“Just you?” she croaked, unnerved by how weak her voice sounded.
The girl sat down beside her. “Have you eaten anything?”
“Not hungry.”
“At least some water?” Alia didn’t have the strength. Dimly, she was aware of something being pressed to her lips. “Drink,” the girl commanded.
Alia managed a few sips. “Is help coming?”
The girl hesitated. “I’m afraid not.”
Alia opened her eyes fully. She’d succeeded in keeping her panic in check so far, but she could feel it trying to claw free. “Is it the earthquakes?” At the first tremor, Alia had dragged herself to the cave opening, terrified the rock above her would give way and she’d be crushed. But one glance at the drop to the sea had sent her scrambling backward. She’d huddled in her blanket, fighting her rising fear. One thing at a time, she’d told herself. I’m on an island—maybe there’s volcanic activity. Just wait for help to come. She’d done her part. She’d kept conscious, managed not to expend her energy on crying or screaming. So where was her rescue?
The girl’s expression was troubled, her gaze trained on her sandaled feet. Alia realized she’d changed clothes. Back on the beach she’d worn some type of white tunic, but now she was in brown leather trousers and what looked like a cross between a tank top and a sports bra. “This island is very isolated,” she said. “It’s…Contacting help wasn’t possible.”
“Then the rest of the crew…?”
“I’m sorry. I wish I could have saved them all.”
Her words didn’t quite make sense to Alia. Nothing did. She closed her eyes, the ache of tears filling her throat. Her best friend, Nim, liked to joke that Alia was a jinx because trouble seemed to follow her everywhere. Fights erupted at parties. Couples started arguing over nothing. Then there was that time a free concert in Central Park had somehow turned into a riot. It didn’t seem so funny now.
Thinking about Nim, about home, about the safety of her own bed, made the tears spill over.
“Were they your close companions?” the girl asked quietly.
“I barely knew them,” Alia admitted. “I need a doctor. There’s something wrong. I think I hit my head during the wreck. There may be internal bleeding.” Though even as she spoke, she realized that since the girl had appeared, the pain in her head had receded. Maybe she’d been more dehydrated than she realized.
“There was an explosion on your craft,” said the girl. “Before it sank.”
Alia leaned her head back against the cave wall. “I remember.”
“On the beach, you said it was your fault.”
Those words felt like a fist pressed against her heart. “I did? I must not have been thinking clearly.”
“Do you think…Is it possible it was intentional? Some kind of bomb?”
Alia’s eyes flew open. “What are you talking about?”
“Could the wreck have been deliberate?”
“No, of course not, it…” Alia hesitated. All of Jason’s paranoid warnings came back to her. We’re targets, Alia. Our money. The Foundation. We have to be smart.
Smart meant trained bodyguards on staff at the penthouse. It meant an armed driver to take her to school every morning and drop her off every afternoon. It meant no class field trips, schedules that accounted for every minute of her day so that Jason always knew where she was, summers spent in the same place each year, seeing the same people, staring out at the same view. It was a good view. Alia knew she had nothing to complain about. But that didn’t stop you, did it? She’d been happy to whine to Nim on every occasion. And she’d pretty much jumped at a chance for something new, a month spent with different people, away from Jason’s ridiculous rules.
Maybe not so ridiculous. Could someone have put a bomb aboard the boat? Could one of the crew have blown up the Thetis on purpose?
Her fears must have shown on her face, because the girl leaned forward and said, “Speak. Is it possible?”
Alia didn’t want to believe it. If someone had been willing to blow up her boat, to murder innocent people just to get at her and the Foundation, then Jason had been right about everything and she’d been the biggest fool alive.
“It’s possible,” she admitted reluctantly. “I’m a Keralis.”
“A Greek name.”
“My dad was Greek. My mom was black, from New Orleans.” People always wanted to know where the color came from. Alia reached for the water. She really did feel a little better, though her hand shook as she lifted the skin to her lips. The girl steadied Alia’s arm as she drank. “Thanks. You’ve never heard of the Keralis Foundation? Keralis Labs?”
