Page 79 of Polestar
She’d heard them whispering among themselves whenever she was awake, catching snippets here and there.
“What do you want to know?”she said, raising the spoon, hoping it was high enough to reach her mouth in the dark.After a few seconds, she lifted the bowl to her chin and just shoveled it in, gagged once, and powered on.She hadn’t eaten since the snacks she and Magnus had consumed on their way to the stronghold.
“Antony.”
“Okay.”
“He said you’re gifted.Like, woo-woo gifted.”
Ana struggled against snorting the gruel out through her nose.“I guess you could call it that.”
Did you seriously describe me as ‘woo-woo’ gifted to them, Antony?
“It was the only way to get them to understand what I was talking about when I tried to be polite about it.”
“We figured he didn’t make it after he got us out.He was, uhm… right in the middle of the, uhm… blast,” Emilio said, then sucked in a breath.
“No.He didn’t,” she said, her voice soft.“The navy is going on the assumption none of you made it since they didn’t recover you.Dead or alive.”
“So they’re not even looking for us,” one of the other guys said.
“They’re investigating.That’s all I know,” Ana said.
“No one in the world knows we’re here,” another said.
“No one knows any of us are here,” a woman said from further away.
“No, but that doesn’t mean no one’s looking,” Ana said.“It’s what I do.I’m part of a team investigating this group that’s stealing people, and selling them.”
“That’s fucking awesome,” the woman said, laughing.“And you’re in here with us.”
“Yeah, thanks for pointing out the obvious.That’s what Antony said, too.”
“What?He’s here with us?You weren’t just crazed from that bump on your head?”
“Nah, I’m always crazed, bump or not.And yes, Antony is here.He’s been here with you all this time and apparently trying to tell me about it.But I’ve had… communication issues.”
Emilio grunted.
“My crew will come looking for us.We were so close.They’ll find us,” she said with more uplift in her voice than she felt in her gut.
“Yeah, how are they going to do that?We don’t even know where the hell we are,” the woman snapped.
“Well, they grabbed me from an island nation in the middle of the Barents Sea, so I expect we’re still in that region or very close.My team knew where I was.And now that I’ve gone missing, they’ll hone in.”
“Lady, it takes a lot to find boats in vast areas like that.”
“I’m aware.My crew is… special,” she said, thinking of Carson’s ability to shift into a water dragon.Ian too.Lirikai was also a fierce aquatic hunter.Raya was a hell of a fighter and could go anywhere there was a water source.
And Magnus.He’d be magnificent as his polar bear self.Her chest tightened, thinking of him.Had he broken free from the guards?Did Kane go in after him, guns blazing—or whatever it was she did?
“Like Navy Seals or SAS?”
“Yeah, something like that, but… more.A lot more.”
“Bullshit,” someone scoffed.
“Listen, Ana,” Emilio spoke.“If Antony is here, can you tell him thank you for keeping us alive?Even if we got picked up by these pricks.”
