Devon told the others about the counting voice. Mara wanted proof, so they set the recorder by the waterline and waited. At sunset, the playback gave them a child's voice counting to five, then stopping. It always stopped at five. "There's a six missing," Priya whispered.

Devon refused to go near the lake again and waited in the car. Through the windshield he watched Mara and Priya shrink into the dusk by the dock. He honked the horn to call them back, but the sound just died in the air, swallowed like everything else. They never turned around, and he never saw either of them again.