Chapter Eighteen

Savage Sanctuary Island, Misty

T he girls changed into their wet clothes. They were cold and miserable as soon as they pulled them on. After they left the bedroom, Simon gathered a stack of blankets and the tarp while the girls stood with their arms around their shivering bodies.

"Will you keep Indra? He’ll protect you," Simon asked nervously, not looking at Paige.

"What if he eats us?" Paige interjected, her tone edged with snideness.

"You would be dead," Simon replied earnestly before he turned back to Sarah. "He likes you and he won’t eat you. I’ll give you snacks you can feed to him. I dry the meat myself."

Simon worried about his tiger friend and it angered Misty that Paige continued being mean. He was doing everything he could to help. Without him, she doubted they would have survived the hunters or the large cats.

Misty had never seen a person his giant size. His graying beard showed he wasn’t young but when he talked, Simon reminded her of her brother, Noah. It was the innocence of his thoughts. She didn’t fool herself in thinking Simon wasn’t dangerous but she knew in her heart that he was not dangerous to them. He’d proved it and if Paige didn’t stop acting up, Misty might turn to violence and knock her upside the head.

"What about our candy bars?" Sarah asked with a soft smile and a slight tip to her head. "Can he eat those?"

"He doesn’t like sweets," Simon replied. "But chips and sandwiches he’ll gobble in one bite."

"We’re fresh out of chips and sandwiches," Paige said, holding a hand up and twirling her finger.

"Paige," Misty scolded, drawing out her name. "Be. Nice."

Paige deflated and Misty would swear her eyes teared.

"I’m sorry," Paige said. "I’m cold, tired, and worried." It was her turn to look down at her feet.

"We’re in this together," Misty assured her. Paige wasn’t as tough as she made herself out to be, and her bark was much worse than her bite, as Misty’s grandmother would have said. Misty also suspected Paige used these tactics to hide her fear.

"We should walk together and wrap the tarp over our heads and shoulders," Sarah suggested, breaking into Misty and Paige’s moment.

Misty looked at the tarp and thought about walking on the trail wrapped together in it with the other girls. It wouldn’t work.

"We had trouble keeping hold of Indra on some parts of the trail," she said. "I don’t think we can stay under the tarp the entire way. The clothes we’re wearing are wet, and it’s the T-shirts we need to keep dry."

"I’ll carry the blankets wrapped in the tarp. Fill it with whatever you need including the shirts," Simon offered. He laid the tarp out and placed the blankets in the center. Misty walked around the hut and looked for anything that might help them.

"What about the knives?" Paige asked from the other side of the room. She stood at a large metal table.

"Those are the knives I use to cut up the cats’ food. They are very sharp," Simon warned.

"Do you have sheaths for them?" Paige asked.

"No, but I have a few small towels you can wrap them in."

Paige picked up one of the medium knives and stuck it through her belt loop, being careful not to slice it. The pommel kept it from sliding through. "This will do, and hopefully I won’t cut myself."

Misty looked on dubiously. One swing of Paige’s arm and she’d be missing a section of skin.

Simon went into his bedroom and came out. "That is dangerous." He placed his huge hand out with a pocketknife resting on his palm. "This will work better and you can hide it in your pocket. I keep it sharp too."

Paige swapped knives with him and put hers in her pocket as he suggested. Simon pulled hand towels from a shelf and wrapped two knives up which he gave to Misty and Sarah.

“Those men are bad. They pay to hunt the cats and kill them.”

“Is that why you let the cats out?” asked Paige accusingly.

Misty wanted to slap her.

“The hunters weren’t supposed to come to the island until after the storm. Jerry sold them two new females that came in a few weeks ago. He says it’s for money to pay for the other cats’ food, but Jerry is a liar. He calls them animals and he likes hurting them.” Simon’s big fists clenched in anger, and Misty could tell he was very mad.

Sarah spoke up. “We’ll keep Indra safe while you get the other cats. We won’t let the mean men get him.”