“No. What does that have to do with the explosion?”
Alia felt suddenly wary. “Who are you?”
“I’m…My name’s Diana.”
“Diana what?”
“Why does my name matter?”
Why? Because even if this girl lived on a remote island, everyone knew the Keralis name. That was part of the problem.
How had Diana gotten to the wreck site so quickly? What if she’d known about the bomb on the boat? Alia gave her head a little shake and was rewarded with a stomach-churning wave of dizziness that left her panting. She pressed her head against the cave wall and waited for it to pass. She wasn’t thinking straight. There was no reason for a girl to try to kill her, then save her life and stuff her in a cave. “People hate my parents; now they hate me.”
“I see,” said Diana in understanding. “Did your parents slay a great many people?”
“What?” Alia cast her a sidelong glance. “They were biologists. Bioengineers. People get weird about some of the work they did in genetics and the Foundation’s politics.”
Diana’s brow furrowed, as if she was attempting to parse all of this information. “You think that’s why someone attempted to take your life?”
“Why else?”
The girl said nothing. Alia felt another tide of nausea roll through her. A cold sweat broke out over her body. “I need a doctor.”
“There’s no one on the island who can help you.”
“A clinic. A boat back to Istanbul or the nearest port.”
“It’s just not possible.”
Alia stared at Diana, feeling her panic slip free of its leash. “Then what’s going to happen to me?”
Diana looked away.
Alia pressed her palms to her eyes, humiliated to find tears threatening again. She didn’t understand what was going on, only that she’d never felt more tired or scared. Not since she was a kid. How had things gone so wrong so quickly?
“I never should have left home. Jason said to stay in New York. He said it was safer. But I wanted this so much.”
Diana drew another blanket from her bag and tucked it around Alia. It smelled of sage and lavender. “What did you want?”
“It’s stupid,” Alia said.
“Please. I’d like to know.”
Alia closed her eyes again. She felt too weak to talk, but the guilt and shame were stronger than her fatigue. “There’s this summer-at-sea program for biology students. You get college credit. It’s really hard to get into, but I thought, I’ll just apply and see what happens. But then they accepted me and I realized—”
“How very much you wanted to go.”
“Yeah,” Alia said with a small smile. She felt it fade from her lips. “I lied to Jason.”
“Who is this Jason?”
“My older brother. He’s a great brother, the best brother. He’s just overprotective. I knew he’d say no to the trip, so I told him I’d been invited to Nim’s parents’ place in Santorini. You don’t know how hard it was to keep everything secret. I had to get a visa, get all of these medical approvals, but then I was just doing it. I ditched my bodyguards at the airport, and I didn’t call Jason until I was about to board the Thetis in Istanbul.” Alia released a sob. “He was so angry. I swear, I’ve never heard him raise his voice, but he was yelling. He forbade me—forbade me from going. I hung up on him.”
“Does he command you frequently?” Diana asked. “Many men enjoy having authority over women. Or so I’ve been told.”
Alia snorted, but Diana looked serious. “Well, sure, but Jason’s not like that. He was just worried about me, trying to keep me safe. I thought if I could show him that I could handle this on my own, he’d have to stop babying me.”
Diana sighed. “I understand. My mother doesn’t think I can handle anything on my own, either.”
“Are you kidding? You saved my life. You carried me to a damn cave on your back. You seem pretty capable.”
“In my family, among…my friends, I’m the weak one.”
“You don’t seem weak to me.”
Diana gazed at her for a long moment. “You don’t seem weak to me, either.”
Alia blew out a breath. “But Jason was right. If I had stayed in New York, if I’d just listened to him, no one would have died. I should never have left home.”
Diana frowned. “If you’d stayed home, maybe others would have been harmed. Your friends or your family.”
“Maybe,” Alia said, but the thought brought her little comfort.
“And you had this dream,” continued Diana, “to study, to garner accolades.”
