by Wesley Stein
Juliet laughed again. Her beauty had faded somewhat, her voice now shrill and her eyes less bright. There was a black hole in her chest.
“These women have chosen to stay,” Juliet said. “Isn’t that right ladies?”
Jacey and Joanna nodded. Juliet took a step forward, to the edge of the platform.
“Ophelia and Portia are the leaders of their shores. Their duty is now to the island. They serve the fountain.”
“Jacey, please,” Tuahine said. “Look at me. Remember me?”
I saw Jacey’s head finally turn. Her eyes cut toward Tuahine, and I thought I saw a glimmer of life in them.
Juliet clapped her hands.
“Tybalt, Claudius!” She called for her two men, and they appeared from the passageway behind her, each holding a gun. “Please escort these intruders from the catacombs.”
“Joanna, look at me!” Tuahine called. My big sister looked, but her face was stone. Tuahine wept.
“What happened to you girls? You came all this way, and for what? To live here with them?” She motioned toward Mark and Sanderson, coming down the platform now.
Tua and Free stepped in front of me and aimed their guns at the oncoming men. I looked around for something to use as a weapon, but not a single stone could be found. I heard a gunshot.
I looked up to see my father stumble back, he’d just been shot in the chest by Tua. I heard a blast of bullet fire and closed my eyes.
I only blinked them open long enough to see Juliet scramble from the platform and retreat inside the passageway with Joanna and Jacey.
I took cover and saw Ben Sanderson come at Agent Free, wildly firing rounds as he ran toward him. I saw Free go down, though he seemed only wounded because he kept cursing and shouting commands to me and Tuahine.
“Go!”
He was able to raise his shotgun and, before Tybalt had the chance to finish him off, blasted the attacker through the midsection. Tybalt thudded to the ground.
I saw Tuahine run to the platform steps and I followed her. When I made it to the top of the platform, I paused and looked out on the scene below.
Bullets were flying and shotgun blasts were ringing out. Smoke and dust filled the air. I glanced forward and caught a glimpse of Tuahine at the end of the tunnel, already moving toward the bridge at the bottom.
I turned and saw Tua helping Free to his feet, and the big man was bleeding badly. When the smoke was cleared, Tybalt was lying against the wall of the cave, an enormous hole in his chest. Claudius was down too, a hole in his heart where Tua had shot him.
“He needs help,” Tua said as he lifted Free’s arm and put it around his neck. “He’s losing a lot of blood.”
I wanted to chase after Tuahine and my sisters, to rescue them away from Juliet’s clutches. But I remembered the power of the fountain, and I didn’t want Agent Free to die.
“Bring him up here,” I said. “Quickly!”
Tua escorted Agent Free to the platform and we both helped him climb up.
We made it to the tunnel, then went down, the three of us together, Free held up between Tua and me. Before long we were wading through the steam.
My sisters and Juliet were standing at the base of the fountain, and Tuahine was on her knees in front of them, crying.
“This isn’t you,” she was saying. “This is not who you are!”
We arrived next to Tuahine and she saw us, and Free.
“What happened?” She asked. “Oh, god! Are you okay?”
“He needs medical attention,” Tua said. “But there’s no time.”
Tua’s face was pale and I could see in his eyes, the fear that Free might not make it.
“Come drink,” Juliet said, raising her arms in welcome. Her smile was not sweet, but sinister.
“If he drinks from the fountain,” I warned. “He’ll never be able to leave the island.”
Tua nodded and guided Agent Free up the step toward the base of the font.
“You’re going to drink,” Tua said. “If this works, you’ll live. And we’re taking you off this island.”
As Tua helped Free to the spewing water, Tuahine saw her chance and hopped onto the fountain base, grabbing Jacey by the wrist and pulling her.
“Come with me!”
Jacey resisted and jerked her arm away. Joanna moved closer and Juliet did too. Soon, all three women were backing Tuahine away from the fountain, even as Tua and Free were arriving at its base.
