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I relent and get into the Jeep.
“You know the drill.” She hands me a hood.
Yes, we’re hooded when we go to the hunting ground. I never really understood why. I can’t think of one of us who would go there on our own if we knew the way.
The ignition roars to life, and the Jeep begins moving. It’s a hot tropical day, and the black fabric of the hood absorbs heat, making it difficult for me to breathe.
Or perhaps it’s my racing heart. At least I won’t hyperventilate with the hood on. I’ll be breathing a lot of carbon dioxide.
Despite the heat, goosebumps erupt over my flesh. Diamond didn’t give me any special clothes to wear. I’m wearing shorts and a T-shirt, what we girls always wear in the dorm.
This means only one thing.
She will take my clothes when we get to the hunting ground. I’ll be naked. Naked and at the mercy of whoever catches me.
Sometimes we’re given weapons. Simple things like a fork or a chopstick. Garnet has done some real damage with a chopstick. She’s a natural athlete and boy, does she fight.
Which is, unfortunately, one of the reasons she’s so popular on the hunt. She gives a good fight. Apparently the men like that. She’s worthy prey.
That’s what they call her. Worthy prey.
I remember the two men saying that about me before I was brought to the island. They called me worthy prey. I only met one other woman in that concrete dungeon. I told her to go. I told her to kill me, but when she wouldn’t, I told her to go. To escape.
Although both my shoulders were dislocated, I eventually forced myself to get up and move.
That’s when they decided I was worthy prey.
Despite that fact, I’ve been to the hunting grounds rarely.
I don’t know why that is. Something about the way I look. I’m in decent shape—we all are—but I’m not a natural athlete like Garnet.
“Diamond,” I say, my voice muffled through the hood, “I didn’t use the plate. Doesn’t that count for something?”
She doesn’t reply.
I suppose it’s easier for her now that she doesn’t have to look me in the eye.
Or she supposes that replying would do me no good. She has to do what she has to do, apparently. I’ve often wondered who she is, and why she does this.
But I’ve never asked. Some of the other girls have, and she doesn’t give any answer. Not surprising.
Every nerve in my body is on alert, as if I’m already out there being hunted.
I clear my throat. “How many men will there be?”
Again, Diamond doesn’t respond.
“Please, Diamond. Tell me something. Anything that could help me.”
I hear a sigh. Then, “I can’t, Moonstone. You and I both know that I can’t.”
I don’t say anything else for the remainder of the trip. All I do is think. I think about my cousins—second cousins, actually—Jared and Tony, whose fault it is that I’m here. I think about the other women—Garnet, Tiger Eye, Onyx, Crystal, and so many others—who have survived worse than I have.
I try to console myself with the fact that they won’t kill me.
Except…
Will they?
Now that I was caught with a potential weapon, do they mean to get rid of me?
“Diamond!”
“Yes?”
“Are they going to kill me?”
She doesn’t reply at once, but just when I’m sure she’s not going to at all—
“I don’t know, Moonstone. I just don’t know.”
47
LUKE
An ember of hope flickers in me.
This guy could totally be playing me. I know that. But I have to try. For Katelyn, I must try.
“Tell me everything you can,” I say, “about this place. About what’s going on here.”
“They’re going to wonder why I’m taking so long in here,” he says.
“Yeah. You’re right. At least give me your name.”
“My real name is Felix de Soto. Here I’m known as Cardinal.”
For the first time I notice his red hair. “That’s an apt nickname. King likes to use bird names.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Find an excuse to get back here. Let me know what’s going on.”
“I can tell you that your woman is here.”
“I already know that.”
“You do?”
“I do. I can feel her.”
He lifts his eyebrows. “You feel her?”
“Yeah. Can’t you feel your wife?”
“I don’t know. She’s not here, so how could I?”
“But you’d know if she were in trouble.”
“Maybe.”
“Look. I don’t have time to explain this weird psychic thing going on. It’s something I’ve never felt before. But yeah, I know she’s here. What else you got?”
“King. King is here.”
I nod. I’ve known that all long as well. I feel him too, in a totally different way than I feel Katelyn’s presence. But I don’t say it. I don’t want to have to defend my psychic bullshit again.
“Your woman is here. There’s a guy in with her.”
Rage, my old, flawed friend, spears through me once more. “What?” I say through gritted teeth.
