I leave without thanking her and head back toward the outhouses. Halfway there, Denton sees me coming and stops. Probably because he sees the anger on my face. I walk up to him and shove him with my good hand. Because it’s only one arm, it’s not enough to push him all the way onto his ass, so he just stumbles back a few steps.
“Hey!”
“Shut up!” I yell. “Whatever you said to Jamie worked, because now he’s going to Fort Caroline on some revenge mission to kill Rosewood.”
“What? Andrew, I didn’t say anything.”
“I don’t care. You’re sorry, right? You want to make amends? Then you fucking go with him. Make sure he doesn’t get himself killed and...” My voice breaks and tears spill from my eyes. “You make damn sure he comes back. Stop him before he makes a mistake he’ll never forgive himself for.”
“Andrew—”
“I don’t care! Whatever you have to say, I don’t care. I told you what you need to do. Do it or don’t.” I continue past him to the cabinsand start packing up my clothes. I don’t want to say goodbye to Jamie. It’s immature, but it’s also my last-ditch effort to try to get him to change his mind. If I hide and he can’t find me when he goes to leave, maybe he’ll stay? I hope he will.
But he doesn’t. He doesn’t come looking for me in the cabin the other kids are sharing. And in the morning when I wake up with everyone else, I learn that Jamie and a group of the Nomads have left. Niki has left, too, which surprises me. I never thought she’d leave Jamar here alone.
Cara finds me by the lake, where I’ve taken some of Faraway’s water to clean my arm. It’s healing nicely, except for my hand, where I popped four stitches when I was trying to convince Jamie to stay.
“Are you okay?” she asks, keeping a few paces away from me.
“Not even a little bit.” I’m exhausted because I couldn’t sleep. My arm hurts because I strained it yesterday. I spent most of Christmas morning thinking about Daphne and Liz and the kids who didn’t survive the hurricane. And then my boyfriend ended the afternoon by telling me he’s on a revenge mission to kill another person. Something I know deep down he doesn’t want to do. He’s just scared. Like I am now.
“Let me help you,” Cara says. She takes the cloth from me and dips it in the water. Then she gently cleans my arm, puts antibiotic ointment on it, and rewraps it. “We can stay here. I’m sure Amy will be okay with it. For a few days, we can rest and wait.”
But that sounds awful. Waiting here for them to come back, only to find out what? That Jamie is dead? Or that he killed someone? I don’tcare how much Rosewood deserves to die; I don’t want it to be Jamie who kills him. When he killed Rosewood’s son it almost broke him.
I don’t want to see that person again. He did it to protect me, but he’s lying to himself now if he thinks that’s what he’s doing. Though I don’t think he’ll realize it until after it’s done.
“No, let’s get Amy home. Let’s just get that done and then we can figure out what we’re going to do.”
She nods and helps me up. “I know there’s nothing I can say to make you feel better.”
For a minute she just stares at me. Then she shrugs. “That was it.”
And I actually laugh.
“I talked to everyone last night,” she says. “Amy’s ready to leave with Henri-Two whenever you are.”
“I think I want to go today. I’m tired, but if it’s just the four of us, we can stop anywhere.” I’m also worried that if we stay here too long, I’m just going to end up waiting for Jamie to change his mind and turn around. But if he does, he knows where we’re going.
“Okay, let’s go tell the others.”
We go back and find Amy, Kelly, and Rocky Horror by the playground. Taylor and Jamar are there with the Kid as well.
Amy gives me a questioning look and I nod. She goes into the playground to get Henri-Two, who is playing with another toddler in a sandbox.
“You okay?” Rocky Horror asks.
I turn back to the others. “Amy, Cara, and I are going to continue on to Bethesda.”
Kelly nods. “I figured as much. Amy mentioned you all might keep going.”
Taylor walks right over to me. Jamar follows at her heel.
“‘Youall’?” she asks.
“I’m still leaving. I’m going with Amy and Henri-Two to Bethesda.”
“I’m coming with you, then.”
