Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I wake up to something hitting me in the face.
My eyes fly open, the sky above me still a deep blue of the early morning. Something from below comes flying at my head again, and I swat it away before feeling around my bunk to see what had hit me. I reach over and grab balled up socks, then stick my head over the side of my bed to find Mara standing with her arms crossed, a look of impatience on her face.
At least she used something soft.
“I’m leaving in one minute. You’re either with me or you’re on your own,” she yells.
I fling my blanket off and hurry to pull on my boots. “I’ll be right there!” I call down. I grab a string of leather that I had taken from the extra clothes and supplies in the bathroom and quickly braid my hair, tying it off at the ends. Having it off my neck will hopefully help with the heat. I slide my dagger into my waistband and start climbing down the ladder .
Mara is already striding down the walkway by the time I make it to the last rung and hop down.
Rolling my eyes at her back, I hurry after her.
So this is how today is going to go.
A bunch of boys are eating in the tavern when we arrive. I glance around but don’t see Dane or Fin. He is probably letting him rest after the shock to his life from yesterday, just as he did with me.
I inhale breakfast, trying to keep up with Mara, who clearly doesn’t care if I am left behind. We finish eating wordlessly and clear our plates, and she takes off toward the armory. She opens the doors, pulling out a sword and a dagger and strapping everything to her waist.
I take a moment to glance at the contents of the armory. An array of blades of all shapes and sizes hang along the wall. Bows and crossbows hang from pegs, and quivers filled with arrows stand on the floor. There are some weapons I’ve never seen before. I move past them, reaching for a bow and a quiver full of arrows. I sling them across my back to keep my hands free for anything we might encounter on the island.
“Do you even know how to shoot that thing?” Mara asks, a tone of annoyance coating her voice.
“Yes.” I don’t offer her anything more. I’d have plenty of practice being diplomatic and not letting my emotions show through my words. If this was how she wanted things to be between us, then I would treat her with respect and nothing more.
I’ve never realized how much the lessons Edmond had been drilling into me actually applied to life. They always seemed so tedious, and mostly unnecessary. But now, as I am out interacting with people and in different, potentially dangerous situations, the lessons flood back to me and help me think through every decision I make.
“Let’s go then.” She leaves the doors to the armory open, and we slide past another group coming to grab their weapons for the day.
Once we are out of camp and through the trees, Mara moves quickly, heading in the opposite direction Dane and I had explored yesterday. It’s difficult to pay attention to my surroundings while trying to keep up with her, but I do my best. Clearly, she knows the island well, and is pushing me to keep up.
We cut off the main path and head down a hill, into a valley. I follow wordlessly, focusing on trying to keep up with her pace and mentally making a map. After a few more minutes of blindly following, I decide to try to break the ice.
“What are we doing today?”
She whirs around, stopping me in my tracks, and stomps toward me, shoving her face into mine.
“Are you sleeping with Dane?” she spits, the look of anger and jealousy written across her features.
“What? No!” I splutter. “Why would you think that? I just met him.”
Her eyes bore into mine, like she’s trying to figure out if I’m telling the truth. “He was gone. For a long time. Then suddenly, he comes back, and he comes back with you. Were you sleeping with him back home, and came here to steal him and the elixir from all of us? Is that how you got him to bring you?”
“No, Mara, no. I’m not here for Dane. I’m here for my mom.” I didn’t even think about the words before they left my mouth.
Mara is the first person I’ve told that the reason I came to Dawnlin is my mother. Dane doesn’t even know, and he’s never asked. Maybe the Guardian can’t, or maybe he simply doesn’t need to know.
Mara hasn’t given me any reason to trust her. She hasn’t even really given me a reason to like her. But I did. Maybe giving her a glimpse of me will convince her I’m not here for the wrong reasons.
She doesn’t speak, she just stares at me, her eyes boring into me as she tries to decide if I am telling the truth.
“I’m not trying to steal anything from anyone. I just want to help my mother.”
She takes a step back and looks down at her feet, and a single tear runs down her cheek. She wipes it away angrily, as if the tear betrayed her .
“I can tell he likes you.”
I shrug. “Maybe. But that’s not why I’m here. I didn’t coerce him to bring me. I actually pulled a blade on him when he startled me at the fountain.”
I don’t want to talk about any feelings I may have toward Dane with her. Although, if this conversation is any indicator, she may have feelings for Dane, and I don’t know how long those feelings have been growing.
The corners of her lips rise a little before her face drops again. “I’m here for my mom, too. She was all I had. Is all I have. It was always just me and her.”
I stay quiet, watching another tear fall on her cheek. She doesn’t wipe this one away.
“It’s been…a long time. I keep looking every day, but deep down, I think she’s already gone. I didn’t want to give up, to give up on her. I thought that maybe if I found someone, I could just stay here. I don’t know if I could handle being home without her. She’d want me to be happy, right? I have nothing to go back to if she’s gone. I’ve been too afraid to have Dane take me back to check.”
My heart breaks for her. Everyone I’ve encountered on the island so far has such a tough exterior. They are so determined and strong. I realize now it is just to hide the pain they feel every day that they return unsuccessfully. Every day they are afraid of going home empty-handed with time wasted, to find out it was too late.
I don’t want that to be me. I want to succeed. I don’t know how I can differ from everyone else trying, but I want to be. I will do everything I can, use all my skills, and do my best to trust the island and not lose hope.
“I know you have no reason to trust me, but thank you for telling me your story. I’m not trying to take anything from you. That’s not my goal here.” I pause, trying to decide if I really want to know the answer to the question. “Were you two ever together?”
“No, but I always hoped that one day he might finally see it.” She crosses an arm over her body and grips her elbow tightly. “And now here you are. You’re so beautiful. You couldn’t have just left Dane alone and chosen any of the suitors that I’m sure you had falling all over you at home?” There is a hint of humor in her voice, but I can tell she is still disappointed and discouraged.
I blush at the compliment. I’ve never had anyone call me beautiful that wasn’t preparing me for a ball, and it was usually Tila.
“Believe it or not, there aren’t suitors lined up at home for me. I’m pretty alone back home, too.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, sure. I believe that.”
We need to move forward, for both our sakes, instead of dwelling on possibilities and feelings. I can hear Edmond murmuring in the back of my mind, “ Be diplomatic. Find a common goal. ”
“Let’s not worry about that, or about Dane. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but maybe we can learn to work together? To trust each other? We both want to save our mothers. We have a better chance if we focus on that, not on how Dane feels.”
She eyes me, cautiously. “Do you actually know how to shoot that thing, or were you just lying to me?”
My change in subject tactic worked.
I pull the bow off my back and grab an arrow, nocking it and turning to point it at her. Fear flickers over her face before she schools her features again, trying not to portray any sort of weakness. I aim and release. The arrow flies past her head and slams into the trunk of a tree about fifty feet behind her. Dead center.
She lets out a breath as she spins around to look at the arrow, then turns back toward me.
I hang the bow over my body again and shrug. “Have I given you something not to trust me about yet?”
“I guess not,” she answers, looking back at the arrow. “Alright. But I promise you, as soon as you cross me, you’re done.”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“Follow me. I was going to look down by the river today. ”
She turns and strides away quickly. I follow behind and can feel nerves rising throughout my body.
Now isn’t really the best time to be honest with her and tell her I am deathly afraid of water.