Page 141 of Blue Arrow Island
“Um. I don’t know.”
“I was just thinking out loud. McClain always told us to never hunt and eat animals with aromium.”
Unease churns in my gut. I hadn’t even considered that eating their own people was anything but horribly inhumane of the Tiders. What if they’re unknowingly giving themselves even more supernatural abilities?
“What about the other strains of aromium? How are they different?”
“I don’t know.” He pushes up a branch of the tree, revealing more wolves and thick snowfall. “I think we can see well enough now.”
We crawl out from beneath the tree and stand up, the wolves rising to their feet. The stretching and yawning of the dozen or so massive animals is at odds with the snarling and attacking I heard earlier.
Good thing they’re on our side.
The snowfall is still heavy, but we can see well enough to know we’re moving away from the Rising Tide camp. We often walk in silence so we don’t draw attention to ourselves, but this time, the silence isn’t comfortable. Marcus is troubled about the bombshell I dropped, understandably.
I constantly scan our surroundings as the snowfall gets lighter, knowing the Tiders could strike at any moment.
The image of my mom’s face on that computer screen flashes through my mind, sending a pang of longing through my chest. She was an expert in her field; no one could help me navigate my newfound connection to plants like she could. Not just as an expert, but as my mom.
My dad would tell me to use the power I now have to protect myself and those who are too vulnerable to protect themselves. I’m glad I knew him well enough to know deep down how he would advise me if he were here.
Mae would first unleash every expletive she’s ever heard and then make a crack about having vines fetch me drinks and wash my hair. But she’d also listen. That’s what I miss most—our conversations. When the virus hit, she was doing a different summer research program than I was, hers in Quebec.
She has to be alive. And I have to find her. It means more to me than getting even with Lochlan, though I still definitely plan to do that.
But first, I have to help the innocent people on this island. Even with an invisible wedge between us, I know Marcus wants to stop Virginia as much as I do.
I never imagined so much would hinge on finding a flower. Bright blue and shaped like a bell. I imagine it in my dreams, waving in a light breeze. And when I wake up, I stare into the darkness and hope that somehow, it’s here and we just haven’t found it yet.
40
An experiment on Island Five shows great promise. The team there has worked tirelessly to create controllable microclimates. With this technology, we hope to affect mitigations in ecosystems being decimated by global warming.
-Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Randall McClain
I’m starting to wonder if that damn flower was ever on this island. It’s been another three days of endless searching, on top of ... I don’t even know how many days we’ve traipsed through this bug-infested jungle.
We walk and we walk and we walk, only stopping when it’s dark so we can bathe and eat and I can get some sleep. That’s also when we have perfunctory sex. There’s no emotional connection between us; we just rut like animals. He pulls my hair and I bite his shoulder. I straddle his lap and he bends me over boulders. We just fuck, both of us chasing the high that keeps getting higher.
The aromium practically sings through our veins when we have sex. The orgasms are transcendental. And even though Marcus wraps his arms around me when I sleep, it’s not the same. Even his tender caresses feel like absent habits instead of true connection.
We don’t bother rinsing out our clothes anymore. We’re covered in sweat all the time, and I don’t know why we even bother washing ourselves. The urge to fuck each other into oblivion will be there whether we’re clean or filthy.
Maybe the filth is even better. We’re just creatures out here, no different from the other animals whose only cares are surviving and mating.
We’re stopped for a water break, searching the jungle on the far west side of the island, when I voice the worry that’s been bothering me since yesterday.
“What if that scientist got the flowers from somewhere else and they were in her bag for a while?”
Marcus nods. “I’ve wondered that, too.”
“What if giving up is underrated?” I crack.
He bends to refill his canteen in the softly meandering stream we’re stopped at, a smile pulling on his lips when he stands and turns to face me.
“Ready to move?”
I sigh heavily. “Yeah.”
