by Shade Owens
Maybe it was the gray eyes that looked like something only colored contacts could produce. As she squinted up at the sun, she let out a long, satisfied breath.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I didn’t respond.
Instead, I stared at the horizon, watching gentle waves disturb the flat surface. The sound is what I enjoyed most of all—the crash of the bubbly froth spreading across the sand. Overhead, a flock of seagulls flew in a circle, almost as if trying to warn me about something.
Don’t get involved with Hawkins kept popping into my head as if on some annoying repeat cycle.
But I shook my friends’ worries out of my mind and reminded myself that this was the only way.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I told myself.
“I want to attack,” Hawkins said as if asking for something as simple as a cup of coffee.
I hesitated. “When?”
“In three days.”
I knew her plan of attack would come on as a bit of a surprise, but I hadn’t expected it to arrive so soon.
“Why are you telling me privately?” I asked.
With her face still aimed at the sun, she tilted her face sideways enough to crack one eye open away from the sun’s hot rays. As the sun blasted on her face, the gray around her pupil looked white. She didn’t blink, and instead, waited for me to clue in.
But I didn’t clue in. What was going on? If she was planning to attack in a few days, why weren’t they gathering weapons, water bladders, food? Why weren’t they creating arrows?
When I didn’t say anything, she sighed through wide, flared nostrils and scratched at the pen scar on her chin.
“Brone, Brone, Brone,” she said, closing her eye.
How was it that she always made me feel like a child? Like someone far too juvenile to take part in adult matters? It was as if this fight between her and Rainer was out of my reach—as if I should allow the adults to fight and sit from the sidelines.
“You’re a smart kid,” she said, and I wasn’t certain whether to take this as a compliment or as an insult. So I did neither and waited for her to finish. “I’ve been thinking long and hard about everything you’ve told me… About Rainer’s location, about the mountain… the gates. The Orphans. All of it. While I’d love to attack full force, I feel like I’m out of my depth.”
Shocked, I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to face her. Was Hawkins seriously admitting to being unable to defeat Rainer?
This time, she grinned at me and I took a step back in the sand.
“The truth is, my women aren’t fit to fight against these”—she rubbed the air in front of her face the way one does to symbolize money—“Orphans. They’ve been training for years under the rulership of some crazy, emotionally driven mother. They’ve also spent their entire lives on this island. And my women?” She breathed out and bowed her head. “They’re a bunch of low-life criminals. Sure, some of them can handle a gun, others a knife. I may be forceful and fearless, Brone, but I’m not an idiot. We aren’t a match to fight these… Northers.” The last word came out with so much hatred I could have sworn I felt a wave of heat come off her body.
She had to have a plan, right? Or, was she about to back out of our deal? Was she about to tell me that the fight wasn’t winnable and that we’d have to get used to living on the Cove with her as the top dog, or whatever it was called?
I swallowed hard, my heart beating fast.
Would she at least have some decency and get us off the island as promised?
Before panic could set in, Hawkins patted me on the cheek and lowered her head as if prepared to puncture my eyes with her invisible horns.
“Over the last few years, I’ve learned something…” she paused, either for effect or because she was reliving her past. “There’s always a rat.” She bent her knees and slowly lowered herself into the sand. “Have a seat.”
I did as told; I’d come to learn that so long as I listened to Hawkins, we remained on good terms.
“You think someone’s been giving information to the Northers?” I asked.
How was this even possible? We were isolated at the Cove. The only people I ever saw leaving the Cove were Rocket and her Hunters. And besides, if there was a rat, why hadn’t the Northers attacked us? They had to know where we were.
It didn’t make sense.
“I can’t be sure,” Hawkins said, “but I’d be willing to bet on it.” She shrugged as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “It’s okay, though. This rat is going to get me what I want.”
I stared at her as a way of saying, What’re you talking about?
She crossed her fingers together over her knees and sucked in a long, calculated breath. “You know… I’ve dreamed about attacking that Rainer bitch ever since I got here, but now I realize… sometimes there are better ways to take someone down.”
What the hell was she talking about? Why wasn’t she spitting it out already?
“So, like I said, in three days, we attack,” she said.
“But you just said—”
“We won’t make it far,” Hawkins cut in. “And that’s exactly what I want. If I’m right… If there’s a rat in my group… The Northers will be waiting for us.”
I almost shouted, “Are you insane?” but kept my mouth shut. Although calm on the outside, I was panicking inside. If I got caught by the Northers, they’d kill me on the spot. I was the reason more than half of their prisoners escaped from them—Rainer was no doubt on the hunt for me herself.
“Relax, Brone,” she said, most likely realizing how suicidal her plan sounded. “It all makes sense up here.” She tapped her temple with her index finger and winked at me. “If we can’t destroy them from the outside, we’ll destroy them from the inside.”
I’d heard about this at school—in History class, we’d learned about the Trojan horse attack in ancient Greece. Was that what she was planning?
“A Trojan horse?” I asked.
She winked at me again.
CHAPTER 4
“It’s insane,” I hissed, my voice carrying up the sea cave’s walls and out through the large opening overhead.
