, okay? As soon as we find them, or someone else does, I will let you know. Deal?" Teddy nodded, and Magnus laid a hand on his mohawked head. "All right then, go back over by the fire and try not to worry too much. Sorry you had to hear about this, but I wanted to make sure you hadn't seen them today, since it might have given us a clue about where they went."

Just before Teddy was about to walk back to the fire he paused, as though there was something he wanted to say. Magnus waited to see if he'd speak, but when it looked like he was about to turn around, he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder to stop him. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Teddy turned back around, his eyes downcast and his mouth frowning. "Well, it's just that, I don't know if it makes a difference! Forget it," he turned to leave again, but Magnus stopped him again.

"Tell me, Teddy." He had no idea what the kid was trying to say, but Teddy wasn't the type who went about things with this level of uncertainty. Usually he spoke without thinking.

"Well, Ace and Lance, see, they kind of don't really like each other any more." Teddy wasn't sure why he was saying anything. He'd been worried when the boys were paired together (and also a bit jealous) but secretly had hoped that maybe being alone for the weekend would make them get over their problems and be friends again.

"Are you saying you think there might have been a problem because of it?" This was news to Magnus. Had something happened between the boys?

"I don't know!" Teddy answered, crossing his arms. "I just thought that maybe you should know. Maybe they got in a fight and got separated, or something." Teddy felt almost guilty saying it.

Magnus nodded. "I see. Well Teddy, sometimes boys get paired up for this exercise who don't like each other, but when they come back, they're suddenly good friends. Maybe, if they're still together, they'll work together and that will help them work out their problems. So try not to worry about them, okay?" Teddy nodded and Magnus let him go back to the fire. He sat in the Jeep and waited for Leaf, mulling over what Teddy had told him. If the boys really were enemies, what if they had separated from each other and were alone?

He really hoped that wasn't the case.

I woke up suddenly, sitting up and looking around (though I couldn't see a thing). Something had woken me up, but I wasn't sure what it had been. I sat still, breathing heavily and listening. Had it been a crashing sound near me?

But then I heard it again and my blood chilled. Howling wolves. I didn't even know there were wolves in the park! We'd been told about the occasional bear, but not wolves! I waited to hear them again, trying to judge how close they sounded. I wondered why they were howling to begin with, and I tried to remember if I'd ever read anything on wolves. I heard it again, and tried to figure out which direction it was coming from. I was pretty sure it was on the other side of the river, but I wasn't exactly sure. Everything seemed to echo out here.

I sat still, wishing I had the flashlight. It wouldn't really do a lot of good, but it would make me feel slightly better. A few minutes passed and the wolves seemed to have stopped their howling, but I was still tense, just knowing they were out there. Were they hunting something? Maybe they'd made a kill and were stopping their howling to eat? I wasn't sure.

I looked at my watch, pressing the button to illuminate the time. It read 03:02 and I felt frustrated at the wolves. I wasn't sure how long it had taken me to fall asleep (because looking at my watch always made the time go by more slowly) but I knew it had taken me a while. But at least I had slept for a bit. I'd been worried that I wouldn't, because I was so worried about everything. I guess I'd worn myself out.

It certainly hadn't been comfortable, lying on the ground. My shoulder was sore, along with my back. I sat up and stretched a little, rubbing my hands over my legs. At least the upper half of my body was warm with the extra sweater. I looked over at where I knew Ace's body was, barely making it out in the darkness. The presence of the wolves made me even more nervous about having to leave Ace tomorrow. What if some kind of animal stumbled upon him when I was gone? What if I came back to find his body torn up and mangled by a bear? How would I be able to live with myself?

I then wondered if I should wake Ace up again, or if I should let him sleep. After all, I'm sure he'd fall asleep again if I did wake him. But then what would happen if I couldn't wake him up? I knew I'd probably start freaking out, and the fact that it was dark would just make it a lot worse. I sat still, hugging my knees to my chest, wondering what I should do. All I knew was that I don't think I'd fall asleep again, not with the way my heart was pounding from hearing those wolves.

Just then I heard a branch snap off to my left, and I nearly jumped. What if it was an animal? What if a bear had smelled us, and was coming to investigate? What if it was the wolves? I heard it again, a little closer this time, and then I heard something rustling around in a bush and my heart nearly stopped. It was definitely an animal.

What should I do? Maybe it was just a raccoon, but what if it was a bear? Or wolves? Or a coyote, or something else entirely? I tried to calm myself down, tried to control my breathing. Oh how I wished I had that flashlight! I'm sure the burst of light would scare whatever was there.

Suddenly there was the sound of quick footsteps and an animal grunt and I heard the animal come suddenly through the bush and into our clearing and I couldn't help but scream before jumping up. As soon as I was on my feet I breathed a little sigh of relief. Just a raccoon. I knew they scared pretty easily, so I moved towards it and made noises and it ran off, terrified. Maybe it had smelled my food.

I returned back to Ace, breathing heavily, and my heart still beating its way out of my chest. I sat down and reached for the water, drinking a bit to try and calm myself down. I wish I could sleep again, if only to get rid of the fear gripping my heart, lungs, and stomach.

But then I felt something hit my cheek, and I knew we were in for trouble.

It was starting to rain.