Isaak
Josie blinked, her hand curled loosely around the ring she was wearing around her neck.
“The ring?” she asked, sounding surprised. “I... well, it was my grandmother’s ring. She gave it to me right before she died. I’m honestly not sure where she got it from, though – I always just thought it must have been a gift from my grandfather.”
Isaak caught his breath as the light struck the large blue stone set in the middle of the ring.
He wasn’t even sure why he had felt compelled to ask the question. He hadn’t noticed the ring around her neck before, he’d been so caught up in his irresistible desire for Josie. But as soon as he had seen it, it had drawn his gaze like a magnet.
It held some kind of inexplicable allure for him – not unlike the allure of Josie herself. Something about it made him want to touch it, to feel it against his skin.
Our hoard!
Isaak gasped as the beast within him suddenly reared its head. It had been quiet ever since he had pulled Josie from the cliff. It hadn’t been completely gone – it was never completely gone – but it had seemed to recede, drawing back and allowing him some peace. Something about Josie’s presence had soothed it.
But now, it was back.
And it was very interested in Josie’s ring.
What do you want? Isaak asked it in desperation. Had he really been so foolish as to think he was free of the beast’s demands?
It is our hoard... it’s ours... it was taken from us...
Isaak felt bewildered. What was the monster talking about? What did it want?
The sound of Josie’s slightly confused laughter broke into his reverie.
“Wow, you’re like... the second rich guy who’s taken an interest in this ring,” she laughed, running the tips of her fingers over its surface. “Is there something I don’t know about it?”
Isaak shook his head, trying to clear it. But the beast was insistent: at the mention of another man who had been interested in the ring, it raised its head, narrowing its eyes.
Who is after our hoard? Who tries to take it from us??
“Someone else asked about your ring?” Isaak asked, before he could think about what he was saying.
Josie nodded. “Yeah – some guy on the plane on the way over. He was... really insistent about buying it, but I told him no. It’s a family heirloom, I’d never give it away or sell it.”
Something about what Josie said seemed to calm the beast down. It seemed to sink back into itself once more, its momentary rage now sated.
Isaak almost sighed in relief.
“It is a beautiful ring,” he said. It was true – he’d seen a lot of beautiful jewelry in his time, on the fingers and around the necks of the women who hung off the wealthy men he did business with. The people he had had to mix with as part of rebuilding his father’s business had loved flaunting their wealth. He’d seen more than his fair share of diamonds in his time.
But there was something... different about this ring. The sapphire was deeply, flawlessly blue, while the diamonds that surrounded it sparkled brightly, expertly cut to show off their perfection. To be honest, Isaak was a little surprised Josie wore such a gorgeous piece when she was out in the field – it had to be worth millions. Isaak wondered who her grandparents could have been that they were able to afford such a priceless gem.
“If someone was offering to buy it from you, he was probably trying to swindle you,” Isaak continued. “I know you said it wasn’t for sale in any case, but the only way you could ever truly find out what it’s worth would be to go to an auction house like Christie’s, somewhere that knows how to manage the sale properly.”
“I – what?”
Isaak looked up to find Josie staring at him, confused.
“I... well, I mean, it’s a pretty ring, but last time I checked, Christie’s wasn’t interested in cubic zirconias,” she said.
Now it was Isaak’s turn to be confused.
“Cubic zirconia?” He shook his head, leaning in. Could it be that Josie hadn’t realized how valuable her ring was? “Josie – those aren’t cubic zirconias. Those are diamonds – and the stone in the middle is a sapphire. One of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”
Josie only stared at him, mouth hanging open.
“No – that – that can’t be right,” she eventually stuttered. “My grandparents... well, they weren’t rich people. There’s no way they ever could have bought a ring like that.”
Isaak frowned, unsure. “I might be wrong, but I don’t think so. You said it belonged to your grandmother?”
“Well, yes,” Josie replied, still sounding stunned. “But the only value it has is sentimental. I keep it with me as a good luck charm, and to remind me of her. Not because it’s worth money.”
“Could I take a closer look at it?” asked Isaak – and immediately realized how much trust he was asking Josie to put in him. Despite the connection he felt with her, he realized they barely knew each other. She’d be well within her rights to tell him she wasn’t about to just hand him an item of such immense value, sentimental or otherwise.
But to his surprise, she immediately lifted the string the ring was hanging from over her head, moving aside her lush abundance of auburn hair as she did so.
“Here,” she said, passing the ring to him. “But there is no way this is real.”
Isaak reached out to take the ring from her. The moment his fingers brushed against it, he felt a sudden surge of... of...
He wasn’t even sure how to describe it.
It was like a surge of electricity that seared its way straight to his soul.
Like power that filled him up and made him feel more alive than he realized he could.
Like somehow the ring was energizing him, restoring him, making him better than he was before.
And inside him, his monster’s green eyes snapped open, and it let out a mighty bellow.
It’s ours! Hers and mine!
Gasping, Isaak snatched his hand away, staring at the ring. What had just happened?
Josie was giving him a puzzled look, and Isaak swallowed. He didn’t understand what had just happened, but he knew he wanted to experience it again.
The power that had surged through him as he had touched the ring...
