It sounded like a fantasy, but right now, it was the only rational explanation.
Tamira pulled her shirt over her head, her mind still spinning. "I hope they brought parachutes. Otherwise, I don't see a way for us to dive off that cliff and survive."
"Maybe they can beam us up into their spaceship like in the movies." Eluheed sat on the bed to pull on his boots. "But then we wouldn't be diving."
She wondered if it was possible to dive wearing shoes and whether they would need to discard them.
"We just have to wait and see what this is all about." Tamira grabbed her small jewelry box, dumping its contents on the bed. Most of it was of little worth, but she put on everything that had any value. If they were heading out into the world with nothing but their wits, anything that could be traded for money could make a difference.
"We need to go." Eluheed offered her his hand.
She nodded, putting on her rings and draping a golden chain around her neck.
Everything else, all the books she'd painstakingly collected, the manuscripts she'd been translating, the comfortable life she'd built within her cage, none of it mattered if there was even a slightest chance of freedom.
"The cliff," she said as they walked out the door. "It's a three-hundred-foot drop onto rocks. Even if there's water beyond the rocks, the fall will most likely be deadly."
"We're obviously missing something." Eluheed paused, looking down the corridor and listening. She could hear voices—confused, excited, frightened. Tula was waking everyone.
"That man with her," Eluheed said. "The one in the diving gear. He's the key. I don't even care what and who he is." He took her hand. "If there's even a chance at freedom, I'll take it and kiss his huge bare feet in gratitude."
"I know." She squeezed his hand.
Beulah emerged from her room, wearing a similar attire to Tamira's, her eyes wild. "I can't believe she did it. She must have jumped and survived."
"There must be people down there," Eluheed said quietly, piecing it together. "In the water. With equipment. That's why the guy is wearing a diving suit."
"But how did they get there? No one can get near the island without Navuh knowing about it. And Tula couldn't have jumped. She somehow got down without getting hurt."
"Ladies!" Raviki's voice cut through the chaos, and Tamira turned to see her trying to organize the others. "If Tula says we're leaving, then we're leaving. Stop dithering and get going. Liliat, put pants on. Sturdy shoes if you have them."
"But my books—" Beulah protested.
"Who cares?" Raviki sounded on the verge of hysteria. "We've lived among pages for far too long. It's time for us to live for real as free people."
Free.
"This is insane," Sarah muttered, running her hands through her hair. "We can't jump off the cliff. We will die!"
"Tula is getting us out," Tamira said with more confidence than she felt. "We need to trust her."
"But the cliff?—"
"We'll find out when we get there." She looked at Eluheed. "Right?"
He nodded, though she could see the uncertainty in his eyes. He was just as scared and as hopeful as the rest of them, but he was willing to leap into the unknown if it meant a chance at something better.
"What do you think is really happening?" she whispered to Eluheed as they walked toward the stairs.
"I think that someone has finally come for us. Someone with resources and a plan." He paused, frowning. "That man said that he came to rescue us, not harm us."
"Rescuers don't usually come wearing diving suits."
Eluheed's lips quirked in a smile. "Maybe they do when they're saving people from an island."
The logic of it was starting to come together in Tamira's mind. An island surrounded by water. A cliff that dropped to the sea. Rescuers approaching from the water at the cliff, where Navuh's security was the weakest. It was audacious, reportedly impossible, but it might actually work.
"I wonder why there are no servants or guards anywhere." Sarah fell into step with them. "They must have heard the commotion."
