by Amira Rain
I knew it was pointless to wonder. All I could do was go forward with my life on the island. That, and wait patiently. All while continuing to trust Holden, no matter what Hannah did.
After cleaning up my work-station and saying goodbye to Cora and Amy, I left the studio and started out on a walk down the beach. But before long, I noticed a few people in the village casting glances my way, and one of them, from a woman hanging laundry on a line between two cabins, was a look of distinct pity. I could clearly tell this, even from maybe thirty feet away.
Amy had told me earlier that day that many women in the village really liked me and really disliked Hannah, and they felt sorry about what had happened between Holden and me. But while I appreciated this, I didn’t want anyone’s pity. I really didn’t even want anyone looking at me at the time. I decided to continue with my walk, but behind the village, in the jungle, on a dirt path that ran parallel to the village.
Once on the jungle path, it wasn’t long before I approached the back of Holden’s cabin. It was situated between two dense clusters of palms, with bright red hibiscus bushes bordering a wide, wood-planked deck out back. Just simply seeing Holden’s home made my chest tight with emotion, but I resolved to just push through it and continue on my way. After all, sooner or later, I was going to have to get used to not only seeing his cabin, but him, while knowing that he wasn’t mine anymore, but at the same time trusting that he wasn’t Hannah’s, either.
I was directly behind his cabin when I heard voices. I came to a stop, realizing that those voices belonged to Holden and Hannah. For several long, agonizing moments, I thought that the voices were coming from inside the cabin, like they were possibly having an intimate chat on the couch, but then I realized that the voices were coming from around the front, maybe from the porch. Desperate to hear what the two of them were talking about, I crept around to the side of the cabin to hear better, confirming that they were talking on or near the porch. But I still couldn’t hear them very clearly.
Deciding that I just had to hear their conversation, I tiptoed over to a copse of palms adjacent to the cabin and hid behind them. Now I could hear. I could see Hannah and Holden, too. Wearing a t-shirt and battered jeans that hung low on his slim hips, Holden was standing on the porch with a plate of food balanced on the wide railing in front of him, and Hannah was standing below the porch on crutches, looking up at him.
The last couple of words she’d spoken had seemed to be the punchline of a joke, and she threw her head back and laughed, sending her long auburn hair rippling down her back. Holden laughed, too, and with a lump in my throat, I remembered something Amy had told me. She’d said something along the lines that back in the day, Hannah had a sense of humor that Holden seemed to really enjoy. And now, it was clear to me that he still did.
Before she could tell him another joke, before she could say even another single word, I realized something. I was eavesdropping. And eavesdropping wasn’t trusting.
Before even fully realizing what I was doing, I began backing away from the palms, toward the jungle behind me, whispering to myself. “I trust him.”
When I reached the jungle, I took off at a run, heading west, away from Holden’s cabin and toward my own. Forcing my feet to keep going, even though I wasn’t much of a runner, I didn’t stop until my lungs began burning after several minutes. Hands on knees, I rested for a short while until I caught my breath. Then, straightening up, I began talking to no one in particular, just myself, as I’d always tended to do when rattled or stressed.
“You trust him, Haley. You do. And this is trust in action.”
With a few tropical birds shrieking and calling to each other around me, I sat down on a log to rest some more and think.
It was clear to me that my trust in Holden wasn’t unfounded, and it was clear that he still wasn’t betraying it. He often liked to eat dinner out on his back deck or the porch, and I knew that was probably what he’d been doing when Hannah arrived. It didn’t appear that it had been a planned meeting, and it was obvious that he hadn’t asked her to join him for the meal.
It didn’t even seem that he’d invited her up to the porch to sit, despite her being on crutches. Which all certainly gave credibility to what he’d said about not wanting a romantic relationship with her at all. Now, I finally believed him. I didn’t need to eavesdrop to confirm this. I finally just trusted him.
