12. 

The smell of the ocean is so pungent I have to cover my nose with my sleeve. We're perched low on the shoreline, by the bugs and washed up weed, peering out at the sea fog. Eric and Malik are on either side of me, Cassia and Anastasia both back at the camp.

"It makes sense," Eric says. "I couldn't understand why their scent just disappeared, but the water masks it."

"They were smart to base themselves on an island," Malik adds. The moonlight makes his inky hair shimmer. "They can control who comes and goes."

The moon has begun its descent, and soon, day will fall over us. But we can't afford to wait another day knowing Elias is just a body of water away.

"How do we get there?" I ask.

Eric shrugs like it's obvious. "Swim."

"Ugh, yeah, that might be an issue for me."

His gaze darts to me, incredulous. "You can't swim?"

"Have you forgotten that I spent the first twenty years of my life trapped in a village as small as your castle?" I snap. "I couldn't exactly learn in an ankle-depth stream."

He looks away, but his jaw twitches, and I know it's just another thing that adds to his belief that I'm incompetent. "It's fine," Malik says, offering me a smile. "It's mostly swamp water, and the tide is out, so it shouldn't be over your head until closer to the island. We can make a raft for you to hold onto at that point."

Eric grumbles. "Not enough time. You should wait--"

"I'm not waiting here," I say.

"A log then," Malik suggests, taking a step closer to me. "And I'm a good swimmer, I can help if needed."

I almost expect Eric to shoot the idea down, but he huffs. "Fine. Let's go."

"I'll find a log," Malik says. "Need anything from the campsite?"

Eric just shakes his head. "Tell Cassia to stay put and keep an eye on the hollower."

"I don't think she could move even if she wanted to."

"Hurry up," Eric snaps. "We're running out of time."

Unaffected by his mood, Malik disappears into the forest. I nudge Eric in the side. "Would it kill you to be nice to him? He's helping us, you know." Eric doesn't even acknowledge that I've spoken. I lower my voice. "He was Elias' friend."

"I don't like him."

"You don't like anyone you've just met," I say, remembering how he treated me when I first arrived. Eric doesn't bother to deny it. It's hard not to feel frustrated with him. He's hard around the edges, even more so than usual, but it doesn't take much to look past the sharp edges and see what's beneath—pain. "Without Malik, we wouldn't have made it this far. You owe him some kindness, at least."

He snorts. "Of course you would say that."

I frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you think I'm blind?" he says. "One charming smile and he has you right in the palm of his hand. And here I was thinking you were doing this for Elias."

It feels like he's whacked me in the stomach. My eyes burn as I stare at him, speechless. His accusations bury deep in my chest and make my heart thump with pain.

"You have no right to say that to me," I snap. "Not when you don't know anything about how I feel about Elias."

"All I know is that every time I came home you were out with Bastian or Aliyah having fun, as if everything was fine when it was colossally messed up, and then Malik arrives and you get this light in your eyes like—"

"You think I felt like dancing whenever you or Cassia came home with nothing? You think I stopped caring?"

"Seemed like it to me."

"Because one of us had to keep it together!" Ribbons of anger curl inside me. "You think every little thing in that village doesn't remind me of him? You think I would so easily forget about the only person on this earth who made me feel like I belonged somewhere? Like I wasn't a nuisance?" I swipe tears of anger from my cheeks. "Screw you, Eric. When Malik arrived, he brought hope, news. You can't fault me for being grateful to him. Just because it was him who found something and not you."

He snarls. "I'm not—"

"Is everything okay?"

Both of us swing around, caught like stunned animals in the middle of our argument. Malik stands hesitantly at the treelike, a thick log over his shoulder. My cheeks burn. How much did he hear?

"Fine," Eric says, short. "Hurry up. We need to go."

The tension between us could be cut with a knife, but I refuse to look at him, keeping my eyes forward. I'm so mad I could slap him. Malik kneels beside me, putting the log in the water. "You should take your jacket off," he tells me, "it'll only weigh you down."

Beside me, Eric starts to do the same. I don't look at either of them as I pull my arms from my sleeves. I feel shaken to the core, Eric's words hammering against my head. "Hey." Malik puts a hand on my arm, helping me yank my hand from the sleeve. "You okay?"

Concern linger in his ocean eyes, but I feel Eric's burning stare more. "Fine." I force myself to look away and step into the water, the bottoms of my pants getting wet. "Let's go."

~

Malik was right, the water is swamp-like and dirty, barely reaching my chest as we wade through the weed. Wind ruffles my hair and salt assaults my nostrils, but the worst thing is the bugs. They buzz around my face and suck at my arms, but there are so many swatting them away is futile.

The water was cold at first, but as the stones transitioned to a sinking mud and swallowed my ankles, my body grew accustomed to the gentle swell as the water wrapped around me. It stinks like swamp and seaweed, the soft lull of the shore the only sound to litter the night air. We're in the thick of the sea fog; I can only see clearly a few metres ahead. But a dark shadow looms closer and closer, the edges slightly hazy—the island.

We move in silence, wading in the water, until the fog clears around us and we're on the other side. I nearly duck beneath the water in fright. The island is so close that even breathing feels too loud. The side facing the mainland is shielded by a steep hill, blocking the rest of the island from view. But the clouds around it glow, and it isn't from the moon. There are lights.

