I sink down onto the cold stone floor, and Logan follows, settling beside me with his back against the wall.
He reaches into the bag and pulls out a sandwich wrapped in paper. “I got this for you. Turkey and Swiss—your favorite.”
I take the sandwich, but don’t unwrap it. My stomach is churning too hard to think about food. And that’s saying a lot, because Ilovefood… minus the crap they serve to first-years around here.
“How many people died?” I ask, the question scraping out of my throat.
“Fifteen confirmed,” he says, staying carefully neutral. “Elizabeth Bradley. Deidre Mitchell. Sam Reeves. Gabriel Dumont. Francis Willingham. Deacon Park. Leo Martinez.” Herecites more names, but I barely hear him. I’m too busy drowning in guilt.
“They died because of me.” The words taste like ash.
“They died because hellhounds attacked the party.”
“I killed Elizabeth.” The confession rips out of me. “Not the hellhounds. Me. I was trying to save Sam, and I missed, and I hit her instead.”
“I know.” He holds my gaze without flinching.
I stare at him. “How do you know?”
“I saw it happen. But we can’t change it. And now, the faculty’s searching the island. They don’t have access to the passages, but eventually, the Council will bring in someone who does.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don’t know.” He reaches for my hand and holds tight. “Which is why we need to move. Tonight, if possible. Tomorrow at the latest.”
“Move where?”
“There are boats hidden in the depths of the island.” He pulls his hand free and gives me the water bottle. “Emergency vessels for evacuation purposes.”
“Boats.” I turn the word over in my mind. “You want us to sail into a dangerous sea that will likely kill us on aboat.Not a ship, which is bigger than a boat. Not a yacht, which is bigger than a boat and also has a hot tub and a wine fridge. A boat. As in a tiny, sinkable death trap.”
“I want us to survive. And while the boat won’t have a wine fridge, it will float, which is the only feature that matters right now.”
“How do you even know about these boats? Did you just... stumble across them while out on a walk?”
He hesitates, and it’s the sort of hesitation Ireallydon’t like.
“Helen told me.”
I stare at him like he’s lost his mind. “You told me Helen’s softness for you doesn’t extend to me. But her giving you information about how we can leave this island definitelyextends to me.”
His gaze drops to the space between us, then lifts, his expression still and certain.
“Helen’s part of a group who sees the Council for what it really is—a dictatorship,” he finally says. “A public reveal of your power wasn’t the plan, but now that she knows, she wants you with us.”
“You’re saying she’s been doing an inside job this entire time.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t think I should know this?”
“The Council is dangerous.” His jaw sets. “The less you knew the better, especially given Tobias’s ability. I also wanted more time to work on her and bring her around.”
“And you fully trust that she’s on our side?”
“Yes.” He holds my gaze, as if that will make me believe him. “The evidence that Oliver and Thad left the island voluntarily was from her. The investigation going nowhere was thanks to her. Every dead end that frustrated Michael and Tobias was all because of Helen.”
I think about every encounter I’ve had with Helen. She took Thad’s book from me in the garden. She asked pointed questions about his Advanced Studies course. She told me the “good news” about Oliver that made it nearly impossible for me to breathe, because I knew it was a lie.
