Behind me, I hear Mattie stop, her presence suddenly still as I stare at the red-haired girl for a moment longer.
The weight of her death settles inside me, heavy and suffocating, the kind of sorrow that doesn’t arrive all at once, but sinks in deep to creep up on you later.
I couldn’t save her. Fuck, I promised her…
My vision blurs again as I lift a trembling hand, reach out, and place my fingers over her eyes, closing them in one final motion and goodbye.
“We need to get off this island!” a woman screeches from somewhere behind us, her voice raw with fright.
I slowly turn my head and see her tearing at her dark hair, ripping strands out by the root as she struggles through a full-blown breakdown.
My brows pinch together before I give the girl beneath me one last, lingering glance, then force myself to stand.
Brushing the sand from my knees, Mattie and I make our way toward the small group of gathered women.
Two try to calm her down, speaking over one another in hushed, urgent voices, while another stands back, hugging herself against the cold.
“Where do you expect us to go?” one of them calls out as we approach.
The woman shakes her head hysterically, her eyes darting toward the treeline before snapping back again. She takes another step away from it, edging closer to the water as if the ocean is somehow the safer option.
“Anywhere but here.”
Mattie exchanges a confused look with me before glancing around at the beach.
“Why?” Mattie asks, concern laced in her tone.
The woman suddenly lifts her arm and shoves her wrist toward us, and I squint, leaning forward.
Burned into her skin there’s a circle with the jagged lettersNandIinside it.
A strange feeling settles in my stomach before I raise my own wrist and stare down at it.
The same mark is burned into my skin.
“I've been trafficked my entire life,” the woman sobs, her bottom lip quivering. “And the stories I've heard about this place... Nothing has ever terrified me more thanNinth Isle.”
Suddenly, a rumble of thunder splits through the black sky, and her wild eyes drags down to the sand as if she’s becoming lost in her mind, seeing something we can’t.
“I thought they were just made up horror stories they told us when we were little girls…”
Mattie takes a cautious step forward.
“What’s Ninth Isle?”
The woman glances toward the trees again, her entire frame tensing.
“Here, you’ll face every single one of your darkest fears head-on.”
She shakes her head, quick and panicky, backing farther into the surf as fear floods her expression.
“I’d rather die.”
Before anyone can stop her, she unexpectedly turns and sprints toward the ocean.
My eyes widen and I immediately bolt after her. But she crashes through the waves, stumbling and fighting against the violent current as she pushes deeper and deeper into the powerful water.
Within seconds she’s engulfed by the gray chaos of the sea, her dark figure growing smaller and smaller until I can’t see her anymore.
