by Ava Harrison
I turn my head back in the direction.
“There. We got one,” Alaric says excitedly.
He helps me lift it up. The makeshift net is heavy as it comes out of the water. When it’s high enough that I can see inside, an enormous fish is looking back at me, flopping.
A tinge of sadness enters my mind, but I push it away. I’m not a vegetarian or vegan by any means, but I have never hunted or fished before. But this is life and death for Alaric and me, so I continue to lift the net until it stops moving.
“You did it,” Alaric says as he plants a kiss on the top of my head. I’m completely taken aback by the move. It’s like how he kissed my head when I almost drowned. Caring. Proud.
It makes me feel warm inside.
“We did it,” I say, looking back over it at him.
He smiles. No, more like beams. It’s like a bright light in an unlit room. Blinding.
Alaric Prince is beautiful like this.
Like this, I can see an unfamiliar part, a part a woman could fall for.
I turn my attention back to the fish. I can’t look at Alaric like that. I can’t allow myself to believe any of that.
I’m not that girl for him. I can enjoy him, maybe even sleep with him, but I can’t be getting crazy thoughts like that.
Nope.
That is one notion that will never be written in the stars.
After the first fish, Alaric went back to his rock, and I continued to fish alone. The one thing I have learned in the past few days is that time has no place on this island. There is only eating, hunting, and living.
We stay for a while until the bright blue sky morphs to a strange green color.
“We need to head back,” he says, looking up at the forming clouds.
“Really, already?”
Alaric points to where he was staring. “See over there. That color?”
“Yeah,” I answer, but I’m not sure why a green sky means we have to go.
“A storm is coming.” He starts to walk.
“How do you know?”
“It looks like you will get survival class 2.0 now. When the sky turns green, a storm is brewing. But it’s more than that. Look at the ocean. You see how it looks like squares are forming?”
“Yeah.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I play along.
“Those squares show the riptide getting stronger. We need to get out of the ocean and back to camp. We need to pull the raft to a secure place, tether it, and then hope the storm doesn’t cause it any damage.”
“Shit.”
“Yep.”
Fear fills my stomach. If the storm is as bad as he’s making it out to be, we could very well lose the only means to get off this island.
Without thinking twice, we are on the beach, grabbing our clothes, dressing, and then hurrying back to where the raft is.
“How long?”
“Could be anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. Maybe longer. Look at the sky in the distance.”
When I do, a strange foreboding feeling sweeps through me. A few miles out to sea, the sky is black. But worse than that is the funnel of clouds in the sky.
I must be lost in my head because I feel Alaric’s hands cup my jaw and lift my face. Our eyes meet, and I see actual fear in his.
“I’m going to need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”
I nod, not being able to form words.
“Together, we are going to lift this raft. I will secure our stuff inside. It will be heavy. About sixty pounds of dead weight.”
“Where are we going?”
“Toward the lake.”
“Is that safe?”
“By the lake, no. But I thought I saw a cave the other day when I was in the water. By the waterfall.”
“A cave?”
“If we can get there and if what I saw is correct, we can wait the storm out in there. I’m not going to lie. It will suck. It will be heavy, which is why I didn’t attempt this before, but now we have no choice.”
“Okay,” I mutter.
When the time comes, and Alaric signals me to lift, I do.
Goddamn, that’s heavy.
I grunt, my muscles flaring with the exertion.
It’s way heavier than I thought, even with Alaric helping.
Alaric counts off, and we are walking. My feet keep slipping at this pace because my gait is much shorter than his.
I keep up even though the pain is immense. Even though my body screams to stop, I keep the pace.
Once we reach the clearing, Alaric stops.
“I’m going to put this down and run up ahead to make sure what I saw is accurate, and most importantly has room for the raft. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to tie it to a nearby tree.”
“Be safe,” I say, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, his Adam’s apple bobs, and then he’s running toward where the waterfall is.
I expect him to run to the area where the water hits the lake, and I expect him to go underwater, but he’s actually a few feet away by the rocks. From where I am standing, it looks like just black rocks and nothing else, but then I realize when he disappears, that’s the cave.
A few minutes later, he comes out and jogs toward me. He’s out of breath when he gets to me, and a thin layer of sweat drips down the side of his face.
“We are good to go. It’s not very large. You might get your feet wet walking in, but once inside, it’s dry.”
“Okay.”
“You ready?”
“Yes.”
He reaches to lift the raft again, and this time, with an end in sight, it’s less daunting. Until I hear the crack and the rumble of thunder. Large pellets of rain start to slap at our bodies. The sound of the water hitting the raft tells me the storm is coming fast. It’s only a matter of minutes before it’s a full monsoon.
“Faster!” Alaric shouts, and we set off into a run. I lose my footing often, but we keep going.
My lungs seize from the oxygen I expel.
Rain beats down on us. The sky is black, but I see the clearing.
