It wasn’t a suggestion anymore. There was panic in her voice. She knew something.
“Come on,” said Jerren, leading the way.
We left the clinic by the broken front door. The street was as quiet and desolate as the rest of the island. Alice looked around frantically.
“What do you see?” I asked her.
“Nothing,” she said. “That’s the problem . . . nothing.”
We headed north along the main street, Ananias leading the way. I caught a glimpse of our ship through the gaps between buildings. Tarn and Marin had lowered the anchors and moored now, but neither of them was on deck. There was no other vessel on the water. Unless the pirates had already boarded the ship, which seemed impossible, everyone on board would be fine.
Without warning, Alice veered off and approached the battered building to our right. In the space where the window used to be, three more dead pirates swung from ropes attached to a wooden beam. But unlike the other body we’d found, these showed early signs of Plague.
“They didn’t want to die of Plague,” said Alice. “So they took their own lives.”
“But how did they get Plague in the first place?” I asked. “One or two rats couldn’t do this.”
“Maybe the pirates crossed to the mainland,” suggested Ananias.
“No way. They’re not stupid. Anyway, why are the bodies hanging here? Someone should’ve buried them. Or released them to the water like the ones on the raft.”
“Maybe there’s no one else left,” said Jerren.
My father approached the dead pirates. “Or maybe they just haven’t had the chance to dispose of the bodies yet. I don’t think these men have been dead for long.”
“What would’ve stopped someone from disposing of bodies?”
“Maybe us,” said Ananias. “Maybe we’ve been seen.”
Alice pointed to the northwest. “We’re not the only new arrivals. There’s the tip of a mast just above those trees over there.”
“I don’t see anything,” said Ananias.
“Just trust me, all right? There’s a mast. Judging by its height, I’d say the ship is a big one. At least as big as Dare’s.”
“You’re saying you can see something the rest of us can’t?” Ananias had held his tongue earlier, but now he demanded answers. “Alice?”
In response, she raised her hand. I figured she was playing for time, still determined to keep her element a secret from everyone else. But as she sank to her knees and put her ear to the ground, it was clear that she was engaging her element again. Brows furrowed, she nodded slightly as she picked up a sound that resonated along the street.
She snapped her head up. Her eyes grew wide as she stared into the distance. I couldn’t see anything but a shadow crossing the cracked surface of the street.
How could there be a shadow when the sky was cloudless?
“Run!” Alice screamed. “To the ship. Now!”
I felt frozen. So did everyone else, all of us transfixed by the shadow moving toward us, its color shifting from mottled gray to black.
There were rats on Roanoke Island after all. Thousands of them. And they were coming straight for us.
We ran back along the street, occasionally stumbling on the uneven ground. We were heading away from the ship, but we couldn’t do anything about that. All that mattered was getting away and staying together.
We’d only gone a hundred yards when the familiar Skeleton Town intersection came into view. The water tower loomed ahead of us. The hurricane shelter would be just to our right. Turning left would take us toward the water. It was our only hope.
My heart was pounding against my chest. I gasped shallow breaths. With every stride I told myself there must be an explanation, and that we’d find it as soon as we returned to the ship.
I was wrong.
Alice skidded to a halt first, arms in front of her in case she fell. The rest of us stopped too, because sliding around the corner of the intersection like a vast black mist were thousands of rats. They moved quickly, never breaking formation. Moments earlier, they’d been silent. Now their relentless squeaking filled the air.
This wasn’t improbable anymore. It was impossible.
I spun around. The first group of rats had made up ground on us. “What’s happening?” I yelled.
“Combine,” my father shouted. “It’ll frighten them away.”
At first, the word meant nothing to me. Even when I realized that he was talking about combining elements, I hesitated. My element was invasive, and with only Alice within arm’s reach, I couldn’t bring myself to make the connection. I’d stolen her element once, and injured her another time. She was better off without me.
“Combine, Thom!” she yelled, lunging for my hand.
It was a moment before I let my energy flow through her. The flame was weak, and hardly deterred the rats at all. So I increased the power until the fire shooting from Alice’s right hand burned the ground before us in a two-yard arc. The size of the flame caught us both by surprise. The heat was so intense that I had to pull away. But it still didn’t stop the rats. They surged forward again, crawling over cremated carcasses as if they were no obstacle at all.
Behind us, Ananias and my father were combining too, another fire that scorched the ground. They had more control over their elements than us, but somehow the flame was smaller. Rats circled around it, finding cool spots through which to launch an attack.
Jerren raised his hands in an attempt to redirect the hideous squeaking sound, but it was coming from everywhere at once. His concentration was shot, energy diffused, and he accidentally redirected the noise straight at us. It hit us with the force of a hurricane. Alice and I clapped our hands over our ears as the rats pressed their advantage.
Face twisted in agony, Alice ripped her hands away from her ears. “Again,” she screamed. “Combine.”
The sound moved beyond us as she grabbed my hand. But I was petrified now, and disoriented. Energy surged from me in uncontrollable bursts. When we cut down one swathe of rats, another took its place. It was like watching waves breaking on the shore, one after another, each larger and more threatening than the last.
