Forbidden (The Seeker Saga, #2) (7 page)

Madison came running back a few minutes later.  “The elevator’s ready,” she said.  “And there’s no one around.  We have to hurry.”

Rob grunted as he picked the man up, and it took him a few efforts to position him across his shoulders without losing balance, but he managed it eventually.  From where I sat, I could not say that there was a body hidden in the carpet.  That was a relief.  If we met anyone on our way to the caves, things would be suspicious.  Well, not
that
suspicious.

“Alright,” Ashley said.  “Everything’s ready.  Tracy, you’re going to stay here?”

“She’s been through enough in one night,” Liz volunteered before I could answer.  “I’ll stay with her for a bit.  Ashley, you know the way there?  You can lead Rob and everyone?”  Ashley nodded.  “Make sure Eve comes with you, too.  And Madison.  I’ll show up after I talk to Tracy.”

“Alright,” Ashley said.  Everyone turned to leave. Before they could go I burst out, “Wait!  If any of you come back, knock on my door three times.  Like this.”  I demonstrated.  “That way I’ll know it’s you.”

“Good thinking,” Liz said.  “You guys let Eve know, too.”

“Of course,” Madison said quickly.  “She’ll know.  Rob?”

Rob nodded. The next thing I knew, he was carrying the body out of the room.  Madison stepped up behind him, with Ashley at her side.  As the door swung shut, I exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.  Having the man, unconscious or not, out of my room felt like the first step to recovering from this nightmare.

Chapter Three – A Feeling of Safety

Liz went over to the door and clicked it shut.  When she turned to face me, her eyes were wide.  It was the first time I’d ever seen her actually look…
frightened
.

“You alright?” she asked, walking over to me.  She began wringing her hands, something I’d never seen her do before.  “Seeing that man in your room… unnerved me,” she admitted.

“You didn’t show it earlier,” I said.

Liz waved away the remark.  “I couldn’t in front of the other girls.  Whether I like it or not, they tend to look to me as their… leader.  In a way.  You’ve been here long enough to see that.  I guess it’s something I inherited because I was the one to discover the crystals.  But you – you’re the only person I look up to.”

“
Me
?” I said incredulously.  “What do you mean?”

Liz gave a slightly nervous laugh.  “You saved me in the caves.  That’s one.  But, how calmly you’ve taken this in makes two.  I mean, look at you!  Somebody came after you in your
own room
and you seem just fine!  I’d be hysterical if I were in your situation.”

I gave a small, uneasy laugh.  “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.  Everything happened so fast.  I was so lucky Rob came up to my room.  He took control over the situation.  And then you guys showed up.  I… I don’t know if I even had time to process everything yet.”

“But you do know something,” Liz said, taking a seat on the bed next to me.  “You wanted to speak to me privately when I went to get the key, didn’t you?  Before Rob jumped in.”

“I didn’t think you picked up on it,” I said.  “That’s very astute of you.  You’re right.  I wanted to talk to you.  Eve basically said it while you and Rob were out of the room, anyway.  I… don’t think the attack was random.  And I don’t think the man was trying to kill me.  He wanted me unconscious, although I don’t know why.  But I suspect it has something to do with the crystals.”

“Do you have yours with you?” Liz asked. 

I nodded, pulling out the small bag from my pocket.  “Right here.  If I had it on me when the man attacked, I’m sure I could have done something to ward him off.  But it was out of reach.”

“You don’t think he came to
steal
the crystal, do you?”

“Maybe.  But that doesn’t make much sense.  If he wanted it, he could have taken it.  Even if he sneaked into my room a half hour before me, that’d give him plenty of time to search my belongings and find it.”

“So then he wanted
you
,” Liz said.

“Or any of us,” I answered.  “The thing is, we don’t know
anything
right now.  We don’t know who he was.  We don’t know if he was acting alone.  We don’t even know how he got on the island!”

“Or past the front door and into your room,” Liz said.

“Or that,” I agreed.  “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you.  I think, after tonight, none of us should take any chances.  Any of us could be targeted in another attack.  We have only our crystals as protection.”

“You’re the only one who has hers…” Liz said slowly.

“I know.  But I think we all need to have them on hand now.  If someone else comes, we won’t be able to defend ourselves without the crystals.  The only reason I survived was because of Rob.  I don’t think he can take care of all of us at once.”

“That’s… unprecedented,” Liz said.  “I don’t know if the girls can control the desire well enough.  I don’t know if
I
can.”

“Just for tonight?” I begged.  “Until we figure out more about the man.  Please.  It’ll give me peace of mind.  Knowing that someone came after me… we all need to be protected.  The crystals are the only way to do it.”

“Right,” Liz nodded.  “No, I understand.”  She took a deep breath.  “In fact, I think I agree with you.  Tonight… well, tonight, a lot has changed.”

“Tomorrow, we can decide what to do,” I said.  “But for me, the other girls’ safety is a priority right now.  If they have their crystals, I’ll be able to sleep easy.  Well, easier.”

“Alright,” Liz said, pushing herself from the bed.  “I’ll go get the crystals and bring them to the girls in the caves.”

“I’ll come with—”

“No,” Liz shook her head.  “You stay here.  You’ve been through enough.  I’m sure you’re exhausted.  And it’s a long way to the lake.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.  I really
was
exhausted. But, at the same time, I didn’t want Liz to go by herself.  “I can muster up enough strength—”

“It’s fine, really,” Liz said.  She bent down to give me a little hug.  “You worry about yourself tonight.  I’m going to run.  The more I think about it, the more I realize how right you are about all of us needing protection.”  She gave a small laugh.  “Then again, maybe we’re just overreacting.  But I don’t think anybody could have expected what happened tonight.”

“Definitely not,” I said.

