Riley set his cup down and turned to face the small group. “Don’t forget we are on the wood cutting team today. They’ve already gone down to start.”

  “This will only take ten or fifteen minutes.” He motioned to the group of children. “Let’s go outside. Riley can stay in here until we are ready for him to try finding a couple of you.”

  They gathered at the picnic tables outside the bunkhouse.

  “You,” Will said pointing at Erin. “I want you to go on the other side of the garden. Go to the tree line. Be careful of the thorns. Follow the tree line either inside the trees or out in the grass. Your choice. Go to that shed and hide behind it.”

  He pointed at Sissy. “You will go the other way. Past the outhouse, enter the pasture, go past the horse shed and hide on the other side of it.”

  Both girls took off.

  Erin got as far as the garden, but instead of walking around it, she walked through it. At the tree line, she turned south and followed the trees until she got to the shed.

  Sissy went north past the outhouse. When the gravel ended, she stopped and looked at the ground, carefully choosing a path to take. She avoided the taller grass and walked softly to the pasture gate. Before opening it, she stopped and stared at the ground and then backed up changing direction to approach the fence about ten feet from the gate. She slipped between the rails of the fence. She slowly made her way across the pasture, stopping after each step and choosing where her next footstep should be. Soon she was hidden behind the shed.

  “Okay, Jaden,” Will said. “Can you tell Riley we are ready for him?”

  Riley stepped out of the barn. “I love a good game of hide and seek,” he said with a smile.

  He stood at the picnic tables and examined the ground. He took several steps to the north and stopped to search the immediate area. He came back to the tables, then took a few steps to the south and stopped to search the ground. He moved forward to the grass.

  “Ah ha! I see footprints in this grass! It might be someone from earlier, but I want to see where they go. If they go to the house, I’ll have to start over.”

  He followed the steps to the garden. “Bingo!” he called. “These are small footprints. Not an adult. They go right through the garden and show me the exact direction the person was traveling.”

  He exited the garden on the far side and walked straight to the tree line. Without slowing down, he went south. He stopped at a branch hanging into the open. “I’ve got a little piece of string here. Might be from the person I’m tracking.”

  “This is stupid!” Erin screamed stepping out from behind the shed. “You told him where I was.”

  “Nobody told him,” Will assured her. “Nobody but you. Come sit on the picnic tables with us and see how long it takes him to find your friend.”

  Riley started at the picnic table again. He moved east, stopping every few steps to examine the ground around him. He continued east, examining the grass between the gravel and the house. He returned to the picnic table. He started over. He moved north again. When the gravel ended, the grass got taller. He stood watching it. He moved to the gate, but turned around and came back to the spot where the gravel ended.

  He stared in front of him. “Ah ha!” He moved to the spot Sissy had taken through the fence. “I found a ribbon.”

  He slid between the rails of the fence and stopped to look around. Turning west, he examined the ground at each step. He returned to the spot he’d entered the pasture. This time he moved north. Every step, he stopped and looked around. Several times he backtracked before moving north again. It took ten minutes, but he successfully found Sissy hiding behind the shed.

  “Is this yours?” he asked, holding up the ribbon.

  Sissy sucked in her breath. “I left a trace.”

  “But you did great with your steps. Good job!”

  They walked together to the picnic tables. Sissy twisted the ribbon in her fingers.

  “I left a trace,” she said looking down at her feet.

  “You did very well with your footsteps though.” Riley sat on the top of the table. “I completely lost you when I expected you to have gone through the gate. I thought I saw one or two tracks leading toward the gate, but wasn’t sure if they were yours or even if they were fresh. Then, when I got to the gate expecting to find a shuffle from when you stopped to open it but there was nothing there, I thought I might be off track.”

  He smiled. “But then I spotted the ribbon. Once I got into the pasture, I lost your tracks again. How did you do that? Some of that grass should have been pushed down so I could tell you’d been through, but I didn’t see any grass disturbed. How did you do that?”

  “I took one step at a time. Then I stopped and looked for a spot that didn’t have a big clump of grass. Twice I stepped in horse poop and had to push it around a little so it didn’t look like a footprint.”

  Will grinned. “That’s what I like to hear. Someone willing to do what it takes to get the job done right.”

  “All right, kids.” He pulled the rubber band out of his hair and ran his fingers through it before replacing the band. “We’ll meet tomorrow morning and add a little more knowledge to the skill.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Stay out of sight.”

  Just after breakfast the next day, Will stood in front of the white board.

  “Yesterday we talked about being careful to leave no trace. Today we are going to learn that we need to stay out of sight.”

