Chapter Nineteen

Leelo knew she should be sprinting toward home, not the shoreline, but her only coherent thought right now was of Tate. If there was a wolf across the lake in the woods where her brother and the other children had landed, he was as good as dead.

He has to be far away from here, she told herself as cold tears of terror streamed across her cheeks. Because what if this was her fault? What if her assault on the pine tree had somehow caused the Forest to retaliate?

She hadn’t brought her bow and arrow with her; all she had was the knife, which she’d finally managed to dislodge from the tree by bracing her foot against it and pulling so hard she’d gone flying backward when it came loose. But just as it had been worthless against the tree, she knew it wouldn’t help her fight a wolf. Still, she had to try.

When she finally reached the shore, she froze among the trees, listening. The wolf had howled intermittently as she ran, but it was silent now. The only sound was the wind whipping through the trees. It had picked up again, blowing from the mainland toward shore. She couldn’t see the wolf from here. All she could see in the moonlight was the dark expanse of the lake.

There was no way to know if her brother was safe. Not from here. She glanced at the rock where the rope was tied. If she pulled the boat back, she could row over to him and check for herself. If she was fast enough, she could do it before dawn. How could she ever sleep again, not knowing if Tate was safe?

But when she went to the rope, prepared to do whatever it took to check on her brother, she noticed with a gasp that it was slack. She looked out at the water, her heart pounding. The boat was no longer on the shore. It was in the middle of the lake.

And there was someone in it.

For one heart-stopping moment she thought it was Tate, that her prayer had worked, that the Forest had listened and he was coming home.

But the person in the boat was far too large to be her brother, which could only mean it was an outsider. And he was headed straight for Endla.

If she ran to get help, the outsider would make land before she could return. As a Watcher, this was what she was supposed to do: find anyone who was trying to harm the island and kill them. But the thought of taking on a full-grown adult, alone, made her legs go numb underneath her. She was supposed to have a bow and arrow. She was supposed to have Sage.

While she’d run toward the shore, dawn had slowly been creeping up to the horizon, and the sky was light enough now that she could make out the figure more clearly as the boat continued to make its way to shore. She was fairly certain it was a man, judging by the silhouette, but she couldn’t make anything else out.

She dropped into a crouch behind the rock, aware that if she could see the person in the boat, it was entirely possible he could see her. She knew what Sage would do; she’d hide here, behind this rock, and stab the man in the back when he passed her. But Leelo wasn’t Sage. She couldn’t even kill a rabbit. How was she supposed to kill a human being?

The boat was close enough now that she could make out two things clearly: it was definitely a man, and the boat was riding lower in the water than it had with the three children in it. Even given how small Violet had been, their combined weight had to have been more than one man. Which could only mean the boat was sinking.

She breathed a ragged sigh of relief. The lake would take care of him for her. She wouldn’t have to do anything. Emboldened by the knowledge that he wouldn’t make it, she rose to her feet.

And gasped.

In the growing light of day, she could see that this wasn’t a man; not a full-grown one, anyway. He didn’t look much older than her, in fact. He was perched on the bench in the middle of the boat, clinging to it to keep from being tossed out by the waves. Suddenly, he looked up, and their eyes met.

It was the young man from the day of the festival.

She wasn’t sure how she knew. She hadn’t been able to make out his features that day, only his dark, tousled hair. But she could see his features clearly now, and he was terrified.

She looked around in vain, as if there were some adult nearby to help her. Why had he gotten in the boat? Why would he want to cross to Endla, knowing what he must about the island?

She walked to the water’s edge without meaning to. He wasn’t going to make it. Not at the rate he was going. He gesticulated at the stern of the boat, then at her, then back to the boat again.

She shook her head in confusion.

“The rope!” he screamed.

Of course. The rope. She could pull him to shore. It might not be enough, but she could try.

She could.

Her eyes darted to his face again. He wasn’t far offshore now, but the boat was listing dangerously, thrown off-balance by the water pooling inside it. Any second it would tip, he would fall into the lake, and he would die.

She groaned in anguish. She couldn’t kill an outsider, but she couldn’t help an outsider, either. Every day of her life had been in preparation for this moment. So why was she hesitating? She reached for her knife, hefted it in her hand. Cut the rope, and he would die. She would have done her job. Would probably even be revered for it.

But then she saw the terror in his eyes and thought of her brother, of the dread he must be feeling as he fumbled his way through a dark, unfamiliar wood with a wolf on the prowl. She thought of Pieter and his last desperate cry for help. Somewhere, someone loved this boy, and if he died, their heart would break as surely as Isola’s had. Not all outsiders are evil, her mother had said, and it hadn’t been speculation. She had said it with as much quiet conviction as when she told her children she loved them.

The warring voices of her aunt and Sage echoed in her ears. We protect Endla above all else.

But Leelo wasn’t Ketty, and she wasn’t Sage. She couldn’t save her brother, but she could save this man’s life.

The knife slipped from Leelo’s fingers, and the next thing she knew she was grabbing the rope with both hands and pulling with all her might.

The young man was shouting now, but she didn’t look up. She didn’t want to know how close it was going to be. She was doing everything she could. A few moments later, she heard the sound of the hull scraping against the rocks and sand. Dawn was only minutes away. Sage would be here soon, and how would Leelo possibly explain this?

Without looking back at the boat, she dropped the rope, grabbed her knife, and fled.

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