22. Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Micah
T he first place we check is the abandoned lake site.
It’s still abandoned, as I suspected it would be. Nigel wouldn’t make it that easy for us. A glowing mist hangs in the air and wraps around the trees, blending the sky and the lake together and concealing the mountains beyond. Remnants of our old home are still evident everywhere. The circle of ash and stones around the fire pit, the half-built shelters fallen to dust, and the litter no one bothered to pick up because it’s not like we have anywhere to dispose of it.
I can’t read London’s mood as she stares off at the lake, her body limp and her hand gripping my arm, which she hasn’t let go of since we left the creek.
She and I are alone now, watching and waiting while James and Ezra walk back to the site to check things out. She’s barely said a word since she saw Ollie. A blind panic is still evident in her eyes, and she’s clinging to me like glue. I don’t know if she meant what she said before, but the truth of her words landed like a punch to my gut.
She broke up with me, and I’ve never been broken up with. The ache in my heart still hurts from when she ripped into it. The truth of everything she said cut me raw, like an open wound. Then she saw a dead body… and now she’s certainly not acting like we’re broken up.
I’m not sure what to make of that.
What I do know is that I can’t lose her, not when I just got her back, even if she’s barely with me right now. This time, nothing will tear me away from her.
A twig snaps, and James and Ezra emerge from the haze.
“No one’s here, Micah,” James says, his face tight as he checks out London, who’s peering into the lake like she sees something. “We didn’t see any sign of Jade or Nigel.”
I turn my head to see if I can make out anything beyond the trees and get a sense of what London’s looking at. “Are you positive?” I ask him.
He runs his hands through his hair. “Yeah. We double-checked everything. We’re the only ones here right now.”
James is annoying, but I trust him. I still don’t like him looking at London the way he does, but I can move past that, even if he thinks I don’t notice.
It’s fucked up, but I kind of trust Ezra, too. The way he interacts with London is different. He’s still so blindly in love with Naomi Wilson; it’s kind of pathetic. But who am I to judge? London trusts him, which means I need to trust him, too. And eventually, even if it might kill me, I need to apologize.
I jerk my head to the others, making eye contact with James, who can clearly tell something isn’t right about London. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. This place makes me shudder.”
London doesn’t move. She barely registers my voice as her eyes find the fire pit, then the dark spot where Maison died. Her gaze lingers, her mind drifting as she chews on her bottom lip and her tiny fingers gently squeeze my hand.
“Yeah, agreed. Let’s go.” Ezra’s already a few steps ahead of us, yelling over his shoulder, “This place gives me the creeps.”
I grab her arm and try to pull her with me. She hesitates, keeping her eyes grounded on that spot and her feet planted .
“Come on, London. We have to keep moving, baby. Stay with me,” I press her.
She snaps her head up and finally acknowledges me, her awareness returning from whatever dark place she was in. “Did you hear that, Micah?” she asks me, looking genuinely confused, which breaks my heart.
“Hear what, baby?”
She blinks twice. “The laughter.”
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Ezra asks.
With a single glance, I make him falter, and he stumbles back. He puts his hands up, his missing fingers in my face reminding me of what I did to him. “Sorry, I meant to say… It’s just… no one’s laughing.” He stands back awkwardly next to James.
He didn’t see Ollie. I got rid of the head so no one else had to endure seeing that.
“London’s in shock,” I whisper, running my hand over her face. She parts her lips at my touch, her gorgeous eyes finding mine, and her body trembles as she turns her focus to nothing.
“No one’s here but us, London. Just stay close to me. I’m not going to let him near you.” I want to know where her mind is at and what I have to do to bring her back to me. I want to promise her she’s not in mortal danger, but I don’t like making promises I can’t keep.
This seems to appease her, and she relaxes, interlacing her fingers with mine and letting me lead her away. I wish I was taking her somewhere better, somewhere less insidious.
I wish I was taking her home.
It takes the better part of the day to get to the airplane, which should have only taken us an hour. London is slowing us down; her body is breaking down, possibly worse than her mind.
There is nothing I can say to her, so I choose to stay silent because what choice do I have? I scoop her in my arms and carry her most of the way. If I had left her again, I would have lost her. Nigel would have taken her from me. He would have found a way .
The three of us keep our eyes wide as we walk through the hazy forest toward the airplane. London, I think, is asleep in my arms.