However, that wasn’t to say that I now felt great about their platonic friendship; I absolutely didn’t. I wished Hannah would just go back to whatever part of the jungle she’d come from. Until she did, if she ever did, I knew I was going to have to learn to stomach seeing her around Holden.
At least until he and I got back together, if we got back together. I figured only then would it be fair for me to ask him to spend less time with certain platonic friends. Until then, while he was a single bachelor, I had no right to ask him to do anything, and I knew it. I didn’t have to like it, though, I supposed. I just had to trust that things weren’t going to go any further with him and Hannah, and I did.
After a while of resting on the log, my stomach growled, anticipating dinner, but I wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. I was finding the relative stillness of the jungle calming, and I just wanted to continue to let it soothe my nerves.
I had an energy bar in my cross-strap bag, so I ate that, then washed it down with a bottle of water while watching the tropical birds, who’d finally stopped shrieking and were now hopping from vine to vine, and branch to branch in the tall trees around me. The sun was beginning to sink low, dimming the jungle, which only added to my growing sense of tranquility. Getting up from the log, I decided to walk some more, before eventually heading back to my cabin. I’d walk until it was nearly full dark, and then I’d cut across the jungle and out to the beach, where moonlight would guide me home.
That was the plan, anyway. But it didn’t actually go off that way.
After maybe twenty minutes or so of ambling through the jungle, I heard muffled voices coming from somewhere to my north, deeper into the jungle. Simply curious as to who the voices belonged to; I crept through the darkening jungle, hardly making a sound, until I could hear the voices pretty clearly.
One of the voices was a man’s, though not one I recognized. Two of the voices were female, and to my surprise, I realized they belonged to Hannah and Ashley. Now, more than intrigued, I crept a little closer still, hiding behind palms, figuring that while my new-found trust in Holden wouldn’t let me eavesdrop on him, there was really no reason for me to give Hannah alone the same courtesy.
Silently, I inched my way closer and closer until I could not only hear Hannah’s group and every word they were saying, I could see them, too. To my astonishment, I saw that it was a fair-sized group, but several of the members I’d never seen in the village before. Hannah, leaning on her crutches, and Ashley stood opposite three tall, muscular men who were complete strangers to me. Even in the waning light, I could still just make out their very unfamiliar features.
One of the men, the tallest of the three by at least a couple of inches, asked Hannah something I couldn’t quite catch.
She responded in a voice loud enough for me to hear every word. “But, see, Richard, Holden doesn’t even have a clue about your existence. Eric thinks that he and his men killed every single last one of you Wulfric Palms wolves, and he told Holden that. So, he has no clue that the three of you have been lurking around the jungle with me and Ashley all this time.
He is really, truly, completely in the dark. I’ve made sure of this during all my conversations with him. He thinks you’re all dead. He’s so sure of it that he even only led his men on one single surveillance patrol the other day when one of those school kids saw one of you. Holden and everyone else just chalked it up to the kid having an overactive imagination.”
Scoffing, Hannah paused before turning her gaze to the man named Richard again. “So, this is the perfect time for everything we’ve planned for months to be put
into action, before one of those dumb kids sees you again. And before we have another close call where Holden himself almost sees one of you again.
As I’m sure we all remember, I had to gash my own foot with a damn seashell in order to divert Holden’s attention away from you, Richard, and I can assure you that I’m in no hurry to have to do a stunt like that again. Tonight’s the night. It has to be now, and there’s no reason to wait any longer. I’ve already got all the information I need from Holden—where his strongest men all sleep, where he positions the village night watch guards these days—everything. So, let’s do it. Tonight at midnight. Total ambush.”
Ashley, who’d been gazing up at the darkening sky, suddenly moved her gaze down to Hannah and spoke. “Wait, what’s the plan again?”
After a long moment, Hannah spoke through what sounded like gritted teeth. “Oh... my God. Mom and Dad always thought you were well beyond a touch mentally challenged, and now I’m really beginning to think they were right.”
