Chapter One
………………………….
Ily
“THIS WAY!” PETER HOBBLE-RAN beside me, dripping with pain and grunting with every stride. “I know a shortcut to Neverland!” He chuckled, but it came out more like a sob.
Every jewel spurred onward, so used to obeying Peter when he was sober and smart, not questioning his judgement now he was high and hurting.
The way we ran as a group reminded me of track at high school. How we’d always start as a group and slowly thin out the more distance we covered.
Would that happen here?
Would jewels fall back? Would we slow to stay together? Or would some bolt ahead, chasing after hope that they might find escape, if only they ran quick enough?
Gasping for breath, I glanced at Peter. The target mark on his chest rivered into streaks of black, white, and red. The paint smudged and soaked into the band of his nude-coloured boxers. His glazy eyes and feverish skin far worse than even ten minutes ago.
Rachel scowled, holding her full breasts as we ran, preventing them from bouncing too much. “You are not Peter Pan, Pete. There is no such thing as Neverland.”
“Pretty sure I am.” Peter spread his arms. “Share his name, don’t I? Bet you I could fly if I threw myself off the cliff.”
“No one is throwing anything off the cliff.” Rachel grimaced. Shooting me a look, she couldn’t hide the depth of her terror. “He’s lost it,” she whispered to me.
“Fly faster, friends!” Peter shouted, almost falling to his knees from running on burned feet. “Shortcut ahead!”
Rachel reached for him, but he shrugged her off.
Sighing heavily, Rachel let fear braid with her temper. “How the hell do you know a shortcut? What shortcut? You’re as high as the clouds, and if you say you can fly in those clouds, I’ll—”
“Rachel.” I shook my head. “It’s okay.”
Tears instantly welled in her eyes. Gritting her teeth, she looked away.
Peter stumbled as we bolted down the lush grass of Victor’s runway and past his private plane. A split-second idea of stealing the plane and flying everyone out of here tantalised. If only I’d studied to become a pilot instead of a gemmologist.
As we dashed past, the roar of the ocean crashed against the cliffs to our right, almost deafening us.
Everything was louder out here, alive out here…wilder out here.
The forest we sprinted toward beckoned with bark and leaf, promising to protect and hide us.
A few running jewels looked at the cliffs.
A guy I hadn’t spoken to and Suri—the girl who’d been on show with Kirk the night of the treasure hunt—gravitated toward the edge.
“Don’t you dare!” Peter bellowed, tripping again as if his burned and blackened feet were moments away from snapping off. Shaking his head to clear the clouds Rachel mentioned, he added, “Ignore me. I can’t fly. No one can fly. No one jumps, do you hear me?”
“What’s the point in running?” Suri gasped with tears as she did her best to keep pace. “They’re going to catch us. They always catch us.” She broke ranks, drifting toward the cliffs. “I-I can’t take anymore.”
Peter cursed and charged after her. Wrapping his bleeding, brutalised hand around her cuffed wrist, he dragged her back into our midst. The drugs in his system faded just enough for seriousness to bleed through his fantasies. “It’s almost over, Suri. I promise.” He looked at me with pure agony in his gaze. “Ily and I are going to get you out. I swear.”
“Hell, not this again, Pete. Stop saying shit like that.” Dane put his head down and ran harder, grabbing the elbow of a small dark-skinned girl flagging beside him.
Suri wrenched out of Peter’s grip and couldn’t stop her tears.
Hauling the girl he’d grabbed into speed with him, Dane shot me and Peter a look. “You’re collared, Pete, just like us. You live under the eye of a million cameras, just like us. You’re a slave, just like us. How the fuck are you going to get us out?”
“I don’t know yet, but we are.” Peter did his best to keep going even though it cost him. “Just trust me, okay? One day…one day soon…you’ll be back with your families and—”
“That’s so fucking cruel.” Citra darted toward us. “You can’t give us false hope like that. There’s no getting out of here—”
“I vow on my life,” Peter spat, his naturally dusky skin going white with agony. “I know you think I’m high, but I’ve never been more serious. I’m done. We are all done. Just…trust me.”
“I trust you.” Rachel gasped for breath, her face blanching with pain from Victor’s beating. “But I have no idea how you’re gonna keep that promise.”
“Oopsies.” Peter stumbled, almost face-planting in the grass. He laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
“Shit.” My hand snapped out and grabbed his left arm just as Rachel grabbed his right. Together, we managed to keep him upright.
He stopped laughing and swallowed hard as if he might throw up.