Ezra hangs back with me as James storms at the front. Ezra’s demeanor has changed with me since Ollie’s death. It’s a glimpse of what it used to be like between us when I actually gave a shit about the guy—before he got jealous of me and challenged me every chance he got.
“I don’t want to state the obvious, man, but the longer we take, the higher chance that Jade might be dead,” he says.
London shifts in my arms. “I know,” I mutter. “I don’t know what else to do. Just keep your eyes open.” Helpless—I’m fucking helpless, as per usual. And finding Jade in this mist is worse than finding a needle in a haystack.
It’s clear this fucker carefully orchestrated this. Nigel always worked best in the shadows, trying to slay me from afar because if I were to ever catch him face to face, it would end there. I need to figure out a way to outsmart him and do it without putting the girl I love in danger.
We reach the airplane, and we all cover our mouths at the stench of what’s nearby. We don’t stop at the plane; we keep moving past the pile of bones.
London stirs, and I press my hands over her mouth and eyes, trying to shield her from it. “Keep your eyes closed,” I whisper. “You don’t need to see this.” I turn to Ezra. “How much farther?”
“Another twenty minutes,” he says.
We walk in silence the rest of the way before Ezra pauses in front of a dark hole in the ground.
“You fucking lived here, man?” I ask him, inspecting the evidence of his home—animal bones in a corner he was using for God knows what, a few shredded ashen blankets, and empty cans of food.
He grimaces and shakes his head. “Fuck you, bro. I’m alive, aren’t I?”
London gives me a warning squeeze, so I leave it alone. I’m sick of fighting with him, honestly. He hardly seems worth it anymore. I don’t want to admit how good of an idea it was for him to move and take proper shelter here. The cave provides good insulation, and a greenhouse effect would have kept him warm enough. And there’s dry kindling everywhere since this area of the island is a fucking wasteland.
The dry, cracked earth is almost like a desert, but it might have saved his life.
“Do you know where Nigel’s cave is from here?” James asks. “You must know something. Come on, man, think…”
Ezra shakes his head. “I can show you where our meet-up spot is. From there, I have no fucking clue.”
Even though I can’t see the sun, I can tell the sky is darkening. London looks like the walking dead, and we aren’t going to get anywhere hopping over the deep holes in the ground.
“I’m calling it,” I announce. “We’re going back to the plane. We can regroup in the morning.”
Or I can come back alone and finish this.
No one argues. It’s been a long day, and it looks like we get to spend the night in the airplane after all.
Fuck, she’s beautiful.
I kiss the top of her brow, gently removing her head from my lap. She grimaces but doesn’t wake up, and I slip from beneath her, draping the blanket over her to replace my warmth. The sun hasn’t crested yet and stars fill the sky, but the faint glow of morning has begun. I stared at her all night, cradling her in my arms while she slept, wishing I would change my mind about the decision I’d already made. I couldn’t take my eyes off her while she whimpered and laid her hand on my chest, and any time I’d move, she’d curl her fingers as if she knew exactly what I planned to do.
Because I’m about to fucking leave her again .
I take one last drawn-out look at her, then at James and Ezra, who are both sleeping nearby. James stayed awake most of the night with me—I could tell by the way his body shifted in his seat—though we didn’t speak. Ezra was sawing logs within ten minutes, sleeping like a baby. London tried to stay awake, but my hands caressed her hairline and her eyelids grew heavy—she was out within five minutes.
Before I change my mind, I slip out of the airplane, making as little noise as possible, my bone weapon in my hand.
I’ll be back for you, sweetheart.
I need to end this, and I can only do this alone. Nigel needs his reckoning, and I’m about to serve it to him on a platter.
London’s already scared of me, and she doesn’t need to see this side of me or the level of violence I’m about to unleash. She may soften my heart merely by existing, but this guttural rage deep within me will only be satiated by one thing right now.
Killing Nigel.
He’s been watching me for years, studying me and my twin and gaining the upper hand in a war I didn’t even know I was in. And so far, he’s won every fucking battle.
A knot forms in my stomach as I venture into the night, mirroring the tight grip around my heart. The plan we discussed was to leave at first light to scour the caves, find where Nigel is hiding, and save Jade.
All well-intended, desperate, and fucking stupid.
