Elemental (14 page)

CHAPTER 26

W
e grounded the canoe and dragged it onto land. Alice was right: With needlerush on three sides, no one would find it unless they knew exactly where to look.

“So what's on the map?” she asked again as we headed toward Skeleton Town.

I was about to tell her when she flapped it in front of me impatiently. “We're wasting time, Thom.”

I didn't respond. I hated that she kept so many secrets and yet assumed I'd share everything. It felt good to be the one with answers for a change.

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I get it. You really do want me to apologize for not telling you what I can do, right? Well, I'm not going to. Because I'm
not
sorry.”

“You sure about that? You seemed plenty guilty in the lighthouse.”

She looked confused for a moment, but then her expression cleared. “Because I cried, you mean? That's because I didn't want to tell you. From now on I have to count on you not to tell anyone.
Anyone
. And if you want to know the truth, I don't trust you to keep your mouth shut.” Her smile felt venomous. “If I'm sorry about anything, it's that you know my secret. Believe me, every single person in this colony has one just as big.”

“You're wrong. I have no secrets.”

“If you say so.”

She brushed the needlerush aside and pressed ahead. She didn't stop until we were on the edge of Skeleton Town. “You really don't get it, do you? You think you're going to walk into the shelter and solve the puzzle for us. But it won't work like that.”

“Everyone deserves to know what's going on.”

“Everyone? Or Rose?” She tilted her head to the side. “You sure you want to tell her that Bodie Lighthouse is open, and your grandmother is alive, and there are identical maps, and—oh, yes—a picture of your family that defies explanation? If you're smart, you'll keep quiet about the map, and you'll hide that picture where no one will see it. Because it's
your
family—not mine, not Rose's. And something tells me she'd choose to shut you out before she'll accept her family's as mixed up in all this as yours is.”

I hated how confident she was in every word. Even more, I hated that she was right.

I hesitated, but it was just for show. Alice was prepared to wait. “All right, fine. The reason your father tore the mainland section off his map is because it's uninhabitable; the Plague is there. It's like it no longer exists to him. I think the seer did the same thing, except she crossed out the mainland instead. She did it in stages too, like she was tracking the Plague's progress. But she never crossed out Roanoke Island.”

Alice's eyes grew wide. “Of course—because the Plague never got there. And because he saw the map, Dare knows it too.” She nodded. “But what does it have to do with the bridge? That's what you were looking at when you realized all this.”

Did she miss
anything
?

“There are gaps in both bridges leading from Roanoke Island,” I explained. “It makes sense to have a gap in the mainland bridge—stops rats from crossing and bringing the Plague. What doesn't make sense is for the Guardians to put a hole in the bridge between Roanoke and Hatteras.”

“Hold on. You think the
Guardians
did that?”

“Yes. On your father's map, the gaps are marked in the same handwriting as the grove and the store. Plus, the picture I found in the lighthouse shows that Skeleton Town was destroyed
after
I was born.”

“But how would they do that?”

“I don't know. But I think I know
why
they did it: They wanted to make it look like the Plague was on Roanoke Island. It worked too. The pirates still believe it. At least, they did until Dare saw the map.”

Alice began pacing in circles. I could tell she wasn't convinced.

“Look, the pirates landed on Hatteras thirteen years ago and stole everything, right?” I continued. “Well, what if we'd still been living on Roanoke Island now? They'd have taken everything—the boats, food, clothes. All these things we don't have the materials to make. What I'm saying is, maybe it wasn't us the Guardians were worried about. Maybe it was the pirates.”

With every word, I grew more certain that I was right; and that Alice was coming around too. All the same, it was a while before she stopped pacing. “It's true, the hole in the bridge has kept the pirates away. But you're forgetting two things.”

I tried to hide my irritation. “What?”

“The Guardians have been keeping
us
away too. Why? Why not just tell us the truth? It doesn't add up.” She continued walking.

I hurried to catch up. “What's the other thing?”

“The Guardians gave up an easy life on Roanoke for a harder and more dangerous one on Hatteras. Who moves their colony and destroys a bridge just in case pirates decide to visit?” She paused to let me answer, but probably knew I wouldn't. “No, I think the Guardians must've been absolutely certain the pirates would come back. Now, how on earth would they know that?”

 * * *

Rose was kneeling on the grass beside the shelter. I almost called out to her, but then remembered that Alice was with me. The situation felt strange and uncomfortable.

