Isle of Man (The Park Service Trilogy #2) (21 page)

“I didn’t have a choice!” I shout.

Nobody listens. Several of the rough men from our hunt climb down the ladder and grab me. They carry me to the ledge and hand me up to others waiting to take me away.

“You don’t understand. I didn’t have a choice!”

My instinct is to struggle, to fight for my life and run. But I remember Bree telling me that the champion has to go willingly to his sacrifice or they kill him and the runner up. Which means they’ll kill Jimmy if I fight. I relax and let them take me.

Someone ties my hands behind my back. Then someone else ties my ankles together. Now any chance of escaping my fate is gone for good. As I’m picked up and carried toward the seawall and the waiting crane, I don’t see any sign of Jimmy. Oh, well. It’s better that he doesn’t know until it’s over.

I do catch a quick glimpse of Bree, but I immediately wish I hadn’t because the horror of what’s about to happen to me is clearly reflected on her face.

CHAPTER 21
A Message from the Gods

Oh God, if you exist, what have I done?

The world shrinks into two small windows of faraway blue as Finn clamps the iron mask on my head.

I smell the saltwater, I hear the clinking chain.

Finn’s blond hair appears in the mask’s eyeholes, his head bent as he traces something with his finger on my bare chest. Then I feel the prick of his knife, the cutting sting as he drags its blade across my flesh, followed by the warmth of my own blood. He’s carving something in my chest. Perhaps a message for me to carry into the afterlife. I struggle against my bonds, but then, remembering that this only works if I’m a willing sacrifice, I clench my teeth and promise myself I won’t scream.

The crowd surrounding me is silent, but I can feel them watching. Finn works for several minutes, and by the time he’s finished I don’t even mind the pain any longer. In fact, I wish he’d continue. Anything except what I know is coming next.

Finn’s head disappears from the eyeholes, and I glimpse the blue water beyond. I see the shadow of the crane’s boom swing over the waves, bringing the shadows of the sharks up from the depths. They cruise their vicious circles like angels of death swimming in a watery sky. A fin breaks the surface. I hear the rattle of the chain as the rope pulls it up. I feel the tug of the iron helmet on my neck. Warm piss runs down my leg. Please, I pray, to anything, just let my neck break before I’m eaten. Just let me die and join my mom and dad.

My mind leaves my body and floats over an ocean of time, retracing my short life. The journey here in the submarine, the adventures at the lake. I’m on the mountain with Jimmy now. We’re sitting on the glacier, looking at the rising moon. I can see the glint of wonder in his eye, his long lashes visible even in the moonlight. It’s funny what images stick with you. Suddenly, I’m in the cove, learning to swim. I hear Jimmy laughing. He calls me buddy for the first time, and I recall how good it felt. Now, I’m standing at the shore after my trip down from the wrecked train, and I’m seeing Jimmy again for the first time, crouched on that rock, the orange sun oozing into the waves as if setting only for him. Now, I’m back underground, my father is rushing to the closing elevator, his words making it just in time: “I love you, Son.” Three simple words—I love you. I only said them once in my life. I said them to my father on his last day alive. I should have said them more. I should have said them to—

Something grabs my legs.

I brace for the pain.

The pressure eases on my neck as I’m lifted and my soul seems to slide back into my body.

“Put him down!” a distant voice yells. “Put him down, I said. Do it now!”

Jimmy? Is that you, Jimmy?

“You lost your chance,” I hear Finn say.

“Jus’ put him down and let me explain.”

My feet hit the ground and Jimmy’s strong hands hold me up. Everything is white and blurry outside the eyeholes now.

“You’s got this all wrong,” Jimmy says. “You dun’ need to kill nobody to be safe. There ain’t no gods out there tryin’ to destroy you here. We can explain ever-thin’.”

An angry growl rises from the crowd.

“Throw him to the sharks!” someone shouts. “Yeah, string him up, too,” another says. “Double, double!” they chant.

“Somebody restrain him,” Finn calls.

“Wait! Wait!” Jimmy yells as he struggles with someone beside me. “Wait! I’ll prove it. Jus’ give me a chance.”

“Prove what?” Finn asks. “That you’re delusional?”

