Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
“I’m guessing the tide is coming in.” Rachel sighed and upturned her hand to squeeze mine. She sounded exhausted and deflated and at the edge of her limits.
I blinked, willing the absolute darkness to fade. No glow worms like some of the other caves. No luminescent algae or light sources of any kind. We were blind. Completely and utterly blind and we needed to run.
Rocking Peter on my lap, I stole my hand back from Rachel’s and raked my fingers through his sweat-wet hair. “Peter. Time to wake up, okay? We need to leave.”
We’d been smart.
The game wouldn’t be entirely over, but at least we were one hour closer to dusk. By the time we found our way out, Emerald Bruises would be finished and Victor’s rules firmly back in place.
Giving Peter a few seconds to rally, I looked in Mollie’s direction. “Did you mean what you said, Mollie?” I chewed on rising panic. “You sure you remember the way we came?”
A rustle as she nodded. “I’ve gone through the turns twice with you. I kept track of every direction we took. I can get us out, even without a torch.”
“Mols has a bachelor in quantum physics,” Rachel said with a stronger tone. “She’s beyond smart.”
“Didn’t stop me from being snatched at a party, though, did it?” Mollie huffed. “I know how one particle can be in two locations at the same time, yet I couldn’t see the pill dropped into my drink.”
Rachel continued as if Mollie hadn’t spoken. “Mols and I became friends through our shared love of science. I’m a research chemist turned war chemist, but Mols? She’s on a whole other level. She can get us out. I have no doubt.”
Mollie scoffed. “If I could get my hands on some household cleaning products, I could make a bomb big enough to blow up Victor’s beloved Joyero. Then we’d really be out. We’d be free...”
Even with the tide creeping over my feet.
Even with Peter unconscious and barely alive on my lap…sheer blinding hope found me all over again.
“Wait. You could do that?” I asked on a sharp inhale. “Y-You have those skills?”
“Rachel does too.” Mollie laughed sadly. “Between the two of us, we could destroy this entire island, but…knowledge is worthless without ingredients and action.”
“Speaking of action, I agree with Ily,” Rachel said. “The water is rising quickly. It’s time to go.”
It took some organisation and a lot of achy, chilly bones, but we managed to clamber to our feet and bring Peter with us. Among the three of us, we held him dangling in our shaking embrace.
Slipping the knife Caishen had given me into the back of my underwear, I hoped to God I wouldn’t have to use it.
“Should we be worried that he’s not waking up?” Rachel whispered.
“His system has shut down. A person can only survive in shock for so long.” Mollie shifted her hold on him. “He might rally, he might not. I hope you girls are feeling strong.”
“We need to talk about blowing up this island,” I said, refusing to think about a scenario where Peter never woke up.
Rachel snickered. “Yeah, okay. Can we get out of the caves first?”
“The caves might be the best place to plan an uprising.”
“Not if we drown, it isn’t,” she snapped.
“Everyone ready?” Mollie asked. “Focus.”
Her voice seemed too loud in the pitch black, but her strength bolstered me.
We were moving. Finally.
We would be safe. Hopefully.
Today is almost over.
And tomorrow…we’ll build a bomb.
“Lead the way.” Rachel sniffed. “I’m so ready for a hot shower. I don’t even care if I get raped for the privilege.”
“Let’s go.” Mollie tugged on her part of Peter, guiding us toward the crack where the others had vanished.
We walked slowly, gingerly, blindly.
It took an age.
It took all our waning strength to half-carry, half-drag Peter, but we would make it.
None of us would give up.
I’d been lucky enough to find two of the strongest girls I’d ever met and—
“Oh shit.” Mollie slammed to a stop, sending a ripple down our chain.
“Oh shit, what?” Rachel asked. “You know I don’t like it when you say things like that, Mols. Makes my imagination go into overdrive.”
I shivered as water lapped up my ankles, freezing my toes with insidious frostbite.
“The water is coming from the direction we need to go in,” Mollie muttered. “And it’s coming in fast.”
“So…what does that mean?” Rachel asked.
“It means…we can’t go that way.”
“But that’s the only way out.” I did my best to stay calm. “If we hurry, surely we can make it. The tide doesn’t come in that quickly.”
“You obviously don’t have a lot of experience with the sea. It can rise fast, and I’m not willing to take that chance.” Mollie turned, taking us all with her. “Damn.”
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Rachel gasped. “If the water is coming in that quickly, then…”