I wanted my sisters to listen, to hear Tuahine out. But this horrible woman, Juliet, had poisoned them against us. I decided that Juliet needed to be removed from the situation. I felt my fists clench and my jaw tighten. A surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins and I leaped forward like a tiger.
I rushed Juliet and grabbed her head with my hands, pushing her backward and away from Tuahine. My sisters watched as my struggle with Juliet began, but they soon returned their focus to Tuahine.
I tried to gouge the woman’s eyes out, tried to break her neck, anything I could do to incapacitate her. But she was strong.
While we struggled, I could see Agent Free drinking from his cupped hand. My heart sank. He would soon be one of them.
Tuahine was trying to reason with my sisters, who were walking toward her and driving her from the fountain room.
I was distracted. Juliet reversed my hold on her and soon had my head locked beneath her armpit. She brought her knee up fast, and hit me in the bridge of my nose. I saw stars for a moment and almost blacked out. But I was able to sweep a foot behind Juliet’s ankle and take her to the ground. I brought an elbow down on her as she fell. Then I grabbed her by the head and put her neck between my forearm and bicep. With my other hand, I pulled on my wrist, squeezing as if my arm was a vice. I held her there and watched as Tuahine tried to sway my sisters.
“Please,” she cried. “This isn’t you!”
“It’s time for you to go,” Joanna said then. “You need to go, before something bad happens.”
She and Jacey came closer to Tuahine and put their hands on her.
“You must leave,” Jacey said. “This place is not for you.” She turned back toward me and Tua and Free. “It’s not for any of you. This is our island.”
“What about your sister?” Tuahine asked.
“It’s too late for her,” Joanna said. “It’s too late for all of you.”
“She made her choice,” Jacey added. “Just as we did.”
Tua saw that Agent Free’s wound was healing itself somewhat. The bullet-hole didn’t close, but turned black as if cauterized. Tua was amazed. He backed away from the man and put his hands to his head.
“Whoa,” he exclaimed. “It’s true.”
“Your sister is all you’ve got!” Tuahine was arguing. “Please! Tua and I have been working for years to help the three of you. We finally have the chance to be together, to be happy. And you’re willing to throw that away, for the chance to live at a glorified beach resort for the rest of your life?”
My sisters had backed her up, all the way to the bridge.
“Let’s go,” Tua said to me then.
He was collecting Agent Free, still recovering his strength after the gunshot wound. Tua got Free to his feet, then left him and came to me.
“Forget her,” he said. “Let’s get our girls and get out of here.”
I released Juliet and stood to my feet. She clutched at her throat.
Tua turned to grab Free, before crossing the fountain and heading for the bridge with me. But Free resisted. He shoved Tua away.
“I’m not going,” he said. “Leave me.”
“What are you talking about?” Tua asked. “We’ve got to go.”
“I can’t,” Free said. “I can’t leave.” The big man’s eyes were filled with tears. “I never wanted this.”
Tua came to Free and grabbed him by the back of the neck with both hands.
“Don’t do this Agent Free!” He said, “Langston, you’re better than this.”
&nbs
p; “I don’t want this,” Free said. “Go, now. Get out.”
“They cannot leave!” Juliet cried from the ground. She was trying to get to her feet as she shouted commands. “Stop them!” She shouted at Free.
He turned to her, and Tua stepped away and we started toward the bridge.
“Kill them,” Juliet said to Free as she stood. “Or I’ll see to it you never sip another drop.”
Free’s face contorted. He cried.
“Tuahine,” he said through his sobs. “I’m sorry.”
He raised his gun, and aimed it at Tua.
Outside, around the island, where Robbins’ yacht was anchored, Shakespeare was silently slipping aboard. Below the deck, Romeo was sitting alone in his chair.
Shakespeare tapped on the cabin door as he opened it. He saw his old friend sitting alone, watching a television that wasn’t switched on.
“Romeo?” Thomas asked. He carried the bundle of linen in his hands.
