Page 130 of Blue Arrow Island
“I hate to break it to you, but you’re not invincible.”
He gives her a placating smile. “Just push the button, El.”
She does, and she watches him as he paces away, hands on his hips and gaze on the ground. I don’t know which is harder for him—having the aromium turned on or having it turned off.
“Bring him back here if he’s having problems,” Ellison whispers to me. “I’m worried about him.”
“I am, too. I’ll do my best.”
“Radio if you need help,” Stella says. “I’ll do whatever I can.”
Ellison activates my aromium, and I feel like I just downed three cups of strong coffee. It’s not a bad feeling at all. Truth be told, I feel stronger and less vulnerable with aromium on, and I like that.
“Good luck,” Stella says.
“Thanks.”
I catch up with Marcus, touching his forearm. He jerks his arm away.
“You want to get shoved up against a tree and fucked?” he asks briskly.
My heart pounds. “I mean ... yes? Is that the wrong answer?”
He flicks a look at me. “I won’t want to stop if we start. Let’s get moving.”
I check our surroundings, patting my knife and my gun to reassure myself they’re where they should be. Then I follow Marcus, distracted by the way his back muscles are outlined in the light army green T-shirt he has on today.
Shaking my head, I force myself to look away. We have to find this damn flower, and I could miss it if I’m busy ogling him.
Finding the flower is a distant hope, but it’s the only chance we have. My only chance of seeing my sister again. I think of the photo of her as I walk past a thick, coiled snake.
It’s either find that flower or die trying.
37
A knife is often best used as a deterrent or defensive tool. In this course, you’ll learn defensive knife applications such as blocking, parrying, and finding escape opportunities.
-Excerpt from a police training manual written by Ben Hollis
The next afternoon, I’m too furious with Marcus to even look at him. Things were tense between us yesterday when we got back to camp right before sunset, having seen no sign of the flower once again. And it got worse when Ellison switched off his aromium.
He dropped to his hands and knees and immediately threw up the entire contents of his stomach. Once there was nothing left, his body dry heaved for more than fifteen minutes. We had to call for help and it took Niran, Wyatt, and Chance to carry him back to camp.
And did he heed that warning from his body to stop messing with aromium? Absolutely not. He crawled into bed and slept,then downed a canteen of water this morning and pronounced himself ready for another day of searching.
It wasn’t just me, but also Ellison and Nova, who begged him to change his mind, but he was resolved. I’m terrified of what will happen when his aromium gets switched off tonight.
And again tomorrow. And the day after that, if he’s still even able to walk. I’ve given up hope we’ll find the flower, though I’m pretending otherwise because giving up goes against everything I believe.
It’s time to discuss other options. We could try cornering Tiders one or two at a time and switching off their aromium, although that idea carries more risk than reward.
We need to spread the truth throughout the Rising Tide camp about aromium. If the ones, twos and threes know what it is, and that it can be turned off if they want to live peacefully and share the supplies, it could change everything.
Most of Virginia’s power comes from keeping her people in the dark. If we can enlighten them, we’ll weaken her.
That’s what she’s doing to us. She’s trying to weaken us, one nonlethal blow at a time. The storm and its destruction of our camp, picking off our people one at a time, firing flaming arrows into our camp. She’s chipping away at us, and I think we need to do the same thing to her.
“B.”