Because I know exactly where Jade is and where Nigel is hiding her, and it’s not in a cave. That’s what Nigel wants us to believe. Knowing Nigel, he is much closer, in a more obvious place. For once, just once, I need to outsmart this kid.
I head south, the same path we took to get here. I head straight to the lake site and make it to the water just as the first beams of sun glimmer in the sky. The clouds have parted, and the sun rises over the lake in a shimmer of pink, reflecting perfectly over the water. My lips tug into a smile, knowing Maison’s with me right now, helping me from his grave.
It was cloudy for days before this, so the sun shining… it has to be him.
And it’s silent… blissful silence.
I watch and listen for a few minutes, ready for anything. I won’t get caught like I did last time… the night Maison died. The early morning mist from the lake snakes its way toward the campsite. I slowly walk toward the shelters and see a slight hiss from the burning embers that blends in with that mist.
I almost miss it.
I bend over and place my hand on the ash. It’s warm between my fingers… and wet.
Someone’s been here and went to great lengths to hide it. I stare at the ash on my hand and then at the shelter in front of me, and unsurprisingly, it’s empty. So I walk toward the other shelter that’s half-fallen and toppled over.
A wave of shock washes over me when I come across Jade’s lifeless form, her eyes shut, her hands bound tightly, and her face resting on the icy snow.
Similar to how I left London.
Her eyes shoot open—blood red, beaten, and black.
“Fuck, Jade.” I crawl in to get to her and unbind her mouth, not even bothering to look around me.
She can barely whisper, and her eyes are swollen shut. “He has her, Micah,” she mumbles.
My blood freezes as I pull up her shirt to check out the rest of her body. There are bruises and cuts all over her.
“Motherfucker,” I grit out, and my stomach tenses at seeing those marks on her. Again, not all that dissimilar to the little bruises I gave London.
The parallels are uncanny.
Jade’s bruises are black and purple against her ivory skin, which is cut up with tiny incisions all over her body.
Hundreds of them, like tiny paper cuts.
Not enough to make her bleed out, but enough to mark and torture her. This was meticulous. Nigel took his time doing this to her; he fucking enjoyed it. The sight of it even makes me squirm .
“What a sick motherfucker,” I breathe out, then that little swirl of hypocrisy settles in my gut. This kind of sickness stems from something much deeper than just mere hunger or revenge. I know because I can identify it.
Identify with it.
I run my hands over her eyebrows, checking for a fever. Her body is scorching. Jade moans from the ground, trying to tell me something.
Fuck, she’s bad. Like really fucking bad. He did a number on her.
I immediately cut off the wire around her wrists. She’s so out of it that she doesn’t move and her face stays stuck in the mud. “Jade, you’re going to be fine. I’ll get you out of here.” That’s the most important thing right now. Destroying the guy who did this to her will have to wait. I need to get her back to Thomas.
I turn my head toward the entrance of the broken shelter, searching for Nigel, who is nowhere to be seen.
She whimpers and lies limp in my arms. Adrenaline courses through my veins. This is my chance to grab her and go.
“Micah,” she mumbles and shifts, “he has her.”
I narrow my brows and pull her up into my arms. “London’s safe, Jade. She’s with James and Ezra. I didn’t leave her alone this time.”
“She’s not…” She shakes her head. “You fucked up, Micah.”
What in the actual fuck is she talking about?
My heart sinks as the realization settles in. That potentially Jade wasn’t the target… She was the bait.
Jade’s eyes are clear as I help pull her up and kneel in front of her. “Come on. We need to get you to safety.”
Tears sting her eyes, and I can sense the desperation in her voice as she struggles to express herself. “He has her now. You shouldn’t have left her.”
Left her…
I fucking left her.
I close my eyes. The burning sensation on my skin feels as if my body is shedding while the monster inside me claws its way through the fragile edges of my mind .
Heat hits my face, and all I see is red.
Smoke tickles my nose, twigs crackling in my ear. My skin is burning as flames engulf the roof of the shelter.
I barely make it out with Jade before the entire thing lights up around me. I cough and keel over, my weapon slipping from my hand as I pull Jade away from the flames and the shelter starts to disintegrate.
I turn just as Nigel comes into view, and he’s grinning as I’m brought to my knees from the lack of oxygen in my lungs. The knife in his hand shines in the brilliant sun, and he’s dressed for the occasion in full Nigel attire—bow tie, argyle, and all.
