“Looks like it,” he says. “Harper?”
“Yeah?”
I turn to look at him. “I need you to help me with my shoulder. I’m useless like this. Gotta get the ball back into the socket.”
Oh God, oh ew.
I look at his helplessly dangling limb and swallow hard. “Of course, I can,” I say, even though the very thought makes me want to vomit. “Yeah, sure.”
He chuckles. “Brave girl. You’re white as a ghost. But I promise it isn’t as hard as you might think.”
“Hard? No. Gross? Yep.”
He sets his jaw. “You can do this. I know you can. You’re my girl, and you’re not scared of fucking anything.”
I feel a surge of pride at that. I swallow hard and nod.
“Let’s do it.”
“Take hold of my wrist.”
I do, steadying myself with both feet planted on the ground, knees bent.
He gives me directions, and I do it on autopilot, lifting his wrist and rotating his arm. He hisses but doesn’t make another sound, though the beads of sweat along his brow tell me it hurts like hell. Finally, he nods, swings his arm around, grimacing, then nods again.
“Good. You did it.”
“Does it still hurt?”
He shakes his head, but his breathing is labored, so I’m not sure he’s telling me the truth. We gather up the coconuts together and bring them inside the shelter.
“You know,” I say thoughtfully. “Do you think that… that the other food items are somehow also an optical illusion?”
I frown at Cy, and he shrugs. “Worth looking, now, isn’t it?” But it’s hard to find places where the food used to be, without any colorful indication that the food was there. The forest is a camouflage of greens and browns, and though we think we remember the places where we’ve gathered fruit, everything seems weirdly muted.
“We’re tired and thirsty,” Cy says. “Let’s get some food and water.”
But when we go back, the coconuts are gone, too.
“Son of a bitch,” Cy says. But that’s all he says. He takes the club from the ground and whacks it against the tree so hard I wince myself. Even hungry and injured, he’s so strong I wouldn’t want to be his enemy. A handful of coconuts fall, but it’s clear that whatever’s up there is reaching its limit.
We crack open a few and drink greedily from the water, eating the coconut meat voraciously. I’ve always liked fresh coconut, but this seems like the most delicious thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
“Mmmm,” I say. “God, this is good.”
He nods, and as we eat our food, he starts talking to me in a low voice.
“We need to find him. Them,” he says. “They’re hiding somewhere, and it’s essential we find them.”
“I agree.”
In a whisper, he continues. “I think we should bait him.”
I nod slowly. “Oh?”
“Yes,” he says. “They will want you. Young woman. Beautiful. Strong.” His eyes light up when he talks of me, and it makes me feel a little bashful and shy.
“Thank you.”
He leans down and kisses first one cheek, then the next, before he brushes his lips across mine.
“I love you, Harper.”
I swallow hard. “And I love you, Cy.”
I know I do. I’ve known this for a while.
“I want you to know I will never, ever put you in danger. Do you know that?”
“Of course,” I tell him. I know it down to my bones. “And I trust you.”
He nods. “Good. Because what we’re going to do next isn’t easy. But it’s as important as everything else we’ve done so far for survival.”
I nod. He speaks in my ear.
“I’m going to pretend to go hunting, or to be looking for food. We have to pretend to get into a fight. I want you alone in here. I’m going to make it clear that all the weapons are gone, except I’ll leave you with a knife. Okay?”
I nod.
“And once they’re here, I’ll be back.”
I don’t ask him what he’ll do after that. I’m not sure I want to know. I have no doubt that he’ll kill them. And even though not too long ago I was a reasonable, rational human who abided by the law and thought things like murder weren’t acceptable, I nod. Accepting. Agreeing. I’m already a goddamn accomplice.
He kneels in front of me and pulls me to his chest, giving me a hug so fierce I can’t breathe.
“I love you,” he whispers in my ear. “You saved my life today.”
“And I love you,” I whisper back. “You’re welcome.”
And then he’s chuckling and kissing me, and I swear, that barbaric alpha male’s eyes are actually glistening. He’s moved. We both know that we’ve been leading up to this, skirting around the danger that others on this island pose, but we both know it’s time to face it head on now. It has to happen.
He closes his eyes. “Forgive me for this,” he says.
“Knock it off,” I whisper.