Sometimes things change quickly and sometimes they take time. When Nathan woke me up the next morning, he was ready to go, but the morning light was a dim glow behind a blanket of clouds. “Hurry up, Will,” he simply stated, looking around warily. He was standing on the porch in worn jeans and a tattered pale blue shirt that showed his sinewy muscles. I blinked, confused because he looked so different. Then it struck me: for the first time since I’d known him, he wasn’t wearing black. He looked so young, so beautiful, so alive, as if he had changed overnight. I went up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him on the mouth, a kiss that he returned passionately but backed away from far too quickly.
“We have to get out of the area. The sooner the better. With any luck, we’ll pass some Cajuns today. We’ll definitely get something to eat from them and maybe we can borrow a boat. Or steal one.” He nodded at a pile of clothes on the floor. “Put those on! Hurry up!”
I did as he said while reminding myself not to reprimand him about the possible theft. I would break him of that habit one day. As I dressed, I looked around, but everything seemed peaceful. Perhaps too peaceful. I quickly slipped on the jeans that would have won first prize in a damaged contest and then pulled on a light, much-too-large t-shirt that was half moth-eaten.
“Nice, princess.” Nathan winked at me.
“No more stylish than you, sir,” I said and bowed mockingly.
This time, we were able to walk along the water for a while before having to wade through the swamp again. The entire time, I kept a close lookout for alligators on the shore, but we only spotted two small ones gliding lazily through the water. Again, we spoke only when necessary and, instead, listened for the sound of engines or voices. It was cooler than usual, maybe 60 degrees. A short time later, when we came to a floating forest, I noticed that the bald cypress trees had golden-brownand orange-red leaves. Some of the colorful foliage floated on the dark green water and hung in the tangles of Spanish moss. Another thing that had changed. Quietly and secretly, autumn had arrived and the birds had multiplied into the hundreds of thousands as if overnight so that a deafening twittering buzzed above our heads. Migratory birds. I had completely forgotten that. They always came to Louisiana. I was about to tell Nathan that when we heard shouts behind us. “Nathan? Willa? Where are you?”
We paused for a moment, startled by the unforeseeable, until we realized who was calling us. “Oh my God, it’s Kjertan…” Nathan made a noise between a sigh of relief and laughter.
“And he has the boat!” I added happily. I was immensely relieved. I was about to shout when Nathan stopped me.
“No, don’t! We don’t know where Noah is. Even if we didn’t hear the motorboat, he could be nearby…and Isaac too.”
We listened until Kjertan called again. Nathan turned around. “It came from near the wild boar hut.”
With me on his back, he waded back to the land where we had spent the night. We must have just missed Kjertan because we had been out for no more than fifteen minutes. He called us again, a loud “Willa? Nathan? Where are you?” and Nathan moved faster. He didn’t say it, but I knew how much he was dying to take back his false accusations. The boat would also allow us to leave the danger zone sooner and we would have a safe place to sleep. We would be in a bigger city tomorrow or the day after at the latest, maybe even in Baton Rouge. I thought about my grandma, about Rosewood Manor, about the Palace of Shards, and my dad. Everything would be cleared up. Everything would be fine. I wanted to believe that very much at that moment.
When we reached land, we ran hand in hand. It didn’t take long before the shack came into view. Kjertan was standing onthe porch, but something made me suspicious. Maybe because he just stood there, not running around like one usually does when searching for someone. But it wasn’t only that.
Nathan gripped my hand tighter, obviously sensing it too. My heart fluttered in my chest, and suddenly, everything seemed unreal.
“Kjertan?” Nathan addressed him as soon as we reached him and that was when I understood. This time, it wasn’t Kjertan but Rayk. And he had only called us on behalf of a man who must have put the words in his mouth, perhaps under duress. Kjertan or Rayk would never have called out “Where are you?” but rather “Where you at?”
But, in our excitement, we had not noticed.
Chapter 9
The shock paralyzed me. As the half-open cabin door swung open, Nathan stepped in front of me. Over his shoulder, I spotted Isaac’s first mercenary, the man everyone calledBiller-Miller-The-Killer. My heart started racing. His broad face still seemed as hard as a mask of steel, almost emotionless. With a Glock in his hand, he came across the porch toward us, aiming alternately at Rayk and Nathan.
For a moment, I only saw the matte black muzzle, but then sounds penetrated my consciousness. Footsteps, rustling. I looked around in panic and spotted Maury, the man with the scar across his cheek and nose who had hit me and restrained me on the Agamemnon. He was standing to the left of the cabin. To the right, a dark-haired man with a ponytail whose name I didn’t know suddenly appeared.
They’re here. They’re all here. My field of vision shrank as if I were looking through binoculars backward. Something creaked and I instinctively glanced in that direction.
For many seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
Isaac leaned in the doorway before slowly strolling across the porch as if savoring his entrance. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, little lady.” His smile was triumphant and victorious, hisbright eyes filled with a covetous, possessive flicker. I had never been aware of their color. If someone had asked, I wouldn’t have been able to say—but now I noticed them. Shiny topaz, like autumn leaves; like my grandfather’s eyes. Amber eyes. “Next time you might want to be more careful where you undress,” he said now, lifting my black frilly pants, which he was holding in his hand at eye level. “Or where you leave your clothes lying around. Noah recognized them immediately, so we knew you were here a short while ago.”
I shook my head defensively. He had almost reached us and Nathan stretched his arms out to the side to give him more room to attack even though we both knew it was futile. “Leave her alone! We called the police. They’ll be here soon.”
“Liar.” Isaac’s smile faded and his aristocratic face showed a demonic shadow as if his innermost being was pushing outward. Turning to his men, he said, “Knock him unconscious. He must not follow us under any circumstances.”
The horror of those words stilled something in my mind, the sounds seemingly muffled by powdered snow.
Isaac didn’t even give Nathan the chance to defend himself. I had no idea where all the men had suddenly come from, whether they had all hidden behind the hut or were lurking in the bushes. In my silent, frozen state, I recognized Taurus, Mykonos, and Apollo. And naturally, Isaac’s remaining soldiers, whom he had brought with him onto the cutter. Three of them grabbed Nathan, dragging him away from me toward the narrow patch of green between the veranda and the swamp, but when he hit one of them hard with his elbow and the other with his fist, a fourth joined them.
I was still unable to move my legs. My thoughts disappeared into a white void, dissolving into nothingness. I could only watch as four men held him down and the others formed a loose circle around him. They took turns beating him, punching himin the stomach and spitting in his face. And no matter how hard he fought back, how much he fought and raged, he was not Superman. They called him traitor, Judas, and worse, hitting him while Nathan cursed Isaac, screamed at him, begging him not to hurt me.
“Don’t hurt her, Isaac! I beg you…let her go! Please, let her go…”
In the end, it was those words that finally brought me out of my trance.
As if cued, I stormed the group, trying to get to Nathan, to throw my arms around him, but they wouldn’t let me through. Laughing, Maury and Mykonos shoved me back repeatedly as if I were running into a wall.
“Stop! Stop, you’re killing him!” I pounded my fists on Maury’s back as hard as I could until he turned toward me and shoved me so forcefully with two hands that I fell backward into the grass.