  He looked at the children. “Does anyone know where Erin is today?”

  Missy looked down at the pencil in her hand. She rolled it between her fingers.

  “Do you know?” Will asked.

  Missy shrugged.

  Will looked past the children and called to Allison who stood at the front watering herbs. “Allison, we seem to be missing a child this morning.”

  Allison turned, her mouth open. “Who?”

  “Erin.”

  Allison bit her lip. “Her mother, Lisa, is out in the garden working. I’ll go check with her.”

  She returned to the bunkhouse a minute later with Lisa Grant in tow. Lisa looked around the room, then rolled her eyes and hurried up the steps.

  Bits of conversation could be heard from above.

  “Why aren’t you…”

  “Stupid…”

  “Jaden…” At this, Jaden hung her head. Now Erin was blaming her for her absence?

  “Just get down there and learn. It could save your life.”

  The bunkhouse remained quiet as Lisa Grant led Erin down the stairs. She guided the girl to the table and sat her next to Missy.

  Once Erin was seated, Lisa moved to a table in the middle of the room and sat facing the class.

  Will picked up a dry erase marker and wrote on the white board, “Stay out of sight.”

  He faced the children again. “Okay, imagine you are down by the river. You can see the house from where you stand. It’s not that far away. But suddenly you see a strange man walking along the river bank in your direction. What do you do?”

  “Evade,” said Missy.

  “Yes, you need to evade. But in order to evade, you need to stay out of sight. Today we’ll learn some tips to stay out of sight while we are evading.”

  Erin sighed loudly and dropped her chin into her palms.

  “Why can’t we just scream for help?” she snapped.

  “Because it would likely take us a few minutes to determine where the screams were coming from and, by the time we got to you, the stranger would probably already have you.”

  She sighed again and leaned back in her chair, tossing her hair over the back of the chair to dangle behind it.

  Will ignored her. He continued speaking. “So, yesterday we learned that we leave no trace. That includes footprints, candy wrappers, bobby pins, threads from clothing, and even broken twigs that you might have brushed against.

  “Today we will learn tips to say out of sight.”

  He turned to the white board and wrote, Easier to see a moving object than a stationary target. Now, another tip to go with that one is that if you have a choice - and I don’t think anyone in this group will ever have that choice - move when visibility is the lowest. That would be nighttime, rain, snow and fog. Also keep in mind that if you move slow, it’s harder to detect slow movement.”

  He looked at Jaden. “Do you know what silhouetting is?”

  She shook her head. “I know a silhouette is a shape of a person or thing but I don’t know what silhouetting is.”

  “Okay, he nodded, “picture yourself standing at the bottom of a hill. Now, there is a person standing at the top of that hill - right out in the open. Would you see a silhouette?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is called silhouetting. So, if you are at the top of a hill, you want to stay low. You can use bushes and trees to hide your silhouette or you can crawl. But always keep in mind that first rule: Leave no trace.

  “Skilled trackers never focus for a long time at any object. A skilled tracker stops often and scans for anything out of place.

  “There are parts of your skin that reflects light. If you have oily skin, you will shine even more. Sometimes you see in the movies where they smear mud all over their faces. That is to break up the face as something that is recognizable.

  “If you have jewelry or a belt buckle or pens, they will reflect light and catch the eye of a tracker. If you have any of those things, put them in your pocket where they can’t draw your tracker to you like a beacon.”

  He looked at the children sitting at the table. Erin leaned back in her chair, head back; her face pointing at the ceiling. Next to her, Missy had an elbow on the table. Her chin was propped in her palm. Sissy, Jaden and Benny sat watching.

  “I think we can stop right here for the day,” Will said. “We’ll add a few more tips tomorrow morning.”

  Jaden slid out of her chair and went straight to the arena. She sat on a bale of hay staring out the open arena door.

  Why did Erin dislike her so much? she wondered.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Who here can see in pitch darkness?” Will stood in front of the class as he did on many mornings.

  On the mornings that he gave lessons, the class grew to include many of the adults. This morning was no different. The children sat in the front of the class at tables while the adults who were able to attend pulled up chairs.

  Will looked around the group. “Nobody can see in pitch darkness? Well, how about seeing behind you without turning your head. Can anybody do that?”

  Eight-year-old Cody Grant snorted. “Nobody can do that.”

  “What if I told you that, with practice, you can?”

  “Well, if you had a mirror, you could see behind you,” Cody retorted.

  Will shook his head. “No mirrors.”

  “Not possible,” Cody replied.

  Jaden looked at Paul who was leaning forward soaking up every word Will said.