“Jus’ hear me out,” Jimmy says. “You give me three stones and nothin’ more. Then let me in the water and I’ll call up an iron shark like you’ve never seen.”

“What do you mean, an iron shark?” Finn asks.

My legs buckle, but Jimmy’s hands jump to hold me up.

“Let me show ya,” he says. “We’re not from here, Aubrey and me ain’t. We came from far away to bring you a message.”

“He’s got a message from the gods!” someone shouts.

“A message from the gods!” others chant back.

Then I hear Finn’s voice again: “Are you claiming to have a message from the gods?”

“Sure,” Jimmy answers. “From the gods.”

“Fine,” Finn says. “You go call up your iron shark. But if you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t need any stones to do it. The gods will protect you. So go ahead. Dive in.” He laughs, obviously thinking Jimmy won’t do it. The crowd laughs, too.

Jimmy’s hands leave me, and the next thing I hear is a loud splash. Without Jimmy supporting me, it’s a struggle to stay on my feet. But refusing to surrender to exhaustion, I stiffen my legs and straighten my spine. Then I press my head forward in the mask for a better view. Jimmy swims amongst the sharks, his head down, his strong arms stroking confidently, propelling him elegantly through the dangerous water. As he breaks past the thickest of the sharks, several fins turn to follow him out to deeper water. But he swims without panic or fear.

A strange sense of calm comes over me. As if my life is in the hands of something bigger. Some fate that I can’t change and shouldn’t bother trying to change even if I could. Not even with a wish. I doubt Jimmy will be able to locate the submarine in time, especially when he’s surrounded by sharks. And if he does find it, I have no idea how he’ll raise it with no stones, or why the professor wouldn’t be sleeping, or perhaps catatonic in one of his moods. I just wish Jimmy didn’t have to die too.

Once he’s far from shore, but still short of the submarine by my estimate, Jimmy dives, surrounded by circling fins. A tail splashes. A minute passes. Then Jimmy pops up, treading water farther away. My eyes focus on nothing but him, wishing I could at least say goodbye with a look. Jimmy sucks in a deep breath and dives again. The fins disappear beneath the waves with him. Time creeps past. Two minutes—three—maybe four minutes now. The crowd starts to murmur. A dog yips somewhere behind me. Or maybe a fox.

The crowds’ murmuring increases as the seconds pass:

“Nobody can hold his breath that long,” a boy says.

“He’s gone for sure,” a man’s voice chimes in.

“The sharks got him for a snack,” a woman adds.

“Let’s lower the other one now, too,” another calls.

I hear the clattering chain, rising on its pulley again. The mask is caught up, pulling against my neck. I rise to my tiptoes, ready to die. Oh, well, I think, at least we’ll be together.

Then Jimmy’s head appears, bobbing on the waves. Sharks rise with him—fins circling, tails thrashing. Jimmy punches at the water, defending himself. Do I really have to watch him get eaten before I die? Must fate truly torture me before I slip to the other side? Why? It doesn’t seem right.

Suddenly, the fins scatter, the sharks disappear, and the patch of water surrounding Jimmy goes calm. Jimmy faces me, treading water, and although he’s much too far away for me to make out his eyes, I swear I see him smile. Then he rises from the water with his arms outstretched like some long departed sea god returned to embrace the world. He rises until his waist clears the water. Then his thighs, his knees, his feet. Next, the black, protruding submarine sail rises beneath him, lifting him above the waves, and the Park Service crest faces us, glinting in the sunlight. When he stops rising, Jimmy stands six feet above the water on the highest part of the surfaced submarine.

The crowd behind me gasps.

Someone screams.

Several quiet seconds pass, and then I hear the rattle of the chain, the opening of the clasps.

The mask is pulled from my head.

My head lolls forward, my chin rests on my chest.

I see my belly and legs covered in my own blood and I’m suddenly dizzy, feeling faint. I try to look up again, but my neck won’t budge. Even the effort is too much. My world spins, my legs collapse, and I fall backwards, caught in strong, but no longer enemy, arms.

I close my eyes and surrender to oblivion’s sweet relief.

CHAPTER 22
No Turning Back

“Tell me about my sister again.”

