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The next two days passed slowly. Jax had gone for fruit often, but Ana was losing interest in eating. It no longer seemed to matter, and all she really wanted to do was sleep. Ana forced herself up every day but stopped the exercising and the second trip to the beach, preferring to sit or lie motionless in the sun. Jax followed Ana wherever she went, urging food and water on her constantly. Ana would eat or drink just to make Jax stop bothering her but took no initiative to do anything more.
The one exception to this was the return to the beach every morning. Ana took to going immediately after finishing the fruit Jax supplied, not even bothering to clean up afterwards. Jax had taken care of the remains, then trotted after Ana, spending the time at the beach curled in the girl’s lap. Ana had watched the waves strike the shore, periodically scanning the sand, for hours. She left when the sun had reached halfway in its descent, not wanting to encounter the crabs or the blood trees during their afternoon food gatherings. Ana would return to the glade, walking a slow path around and around as if pacing, then retrieve the pack. Pulling out the tally stick, she would make another notch, then curl on her side and nap again. Jax would wake Ana for another dinner of fruit, after which Ana would stare at the sky, tears sliding down her cheeks, until eventually falling asleep.
Ana only returned to the beach on the chance Jan would look for her there. She did not believe he would come to the glade again and thought he might be watching for an opportunity to approach her safely. The other reason for continuing the daily excursion to the shore was the possibility that Jan had known about her arrival in the glade and also knew her routine. Ana might have tried finding someplace new to attempt another meeting, but that meant taking the risk of another dangerous encounter. In addition, there was no guarantee that Jan was actually following her or would be able to find her if she went wandering around the jungle. The beach routine was something Ana had been doing for days and there was even the chance Snick had told Jan how he had been caught. For this reason, Ana forced herself to the beach every day, hope helping to motivate her, and left every afternoon, disappointed and wondering why Jan hadn’t come.
When Ana awoke today, her spirits had lifted slightly. Dejected due to still not having seen Jan, she was also a happy at the prospect of finally being able to bring Jax back to Niall. Ana had finally figured out a way to get Jax home, knowing it would infuriate the officials sent to retrieve her but not caring in the least. Jax had saved her life countless times, Jax was devoted to her and she to Jax, and there was simply no way Ana was going to abandon the little creature after everything they had been through together.
Emptying the pack of everything other than the directives and the letter, Ana had buried it all under a rock, leaving the tally stick to mark its location. She ate the fruit Jax obtained without urging, helping Jax clean the clearing when they were done. After taking a last look around, Ana waited until it was safe to pass through the blood trees. Shouldering the pack, she made her way to the beach, settling in to watch the crabs shake themselves into motion after arriving at her usual spot. After the crabs had left on their daily hunting excursion, Ana watched the beach, no longer trying to see if Jan was around. Instead, she was steeling herself to read the letter from her parents.
Ana had been upset with her parents after arriving back home the last time. But after reading the book, her feelings toward her father had gravitated between rage and heartache. Taking the book into her closet one night, Ana had used a small light to illuminate the pages, draping a blanket over her so the room stayed dark. She discovered the book had been written by her father and what he had written had both fascinated and scared the hell out of her. It also left Ana simmering with rage, along with a lingering feeling of sadness. For these reasons, she had chosen not to read the letter until today, wanting to keep those emotions bottled up while she struggled to survive.
The book had chronicled a short amount of time during the seventeenth year of her father’s life. At some point, it had suffered water damage, causing the ink to run in places, and there were several pages torn out, leaving gaps in the narrative. But enough had been left for Ana to get a good idea of what her father had experienced during that time.
Her father had been on the island. Not only had he been sentenced and sent to the island, but he had also been a leader of the camp himself. The book, written after her father had returned home, had detailed the stay, made references to his two prior sentences, and related much of what he learned while there and shortly after his arrival back on the mainland. He also vaguely discussed an experience that caused him to suffer a great tragedy, influencing the choices he then made concerning the rest of his life.
Ana had devoured the entire book the first night, starting to understand why her father had been so solicitous after she arrived home several months ago. After closing the book and burying it under a pile of clothes, Ana had crawled into bed, Jax snuggled alongside, and thought about its contents, tossing and turning as sleep eluded her. She gave up trying to sleep once the sun rose, rising early and doing her best to appear normal. The following evening, Ana had returned to the closet and reread the book, focusing on the things her father had written regarding the government. She was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it needed to be hidden. Should the book fall into the wrong hands, Ana was sure it would cause serious repercussions for her father and possibly the rest of the family as well. Ana suspected her father had made sure the book found its way into one of the boxes containing her belongings but was unsure why he felt it was so important for her to see it.
It was during the third night’s reading that Ana started to get angry. If her father had been to the island himself, he knew what horrors it contained. Not only had he done nothing to stop what was happening, he also actively worked for the government now, in effect condoning what the government was doing. In addition, he had to have suspected what had happened to Ana after her disappearance and yet had still left his only daughter to her fate. She had slit the mattress that night, stuffing the book inside and covering the opening with the sheets until the seam could be sewn back up. Ana had worked hard at keeping her emotions under wraps after that, especially around her father, and instead concentrated on trying to fulfill the vows she had made. When she decided to return to the island, Ana had spared little thought as to how it would affect her parents, only thinking it served her father right.
Ana had read the book once more before returning to the island and had done so for one reason only. She wanted to commit to memory all the details of what her father had learned about the government. Ana’s entire reason for returning was to both question Jan and to relay the book’s information to him so they could discuss it further. Or so Ana had told herself, not wanting to admit there had been an ulterior motive in wanting to see Jan again.
Ana thought about the contents of the first letter as well as what Jan had said regarding the reason parents were forced to write to their children every year. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something and was unsure the second letter would make things any clearer. She still had no real desire to read it, but Ana suspected the government would know if she hadn’t, probably forcing her to read the thing before letting her off the yacht. If it had to be read, Ana preferred to do it privately, wanting to sort through the emotions she was sure the letter would produce before being debriefed. She needed to be calm and completely collected when she spoke to the officials this time, expecting this interview to be radically different than the last one. Finally gathering up the courage to see what her parents had written, Ana opened the flap and removed the folded piece of paper. Holding it so the sun didn’t cause a glare that blinded her, she started to read.
When Ana saw what was on the piece of paper, her stomach dropped, the blood in her veins turned to ice, and she felt a cold fear encase her heart. The letter was not a letter from her parents at all. At least, Ana was pretty sure it wasn’t from them. Instead, the paper only contained two words. No greeting,
no signature, just two simple words. But those words were enough to strike Ana with terror, driving all other thoughts from her head.
The letter simply said:
“We know.”