Together, we push on, and now the water is higher at the mouth of the cave, but I don’t care. My shoes will eventually dry, but who knows what the storm will bring. We are lucky to have a raft and shelter.
Once inside, I see what Alaric was talking about. In the first few feet of the cave, there is a small puddle of water, but then the rocks step up to dry land—well, stones but same difference.
We are safe.
“Help me flip it. Then we can unpack and start a fire.”
“You want to start a fire in the cave?”
“It’s the only way we will eat tonight. We just can’t start it close to the mouth.”
My mouth drops open. “And why is that?”
“Because if we do that, we risk the fire breaking apart the opening. At the opening of a cave, the rock is thinner.”
Shock must register on my face because he reaches out and takes my hand, and a soft and reassuring squeeze comes next. “It will be fine. I’ll start a small fire a few feet in where the ceiling is high enough that it won’t be a problem. If the airflow is bad, we will know right away, and we will snuff it out if it gets too smoky.”
“Good thing I got stranded on an island with you.” My joke is lame, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah, anyone else, and you would be eating worms,” he says, and I stick my tongue out at him and then turn away to assess the damage to my clothing. “You okay over there?”
I look down at the clothes that now cling to my body like a second skin. “Just cold. All my clothes are wet.”
“I suggest you strip, and you can wrap yourself up with the blanket.”
“It’s a fantastic thing you have … What did you call it? A ditch bag?”
“Yep, a ditch bag.”
“Turn away,” I order.
“Seriously, dove. We are stuck in a cave during a tsunami—”
I lift my hand and cut him off. “It’
s a tsunami?”
“No, it’s not a tsunami. I’m just joking with you.”
“Real funny, bro. I don’t think I could handle that right now.”
“Listen to me right now. We obviously didn’t meet in the best of circumstances, but I can tell you without a measure of a doubt that you could survive. You are one of the strongest and most fearless women I have ever met.”
His words stun me. They take me off guard so much that I have no answer for them at all. Instead, I remove my clothes until I’m left in my bra and panties, and then I reach for the blanket. Once I have it completely wrapped around me, I take them off too.
“At least I won’t have to wash them. The rain did the job.”
“See? Tough as nails and always seeing the bright side.”
“Hardly, but what else can I do?”
“Not very much, considering the position we’re in.” He looks around the cave before pointing at a spot in the corner. “I’ll set up the fire there.”
“How are you going to start it? We are in a cave.”
He smiles.
He freaking smiles.
Mister Nature has a plan.
“Okay, Mister I Know Everything About the Wilderness and Being Stranded on an Island, tell me oh, wise one, what’s the plan?”
“I packed wood.”
“Of course, you did.” I roll my eyes. But with the sky so dark and the fire not started, he can’t see.
“Dove, I know you are mocking me. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“I did no such thing.”
Before I know what’s happening, he’s shining the flashlight on my face.
“Damn ditch bag,” I mutter.
“Damn ditch bag? That ditch bag saved your life. Apologize to it.”
“The bag isn’t Wilson. I’m not building a friendship with an inanimate object solely because I’m living the ‘Castaway’ life.”
“Don’t insult Ditch.” His voice is serious, and if I didn’t know better, I would think he’s serious. Seeing as Alaric Prince is sarcastic, I play along.
“Ditch? Seriously. You named the bag that?” Cue eye roll.
“Well, what else would you have me name her?”
This man is impossible yet entertaining.
“And now it’s a her?” I mock.
Alaric’s lips stretch wide across his face, his eyes gleaming with enjoyment. “She is.”
“You are ridiculous.”
“And she saved your life.”
“Just light the damn fire already. Ditch would have been a better bag if she had a VHF radio. Who cares about a blanket or a flashlight? What we really need is a way to call for help.” There, I said it.
“We were scared you would find it.”
“See what a dumb move that was. The almighty Alaric Prince made a mistake.”
With the flashlight now on the floor, illuminating the cave, I can see his face. His face is now serious and no longer playful.
“I did, Phoenix, and I’m sorry.”
Phoenix. Not dove.
After that admission, I don’t speak. I watch as he turns back to the wood and eventually makes a small but big enough fire. My own head tilts down, looking at the hard, dark earth beneath me. I feel bad for what I said. Alaric would have never done what he had if he knew what the future held. That’s the thing I realize now. He’s not the man I thought he was. Blinded by rage, he made bad decisions. But deep down, he’s not that man. No. He’s the man who saved me time and time again. There is no part of me that doesn’t think he regrets his decision. It’s still his fault we are trapped here, though, no matter how sorry he is.
“Are you hungry?” His voice pulls me from my inner thoughts.
My head lifts. “Not really.”
“I’m not either, but we should eat to keep our strength up.”
He’s right. “As long as it’s not the fish.”
“Coconut?”
“Sounds amazing. What does your bag think of that?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood. With the future uncertain, there is no place for tension.
“She wants us to make the fish. I have vetoed her.”
“Good call.”
