by W. J. May
“There was a storm, and you crashed. I found you under the tip of the wing. You were barely alive.” She played with the hem of her dress as she spoke.
“You found me? Who else is here?” He wrapped his arm around his waist and grimaced again.
“Here, let me look at it, I can help.”
He stared at her through narrowed eyes. “You haven’t answered my question. Who else is here?”
She shook her head. “No one.”
“I don’t believe you. There is no way someone as small as you could drag someone as big as me across an island, or move a wing on a plane, alone.”
“No, it was just me. I guess it was adrenaline.” She let out a nervous laugh.
He bit his lip as his face contorted with pain. She scooted closer to him. “Let me look.”
He hesitated, then lifted what was left of his shirt. She gently touched every rib, sending out a wave of her power feeling for injuries. A slight warming in her hand told her she found a place that needed healing. Her hand hovered over one rib she knew was broken and thought about whether she should help him or not. Her natural compassion won. She let her energy form around his rib, then gently drew her hand away from his body enough to pull the bone back together and seal it.
“Ouch! What was that?” he yelled at her as he jerked his shirt back down.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was helping.”
He stood up. “Don’t do it again.”
Nothing about him being awake was how she hoped it would be. Tears filled her eyes, so she looked away. “I’m sorry.” She got up and went into the house.
Throwing herself on the bed, she let the tears fall. Years of being alone and this was the first conversation she got? So many things she wanted to know, things she wanted to talk about.
A knock on the wood made her turn her head. He stood at the doorway leaning with his arm raised up against the frame. “I’m sorry. I’m a little confused about everything. I should thank you for saving me.”
She sat up onto the edge of the bed. “You’re welcome. My name is Karis.” She wiped her face with her fingers.
He gave a slight nod. “Karis? Cool name. I’m Brady.”
She sniffed. “Thanks. Nice to meet you.”
“So, how do I get out of here?”
She let out a scoff. “I wish,” she said under her breath. “You can’t.”
“I can’t, or you won’t tell me?”
Karis stood up. “You can’t. If there were a way, I’d have been gone a long time ago.”
He stood there, contemplating her answer. “I don’t buy it.”
She rolled her eyes. “What do you know about this island?”
“Not much. The natives think it’s cursed. That’s why it’s abandoned.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re wasting my time. You have a radio or something?”
“For communication?”
He raised one brow. “Well yeah. Music won’t get us off the island.”
“No. I don’t have one.” She walked to the door and slipped under his arm that he still braced himself with.
“Hey, wait, where’re you going?”
“To show you what I mean.”
She hiked up the hillside, looking behind to make sure he followed. Once she was on top of the knoll, she pointed out to the water. A fishing boat was close to approaching the barrier. Just as she suspected, after any storm anglers tried to get close to the island for the rare fish.
“Hey, great. It’s a boat.” He waved his arms in the air. “Over here!”
“They can’t hear you. Besides, they’ll never make it to shore.”
He stopped waving his arms. “What do you mean, they won’t make it?”
“At least not alive.” She watched his expression go from confused to upset. “I told you, there is no way off the island.”
She nodded toward the boat. “Just watch.” She sat down, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. She saw this happen too many times, and it was always a horrible thing to witness.
Brady sat down next to her and watched helplessly. Without a warning, the boat capsized and a colossal tidal wave swallowed the crew.
“What the...” he trailed off.
“I told you. The same would happen if you try to leave.”
He moved to face her, but his eyes never left the water. “How long have you been here?”
She shrugged. “A while.”
“And you’ve been alone the whole time?”
She nodded.
He ran his hands over his head and down his face. “This is too much.” He continued to gaze over the boatless ocean. “Where’s the plane?”
“I can take you to it, but there isn’t much left.”
He stared off across the sea. “I just need to see it.”
She threw her arms in the air. “Fine.”
Karis started down the hill and back toward the house.
“Hey wait up. I thought we were going to the plane?”
She stopped and turned his way. “I, for one, am hungry. You can go on and look for it. I’ll point you the way, but I am eating before I go traipsing around the island with you.”
He held his arms up in surrender. “Whoa, where’d that come from?”
She rolled her eyes and tipped her head back. She didn’t remember this much frustration when having contact with another person. Without saying anything more, she finished her descent down the knoll and to the trail that led to the house.
She marched up the stairs and let the door slam shut. “Hey, watch it,” Brady scowled at her.
She wasn’t sure why she was so upset, but something about him and his attitude put her nerves on fire. She rummaged around through her makeshift cookware until she found her fishing basket and string, and then pushed past him to go outside.
The inlet was a perfect place to catch that morning’s breakfast. She dropped down to her favorite rock and placed the basket in the water, letting it sink to the bottom.
