I nodded, but it was halfhearted. “Whatever. It’s your funeral… All I’m saying is once that secret’s out, we no longer have the upper hand. We have nothing to bargain with. Nothing to ensure our survival. They might find it on their own, sure. They might find coconuts, too. But right now, we’re the only two who know a direct path to water. That gives us some immunity.” He paused. “Just…think about it, okay? Anyone out there could be the person who brought us here. Anyone out there could know exactly why we’re here. You just don’t know.” With that final, solemn phrase, he turned away from me and headed forward, moments later pulling a branch back to reveal our small, boulder encampment.
I tried to force his words from my mind. They meant nothing. I wasn’t Noah. I didn’t want to behave like him… But was he right somehow? Did our secret make me more powerful? I wanted to go home more than anything, but did I honestly believe someone on the island could have something to do with why we were there?
The thought sent chills down my spine. He was wrong…
He had to be.
Chapter Eleven
I don’t know why I didn’t tell them about the waterfall. Maybe Noah had gotten in my head about it, maybe I had my own reasons, but as we made our way back to the camp, seeing the makeshift hut Harry, Ava, and James had crafted, I didn’t breathe a word about our discovery, and neither did Noah.
This only made me feel guiltier when, upon seeing me, Harry rushed toward us with his arms outstretched. When he reached me, his hands gripped my biceps. “Thank God.” He looked at Noah. “You were gone a long time.”
“It’s far away,” he said simply. “And I think what you mean is thank you, Noah, for hand-delivering the only thing keeping us alive right now.” He placed every coconut but two down, offering a slight bow. “To which I say, you’re welcome, Your Majesty. I am but a humble servant, after all.”
Harry scowled slightly but didn’t reply. “You okay?” he asked me, looking down at the oversized shirt. “Why are you wearing his shirt?”
“I’m okay…” I almost told him the truth about what had happened, but something stopped me. I hated how much I’d allowed Noah to cause me to doubt the people I wanted so desperately to trust. “He gave it to me so I wouldn’t burn anymore.”
Harry’s expression appeared taken aback. “Oh, good. That’s a good idea.”
I nodded toward the shelter. “That looks great. You’ve been working hard.”
He shrugged one shoulder, looking away from me. “It’ll do for now. I’m not sure how long it’ll hold up, but for a day or two at least we’ll have somewhere dry to sleep.”
“Here.” A coconut was thrust into my face, and I followed the length of the outstretched arm that held it to meet Noah’s eye. He had one coconut held up to his mouth and the other was, apparently, mine. “You should lie down.”
“I’m fine,” I said angrily, then cooled my tone a bit. “But thank you.” I took it from him, unable to deny how thirsty I was and lifted it to my lips. I began to take a sip, then felt guilty for doing so in front of Harry, so I lowered it and held it out. “You should have this. I had some out there.”
He looked at the coconut, then back at me. His answer was powerless. “I’ll get my own. It’s okay. There are plenty…”
“It’s fine, Harry, honestly. I drank one on the way back. You must be so thirsty.” He swiped the back of his hand across his dirt-streaked forehead, his dry, cracked lips confirming what I’d said.
“Thanks,” he said finally, taking it from my hands and gulping it down quickly. When he was done, he rubbed his hand across his lips guiltily. “Sorry… I guess the heat got to me.”
“You’ve been working hard,” I said. “We all have. We should rest for a while, rehydrate, then make a plan for exploring more of the island.”
He nodded, keeping his voice low. “Are you sure everything went okay out there? Noah was—”
“Still within listening distance,” Noah called loudly from a few feet away, his coconut in the air. “And, I was a perfect gentleman, Grandpa, don’t worry.”
I gave a conceding nod. “It’s true. He was. He took care of me when I overheated.”
“You what? What happened? Are you—”
“I’m fine now.” I cut off his panic. “Honestly. I just needed to rest a bit. Who would’ve guessed sunburn, exhaustion, and dehydration would be a bad combo?”
“Okay, you sit,” Harry said. “Let me get you some more to drink.”
“I’m fine, Harry,” I tried to argue, but it was no use. He’d already scooped two more coconuts from the pile and had made his way toward the rock we’d been using to bust them open. I fought back against the deep pit of guilt inside my stomach as he delivered mine. If I brought up the waterfall now, they’d only wonder why I hadn’t told them the second we got back, wouldn’t they? How could I keep something this important from someone so determined to take care of me?
Suddenly, from behind me, I heard Ava cry out in apparent pain. I spun around quickly to see her clutching her stomach, sweat beading on her temples.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Her expression was agonizing as she looked at me. “I don’t know, I just—” Before she could finish her sentence, she doubled over, vomit spewing from her lips and onto the sand.
“Ava!” I dropped my drink and launched forward, reaching for her as she continued to be sick. At the same time, the men backed away, sounds of gagging and groaning could be heard from all around. I touched her bicep, moving a hand to her hair to pull as much of the dark curls back as I could.
When she’d stopped, she shook her head, wiping her arm across her lips. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened… I just suddenly felt…” She stopped, her dark skin seeming to grow paler as she staggered a half step backward.
