As Alexander starts to collect wood for the fire I go over and fill my hands full of ray berries, and refill our water bottles that Alexander had brought with him. I have been dying to use my gift out here. There are so many possible things I could do, things I could build, but I resist. I’m not ready to tell Alexander about my gift. I’ve always had a problem with trusting people. This is just another one of those cases. Plus, I don’t even really know how to use it and that’s kind of embarrassing.
Once my hands are full of berries I return to the cave. “Maybe we should see how your injuries are doing,” Alexander says and I go and sit next to him.
He starts to unravel the first bandage on my arm and I ask, “What exactly happened last night?” My mind starts to walk through the night’s events over Alexander’s voice; me running through the castle, learning how to teleport, running through the maze, my mother and Titus being killed, and then my train of thought stops. Mother and Titus. I suddenly feel the sorrow and pain I told myself not to have wash over me, but I need to be strong.
“Well, for one, all the injuries came from your fall on the rocks,” I hear Alexander say and I let the thought of my mother and Titus go. “Everything after that was running through the woods downhill. I found a place to stop and bandaged everything up. Unfortunately, I’m not a trained professional so I couldn’t tell you how severe the wounds looked. Plus, it was dark so cut me some slack.” The first bandage falls off my arm and I can see that the wound is just a scratch now. I exhale with relief.
“So I can tell you that you shouldn’t worry about this wound,” Alexander says. Then he unties the one on my head and thankfully, according to what he says, it isn’t bad at all. “There are only a few scrapes that are scabbed up and a couple of bruises. So this one should be just fine.”
I respond, “It’s a good thing your survival skills are better than your medical skills or else we’d have a problem.” I turn my head and take a look at the scenery around us. Alexander starts the fire and it comes to life in front of us, giving off immense amounts of heat. It’s the only source of light in this pool of darkness. I look up through the thick arch of tree branches and see the thousands of stars that I have been dying to see again. Alexander notices that I’m looking at the stars and he knows that I’ve missed being out here.
He throws his arms over my shoulder and says, “Just like old times, right? Remember when we used to go out and camp in the woods?”
I turn my focus from the stars to him. “Of course. Especially when you would get scared and cry, begging me to walk you back home. I hope you’ve outgrown that fear of the dark,” I say, reliving the memory. I look back up at the stars and for the first time in over seven years, I feel happy and free.
I can barely remember the feeling of both happiness and freedom. Freedom I think to myself and for the first time in a while I let myself think of being free; running through the grass, playing in the creeks, and climbing the trees. I actually think I might even miss school.
This would be my last year since our school levels stop at 12th grade. After that, you have to get a job or go to work with the castle. Then I realize I won’t even get to finish school or get a job in the town I was born in. This freedom I have been granted with is going to be much different from any life I had once pictured having because now I’m a fugitive. Now I have the nation’s best commanders searching for me.
“Alexander,” I say, my weak voice cracking.
“Yeah?” he asks, turning his head to me, but I don’t meet his eyes.
“How long do you think they’re going to search for us? Will we spend the rest of our lives running from them?” I ask as the haunting thought settles in my mind.
He tightens his arm trying to give me some comfort. “It’s hard to say, Adaline. I know that there has to be something important about us if King Renon has sent Paylon out here, but maybe if we can stay hidden long enough they will call off the search.” I can think of a few reasons why King Renon would send someone as important as Paylon out to find us, and my mind lingers on the two soldiers I killed during my escape last night.
“Where are we even going? Do you even know what’s out here in these woods?” I ask.
“Not much I’m afraid. Here,” Alexander pauses and pulls out a tattered piece of cloth from his bag. He unfolds it and I see that it is a map of Dather and all the surrounding islands. He hands the map to me and I hold the fragile piece of fabric in my hands as he continues, “You can pick where we go.”
I let my eyes gaze over the old map. There isn’t much on the map for Dather. I see Garth labeled and the forest. There’s a small town that sits on the very edge of the island called Sard. I’ve heard of it before, it’s where all the factories that produce the clothing we wear and the warehouses that store the food we buy are located. King Renon will have word of our disappearance there before we even wake up tomorrow, and even though Alexander’s survival skills are quite excellent I’m not
