D. MacHale - SYLO

“We’ll never give up,” he said defiantly.

Tori gave me a questioning look.

“Stop talking! Go!” Kent barked.

The guard began his descent.

“What did that mean?” Tori asked. “And what did he mean by ‘you people’?”

“Who cares?” Kent replied. “By the time they make it back up, we’ll be long gone.”

Kent walked quickly to the edge and looked over to make sure that the two men continued to climb down.

I didn’t know what to think about the guard’s odd comment. I was too busy fighting to stay in control of my racing heart. I wondered how long the Ruby would be working on me. It seemed as though once it was in your system, so long as you called upon it, it gave you what you needed. It wasn’t until you forced yourself to calm down that the effects would lessen.

But it wasn’t time to calm down. Not yet.

“Oh my God,” Tori exclaimed. “Listen.”

At first all I heard was the sound of crashing surf. Before I could ask Tori what she meant, I heard it too.

“They’re back,” I said fearfully.

“Who’s back?” Kent asked.

Once again the eerie music floated down from the sky. We all looked up to see another formation of dark shadows approaching from the east.

“What the hell is that?” Kent asked.

The shadows moved fast, headed west toward the mainland. There looked to be about a dozen of the stingray-shaped objects, each emitting the same incongruous musical sound. They were moving fast, far faster than what we’d seen two nights before. They flashed overhead and were gone in seconds. Moments later, the sky to the west lit up with the same kind of brilliant display we had witnessed before.

Kent took a few steps toward the light show, as if those few feet would give him a better view.

“What’s going on?” he asked, numb.

“It’s the same as the other night,” I answered. “There’s a battle going on but I have no idea who’s fighting, or why.”

Unlike the previous night, the light show didn’t last long. Nor was there another dogfight. No fighter planes arrived to challenge the dark shadows. The light show soon ended and I expected to see the mysterious aircraft flying back our way, having completed whatever mission they were on. But they didn’t.

The three of us stood there, staring west, trying to understand what it was that we had just seen. It was at that moment that a pair of headlights appeared on the sandy road in front of us, headed our way.

“Uh-oh,” Tori uttered.

“It’s okay,” Kent assured us. “All part of the plan. Pick up their gear and toss it.”

I snapped back into the moment, the disturbing light show momentarily forgotten. I didn’t care about the handcuffs and the baton, but the walkie would cause us trouble if the guard got it back too quickly. I picked it up and heaved it into the sea. It was the longest throw I had ever made.

Kent did the same with the rifle. He wound up and tossed it away, spinning it into the sea. Part of me was relieved. I didn’t like the way he was waving that thing around. I wouldn’t have put it past him to use it on us . But we were on the run and could have used the protection, especially since somebody was driving toward us.

“C’mon,” Kent said and ran toward the car.

“Do you trust him?” Tori asked.

“It’s not like we have a choice,” was my sober reply.

We followed Kent, who became a silhouette against the approaching headlights. He ran right up to the driver’s side as the car came to a stop. The driver jumped out and threw her arms around him.

“It’s about time,” she cried.

It was Olivia. The stop at the Blackbird Inn now made sense.

“I’ve been so worried,” she squealed while hugging Kent and giving him a big kiss. She was wearing her usual short-shorts with a halter top—not exactly a practical uniform for aiding a prison break.

“Are you okay?” she added when they came up for air.

“Fine,” Kent said perfunctorily. “But we gotta keep moving.”

Olivia looked at me and said, “I was afraid I’d never see you again, Tucker.”

Maybe not as afraid as not seeing Kent again, but I appreciated her concern.

“Strange days,” I said with a shrug.

“Who is she ?” Tori asked me.

“Kent’s girlfriend, Olivia,” I answered. I guess that was official now.

“And who are you ?” Olivia asked, giving Tori an appraising once-over.

“Kent’s other girlfriend,” Tori said without missing a beat as she walked past Olivia toward the car. “Didn’t he tell you about me?”

Olivia stood stock-still with her mouth open, stunned. I would have laughed if my head weren’t still exploding. Seemed as though Tori liked pushing buttons too. Quinn would have loved it.

Quinn.

Thinking of him snapped me back into the mission.

“Where are we going, Kent?” I asked.

“Someplace where all your questions will be answered,” he said. He put his arm around Olivia’s shoulders and said, “Tori’s not my girlfriend.”

Olivia smiled with relief. “I knew that.”

We all got into the vehicle, which turned out to be a Jeep. Olivia sat behind the wheel while Tori and I climbed into the back seat. Olivia hit the accelerator and turned quickly, slinging up sand while the wheels spun. For a moment I thought she had no idea of how to drive and I feared we would follow the ambulance over the edge. But the tires bit, she spun the wheel back, straightened out, and we were on our way.

“Tell me everything,” she said.

“Not until we get there. Turn out the lights.”

“The lights?” she complained. “I won’t be able to see.”

“I’m more worried about somebody seeing us . Your eyes will adjust.”

Olivia shrugged and killed the lights. It was disconcerting for a moment as everything went black. But our eyes adjusted quickly and Olivia kept us on the road to…somewhere.

Tori put her hand on my arm and said, “How do you feel?”

“Okay. I think I’m coming down.”

“Perfect timing,” Kent said.

“That was a rotten thing to do, Kent,” Tori said to him. “You used him.”

“And he used me. You both did. But we’re out, right?”

“Yeah, we’re out,” I said. “So now tell us what’s going on. How did you get the Ruby inside?”

“And where are we going?” Tori added.

Kent gave us a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. “When you see where we’re going, you’ll know how I got the Ruby.”

We had trusted Kent this far and it had worked out okay, mostly. We had to let him play it his way. I took a deep breath and actually could feel the effects of the Ruby lessening. I had survived. At least that part of the nightmare was over.

Tori kept her hand on my arm and said softly, “Thank you.”

I shrugged.

“You’re welcome,” Kent said.

Tori smiled. It didn’t happen often, but when it did her face lit up. I was beginning to really like Tori Sleeper. She took my hand and gently rubbed my arm. I wasn’t sure if it was an affectionate thing to do, or if she was trying to calm me down. Either way, I didn’t hate it.

Olivia drove without saying another word. Thankfully. She must have been using all of her brain power to keep us on the road. I knew the island as well as anybody and saw that after moving along the Memagog Highway for several miles, we turned onto High Pine Road, the road that led due north and ended at Chinicook Island.

Chinicook was a desolate stretch of land that was technically part of Pemberwick but surrounded by water. The only access was by a long wooden one-lane bridge that had been built before the Second World War. Islanders never went out to Chinicook unless they were bird watchers. There wasn’t much there except for miles of beach surrounding dense scrub. Tourists were the only ones who made the trip. It was supposedly romantic to pack a picnic and get away from the crowded island beaches. At least that’s what it said in the guidebooks. But the drive took over an hour and then there was the half mile of narrow bridge. It was a trip that was daunting enough to turn back most casual explorers.