by Amy Richie
“Soon,” he nodded, “and yesterday it flooded the whole cave out, I couldn't even see the opening anymore.”
I felt my forehead crinkle, my brows furrowed close together at the top of my nose. “I'm sure tide won't be in for at least a few hours.” It was hard to tell with the storm how early in the day it was, but I hadn't been out in the woods looking for him that long. Surely not.
“It could be sooner,” he continued to argue. “It's hard to say.”
His words echoed my thoughts. “The rain will slow down soon, then we can go back to the council building.”
Taking a few steps backwards, I felt the wall against my spine and slid down to the floor of the cave. Everything that I hadn't allowed myself to feel before came to me on a wave of pain and exhaustion. My foot was throbbing, my hand burned, and the cut on my knee was bleeding freely, staining the material of my pants.
“You're hurt,” Dais pointed out, his bottom lip jutting fat in a slight pout. The same face he always made when he was upset.
“Not bad though,” I smiled bravely. “Barely hurts at all.”
“Did you sleep at home by yourself last night?” he asked, coming to stand in front of me so he had to look down.
Letting my breath out slowly through my nose, I shook my head. “We all slept in the council building.” Not that I slept much, I silently amended. “What about you, where did you sleep?”
“Out here,” he grumbled, his lips barely moving.
“I was worried.”
“I knew you would be.” His lip jutted out. “I didn't want to go out in the rain.”
“No, I guess not,” I replied softly.
Outside, the wind wailed and washed the waves up against the cave wall. Chewing nervously on the inside of my cheek, I glanced up at Dais. “It's picking up again,” he said simply, not looking away from me. “It could get dangerous out there.”
“The storms on Ortec were worse,” I reminded him. “So much worse.”
“We're not on Ortec,” he groaned, throwing his head back in irritation.
“I know that.” One eyebrow cocked high on my forehead.
“This is probably just the beginning.”
“Or the end,” I grinned. Dais was always determined to see the worst—prepared, he liked to call it.
“The only thing we really know,” he went on doggedly, “is that this cave will be completely under the water soon.”
I nodded slowly.
“Which means we aren't safe here.”
I ran my hand roughly across my forehead and down my face. Dais was probably right, but I still didn't want to go back outside. Especially not with the wind howling fiercely again.
Chapter 21
Going against my instincts to stay in the cave and out of the rain, I followed Dais back outside, but stopped just outside the mouth of the cave to glance upwards at the still dark sky. “The storm isn't letting up,” I yelled to him. “We should just wait here.”
“We can't,” Dais shouted, turning to look at me through narrowed eyes. “The tide will be in soon and flood the cave. We need to head back now before it gets bad again.”
“You stayed here,” I reminded him, holding onto his arm to stop him from going further out in the rain.
“Not in the cave,” he denied. “I stayed up there,” he pointed to a place far above the rocks that littered the ground in front of the cave.
“What's up there?” Had he slept on the ground?
“There's a tree up there with a hollow bottom.”
He sounded so much like a grown man, my chest tightening slightly. “And it kept you dry?”
“Not completely dry,” he huffed. “But dryer than I would have been if I went running through the rain.”
I chuckled, Happier than I had been running through that same rain. “Where is it?” I stood up as tall as I could, craning my neck up and sideways to try and see what was above the cave. “Can we go there again?”
“We can if you want, but I don't know if we'll both fit in there.”
My shoulders sagging slightly, it looked like I didn't have much choice now. I would have to go back to the council building with Dais—running through the trees in the middle of a storm.
“Wait up,” I called loudly as Dais bounded ahead of me. He moved lightly across the rocks, clearly used to their sharpness. “I can't go that fast; you'll have to wait up for me.”
He turned back, poised on the top of one of the rocks. Maybe it isn't good for him to wait, I worried. It’s probably better to just let him go on and get off the rocks. Just beyond, the forest started and the ground became smooth. Muddy, but at least not pointy and ready to tear at our flesh.
“Just go on,” I shouted, waving my arm forward.
He was so small, jumping lightly from rock to rock. He may have talked like a grown man, but he was still a child. My child. I winced as his foot slipped, and he stumbled sideways. He didn't go down though; somehow he managed to keep upright on the top of a slick rock.
I stood still, my back pressed against the rocks of the cave wall, and waited for him to reach the first tree of the forest. He turned back then, his face unsmiling. “Come on,” he called, beckoning me onwards with a wave.
“I'm coming,” I said softly. My throat was still hurting—there wasn't much use in screaming anyway. It wasn't likely that he would hear me from so far away. The distance between us wasn't a lot, on a normal day it would be easy to hear each other. Not on a day like this though. This wasn't a normal day.
“Mama!”
I looked up from the rocks to see why Dais was shouting again. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger for him, he was on solid ground. He was probably just telling me to hurry up. I made a small noise of impatience in the back of my throat. Did he think I was being slow on purpose? The rocks were not easy to walk on.
Without warning, my foot slipped off the top of the rock I was on and got caught in between the one next to it. There wasn't even the time to throw my hand out to catch myself; there wasn't time for anything.