Ashley shook her head. “No, I’ll listen this time. I’ll remember this time. Just please tell the plan to me again, Han, and I’ll pay attention. I promise.”
Hannah took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Fine. The plan is this: Around midnight, when I tell you to, you are going to decide to take a late-night dip in the ocean. You’re going to swim far out in the ocean, and you’re going to pretend to be drowning. You are going to yell and holler as loud as you can, and I’m going to yell and holler from shore, waking everyone up.
Then, when Holden and all his men dive into the ocean to save you, that’s when Richard, Dylan, and Marcus are going to storm into the village and kill whoever of Holden’s men that are still there. Then, they’ll take out Holden and all the rest, one by one, as they come out of the ocean and make their way to shore. They’ll never even know what hit ’em.”
Abruptly, Hannah turned her gaze from Ashley to Richard. “Oh, and when you kill Holden, do make sure he suffers. I want him to pay for him dumping me those years ago. After all, me getting my revenge on him is half what this is about.”
Richard nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll make him suffer. I’ll make him beg for death before I tear his throat out.”
Instantly, a wave of nausea rolled over me, so intense that I had to grab one of the palms I was hiding behind for support. The thought of Holden being hurt or killed was literally almost more than I could take.
Ashley tugged at one of Hannah’s cap sleeves. “And then what happens, Han? What happens after all the bears are dead?”
Hannah spoke through what sounded like gritted teeth once again. “Then what happens, dear sister, is that Richard, Dylan, Marcus, and I will be the new rulers of Sun Cove, and all the women and children in it will be our slaves.”
“But I won’t be a slave, right? I’ll be kind of like a ruler, too. And then no one will ever make fun of me for being slow ever again, and then no one will even talk about it or say anything about it ever again, right?”
Hannah spoke after a long hesitation. “Correct. As a co-ruler of Sun Cove, the only thing people will ever say about you is that you’re smart.”
Even in the near-complete darkness, the light of the moon allowed me to see the glint of Ashley’s pearly teeth as she broke into a wide grin.
Of course, my heart broke for her. I’d never spoken to her, on account of her being glued to Hannah’s side a good deal of the time, but Cora and Amy told me that she was kind of an airhead, maybe even borderline intellectually challenged, and now I could see with crystal-clear clarity that this was definitely the case. I could also see with crystal-clear clarity that her sister was betraying her trust in the worst possible way, taking advantage of her challenges and just using her to get what she wanted.
Almost as quickly as she’d broken into a grin, Ashley frowned at Hannah. “I do want to be a co-ruler of Sun Cove, and I do want everyone to think I’m smart, but... I still just don’t feel very good about what’s gonna happen to the bears... How we have to kill them all so that everyone else can be our slaves. All that part of the plan... It just makes my heart feel like... Just like, a little crumpled up inside.”
“Well, tough shit.” Standing up straighter on her crutches, Hannah continued in a loud, confident voice. “You want to be a co-ruler, right? You want everyone to think you’re smart, right?”
Ashley nodded, making her curly ponytail bounce. “Yeah... I do.”
“Well, then, you’ve got to stick to the plan, no matter how your little heart feels. Because after tonight... Well, I haven’t wanted to tell you this, Ash, but I think people are going to be saying that you’re the smartest co-ruler of us all. Just because you’re the one who’s going to start this whole thing off by pretending to be drowning in the ocean. Yep, I’m almost sure of it. They’ll say, ‘Ashley is the smartest co-ruler of them all.’”
Ashley broke into a grin again with her teeth glinting in the silvery light.
Hannah appeared to give her a smile back, although I couldn’t see her face very well. “That’s a good girl. Now, I have more details to discuss with Richard, so why don’t you run along back to our cabin, and I’ll meet you back there before midnight.”
Ashley nodded and ran off, laughing.
