Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
I’m about to repeat my last sentiment when I realize what he just said. “You want to take me off the island? Now?”
“Right now. A quick boat trip over. If you agree, we get married, then I tell you the rest of the story. If you don’t, I’ll bring you right back. They won’t know. It’s Monday. I have a standing appointment in the village on Monday afternoon, so this trip isn’t out of the ordinary. But this is the only chance we have, Nova. Tomorrow your last trial begins and in a month or two, you will be gone. Forever.”
I’m not a dumb woman, but I don’t have the brain power to process this right now. I do, however, have the instincts to understand that the last sentence could be interpreted as malice. You’ll be gone forever.
Like… I’ll be free in the outside world?
Or… maybe I’ll just be dead.
But why did he offer to leave me in the village?
He’s giving me an escape route?
Is this a trap?
Some kind of test to see if I’ll run?
I don’t think so. He hesitated when he made that offer. Like he was just making it up on the spot.
“I wish I had more time so that you could have more time, but we don’t, Nova. I need to get on the boat and go over to the village. I pick up the medication on Monday afternoons. I need to get to the pharmacy before it closes.”
Something about this mundane errand snaps me out of my stupor. “You have to go to the pharmacy?”
He nods. “We don’t keep the supplies on campus anymore. Not after that fuckup last year. Too many people want to use the drug recreationally and while I’d like to say that they’re concerned about the safety of our participants, they’re not. They just don’t want another Locke on their hands.”
Wow. I know that Locke took the drug years ago and never crashed out. I think everyone knows that—except Locke, of course. But hearing Mercer admit it out loud like this? It’s disconcerting. And for some reason, this is what makes me trust him. Just this one time.
“OK. I’ll go.”
He extends his hand again.
I don’t want to take it, but it’s just easier if I do.
When I slip my hand in his, he squeezes it. Not hard, but like… like we’re in something together now. And that’s when the full reality of this situation hits me.
I can leave.
Tonight.
I can just walk away and never have to take that fucking drug again. I’ll never have to crash out. I’ll never have to wonder if I’m living in reality, or just another drugged-up dream.
This is enough for me.
For now.
The living room in Mercer’s house is sunken. So I’m heading in the direction of the stairs that lead up, but Mercer isn’t. So my arm jerks a little when these two destinations diverge. I turn to look at him. “Where are you going?”
“Down,” he says. “There’s a tunnel that leads to the boathouse.”
“Tunnel? What the hell? Who has a tunnel below their house?”
“Who, indeed.” He deadpans this. Just a throwaway reply. But he’s tugging me to a door and I just let him. We go through it, then down steps, then another door and a long hallway.
The tunnel is just a hallway. So it’s a lot less creepy than something carved from stone. But still, it’s a secret escape route and we’re in the process of using it.
I feel like I’m in some espionage movie.
Or on the drug.
Nope. I’m not going there. I spent too many years questioning my own reality. Now, I just go with it. Because if I am stuck in a drug-induced fantasy, there’s nothing I can do about it. It just needs to run its course.
We reach another door, go up a set of stairs, and come out inside the boathouse.
He steps onto it, then steadies me as I step on too. We’re pushed up against each other for a moment, chest to chest, and I look up, into his eyes, and see… fear.
“Mercer?”
I’m about to ask him what’s wrong, but he steps down into the boat and I follow. “Have a seat right there, Nova.” He points to the floor, so I side-eye him. “They don’t watch me closely. I’ve been a good little soldier for too long. But I can’t have them see another person in the boat, can I? Their champion lab rat can’t get away, can she?”
We’re really doing this.
He’s really taking me off the island.
He’s really going to tell me something secret.
He’s really going to marry me—if I agree to whatever it is he just set in motion.
I sit on the floor while Mercer starts the engine and maneuvers the boat out of the boathouse.
The island is not that far offshore from the mainland. Couple of miles, that’s it. If I were so inclined, I could swim away. Maybe even make it. Couple of miles on a tame lake like this? It’s not a huge obstacle to freedom. But I never bothered. They would come find me. And what would I do with that freedom? I have no money. I don’t even have an ID anymore.