“Call me right away if you need anything,” Liz said, before turning and half-running to the door.  “And don’t worry.  Rob and the girls will take care of the man tonight.  Tomorrow morning, we’ll regroup.  I’ll see you then.”

“Bye—” I began, but Liz was already out the door.  I stood up, walked over, and threw the dead bolt on.  Just for good measure, I pushed my wardrobe in front of the door, too.  Nobody was going to come in without me knowing.

The tiredness I was feeling all day was quickly becoming more pronounced.  I returned to my bed, intending to go to sleep, but relaxation was a long time coming.  My mind was racing.  Who was the man? What did he want?  How were Rob and Eve and Madison and Ashley faring with him right now?  Was the attack a solitary occurrence, or would it come again?  I took the crystal out of its bag and held it tight in my palm.  Feeling it against my skin gave me some peace of mind against disturbing thoughts.  But even if someone else came again, how much could the crystal really help?  I had some control over it, but the other girls had barely any.  It was distressing how little we knew about the one thing that could protect us.

After ruminating on that for few minutes, I got up and retrieved Rob’s baseball bat from the floor.  It felt better to have a good, solid object in my hands.

It was dark outside, but no matter how tired I felt, sleep would not come.  I propped myself against the headboard of the bed and waited for something to happen.  One of the girls would return after they got the man into the caves, I was sure.  Waiting for that put me on edge. 

Every minute seemed to drag.  Even worse, my nerves were shot again. I jumped every time the wind blew against the side of the dorm or somebody passed my door.  I began checking my phone compulsively, hoping for a text message or a call from one of the girls, just to update me on what was going on.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, a knock came at the door.  My heart jumped to my throat, but the anxiety swooshed out of me when I recognized the knocking pattern.  I went to the door, pushed the wardrobe out of the way, and opened it.  I was expecting one of the girls, perhaps all of them, but there, at the door, stood Rob.  He looked… haggard.  Tired.  Unlike I’d ever seen him before.  The energy had clearly been yanked right out of him. The spirit his eyes usually showed was barely visible. 

He exhaled deeply when he saw me, as if in relief, and allowed himself in.  I stepped back to let him through.  He closed the door gently, taking extra care to tighten the lock. 

“It’s done,” he said as he turned to face me.  “We brought him right to the caves.”  He gave a forced laugh.  “I’d heard the stories of what was going on down there before the school was here, but I never believed them.  Now I’ve seen it with my own eyes!  There was a
prison cell
down there, Tracy.  With iron bars!  The lock had long since rusted, but Ashley had had the presence of mind to grab her bike lock on the way.  She knew all about it!  We put the man in there.  The bars are still strong.  Even if he somehow writhes out of his bonds, he won’t be getting out of the cell.”  Rob exhaled, and ran a hand through his hair.  “My phone’s blowing up with all the guys wondering where I am.  I’ve never missed a pickup game before.  But after what happened tonight, I don’t know if I can look at a baseball bat the same way again…” he shook his head,  “… that’s not the point.  Madison and Eve are both still down there.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah.  Said they were going to meet Liz.  And the look that Eve had in her eyes… Well, I wouldn’t want to be that man when he wakes up.  She seems to have taken a very personal interest in what he did to you.  I didn’t even know you two were that close!  Anyway, Ashley came back to the dorm with me.  Said she needed to get something from her room.  She ran straight up when we arrived.  I think she’s going to meet Liz and go back down to the caves.  But, I wanted to stop and check on you.  With the way everyone’s running around, it almost seems like they’ve forgotten about you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that…” I started.

“
I
haven’t forgotten,” Rob emphasized in a strangely reassuring way.  “—how are you doing?”

“Fine. 
Better
.  I mean, it’s not easy—”

“I can imagine,” he replied.

“But thanks to you I’m still alive.”  I did my best to give him a grateful smile.  “I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t shown up.”

“Blind luck,” Rob sighed.  “Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

“Thank you,” I said again.  “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

Rob shrugged it off.  “It was nothing.  I just acted on instinct.  But…”

“But…?” I probed.

“But there’s something going on I don’t know about, isn’t there?” he asked.  Then he shook his head.  “No, don’t tell me.  You have your secrets.  But I’m not blind.  The way all of you stuck together the moment you saw the man tipped me off, at first.  You were surprised, of course, but you weren’t
completely
shocked.  Liz and Eve, especially.  It was almost like they expected it.”

“Maybe they were so shocked they didn’t know
how
to react,” I offered.

“Maybe,” Rob said.  “But I have a feeling there’s something more.  Like I said, I’m not blind.  And now, with all of them running behind my back, well, that just about confirms things to me.  There’s something going on here I don’t know about, and you’re in the middle of it, Tracy.  This isn’t related to the…
dangerous
… thing you told me about when we first met?  Up in the observatory of my dorm?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he shook his head again.  “No, don’t tell me… unless you can.  Unless you want to.  You have your secrets, and I won’t pry.”  He exhaled another breath, rubbed his hands together, and ran them through his hair.  This was by far the most frazzled I’d ever seen him.  “Well, I came here to check on you,” he said. “And to let you know that everything’s been done.  I’ve been thinking – on the way back, mostly – and I realized we can’t keep the man hidden forever.  We need to have somebody from the school involved—somebody with enough authority to know what to do.  I mentioned it to Ashley, but she was adamantly against it.  Immediately, too!  It’s like she wouldn’t see the sense in it.  But I guess that’s something for you girls to decide.  I won’t go tattling behind your back.  If the five of you are all in it together, you’re the ones who get to choose what to do.  But whatever you decide, know that I’ll be on your side.”  He paused to give me a smile, and reached up to touch my cheek gently with his thumb.  “Anyway, I’m happy to see you doing well.  What you went through was nothing short of terrifying.  Even for me.  And you’re handling it better than I am right now!”