“Are you okay?” Harry asked, still several steps back from us.
“I don’t know…” she said powerlessly. “I just feel…off.”
“Are you going to be sick again?” he asked.
“And, if you are, aim it that way,” Noah said, slurping his drink loudly.
“Here, let’s just get you set down on the sand.” I took her hand, my other palm on her upper back as I helped her sink down onto the warm sand beneath our feet. Once she was able to relax a bit, her expression calmed.
“Thank you. I feel better already.” She swiped sweat from her brow. “I’m sorry, guys.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Harry said, taking a small step in our direction as I swept sand over her vomit, covering it completely. He handed me one half of his coconut and I placed it in her palms.
“He’s right, you probably just overheated. It’s easy enough to do. I should know,” I told her. “Just keep drinking.”
“But slowly,” Harry instructed, now standing beside where I’d knelt down next to her. “Take small sips rather than gulps. It’ll be easier on your stomach.”
She did as she was told, drinking slowly and taking steady breaths in between each gulp.
“I don’t think we should go anywhere today,” Harry said firmly, and I glanced over my shoulder at him.
“What?”
“I know we wanted to explore some, but we need to take our time. You overheated earlier, and Ava did just now. Finding anything on this island won’t matter if half of us are sick or, worse, dead. None of us are used to heat and hunger like this. We have to be careful not to overdo it. For now, we need to just rest until the sun goes down for the evening. We can use Noah’s knife to carve spears. Then, maybe we try to catch some fish for dinner. Tomorrow, we’ll head out early before the sun’s too high.”
“What if we can’t afford to wait?”
“We can’t afford not to,” he said simply. “I’m sorry. I wanted to go too, but I won’t risk either of you collapsing out there.”
“I’m fine,” Ava said, moving to sit up. “Honestly, I think I just drank too fast.”
“And I’m fine, too,” I agreed. �
�We have to explore tonight, Harry. We have to. I don’t think I can spend another night here not knowing what’s going on.”
“I agree with him,” Noah said, taking us all by surprise. “If either of you collapse or get sick, we’d either have to carry you or make camp wherever we are. It makes more sense to stay here for the night and try tomorrow. Besides that”—he stretched his arms over his head and tucked them behind his neck—“I could use a nap.”
“It’s settled, then,” Harry said, looking relieved.
“No, it’s tied,” Ava argued, her eyes narrowing at James. “What do you think? It all comes down to your vote.”
“Alright,” Noah said, bobbing his head up and down joyfully, “it’s like an episode of Survivor. Let’s put it to a vote.”
James grumbled, his arms draped casually over his knees as he stared at the sand. “I’m starving,” he said after a moment. “So if my choice is to carry you two through the forest or stay here and eat seafood oceanside tonight, I guess it isn’t too difficult to decide.” He shrugged, looking out toward the water. For some reason, I felt he was choosing to side with the men, rather than on the side he truly believed was right, but I saw no point in pressing the issue.
“So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Ava said, picking up on the same vibe I had. “You all outnumber us, so you make all the decisions?” I met Harry’s eye, feeling betrayed. Up until that moment, I’d believed he was on our side. Had Noah been right all along? Was everyone finally accepting that it was every man for himself? I no longer felt the nagging guilt over having kept the waterfall a secret between Noah and me.
“It’s not like that,” Harry said softly, bending down so he was eye level with me, though he was looking at Ava. “There are no sides. There is no us or you. It’s all of us. We’re in this mess together, and we have to look out for each other… I’m doing this to protect you both.” His eyes were serious, but not stern. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t. I felt as if he were hiding something… As if they all were.
Finally though, I nodded, watching as James and Harry began gathering sticks for Noah to sharpen with his knife.
It was the first time I’d felt truly alone on the island, even with Ava by my side. It was the first time, too, I considered the possibility I may never leave it. That I may never see my husband, my family, my friends again. The mere thought was utterly devastating.
By nightfall, James had managed to catch three fish that we were forced to split. The meat settled in our bellies, barely making a dent in our true hunger, so we filled up on water from the coconuts and lounged around the fire. Everyone was relatively quiet, mostly lost in our own thoughts.
“What do you guys miss most of all?” Ava asked, bringing most of us to a sitting position as we tried to think of an answer.
“Chocolate cake,” Harry said, scratching his belly. “I’d kill for a giant slice of chocolate cake right about now.”
“Beer for me,” James said, though I had doubts about whether he was old enough to drink legally.
“Sex,” Noah said with a low grumble, rubbing his bicep casually. “You’re all lying if you don’t say sex is what you miss most.” His eyes found Ava. “Those of us who’ve had it anyway.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. No one denied the truth in his words, and I felt something warm low in my belly at the thought. He wasn’t wrong.
“Well, I, for one, miss bubble baths,” I said anyway, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah, because bubble baths are better than a nice round of bumpin’ the ole uglies,” Noah sneered.
“I miss my family,” Ava said sincerely, interrupting the argument I’d had planned. The mood shifted at once, the lightness in the air dissipating.
“Yeah,” Harry said with a long, drawn-out sigh. “Me too.”