Simon’s lips quirked up. “Indra likes you. He will keep you safe. ”

Sarah’s smile widened. “We’ll keep each other safe.”

This seemed to make Simon happy, and all was good until Paige’s rude tone entered the conversation again.

"We have candy bars and a few cheese cracker packs. Do you have anything solid we could eat?" Paige looked at Misty, who glared back. “Please,” Paige added.

Simon went to an upright refrigerator with a freezer and removed three plastic containers. He took them to the microwave and shoved all three inside.

"My friend makes me meals when I’m on the island alone. I can carry them in the tarp after they warm up and they’ll still be warm when we get to the lighthouse." He gave a sideways glance at Paige that seemed hopeful, but she wasn’t looking.

The thought of hot food had saliva pooling in Misty’s mouth. She watched as Simon placed a pan on a small two-burner stove after he’d filled the pan with water.

"I have hot chocolate," he said before turning to a cabinet and digging around inside. When his hands came out, he was holding a large thermos. "It gets cold here sometimes, and I take hot chocolate with me to visit Indra."

Misty’s gaze traveled the hut and she saw it in a new light. This was Simon’s home among his cat friends. It didn’t look quite as dingy as it had when she first arrived. From the small, tattered rug in front of the sink to the stack of mismatched dishes, Simon had made the hut special.

"I think we have everything," Sarah said after adding a few extra items to the tarp. "Will you be able to carry it all?" she asked Simon, looking at the large pile they’d accumulated.

Simon gathered the sides and hefted it up and over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. He smiled at Sarah, who wore his rain slicker again, and moved to the door. If he had entirely white hair, he would make a larger-than-life Santa Claus, Misty thought to herself.

"Come on, Indra, you get to stay with Sarah while I round up the other cats." Simon opened the door, and Indra sprang outside.

The cold and rain hit Misty as soon as she walked through the door. They would be miserable until they were dry again. The night seemed darker, but Simon didn’t want them using their flashlights, so she stumbled along, sometimes only able to follow the sound of his voice.

The cold quickly leached through Misty’s clothes into her bones. She judged they were at the halfway point when lightning struck a nearby tree. The explosion lit the sky, and the noise scared her half to death.

"Keep moving," Simon yelled above the storm from further ahead than Misty realized he was.

She turned and didn’t see Paige, who had been right behind her a moment before. She looked to where Simon and Sarah had turned on the path, and she could no longer see them. She couldn’t leave Paige, so she backtracked. Paige cried out, and Misty moved faster. She found her facing a large black cat that had to be one of the panthers. It moved in a slow circle.

The jet-black fur glistened as water droplets cascaded off its muscular body. What struck Misty were the panther's emerald eyes that pierced through the gloom and stalked its prey. A flash of lightning illuminated the night, and it bared its sharp, white teeth slightly.

A loud growl came from behind Misty, and she spun at the same time Indra barreled between Paige and the panther. The other cat quickly ran into the forest and disappeared.

Indra didn’t stop for a back rub; he turned and bounded onto the trail, running back in the direction he came from.

"Did you see that? The tiger saved me again," Paige said in astonishment.

"We need to keep going and keep up this time," Misty said when Paige turned large eyes to her. "There are like twenty lions and tigers out here.”

Rustling in the bushes had Misty’s heart dropping into her stomach. Simon stepped out, followed by Sarah and the tiger.

"We ran into one of the black panthers," Misty told him.

Simon nodded, then turned and started walking the path again, seemingly unworried about the panther.

Misty was frozen, and each foot seemed like a mile. She didn’t remember the first walk between the hut and the lighthouse being so far. They finally veered off the path and hit the rocks, which meant they were close. She could no longer feel her feet or fingers. Simon walked like a mountain in front of them, shielding them from some of the wind and rain.

There was a loud pop, and Simon stumbled.

"Someone’s shooting at us," Paige screamed.