SAGE
Humidity washed over me as I stepped onto an expansive wood deck. Jack strode forward, and I followed him down a flight of stairs until the final step released us onto smooth white sand. Gentle blue-green waves rolled in a hundred yards away. The late afternoon sun sat in the sky behind us, casting rays that glistened off the ocean. A small boat danced on the water, maybe two hundred yards off shore.
My eyes scanned from one end of the beach to the other, all the way to where the fence lined the perimeter and met the trees.
“Where are those people in black?” I said. The question bubbled up out of me before I had time to check it. Back in the room, I’d made a decision to monitor every word I spoke from here on out.
“The recruits,” Jack replied, seeming indifferent about the question. “They’re gone. Up at the arena now.”
I felt Jack stiffen and followed his gaze down the beach. Dr. Adamson stood twenty yards away, alone near the shore.
A sharp warning pang shot through me. “Where’s Finn?” I said, stumbling in the sand as I jogged up a little in front of Jack so I could get a better look at his face.
“I don’t know,” he said. He moved around me and kept walking.
“But your dad said he would be here. He said I would see him. Why isn’t he here?” I tagged behind him.
Jack spoke through gritted teeth, although I couldn’t distinguish if it was in annoyance at me or irritation at his father. “I don’t know.”
“Well call someone and find out.” I reached to yank out the radio from the back of Jack’s belt, but he spun, and his hand caught my wrist before my fingers even brushed the base of the walkie-talkie.
Anger burned in his eyes as he tossed my arm back at me. He glanced down the beach. “If my father saw what you did, he’d expect me to punch you in the face.”
“Then do it.” I pursed my lips together, meeting his eyes with the challenge. “Do it. I don’t care. Just find out where my brother is.”
Jack inhaled and started walking again. I didn’t move, my feet planted firmly in the sand.
“Call someone now, or I’m not going a step further.”
Jack stalked back toward me and leaned in, inches from my face. “If I make a call, then the doctor gets suspicious about why I care. If he finds out my plans, then we don’t leave, and your brother is as good as dead anyway.” Something flickered across Jack’s eyes, like he realized how the last part sounded and perhaps regretted saying it. But then he added, “Do not make me drag you down this beach.”
I forced myself not to blink until Jack turned and strode away.
Unwillingly, I jogged to catch up.
Dr. Adamson studied us as we approached. His lab coat was gone, and he donned a button down shirt and khaki pants.
“To the boat and back,” he said to me, watching Jack after he said the words. “If you don’t touch the side,” the doctor continued, “it doesn’t count, and you’ll be doing it all over again.”
I eyed the boat. It was far, but not so far to make me believe I couldn’t make it there and back. I wasn’t afraid of water, we just didn’t have a lot of it in Kansas, so I’d never considered honing my skills. Beckett and I had gone to Marion Lake just a few times. The lake was an hour away, and we never had much time for jaunts away from the farm. Other than that, my exposure had been limited to swimming lessons and infrequent childhood visits to the city pool. But I could swim.
“Fine,” I said, “I’ll swim. If you take me to my brother.”
Dr. Adamson didn’t act surprised by the request. “One thing at a time,” he said. Then he pointed at something pale pink that sat near the water’s edge. “That ten-pound weight over there—put it on. You’ll be wearing it while you swim.”
My eyes flickered from the weight to Jack. He maintained eye contact with me but stayed silent. His face remained a blank, hard wall—showing nothing, just like he’d told me to do before we came outside.
“You do this, then we’ll talk about your brother,” the doctor said.
For a moment, the doctor and I only stared at each other. I don’t know what I hoped to see in his eyes. Of course, it could all be one giant lie. Should I play the game and see where it gets me? Or stand up to him now? Jack’s earlier words about his father enjoying pain had me weighing my options. Best not to push things until I got to Finn. After that, I’d work the angles whatever way we needed.
I followed the instructions without saying a word, strapping on the weight around my waist and stepping into the water while they watched. I didn’t look back as the cool waves rose up to my shins, then torso, then neck. I sucked in a breath. My black tights and shirt clung to my skin.
At first, for the initial ten yards, my fear lay in what creatures may be swimming below me. But the extra ten pounds of weight, which sunk to my hipbones, required more work from my arms and legs than I anticipated. My muscles burned and grew tired. The waves rolled in, sometimes washing over my face. I could only concern myself with making it to the boat where I could rest.
Sixty seconds passed.
Then another, then another, and another. Inside the boat, two guards watched me coming. The boat had a small mast, but the sail was not up. A black strip ran down the side with white writing in a bold font: VASTERIAS INTERNATIONAL.
Behind the cry of my muscles, I thought about a different day, maybe tomorrow, when Finn was here swimming with me. We would overtake the two guards, climb aboard, and sail away. I had no clue how to sail, but somehow the idea still sounded promising. Which meant I was desperate. Or insane. Or both.
I kept my eyes trained on the white boat, and those words—VASTERIAS INTERNATIONAL. The letters grew closer with each pull of my arms, with each kick of my legs. I refused to let the panic creep into me from the vastness of the ocean and the immensity of water and sea creatures it carried, so different from our pond back home that the cows flocked to on hot days.
My body grew heavier, felt heavier. Four more minutes passed. After six minutes, I was just over halfway to the sailboat. A wave rolled by, and the salt water again came high enough to cover my face. My composure started to crumble.
VASTERIAS INTERNATIONAL. Just watch the sign, Sage. Get to the sign.
I focused on making those two words grow bigger.
Just make it to the boat.
Finally, I was near enough for eye contact with one of the guards.
“Hurry up,” he shouted.
I was too fatigued to respond. I needed every last breath of air to help move me forward in the water.
VASTERIAS INTERNATIONAL was right in front of me now, the words nearly close enough to touch. I reached out, planning to grab for the side and rest for as long as they’d let me, but after my hand grazed the black paint, the motor roared to life.
The boat circled around my right side, leaving me in a wake of white foam and waves. I choked as they washed over my face. My body struggled to regroup, trying to reorient to the direction of shore.
My arms and legs tried to start swimming again, but they hardly moved me forward.
All the energy I had left fought against the downward pull of the weight.
Jack stood on the beach next to Dr. Adamson. Anger coursed through me. So this was the plan all along then? To watch me drown? What was the point of bringing me all the way here? As if in answer, another wave of ocean water hit me squarely in the back and rolled over my head.
I sputtered and coughed, struggling to remove the weight around my waist. The clasp was in the back, and if I stopped paddling my arms for longer than a few seconds, I started sinking fast. If I sunk very far, I didn’t think I’d make it back above water.
The boat reached shore. The guards climbed out and pulled the boat onto the sand. Jack and Dr. Adamson looked tiny now. So far away.
Unreachable.
My head really sunk this time, my body dropping well below the surface, my fatigued muscles giving out. Through my exhaustion, I saw Finn’s face, and it jolted me to my senses. I couldn’t leave him here alone.
When my face broke free of the surface and I felt air again, panic consumed me. I tried to cry out, but my throat was hoarse from the saltwater. Before this moment, I realized I hadn’t actually thought they would let me die, but now I knew they would. I would die, right here, right now.
I was going to drown.
On the shore, Jack stood statuesque next to his father. I should have known he was full of lies. No one intended to come in and save me. My eyes pleaded with Jack across the water.
Don’t let me drown. Please. Finn needs me.
Dr. Adamson turned to Jack. Jack didn’t look away from me.
Help me. I thought. Please. Help me.
Then my head dipped under again.