As soon as she saw me, Rose's face brightened. “You're back!” She sounded relieved, as though our arrival could undo all the other problems we had yet to face. There were dark circles under her eyes.

Dennis lay on the ground beside her, deathly pale. Rose dipped a cloth into a bowl of water and wrung it out. She laid it carefully across her brother's forehead.

It wasn't until Alice walked past us and into the shelter that I felt comfortable joining her. “What happened to Dennis?”

“It started last night. He woke up a few strikes after you left. At first he was just moaning, but he got louder and louder. And then he threw up. I gave him sips of water, but he couldn't keep them down. I've never seen anything like it. I swear, I thought he was going to die.”

She dunked the cloth in the water again, and this time I could see that it was a strip of her tunic that she'd torn off. It made her appear even more ragged.

“You should take some of the new clothes,” I said.

She followed my eyes to her tunic. Then she folded her arms across her chest like she was trying to hide. I felt bad for saying anything. She'd been too busy tending to her brother to worry about how she looked.

“Where's Griffin?” I asked.

“In the shelter. He didn't sleep much either. Spent most of the night reading that book from your dune box. Something has him excited, but I couldn't follow what he was trying to tell me.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. One deep breath, and she opened them again, ready to continue—ready to be pretend she wasn't really suffering. “Griffin was sweet—wanted to help me, but I couldn't let him touch Dennis in case . . .” She bit her lip. “You know.”

Yes, I knew. In case he foresaw Dennis's death.

“I saw that picture he drew of Guardian Lora,” she continued.

“It's good, isn't it?”

“Hmm. Why did he draw her after she'd died?”

“He didn't. She was still alive. He drew it the evening we got here.”

“I don't think so.”

“Trust me. I was with him when he drew it.”

Rose shook her head. “There's just something creepy about it. The way he has these visions.”

“It's not his fault. You can see what it does to him.”

“I didn't mean . . .” She turned red. “I'm sorry. It must be hard for you too—when it happens.”

I shrugged.

“It's okay to say it, Thomas. I know you like to be strong for Alice, but you can be honest with me. You must realize how alike we are—devoting ourselves to our younger brothers.”

It was true—I had always devoted myself to Griffin—but not for the reasons she thought. I did it because I wanted others to see him the way I did. I wanted the Guardians to acknowledge his intelligence and determination. His self-sufficiency. Instead, most of them couldn't see past his limp, and had learned barely a handful of our signs.

Rose dabbed Dennis's face with the cloth and shivered.

“Do you want a blanket?” I asked.

“No. We haven't been out here long. I just needed some fresh air. It was so stuffy in the shelter.” She draped the cloth across Dennis's forehead. He didn't respond at all.

“Is he going to get better?”

“I don't know. Normally the echo is worst as the storm approaches, so maybe he's over the hardest part. Then again, the storm's not here yet. It could be approaching for the rest of the day. In which case . . .” She took a steadying breath. “He was muttering during the night. Things about the wind and clouds, and where the storm will make landfall.”

“Like your father.”

“No.” She faced me then, eyes bright and earnest. “My father would tell us within a hundred miles where the eye of the storm would pass. Dennis told me to within a mile.
One mile
. There's something strange going on here, Thomas. I don't know if Roanoke Island is cursed, or what. But no one is the same here.”

As soon as she'd said the words, she looked away. At least it saved me having to state the obvious: One of us was still the same.

She returned her attention to Dennis. With his eyes closed and face ghostly white, it was as though the hurricane had already passed through, and he was its first victim.

CHAPTER 27

I
wanted to see Griffin. If he'd spent most of the night reading the journal, it must be important. But Alice was leaning against the shelter door, staring at the sound.

Had she been spying on Rose and me? Given what I knew about her now, it wouldn't have been difficult.

Without turning around, she passed a small piece of paper over her shoulder. “This is what was stuck between the maps. I think you should read it.”

I studied the tiny words, so perfectly formed. It didn't look like any handwriting I'd ever seen.

PLAGUE FEARS INTENSIFY AS EXODUS NEARS COMPLETION

Mandatory evacuations of east and west seaboards almost complete. 92 percent of population relocated to central states.

All coastal cities shut down pending biohazard clearance.

Government sources dismiss reports of new strain of Plague in three refugee camps as scaremongering.

Food and water rationing remains in effect as drought conditions persist.

Fuel restricted to government and emergency use only.

