of those people would go to great lengths to harm us—to harm you, particularly, Tracy. We know that for sure.”
“Okay…” I said unsurely.
“Madison was the first to point it out. As long as we stay here, we’re just sitting ducks for whoever will come next. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be others who come next.”
“What makes you so certain?” Eve challenged.
“When the man who attacked Tracy doesn’t return,” Liz said, “Chris and his dad are going to realize that something bad happened. If they were crazy enough to send one man after her, they wouldn’t hesitate to send another to finish the job.”
I felt my hackles rise at the suggestion. More attackers? As if one hadn’t been enough. But Liz was right. The threat was there, and it was prominent. The more we found out, it seemed, the deeper ensnared we all became.
“Anyway, I don’t mean to frighten you, Tracy,” Liz continued, “but that’s the truth. And it’s not just you. All of us are likely in the same danger. All of us are in the same danger. It won’t do any good if we stick our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not there. Somebody else knows about the crystals, and somebody else knows about us. But… there are people who know about the crystals, people we don’t know about, who don’t know of us either. That’s the truth. I don’t think this Arthur Eliot – this professor – knows about us. For one, he was just a research assistant when he coauthored the paper. And two, he’s at Harvard. That’s like, a world-renowned school. He’s a public figure. I say we go to him. We don’t tell him who we are, but we ask him about the paper. About the crystals. We can say we’re local high school students doing a project and we found his work. That’s not far from the truth. There’s no way he’ll know who we are – he’s never seen us before. And if somebody out there does make the connection between the crystals and a group of girls from Traven Island, well, we’ll be far away by then. I say we go find Arthur Eliot on a weekend or something, and see what he has to say.”
“Alright,” Ashley said. “So, say we decide to do that. There’s still the little problem of us being stuck on an island! ”
“And as far as I know,” Madison added, “no one’s ever left during the school year.”
Liz exhaled and rubbed her temples. “I know, I know,” she said. “I haven’t thought that far yet. Like I said, it’s just an idea—”
“Leave that to me,” Eve said suddenly. There was such fierce determination in her voice that I wondered if she hadn’t tried leaving before. “If we need to go, I can get us off. I… know some people.” She looked at me, and gave a tiny wink. I blinked in response. It was difficult to get a read on the girl.
“But we can’t just run away from school!” Madison exclaimed. “What happens when our parents find out? What happens when our teachers find out?”
“I think we’ve got bigger problems to deal with than what our teachers think,” Eve said drily. Madison flinched.
“I’m not saying we run away,” Liz said. “Only, that we go talk to the professor. Harvard’s in Boston, and that’s not far from here, once we get on the mainland. There’s a long weekend coming up. We can do it then. That way, none of our teachers will even notice we’ve left.”
“But until then, we remain, as you so eloquently put it, sitting ducks,” Eve said, shaking her head. “No, that won’t do. If we’re going to do it, we need to do it right away.”
“Hold on,” I said, suddenly remembering the prisoner. “What about the man in the caves? He might have something to tell us.” I’d come to grips with the fact that we’d need to talk to him. In fact, in a strange way, I had started looking forward to it now. “Before we decide to do anything, we
“Okay…” I said unsurely.
“Madison was the first to point it out. As long as we stay here, we’re just sitting ducks for whoever will come next. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be others who come next.”
“What makes you so certain?” Eve challenged.
“When the man who attacked Tracy doesn’t return,” Liz said, “Chris and his dad are going to realize that something bad happened. If they were crazy enough to send one man after her, they wouldn’t hesitate to send another to finish the job.”
I felt my hackles rise at the suggestion. More attackers? As if one hadn’t been enough. But Liz was right. The threat was there, and it was prominent. The more we found out, it seemed, the deeper ensnared we all became.
“Anyway, I don’t mean to frighten you, Tracy,” Liz continued, “but that’s the truth. And it’s not just you. All of us are likely in the same danger. All of us are in the same danger. It won’t do any good if we stick our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not there. Somebody else knows about the crystals, and somebody else knows about us. But… there are people who know about the crystals, people we don’t know about, who don’t know of us either. That’s the truth. I don’t think this Arthur Eliot – this professor – knows about us. For one, he was just a research assistant when he coauthored the paper. And two, he’s at Harvard. That’s like, a world-renowned school. He’s a public figure. I say we go to him. We don’t tell him who we are, but we ask him about the paper. About the crystals. We can say we’re local high school students doing a project and we found his work. That’s not far from the truth. There’s no way he’ll know who we are – he’s never seen us before. And if somebody out there does make the connection between the crystals and a group of girls from Traven Island, well, we’ll be far away by then. I say we go find Arthur Eliot on a weekend or something, and see what he has to say.”
“Alright,” Ashley said. “So, say we decide to do that. There’s still the little problem of us being stuck on an island! ”
“And as far as I know,” Madison added, “no one’s ever left during the school year.”
Liz exhaled and rubbed her temples. “I know, I know,” she said. “I haven’t thought that far yet. Like I said, it’s just an idea—”
“Leave that to me,” Eve said suddenly. There was such fierce determination in her voice that I wondered if she hadn’t tried leaving before. “If we need to go, I can get us off. I… know some people.” She looked at me, and gave a tiny wink. I blinked in response. It was difficult to get a read on the girl.
“But we can’t just run away from school!” Madison exclaimed. “What happens when our parents find out? What happens when our teachers find out?”
“I think we’ve got bigger problems to deal with than what our teachers think,” Eve said drily. Madison flinched.
“I’m not saying we run away,” Liz said. “Only, that we go talk to the professor. Harvard’s in Boston, and that’s not far from here, once we get on the mainland. There’s a long weekend coming up. We can do it then. That way, none of our teachers will even notice we’ve left.”
“But until then, we remain, as you so eloquently put it, sitting ducks,” Eve said, shaking her head. “No, that won’t do. If we’re going to do it, we need to do it right away.”
“Hold on,” I said, suddenly remembering the prisoner. “What about the man in the caves? He might have something to tell us.” I’d come to grips with the fact that we’d need to talk to him. In fact, in a strange way, I had started looking forward to it now. “Before we decide to do anything, we
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