The fire is now up and running. The red embers drift around, warming the cave.
Alaric was right. It doesn’t affect the air quality just like he thought.
We both settle around the heat, our clothes close enough to hopefully dry by the morning.
It’s a good thing the cave is big and we could fit the raft inside the mouth. Just barely, though. It will be a bitch to get it out. Heck, it will be a bitch to carry back to the beach. But at least the boat won’t tear, and we should be able to get it out to the ocean. Alaric had said it was meant to withstand the open sea. The only thing it can’t withstand is thirst and hunger.
It really sucks that he didn’t leave the radio in the raft, but I understand why he did it. He couldn’t have expected …
What am I doing? I keep going back and forth on how I feel about this. And now, I’m justifying what happened on his yacht.
The thing is, this all started because of me. Not true. The war started long before me. But this—being on his boat in the first place—all this started because of me.
Because I came up with a stupid and apparently transparent plan, and it backfired.
Royally.
From where I sit, I watch as he takes a knife to open the coconut. Then he collects the milk. I creep closer, not wanting him to spill any.
“Here,” he says as he reaches over to me. The distance isn’t far, and his hands touch mine. With the bottle in my hand, I sip—and I also freaking moan. It tastes so good. With all the adrenaline leaving my body, I realize how hungry I am. We hadn’t eaten all day. Not since we left to fish.
We were so worried about getting to safety that I had forgotten or merely didn’t realize.
“That tastes so good.”
“I can tell.” He chuckles.
“Don’t make fun of me. Wait until you try it.”
As if on cue, he lifts it to his mouth too and then swallows. “Fuck,” he groans, and it’s my turn to laugh. “You’re right. That’s fucking amazing right now.”
“It really is.”
When we are done drinking the milk, he cracks open the shell and takes the fatty meat out.
It tastes just as good as the milk. We sit in silence as we eat, other than letting out the occasional moan of pleasure.
“Wow, we are pigs,” I say when there is nothing left.
“Are you still hungry? I know you don’t want fish, but we have some other fruit in the raft.”
“No. I’m good.”
Again, silence falls on us. My gaze is on the fire, wondering what to talk about.
“Since we don’t have stars tonight, there’s no lesson,” he says.
“That’s a shame. Now what will we talk about?”
“We can talk about you.”
“Or we can talk about you?” I counter.
“Didn’t we already do that?”
He’s right.
Maybe it’s my time to open up.
32
Alaric
“The man you know as Michael is not my actual father,” she says out of nowhere. “Hell, my name isn’t really Phoenix. It’s Sarah. We changed it when he adopted me.”
I sit up from where I’m reclined on the raft near the fire.
Phoenix is still sitting across the raft from me, but I feel I need to be closer to her for what she is about to say.
I already knew he wasn’t her biological dad, but I don’t speak. This is her story, and I’m just here to listen.
She moves forward on the raft, closer to the warmth, as though talking about her past makes her cold. I can understand that. It’s what I felt when I unburdened my childhood to her.
“When I was younger, I lived in New York with my family. We traveled a lot—more than most. Often, my father would take us to South America on his business trips. He was
an international lawyer, and we went to Argentina during a time of civil unrest. War broke out. I don’t remember much, but I remember that my family was caught in the crossfire. My parents both died. Michael was his client. He saved me that day and took me in when I had no one else. His life was too difficult, and he moved me around too much to keep me with him, so he sent me to boarding school, but he was always there for me.”
I want to argue that doesn’t stop him from being a monster—that one good deed doesn’t right his wrongs—but this isn’t the time or the place for that.
That is a black cloud always hovering over us. If we let it in, it will destroy us.
Eventually, we will cross that bridge, but not now.
We both sit in silence after her story. There are no words to say that will help. We are both orphans who lost our family. We aren’t that different.
“How long do you think the rain will last?” she asks, finally breaking the silence.
“A tropical storm like this? Probably a few days.”
“This will set us back.”
“It could,” I admit, my voice dipping low.
It’s worse than that. The waters will be unsteady, and although the raft can withstand open water, it can’t withstand a storm like this one.
I don’t say that.
The mood is already too somber to tell her any chance of us leaving in the next few days will have to be pushed back until we are sure another storm isn’t brewing.
“Do you think we will die here?” she whispers.
It’s dark in the cave, except from the fire dancing beside us, there’s no other light, but I can see the way she trembles.
When I don’t answer right away, she turns to look away from the flames and at me instead.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Alaric.”
“Probably,” I admit.
“Because of this storm?”
I nod. “The chance that anyone will be looking for us or even know where to look was already slim. But if the weather keeps up like this, it could be days before we can do anything about it.”
“If the storm lasts a few days, do we have enough food to last in here?”
Again, I go quiet. “Alaric.”
“I’ll give it to you straight. We don’t have enough dry wood to last over two days. We have food, but if we eat it all, we’ll basically have to start from scratch before we can leave.”