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“We will.” Athena squeezed her hands. “The others are searching for her. I was waiting here for you.”
Scarlett accepted a two-way radio from Athena and hurried to her room to change into more practical clothes. Everyone had departed, so she set off on her own. Cat was just a baby, so Scarlett assumed she couldn’t have gone very far. She listened to the radio as positions were given, and updates were made.
Selecting the rough trails that led away from the house and to the center of the island, Scarlett began to search for Cat, stopping every few minutes to call out the little girl’s name. The vegetation became progressively denser, and it was evident that this part of the island received little care. It was uninhabited, and Scarlett seriously doubted Cat would have gone this way.
After pressing on for almost two hours, Scarlett was about to return to the villa and choose a new area to search. She’d just turned around when she heard a mewling sound off to her left. Not believing it could be Cat, but still knowing she had to check, Scarlett eased through the thick growth. The mewling fell silent and Scarlett was unable to find the source.
“Scarlett,” her radio hissed as Carter spoke to her.
“Yes?”
“Dario found her, asleep in the speedboat. She’s all right.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” Scarlett said sincerely, her relief evident.
“Where are you?” Carter asked.
“The interior of the island. I’m returning now.”
“How long?”
“Maybe two hours,” Scarlett guessed.
Carter sighed. “Do you want me to come find you?”
“No, I can handle it,” Scarlett assured him before looping the radio through her belt. She turned around to find the trail, worrying she might have lost it. To her relief, it was easily visible, right in front of her. Scarlett thought she saw a way to reach the path with fewer obstacles. She walked through the undergrowth a few feet, veering toward the trail.
After resuming her course on the trail, Scarlett let her mind wander a bit, no longer worried about finding Cat. She was busily thinking about Carter, imagining him saying he loved her, when she realized she wasn’t walking the same direction as she’d come. She turned around in a circle, unable to see where she’d come from or establish the location of the correct path. If she was lost again, Carter would think she was a complete idiot.
“It’s an island,” Scarlett said aloud, trying to be logical. “Eventually I’ll come to the shore and can find my way back to the villa.” With that sensible course in mind, Scarlett followed the trail she’d accidentally taken, growing more tired as the time passed.
Just when she thought she couldn’t stand any more walking, Scarlett heard the sound of water lapping on shore. Impatient to get in a hot bath, Scarlett increased her pace, bursting out of the overgrowth, expecting to see the beach, and the Aegean.
One moment both feet were solidly planted, and the next she was balancing precariously, one foot extended into space. Scarlett flailed her arms, trying to regain her bearings, but she continued to plummet forward, falling down a high hill. It wasn’t quite a cliff, but it ended abruptly in a sheer drop.
She crashed onto the rocky shore, lying there, winded, and her breath was slow to return. Her jaw ached from the impact with the hard packed sand, and she’d cut her shoulder on a jagged rock. When her breath returned, Scarlett gingerly sat up, wincing as assorted aches and pains made themselves known. She wasn’t dying, but she sure felt like hell.
“Why do these things keep happening to me?” Contrary to her recent luck, she was not generally prone to accidents. She looked up the hill she’d fallen from. The side was almost as smooth as glass. She wouldn’t be making it up by herself.
Knowing she couldn’t put it off, Scarlett reached for the radio to contact Carter. She was rehearsing what she would say and didn’t immediately notice that the radio failed to make a hissing noise when she depressed the button. When she realized, Scarlett shook the radio gently and heard several components rattle around. She hadn’t been too damaged from the fall, but she couldn’t say the same for her radio.
They would eventually come looking for her, and Scarlett consoled herself with the thought that she wouldn’t drown. The Aegean didn’t have tides like the ocean. She looked at her watch, happy to see it was still working. She’d never set it to Greek time, but she knew close to two hours had passed, and Carter should begin to look for her soon. She wouldn’t be stuck on the beach all night.
After tearing at the hem of her t-shirt and using the ragged cloth as a makeshift bandage, Scarlett settled in to wait. Darkness came swiftly, and the island she found so beautiful during the day suddenly became ominous. Every shadow was a potential foe, and every noise became the sound of a predator, stalking her in the murky darkness.
16
Carter
Carter looked at the clock on the mantle once again, impatiently noting only ten minutes had passed. Still, Scarlett was over an hour later than she’d said she would be, had failed to answer the radio, and he was worried. Fear, dark and cloying, curled in his stomach, and he’d already imagined several dire possibilities. Jumping to his feet, Carter said abruptly, “I’m going to look for her.” He wouldn’t wait any longer. Not if she was in real danger.
After this, that girl would never be allowed in the woods again.
“I’ll come with you,” Darren offered. Dario and Elias were quick to offer their assistance, and Athena provided flashlights. They split up into groups of two, searching for forty minutes as they periodically checked in with each other.
“Where the hell is she?” Carter asked Darren as he moved through the greenery.
“I don’t know boss. You’re worried, aren’t you?”