Just because he had drugs in his system nullifying his pain didn’t mean his body wasn’t completely saturated with trauma.
God, how much longer can he run and not pass out?
Getting his rhythm back, Peter swiped at sweat running into his eyes. Looking at every fleeing jewel around us, he vowed, “I’ll kill you myself if I fail to give you freedom. How about that?”
I didn’t know if he was joking or serious.
He glanced at Suri who ran close by. Her black hair flew behind her; her slim figure covered in thin silver scars. “If we fail to get you out in a few months, I’ll kill you. I’ll make it as quick and as painless as possible.” He snickered. “You can even request the method. Pillow over the face? Drowning by bath? I’ll be the full-service assassin, how about that?”
Suri cried harder.
“Goddammit, Peter.” Kirk changed his trajectory to wrap an arm around Suri’s waist, awkwardly hugging her while running. “Don’t listen to him. He’s flying with the fairies. I’ve got you, Su. You can’t leave me, alright? Just…let’s get through today, and then we’ll figure shit out, okay?”
Suri gave Kirk an adoring, wet-eyed look.
The porn they’d been ordered to perform as the housewife and handyman might’ve been forced, but…the way they looked at each other screamed truth.
Oh no…
So that was why Kirk got so angry with Peter the night I’d sobbed in the vault. Why he’d warned Peter not to catch feelings for me.
He caught them himself.
I could imagine the helplessness of that. The sheer inability to protect the one person who held your heart.
Henri sprang into mind as we left the manicured grass and spilled into the forest. Immediately, the soft thunder of our footfalls turned into crunchy cracking over twigs and leaves. Our speed dropped as our tight group fanned out, dodging trees and falling into lines, following animal trails and slightly overgrown paths through the thick undergrowth.
I’d trusted Henri, and he’d broken that trust.
I’d felt something for Henri, and he’d scrambled my feelings until I had no idea what I felt anymore.
I’d come here as someone and transformed into something else.
Something I didn’t really like.
A nice girl turned nasty. A girl who would happily murder every Master she could get her hands on…but if a miracle happened and Peter’s vow came true…then what?
If we somehow got everyone free and made the Masters pay…could I kill Henri too?
Could I look him in the eye and hurt him the way he hurt me?
Because if I can’t, then…what does that say about me?
I glanced at the orange splodge on my upper thigh.
He’d shot me with his paintball gun.
He’d chosen me and fired, punching my leg with a horrible bullet that stung and bruised and exploded.
But…he hadn’t shot Peter.
He’d aimed at him, prepared to pick on him like he always had, yet…his eyes had glowed with horror as he’d noticed what Victor had done to my friend.
And then, he’d shot me instead.
And that made me…grateful.
Hopeful…
“Enough about murder, please. You didn’t answer me before.” Rachel panted as she avoided a thick bush and hissed between her teeth as she ran over something sharp. “Where are we going, and how do you know a shortcut?”
Peter bent forward, his stamina rapidly failing the deeper we charged into the forest. “I know the same way I know what happens at a Diamond Kiss ceremony.” He almost bumped into a tree. It took a swift yank on his elbow to keep him on the path. “Victor has made me serve at a few.” He almost dry-retched as if the memories were too much. “You only know that a Diamond Kiss is death. You know that when one of us is selected, they don’t come back.” He giggled blackly. “But lucky ole me? I get to watch them die. I get to clean up. I get to see things even my nightmares can’t conjure. And let me tell you…all of that shit? It haunts a person.”
Rachel shot him a terrified glance. “W-What happens?”
Up ahead, Suri looked over her shoulder, listening to Peter.
I wanted to tell him to hush. To not give the jewels any other reason to end their lives.
But he grunted, “There’s a cave. He calls it the Temple of Facets. There’s a table. He calls it the Altar of Awakening.” He laughed once. “There’s a knife. He calls it the Blade of Beauty—”
“H-He stabs them to death?” Suri choked.
“Worse.” Peter sighed, tripping. “He’s the Master Jeweler, right? He thinks of us as his uncut gems. The ceremony ensures we sparkle.” He didn’t laugh this time, his horror drowning out his high.
Waving with a heavy, sweat-glittering arm, he pointed deeper into the trees. “Keep going straight. The forest spills onto the beach, and the entrance to the cave system is there. Temple of Facets is the third largest cave, but it leads to others.”
“H-How do you know?” Suri asked.