  “Can you show us?” she asked.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Will smiled. He pulled a chair up and turned it so it faced the group.

  “Can someone get me a blindfold? I want to do it first facing you and then I’ll turn around and do it.”

  “I’ve got a thick dish towel that should do the trick.” Mary jumped up and hurried to the bench by the stove. She came back with a towel that she folded in half. She pulled a headband from her apron pocket and handed it to Will. “This should hold it in place.”

  She helped Will wrap the towel around his head and placed the headband over it. She checked to ensure the towel completely covered his eyes.

  “I think that’s good.” She walked back to her chair behind the kids and sat.

  “Now, Cody,” Will said. “Are you ready?”

  “Yep.”

  “I want you to go behind the adults. Take your shoes off so I can’t hear you coming. Then I want you to be as quiet as you can and walk up to me and tap me on my shoulder. Right here.” He tapped himself on his right shoulder. “I want everyone else to be quiet.”

  The group watched as Cody walked behind them and removed his shoes. Will sat quietly with his hands resting on his legs.

  Cody tiptoed around the side of the group and slowly crept up on Will. Just as he was raising his hand to tap Will on his shoulder, Will’s right hand streaked up and snatched Cody by the wrist causing Cody to shriek.

  Most of the children shrieked with him. The adults gasped.

  “You could see!” Cody screamed. “You cheated.”

  “I could not see. Let’s do this again. This time, I’ll still wear the blindfold, but I’ll turn the chair around so I’m facing away from you.” He stood and turned the chair before sitting back down.

  Cody stomped to the back of the room. He waited for a minute before slowly creeping toward Will. Again, as he was reaching out to tap Will’s shoulder, Will’s hand flew up and caught his wrist.

  “How are you doing that?” Cody demanded.

  “Before I explain, does anyone else want to try to see if they can be quieter than Cody?”

  “Just show us how it’s done,” Allison said.

  Will removed the headband and towel and walked back to give them to Mary.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Once back in front of the class, he smoothed his hair. “I saw you with my ears,” he said.

  “No way you could have heard him,” Erin said. “I couldn’t hear him and I was watching and listening.”

  Will smiled. “Today I’ll teach you how to see with your ears.”

  Missy Funderburg snorted. “You can’t see with your ears!” She looked at her sister and giggled.

  Will grinned. “Well, let’s find out.”

  He looked at the adults behind the children. “I’ve seen an iPod with a small speaker out here occasionally. Any chance that it has a charge?”

  “I’ll get it.” Jaden jumped up and ran to the storeroom.

  “It does have a charge,” she said when she returned. She handed it to Will.

  He carried it behind the group. Scrolling through the menu, he found a playlist and clicked the button. Adjusting the volume so that it could be easily heard, but not drown out normal speech, he set it on a table.

  “All right,” he said once he returned to the front of the room. “Can everyone hear the music?”

  The group nodded as one.

  “What you are hearing is coming directly from the iPod but,” he held up his index finger, “you are also hearing the music after it bounces off the walls. I want you to close your eyes and try to hear where the music is coming from.”

  Everyone closed their eyes. A minute later, they were all looking at each other, shaking their heads.

  “I just heard the radio,” Rolly said.

  “Me too,” agreed several others.

  Will smiled. “I hoped you would say that. It actually took me several hours over three days of practicing to hear the difference.”

  He looked at Riley who smiled and nodded. “It took me a little longer,” he said.

  “I’m going to jump ahead and do an exercise with you. I doubt anyone will be successful, but it will show you how to develop your own abilities. Who wants to be the first guinea pig?”

  No one offered to come forward.

  “Really?”

  “Oh, all right,” Allison said. “You can use me to explain, but I won’t be able to do it.”

  “I don’t expect anyone to be able to do it,” Will replied. He indicated the chair at the front of the room.

  “Sit right there, please.”

  He addressed the group. “Now, what I did and what a few of you tried is called sound shadowing. You know how bats navigate by using echolocation?”

  Most of the group nodded, hanging on his every word.

  “Sound shadowing is similar. A bat sends out a sound and judges where objects are by the echo it receives. We are not sending out sounds. We are distinguishing sounds that are already around us. If you take the time to practice you’ll find that, once you know what to identify, it’s easy to detect things you can’t see.”

  He pointed at the iPod and speaker. “The noise from that will make it easier. There will come a time that you don’t need that crutch. For now, Allison is going to sit right here. She won’t be able to see me. I’m going to ask her to listen and to determine what she hears. Can she distinguish the sound from the actual radio from the echos bouncing back at her from the walls? Maybe not today. But if she practices, she soon will.”