by Sophia Sharp
Even with the crystal around my neck, my heart jumped to my throat.
There were two men in my room. Both were garbed in black. Both were facing the other way. And both were tearing through all my things. There were clothes lying scattered on the floor. Books and papers were all over the place. I watched, terrified, as one of the men dug through my closet, flinging garments over his back, while the other searched through my desk. For the crystal? Instinctively I clutched at my chest, feeling it in the palm of my hand. That was what they were after. I was sure of it.
As quietly as I could, I turned away. Just then a snippet of conversation drifted through the air to me.
“…It’s small like a diamond, so it could be anywhere,” one of the men grunted. “But that’s what the boss wants. He said it’s somewhere in here. She’s the one who has it.”
That left absolutely no doubt in my mind. I turned and ran.
I sprinted down the stairs, my heart beating through my chest. On the last flight, I spotted Eve in the crowd, sitting on some guy’s lap whom I’ve never seen before. I raced to her.
“Hey!” she exclaimed. “What’s the hurry? You don’t even have your umbre—” She cut off as I grabbed her wrist and yanked her up.
“It’s not safe,” I hissed, trying to speak low enough so only she could hear. There were other kids all around us, which made me feel a little less jittery. There was safety and anonymity in public, but I couldn’t tell Eve what I saw with all these people around. “We need to talk in private. Now.”
She must have picked up on my urgency, because she nodded solemnly and followed me to the door. She didn’t even turn back to say bye to the guy she was just with. As soon as we were out of the dorm, she rounded on me. “What was that all about?” she hissed.
I looked to my right, and saw a small circle of guys smoking close by. “Not here!” I said, and rushed her to the side of the building. The rain had gotten even stronger while we were inside. It was nearing dusk, too. This was not the pleasant golden dusk that promised a peaceful night. This was the miserable type of dusk where everything slowly darkened around you until you couldn’t see your hand in front of your nose anymore.
Once we were away from the main doors, and away from anyone who could overhear, I turned to Eve and told her what happened. Everything came out in a rush.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Eve said as I finished. I don’t think I took a single breath in explaining things to her. “There are men in your room. Right now?”
“Yes, now!” I emphasized. I kept looking over my shoulder. Every sound I heard in the distance spooked me. The rain was really coming down. Fat, cold drips hit my face, sliding down the length of my nose and matting my hair, but I didn’t care. I was getting soaked, but I didn’t care. We were in real danger now. Who were the men? Were they related to the attacker? They must be. But how? “They were after the crystal!”
“You have it with you?” Eve asked.
“Here,” I said, pointing to my chest. Ever since I put it around my neck I stopped feeling the pull from it. I decided it was time to tell Eve. Enough time had passed with it there without me feeling any temptation. The last thing I wanted was to give false hope, but it had worked for me so far.
I explained to Eve what I found, and she gave a massive sigh of relief. “I’ve been fighting the temptation ever since Liz handed it to me,” she admitted. “If what you found works… it’s a miracle!”
I nodded, but my mind was elsewhere. “We need to get off the island,” I said. “We can’t stay here. I can’t go to my room. People know about us!”
Eve nodded. “The others!” she exclaimed. “They have to know.”
“We’ll call them,” I said. I took my phone out, cradling it against the rain. It was lucky I had it. I could have easily left it in my room that morning, and it would have been impossible to retrieve. I dialed Liz. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. And then it went to her answering machine. My eyes widened with fear. What if something had happened to her? What if the others were already caught? A gust of wind rustled the trees beside us, causing me to jump. “No answer,” I told Eve.
“I’ll try Madison,” she said. “You call Ashley.”
I nodded, and dialed Ashley’s number. I waited as the line rang. And rang. And rang. And rang some more. Again, there was no answer.
I started breathing hard. I felt a fit of panic about to rise up in me, and tried to force it down. It didn’t help. Eve was focused intently on the phone at her ear, but even her eyes were wide. I realized her hands were trembling. Mine were shaking too. After a tense moment, Eve shook her head. “No answer,” she said gravely.
I started to imagine the worst. I had lucked out by not running straight into my room, but the others hadn’t been so lucky. All three of them, caught. Helpless. There was nobody to save them. How many others were there like the man in the cave? How many like the ones in my room? How many were coming after us? How many knew about the crystals? The CIA stamp flashed in my mind, and a bout of dizziness threatened to take over. The government was in on it, too. Just what had we gotten ourselves into? I never asked for this. None of us did!
With a start, I realized my phone was ringing. I looked at the caller display. It was Liz. Glorious relief blossomed within me. I showed Eve the phone quickly, then answered.
“Liz!” I exclaimed. “Oh, my God! I thought something bad happened!”
“Bad?” Liz sounded confused. “We were just in the library and couldn’t pick up the phone. When you called all three of us, we figured it was something urgent.”
“It is!” I said breathlessly, and quickly explained what had happened. Liz was silent for a few moments after I finished. I could hear her heavy breathing on the other side.
“Where are you?” she asked finally.
“Behind the dorms,” I answered.
“Go somewhere public,” she urged. “The courtyard. The lobby. Anything. Go where other students are. I don’t know who the men in your room are, but I don’t think they’ll try anything if there are others around.”