Finn sits on the edge of his chair beside my bed, his arms propped on his knees, his chin resting in his palms. Jimmy sits beside him. I elbow myself up, wincing when the bandage pulls against my wounded chest where Riley patched me up.

“Half-sister,” I say. “And she’s only about sixteen to your six hundred.”

“But what’s she like?” he asks.

“She ain’t none too nice,” Jimmy says.

I cast Jimmy a disapproving glance before answering Finn: “She’s got red hair. And freckles. She’s smart as they come, too. Although we sure do have some talking to do when I get back.”

“And this serum that keeps me from aging,” he says, “You have it in your blood also?”

“I do,” I answer. “And Hannah does. Jimmy doesn’t have it yet, but he will once we return. Won’t you, Jimmy?” Jimmy tips his chin and looks down instead of nodding yes, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because he still doesn’t want the serum, or if it’s because he isn’t coming back with me.

Finn stands and walks to the window. He holds up his right hand, inspecting it in the light.

“This key you talk about. You’re certain that it’s in my hand?”

“That’s what the clue says. And you yourself said that you remembered being pricked the last time you saw your father.”

“And his name was Radcliffe?”

“Yes,” I reply, “Dr. Robert Radcliffe.”

“I do remember him doing something to my arm or hand that hurt me. I tried not to cry, and he told me I was strong. But that could have been this serum you talk about. And besides, my memory is worthless. I thought he was a god.”

“Well, who wouldn’t have? You didn’t know any better. Him flying in and out of here in some machine like nobody in these parts had ever seen or even dreamed. And the gifts. I’m assuming he brought all those statues here.”

Finn nods.

“They came on ships, offloaded by cranes that seemed to work themselves by some magic of the gods. Gifts for my mother in between his visits. Then while he was away, she got sick. I must have been seven, or maybe eight. He came one last time. I remember him holding her skull and crying. I have it still. My mother’s skull. It’s the first one in our family wall.” Finn turns from the window and I see that he has tears in his eyes. “I really messed up badly.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

His voice quivers, “The games. The sacrifices. All those kids. Hundreds of them.” He covers his face with his hands and weeps. “Oh, sweet Mother, I really messed up.”

“But how could you have known?” I ask, wanting to ease his grief. “If that’s what the adults taught you, that the gods demanded sacrifices to protect the island, how could you have known any different? I was taught lies. I was told none of this was even up here. And I believed it, too, until I saw for myself. You couldn’t have known, Finn.”

Finn drops his hands, but his eyes are still filled with tears. I can see the pain in his expression, the self-judgment written there. It must be torture.

“I could have known,” he says. “I should have. The truth is, I had suspicions over the years. Deep down, I did. But the people believed the stories. And the rituals made them feel safe. I’m not an evil man. I know that I’m not. But I have a strange feeling I’ll pay somehow for what I’ve done.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t say anything. Jimmy and I share a look as Finn stares at the floor. When he speaks again, his voice is soft, as if he’s speaking to himself.

“I used to climb to the highest point on the island—on clear days, in the early years, when I was young. I remember looking across the water to distant lands and wondering. I knew there were answers out there somewhere. But I never found the courage to leave the island. I just never did. I chose to remain ignorant and believe the old myths. I failed my people.”

“You would have been hunted by drones anyway,” I say. “So you were stuck here. It just wasn’t the gods and the sharks that kept you protected. It was your father’s mercy, something he seemed to have little of for anyone else.” I lean forward, not wanting to take advantage of his regret, but not wanting to miss an opportunity either. “Now’s your chance to change all that. Come back with us, Finn. Let Hannah X-ray your right hand. The code hidden inside you has the power to save countless lives. If that’s not some kind of amends, I don’t know what is.”

“What about my people here?” he asks.

“We’ll bring you back to the island after. We can do the round trip in less than two months. Can’t we, Jimmy?”

Jimmy nods.

Finn paces the room, shaking his head.

“I’m not at all certain they’d make it here without me,” he says. “I’m not even sure they’d let me leave, to be honest. Even though they call me Lord, they’re possessive of me, too.”

“We can sneak away then,” I suggest.

