Forbidden (The Seeker Saga, #2) (13 page)

“Eve, wait!” I said, running after her.  She turned back to frown.  “I know you want to help.  And I know we have to find out what’s going on.  But
torture
isn’t the answer!”

Eve regarded me silently, and then let out a small sigh.  “I know,” she said in a tight voice.  “It’s just… all this is making me anxious.  The man down there is the only one who can give answers, but if he won’t talk…”

“We’ll find what we need,” I promised.  “He’s been here for less than a day.  Once he realizes there’s no getting out, he’ll get desperate.  We just need to outwait him. That’s all.  And we can easily do that.  We have food, water, and our beds.  He has nothing here.”

“I guess,” Eve agreed reluctantly.  She sighed again.  “If we’re not going to get anything out of him now, we might as well go see what the others found.”

I nodded, and we started for the cave entrance.  We found Rob waiting a short way away from the lantern light.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“He won’t talk,” Eve answered. 

“Have you eaten?” I asked suddenly.

Rob gave a curt chuckle.  “Don’t worry about me.  The girls brought me breakfast this morning.”

“Oh, that’s good,” I said.  “We’re going to meet the others now.  You should probably come.  You can get out of this dank cave.”

Rob shook his head.  “I’m not going anywhere.  I’m not about to leave that man alone down here.”

Eve looked at me and shrugged, then continued forward.  I went after her. When I passed Rob, I touched his arm gently and whispered, “Thank you.”  He nodded and gave a tight smile.

The journey above ground seemed to take less time than the trip into the caves.  When we emerged into the forest, heavy clouds covered the sky and there was a light drizzle of rain falling.

“I’ll text Ashley,” I told Eve.  “They went to the library, right?  Maybe we can meet them there.”

“Yeah,” Eve agreed.  I took my phone and typed out a quick message.

“Might as well get going while we wait for a reply,” I said, starting in what I thought was the right direction.  Eve grabbed my shoulder with a laugh and turned me the other way.  “It’s over here,” she told me.

Chapter Seven – Into the Night

  When we reached the edge of the woods, I saw that the path from the main yard to the dorms was full of students.  The rain had started picked up. Everyone on the path was hurrying in one direction or the other trying to get shelter.

“We should get an umbrella,” I suggested.

Eve shrugged.  “I don’t mind the weather.  And I don’t have one anyway.”

“I think I have one in my room,” I said.  We could see the dorms from where we were.  “Ashley said they’d wait in the library for us.  It’s a long walk there, and the weather doesn’t look like it’ll be getting any better.”

“Alright,” Eve agreed. “But let’s be quick.”

Nobody gave us a second glance as we stepped into the flow of people.  The jacket I had on provided only minimal cover from the rain. I could feel the shirt beneath getting damp.  I glanced at Eve. She really didn’t seem to mind getting wet.

There was an influx of people heading into the junior dorm when we arrived.  A few intrepid souls ventured to kick a soccer ball around in the courtyard. Almost everyone else was headed indoors.  When we walked through the main doors, I saw that the foyer of the building was unusually busy.  Every seat on the couches was taken.  I recognized a fair number of people – I lived here with them, after all. But I had too much on my mind to say hi to anybody.

“I’ll wait down here,” Eve said, cutting away from me.  I glanced after her, but couldn’t tell where she was going.  I assumed she had seen somebody she knew.

 I bounded up the stairs to the third floor.  The sound of conversation from the foyer echoed throughout the whole building. Oddly, there was no one on my floor.  I frowned, but didn’t think much of it.  I was hoping that Liz and the others had been more successful in their venture than Eve and I had been. 

I stepped quickly to my door, eager to change into something drier. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I barely noticed passing Chris’s old room.  I pulled the lanyard from my pocket, but just as I was about to place the key in the lock I dropped it to the floor.  Tsking irritably, I bent down to pick it up – and froze.  For a split second, I thought I heard voices from inside my room.

