Tristan laughed, a silly sound with sobs lurking behind it. "I guess I can understand that. Thank you for taking me in, and...." He shut his eyes, unable to think of anything positive. Dorian warned him early on his training would cost Gram her life.
"It is I, Tristan, who should be thanking you for coming to me. I can't express how much I admire your courage, for taking it upon yourself to save Dorian. She likes to think she's tough, and I'm sure she'd never admit to appreciating what you did, but I want you to know I am forever grateful for everything you've done."
Tristan nodded, wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
"Now run along and let me rest."
"Before I go, I wanted to ask...about Dorian." Tristan hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake and paced alongside Gram's bed. "Is it okay if—I mean, I don't really even know if she's interested or not...."
Gram held out her hand for his, he took it. "You have my blessings if you wish to court her. Just be patient, she's going through some difficult times right now."
"Thanks. I will." Tristan kissed her cheek, feeling a loyalty and obligation to stay on the island even after her death.
As he closed the cabin door behind him, he heard clanking rocks echoing through the trees from the village. Tristan found Dorian carrying river stones through the rubble to an organized pile, just outside the foundation of the medicinal shop. She tossed the broken ones down the hillside.
"Won't someone rebuild?" Why hadn't Alpheus or someone just magically repaired it already?
"We have a mason on the island," she answered, not looking at him. Her hair was knotted at the back of her head and her smooth skin glistened with sweat.
The comment reminded him about the spy. "I lost that box. It fell in the ocean."
"Oh well." She shrugged, smearing a streak of dirt on the bridge of her nose. "Sounds like it wasn't for anything good anyway."
"I guess." He breathed a sigh of relief, glad the lying part was over with. The scent of charred wood and pine lingered in the still air. The neighboring building to the right had been removed completely, the one on the left stood untouched. "So, what will you do now?"
"There's a lot to do, having missed a week. Just means I'm further behind than I was before."
"Maybe I could help?" He stepped into the debris, kicking burnt wood aside to expose more rocks. He picked them up two at a time and added to the pile.
"Alice has two kids who've shown interest. Gram's been bugging me for years to take them on as apprentices. I haven't because I prefer to work by myself. You wouldn't understand."
"I completely understand." He'd gone to extremes to avoid people and their thoughts, preferring life simpler by himself. But now, for the first time, he wanted friends. Maybe even a girlfriend, if Dorian felt the same about him. "I used to be the same way."
"Yeah? Then what? You grew out of it and I'm still a baby? You still think you're better than I am?" She started throwing rocks, destroying her neat pile. "You
are
a piece of work."
"What is with you?" Tristan clenched his fists, controlling his temper. How patient should he be? "I like you, I really do. But I didn't say any of that and I don't think this is the right time for us to be arguing."
"I'm glad you helped me in Ireland, but just…don't talk to me right now."
Tristan covered his face and took a breath. "Before I go—"
"You're leaving?"
"Well, I don't want to fight, and it sounds like you want to be alone." Did she care about him after all? "I have something for you." He pulled Dr. Morley's tool from his back pocket. "He dropped it just before…. Anyway. I picked it up because I thought it was a flashlight. You said you were curious...." He'd forgotten all about it until he emptied the pocket for box fragments.
Dorian's eyes narrowed. She stared at the tool in his hand, still caked with mud. "Do you know what that thing has done?"
Tristan shrugged. "No."
"It destroys. It mutilates cells." Her lips pinched and twisted into a smile. "If you really want to do something for me, there's a place I've wanted to take you for a while now."
"I just thought you might be able to use it for something." He shoved the tool back in his back pocket and scratched his head as she walked into the forest. He kept his mouth shut and followed her for an hour. Silent. She was so hard to figure out; dating her would be a nightmare.
They came to a hole in the ground with a ladder jutting out. Dorian stood with her hands on her hips. "This is a cave. Everyone on the island takes shifts to keep it company. If you really want to do something for me, take a shift."
