Page 54 of Gabe

CHAPTER 20

Frankie

The ground beneath me rocked as I woke up. My cheek pressed against something hard.

Since when was the bed, I shared with Gabe so uncomfortable?

I groaned and tried to roll away, but I hit another solid surface. This wasn’t Gabe. The man was muscular, but even he wasn’t so literally unyielding.

Memories came back to me in a rush.

The carnival.

Ozias Wren.

A drop of blood running down Newt’s wrist.

My head shot up, but the rest of my body didn’t follow. I was lying on the floor of… something. I couldn’t see enough to tell what. It wasn’t a car, but it was definitely moving. I could hear the sound of wind blowing just above my head, and the smell of wet vegetation hung so thick in the air I could taste it on my tongue.

Like rotten salad.

Turning my head to the side, familiar orange hair filled my vision and provided a measure of relief. At least we hadn’t been separated.

“Newt.” I reached for him but found I couldn’t move my arms. They were bound behind my back at an uncomfortable angle.

Desperately trying not to panic, I nudged Newt with my leg instead. “Hey. Newt. Wake up.”

“Give your friend a break. That’s a hard drug to shake off.”

I jumped at the unexpected sound of a familiar voice.

“Ozias?”

A pair of boots stepped into view, stopping just inches in front of my face, before the man knelt down close enough for me to see him.

“You know me? Diligent little investigators, aren’t you? Well, I should thank you. If you hadn’t shown up, I would have had to wait a lot longer.”

From my position bound on the floor I couldn’t really glare up at the man, but I tried anyway. “Wait for what?”

Grabbing me by the back of my shirt, Ozias hauled me off the floor. The collar of my shirt dug into my throat, cutting off my air until I was placed sitting up with my back against a wall. Finally, I was able to get a good look at my surroundings, and my heart sank so low it reached my feet.

A swamp.

We were in a swamp.

Of all the places they could have taken us, why did it have to be a swamp?

Goosebumps prickled my skin just from the smell. There was no sign of civilization anywhere, and there was no telling where we were exactly. Louisiana was rich with swampland, and our small boat seemed to be right in the middle of a particularly remote patch of wilderness.

I curled my legs close to my chest. “Why are we here? What do you want with us?”

Ozias perched on the edge of the boat with one leg crossed over the other like he was lounging on a park bench. “Oh, I don’t actually want anything from you. You’re nothing to me. But, capturing you did earn me enough favor to gain access to the island.”

I looked around again at our surroundings. Tall trees grew straight out of the murky water and the vines hung down from their branches in such thick clumps they looked like ragged curtains. In the daytime it may not have been too bad, but at night the shadows clung to every surface, and the boat’s small light barely allowed us to see a few feet in any direction.

“Why would you want to come here?”

The man’s grin made my skin crawl.

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