“More,” cried Alice.
I threw all the power I could muster. This time the flame engulfed everything in a twenty-yard radius. If the other elementals had been in front of us instead of behind, they’d have been burned to death. The buildings to the right and left were bathed in flame.
Ananias and my father were close—no more than fifteen yards away—but rats were filling the gaps between us, forcing us farther apart. Jerren was drifting away too. We were three islands now, isolated and out of touch.
That’s when the rats attacked.
It happened in a single moment, a surge so organized, it was as if they’d been waiting for an instruction to pounce. Now they clawed at us, scratching, biting. Alice and I combined again, but she was afraid of bringing the flames too close to me, and the fire did nothing to stop the rats behind us. I used my free hand to bat them away. When I caught a glimpse of my fingers, they were covered in blood. My blood.
I let out a cry. It wasn’t about the pain—all I felt was a warm, wet heat spreading across my back and legs—but because I knew that we would die here. Maybe we’d be clawed to death, or die of Plague, but one thing was certain: There was no hope of escape.
I was still screaming when the rats fell away. Again, it happened in an instant. And not just to me, but to the others as well. The rats took up positions around us, our own private guards.
The rats fell silent. Once again, Skeleton Town was thrown into eerie quiet.
“Where are you?” Alice shouted. “Show yourself.”
“Who are you talking to?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. She was staring at the burning buildings. Smoke had engulfed the street, and
I couldn’t see through it. But I could see something in it.
Two figures emerged: one tall, one short. A man and a boy. The boy was young, not much older than Dennis. He had an almost feral appearance, and cowed as the man bullied him along.
As they drew closer, something about the man seemed familiar. I’d seen him before, on the beach at Hatteras Island. Then it came to me: He was the young man who had attempted to murder Dare. But Dare had gotten the better of the upstart, and had cut off the young pirate’s finger.
“Jossi,” I said.
Alice didn’t reply. Maybe she’d already worked it out for herself. Or maybe, I realized, she was transfixed by the way the rats scurried alongside them—not attacking, or rounding up, or threatening in any way. It was like Jossi and the boy were immune to the rats . . . or worse, as if they were controlling them.
The boy was speaking to Jossi in whispers I couldn’t hear. I read his body language just fine, though—he didn’t want to be here. This was being done against his will.
“What’s he saying?” I asked Alice.
“He’s saying . . . please don’t make me hurt them.” She let the words sink in. “We have to get to the ship, Thomas.”
Yes, we did. This wasn’t a rescue mission for my mother anymore. We’d all been exposed to the Plague. We needed to warn the others what was going on.
As if they were responding to what Alice was thinking, the rats edged closer. But they weren’t behaving like rats at all. They were clearly being controlled by the boy. He watched us from thirty yards away, read our body language, and predicted our next move. With thousands of rats at hand, he wielded a weapon more lethal than any I could comprehend—far more powerful than an element.
Alice raised a hand to cover her mouth. “There’s a passage between the two buildings on the right,” she whispered. “On my command, run to the shore.”
What about Ananias and my father? I wanted to ask. What about Jerren? But there was no way we could all escape. The important thing was to get word to the others on the ship that our mission had gone disastrously wrong.
As the rats crawled over her feet, Alice lowered her hand. I braced myself, even though I was sure we stood no chance of getting away.
“Now!” she shouted.
I sprinted to the right, crunching rats underfoot. Others surrounded me, but I just kept running. They bit and clawed, but I’d already been exposed to the Plague. The pain of the attack was nothing compared to what would await me as the disease took hold.
I slipped between the buildings and stumbled on the loose ground, but I didn’t fall and I didn’t slow down. The rats stayed with me at first, but with every step I left more of them behind. I glanced over my shoulder to check that Alice was still with me.
She was lying beside the entrance to the passageway. Rats covered her so completely that I could only recognize her by the occasional flashes of skin as she fought them off. Tears sprang to my eyes. I wanted to help her, but in my mind I heard her yelling at me to keep running, to warn the others about the new enemy we were facing.
The rats had caught up to me again, so I ran faster than ever. Beyond the buildings the route to the shoreline opened up, a landscape of wild grass and rubble. It presented more of an obstacle to the rats than to me. I could put some distance between myself and the rats out here.
The sound of someone shouting distracted me. It was coming from behind me, but above me too. As I looked back, I tripped and fell.
Just as well too, as a bullet struck the ground just ahead of me. Dare’s men were still in Skeleton Town, all right. As our eyes met, the pirate lowered his rifle once more and took aim.
CHAPTER 19
I leaped up and ran. There was a low wall ahead, so I darted to the left. A moment later, a bullet grazed the brick—another lucky escape.
Surrendering wasn’t an option. I could as easily die later as now, so I pushed onward.
I don’t know why I changed direction again—maybe it was Alice’s voice in my head—but something told me I had to, that until I was out of range, running in a straight line was just making the pirate’s job easier. After that, I zigzagged through the battered remains of Skeleton Town, always keeping the ship in my sights. Sounds of gunfire shattered the quiet, but it wasn’t long before the shots grew fewer. Then they stopped.