I rose slowly. 
Voices
?  It was just my mind playing tricks on me.  I held my breath, and… heard them again!  They were very clearly coming from behind my door.

I pressed myself against the wall and felt my pulse quicken.  Somebody was inside my room again.  I felt for the crystal at my chest, and finding it there, breathed a sigh of relief.  I wasn’t helpless this time.

The presence of the crystal restored my courage.  I looked around, and saw that I was still the only one on this floor.  I peeked at my door, and realized with a start that it was slightly ajar.  I had been in such a hurry earlier that I didn’t notice it.

I took a deep breath.  Maybe I was just imaging things… But maybe not.  With extreme care, I pushed the door open just a crack and looked inside.

Even with the crystal around my neck, my heart jumped to my throat.

There were two men in my room.  Both were garbed in black.  Both were facing the other way.  And both were tearing through all my things.  There were clothes lying scattered on the floor.  Books and papers were all over the place.  I watched, terrified, as one of the men dug through my closet, flinging garments over his back, while the other searched through my desk. 
For the crystal
?  Instinctively I clutched at my chest, feeling it in the palm of my hand.  That was what they were after.  I was sure of it.

As quietly as I could, I turned away. Just then a snippet of conversation drifted through the air to me.

“…It’s small like a diamond, so it could be anywhere,” one of the men grunted.  “But that’s what the boss wants.  He said it’s somewhere in here.  She’s the one who has it.”

That left absolutely no doubt in my mind.  I turned and ran.

I sprinted down the stairs, my heart beating through my chest.  On the last flight, I spotted Eve in the crowd, sitting on some guy’s lap whom I’ve never seen before.  I raced to her.

“Hey!” she exclaimed.  “What’s the hurry?  You don’t even have your umbre—”  She cut off as I grabbed her wrist and yanked her up. 

“It’s not safe,” I hissed, trying to speak low enough so only she could hear.  There were other kids all around us, which made me feel a little less jittery.  There was safety and anonymity in public, but I couldn’t tell Eve what I saw with all these people around.  “We need to talk in private. 
Now
.”

She must have picked up on my urgency, because she nodded solemnly and followed me to the door.  She didn’t even turn back to say bye to the guy she was just with.  As soon as we were out of the dorm, she rounded on me.  “What was that all about?” she hissed.

I looked to my right, and saw a small circle of guys smoking close by.  “Not here!” I said, and rushed her to the side of the building.  The rain had gotten even stronger while we were inside.  It was nearing dusk, too.  This was not the pleasant golden dusk that promised a peaceful night.  This was the miserable type of dusk where everything slowly darkened around you until you couldn’t see your hand in front of your nose anymore.

Once we were away from the main doors, and away from anyone who could overhear, I turned to Eve and told her what happened.  Everything came out in a rush.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Eve said as I finished.  I don’t think I took a single breath in explaining things to her.  “There are men in your room.  Right
now
?”

“Yes, now!” I emphasized.  I kept looking over my shoulder.  Every sound I heard in the distance spooked me.  The rain was really coming down.  Fat, cold drips hit my face, sliding down the length of my nose and matting my hair, but I didn’t care.  I was getting soaked, but I didn’t care.  We were in real danger now.  Who were the men?  Were they related to the attacker?  They must be.  But
how
?  “They were after the crystal!”

“You have it with you?” Eve asked.

“Here,” I said, pointing to my chest.  Ever since I put it around my neck I stopped feeling the pull from it.  I decided it was time to tell Eve.  Enough time had passed with it there without me feeling any temptation.  The last thing I wanted was to give false hope, but it had worked for me so far.

I explained to Eve what I found, and she gave a massive sigh of relief.  “I’ve been fighting the temptation ever since Liz handed it to me,” she admitted.  “If what you found works… it’s a miracle!”

I nodded, but my mind was elsewhere.  “We need to get off the island,” I said.  “We can’t stay here.  I can’t go to my room.  People know about us!”