“Never work,” he says. “There’ll be chaos here for sure. And who knows what sacrifices they’d make without me here to deny them. I won’t let another innocent islander die.”

I sit up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. The pain brings tears to my eyes, so now both Finn and I are crying, although for vastly different reasons.

“You have to come back with us,” I say. “If you don’t, you’ll be responsible for killing many more people out there. In the world.”

“That’s not fair!”

He stops pacing and faces me.

“It might not be fair, but it’s the truth,” I say, locking eyes with him and holding his stare. In my peripheral vision, I notice Jimmy shifting uncomfortably in his chair. After a long silence, in which Finn seems torn, I ask: “Are you afraid?”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” he says.

“Are you sure? Six hundred years and you’ve never even left the island. I had already been on adventures far from my home, and I was afraid to leave and set out for here.”

“I said I’m not afraid.”

“So you just plan to take the encryption key to your grave, whenever that is? Locked forever in your hand. Think about how many people you’ll be responsible for killing, Finn. The number makes that skull rack down there seem like nothing.”

Finn’s face flushes red, his lips twitch. He looks like he’s about to say something, but instead he storms to the door and jerks it open. He stops and looks back, his blue eyes burning. “You’ll have my answer in the morning, before you leave.”

The door slams behind him.

I ease back onto the bed.

“That could have gone better.”

“He’ll do what’s right,” Jimmy says.

“You think so?”

“Yeah.”

I turn my head and look at Jimmy, slouched in his chair, a bloody bandage on his ankle.

“Did it hurt?”

“What?” he asks.

“The bite,” I say.

“Nah. It jus’ caught me with a little tooth while I’s kickin’. I never even felt it at the time.”

“What I wanna know is how you knocked on the sub loud enough for the professor to hear without any stones.”

“Submarine,” he corrects, with a sly smile. “I dove and got one off the bottom and used it to pound on the side.”

“Pretty deep, though,” I say.

“I’ve dove deeper.”

“But the sharks?”

“I jus’ ignored ’em.”

“Jimmy, I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Thank me? You’s the one saved my life.”

I take a deep breath.

“If I told myself the truth, I think I’d have traded places with you as soon as they put that helmet on my head. I was scared, Jimmy. Really scared.”

“You was brave,” he says. “Besides, it was my fault. My ego was wrapped up in winnin’ those games. I shoulda listened to ya. I shoulda kept focused on findin’ that encryption key.”

“Does this mean you’re coming back with me?”

Jimmy smiles, his eyes welling up.

“If you still want me.”

“Will you take the serum?”

“Does it really mean that much to you?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say, my eyes welling up now too. “It does.”

“Then I’ll take it.”

We look at one another for a solid minute or two, not even bothering to dry our eyes. Finally, I break the emotional silence: “Well, let’s quit blubbering like a couple of babies and go roust up some food. Help me get up, will you? Maybe old Riley down there can whip us together some shark-fin soup.”

The next morning, Finn is nowhere to be found.

Most of the guests who came for the games have stuck around, quietly gathering in groups on the terraces, as if they’re not quite ready yet to let yesterday’s excitement go. Some sit and repeat quiet prayers, others kneel, facing the Park Service crest on the submarine’s sail, bowing their foreheads to touch the grass. The workmen disassemble the crane, apparently on Finn’s orders, and light a bonfire from its timbers. Jimmy and I sit together on the castle steps, with Junior lying at our feet, and watch the black smoke rising into the gray, morning sky.

I haven’t been on the submarine yet, but Jimmy’s been back and forth a few times, testing out a raft that Finn had his workers make to float us past the sharks. Jimmy ran a line from the raft to the submarine’s deck so we can pull ourselves out. Of course, the professor hasn’t shown his face yet, still recoiling from the light, and, I suspect, more than just a little fearful of the islanders, who Jimmy said he referred to several times as savages.

The door behind us opens, and we both turn, hoping to see Finn. Instead, Bree steps out and sits between us on the steps, offering us a swig from her canteen of spiked tea. In a way, we both owe our lives to her: Jimmy for her teaching me a crash course in handball, me for her chasing down Jimmy and telling him what they were doing to me after I’d beaten him.