When I take another step, I plunge under the surface, choking on a lungful of water. A hand wraps around my arm and yanks me to the surface. "Grab the log." It's Eric, bobbing up and down in the water trying to hold me up.

I wrap my arms around the log and let Eric push it closer to the island. We're almost there, and we don't have time to waste once we arrive. My nerves spike. Originally, Eric and I were supposed to create a diversion while Malik and Cassia went to rescue Elias, but with Cassia too injured to come, I'm on team 'save Elias'. Eric didn't want me to be alone, but he didn't trust Malik to be competent, so Malik and I will look for Elias while Eric creates a diversion. And honestly, I'm just thankful I don't have to be around Eric right now.

We reach the land and my feet sink into the uneven ground as I pull myself out. My clothes are sopping wet; goosebumps rise like little ridges across my skin. There's a buzz in the air—the buzz of life and movement. I step forward up the beach and gaze up at the hill. A warm glow hazes around the edges.

"Do you see that?" I whisper, turning around. "Lights."

Malik's squeezing out his shirt but pauses to look up at me, and Eric, dragging the log onto the shore, blinks at the hill. He moves toward us. "If you get Elias and I'm not back, don't wait for me, I'll find my own way," he says, fiddling with his clothes. "Wait for the signal before going to their establishment. I need time to get to the other side of the island."

He turns then. I watch him go, holding my tongue to keep myself from calling out. I want to tell him to be careful, that if something goes wrong, we'll come back for him. But by the time I open my mouth, he's already been swallowed by the darkness. I wrap my arms around my body, wrinkling my nose at the swampy stench on my clothes.

"He'll be okay."

I look at Malik. He's bent over, fiddling with his dagger, but his eyes are on me. "I just hate this waiting."

He nods in agreement, then looks around, to the hill. "We could climb up while we're waiting for the signal."

"Why?"

"It's always advantageous to get high. We'll be able to see their entire set up." He pauses. "Where did the hollower say they were keeping him?"

"The building with the red door."

"Right," he nods. "Maybe we can spot it from up there. Saves us searching for it when Eric gives the signal."

It's not a bad idea, aside from the fact that the hill is incredibly steep and I'm already exhausted. "Okay, let's go." I step past him, rocks crumbling beneath my feet as the ground transitions to dry grass.

"Stay low," he says, "we don't know what's at the top."

Together, we start up the hill. It's such a steep angle we have to crawl, grappling the earth with our hands while dirt and grass sticks to our wet skin, covering us in a layer of grime. My muscles burn, the incline steepening. I turn to look over my shoulder, through the fog. It's disorientating not seeing the land we came from. I keep climbing.

We're nearly at the top when the grass turns to shingle and Malik's foot slips, causing gravel and mud to shower over me. He catches himself, pressing his stomach closer to the earth and turning to look at me. "You okay?"

I nod. We keep crawling. The sky stretches wide above us, and the warm glow I noticed seems close enough to touch. Malik pauses just before the top and I hover below, heart hammering.

"Malik?"

With his left hand, he gestures for me to crawl further. I pull myself up so I'm lying next to him, flattening my body like he does so my stomach is against the earth. But when I look out over the top of the hill, my stomach drops. The grass is long, covering us. But through the gaps lies a makeshift village. The island is small, with a similar landmass to the clearing that surrounds the castle back at the shifter village. Huts have been built with blankets and wood, various lanterns strung up outside of the tents. All up, there are only about 15 tents, and from where we are, I can only see one person walking through the makeshift street.

"There." Malik nudges me. I follow his gaze. At the bottom of the hill lies one, sole building. From where we are, it's too far away to see much other than the fact that it's bigger than the rest, and has a wooden roof. "That has to be it. There's no way they'd keep him in those tents."

"There's hardly anyone here," I murmur. "It looks like there'd be 30 people, at most."

He narrows his eyes. "They're keeping their circle small. It's smart. I'll bet there are only a handful of hollowers who know where the serum is being made."

A chill creeps down my spine. "Now what?"

"Now," he shifts closer, arm brushing mine, "we wait."

And so we do. We wait and watch, the wind whistling through the tall grass and biting at our bare skin. I try to watch the village, follow the few people with my eyes. But I keep coming back to the sole building at the bottom of the hill and my body buzzes because we're so close.

Three months of nothing. Three months of dead leads and dwindling hope and now we stand at the top of a hill and Elias feels within reach. It's hard not to sprint down there right now. But the timing has to be perfect.

The scream ripples through the village first. Then the fire. It starts on the far side, the roof of a tent lighting up like a lamp, before the red, angry blaze stretches to the next hut and more screams echo through the air. I shoot to my feet, ready to sprint, but Malik grabs my wrist.

"Wait." It takes everything within me to listen. I follow his gaze, heart pounding, before someone rushes out of the wooden building and goes straight towards the fire. Malik releases my wrist. "Now."

~

DISCUSSION:

1. Is this it? Are they finally going to find Elias?

2. Thoughts on Milena and Eric's argument?

3. What do you think might happen next?