Even the waves in the distance irritated her. Everything about the last two days unsettled her. The past ninety years’ worth of aggression had built up and she cried out. “Why now? After this long, why now and why him?” she yelled up into the sky. The pendant around her neck began to hum and warmed against her skin, more than it ever did before.
She grasped it with her fingers and ripped it from her neck. Staring down at it, she watched as it turned red and the heat became almost unbearable. She dropped it onto the rock beside her. “What is wrong with it?”
“So, fish for breakfast?”
Brady’s voice caused her to jump. She placed a hand over her pendant and looked behind her. He stood on the top of the rock wall with his hands in his pockets.
“It’ll be whatever I catch. Fish, shrimp, maybe a crab,” she said, turning back around to face the water.
“Okay, well, can I help?”
“You’re so frustrating. First you're all snooty, and then you act as if you have compassion, just to act all arrogant again. I don’t get it.”
“I’ve had a lousy couple days, in case you’ve forgotten. I think I’m entitled to be upset and have moods.”
She smirked and spoke under her breath, “I can trump yours any day.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
He gestured at her hand. “So what’s that?”
She raised her hand away from her pendant. It no longer was red or hot. “It’s my necklace that my father gave me a long time ago.”
He gave a half smile and nodded. “Shouldn’t it be around your neck?”
She straightened her back and inhaled. “You ask a lot of questions.”
He shrugged. “What else do you do when you meet someone on a deserted island? I mean, almost deserted.”
“Well, you can fish.”
They both laughed. He ventured closer to her and sat on the rock next to her.
“Would it surprise you if I said I’ve never gone fishing?”
“At this point in my life, nothing would surprise me.” She glanced away from him and watched the water.
“So, tell me. What brings a beautiful woman to be stranded on an island in the South Pacific?”
She chortled. “More questions?”
He raised his hands from his knees. “You got me.”
“I find your dialect a little confusing. What do you mean; I have you?”
It was his turn to laugh. “Never mind.”
She scrunched her brows. “Alright. Well, if I told you, you might not believe me.”
“I think after watching an entire boat be swallowed by a calm ocean I deserve an answer. I think you have more to do with it than you’re telling me. I can’t promise to believe you,” he looked around them then back at her, “but I don’t see anyone else around to tell me.”
She picked up her pendant and ran her fingers over the swirls, letting each familiar groove give her comfort. She let out a deep breath. “My people thought I planned to commit treason, so they banished me here.”
“Seriously?” His eyes widened. “You’re right, I don’t believe it. Treason? Who says that anymore?”
“It was a different time, a different place.” She was unsure if she should tell him she was from a different world.
“Boy, I guess. What is it, some European thing? Did you talk about beheading the Queen or something?”
She couldn’t help but smile at the similar treason the council suspected her of. “No. Actually, it was the King of where I’m from, and it wasn’t beheading. And before you ask, no, I didn’t do it. I never planned it or thought it. I was set up.”
He blew out a loud breath. “Wow, that’s intense. So they what, sent you to live here? For how long? Can’t you fight it?”
She swallowed the lump that formed in the back of her throat. “Forever.”
“Shit. I thought I had it rough just crashing here.”
She leaned over to pull the basket out of the water.
“Here, let me.” Brady took the rope from her hands. Her pendant hummed and began to heat up against her palm as he touched her. She jumped back and it stopped. He looked at her with questioning eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d give you some room.” She clasped her hand around her necklace and watched as he pulled out a basket full of fish for their breakfast.
“Hey, look at that. First time fishing and I caught at least ten.”
“Well, I was the one fishing,” she teased.
“Yeah, but I pulled them out. It takes a strong man to pull out ten fish.” He flexed his biceps and smiled at her.
She laughed and stood up. “Okay, muscle man, let’s go cook them so we can eat and see what’s left of your plane.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Three
Karis rubbed her stomach. “I’m full.”
“That was the best fish ever. How’d you learn to cook them under the coals like that?’
She shrugged. “My father used to take me on adventures to incredible places, some of them we needed to be self-reliant. He taught me how to survive some of the harshest of places.”
“What did he think when you were sent here?”
She bit her upper lip and looked away. “He died before any of that happened.”
He poked a stick in the fire coals. “I’m sorry.”
She quickly stood up and pretended to fix her dress. For the first time in years, she worried over how she must look. Her hair was brushed, but her clothing was well worn and even the patches were wearing thin. A small trunk of material sat untouched in her tiny house for her to make more dresses, but forever was a long time and she didn’t want to use it until she had to. Looking back down at the skirt of her dress, she thought maybe now would be a good time to make a new one.
With Brady on the island, she had someone to look presentable for. She wasn’t sure why it would matter what she wore since she was no longer the Princess of Shamike, but watching him across the smoldering fire pit, she experienced a need that she hadn’t felt in an extremely long time. It was a feeling she gave up on, thinking she’d never have it fulfilled.