“I want to thank you two,” she says.

“What for?” I ask.

“Giving me my life back. All I ever dreamed about before was winning the games to honor my family, so I never planned a life for myself. But now that Finn says they’re over, I’ve got many years ahead to think about. It’s like being reborn.”

I hand her my reading slate that I had Jimmy retrieve from the submarine.

“Here’s something to keep you busy then.”

“What’s this?” she asks, looking it over.

“A gift,” I say. “It’s got about five hundred books in it. Let me show you. This button turns it on. Here’s the library. Look. And the professor says the battery should be good for about five years. I thought maybe you could copy your favorites down on paper in that time, so they’ll never be lost.”

Bree throws her arms around my neck.

“You’re the best,” she says. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Then she turns and hugs Jimmy. “And you too, Jimmy. I’m gonna miss you.”

None of us knows what else to say, so Bree sits between us, exploring her new electronic library while Jimmy and I watch as the strange scene plays out in front of the castle. Groups of people sitting on the lawns softly chanting and bowing toward the submarine. The workers standing around the burning crane, spitting their chew juice into the flames. The raft rocking in the waves, tied off to the seawall with a line.

After what seems like an eternity, the door opens again. But again, it’s not Finn. Instead, Riley stands in the doorway and shakes his head. I stand and face him.

“He’s not coming?”

“I’m afraid not, sir,” he replies. “But he wanted me to wish you safe travels. And to give you this.”

Riley holds out the David’s broken hand.

“But that’s not—”

“I think you’ll find it’s what you need,” Riley cuts me off.

I take it from his hands. It’s much lighter than I remember it being, and it’s not cold like marble should be. Jimmy steps up beside me and looks at it.

“Thought ya said that wasn’t it?”

“Let’s just go,” I say.

“Ya sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Before we go, Riley reaches into his pocket and presents Jimmy the championship game ball.

“Lord Finn wanted you to have this, sir.” Then he bows and retreats back into the castle.

Jimmy slips the ball into his pocket, and we all walk down to the seawall steps with Junior following behind us. Jimmy steadies the raft as I step aboard. Then he turns and hugs Bree. When they part, he unties the shoreline and steps onto the raft.

“Come on, Junior,” he calls. Junior stays put, sitting on the seawall steps. “Come on, boy. Hop aboard.” Junior whimpers, turning his head to look back at the castle. Jimmy turns to me and frowns. “I think he wants to stay.”

“Maybe he’ll be happier here,” I say.

Jimmy looks out toward the submarine, then back to the castle. When his eyes settle on Junior again, he looks sad.

“Come on, boy. Hop on.”

Junior whimpers again but doesn’t move.

Jimmy steps off the raft and scoops Junior up and hugs him. Junior licks his face, his front paws hanging over Jimmy’s shoulders, his rear legs hanging like a doll from Jimmy’s arms.

“I’ll keep an eye on him for you,” Bree says.

After their long embrace, Jimmy sets Junior down again, steps onto the raft, and picks up the waterside line and pulls us toward the submarine. He doesn’t look back. But I do.

Bree stands on the seawall steps watching us go. Junior sits at her feet watching, too. I think he might jump in and swim after us, but he doesn’t. As they shrink into the distance, Junior yips twice, as if saying goodbye. Bree reaches down to pet him. I look at Jimmy and see that his eyes are wet. Or maybe it’s just the cold wind coming off the water. But I doubt it.

We climb aboard the submarine and set the raft adrift.

“No turning back now, I guess.”

“No,” Jimmy mumbles. “No turnin’ back.”

Jimmy pauses at the hatch, as if he might look back, but he takes a deep breath and descends into the submarine without once turning around. I pause for one last look. The fire burns. The people mingle on the lawns, watching. Bree sits now on the steps, her arm around Junior, sitting next to her. Then I see Finn step from the castle door into the morning light. We stand looking at one another across the water. His tunic parts as he lifts his arm to wave goodbye, and even from this distance I can see the bloody, bandaged stump where his hand had been.

I hold his plaster-encased hand up for him to see, cradled in my palms with care, a small sign of our thanks for what he’s parted with, then I carry it with me down into the submarine.