My face smashed against the rock, scraping the skin away as I slid down it. From somewhere in the distance I heard Dais screaming. My breath moved slowly inside my lungs and then back out again. I wasn't dead then. Hurt, yes, but still alive.
Dais was suddenly right above me, his face contorted with worry and fear. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I replied without really knowing.
“Come on,” he leaned low next to me, “I'll help you up.”
“I can do it,” I weakly pushed his hands away when they tried to slide around my arm and pull me out of the rocks.
He nodded, then hurried to give me room.
It was no use though, I realized as soon as I tried to put some weight onto my leg. A searing, white hot pain shot up my leg and knocked the breath out of my chest. I sank even lower. “I think my leg is broke,” I gasped, biting down hard on my lip to stop myself from screaming out loud.
“Broke?” Dais leaned down again. “Can you walk?”
“No.” There was no way I could walk. I wasn't going to be able to do much of anything. “My leg hurts.”
“Doctor Gourini said it takes a lot to break a bone. Are you sure it's broke?”
“I don't know,” I replied through clenched teeth. “It just hurts.”
He glanced around wildly, panic starting to show. “What are we going to do?”
A strength I didn't know I had took over at the sight of his fear. “I can make it back to the cave,” I assured him. “Then we can see how bad it is.”
Eyes still wide, he nodded. “Are you sure you can?”
“Of course.”
I'd been through worse.
Chapter 22
I pulled the bottom of my pants up gingerly, careful not to let the material touch the frayed skin underneath. Wincing more than I wanted to and panting slightly, I finally managed to expose the wound I had gotten from the rocks. There was a long red gash running the length of my
shin, stopping just below my right knee. Ribbons of blood now flowed down my bared leg and dripped on the floor of the cave.
With the help of Dais, I managed to push and pull my way back into the cave, collapsing just inside the mouth, but at least out of the rain again. I was no doctor, so I still wasn't sure if the bone was broken or not. It didn't much matter because it hurt way too much to make any long treks.
Dais watched me nervously. “You think it's broke?” he prompted, slightly breathless.
“Maybe,” I grimaced. “I'm not sure.”
“But it could be.” He glanced down at the blood soaked leg and then back up to my face just as quickly. “And it's bleeding a lot.” He peeled off his top shirt and held it out to me.
“You need that,” I pushed it back to him.
“You need it more.” He let it fall out of his hands and onto my leg.
The shirt slid down to the ground under my raised knee. I hurriedly scooped it up and pressed it against the wound on my leg, which instantly hurt twice as bad.
“I hope you don't freeze now,” I halfheartedly scolded him for being reckless with his own safety.
“What will we do now?”
His teeth were already starting to clatter together; he was soaked to the skin. The shirt was wet too, I told myself. It's not like it was doing him much good.
The question he had asked was echoing through my head, twisting around in the panic I had been feeling since the day before and blinding me to all reason. We might as well have been on an entirely different island than the others. They were too far away to hear us if we yelled. Even if they were looking for us still, the likelihood of them finding us before the tide came in all the way wasn't high.
We were on our own.
The thought shouldn't have made my heart thud so hard. Hadn't we been on our own for nine years now? Really, most of my life had been spent apart from the others on Ortec.
This was different though.
“I can help,” Dais said suddenly, as if he had heard my thoughts.
“What?” I jerked back to the present.
“I'll help you,” he repeated.
“Help me?”
“If you can just walk a little, I can get you back to the council building.”
“I don't ...”
“Can't you just try,” he cried, cutting off my pessimism.
It wasn't easy, but for the sake of Dais, I managed to pull myself up off the ground, leaning heavily on the cave wall. The first step took all the breath I had left. “Oh,” I gasped, sinking down much faster than I had gotten up.
“I can't do it. I won't be able to walk, and you can't carry me,” I panted.
“I can try.” And he actually wrapped his arm around my waist, under the illusion that he could carry me. I was at least twice his weight.
“It's no good.” I put one hand up in the air between us. “You'll have to go.”
“Go?”
I nodded.
“I'm not leaving you here.”
I swallowed past the fear in my own throat. “You'll be faster. You just have to run to the council building and bring someone down here to get me. Make sure it's one of the men who will be able to carry me back.”
“I'm not that fast,” he denied, shaking his head. “The tide will come before I get back.”
“Not if you hurry.”
“I don't know if I can find the right way.” His little boy voice was coated with fear and worry.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I grabbed his hand. “I know you're scared,” I told Dais softly, “but you have to be brave.”
“I don't know how.”
“Are you serious?” I smiled wide. “You are the bravest boy I have ever meant.”
“But what if—”
“No point thinking like that,” I quickly cut him off. Thinking of all the things that could possibly go wrong wasn't going to get much done. “Just go to the council building, quick as you can.”
“And if the tide comes in?” His eyes narrowed.
“I'll get myself out and wait for you above the water.”
“How?”
“Just go,” I urged as another surge of pain traveled up my leg. “Can't waste time.”