Tristan peered into the dark crevasse, barely able to see the bottom. "If you all take shifts, shouldn't someone be there now?"
"Yep. Flynn's down there. Just tell him I sent you to finish out his shift."
"I don't know...." Tristan rubbed the back of his neck, not liking the idea of underground confinement.
"I'll relieve you in two hours. Don't you remember Oliver talking about a cave? All of our security depends on this cave."
"And you'll come back in two hours?"
"Of course." She smiled, her lips pinched tight. "It would be a really nice thing for you to do."
The ladder wobbled and a woman wearing a straw hat and sundress climbed out of the hole. Tristan recognized her from when Dorian was first attacked. "Oh! Hello, Dorian. Tristan." She extended a hand and Tristan shook it, nodding at the strangeness of it all. "I was just visiting with Flynn."
"Tristan agreed to take the end of his shift, if you'd like to wait for him," Dorian said, sappy friendliness spewing from her mouth. Angry darkness flittered in her eyes. If only he knew how to make her feel better—he didn't dare try hugging her.
"Sure," Tristan heard himself say. How bad could it be if they all did it? And the woman, Alice if he remembered correctly, didn't seem filthy or stressed about anything. Nervous maybe, but not afraid.
"I'm meeting with the baker, so I better just hurry along." Alice giggled and her cheeks flushed. Tristan lowered himself into the hole."I think Flynn's planning something special for our anniversary."
"Just keep going until you see Flynn," Dorian called from the top of the ladder.
Tristan followed the line of flaming torches, descending deeper underground. Firelight reflected on white sand; much better than the mud and cobwebs he'd come to expect in caves. He looked down on a circular cavern with torches along all the walls. A crescent shaped pool of spluttering mud covered a third of the space. A man had just settled on a cot in the sand.
He could handle this for two hours. No problem.
"Did someone see me?" said the man. He glanced up at Tristan and sprang to his feet. "I thought you were Alice."
"Um, no. Dorian sent me to finish your shift." Tristan made his way down the boulders, pulling Dr. Morley's tool from his pocket, remembering one of the ends glowed like a flashlight. If it had batteries, they weren't going to last much longer.
"That's Dr. Mor—"
Flynn's cut-off words caught Tristan's attention. "How would you know that?"
Flynn rushed him. Tristan dove to the side and scrambled backwards in the sand, skirting the mud. Flynn flew at him again, catching his ankles. Tristan threw handfuls of sand, kicking to get free and out of reach, but Flynn gained on him faster than he could move.
"You're the spy?" Tristan asked, buying time with small talk. "How could you betray everyone?"
"Easy. Eric was the only one who caught on, and he don't remember squat." Flynn grabbed a fistful of Tristan's hair and shoved him face-first into the mud.
He flailed uselessly, holding his breath. He had to warn Dorian. And Alpheus. What if Flynn killed him before he could tell anyone? He didn't have any weapons. Flynn pressed harder.
Tristan forced his body relax, on the off chance Flynn might think it was over, and calculated where the man's head might be. He tightened his grip on Dr. Morley's tool, working his grip to the end for better depth if he got lucky.
On the count of three, Tristan jammed his elbow back, knocking Flynn off balance. He followed through with the pointy end of the tool.
Flynn's eyes widened as blood pulsed from the stab wound on his neck. He still had Tristan's hair in his fist and pulled him close. "You're too late, I already told him where the box is."
It took a minute for Tristan to understand what he meant. "You couldn't have, I told Dorian an hour ago and you were in here."
Flynn gurgled a laugh with blood coating his teeth and oozing down his chin.
Tristan clenched his jaw and let his rage fly. He dug the tool in deeper and snapped the handle off, leaving no way for Flynn to get it out himself. He pried the man's weakening fist from his hair and staggered back, staring at the broken murder weapon.