I peeked around the side of the building. The front of the courtyard was abandoned. Even the guys who had been smoking were gone. Everyone who had been outside before had come in to find shelter from the rain. I was scared. I motioned for Eve to follow me, and sneaked around to look through the doors into the lobby. Even there, most of the people had retired to their rooms.
“Where?” I asked Liz. I explained the situation to her. Eve mouthed something to me, and I took the phone away from my ear to listen.
“We can go into the woods,” Eve said. “Nobody knows them as well as us. We can meet the others there.”
I thought about it for a second. With nightfall nearing, the woods would be a dark and scary place. But they also gave us shelter, and cover. Somebody could hide in there for weeks without being discovered. I nodded my confirmation.
“We’ll go into the forest,” I told Liz. “Meet us there.”
“We’ll come as quickly as we can,” she promised.
“Just be careful,” I warned, and she hung up. Just then another realization struck. “Rob!” I exclaimed to Eve. “What if something’s happened to him? He’s still in the caves!”
“We were just there,” Even said levelly. “And nobody knows where the entrance is other than us. The men who you saw obviously know where your room is, but they have no way of knowing where Rob is. Don’t worry. He’s probably the safest of us all.”
Reluctantly, I had to agree with her. “Right,” I said. “Good point.” My eyes continued to dart from side to side, looking for any hint of a threat.
“Tracy, just breathe,” Eve said seriously. “You have your crystal. And you have me. We’re far from helpless.”
“We don’t even know what we’re up against!” I countered. “The people you know. Can they really get us off the island?”
Eve paused for a long, uncomfortable moment. “I haven’t even had a chance to talk to them yet
,” she admitted. “But if I ask… I think so.”
“How soon?”
“Tonight,” she said solidly. Her confidence had returned. “We can go tonight.”
“I don’t think we have any other choice,” I said.
Eve sighed, nodded, and took my hand. Together we started for the woods. The downpour continued to slam into us. My hair clung to my head. There wasn’t a single part of me that was still dry. At least the trees would provide some shelter from the rain. But would they protect us from the men garbed in black?
Chapter Eight – The Dark of Despair
It seemed like a long time before the rest of the girls arrived. The sun inched closer and closer to the horizon in the interval. While Eve and I waited, I found myself jumping at every sound around me. Branches whipping overhead, the wind swooshing through the trees, squirrels running to find shelter – all the regular forest noises now held the promise of an undiscovered threat.
Finally, we heard somebody making her way through the forest. I clutched at my crystal, ready to link to it, when I heard Ashley’s voice ring out.
“Eve? Tracy?”
“We’re over here!” Eve cried back.
The other three girls approached. I couldn’t see anything except the general shapes of their bodies through the dark. Suddenly a light came on. I had to squeeze my eyes shut to protect them from the sensitivity. I blinked a few times, and finally saw that Liz held a small electric lantern in her hands, like a miniature version of the one that Rob had in the caves.
“Is it true?” Madison asked worriedly. “There were men in your room?”
“I don’t know who they were,” I answered. “But yes. I don’t think any of us are safe here anymore.”
“No,” Liz replied. “Definitely not.”
“I have some good news,” Eve announced suddenly.
The four of us answered as one. “Yes?”
“I called in a favor from a guy I know. He said he can get us off the island tonight.”
“So that’s it, then?” Madison muttered. “We’re going?”
“It’s not like we have any choice!” Eve defended. “And it wasn’t easy convincing him to take us in this weather—or on such short notice!”
“Who is the guy?” I wondered aloud.
Surprisingly, I thought I saw Eve’s cheeks turn red. “Nobody,” she said quickly. “Just someone I know.” She cleared her throat, and addressed the three girls who had just joined us. “Well? What did you guys find about our professor?” The conversation segue wasn’t smooth, but it worked well enough to focus us on something else.
“Not much,” Ashley said. “Arthur Eliot’s a professor at Harvard. We found a list of his research papers. Most of them have something to do with geology. But they’re all behind a pay wall, so we couldn’t access any of them. Strangely, there was no mention of the one we found.”
“Do you still have it?” I asked Liz.
She inclined her head slightly. “Safe under my jacket,” she said, “wrapped in a plastic bag against the rain.”
“Good,” I said.
An animal howled in the distance, causing all of us to jump. I could keep telling myself that nobody knew we were here, that we were safe in the woods, but no matter how much I repeated it and logically understood the rationale behind it, I just couldn’t make myself remain calm. I took selfish solace in seeing the other girls act the same.
“So now what?” Madison asked. “If we’re going tonight, we’ll need to pack—”
“Are you crazy?” Eve demanded. “Did you not hear what Tracy just told you? There were men in her room! None of us can go back to the rooms now!”
“Sorry,” Madison said meekly. “I didn’t mean—”
“That’s fine,” Liz said comfortingly, and shot a hard glance at Eve. “You don’t need to scare her! We’re all on edge here without you making it worse!”
“Making it… worse?” Eve repeated too softly. “I’m the only reason,” she began, her voice rising, “that any of us even has a chance of getting off this damn island in one piece!”