Whoever allowed him to escape the curse was her soul saver. It wasn’t an accident that he was there with her—alive. Faces from her memory ran through her mind. Who would have made this happen, and why? Was it Tarine? His letter she found the first day on the island flashed in her head.
“What are you thinking?” Brady’s voice brought her from her thoughts.
“Hum?”
“You were staring out in space. Must be some pretty heavy thoughts.”
She touched her necklace and stared out past the trees toward the beach. “You could say that.”
“Well, you ready?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
He gestured for her to go first. “Lead the way.”
She took the same way over the ridge as she had when she found the smoke. It was hard to believe that was just yesterday. Everything that happened still had her mind whirling. “Brady, how do you feel? I mean, when I found you... you were... well, you were almost dead.” She held her breath waiting for his answer and pushed another wide leaf from her path.
“That’s hard to believe since I feel awesome. I’m not sure, but something about me feels alive. I can’t believe I’m not...” His voice trailed as he caught up to her and saw the wreckage. “Oh shit. Is this really it?”
Karis folded her arms across her chest and chewed on the inside of her cheek. She knew it was a lot to take in. He walked around her and stared at the debris. Smoke still wafted from certain places and charred items were strewn all the way down to the beach.
He knelt down and dropped his head low. She came and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I have to ask. Who else was on board with you?”
He shook his head in unbelief. “No one. Derek, my buddy, he was gonna come with me, but I was impatient and told him if he didn’t get his butt outta bed then I’d leave him behind. We both had fights the night before, and I knew he was tired, so I left.” He rubbed his mouth and chin. “Damn. He woulda been with me. He would’ve died.”
“But he didn’t,” she whispered.
“How did I not die?” He looked up at her with his jaw tightened.
She glanced away. “It’s complicated. What did you mean you had fights?” She needed to get his mind off how he was still alive. She still needed time to process what happened when she tried to heal him.
“We’re fighters in the underground circuit.”
She scrunched her face as she tried to picture him fighting underground. “How do you fight underground?”
He scoffed. “Boy, you have been here awhile, huh. Underground just means below the radar, where the legals can’t find us. That’s why we move around for fights. They can’t have them in the same place every time or we’d get caught.”
“Why is it bad?”
His face contorted. “They don’t like people fighting, too many injuries and deaths. Besides, the betting is illegal.”
She sat down next to him. “Do people bet on you?”
He grinned with half his mouth, but she noticed how his eyes lit up. “Yeah, and they should.”
They both sat in silence. Brady was the first to move. She waited where she was and watched as he kicked debris out of the way with his boot.
She stayed quiet and let him have his moment, understanding the need to grasp the situation. He came back to her with a few belongings that managed to escape the fire.
“I didn’t have much on the plane. It was just a day trip. I did have a shirt that I found.” He held it up.
“It’ll be okay.” She wasn’t sure what else to tell him.
“So this is it, I’m really stuck here.” He glared at Karis. “Why can’t we leave? I don’t get it. I watched the boat but still don’t understand.”
“It’s getting late, we should get back.” She ign
ored his question and stood to leave.
He grasped her arm. “Why can’t we leave, Karis?” he asked slower.
She tried to shake off his hand, but he gripped her tighter. “It’s cursed,” she spit out.
“You mean like the rumors of dark magic the other island natives talk about? About how a creature not of this world prowls the forests and anyone who visits never returns?”
She scrunched her brows together and frowned. “They think I’m a creature?”
“What? No, that’s not my point. Wait, that’s the only thing you got out of what I just said?” He let go of her arm.
She turned to face him. “You want to know why you’re alive? Because of me. I healed you. I’m not from here. I told you that already. Yes, the island is cursed to keep me from escaping and returning to my own world. It’s because of me that all those people who cross the barrier die.” Tears streamed down her face. Emotions from her past, present, and future overflowed her.
He stared at her, unmoving.
“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.” She walked away, needing to be alone. The first time in nearly one hundred years she had someone to talk to, and she wished she didn’t have to.
She knew the isle like her old home and began to run. Tears blurred her vision as she swiped leaves and tree branches away, climbing the forest to the tallest peak overlooking the entire island.
Once atop the ridge she crumpled to the ground and cried at the sky, “Why?”
Her pendant began to heat up and vibrate once again. She grabbed it and yanked it off, throwing it as hard as she could.
“What good does that pendant do if you lose it?”
Karis’s heart skipped a beat and she jumped at the unexpected voice. Her mouth fell open, and she rushed into Tarine’s arms. “You’re here, really here.” She couldn’t stop the tears if she wanted to now. “How? Why?”
She leaned back to look into his silver eyes. His long white hair did nothing to age his youthful features. He was from a long line of royal constables for her family. Her father told her that they held all of her family secrets and had special powers unknown to her. Each person in Tarine’s bloodline had the same silvery hair.