Grace and Fury (Grace and Fury #1)(45)
Jacana picked up her pace, practically leaping over the uneven ground. Like she was running from something. “I’ve heard stories about the guards. When I saw him coming toward us, I just froze.”
Unwanted memories of Bruno rose in Serina’s mind. Striving to ease Jacana’s, Serina told the girl what Petrel had said. “Being in Oracle’s crew gives us protection. We’re safe, Jacana.”
The girl laughed unexpectedly. “Safe? I felt safer in an abandoned warehouse in Sola with the authorities breaking down the door, and I knew I had stolen goods inside. This island, every bit of it, is worse than the worst nightmare I’ve ever had.”
They hiked up into the hills, into the shade of the scrubby forest. Serina looked around at the lush greenery that had somehow missed the volcano’s wrath. Here, among the trees, she could almost imagine she was out for a pleasant walk. “Do you know that before I came here, I’d never been on a walk by myself? Or even with my sister, or a friend. Maybe—”
“Maybe it’s not so bad? The guards, the fights, the starving, the volcano.” Jacana dragged a hand through her messy hair and shook her head. “There is no maybe. It is bad. It is hell.”
Serina had never heard her sound so bitter. Gently, she said, “I was going to say maybe that’s part of the nightmare, having just enough freedom thrown at you to tempt you, knowing it’s an illusion. Knowing that Mount Ruin will kill you, somehow, no matter what you do.”
Jacana paused for a moment to catch her breath, her hand on a wind-bent tree. “Unless we build our raft.”
Serina smiled. “We will. We’re going to find a way off this island.”
Jacana didn’t look particularly hopeful, but she started walking again. As Serina wove through the forest, she kept her eyes peeled for fruit or anything else they could eat. They’d only had a few bites of bread for breakfast, and already she was so sluggish it felt as if she wore skirts of lead.
Serina and Jacana hiked through most of the afternoon, skirting Jungle Camp and stopping to drink some water from a trickle of stream that ran uncomfortably close to a guard tower. When at last they made it to the east coast, it took them some time to find a place that would suit their purposes. But even so, Serina was encouraged. They were isolated here, a good hour from Jungle Camp and even farther from Hotel Misery down south. There was little reason for the other crews to venture this far.
At last, they found a spot boasting a soft, easily accessible beach with gentle waves, several cypress trees scrabbling up from the sandy shore, and a bit of a cave as the rocks pushed up into cliffs further down the beach.
Wood for their raft, a place to hide it, and calm waters for its launch.
It was perfect.
“Now all we need are some makeshift tools and the time to work.” Serina gave Jacana a quick hug. “We can do this.”
Jacana’s timid face eased into a grin. “Maybe we can.”
TWENTY-TWO
NOMI
THE MORNING AFTER she met with Asa, Nomi bent over the scrap of paper on her dressing table and took up her stick of kohl. Asa had offered her writing materials, but she was afraid Angeline would find them. The deep black eyeliner stood out starkly on a blank page torn reluctantly from the back of the history book. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that he’d been the one to leave it for her. He hadn’t seemed surprised when she said she could find her own means of writing the letter.
It took her a long time to figure out how to code her message. Hopefully Renzo would understand the words woven into one of their favorite legends, of the brothers and the mysterious tattooed woman.
The story was about a kind brother who falls in love with a scullery maid with a secret: Her father, a pirate, has left her a fortune. She tattooed the treasure map into her skin so she would never forget its location, and plans to find it with the kind brother’s help. But the cruel younger brother thwarts their plans, killing them both when the woman refuses to reveal the map. He finds the map and treasure, but the ghosts of his brother and the mysterious woman appear, terrifying him so much his heart seizes and he dies, the treasure lost forever.
It was quite a bloodthirsty tale. Nomi’s version altered it to give Renzo clues.
The older brother was the cruel one.
The younger knew how to stop him.
The woman chose to help instead of refusing to share her secret.
And in Nomi’s version, the woman’s sister was in grave danger. Nomi was as explicit as she dared. She asked him to come to Bellaqua as soon as he could, and to send word when he arrived. She told him it was dangerous.
Even with a mask, even with a plan, it was dangerous.
She signed it with a simple N so Renzo’s best friend, Luca, wouldn’t know whom it was from. She ripped another page out of the book, folded it around the letter like an envelope, and wrote Luca’s address on it. She couldn’t get the letter out of the city, but Asa could. She knew Luca would pass the message to Renzo. He wouldn’t understand it, but he’d pass it along. She dripped some candle wax to seal it.
Tonight, at the boat party, Nomi would try to slip the letter to Asa. It would be difficult to steal a private moment, but they both decided it was less dangerous than attempting another clandestine meeting so soon.
A quiet knock galvanized her. “Just a minute!” she called. She rushed to hide the note deep under the mattress, with the book.