“Fuck this.” Nova sneers and turns.
“Nova, stop,” I say. “I’m going with you. But let’s take a breath and make a plan.”
She pauses. Marcus glares at Olin, and I walk over to stand beside him.
“I trust him,” I say. “I think he’d be an asset to our team.”
“You want to put the spy on our top team? He’s not even on our side.”
“I’m more on your side than theirs,” Olin says. “I can help.”
“You’re in,” Nova snaps. “Let’s make a plan right fucking now.”
Marcus crosses his arms, exhaling heavily. “Where the hell is Chance?”
On cue, Chance approaches us, his dripping wet hair indicating he was taking a shower when the alarm went off.
Marcus proceeds without preamble.
“The guy sent to help Pax took Ellison early this morning,” he says.
“What guy?” Wyatt asks. “Who sent him?”
“Whitman or one of his people. His name’s Theron. I have no idea how, but he took Ellison when she was out gathering herbs this morning.”
Adele’s brow crinkles with confusion. “Wait, how? She gathers herbs in the garden. Did she leave camp?”
“No.” Marcus rubs a hand over his jawline. “Two of the laundry people on bikes saw it go down. Theron told them to tell me if I want her, I can come get her at Rising Tide.”
Tears stream down Nova’s face, her jaw clenched and her nostrils flaring. I can’t imagine the hell she must be in right now. She and Ellison are two halves of a whole.
“So let’s go,” I say.
“Wait.” Amira puts up a palm, giving me a worried look. “Something’s not right. How did he get into our camp?”
Marcus’s grim expression tells me he’s got the same question. We have a frequency shield in the Sub that makes the perimeter around our camp impenetrable to anyone with active aromium. It’s the only thing that keeps the Tiders from attacking us and taking over our camp.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Nova says. “Let’s go.”
“Okay, but ... what if that’s exactly what they want us to do?” Wyatt says. “Do we know if our shield is up? They could be waiting to attack while we’re gone.”
“It’s programmed to set off an alarm if it goes down,” Marcus says. “We’ll check it before we go and I’ll tell Stella everyone needs to shelter in the Sub. They can secure it from the inside.”
No one objects to that plan, but I think we’re all concerned we may be falling into a trap, no matter which way we go. Theron hasn’t even been on the island for twenty-four hours, and he’s already turned the tables on us.
“I’m leaving in five minutes,” Nova says. “With or without you guys.”
Fifteen minutes later, Marcus and I are leading the way through the jungle, following the well-worn dirt path that will take us to Rising Tide. Our group of eight is walking in pairs, keeping distance between each pair in case of an ambush.
“What are you thinking?” Marcus asks, his tone low.
“Nothing good.” We’ve sidelined our personal issues, focused only on getting Ellison back. “They could slaughter us all when we walk into camp.”
No amount of guns and stun sticks could protect us from that many trained fighters. The Tiders hate us more than ever over Virginia’s death and their lack of supplies.
We all turned our aromium on at the edge of the perimeter, where it can safely be switched on with a device. Everyone except Marcus, because he almost died the last time he used his aromium and he can’t risk using it without a stabilizer, which I’m not sure we’ll ever figure out how to make.
Something brushes the edges of my senses all at once. It’s a low crackle of awareness—almost a hum, but without sound. I feel it with every step I take.