“Well, college credit, at least.”
“How could it be wrong to wish to prove yourself?” she asked, a fierce light in her eyes. “You were not wrong to dare.”
“Jason—”
“Jason cannot protect you forever. We cannot spend our lives in hiding, wondering what we might accomplish if given the chance. We have to take that chance ourselves. You were brave to board that boat.”
“I was stupid. Everything that happened just proved Jason right.”
“No. You survived the wreck. When the waves came, you held on. Maybe you’re stronger than you think you are, than anyone thinks you are.” Diana stood. “Maybe I am, too.” She offered Alia her hand. “We have to get you out of here.”
“I thought you said—”
“I know what I said. Do you want to get off this island or not?”
Alia had no idea what had caused this turnaround, but she wasn’t going to look a gift giant in the mouth. “Yes,” she said eagerly. She took Diana’s hand and rose slowly, trying to fight the surge of dizziness that overtook her. “What do we do? Do you have a boat or something?”
“It’s more complicated than that. I’m going to need you to trust me. The people here…There are terrible risks, and the things you see…well, if we make it out of this, you can never speak of them again.”
Alia raised her brows. Was this girl messing with her, or was she a little nuts? “Okay, sure.”
“Swear by what is most dear to you.”
Maybe more than a little nuts. “I swear on Jason and Nim and my shot at an Ivy League school.”
Diana cocked her head to one side. “It will have to do.” She turned her back to Alia and said, “Climb on.”
Alia groaned. “Do we really have to do this again?” She wasn’t feeling particularly spry, but there was something humiliating about jumping on someone’s back like a five-year-old.
Diana shrugged and said, “See for yourself.”
After her first terrifying glance down, Alia had deliberately avoided the entrance to the cave, but now she gathered the blankets around her shoulders and peered over the edge again. The drop to the rocky boulders below looked even steeper than it had that morning.
Holding tight to Diana’s hand and the ragged rock of the cave mouth, she looked up. Somehow the sheer cliff rising into the stormy sky seemed twice as terrifying as the drop.
“We’re going to climb that?” she asked.
“I’m going to climb that.”
“With me on your back?”
“You’re very light. I wonder if you have a calcium deficiency.”
“My calcium’s just fine.”
“Your muscle tone is poor, too.”
“I prefer the pursuits of the mind,” Alia said loftily.
Diana looked doubtful. “Most philosophers agree that mind and body must be in accord.”
“Is that like four out of five dentists?” Alia asked. Besides, she doubted most philosophers ever had to play dodgeball in the Bennett Academy gym.
She sighed. Even at her best, the climb would have been close to impossible for her, and she was definitely not at her best. She eyed Diana warily. Alia had never thought of herself as short, but next to this person, she felt about as statuesque as a miniature schnauzer. It wasn’t just that the girl was tall; she was sort of majestic. Like a skyscraper. Or Mount Rushmore, but less craggy.
Alia straightened her spine. “Okay, we do it your way.”
Diana nodded and turned, gesturing for Alia to clamber onto her back. Alia hopped on, and the girl hooked her hands beneath Alia’s knees, shifting her into place like an oversized backpack. So much for dignity.
“Giddyup,” Alia said sourly.
“Pardon?”
“On, you huskies?”
“I am not your steed,” Diana said, but she trotted—jogged—to the mouth of the cave. Without warning, she dug her fingers into the rock and swung outside. Alia squeezed her eyes shut and held on tight, trying not to think of the unforgiving boulders below.
“So,” she said, chin tucked over Diana’s shoulder, attempting to distract herself. “Now that we’re hanging off the side of a cliff together…any hobbies?”
“My mother is trying to get me to take up the lyre.”
“Interesting choice. Siblings?”
“No.”
“Any nicknames?” Alia felt the girl’s muscles tense beneath her.
“No.”
Maybe that was enough small talk.
Diana’s body moved in stops and starts as she searched for holds, making steady progress up the cliff. Occasionally, she would grunt sharply or mutter, but she wasn’t panting or grumbling the way Alia would have been.
