Chapter 32

I kneehim in the groin, knocking him off balance, and shove him onto his back. Then it's me on top of him, pressing his knife to his throat.

I yank Wade to his feet, my eyes widening at his appearance. His clothes are ragged. He favors one leg, the other hobbled and bleeding through the cloth he's tied to his shin.

"I'm sure your father will be relieved to see you're still alive," I snarl. "Especially since he's trying to pin your murder on Liam."

Wade grimaces, then knees me in the stomach, and I'm reeling again, clutching my pack of salttain. Now he's the one on top, his stinking breath in my nostrils.

"No one will miss you if I skin you and leave your carcass down here to rot, Landsider, like you and Fish Boy did to me. Quit fighting, fork over the plant, and maybe I'll let you live."

My fingers scrabble in the damp moss until they touch cold, smooth stone. Hot power courses into my fingertips, through my forearms, up my spine, and into my scalp.

I pray what I'm about to do will work—and not incinerate us both.

I lift my neck until my forehead presses against Wade's brow. A shock of current releases from me, blasting into his cranium. Wade's eyes go wide before they roll up and close, his body a dead weight on top of me.

I push his limp form off, spring to my feet, and run through my options. I can escape with my pack of salttain and leave him here. No one will be the wiser. And I won't have to deal with him trying to kill me the minute I let down my guard.

But if I don't bring him back, Exhibit A—my chance of keeping Liam out of jail—is kaput. And menace that he is, Wade is a human being. It's easier to deal with the risk of him trying to kill me than to carry the burden of guilt when I'm forced to confront his father.

Decided, I tie his feet and bind his hands in front of him with strips of salttain fiber, fashioning a tether from his waist to mine. If he tries to shove me off the narrow ledge, he's going down with me.

I mash salttain to make a compress for his injured leg as he rouses, groggy and confused. "What the hell?"

"I could have stabbed you with your own knife and left you for dead," I say, "this time for real. But you're worth more alive to me."

"Bitch, you're going to pay for this when my da finds out!" Wade struggles to break free, but his salttain bonds hold fast.

"For saving your life? By the way, how were you going to find your way out of here, since the whole place is warded? Come to think of it, how did you find your way in?"

Wade chafes against his bonds. "You think you're the only one who can see warded areas?" he sneers. "How do you think I was able to track you idiots in the first place?"

Though I'm stunned by his admission, I rub my chin, doing my best impression of a scholar deep in thought. It's true that Randy could also see the wards, but not what they guarded. "That's a good question, Einstein. Care to elaborate?"

Wade's nostrils widen as he realizes he's divulged a big family secret. I let out a snort. It's fun to torment him, but the prospect of delivering his dumb hide alive and forcing them all to apologize to Liam has me almost giddy. "Just because you can see the wards doesn't mean they'll let you through."

"How would you know that, Landsider? I'm a born tracker. I know every hill and valley on this island better than my own butt crack."

I roll my eyes. "Obviously. That's why you've been trapped down here for days. If you know all the bog-holes, how did you slip in?"

Wade stares at the cave floor, frowning. "People say the bog-holes move around. I guess I must have triggered some kind of boobytrap, because I fell in one that was never there before. A bottomless one that dropped me into this cave."

"Tough break. If I hadn't found you, you'd have died a long slow death while your devoted da barely lifted a finger to look for you."

Wade's face goes pale beneath the grime. His chin begins to tremble. "Shut up!"

"Did I hit a sore spot?"

"Everything was fine until you came along and stirred things up. Liam and me used to be best friends!"

"Really, now? You were such good friends with Fish Boy, your daddy's arch-nemesis? Was I imagining how you tried to knife him the other day?"

"More when we were little," Wade huffs. "Things got strained but I wasn't going to ditch him just because Da thought he was a bum. Then you showed up, and everything went to hell."

"I see. Everything was fine during those three months Liam got to walk on land. You didn't miss him when he was forced to swim the ocean? Didn't care your da was working to cut him down to zero time?"

"I warned him not to piss Da off. Tried to warn him to keep away from you. Liam O'Donnell is a stubborn ass."

"Well, I guess you got over your concerns. Decided you'd use him to get yourself some salttain. Were you going to sell it?"

"So what if I was? You were tramping around this island in places you had no right to go. My brother needs that stuff and I knew you weren't going to give him any. Liam screwed himself over by hanging around with you."

"Yeah. I guess that explains why he should live three-quarters of his life as a seal."

"Bitch. Landsider. You have no business here. And you have no business hanging out with Liam."

"That's not up to you, Wade. If you want to live, you're going to shut up and listen to me. We're going on a hike. And if you try anything, this place will never let you out of here. You'll die a slow and lonely death, like you would've if I hadn't found you. I'm going to save your life—not because you deserve it, but because I'm not a murderer and neither is Liam. I'm going to cut your legs free and you're not going to kick me in the face."

Wade snorts like an angry steer, but he doesn't give me any trouble. It's a long, silent slog as we trudge up the canyon path. When we reach the dark passage where I first landed, I tear off a strip of his filthy t-shirt and blindfold him.

I don't want him to know how to reach Aunt Millie's workshop. Because I am almost positive this is where we'll wind up.

"Hey!" he protests.

"It's too dark to see anyway. I'll free your hands so you can crawl right behind me. And remember. Don't try anything or you'll never find your way out."

"Landsider bitch," he mutters—the guy really needs to get some new insults—but that's the last thing he says during our journey through the cave tunnels. From his rapid breathing, I can tell he's petrified I'm going to leave him behind. Lucky for him, I'm no Lambert.

After a slow crawl through darkness, the vibrations really do lead us to Millie's workshop. Leaving the blindfold in place, I direct Wade to the tiny entrance grate in the rock and retie his hands. We step out onto the slope to a crystal-bright day, the turquoise waters of the gorge boiling below, and somehow, our tethered tag team makes it to the top of the cliff.

Out on the cliffs, the sun is high. The entire area is warded, and I know my way back to the dock from here. With luck, Evan's boat should still be moored there.

We tread on, the sky cloudless and blue. When we pass through the boundary into wardless land, I shiver at the loss of the protection. But nothing happens, so I relax and consider my next move, unsure what to do with my prisoner.

We've reached the crest of the hill that overlooks the boat dock, my brain still whirring with possible strategies, when a rumble of thunder jolts me from my thoughts. Clouds gather overhead. A few fat drops splat. The downpour accelerates, sheets of rain pummeling the ground, lightning stabbing all around us, but luckily, there's no sign of Randy.

The storm could be just that—a storm, right?

I remove Wade's blindfold and leave him tethered to me, hands tied. We make it to the boat, drenched, covered in mud, the storm tearing up the beach. But once we're on board, I realize my mistake. The rain blinds me as Wade yanks me by the tether and knocks me backward onto the deck. My head hits the wood with a crack. As the world starts to fade, the boat's engine revs.

The last thought I have is that I should have kept the bastard blindfolded.