“Me three…” I trailed off, thinking of my husband. My parents. It was almost too painful to do.
We fell silent again for what felt like a long time, before Harry spoke again. “We need to find out if we all have something in common.”
“Why?” Noah asked, batting his eyelashes playfully in the glow of the fire. “Are you planning on playing matchmaker?”
“No.” He didn’t bother to indulge Noah with a snide response back. “Because we need to figure out why we—the five of us specifically—are here.”
“You mean you don’t think it’s random?” James asked, his eyes wide with concern.
“It might be,” he conceded. “But it would be smart to narrow things down a bit.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like… Where are we all from?” Harry asked, starting off the round of questions.
We went on like that, discussing where we were from, if we had any enemies, what resort we’d been staying at, why we were in the Keys, and more. In the end, none of us were from the same state, let alone area. None of us believed we had any enemies who could’ve been involved in anything like sending us to a deserted island. We’d all been on vacation except for Noah, but for different lengths of time, some of us at the end of our stay while some of us had just arrived. And while Harry and I had been staying at the same resort, Noah lived in the area and had just been at the beach for the day, Ava had been staying at her parents’ beach house, and James had been staying at a motel with some friends nearby. It seemed as though we had no real connections between the five of us that could give any indication why this would be happening.
Eventually, the questions ran out and we settled back into the quiet of the night. By the time the moon was high in the sky and the last log on the fire had burned down to cinders, its orange glow growing dimmer, we made our way back to our shelter, agreeing that since Ava and I had sat up the night before, James and Harry would take first shift tonight and we’d rotate like we’d meant to before.
That’s the last thing I remember before I woke up the next morning, my back stiff and painful, belly growling from hunger. When I sat up, I realized I was alone. Instantly, the panic set in. What had happened? Where were they? Why had they left me?
I stood up, dusting my legs off and trying to decide what to do. If I screamed, I could put myself in danger. If I went the wrong direction, I could end up even farther from their trail.
Just as I was beginning to break down from panic, I heard a voice in the distance. Noah.
I moved toward his voice instinctively, keeping each step quiet, despite my labored, terrified breathing. As I drew nearer to his voice, I heard Ava too, and relief flooded my body.
“What do you think we should do?” she asked, her voice a high-pitched squeal.
“It could’ve been the ocean,” Noah replied.
Harry’s voice came next, as I finally caught them in my line of vision. “The ocean didn’t do this. It couldn’t have.” As I pulled back the branch blocking my view of the shore, I saw them standing several feet away from me, spread out in a makeshift circle, each one staring down at the ground below them.
“What, then? An animal? It could’ve been an animal.”
“No way this was an animal,” Ava argued, shaking her head.
“What’s going on?” I asked, shielding my eyes from the rising sun as I made my way across the beach. The group jumped practically in unison from the interruption, and all eyes fell on me.
“Thank God,” Harry said, a hand to his chest.
“What’s wrong?” I asked again. “What are you all looking at? Why didn’t you wake me up?” I picked up the pace as I got closer to where they were standing, desperate to see what all the fuss was about.
“We tried to,” Ava said, her fists pressed into her hips. “You were sleeping hard.”
“Thought it was best to let you get your rest before we headed out anyway,” Harry added.
“But what’s going on?”
“I came out here to rinse off in the water, and I saw this,” Noah said, pointing down toward what had once been our SOS signal, but was now just a scattered pile of st
icks and rocks. Someone had dismantled our sign entirely.
“What the hell?” I asked, walking around the circle to look at it from every angle, though it made no sense from any direction. “What does this mean?”
Harry’s face was solemn when I looked up, and I knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth. “It means we aren’t alone on the island. It means someone’s watching us.”
Chapter Twelve
“But it could’ve been the water,” James said, grasping at straws. “We don’t know how high the tide got up last night.”
“The sand is dry,” Ava quipped.
“The wind, then… We don’t know that this means we’re being watched.”
“Oh, come on—” Noah began to argue, but Harry cut him off.
“Look, it doesn’t matter who or what it was. This doesn’t change our plans of exploring the island today. If we’re being watched somehow, we need to move. We can’t make this easier on them.”
“So, what are you suggesting?” James asked.
“We’re going to find the highest point of the island and find out what we can see from there. Other people, houses, a town, fresh water… We need to understand what it is we’re working with here, and the longer we sit still, if someone is trying to hurt us, the easier we’re making it on them.”
I nodded in agreement. “Harry’s right. We can’t stay in one place. It’s not safe.”
“It’s settled, then,” Ava said, “because I agree. We should gather the three spears from last night, the coconuts we still have left, and go.” She shivered, despite the heat, and I noticed she still appeared to be feeling off.
“Fine, but I’ve got an appointment with a bush, so give me twenty minutes,” Noah said, already walking away from us.
“Don’t go far,” I called, worry churning in my stomach as I kept a watchful eye on our surroundings.
“Trust me, you don’t want me close.”
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to Ava. “How are you feeling this morning?” She hadn’t eaten much at dinner the night before, claiming her stomach had still felt upset.
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