It glowed brightly through the blood. Tristan threw it in the mud, hard enough to bury it, and wiped the filth from his face. Dorian would believe him about Flynn, wouldn't she?
"You—" she breathed, standing at the top of the boulders, slapping her hands over her mouth.
"Dorian!"
She ran.
"I can explain!"
47
-
R
ESURRECTION -
TRISTAN DIDN'T BOTHER chasing after her. He grabbed the aluminum cot and slammed it against the rock wall instead. Of course he could explain, if she'd let him. He glared at Flynn's dead body, leaning against a rock with open, unblinking eyes.
The mud bubbled more fiercely where the weapon had landed, bits of splatter landing on the dry sand.
Tristan took a few steps back, eyeing the way out. He grabbed the nearest torch and held it ready, in case something emerged from the mud. The spot where Dr. Morley's tool landed began shifting colors, alternating between a dark blue and purple.
Dread lurched up his spine. Not only had he killed one of the residents, but he single-handedly destroyed the cave that made the entire island secure. Pale pink spots of light convulsed in the thick mud, fading with darker colors as they spread. The walls rumbled.
"I'm so sorry." Tristan dropped the torch and fell to his knees. He'd have to go down with the cave, too ashamed to show his face above ground. Nobody would believe him now.
Transparent orange liquid dissolved everything in its path, eating through the mud. Flynn's body fell with a splash in the shifting ground. Tristan grabbed a handful of sand; pastel colors flickering as it trickled between his fingers. The walls around him shimmered. He stood and spun in a circle of wonder.
Now the water was almost crystal-clear where the tool lay, with white sparkly sand beneath it. The black tape that Dr. Morley had wrapped around it was unraveling. Tristan stepped into the soupy mixture of color and reached for the tag of loose tape, determined to shake the tool free of confinement. The water tingled on his skin, dissolving the splats of mud and blood up his arm. He pulled the glowing spike out of the water and unwound the tape all the way, squinting his eyes tighter with the intensified brightness. When all the tape was off, he tossed it into the pool like a fish, unable to look at it directly.
Mud turned to water twice is fast; the walls shimmered even brighter.
The ground rumbled and rocks fell over the path. He had to tell someone about the cave. Maybe he still had a chance to explain. He took one last look at the extraordinary water and glanced at Flynn's body.
It wasn't there.
An arm whipped under his chin, squeezing his neck and pulling him off his feet. Tristan grabbed the crook of an elbow and pulled, making a gap for air.
"Aren't you just full of surprises," Flynn whispered with a southern drawl, inches from Tristan's ear. "Bringin' me back to life like you did. Fixin' the cave to normal. Yesiree. I bet Lazaro would give his eyeteeth to set up shop here, with security workin' all proper. He might even try dunkin' a few of them statue people, see if the water works on them. One thing's for sure, I know he'd love to get his hands on you."
Tristan pulled on Flynn's arm, struggling to be free. Why couldn't the man just die?
"Let's go sonny-boy."
Tristan felt a sharp jab in his side as Flynn shoved him toward the exit. His mind raced. He had to keep Flynn from telling Sabbatini about the water, even if it meant being buried alive. Rocks fell from the ceiling. He trudged up the hill of boulders with Flynn's arm still around his neck, hoping a rock would hit Flynn before him.
At the top, rocks cascaded to the ground. But instead of forming a pile, they circled up. And up. Outside light shined through at the bottom, stretching taller as the rocks kept circling. "That'd be our way out," Flynn said, prodding Tristan into the light of day with a knife.
Flynn jerked to a stop, yanking Tristan against his chest and tightening his grip.
Dorian, Oliver, Eric, Landon, and Victor stood ten feet away.
"I figured out the cave!" Flynn said, rocking side to side on his feet. "Tristan tried to kill me, so it'd stay broken, but I fixed it! Go see for yourselves!"
"He'll bring Sabbatini and revive the statues," Tristan croaked, Flynn's grip unbreakable.