SERINA

SERINA SURFACED OUT of a nightmare, her fists up and her heart thumping in her ears. Someone had grabbed her arm.

“It’s just me,” Val said, releasing her. “We need to go.”

Serina regained her bearings slowly. The sun was high in the sky. She’d slept away the morning, curled into the shade of their small cave. He’d already slung the strap of his pack over his shoulder.

“Where are we going?” She pushed her tangled, dirty hair off her forehead, wincing at the pain in her shoulder.

Val glanced out toward the beach. “It’s only a matter of time before the guards find us, and I think you’re healthy enough to move now,” he said. “I’m taking you off this island.”

She gaped at him. “What?”

“I told you I was going to save my mother,” he said. “You don’t think I came to Mount Ruin without a plan?” His smile was crooked at the edges and didn’t quite reach his eyes.

She stood up slowly, her legs still weak. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Why didn’t you say anything last night?”

“The boat’s hidden at high tide. And”—he touched her cheek briefly—“you needed to rest a little more, regain a little more strength. I knew if I told you, you’d have wanted to leave right away.”

A boat? He really, truly had a way to escape? Serina’s pulse raced. After all her plotting—rafts, revolutions—was it really this simple? Nomi…

“If you’d told me we had to wait for low tide, I would have,” she said reproachfully.

“But would you have slept?” His look matched hers.

“Probably not,” she admitted. The electricity in her veins, the sudden urge to move, move, move, was hard to deny. She would have spent the day climbing out of her skin.

“We’ve got two hours before the cave is exposed,” Val explained. “It’ll take us almost that long to get there.” He turned north and held out his hand.

“Where do you plan to go?” she asked, without moving.

Val glanced back at her. “I thought we’d head for Bellaqua. Maybe try to rescue your sister?”

Serina didn’t know what to say. Her head suddenly felt too light, as if it might float off her shoulders and out to sea. “Is this a trap?”

Val smiled gently. “Not a trap. A way out.”

Serina took his hand. His fingers closed over hers, and her muscles melted like candle wax. She’d found her raft and her revolution, all in one. And perhaps more. His grin made her ache.

But she couldn’t bring herself to move.

Jacana had defied Oracle to bring Serina water. She’d spent hours trying to help Serina with her escape plans. She’d promised to try to convince the crew chief an uprising was a good idea.

Small, timid Jacana. When she was chosen to fight, she would lose.

Serina knew she couldn’t save everyone. But she couldn’t leave Jacana behind.

“We have to make a detour,” Serina said. “I made a promise to a friend that I would get off this island with her. We have to take her with us.”

Val’s brows drew together. “There are no detours. You can’t get anywhere near the Cave. It’s too dangerous.”

Serina let go of his hand. She didn’t want to anger him or risk her own escape. But she couldn’t betray Jacana, not after all they’d been through. “This whole place is dangerous. Jacana won’t survive a fight. If we don’t bring her with us, we’re the ones sentencing her to death.”

He raised his hands, palms up, his expression verging on frantic. “We can’t, Serina. I’m sorry. We have to go. Now. We’ve already waited too long.”

Her whole body yearned to follow him. “I can’t leave her here,” Serina replied, willing him to understand. “She’s the only one who helped me. She brought me water—”

“I helped you,” he said, voice rising. “For a week I watched over you. I spooned food into your mouth, scared you’d never wake. I thought—” He reached for her arm again. “You’re not the only one Commander Ricci wants to kill, remember? We have to go.”

Serina yanked her arm away, more forcefully than she’d intended. Knocked off balance, he stumbled. She stared at him, wide eyed. But she couldn’t back down. “I want to go with you,” she said softly, but with a thread of steel. “So much I can hardly stand it. But I can’t leave Jacana. I’ve taken care of her since we arrived, and I can’t abandon her now. Please understand.”

Couldn’t he see how much this was killing her? She wanted to forget Jacana and disappear. But if Nomi had been sent to Mount Ruin instead, if someone had considered saving her, and hadn’t…

Val stared at her for a long time.

“Take the first path to the north beach, then head for the cliffs. I’ll get the boat out and wait for you there. Stay away from Beach Camp. Don’t let them see you.” He shifted his pack. “If you’re not there in three hours, I’ll have to leave. The other guards are looking for me.”

“I understand,” Serina said. “I’ll be there. I promise.”

He gave her a last look, as if memorizing her face. As if he didn’t expect to see her again. He turned and headed north without another word.

Serina collected her flagon of water. Then she shoved a handful of sand into her pocket. Jacana was either training or collecting food this time of day. Serina would need to get her attention and draw her away from the others. The sand could come in handy for that.

The hardest part would be finding her and staying unseen. Oracle sometimes posted sentries, but not usually in the middle of the day. It was a brazen time to try to steal their supplies or kidnap one of their fighters, both activities the other crews were known to engage in.

Serina scrambled up the beach to the rocky path. It didn’t take long to reach the patch of jungle that bordered the cave. She was grateful for the shade. The day was heating up quickly.

She rounded a bend, the foliage thick on all sides, and stopped dead. “Jacana!”

Her friend was right there, standing in the middle of the path.

Jacana’s eyes widened when she saw her. “Serina! Run!”

Before Serina could move, two guards materialized from the thick jungle foliage beside the path. They bolted for Serina. She hardly had time to turn around. With a shout, one of them grabbed her, hauling her to the ground. Her shoulder flamed. Serina whimpered.

For a moment, she tried to struggle, but the guard used all his weight to hold her down. “Hold still,” he growled.

The other guard locked shackles around her wrists with an ominous clank.

“That was easy,” he said, hauling Serina to her feet. He pushed her toward Jacana, who still stood frozen in the middle of the path, her face ashen and her eyes wide.

“What’s happening?” Serina asked, struggling against her bonds.

“They’ve been waiting for you for days,” Jacana said, her dirty face streaked with tears. “They’ve been using me and Gia as bait. I guess the Commander thought that you’d get hungry and seek out your friends.” Her shoulders sagged as they bound her in iron too. “I’m so sorry.”

“This is not your fault,” Serina said. With an effort, she kept her chin up. Despair slipped through her, insidious as venom. How long until Val set sail? Had it been two hours? Three?

The guards dragged Serina and Jacana toward the cave.

Oracle was standing in the clearing when they approached.

The guard at Serina’s side yelled, “Everyone to the amphitheater. Now!”

Oracle nodded silently.

Serina couldn’t bear to look at her. She didn’t fight the guard’s tight grip on her arm, even though it dug sore spots into her muscles. She tried to hold her head high as she hiked down the path toward the coast, her hands awkwardly shackled behind her. The rough ground was difficult to navigate in places, and she fell twice. One of the guards hauled her to her feet, sending fire through the wound in her shoulder. She couldn’t stifle her moan of pain.

He laughed.

Twilight was falling when they reached the ring. She was sure now. It had been more than three hours. Val was gone. And she was going to die.