Stahl did not turn.
“Andy” He tried again. Still nothing.
Romeo’s eyes were lost in the distance. Shakespeare circled his friend and examined him.
“You haven’t changed much, my friend. Your hair is shorter.”
Andy Stahl’s mouth sagged on one side and drool now dropped from it. Shakespeare smiled and unwrapped his gift.
“Look what I brought,” Thomas said.
Tossing the linen wrap aside, he held up a small loaf of bread and smiled.
CHAPTER 9
juliet falls
Tua and I were crossing the bridge, headed for the tunnel. Tuahine and my sisters were at the entrance to the passageway. I saw Agent Free raising his gun and I screamed. He was aiming it at Tua.
I closed my eyes.
The shot rang out and echoed around the cave. My sisters paused at the sound.
Tua turned around to face me, his eyes as wide as saucers. I looked at his body and saw no bullet wound. Then I saw Free in the background, collapse to the ground.
He had shot himself in the head.
“No!” Juliet shouted. “Portia, Ophelia, don’t let them escape!”
My sisters suddenly turned. Tuahine tried to stop them, but they came back to the bridge and confronted Tua and me.
We fought them.
Tuahine soon joined us. Then Juliet came too and in a moment we were engaged in an epic three-on-three battle.
Juliet and my sisters were terrified that an outsider would escape the island with all the knowledge of its secrets. We were fighting for our lives, our freedom.
I discovered that a person fighting for their freedom has ten times the strength of a person fighting for their ideology.
We made it past them, and up the tunnel to the wooden platform. With a quick survey of the chamber, I noticed the bodies of Tybalt and Claudius were gone. I forewent the steps and leaped the six feet to the ground.
When I landed, I looked up to see a man dressed the same as Tua and Free.
“Hello,” he said with a smile. “I’m Robbins.”
He was on our side. I could tell.
I spun around to see the lever and stone that blocked the water tunnel, from earlier.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, pointing at the large beam wedged beneath the rock. “Could you give me a hand?”
We heard a gunshot.
Juliet had collected Free’s gun and was firing her way up the tunnel.
I could hear Free moaning behind her. The bullet had damaged his brain.
Jacey and Joanna were already jumping from the platform with ferocious screams.
Tua jumped onto the lever with me and Robbins while Tuahine tried to stave off my sisters.
At once, the boulder was shifting. While they pulled, another shot rang out from the passageway above us.
“Hurry!” I said as I watched my sisters engage with Tuahine. I heard another gunshot and caught sight of Juliet appearing on the platform.
“Go!” Tua said.
I turned and saw the stone raise away from the drain hole. Tuahine violently shoved Joanna toward Jacey then slipped through the opening. Tua was holding down the lever and waving his arm at me.
“Now!” He said. “Go, go, go!”
I dove for the dry waterway and the hole toward which it ran. I heard another gunshot and saw a spray of blood. I heard Tua cry out in pain.
It was dark in the hole, but I could feel the night air seeping in from somewhere. I could hear Tuahine ahead of me, shuffling down the spout. Then I could hear Tua’s voice behind me.
“I’m hit,” he said.
“What? Oh god.”
“I’m okay. Keep going.”
Robbins fired rounds behind us as we squirmed down the dry causeway, toward what mysterious end awaited us. We had no idea where the drain led.
We could hear Juliet shouting and shooting, her bullets and words bouncing off the cave walls. Jacey and Joanna were not far behind us and in danger of being hit with an errant shot.
After we’d rounded a few corners in the tube, I began to smell something. It was the smell of death, the same smell as the contaminated water from the stream outside.
We stepped around another bend, to a fork in the passage. To the right was an open cavern room, surrounded by a platform. To the left, the passage continued.
I could hear splashing sounds coming from the cavern and I stepped onto the platform to my right. As the others gathered at the fork, I could begin to see. Tuahine arrived next to me and put a hand over her mouth.
“The caved-in,” she gasped.
