by Gina LaManna
“The Rangers already talked to me about Manuel.”
“I’m a Ranger,” Zin said, stepping forward. “And I was wondering if I could get a little more information.”
Sophie creaked back and forth, back and forth, one hand on her thin stomach and the other clasped around a tall glass of lemonade. “If you’re a Ranger, why don’t you look at the report? I answered everything, and I have nothing more to tell you.”
“We’re really sorry about your fiancé,” I said. “I can’t imagine what it’s like with him being gone.”
“Missing, not gone,” she corrected. “I’d know if he was dead, and he ain’t dead.”
“Missing.” I took one step onto her front porch, easing my way closer to her. “That’s what I meant. Well, I’m—”
“I know who you are. You’re the Mixologist.”
“Yes. And I’m here because my cousin is missing. Hers, too.” I gestured toward Zin. “We’re here on personal business.”
“Well, if the Rangers can’t find Manuel, I don’t know how the two of you think you’ll be able to do any better.”
“Maybe so, but at least we’re trying. We’ll only take a few minutes of your time.”
Sophie took another few sips of her lemonade. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those who thinks Manuel was looking for an escape from me. We were happy together. I love him.”
“I believe you. That’s why we’re here in the first place.” I leaned against the railing of the porch and studied Sophie’s slowly melting mask of frustration. “I don’t think Poppy, our cousin, was looking for an escape, either. Maybe the two are related.”
“More than two disappearances now,” she snapped. “Who would just take people like that? I mean, all these incidences aren’t a coincidence—they must be related.”
“Someone horrible.” I hoped to goodness that I wasn’t related to the man behind it all. “Tell me about your fiancé.”
“He’s incredible,” she said, her eyes finally showing signs of life. “He says the sweetest things, and he loves me more than anybody’s loved me in my life.” Her voice grew a little quieter. “He is just the gentlest soul. People from the neighborhood come by every time something goes wrong, and he always knows the right words to say or the right medicine to give them, or…whatever it is they need.”
I remembered Peter’s warning that Manuel had trained as a Healer. It made sense The Faction might need his skills—skills that would be otherwise difficult to attain. Professional Healers on the island were hard to come by, and their absence would be felt.
“What was his family situation before you came into the picture?” I asked. “Is there anyone else who might have more information?”
She shook her dirty blonde hair, looking barely older than a child. “It’s just the two of us. Neither of us had much for families. People think we’re stupid for getting married because I’m so young. I don’t think it’s stupid at all. I know what I want, and he knows what he wants. Why does it matter that he’s a few years older than me?”
“What is it that you want?” Zin asked. “You seem so sure.”
Sophie turned her gaze to Zin. “Why, a family. And we were gonna have it, too.”
“Sophie!” I climbed the rest of the way onto the porch and knelt beside the rocking chair as she began to cry. “What’s wrong? Why are you upset?”
The hand holding her lemonade trembled, and I took the glass before it slipped and crashed to the floor. “We were going to be a family,” she said again. “Because I’m pregnant.”
Zin sucked in a breath while I reached for Sophie’s chilled hand. It was slick with perspiration from the lemonade, and I held on tighter and tighter until she sobbed freely.
Finally, she looked up at me through tear-stained lashes. “I never got to tell him,” she sniffed. “I found out the day before he left. I had a dinner planned with all his favorites—fresh fish from the market, potatoes, green beans—and I was going to tell him that night.”
“Which night?”
“The night he disappeared,” she murmured. “But then I waited all night, and he never came home.”
“Do you think—” Zin began to ask, but I held up a hand to silence her.
“We’ll find him,” I said. “I promise. Is there anything else you can think of?”
“That Peter guy, the one whose face is in the paper today?”
I nodded. “Did he come here?”
“Yeah, and he left me something. Said to give it to someone if he disappeared.”
“Give it to someone?” I shot Zin a look of surprise. “Who?”
“He said that some people would probably come around asking questions. Then he said to hold onto this until there was a person I thought could really help us.”
She heaved herself out of the chair and moved inside, returning quickly.
“Here.” She thrust a small, bulky envelope into my hand. “I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know what to do with it. I hope you do.”
We stayed around for a bit longer, making sure Sophie had everything she needed. I told her to come by the bungalow anytime, and Zin promised to take Sophie’s story back to the Rangers and find some answers. Eventually, Sophie thanked us, and we found ourselves back on the sidewalk with an envelope in hand.
“Shall we?” Zin asked. “Open it. She gave it to you.”
I slid my finger under the edge, sliced it open, and folded it back. There, wrapped in soft paper, was a key.
Zin leaned in to study it. “Where does it lead?”
“I don’t know,” I said, flipping over the envelope to reveal the faint outline of a map. “But I bet this will point us in the right direction.”
Chapter 25
WE FOLLOWED A LOOSE map drawn on the back of the envelope. Though it wasn’t exactly polished, it was clearly the layout of The Isle. My finger followed a dotted line as our feet kept pace with the map’s directions all the way to the northernmost tip of the island.
“Where is he leading us?” Zin asked. “And why?”
