He recaptured my hand as we rushed the water and made it to the calm.
The water receded, and we crouched down. He pulled my back to him so he could help me, hands on my hips. “Jump when I jump.” The trunk of the wave pulled us up, and we jumped. My stomach flipped like I was in a car going over a bump. Our feet landed on the soft sand.
We let out a whoop as the water rolled to shore. Then a huge wave with boiling white water rose like a wall. “Dive!”
We both dove, the water pushing me back but not churning me with it. I landed on my feet only a little way back from where we had started. Greer was there too, and we were both laughing. I took his hand, and we ran forward, waiting for the next wave to hit.
About an hour later, we caught a wave back to the sand. I collapsed on the beach. Greer dropped beside me.
“God, that was fun.” He rolled over to use my legs for a pillow.
I lounged on my elbows. “I can’t remember the last time I had fun like that. What made you want to do that?”
“I wanted one fun morning with you.” Greer rolled off my legs and moved to sit down next to me. “We’ve got a train to catch. We have to meet up with the Galvantry. I called them and moved the meeting at Merrimac up two days.”
“The Galvantry?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “We need them.”
My mood plummeted. “We don’t need them. We can keep going together and figure out the necklace.”
“You don’t need me to figure out the necklace. Pythia meant for you to figure it out, not me, and when you do, it will be enough to ensure a fair trial.”
“And you?”
Greer faced the ocean and wouldn’t look at me. “I’ll go back to my old life.”
I was hollow. “You’re leaving me.”
He didn’t deny it.
“But last night—you don’t know that you aren’t supposed to figure this out with me. We’re together. We went to the professor together. What if we’re supposed to figure this out together? We can do this, just the two of us.” I was on my knees, practically begging him.
He faced me on his knees too. “We can’t. We need them. We’ve been lucky so far but for how long without help?” He pushed my hair back from my face.
“But you are so good. You can keep me safe, I know you can.”
“You are far too trusting in me and my abilities. We can’t move forward without them. We need them.”
Tears were welling up in my eyes. “Please, Greer.”
I don’t know if he hugged me or if I hugged him, but we clung to each other. “I can’t keep this up, Waverly. I can’t keep staying with you night after night in a tent. I know it’s not fair, but it’s too hard on me.”
“I’ll change, I’ll be better. I’ll never take the sunglasses off. I won’t ask you questions. You won’t even know I’m there.”
He kissed my forehead and wiggled out of my arms. He searched my face and shook his head. He wanted to say something, to tell me something, but he couldn’t. Greer backed away, grabbed his clothes, and went behind the dune to get dressed.
We pretended to be a couple not speaking to each other on the train ride. No one joined us this time, which was good because I couldn’t stand Greer acting like everything was fine. It wasn’t. I wasn’t.
I’d had so much fun last night and then that morning, but I could barely look at him the whole ride without tearing up.
At the cabin, we retrieved the hiking equipment, tent, bags, and food.
I put on the old, washed and repaired hiking clothes and tossed the contacts. I left my pretty dress and suitcase in the laundry room. Greer’s contact could take care of it.
We were only fifteen miles to Merrimack. We’d make it there in two days, no problem.
No problem.
This time I was the person not talking.
We stopped to camp. Greer put up the tent, and I sat, leaning my back against a log.
“This was the plan all along. It was my job to get you out of Boston, to get you safely to the Galvantry.”
I nodded and kept telling myself not to reactbecause if I saw Greer’s face, I’d cry, and what good was that now? I’d cry, and he’d make a phone call and so what? He was leaving me. What did I expect? We couldn’t walk the wilderness forever. It wasn’t like I could bring Greer home with me, either. There had to be an end date.
“Look, this was never a forever thing. This is what your life will be like. They’ll move you around to camps and... and... it’s not personal.”
Not personal for him. I had feelings for him. He couldn’t have anything for me. If he did, he’d never be able to leave me.
“Come on, Waverly.”
I nodded once more. Hearing him say those words made my chest feel sickeningly sour. Greer might as well have stolen my heart from my chest and thrown it onto the fire. This was why he hadn’t told me his name. This is why he was so distant. I was a job. Still, I had to be strong. “Job. Got it.”
“After the trial, the Galvantry will take care of you.”
But I wanted Greer to take care of me. I wanted Greer and a cup of coffee and the couch. I wanted to stay at the cabin. “I rescued you for this purpose. I freed you from the Merrics so the Galvantry could help you.”
I couldn’t listen to him anymore. I wasn’t free. One more word and no amount of staring off would help. My eyes were so full, I didn’t dare blink or tears would run down my face.
I got up from the log. The last place I wanted to go