Below us, the deep cavern was flooded with water. The chamber was the size of a church cathedral and the parishioners below were in agony.
They couldn’t escape the tank, but nor could they die. They only moaned and decomposed and haunted the catacombs with their ceaseless moans for help.
“What is this?” I asked in horror. But Tuahine grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me back to the passage.
“I’ll explain later,” she said. “Keep moving.”
Water from the cistern was pouring through cracks in the walls and a narrow trickle flowed down the continuing passage. I felt the wetness on my feet as I stepped back into the tunnel.
Then an aroma blew toward me, this one much more welcome than the stench of moldy flesh.
It was the unmistakable salty smell of the ocean breeze. We kept moving forward.
After a moment, we could see better. A dark violet light was illuminating the walls of the passage. Ahead of us, the tunnel opened up to the pre-dawn air. My heart lifted.
We slowed down, and I could now see Tuahine silhouetted by the opening at the end of the causeway. She waited on us there.
When Tua and I arrived, we saw that we stood on the edge of a cliff. The water at our feet flowed over the edge and down for at least twenty-five feet before it splashed into the ocean. The tunnel through which we’d come was a drain, and we were about to be flushed.
Another gunshot. Then we heard splashing. They were coming. We knew we had no choice but to jump.
Tua grabbed his mother’s hand on one side and my hand on the other. Robbins came behind us, covering us with his handgun.
Tua looked us all in the eyes, one by one, and he flashed that amazing smile. At that moment, I didn’t care what happened. I could have stared into his eyes forever. I smiled back.
Another gunshot, this one much closer.
“One,” Tua said.
We could hear the frantic screams of Jacey and Joanna coming down the passage. I could see the dark water dancing below.
“Two.”
“You cannot leave!” We heard Juliet screaming from the tunnel. “You cannot leave!”
More gunshots. Joanna and Jacey appeared suddenly and reached out their hands for me, grasping at my hair and clothes.
“Three!”
We jumped.
There was just enough pre-morning light to see the water coming, but I still hit it like a ton of bricks and it hurt.
When I came back to the surface, my heart soared as I saw Tua swimming toward me. He was wincing and favoring one arm.
Tuahine and Robbins were there too, treading water next to us. Tuahine smiled at me with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” She asked us.
“I’m not going to be able to tread water long,” Tua said. “We need to move.”
Another shot rang out in the otherwise calm early morning and we saw a bullet hit the water beside us. We looked up to see Juliet standing at the edge of the drainage spout.
Two men were at her side, each of them with a gun. It was Claudius and Tybalt and they were shooting too. We were helpless. We were fish in a barrel.
I took a deep breath and dove. The water was too salty to open my eyes at first, but after a moment I risked a glance. I could see Tua. Bullets blurred past me. I kicked my legs. I saw a flash of white and black, it was Tuahine. She was diving too.
We’d have to surface sometime, and then we’d be killed. I tried not to panic. I tried to control my breath, to buy more time. But soon, I had no choice and began to kick for the surface.
I heard splashing and more gunshots, this time louder. I was terrified. I closed my eyes and waited for breath to come.
About Forty Years Earlier
The dough had been made in the fountain room, atop the cabinet that Juliet had ordered specially built from imported teakwood. After its first proofing, the dough was wrapped in clean linen and carried across the bridge.
It was baked in Juliet’s oven, prepared like a potion by the witch herself. Inside, tiny molecules of water from the fountain had been trapped by the yeast, small living things that deserved life every bit as much as Juliet.
Juliet had brought the bread to Shakespeare not long after sending a loaf to her aunt in France.
“She abused me,” Juliet had told Thomas when she arrived at his hut with her gift. “She looked the other way while her landlord raped me. Death is not a fitting sentence for her. Now the years will pass and her light will fade, but she will not know death.”
Is that what you wish for me? Shakespeare thought. But when he tried to ask, his words came out, “What. Wish. Me.”
It had been over seven years since his exile, and without the water, his mind was slipping.