He looked grim, but nodded anyway. “I'll be back.”
“I know.”
“I'll bring someone back here before the tide comes,” he insisted.
“I'm not scared,” I told him gently. “Just be careful.”
I watched as he moved swiftly to the cave entrance. He stopped just before ducking outside and looked back at me, his green eyes narrowed into thin slits. “You shouldn't have come looking for me,” he scowled, then turned and ran from the cave.
Leaning my head back to rest on the rough rocks, I let my eyes slide closed. How could he think I wouldn't come looking for him? Maybe he hadn't actually needed my help, but I needed him. I needed to see him and make sure he was unharmed. Of course I had to come looking for him.
Chapter 23
As soon as he left, I found myself regretting sending him away. Maybe I should have moved out of the cave before he left. If Dais was right and the cave was really going to start filling up with water, I would be trapped down here—or I would be forced to make it out on my own. My face twisted at the thought of dragging my body over those rocks.
He was already gone, his small feet having already carried him too far away from me to call him back. Not that I would have, I quickly told myself. He had to go for help; that was the only way. I just needed to stay brave until he came back. Brave, like I had told him to be.
A streak of lightning forked across the sky, briefly lighting the world up all around me. The waves were still rising high against the cave wall. It was lucky for me that the mouth of the cave wasn't facing toward the ocean. Those waves would have carried me back out with them.
I chewed mercilessly on my lip as I watched the wind and rain swell worse outside the cave. Dais was out in this, alone once again. And it was all my fault. If only I had been more careful, we could have both been on the way to the council building.
What would he say to them when he got there? Would they be surprised to see him? Happy that he was alive? Or angry that I had wondered off and gotten myself hurt?
Maybe no one would be willing to come back for me. They would all easily come to the same conclusion that I had: it was my own fault I was lying in a cave bleeding and possibly broken. I had gotten here; maybe they would tell him that I had to get back by myself too.
And after everything I had said ...
I closed my eyes again, trying to shut off the memory. I would never be able to face Constantina again, not after the horrible things I had said. I had forgotten my place in the worst possible way.
I knew better than anyone else about knowing my place. How often had Constantina reminded me that I was a servant of Ortec and I needed to remember that if I wanted to stay?
Cyrus told me that way had died with Ortec, but he wasn't here. No one was here because I had been determined to find Dais on my own, so convinced that no one would care if he lived or died.
Constantina seemed to care though, I remembered. She had everyone out searching for him as soon as the light came again. Even after ...
I took a deep breath, ugly memories flooding my mind again. I even brought up her daughter. Groaning, I let my head fall back until it thudded once again on the cave wall. Never would I be able to look at her now.
Oh well, I inwardly shrugged. What did I care what they thought of me? Not one of them would be lying in this cave with a gash along their leg and worrying about what I thought. Not one.
Maybe Sasha would care a little, I amended. And really, Betna had always treated me decently. And Doctor Gourini, it had been him that saved me from the Americas all those years ago. He must have cared at least a little in order to put himself on the line for me. Not everyone on Ortec was that kind. Most people weren't.
Still, I set my jaw defiantly o
n the warm thoughts trying to worm their way into my chest.
It was no good though, I realized on another deep breath. Being brave was one thing, but I couldn't lie, especially to myself. The truth was, I did care what they thought of me. I had always cared—maybe and probably much more than I should care.
A tear squeezed out of my tightly closed eyes and made its way down my face.
It wasn't right, not right at all for me to sneak off the way that I did. Sasha must be worried sick, and Constantina took her responsibility for all of us very seriously. She must have felt so betrayed when they went back to the council building and I wasn't there. Would she figure out that I had hidden behind the tree and waited for them all to leave?
Once before, when I broke the rules of Ortec, the council had considered sending me to live in the Americas. They had every right to do so now. I had purposely disobeyed the leader of Ortec.
But only if the water doesn't claim me first, I thought wryly.
Already the water was starting to raise up and cover the rocks outside the cave, the same rocks I had fallen on just a short while before. The tides could be unpredictable, especially during storms.
I craned my neck so I could see the sky better outside the cave. The clouds were still heavy and dark, but the rain had slowed down considerably.
“Don't panic,” I whispered, pressing my hand over my thudding heart, as if that would calm it down and stop it from trying to break free. “You're fine.”
The water crept up to cover my hand, I snatched it back and moved my body back inside.
Chapter 24
Ice cold water that had once been out in the ocean was slowly coming into the mouth of the cave and splashing over my legs, one of which still wouldn't move on its own. The rain from the storm had made the tide come faster than it might have otherwise and the water was a little rougher. I braced myself against the back of the cave as another gush of water washed over me, this time spraying my face and hair.
Biting down hard on my lip, I wiggled my hips until I could sit up a few extra inches. It wasn't much, that was true, but it would give me a few more minutes until Dais brought help. One thing I was absolutely sure of, Dais would bring someone to help me out of the cave. No matter what he had to do or say, he wouldn't leave me here.