I was out of range.
The shoreline was only a half mile away. A mixture of sweat and blood dripped down my face and along my arms as I willed myself to keep sprinting. My legs felt bludgeoned. My lungs screamed. The wound in my chest had reopened yet again. I welcomed the feeling of panic—it was all that kept me from breaking down.
A quarter mile to go and I was slowing. I forced out one step after another, but the footing grew softer as I approached the shoreline. It wasn’t like running on sand, but it was close.
Shouts from nearby jolted me. I looked over my shoulder and saw four pirates running after me, rifles slung across their backs. They were fresh. Their pace was faster. Even if they didn’t catch me, they’d be within range again soon.
I thought of Alice lying on the ground, covered in rats. Brave Alice. She’d given the order to run, but had let me go first. It should’ve been her running to the ship as the rats picked me to pieces. She’d sacrificed herself for me. I couldn’t let her down.
Two hundred yards to go. A shot rang out. It missed, but I imagined the bullet slicing through the air beside me. More shouting. And something dark in my peripheral vision.
I glanced left and right. Somehow rats were converging on me again. But they couldn’t have made it from the street already, which meant that these were different rats. I’d thought there were thousands of rats, but I was wrong. There were tens of thousands. Maybe a hundred thousand. Enough to wipe out every human being. And Jossi and the boy controlled them.
Solution is death, Tessa had said. Finally I realized what she had meant by that. She hadn’t been talking about Griffin at all. No wonder she’d been so desperate for me to stay on the ship.
I pounded out one stride after another, keeping an equal distance from both packs of rats. The ground was marshy here, but that would be harder for the rats than for me. The pirates, on the other hand—
The sound of the gunshot hit me at the same moment as the bullet itself. There was a flash of white-hot pain as it grazed my arm, followed by a dull heat. Exhausted, delirious, I told myself that he’d missed. I took it as a sign that I was winning.
I wasn’t aware of the moment that land gave way to water. I just kept going until I couldn’t bring my legs above the surface. Then I began swimming. My right arm wouldn’t rise as high as my left, but I dragged it up and around anyway. My legs, still burning, flapped against the water.
Another bullet zipped through the water next to me. The pirates would be closing in again. How far would I be from the shore when they got there? Fifty yards? Less? Close enough that they could hit me with ease, that much was certain. My strokes were useless now.
Another shot, and another, so close that I felt the bullets shift the water beside me. I wasn’t going to get away after all. I knew that now.
With a last look at the ship in the distance, I took a deep breath and dove underwater. I counted eight strokes and resurfaced. Another breath. Under again. I only managed five strokes this time. I had no idea if I was still heading for the ship.
Something slapped at my arms—a bullet, I thought. I broke the surface and dove under again. The slapping resumed, and it wasn’t bullets, or a fish. I flailed my arms, trying to fight off whatever it was, but it pressed against me, holding me tightly.
That’s when I realized it was a person. Someone with the element of water.
I couldn’t see anything, but I figured it must be Rose. I was too disoriented to wonder how she had recovered from her injuries enough to help me. I just relaxed into her arms and let her speed me along.
The pressure of the water against my head was proof of how quickly we were moving. In moments I would be out of range of the gunmen. There was no way they’d be able to catch up to me now.
As my breath was about to give out, we surfaced momentarily. In that instant, I discovered that it wasn’t Rose at all. It was Marin.
We went under again. Her legs fluttered behind us, as quick as a butterfly’s wings and as powerful as a pelican’s. The next time we emerged, I couldn’t see the shore at all because we were hidden behind the ship.
Things happened around me in a blur of motion. A rope landed beside me, but I couldn’t think of what to do with it.
“Climb, Thomas,” came a voice from above us. “You must climb.”
Still I stared at the rope. Beside me, Marin floated on her back, face frozen in an agonized mask. I couldn’t piece it all together.
“She’ll be all right,” Tarn implored me. “She just needs time to recover.”
It was my echo again. During the few days we’d spent on Sumter, I’d been able to stop obsessing about every fleeting touch. Now that we were on Roanoke, the memories of everyone I’d ever hurt came flooding back.
Add Marin to that list. She’d known what rescuing me would entail, and she’d come anyway. But why? She hated me.
I grasped the rope and eased it around her torso and under her armpits, careful not to touch her. I tied it off with a double hitch knot. I didn’t want her to drift away from the ship—even someone with the element of water could, presumably, drown.
Tarn had tied her end of the rope to the ship’s railing. Hand over hand, feet coiled around the rope, I began to climb. I thought of Rose in the ship, and Alice in Skeleton Town, and almost gave up. Then I glimpsed Marin below me, and Tarn above, leaning over the rail, straining to help me back on board. Just two more pulls and I’d be there.
I lost my grip as I reached for the rail, but Tarn had a tight hold on my tunic. She heaved me over the rail and onto the deck.