My bone weapon is back in my hand within seconds, and I jump to a crouch. I’m facing him, protecting Jade. Nigel steps back and frowns, like he’s surprised I can move so fast.
If he comes any closer, I will kill him.
The shelter is crackling and popping beside me. Smoke hangs in the air, and the fire starts to fizzle out on the wet ground.
“There is no way out of this, Nigel,” I tell him, rising and ignoring my burning skin. He’s not getting out of this alive. He must know that. “I’m taking Jade back. You’re not going to hurt her anymore.”
He runs his hand over his greasy, long hair. He looks like he hasn’t showered in a year; the stench radiates from him like a pigpen.
He snickers and tilts his head, looking at me, then waves a dismissive hand I plan on breaking or cutting off entirely. “Take her,” he spits. “I’m done with her anyway. She’s no longer of use to me. She served her purpose.”
I don’t know what he means by that, and I don’t like the tone he’s taking with me. I’m quiet, seething, and not in the mood for his riddles. I know people well enough to know that they will eventually say what they mean, and I don’t believe for one second that this fucker is just going to let me leave with Jade.
“How does it feel?” he asks me.
I curl my lip. He’s finally playing. This kid can’t help but get the last word. “How does what fucking feel?”
He snickers and takes a step back—likely because he knows he is going to lose a limb if he gets too close. “Being the reason you lose everyone you love. Everyone you get close to dies, Micah, or haven’t you noticed that yet?”
I roll my eyes, suppressing the nagging feeling that what he is saying is true. “Are we still talking about Olivia?” I keep my voice even and emotionless, even though the thought of her dying still suffocates me. “She’s not relevant to the conversation because I’ve got news for you, nerd, I wasn’t close to her. Actually, I didn’t give a fuck about her.”
His hateful eyes flash, and my lips twitch with a smile. He doesn’t want to talk about his sister, apparently. A slice of guilt hits me talking about Olivia that way—she was a piece of work, but she didn’t deserve that ending.
He tugs at his collar as the flames beside us simmer out and the last of the shelter burns to a heap on the wet ground.
We both pause, and I make a mental note he must still have fuel hidden somewhere.
He looks at me and mirrors my smile, his teeth all rotten and black. I shudder at the sight of it, happy I at least had the dignity to keep up with my personal hygiene while on this island. Clearly, he lost his toothbrush along the way.
He speaks slowly. “No, Micah, I’m not talking about my sister… I’m talking about your little budding journalist.”
I grind my teeth. “You’re fucking bluffing.” There is no way he has London. I came straight here. She was sleeping when I left her, and James and Ezra were with her. He had to have been watching us all night. I would have fucking seen or sensed him.
My hairs stand on end as my fingers curl around my weapon. “If you have her, then where the fuck is she?” The possibility that he has her cripples me, and it’s the only reason he’s still breathing.
He clicks his tongue. “So fucking impatient. You’ll learn quickly I am not as emotional as Ezra, and also, unlike Ezra, I do not have a soft spot for London. You’d be wise not to poke at me right now. You are not, in any way, shape, or form, in control of anything right now.”
“You can’t fucking do anything to me, asshole,” I mock him. “You’ll wither away and die before me, and you fucking know it. And if you kill her, there is nothing stopping me from killing you.”
“Micah… he will kill her. Don’t test him,” Jade moans from the ground. She’s rolled onto her side, keeping her head down and avoiding looking at Nigel at all.
“Well said, Jade,” he says, picking his nails. “And who’s to say I haven’t already?” He waves his hand at me. “Please. Continue your lecture, Micah. You are so good at protecting everyone else, but you can’t seem to protect her, can you?”
A wave of nausea hits me. London has already been through so much because of my actions.
He clicks his tongue. “You’re so predictable, Micah. I’ve been watching you and studying you for months, even before we came on this trip. In class, at the gym, on the hockey rink, and in the cafeteria. Everywhere. I know what you will do before you even do it. I’m not sure when you’ll figure out I am smarter than you.”
I look at Jade for validation of what he is saying. “He has her, Micah,” she whispers as tears drip from her eyes.
Fuck.
“Where is she?” My voice is slightly more hesitant as I curl my fingers around my weapon. So close. One second, and I could end him.
So fucking tempting.