Ellie let her feet dangle from the ledge, swirling them in the clear green water below. Although Hawkins had ordered me not to tell anyone about the Trojan horse plan, I couldn’t not tell Ellie. Hawkins had told me because she knew I couldn’t possibly be the rat, and that was precisely how I felt about Ellie.
I trusted her more than anyone, and I had to tell someone. Did that make me stupid? Maybe. But I didn’t care.
She’d brought me inside the depth of our sea cave, where we often went to be alone.
“I don’t get it,” Ellie said. “Didn’t the Northers kill Trim for being the leader last time?”
I nodded, trying hard not to let the vivid memory slip into my mind.
“So what makes Hawkins think they won’t kill her?”
Kicking water into the air, I shrugged. “I think she’s crazy. It’s like she doesn’t think about consequences. But then again, she said she’s been thinking about this attack for weeks and she doesn’t believe we’ll win if we attack. So, it’s clear, she isn’t entirely reckless.”
Ellie sighed. “I don’t like it, Brone. Can’t you tell her you’re out? I mean, if there is a rat, the Northers already know where we are. But no one’s come for us, so none of this adds up.”
“Or, maybe they’re waiting for us to come out so they can attack us in smaller groups,” I said.
Ellie smiled. “Or, maybe there’s no rat at all.”
I wiggled my toes in the water again, the warmness of it making the rest of my body feel cold. Then, Ellie covered my hand with hers and, in an instant, a sense of calm washed over me.
“Please don’t do this,” she said.
How could I tell her I had no other choice? If I wanted a life with Ellie off this island, I had to do this. If I held up my end of the bargain, Hawkins promised to hold hers. This was the
one thing I hadn’t told Ellie, and I felt guilty for it. But the less she knew, the better—at least for now.
“I’ll be okay,” I said, feeling like a liar.
How did I know I’d be okay? The truth was, this whole Trojan plan felt like a suicide mission. No way was Rainer going to let me live after what I’d done.
But if I didn’t go, I’d spend the rest of my life on this island. I didn’t want to become Murk; I didn’t want to be here in forty years from now, welcoming teenagers onto the island.
She shook her head, pulled her hand away from mine, and stared into the water. “You don’t know that.”
“No, I don’t,” I admitted. “But you have to let me try. Please, Ellie. I have to do this.”
She didn’t answer or look at me. Instead, she inched off the edge of the rocky ledge and slipped into the water, her head entirely submerged. When she resurfaced, she smiled up at me with wet eyelashes and flattened hair. “You coming in, or what?”
CHAPTER 5
It was like staring at floating rocks in the distance. The clouds were so thick and lumpy they didn’t resemble clouds at all. The last time I saw a sky like this, a powerful storm had hit Kormace Island, tearing down trees in the process and forcing us miles away from shore.
Even the ocean seemed to be bubbling like a pot of boiling water. A cool breeze swept toward us, dragging with it a thin wall of sand.
Shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself.
“Well, this sucks,” Coin said, throwing a handmade mallet into the sand. “Damn storm better not ruin my work.”
She’d been working so hard at building shelter for the women—I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if the storm tore it all down.
Now, everyone was so busy staring at and talking about the approaching storm that no one spoke about the attack to come. I’d told them what Hawkins had told me; we were attacking the Northers in three days’ time, and whoever wished to join was welcome to do so.
Deep down, I hoped most of them would stay behind. They didn’t deserve to be part of this secret Trojan horse plan and be imprisoned again. But if I said anything, Hawkins would have my head, literally—she’d threaten to cut it off with a sharpened piece of wood, if that was even possible.
“You guys better get inside the cave,” Fisher said, leaning on her walking stick.
Her message had been intended for everyone nearby—everyone on our side of the Cove, that is. The strays, as Fisher and Rocket called them, bundled up at the center of the Cove, heads turning from side to side, trying to figure out where to go.
There were five secluded groups in total—African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and a small group of older women who wanted nothing to do with the rest of us. I hated that segregation was occurring on the island, but there was nothing I could do about it.
What were they going to do? Sit in the sand and pray they’d survive? What if a massive wave came crashing down over the entire Cove? They were being unreasonable. Surely, no conflict in the world was worth putting your life at risk.
We had the cave—they didn’t. And neither did Hawkins and her women.
It was only a matter of time before they came crawling our way seeking shelter.
“Come on,” Rocket said, wrapping an arm around Elektra’s shoulders.
Elektra bounced up and down, pointing at the terrifying sky. “But I wanna see!”
“Trust me,” Rocket said, “you don’t want to see it when it gets here.”
Pouting, Elektra refastened her bow around her shoulders and followed Rocket into the cave. Fisher had ordered everyone to go as far back as possible, which meant they were all to hide out deep inside the sea cave—our hideout.
“You comin’?” came Jack’s voice.
She stood stiff as usual with two hands planted on her curvy waist. Her hair resembled a wild animal in the wind, which was in part her fault for having allowed Elektra to cut it for her. I’m not sure what possessed her to think a child could cut hair, but she seemed to enjoy the process. Maybe before coming to the island, she’d had a child of her own.