 * * *

The paper was torn at the bottom, so I read it again. It made no more sense than before. “What does this mean? Fuel. Water rationing. Biohazard. I've never heard of these things.”

“I know one thing it means: The Plague didn't come first. Whatever the
exodus
was, it came before everything else.”

Alice had unrolled the two maps she'd taken from the lighthouse. She pointed to the bottom left-hand corner of the one I didn't recognize. “Look at this.”

It was a scale, I knew that much. But instead of measuring fractions of miles, it measured hundreds of miles.

Alice watched me closely. “Now look over here.” Her finger drifted to the far right-hand side, to what looked like a tiny island. But it wasn't the island she was pointing at. It was the word written beside it:
Hatteras
.

I knew what it must mean, but I couldn't comprehend it.

Alice's finger slid a tiny degree to the left. “If that's Hatteras—
our
Hatteras—then this is Roanoke.” She stabbed the outline, barely larger than a dot. “Which means that everything else you see is the mainland.”

I looked at the vast expanse of land. I'd always figured the mainland was bigger than either Hatteras or Roanoke. But this was unthinkable.

“Do you suppose the Guardians—”

“Know? Of course they know. But if that piece of paper is right and the Plague started in the center and spread out all the way to the coasts, then none of the mainland is inhabitable.”

“Why keep it a secret, though?”

“Maybe the Guardians didn't want us to know that all this was lost,” she said, sweeping her hand across the map.

“Do you honestly believe that?”

“Not at all. And neither do you, which is progress. But then, maybe we don't have all the information. If we ever see them again, I sure have a lot of questions I'd like to ask.”

I studied the map, and tried to imagine what that much land would look like. Barely a moment passed before Alice inhaled sharply.

She pointed toward the bridge. “They're crossing.”

“What?” I pressed the binoculars to my eyes and focused. The pirates weren't hard to see—there were about thirty of them on the bridge. They ambled along like they had all the time in the world. Maybe I was being paranoid, but it felt deliberate, as though Dare wanted us to know he was in no hurry because we had nowhere left to run. “There's so many of them!”

“Keep your voice down,” snapped Alice. “There's no need to make Rose—”

Footsteps scuffed the road behind us. “No need to make me
what
?” demanded Rose.

Alice tilted her head toward the bridge. “The pirates are coming.”

Rose didn't seem affected by the news at all. Instead she watched Alice and me, our arms almost touching, heads locked conspiratorially over a mysterious map we hadn't yet shared.

“We should head behind the shelter,” I said. “Get out of sight.”

Rose pursed her lips. “Why bother? They know we're here.”

“Yes. But right now, we need to focus on us, not them.” I pressed the issue by walking back toward the grass. I trusted the others to follow.

They did, and as they turned the corner, the shelter door opened and Griffin joined them. When he saw me, his face fell.

I. Wait. You
. His signs were large and accusing. He didn't give me a chance to explain, though; just opened up our father's journal and stabbed the page.

Before I could tell him to look at the bridge, Alice pointed at his journal. “I've got one of those,” she told me. “It's full of the same yellow pages. Lots of little writing.”

“You should show it to Grif—”

My brother closed the book with a snap, and thrust an open palm in the air:
Sign.

I hadn't seen him so angry in years. He'd spied the pirates now, and his eyes flitted back and forth between them and the journal. It was like he was still wasn't sure which was more important.

“We need to run,” said Alice, taking charge. “The boats are ready to sail.”

I relayed the words to Griffin as Rose shook her head vigorously. “Sail where?” She pointed at Dennis. “He can't move, let alone run. Anyway, what's the point?”

“The point is our families are still alive. But only as long as the pirates don't catch us.”

“How do you know that?”

Every question felt like an accusation, and they were speaking too fast for me to sign now. I usually liked that about signing—it slowed conversation down, allowed us to linger on details. Now, as I floundered around for the correct word, I cursed myself.

Griffin stomped the ground and raised his palm again.
Sign!

Alice stepped into the road. “The pirates are moving faster.”

I raised my hands and tried to explain what Alice and I had found out. “Last night, we got close to the pirates. We saw them, and heard them talking. They said the Guardians are being held prisoner on the ship.”

Why?
Griffin responded.

“Their leader is after something . . . some
one,
” I explained. “He says one of us is the solution to the Plague.”

Rose furrowed her brows. “What does that mean? How can anyone
solve
the Plague?”