“There’s no need to yell,” I said, trying to diffuse the situation, but nobody paid me any mind. Instead, Liz rounded on Eve.
“Don’t get full of yourself,” she warned. “We’re not off yet, and a lot can still go wrong. We can’t go presuming things will all work out. In fact, they probably won’t. But, that doesn’t mean we have the freedom to scream at each other!” she finished with a yell, rendering her statement completely hollow.
Eve glared at Liz, and was about to say something when I stepped between them. “Guys, we can’t afford to fight now. If we do, we not only lose precious time, but we give our enemies an advantage. We’re strongest when we’re together,” I stressed. After a moment, Eve grunted and looked away. Liz looked at me and nodded sourly. “Now,” I said, feeling a small bit of pride at having diffused the situation, “we have to figure out what to do about Rob.”
To my utter dismay, that opened up a whole new can of worms.
“What does Rob have to do with any of this?” Ashley demanded.
“We have to tell him what’s going on,” I said. “We can’t just leave him in the dark.”
“What do you mean, tell him?” Liz asked.
“About everything,” I said. “About the crystals, and what we can do. Who we are. He has to know what our enemies know.”
“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked forcefully. “We swore an oath. We can’t tell anyone about the crystals, least of all Rob!”
“We can if we all decide to do it,” I said.
“No,” Liz shook her head. “There’s no way we’re telling him about the crystals.”
“He doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Madison offered.
“Nothing to do with it?” I questioned. “He has everything to do with it! He’s been down there in the caves the entire day watching our prisoner!”
“The less he knows,” Ashley said, “the better off he is.”
“How can that possibly be true?” I demanded.
“Tracy, he really doesn’t have anything to do with this,” Liz repeated.
“He saved me!” I countered. “He has everything to do with it.”
“Oh, you just have your little crush on him,” Liz spat.
“I do not!” I defended vehemently. I usually considered myself level-headed, but the random accusation set me off. “Besides, it’s not like he belongs to you!”
“Oh?” Liz asked dangerously. Immediately I sensed a poignant shift among the girls. Had I inadvertently brought up a touchy subject? Liz took an ominous step toward me. She opened her mouth. Before she had a chance to say what she wanted, Eve, who had sat back quietly, decided now was the best time to voice her opinion.
“I think Tracy’s right,” she said simply.
“What?” Ashley and Liz demanded as one.
“Rob deserves to know.” Eve had regained the composure she had lost. “He’s earned our trust.”
“You’re… agreeing with Tracy?” Ashley said. There was clear incredibility in her voice.
“Yes,” Eve said. “Tracy’s the only one of us who has a level head on her shoulders. She’s shown it throughout this entire mess.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s right,” Liz said. She glanced at me, and I could tell whatever animosity had built up between us was dissipated. “The secret can’t be let out,” she explained. “The more people know, the more dangerous things become.”
“Things are dangerous for him, too!” I said.
“I know,” Liz said. “And that’s why we can’t tell him. Not knowing can keep him safe.” She put a hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. I care about him, too. We all do. But the less he knows, the safer he really is.”
“Besides,” Ashley said, “once we leave the island, he’ll still be here. And, in the off chance that whoever knows about us connects us to him, he won’t have anything to tell them. He really will be safer in ignorance.”
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I looked at Eve, who shrugged. That was some kind of twisted logic. A small part of me agreed. Another part, the more emotionally-driven and much louder part, vehemently disagreed. Rob had a right to know what we were up against. But I couldn’t go against the girls.
“So if we can’t agree to tell him about the crystals,” I said finally, “we can still tell him about the other men in my room.”
“That’s fine,” Liz said. After a moment, Ashley and Madison murmured their agreement.
“Then it’s beyond time we go do that,” Eve said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like standing out here in the dark. That lantern makes it even worse. It’s like a beacon for anyone looking for us.”
“You’re right,” Liz agreed, and switched the lantern off. It took a few moments for my eyes to readjust to the dark. Thankfully, it wasn’t full night just yet, so a little of the forest remained visible.
We started toward the cave bunched together. Everyone was hunched over, trying to protect herself from the rain, while at the same time keeping a wary eye on the surroundings. I knew we couldn’t expect to find anyone out here. But, it never hurt to be cautious.
The rain had softened the forest floor, turning what used to be hard soil into dirty mud. It made for slow going. And, as I was the least experienced with this sort of terrain, I found myself lagging behind the girls. As long as I could see them, though, I didn’t mind.
Nobody said a word as we walked toward the cave. We all had things on our minds. Sometimes, it was just best to ruminate on your thoughts. The forest canopy in some places did a better job of shielding us from the rain than at others. A reprieve from the downpour was always welcome.
I took a careless step forward, not really paying attention to where I was going, and felt my foot sink deep into a pit of mud. The muck rushed around my calf, collapsing around my ankle and sliding into my boot. The girls were ahead of me, and none had noticed my trouble. I tried to pull my foot out, but the vacuum that had been created was too strong. I knew I had to ease it out. I opened my mouth to call for the girls to wait, when a loud rustle sounded behind me.