Then again, she’d admitted to killing her own husband; it was a bit difficult to imagine Jack as a mother.
“I’ll be there soon,” I said, still gazing out at the horizon.
The wind began to pick up, flipping large palm tree leaves upside down. The sound, a deep and fast-approaching rumble, made me feel insignificant. It was the same sound that had preceded the storm after the fire—the sound of Mother Nature’s wrath, a force capable of taking countless lives.
“Come on!” I shouted to a group of three women in the water. They giggled, trying to splash water at each other. Every time they brought water up into their palms, it was swept away by the wind. It seemed to amuse them. Why were they acting like a group of irresponsible preteens?
“Now!” I ordered, and the youngest-looking of the bunch turned to me, her smile disappearing. She shouted something to her friends over the sound of the heavy winds, and they all came running my way.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry, Brone.”
“Yeah, sorry, Brone.”
They jogged past me and made their way inside the cave.
I pointed at a few other members of our group and signaled them to get inside the shelter.
It was eerie seeing the Cove like this—empty and lifeless. The stray groups that often cluttered the center of the Cove were all lined up against the back wall, no doubt hoping the water wouldn’t reach them.
Hawkins, too, had taken shelter under a tree at her side of the Cove. Her women surrounded her, almost as if acting as human shields.
What were they thinking?
I glanced toward the cave to find Fisher staring at me. She threw two arms in the air as if to say, What’s the holdup?
Sighing, I stuck one arm in the air with my index finger pointing upward—the universal sign for, Hold on a minute. I knew that what I was about to do next would piss her off, but I couldn’t stand around and let people die, even if I hated them.
Maybe subconsciously, I didn’t want Hawkins to die, given that she was my ticket out of here. Would I have let her die if she was of no use to me? I hoped not, but at the same time, it wasn’t far-fetched to think I would after everything I’d gone through.
What was the harm in letting nature take care of a bunch of criminals?
But as I stared at them—at their bodies huddled together and at the way they shivered in the cool wind—I didn’t see criminals. I saw women; I saw human beings.
As I took a step toward the first group, the small crowd of Asian women against the back of the cliff, Hawkins and her women started walking across the Cove and toward the cave.
What were they going to do? Demand entry? I’d been about to offer it to them, but it looked like they wanted to take it instead. Both Hawkins and I reached the cave’s entryway at the same time, where Fisher waited, arms crossed over her chest.
“The fuck do you want?” she said to Hawkins.
“Safety,” Hawkins said, and Fisher laughed in her face.
“You expect me to let you inside after the way you’ve been acting around here? Taking charge and making rules as if you own the place?” Fisher’s voice carried through the cave, and I wondered if women far down could hear the altercation. “And don’t think I didn’t hear about your attack plan.” I swallowed hard, and Hawkins’s cold eyes rolled my way. No way did Fisher know about the true plan. I hadn’t told anyone but Ellie. Had she overheard us? My heart raced. “You think you can get a bunch of survivors to fight against Rainer? It’s a suicide mission, and you fucking know it. You aren’t going to win.”
Hawkins smiled and I caught my breath.
“I don’t give a shit what you think,” Hawkins said. “We’re coming inside.”
Fisher tore a knife out from her belt and threw her walking stick to the ground. “Like hell you are.”
It was obvious that standing was painful for her, but she
wasn’t allowing the pain to stop her from putting up a fight.
“You can sit out here and let the storm kill you for all I care,” she said.
Hawkins clenched her fists and grimaced at Fisher. Although scary when she smiled, Hawkins was even more terrifying when she didn’t. She took a step toward Fisher and I jumped between the two of them, hands raised by my face.
“Okay, relax,” I said to them both.
They stared through me, refusing to break eye contact with each other.
“Look, Fisher,” I said, turning to her. “There’s plenty of room inside. We shouldn’t be casting anyone out in that storm. Imagine if that was you—”
“Well, it ain’t me!” Fisher shouted, saliva splashing in my face. Her face, now as red as a fresh beet, was inches away from mine. For a second, I thought maybe she’d turn on me, too. “And I can’t believe you’re taking her fuckin’ side!”
I felt awful. The last thing I wanted was for Fisher to think I was taking sides. It wasn’t about sides—it was about doing what was right.
“I’m not taking sides—”
Fisher scoffed. “Yeah, you fuckin’ are.”
“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t simply let people die—”
“You can’t let them, huh, Brone? ’Cause this is your decision, right?”
I didn’t say anything. In fact, I didn’t have to—as she said that, Jack and four other of my women appeared behind Fisher with balled fists. Fisher must have heard them coming; she turned around, and when she realized she was outnumbered, she let out a laugh so forced it sounded like a cough.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Fisher—” I tried.
She stuck a flat hand in my face. “Don’t even.”
I parted my lips to try to apologize, but she walked away, storming into the cave. How was I ever going to be forgiven for this? Fisher wasn’t the type to forgive, especially not when she felt betrayed.
Had I ruined my friendship with her? Over Hawkins?