“I will always take care of you, Angie.”
I bit my lower lip and smiled. “Okay. That makes me feel better.”
I kind of wanted to ask him if he’d changed his mind about becoming a priest once he got his sister out of here, but I refrained. There was something between us, for sure, but that didn’t mean we were going to be together forever. Right? And I did tell him that what happened on Sorahan Island stayed on Sorahan Island, so maybe he was still going on that premise. It was too soon, anyway. There hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I’d crashed on top of his ship.
We resumed our hike, and finally we found ourselves on the other side of the mountain. We stopped to eat and drink, and I was glad I could rest for a few minutes before we started down the slope.
From up here, I could see Sorahan Island wasn’t big. It was a piece of land in the middle of the ocean, with mountains surrounded by dark woods. I couldn’t see the beach, or any beach, for that matter. I was hopeful our adventure would be over soon, and I wouldn’t have to hike like this ever again.
We started our climb down. I wanted to rest for a while longer, but Thev insisted that the more I rested, the more difficult it would be to get back up and walk. He was right, of course. Even so, it took me a while to get back into the flow – one foot in front of the other. Fortunately, going down was easier than going up.
The terrain was treacherous, though. I couldn’t lose my focus, or I’d lose my footing. I held on to him as much as I could, but that was just slowing him down. I didn’t want to be a burden. A hiking staff would’ve been great just about now. I looked for a stick I could use, but there were no trees around. Just rocks everywhere, and I cursed myself for not thinking about it earlier and grabbing something from the forest.
Anyway, I would just have to do my best.
And I did my best, until I stepped on a rock that I hadn’t realized wasn’t stable and fell before Thev could reach out and grab my hand. I screamed as I tumbled down the slope. I covered my head with my arms and tried to protect my face. The rocks were sharp and unforgiving. I let out a scream every time I hit a particularly merciless one. Their edges scratched me and tore holes into my clothes.
When I finally hit the bottom, I rolled onto my back and stared at the sky. I seemed to be at a bottom of a ravine. I tried to sit up, but there was pain everywhere in my body. I couldn’t identify a single part of my body that didn’t hurt.
“Thev,” I tried to call out, but I was too weak. At least I still had my backpack with me. I pulled it from under me and winced at the pain the movement caused. “Thev,” I sobbed.
I heard footsteps nearby, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
“You found me,” I whispered.
I tried again to get up, not wanting to look like I was completely helpless. But the boots that appeared in my line of vision weren’t Thev’s. The next thing I knew, something hit me over the head, and I fell on my face, unconscious.