“Do you think this might be his home? He never did say where he lived.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. But what do you think we’ll find there?”
“Clues? Information? The rest of his studies? I don’t know.”
“Do you think it could be a trap?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. The Forest loomed to the west—we’d just passed the Upper Bridge, and we were nearing the rocky shores where few residents lived. The houses in this area were often built on the edge of the cliffs; I wondered if a strong storm wouldn’t blow them right into the raging sea below.
“Why do you think it’d be a trap?”
“Peter is…” Zin waited for me to fill in the blank, but I never did. Zin huffed out a breath. “Come on, Lily. I know you believe in the good of people, but you have to admit he was a bit of a nut.”
“He wasn’t ruthless.”
“He believed in his own stories. The keyword there is story. What if this particular tale is a dangerous one?”
I continued shaking my head, but her words had registered no matter how hard I fought them off. “No, I don’t think so.”
“I don’t know if we should do this alone. Why don’t you hand over the key to X? I’ll go with him.”
“Sophie gave me the key. Nobody else.”
“I know, Lily, but—”
“But what?!”
“X would kill me if I let anything happen to you.”
“Well, I don’t plan on anything happening to me, so we should be safe.” I turned and began down the gravel road, striding toward the cliffs. “I was given the key, and I’m going to use it. You heard Sophie. The Rangers already stopped by. If she’d wanted them to have the key, she would’ve given it to them.”
“Yes, but—”
“But nothing. I’m going because we don’t have time to waste. People are missing, including your cousin. Are you coming?”
Zin’s eyes flashe
d with flecks of gold, and she set her jaw firmly. “Fine, but I’m not happy about it.”
“You’re a Ranger, Zin. You can make your own decisions.”
“I’m a Ranger, which means I have to obey the commands of my boss.”
“What did he command you to do? He doesn’t even know about the key!”
“It’s not about the key.”
“What’s it about then?!” I threw my arms up, spinning to face Zin. Then, I saw it written on her face. “Oh. Me. This is about me.”
“Come on, Lily, you have to understand. Ranger X protects his own. I’m his employee, and he’ll protect me like he would any brother or sister. But he loves you. Can you even fathom what that means?”
I had no response good enough, so I remained silent.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t go inside,” Zin continued. “I mean, I think it’s probably best to wait for X, but I’m sure he’s busy with everything else today. I’m just saying we need to be extra careful. It doesn’t hurt to consider all of our options.”
“I vote the option of a quick peek.”
“Any sign of foul plan, and we take off. No questions asked.”
“Understood.”
We crept toward the spot marked on the map with a black X.
“I’m still not convinced Peter’s not a part of this,” Zin whispered as we approached the end of our journey. “What if Sophie is involved, and her fiancé isn’t really missing? Peter could’ve paid Sophie off; she needs money, especially since they’re having a baby.”
“No. Sophie wouldn’t do that.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because I saw the photo of her and Manuel in the paper.”
“And?”
“People just can’t fake that sort of love. Their body language, the way they looked at each other. They were in love. I don’t think Sophie’s faking her unhappiness with him gone, either.”
“But what if—”
“Time is running out, and Poppy hasn’t come back.”
Zin forced a nod at my pleading tone. “Let’s go.”
The front door was locked, as expected. I lifted the key to slip it inside, but realized at once that it wouldn’t work—the key was much too large for the lock.
“Are we at the right place?”
Zin double-checked the map. “It says so.”
I looked over her shoulder. “The X is a little off-center. Do you think this key isn’t for the front door?”
Zin glanced beyond me. The ‘backyard’ of this place was little more than a rocky cliff that dangled its inhabitants far above the crashing waves. “I don’t how to get over there. One wrong step and…”
“We have to try.”
“No.” Zin took the key and slipped it into her mouth. “I’ll go. You wait here.”
Before I could argue, she began to shift into her simplest form, the jaguar. She seemed a natural at it, easing gently into the state and prowling around the edge of the house before shooting a gleaming, golden glance in my direction.
“Zin, be careful!” The wind, however, swallowed my words as the beautiful cat began to effortlessly pounce from one boulder to the next. At one point she slipped, sending several rocks cascading down to the treacherous coast below.
Zin made it to the side of the house and shifted into human form atop the rocky cliff.
“What are you doing!?” I yelled, my heart flying through my chest. “You have to shift back!”
She balanced in human form on the ledge, her hands held wide for balance. “I can’t open this door with my mouth.”
“What door?”
“There’s a trapdoor built into the stone.”
“You’re not safe out there. Come back, Zin. We said—”
Before I could tell her what we said, she inserted the key into a lock invisible to my eye and twisted it.
“It’s here!” she cried, excited. “The key fits!”
“I can’t possibly reach you.”
“One second. I’m going to pop inside. If I don’t come back out in five minutes, get help.”
“Zin, wait!”
She didn’t listen, instead dropping into the crevasse without looking back.
I paced back and forth, muttering curses at Zin under my breath. Four minutes passed, and my curses grew louder. Then five minutes.
“Zin!” I yelled. “Time is up. Where are you?!”
