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Dex shook his head His eyes atering, from the shock and i ed at lad I hit him but maybe he didn’t quite deserve a broken nose

We didn’t knohat else to say to each other Whatever intione and buried This was the new us: A sucker punch and a broken nose

Before I could feel bad, I turned on my heel and walked off in the direction of the bathroom I needed to clearhis revenge against me

I sat down on the rocks just north of the outhouse for at least an hour Just stewing over what had happened, trying toIt was a futile exercise Dex had left ured he would I kneas probably thinking of some way to "handle" me or calood little girl, and do what he said He always hadhe asked of ht All part of his sick little ga He kneould be easy to twist under his thu ain I wanted to talk to her She seeh She felt like an ally, another woainst the men But she never cao elsewhere Maybe if I went to the dead heart of the island, she would show up there She did say she always had to keep ot up andto walk on the path for a bit, just past the outhouse I hoped Dex wasn’t ry Mary had said soed

I al seen, but Dex came out of the tent at the last !?"

I glared at hi To his credit, he see behind me

The first tentheir shelter from the wind and cold and the rain only came in fat sporadic drops that fell froot to the center, the darker it got It was only early afternoon (I think, anyway; ti like it was near sunset

I wondered how long I had been walking for when I felt a sharp pain at the back ofnoise that filled the recesses of my brain and seemed to explode outward in stars and swirls

I fell over and collapsed in a heap The world went ink–black

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I ca head and in the s were spread out in front of ged, scratchy pine tree My arether The rope went around my shoulders and waist a few times too I couldn’t move if I wanted to

I didn’t knohere I was There was nothing distinctive aroundtrees with spindly limbs that swayed from the wind at the upper reaches of the canopy The histled around in here at an unrelenting pitch, the soundtrack of madness if I’ve ever heard one

I couldn’t tell where north hat end of the island I was at or what time it was It was much darker than it had been earlier Not quite dusk, but then again, it was hard to tell in a forest that did its best to block out what ht there was from the dense clouds above theht I was hit on the back of the head by so And then tied alone to a tree in the woods

It was the sa the Reverend had done to Mary whenever the supply ships would coed ? Or was it Dex?

No, I thought wildly It couldn’t have been Dex I know I thought he was plotting his revenge against e would always be more spiteful or ironic Even humorous He wouldn’t club me over the head and tie me to a tree What would be the point of that?

Unless this was his way of "handling" me I did bop him in the nose after all And Mary did say he would be trouble for ht this was the only way he could controltrouble for both of us

I just didn’t know And sadly, I had all the time in the world to think about it Part ofand save ain, I didn’t knohat side he was on

I decided to call out for Mary Maybe she could find me and untie me

I called out her name It sounded weird in the forest The words sounded hopeless and dull like there was no echo at all I also felt silly, calling out the na she would come by and help ain I tried not to show any worry or panic in my voice but that was hard to hide near the end My throat was getting raw and I was really starting to lose it What if it was John Barrett? What was he planning to do to et out of this one?

A strange sound rang out from behind a patch of tall ferns a few yards in front of htly, back and forth There was so about it

The sound caood way

It alles and nonsensical noises that blabbering infants make

In the dark ulfs between the rale was probably one of the s to hear I hoped that whatever was shaking the ferns back and forth was a ard bird or curious squirrel Squirrels were sht? Maybe they’d be like a dolphin and save me

I kept my eyes locked on the ferns My body was poised and ready to run If only I could

The ferns shook again The gurgle