He couldn’t explain it, but it had been incredible.
Almost as incredible as the feeling of touching Josie.
Steeling himself, Isaak reached out again, taking the ring from her hand this time.
Once again, there was the strange, electric feeling of power roiling through his veins. Isaak stared down at it, turning it over in his fingers.
He didn’t understand what was happening to him at all – not the agitation that Josie’s appearance had caused him yesterday, nor the peace that being close to her had brought him today. He didn’t understand why he had become so fixated on her ring, or why it had attracted the attention of the beast inside of him.
And he definitely didn’t understand the raw power that filled him now, almost as if two mighty wings were unfurling inside him, making him feel...
Alive.
Isaak’s breath caught in his throat. He shook his head slightly, trying to focus. Despite his many years of practice at controlling the beast inside him, this... this was different. Usually the beast was restless, angry. But now...
Now it felt almost happy.
No – not happy.
Peaceful.
Lifting the ring to the light, Isaak tried to concentrate on it. The tips of his fingers still tingled as they touched it, but after the first wild rush of electricity, he found he could control himself.
“There’s no air bubbles that I can see,” Isaak murmured as he studied the ring. “Though it may be I can’t see them from this angle. But...”
He moved the sapphire a little in the light that streamed through the doorway. It reflected only deep, perfect blue. If it had been a fake, it would have reflected many other colors, like a rainbow. And despite the fact that Josie had apparently been taking it with her when she hiked through the wilderness, the stone showed no signs of scratches or other damage.
“You can’t be sure unless you take it to a gemologist,” Isaak said, lowering the ring and gazing down at it where it sat in his palm. “But to my – admittedly, untrained – eye, this is more likely to be real than otherwise. You have a very precious item.”
Despite the warmth of the ring in his palm, Isaak found he had no trouble in allowing Josie to reach out and take it from him. She stared at it in wonder, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.
“I... I don’t believe it,” she whispered, sounding awed. “I always thought that... I mean, my grandma never said... where would they even find...”
“She never said where they got it? Or gave you any paperwork, like a certification or anything like that?”
Josie shook her head, still staring at the ring, her eyes like saucers. “No! Like I said, my family aren’t rich people – I’m still paying off my student loans! I lived off rice and beans in graduate school. A ring worth... well, I mean, how much is it worth? The guy on the plane offered me ten grand.”
“Ten... thousand dollars?” Isaak couldn’t keep the shock from his voice. “Josie, that man was definitely trying to cheat you. The sapphire alone is worth at least a hundred times that.”
Josie blinked, her mouth dropping open. “A million dollars??”
“It’s a huge, flawless sapphire – a million barely covers it, and ten thousand dollars is a plain insult.” Anger began to boil in Isaak’s chest. What kind of man tries to cheat a woman like that? What kind of evil person would steal something so precious?
Beneath that, he was aware of a different kind of anger. Something that had nothing to do with the paltry sum offered for such a precious gem, and everything to do with the fact that anyone had tried to separate Josie from her treasure at all.
How dare he? How dare he try to take our hoard?
Swallowing down the voice inside him, Isaak took a deep breath.
“You were right not to sell it. Even if it wasn’t worth so much money, it’s clearly precious to you.”
Josie didn’t answer him for a long time. She was simply gazing down at the ring.
“I... I never knew,” she finally said, her voice soft. “I don’t even know how they could have... or where...” She shook her head and squared her shoulders, looking him in the eye. “Okay, well, I’m definitely taking this to a jeweler when I get home. And then I’ll have some pretty interesting questions for my mother.”
Sudden alarm flared though Isaak – an alarm he couldn’t account for, until the words had left his lips: “Will you be going back to the United States early?”
Josie looked up at him, her eyes wide. “No! Of course not – when I’ve only just met y – I mean, not when I’m so close to finally finding the white speckled kingfisher.” She looked at him sheepishly. “Well... and the other thing too. That I’ve only just met... well, you.”
Isaak blinked. Did she really say that? Does it mean she wants to spend more time with me? Even after... even after what I told her about myself? About the creature that lives within me?
“I know things have moved pretty fast between us,” Josie said quickly, her face slowly turning red as she spoke. “But I hope this wasn’t a one-time thing. I hope that we can still... get to know each other better.” She glanced up at him shyly. “Would that be okay?”
Isaak could barely bring himself to speak. Happiness overwhelmed him.
For the moment, it was useless to question why Josie had this effect on him; how it could be that they could feel such a connection with each other, despite the short time they had spent together.
He only knew that for the first time in his life, he felt something other than anguish at his difference, and fear of losing control. Somehow, Josie soothed the raging beast that lived within him.
Maybe... maybe I don’t have to be alone forever after all...
He scarcely dared to hope it was true.
He had long ago resigned himself to a life of loneliness, here on this island – at least, he figured, until the beast overcame him completely, and he lost himself to its rage.
Josie was the first glimmer of hope he had experienced that perhaps, things could be different.
He still felt that he had a lot to understand – why it was that Josie had this effect on him, and what it was exactly about her ring that had so affected him.
Together, he thought, as Josie leaned in to kiss him, sending a thrill of heat straight to his belly. We can find these things out together.