No answer.
“Zin!”
I gave the wind thirty seconds of howling before I tested a foot on the ledge, inched over it, and hesitated. Pebbles slipped under my shoes, skittering off the side of the cliff.
“Lily!” Zin’s cries sounded muffled. “Help! I’m stuck, it’s…”
Her voice trailed off, and my heart leapt further into my throat. I moved, calculating each step before I made it. When a rock the size of my head slipped away and pounded into the abyss, I hesitated again, gathering my courage.
“I’m coming!” I yelled. “Can you hear me? What’s happening?”
“Stay where you are!” Zin’s voice, still muffled, sounded pained. “I’m going to see if I can…”
Again, she trailed away, sounding as if she were speaking from the bottom of a submarine. A thunk sounded, a screech, and then a guttural yell.
My fingers curled around the root of a tree pushing out of the cliff as I raced forward, still far too distant to be of any help. If I moved any faster, I would lose my balance and tumble downward.
The screeching continued, my palms dampening with sweat at the thought of what might be happening to her. I tasted salt as I moved one hand over the next to another root. One foot slipped, dangled, and I let out a yelp myself.
“Zin!”
At once there was a pop, a fluttering sound, and then silence.
I held my breath, watching the mouth of the crevice for a sign of movement. Meanwhile, I hauled myself higher onto the boulders, the roots creaking beneath my weight. I clung to the tree for dear life, wishing I would’ve listened to Zin in the first place and gone to Ranger X with the key.
That’s when I saw it—a small tuft of feathers barreling from the mouth of the cave. A tiny little bird, a fluffy thing that would fit in the palm of my hand, flapping her wings above the waves.
“Zin?” I stared closer at her little body, knocked around by the strong winds. “Is that you?”
As if in answer, she shifted once more, this time into a larger bird. An eagle, flapping strong, powerful wings until she landed on the rock just above my head.
My arms shook, and I focused on mustering every bit of strength to haul myself up and over, landing in a sheltered nook.
Zin moved a few paces back, then shifted into her human form, landing crouched on the rock face. Her hair was matted with sweat, her eyes wild as she shook her head. “I can’t do it. It’s not for me.”
“What’s not for you?”
“There’s some sort of safe inside, and it’s looking for a handprint.”
“A handprint?”
Zin nodded. “I figured I had the key, so maybe it just needed to be touched, or pushed. So, I put my palm against it, and—” she shuddered. “It shocked me. It kept shocking me until I heard you yell my name, and it brought me back. That’s when I shifted and got away.”
“How do we know whose hand is supposed to be there?”
Zin shook her head. “Maybe it has something to do with the person to whom Sophie entrusted the key.”
“I suppose we need to try.”
“How?!” Zin glanced further out. “Even after shifting I barely made it across this terrain, and I have nice claws.”
I watched with a wispy smile as Zin admired her manicure. I exhaled, scanning the distance between me and the safe. “I don’t know.”
“What if you get there and it’s not your hand?”
“You pull me out of there, and we get Ranger X.”
“We should get him now.”
“There’s no time! If we run back, find
him, tell him everything, convince him to return with us… just no,” I said, firm. “We just need to find a way to get me out there and back.”
“I might have an idea.”
Without explaining, Zin shifted back into the little blue-colored bird and sailed away, bouncing against the strong gusts. I sat, watching until she disappeared around the back of Peter’s house.
Zin returned shortly after with a thin wire in her beak. A safe distance away from the rocks, she shifted to human form and extended it. “The clothesline in the back,” she explained. “I tore it out. If you wrap this around your waist. I’ll carry it in my mouth in my jaguar form and that should help with balance.”
“Will it hold my weight if I slip?”
“If you don’t slip, we don’t have to test it out,” Zin said with a wry smile. “Shall we?”
I looped the rope around my waist as she suggested, fingers shaking. When we were ready, I made eye contact with Zin and nodded. “If I fall, you need to get—”
“You won’t fall. Now, let’s move.”
Together, we inched our way across the boulders. I lost my footing once, grabbing onto a set of roots as I started my slide toward the edge of the cliff. Zin yanked the rope in her mouth, her feline body tensing as she guided me back to safety.
Heart still racing, we continued. Inching and inching until the rocks became so slippery with sea spray that Zin was holding nearly all my weight. I balanced on thin points of rock barely larger than my pinky until at last I tumbled over the threshold into the opening of the cave.
There wasn’t room for two of us here, so Zin stayed atop in jaguar form while I slithered through the opening and studied the view before me.
All was exactly as Zin had described. We’d reached a small cavern built into the wall of the lakeside cliffs, empty save for a sheen of sunlight and a large stone box in the middle of the room.
In the center of the door was a handprint, sized much larger than my palm. I stepped closer, sucking in a breath as I extended my arm and visually measured my fingers against the stone imprint.
Too large. This wasn’t right.
But I hadn’t come all this way to give up before trying, so I guided my hand into the imprint, hovering millimeters away from the surface, and closed my eyes. If this didn’t work, I hoped Zin would be able to pull me away. Otherwise…