“We can't. It doesn't make any sense. But he's got a whole lot of men believing him, and they're heading this way. And when he captures us, the Guardians will die. He said so.”

“They're almost at the gap,” Alice shouted. “They can only cross one at a time, but after that they'll move quickly.”

Rose turned to me. “Do you know which of us they want?”

I hadn't considered how I'd explain this part to Griffin. There wasn't time to think it through either, so I clasped my hands behind my back. “A boy. They said they've been looking for the solution for the past thirteen years, so . . . it can only be Griffin or me.”

Griffin kicked at the ground.
Sign!

Rose looked sorry that she'd asked at all. But there was no getting away from it now—he had to know. I relayed the information with shaking hands.

“Can we hide?” Rose asked. “All of us together.”

“I don't think so. We'd just be delaying things. They'll find us. Eventually.”

She crouched down and ran her fingers through her hair, tugged at the knots in it, but her eyes never left me. “Then you should both go. Alice too. I'll stay here with Dennis. Try to throw them off your trail.”

“No, you can't stay.”

Her eyes drifted to her brother. “I don't have any choice.”

“Then we'll stay together.”

“No, we won't, Thomas. I can't let you take that chance.”

“They're at the gap!” I could feel Alice's desperation. She began to walk down the road like she was being drawn to the sound.

Griffin raised his right hand.
We. Fight,
he signed. I noticed he only pointed to himself and me. He didn't want the others to get hurt.

Seeing his jaw muscles bulge, the fierce look in his eye, I knew he meant it. He must have known as well as me how hopeless it would be, but he was willing to risk everything. This was the Griffin the Guardians never bothered to know. This was my brother. And it was all I could do not to cry.

When I didn't respond, Griffin joined Alice. Was it because he knew that fighting was hopeless? Or because he wouldn't force me to risk my life?

I felt worn out, defeated, as though the pirates were already among us. There was no hiding from them, no hope of running. There was just us five, the survivors, staying together until the bitter end.

Rose stepped toward me. “Go, Thomas. I'll send them the wrong way. I promise.”

“You, lie? I don't think you're very good at that.” I meant it to sound funny, but regretted it as her face creased up.

“Please don't make this harder for me. In my heart I want to be with you, but you have to go. Because if anything happened to you, I swear I'd—”

I reached forward and rested my fingers on her wooden bangle. She froze, but didn't pull away. She just held her breath as I turned it slowly around her wrist. The wood was smeared with blood and dirt. We stood inches apart and watched the colors blend together.

“I hate that you're seeing me like this,” she whispered.

“Like how?”

“A mess.”

“You're not a mess. You're pretty.”

“No, I'm not. I don't know how much longer we can hold out.”

“Shh.”

I slid my little finger underneath the bangle and touched the smooth pale skin inside her wrist. A part of me was waiting for her to pull away, though I hoped so much that she wouldn't. Rose closed her eyes and sighed. I immersed myself in the energy flooding through me. My finger felt hot. Alive.

Rose opened her mouth, furrowed her brows, and released a sound that was half sigh, half moan. Her energy surged.

Rapid footsteps from the road intruded on the silence. “You're not going to believe this!”

I pulled back immediately, but Alice was already there. It was obvious that she'd seen us.

“You need to come,” she continued, all business.

Rose and I joined her on the road. I raised the binoculars and saw the pirates were still on the bridge. But they weren't moving. It looked like they'd stopped at the gap, and decided not to continue. Even stranger, they were talking—all of them at once, and most of them were facing Dare. They looked furious.

Dare didn't react at all. He was too busy training his telescope on me.

“What's he doing?” muttered Alice.

Suddenly a red-faced pirate knocked the telescope from Dare's eye. It fell to the ground. He yelled at Dare as the other pirates formed a group behind him. I didn't need to hear them to feel the tension.

Still Dare said nothing. He didn't flinch. He just waited calmly as the man continued his tirade. Then, as the pirate paused for breath, Dare grabbed his tunic and lifted him off the ground. In a fluid motion he swung the man around and let go.

The man didn't fall onto the road, though. There wasn't any road. He dropped like a stone eighty feet into the sound.

The whole time, Dare stared in our direction. Even when he signaled for the pirates to retreat, he kept his eyes fixed on us. But his expression had changed now. He looked crazed, demonic, as he raised his hands above his head and clapped them together.

Over and over again.