Eve nodded.  “The others!” she exclaimed.  “They have to know.”

“We’ll call them,” I said.  I took my phone out, cradling it against the rain.  It was lucky I had it.  I could have easily left it in my room that morning, and it would have been impossible to retrieve.  I dialed Liz.  The phone rang.  And rang.  And rang.  And then it went to her answering machine.  My eyes widened with fear.  What if something had happened to her?  What if the others were already caught?  A gust of wind rustled the trees beside us, causing me to jump.  “No answer,” I told Eve.

“I’ll try Madison,” she said.  “You call Ashley.”

I nodded, and dialed Ashley’s number.  I waited as the line rang.  And rang.  And rang.  And rang some more.  Again, there was no answer. 

I started breathing hard.  I felt a fit of panic about to rise up in me, and tried to force it down.  It didn’t help.  Eve was focused intently on the phone at her ear, but even her eyes were wide.  I realized her hands were trembling.  Mine were shaking too.  After a tense moment, Eve shook her head.  “No answer,” she said gravely.

I started to imagine the worst.  I had lucked out by not running straight into my room, but the others hadn’t been so lucky.  All three of them, caught.  Helpless.  There was nobody to save them.  How many others were there like the man in the cave?  How many like the ones in my room?  How many were coming after us?  How many knew about the crystals?  The CIA stamp flashed in my mind, and a bout of dizziness threatened to take over.  The government was in on it, too.  Just what had we gotten ourselves into?  I never asked for this.  None of us did!

 With a start, I realized my phone was ringing.  I looked at the caller display.  It was Liz.  Glorious relief blossomed within me.  I showed Eve the phone quickly, then answered.

“Liz!” I exclaimed.  “Oh, my God! I thought something bad happened!”

“Bad?” Liz sounded confused.  “We were just in the library and couldn’t pick up the phone.  When you called all three of us, we figured it was something urgent.”

“It is!” I said breathlessly, and quickly explained what had happened.  Liz was silent for a few moments after I finished.  I could hear her heavy breathing on the other side.

“Where are you?” she asked finally.

“Behind the dorms,” I answered.

“Go somewhere public,” she urged.  “The courtyard.  The lobby.  Anything.  Go where other students are.  I don’t know who the men in your room are, but I don’t think they’ll try anything if there are others around.”

I peeked around the side of the building.  The front of the courtyard was abandoned.  Even the guys who had been smoking were gone.  Everyone who had been outside before had come in to find shelter from the rain.  I was scared. I motioned for Eve to follow me, and sneaked around to look through the doors into the lobby.  Even there, most of the people had retired to their rooms. 

“Where?” I asked Liz.  I explained the situation to her.  Eve mouthed something to me, and I took the phone away from my ear to listen.

“We can go into the woods,” Eve said.  “Nobody knows them as well as us.  We can meet the others there.”

I thought about it for a second.  With nightfall nearing, the woods would be a dark and scary place.  But they also gave us shelter, and cover.  Somebody could hide in there for weeks without being discovered.  I nodded my confirmation.

“We’ll go into the forest,” I told Liz.  “Meet us there.”

“We’ll come as quickly as we can,” she promised.

“Just be careful,” I warned, and she hung up.  Just then another realization struck.  “Rob!” I exclaimed to Eve.  “What if something’s happened to him?  He’s still in the caves!”

“We were just there,” Even said levelly.  “And nobody knows where the entrance is other than us.  The men who you saw obviously know where your room is, but they have no way of knowing where Rob is.  Don’t worry.  He’s probably the safest of us all.”

Reluctantly, I had to agree with her.  “Right,” I said.  “Good point.”  My eyes continued to dart from side to side, looking for any hint of a threat.

“Tracy, just breathe,” Eve said seriously.  “You have your crystal.  And you have me.  We’re far from helpless.”

“We don’t even know what we’re up against!” I countered.  “The people you know.  Can they really get us off the island?”