“Are you sure?” Maisie asked, as she followed him. “It could get pretty busy.”
“That’s what I’m banking on,” Rhys said, as they hurried over the sandstone walkway. “Even criminal shifters hesitate to reveal themselves in front of humans. If we stay in more crowded places, we may be able to buy ourselves a little time, since – I hope – they’ll try not to do anything that’ll draw too much attention. That’s how Hargreaves prefers to function: in the shadows.”
They paused as a crowd of tourists walked by them, all talking loudly on their way to breakfast. None of them seemed to pay any attention to Rhys and Maisie, but still, Rhys tensed, scanning each of their faces in turn.
We must protect our mate,his griffin growled.Even if it means revealing ourselves, we will not allow any harm to come to her.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,Rhys told it, but he knew that he’d be prepared to do it if it did. He didn’t care, at this point, if it got him fired or exiled from polite shifter society – all that mattered was Maisie’s safety.
“We need to get off this island,” Rhys muttered, as they made their way down a wide avenue of opening shops. The fact was, as long as they were here, there was really nowhere they could run. They were stuck on the same patch of land as whoever was hunting them, with nowhere else to go.
“Do you think we can get on one of the yachts taking people back to the airport?” Maisie asked.
“That’d be the simplest way,” Rhys agreed. “Better than stealing a helicopter, which was going to be my next suggestion.”
“Oh… can you, uh, do that?” Maisie asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t like to say I’m an expert, but if I needed to I could get it done.” Rhys moved slightly to shield Maisie with his body as two resort employees passed them, chatting to each other and paying them no mind. “But I’d really prefer to keep things a little more low-key than that.”
“Good to know.” Maisie nodded. “Sorry, I don’t really have any skills that can help us here… though if the helicopter needed me to change its catheter or monitor its insulin levels, we’re set.”
Rhys laughed. “Well, let’s hope not. I think the first thing we need to do, though, is get to the dock. Even if we miss the yacht, we might be able to find some other way off the island.”
“We can go down this way, I think,” Maisie said. “It’ll take us through the activities area – the mini-golf course and the arcade are down there, but we can cut through them to get to the path leading back around to the docks. I was checking out the map onthe morning we met, since I was going to be staying around there in one of the cheap rooms.”
“Can’t believe you gave up your view of the mini-golf course,” Rhys said, as he took her hand, leading her in the direction she’d pointed.
“Well, if I’d known our private butler was going to turn into a giant python and attack you, then obviously I would have stuck with my original room.” Maisie gave him a quick, shaky grin.
“We definitely need to write a complaint about it when we get back. Don’t remember ordering the giant python at all,” Rhys said, unable to stop himself from smiling back.
The mini-golf course was still closed when they arrived there, which suited Rhys just fine.
The closed gate had a big cartoon sign on it showing giraffes and elephants with comically under-sized golf clubs trying to hit balls into obstacles shaped like open mouths and twirling tunnels, but it was low, and Rhys hopped over it without any trouble before turning and lifting Maisie over after him.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how strong you are,” she said, sounding a little breathless, as Rhys took her hand again, leading her down the slope to the course.
The course was surrounded by trees, swaying in the breeze – once they were crossing it, it felt surprisingly isolated. They were completely out of view of the surrounding areas of the resort.
Rhys was uneasy. Shortcut to the docks or not, this was what he’d wanted to avoid.
Nothing I can do about it now,he thought, as they hurried past a hazard that looked like a woman lying on her side on a beach towel, raising and lowering her leg to block the tunnel.We’ll just have to –
Just as he thought it, his griffin’s shifter senses suddenly flooded his mind.
Danger!
Rhys whipped around, but he couldn’t see anything yet, even as his eyes scanned the trees.
“What is it?” Maisie whispered, alarm plain on her face.
“I’m not sure yet,” Rhys said. He still couldn’t see anything. “But let’s hurry.”
Just as he started tugging Maisie along by her hand, he finally felt it – something approaching, and fast, from behind them –
“DUCK!” he yelled, throwing himself down behind a massive flower-shaped obstacle and pulling Maisie down with him. He’d barely gotten their heads down and shielded by the tunnel formed by the flower’s stem when a massive golden eagle swooped through the space they’d just been in, screeching in fury that its attack had been foiled.
Its huge, sharp talons still managed to rip a chunk of fiberglass out of the flower’s petals, however, showering Rhys and Maisie in plastic and plaster as they lay beneath it.