Just as Alia was wondering how much cardio this girl did, the cliff shook with a tremor. Diana’s foot slipped. They dropped.
A cry escaped Alia’s lips as her heart lodged in her throat. They jerked to a rough halt, dangling in the air, supported by nothing except Diana’s right hand jammed into the rock. Alia could see blood trickling from somewhere between her fingers.
The urge to look down, to see how far they’d come, how far there was to fall overtook her. Don’t do it, her logic centers commanded. But the rest of her nervous system was in full flight-or-fight mode. She looked down. Dizziness washed through her. There was nothing below but roiling sea and hulking black rocks, whitecaps smashing to foam on the humps of their backs.
Alia looked up at Diana’s bleeding fingers slipping slowly from their hold. Her own hands felt sweaty; her body was sliding. She wriggled to keep her grip.
“Stay still,” barked Diana. Alia froze.
Diana released something between a roar and a grunt and shoved her body upward, swinging her left arm overhead. For a moment, Alia thought they were falling. Then Diana’s fingers found purchase, her toes dug in, and they were wedged against the rock once more.
Alia felt the tension in Diana’s back, the contraction of her muscles. They were moving again, higher and higher. Alia didn’t risk another glance down. She shut her eyes and, long moments later, Diana was hauling them over the top of the cliff. Alia rolled off her, and for a moment they just lay there.
Diana leapt to her feet, dusting herself off. She offered Alia a hand.
“Give me a minute,” said Alia, trying to get her heart rate to return to normal.
“Why are you tired?”
“We almost died!”
Diana cocked her head to one side. “Do you think so?”
“Yes.” What was wrong with this girl?
Alia took the offered hand and they stood. The clouds above them were knotted with thunderheads, and the wind tore at their hair. She touched the braids at her scalp. They were uncomfortably stiff with salt and sand.
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The beginnings of another storm, or maybe the same storm that had caught the Thetis was moving in. She peered along the coastline but could see no lighthouse or harbor, no signs of civilization at all. This place really was isolated.
Alia didn’t want to look at the sea, but she did anyway, searching for some sign of the Thetis and its crew. Jasmine, Ray, Luke, Dr. Ellis—Just call me Kate, she’d said. But they’d called her Dr. Ellis anyway. What had Ray and Jasmine been arguing about when the winds had picked up? They’d been blown off course, their instruments giving readings that made no sense, and everyone seemed to be blaming everyone else.
The crew had been sniping at one another since they’d boarded. Alia had kept to herself, feeling a sinking sense of disappointment. Her month aboard the Thetis was supposed to show Jason that she’d be safe on her own, but it was also supposed to give her a chance to make some new friends away from Bennett Academy, and to escape the tension that seemed to follow her everywhere lately. Instead, the trip had been more of the same. Ray and Luke had actually started shoving each other over a playlist, of all things. And now they were gone.
“Maybe we should stay where we are,” said Alia. She’d been feeling pretty awful before Diana had shown up, but now that she was out of the cave, her lungs were clearer and she felt a bit less woozy. “They’ll send search parties for the ship. Maybe we can find a way to signal from shore.”
Diana shook her head. “No one is going to find you here. No one ever does.”
Alia raised a skeptical brow. “Is this some Bermuda Triangle shit?”
“Something like that. The island is incredibly hard to reach. It doesn’t show up on any maps or charts.”
Alia waggled her fingers. “Google knows all and sees all.”
“Google,” Diana repeated. “Is Google one of your gods?”
“Hey,” said Alia. “Just because I spend time online doesn’t mean I’m totally brainwashed.”
Diana looked at her blankly, then gestured for Alia to follow. “Come on. We’re too exposed out here.”
“I’m not sure the woods are a good place to be in a thunderstorm,” Alia said. Diana bit her lip, as if she hadn’t considered that. “I’m guessing you don’t get bad weather around here?”
Wonder Woman: Warbringer Page 6