He jumps into the brush faster than I can blink, and I don’t hesitate. I chase after him, leaving Jade alone, huddled on the ground and barely breathing, with her sliced-up body curled in a ball.
When I run into the brush, he’s standing there, and London is hanging in his arms like a vision of death. His arms are around her neck in a chokehold, and he has a stupid grin on his face.
He knew I’d come alone, and he knew she’d follow. I fucking failed her, like I failed Maison and Olivia… Like I fail everyone.
I draw in one long breath. London’s eyes are closed—I’m not even sure she’s conscious. I stare down at him, and I desperately want to break his jaw.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice is broken and shaky.
A dangerous flash swirls in his eyes. “Because I can,” he spits. “I don’t need more of a reason than that.”
“Is that why you killed Ollie?” I ask him. “Because you could?”
A feline smile tugs at his lips, and he shrugs as if killing his classmate is merely amusing. “I was bored, and he was just wandering around like a lost lamb looking for wood. Similar to London when she came out of the plane looking for you. It was easy… She’s really lost her mind, hasn’t she?”
London opens her eyes briefly before closing them again, her head hung low. She won’t even look at me, and in the fleeting moment she makes eye contact with me, her eyes are like venom.
I fucking love her for it. She’s still with me, and I’ll take whatever venomous stare she gives me as long as she’s still breathing.
Just hold on a few seconds, baby. Let me figure a way out of this.
“If you kill her, there is nothing stopping me from tearing you apart, limb by limb,” I warn.
With a casual shrug, he maintains a vice-like grip around her neck, squeezing so tightly that her lips are turning blue. “Yeah, but she’ll be dead. And as you’ve so elegantly pointed out, I’m a dead man anyway.”
A few tense moments pass between us. Just the sound of lapping waves, the hiss of the embers when Nigel tried to burn me alive, and the wind as it scatters through the trees .
A snap of twigs has both of us whipping our heads around just as James comes into view. A red ember floats in the air and lands on my wrist. I stare down at it, thinking about how much it stings and how much pain Jade must be in from the hundreds of cuts he gave her.
I jerk my head toward the shelter. “Jade’s over there,” I tell him.
James makes a motion toward her.
“Don’t fucking move,” Nigel screams, and the intensity of his scream has all of us stunned. “Take one step, and I will slice her neck open.”
James stands frozen, his forehead sweaty. “Look, man, I don’t know how he got her. When I woke up and saw she was gone, I figured you two were together,” James says, looking really fucking nervous.
I hood my eyes. “James, go get Jade. I’ll handle this.”
Another snap, another looming shadow in the woods. Ezra steps forward, darting his gaze from me to Nigel, the knife I gave him flashing in his hand.
“James, go now. Jade needs you,” I say.
James pauses for only a moment before disappearing from view, hopefully taking Jade to Thomas, leaving me alone with Nigel and Ezra.
I look at Nigel, who is shaking with his eyes wide open and holding his knife right to London’s throat, his focus solely on Ezra. “I’ll give you food, Ezra. All of it—as much as you need. You’ll have a better chance of surviving than if you wait for whatever crumbs they leave you with.”
I scoff at the desperation in Nigel’s voice, but Ezra has a vacant look in his eyes that I don’t like. He doesn’t move; he doesn’t do fucking anything.
“Kill him, Ezra. I kept you safe all winter, and he mutilated you,” Nigel orders, like he’s been giving orders to Ezra the entire time we’ve been here. Brainwashing him. “Remember who saved you and kept you alive all winter.”
Ezra flashes his eyes void of emotion at me, looking down at his lonely thumb and missing fingers. Ezra takes a menacing step toward me, causing Nigel to grin.
London’s been defending Ezra for days—at every glare, every snide comment I make. I don’t know what transpired between them while they were together, but I hope, for her sake, that she got through to him.
I soften my hard gaze. “I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry for what I did to your hand and what I did growing up. Don’t do this for me, man. Do this for Maison, and for London. You obviously care about her now, and I know she fucking cares about you.”
Ezra’s face drops, and he gives me a nod. He turns to Nigel, who throws London like a sack of rocks at him, realizing she is in his way of making an escape. He takes a trembling step back, shaking now with his eyes wide open, waving his knife in front of him like it’s actually going to stop me.
With a wide grin spreading across my face, I tilt my head to the side and crack my neck. That lethal pent-up energy is about to explode out of me. “You better fucking run.”