Where Secrets Lie by Donna Marie Lanheady

lock bags.
    “ What’re the bags for?” Lara asked.
    “ To keep the brushes in after we’re done with that color. I brought some wet paper towels to put in with them. Otherwise, by the time we get back they’ll be all dried up and impossible to clean.”
    “ Wow, you have done this before.”
    “ I learned that one the hard way.”
    They left the shed, and Katie closed the doors and replaced the padlock.
    The first trailhead was about twenty yards from the shed and was marked by a signpost that listed the five trails, all of which branched off the main trail within half a mile. Each trail was two and a half to three miles in length, and there were connector trails that joined their endpoints together, so you could hike out on one trail and return on another.
    The white and yellow trails curled around opposite sides of the mountain and maintained a steady elevation while the red and green trails rambled upward. The middle, blue trail consisted of wide, mild curves and steep terrain, which ended at a small waterfall that flooded into a large pool of water several feet deep. As the water exited the pool to make its way down the mountain, it split up and found different paths. In doing so, it meandered next to or across the other four trails at depths that ranged from ankle to knee deep.
    When they reached the first fork in the main trail, Katie veered to the right. Within a few yards, they reached the trailhead for the blue trail, and they left that paint can and a brush there. Ten yards farther, they reached another fork that had the trailheads for the yellow and green trails. They left those paint cans with brushes at the beginning of each trail. They went back to the original fork and, this time, veered to the left and came upon the trailheads for the white and red trails. They decided to go out on the white trail and return on the red.
    “ Which do you want to do first,” Katie asked, “paint the blaze or carry the supplies? We can trade off later.”
    Lara took the white paint can, and Katie pulled a church key out of her pocket and handed it to Lara so she could pry the paint can open. They put the lid in one of the zip lock bags, which Katie carried along with the unopened red paint can and the remaining brush.
    Although the blazes from last year had faded, they were still visible, and they just painted over them. Each blaze was the width of a 2” paintbrush, and about four inches long, so they did not take long.
    “ So how many years have you done this?” Lara asked as she painted the first blaze.
    “ You mean the blazes?”
    “ Yeah.”
    They moved on to the next blaze.
    “ Just last year when I was in training. But I’ve been hiking these trails for years as a camper.”
    “ Why did you want to be a counselor?” Lara asked.
    “ Mostly so I could spend the whole summer here. When I was a camper, I only came for one session, and I always had so much fun, I wanted to stay longer.”
    “ Is it just as much fun when you’re a counselor?”
    “ Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it’s different. You don’t have as much freedom, but I still really love it.”
    “ I always wanted to go to camp,” Lara said.
    “ Then why didn’t you?”
    “ Oh, my mother thought it was too tomboyish, which just means she couldn’t relate to it and didn’t want me to either.”
    “ Wow, that sucks.”
    “ I did talk her into letting me go camping with a friend once though, and I loved it. That’s when I told her I wanted to go to camp, and she went berserk.”
    “ But didn’t you say it was her idea that you train to be a counselor?”
    “ I know, crazy, huh? I guess she couldn’t find anything else that’d keep me out of town for the entire summer. It was either come here or go to my grandmother’s, but then she’d have to tell her why.”
    By now, they had finished several blazes, but this time Lara had too much paint on the brush, and it dripped down the tree.
    “ Oh, hell, now what?” Lara asked.
    “ Just