“’Cause I’ve gone exploring…before he comes back to get me.” Gulping down air, he forced himself to continue, “After the ceremony, I’m tasked with clean-up. Vile Vic doesn’t want his cleaning crew seeing what he gets up to in there, so it falls on me. Not that there’s much left by the time he’s done.” He smirked. “The blood is all gone—drunk by the Masters and—”
“What the actual fuck?” Kirk slammed to a stop and spun to face Peter. “They drink our motherfucking blood now?”
“Says it’s rejuvenating.” Peter almost swooned into a sapling as we skidded to a standstill. He laughed out loud, hobbling on shredded feet. “Did you know we make a chemical in our blood when we’re about to be killed? It gets stronger the more shit-terrified we are. The ritual isn’t about some religious practice but ensuring we’re completely drowning in this chemical. And then…they harvest it. Like a crop.” He laugh-cried. “We’re just expensive vegetables—”
“Harvest it?” Kirk looked like he’d vomit. “What the fuck do you mean, harvest it?”
Peter rubbed his face, smearing blood on his cheek from his hands. “He says it’s a time-reversal tonic. The most expensive commodity on earth—more sought after than gold or diamonds or…”
“I can’t listen to this.” Rachel shook her head and backed up. “I might take the cliff. I can’t…”
“Shit.” Peter put his bloody, oozy hands on his knees and sucked in lungfuls of air. “I didn’t mean to say that.” He groaned under his breath as a couple of tears escaped. “I’m sorry. Just…ignore what I said. Doesn’t matter anyway ’cause we’re getting out.” Sucking back his grief, he stood upright. “We’ll hide in the cave system. We’ll stay hidden until dark, and then…we’ll go to the pier and see if Master K’s boat is docked.”
Kirk grabbed Peter by the shoulders and shook him. “If you weren’t burned to a crisp right now, I’d punch some goddamn sense into you! What the hell are you talking about? A boat? There’s a boat? Why are we standing around talking about blood-drinking psychopaths when we could sail—”
“Boat won’t be there.” Peter’s knees collapsed, leaving Kirk holding him up instead of shaking him.
“Damn, someone help me,” Kirk barked.
Stepping forward, I slung Peter’s arm over my shoulder and took as much of his weight as possible. The moment his cold-sweat slick body stuck to mine, Peter choked on a silent sob, then buried his face into my hair. “Mujhe maaf kar do. Mujhe bohat afsos hai. Mera matlab yeh nahi tha, shaayad mujhe unhen koodne dena chahiye tha. Shaayad hum sabko koodna chahiye.” (I’m sorry. So sorry. I didn’t mean…maybe I should just let them jump. Maybe we should all jump.)
Rachel wrapped an arm around his waist from the other side and gave me a despairing look. “What did he say?”
I swallowed hard, squeezing Peter close. “He says he’s not feeling well and hallucinating. None of what he said is true, but the cave system is close, and we should keep going.”
Both Rachel and Kirk gave me a searching look, not believing me.
Kirk stepped into Peter with a menacing growl. “Tell me why we aren’t running to the pier, Pete. Tell me why you kept all of this to yourself. Tell me why you haven’t told us what the fuck goes on out here.”
Unable to stop tears tracking down his cheeks, Peter looked at Suri hugging herself behind Kirk and sighed. “Ily’s right. I’m bullshitting, man. Making shit up.” He forced a laugh. “Funny, huh?”
“The boat, Pete. Now.”
Pushing me and Rachel off him, Peter staggered forward, kissed Suri on the cheek, then broke into a hobbling run. We all took off after him, our ears straining over the sounds of rustling bracken as he said, “Master K—Kyle—helped Victor burn me. He’s leaving tonight…or was. He’s one of the few who travel here by sea, but Victor doesn’t let them moor for long. The yachts are only docked at the pier for an hour or so before Vic has them towed out and moored a kilometre or so away.”
“So…we swim.”
“Yeah, okay.” Peter scoffed. “Give me a moment, and I’ll summon the dolphins with my perfect whale song. They can tow us.”
“We can swim a kilometre,” Kirk argued, flicking Suri a look. His heart lived in his eyes every time he looked at her. “We have to try.”
“We are trying.” Peter nodded with a sickening sway. “Hide until dark. Wait until Master K goes to leave and his yacht docks. We’ll swarm him in sheer numbers and sail into the sunrise.” He nodded as if it were the perfect plan, either forgetting or ignoring the fact that Victor would be hunting all night, and guards would most likely patrol the pier for this very reason.
But…even as I saw nothing but holes in his plan, the others sucked up hope as if it were their last meal.
Their strides lengthened, our speed increased, and no one said another word as we ran.