Once she was a good distance away, Hannah turned and spoke to Richard, Dylan, and Marcus. “For all her many deficits, she actually has a very good sense of direction, so I know she’ll make it back to the cabin just fine. However, she’s really not a very strong swimmer, so she might have some trouble in the ocean, but I really don’t care if she genuinely drowns before they get to her. Once we’ve accomplished our plan to take over this village, I won’t need her anymore, anyway.”
With sudden tears prickling my eyelids, which were tears of sadness for Ashley blended with something like tears of panic for Holden and everyone else, I decided I didn’t need to hear any more. I just needed to get out of the jungle and to Holden, to tell him everything.
But at that moment, right as I began turning to head back to the village, I made a mistake. I’d forgotten to be completely stealthy and quiet, and I’d stepped on a branch, cracking it.
Hannah immediately began looking all around the jungle. “Did you guys hear that? What was that?”
Richard shrugged. “Probably just some damn bird. You said yourself that Holden’s not sending any patrols back here tonight.”
“Yeah, but we can’t be too careful. We need to investigate whatever made that branch-cracking sound. Let’s go look over in the direction it came from.”
Even before she had finished speaking, I was already creeping away from the copse of palms I’d been standing behind, making my way over to a dirt track that led deeper into the jungle. I knew once I reached it, I’d be able to walk near-soundlessly.
The cover of so many palms nearby helped me make my exit, as did Hannah and the three men moving very slowly themselves, listening. By the time they made it to the cluster of palms I’d been standing behind, I was already padding down the dirt track, hidden by tall, massive hibiscus bushes the size of cars.
I silently prayed that the three men wouldn’t be curious enough about the sound they’d heard to shift into their wolf forms, because if they did, and if they picked up my scent, as I was sure they would, it would be all over for me.
Hardly even daring to breathe, I tiptoed at least a mile down the dirt track before the way became so clogged with branches and overgrowth that I couldn’t go any further. I stopped to rest, straining my ears for any sounds, but the roar of the surf in the distance was all I heard. It seemed that the three men hadn’t shifted, very fortunately for me, and I’d managed to shake them and Hannah off.
Now more or less safe, my first thought was to call Holden, but when I pulled my phone out of my bag, to my extreme dismay, I saw that my phone only had one percent of battery life left. Not wanting the phone to shut off completely, I debated whether sending a text or placing a call would use less of the battery. But during these few s
econds, it dropped to zero percent and then shut off completely anyway.
I stuffed it back in my bag with a sigh. “Goddammit. And goddamn me.”
I’d been meaning to charge the phone that morning but had just forgotten. Now, I knew the only way I was going to be able to tell Holden was the old-fashioned way, meaning face-to-face.
Not knowing if the wolf shifters were still in the jungle, waiting for a call from Hannah at midnight or something, I decided that it was probably best that I not go down the same path I’d just taken deeper into the jungle. It would only lead me back to Hannah’s original meeting spot, where the wolves still might be.
So, realizing I’d have to pick my way through the jungle and back to the village without benefit of any kind of a trail, I set off. But, unlike Ashley’s, my own sense of direction, especially in the dark, wasn’t so great. Which wasn’t to say that it was terrible, but I certainly could have used a compass.
After a while, I wasn’t entirely positive that I was going west-ish anymore, as I should have been. In fact, based on the position of the moon, I figured I almost had to be going dead north, even deeper into the jungle, toward the now-filled-in crater that had used to be Black Lake. Somehow, I’d gotten very turned around, to say the least.
After another hour or so of hiking around the darkened jungle, which, I had to admit, was more than a bit spooky, I realized that I still wasn’t any closer to the village. I’d been heading west finally, or at least I’d thought I’d been, but I’d somehow wound up going even further north, though north-east maybe, around the lake. Or at least, this is what it seemed that I’d done, although I wasn’t even sure of anything at this point.
Miles beyond frustrated, I stopped walking, knowing I was running out of time. It had to be close to ten or so at this point, meaning that I only had two hours to thwart Hannah’s plan.
