She threw a big towel in the sink, wet it with cold water, then ran outside to the young man. She put the sopping wet towel on the top of his head.
Groaning, he turned his head and opened his eyes. There was an ugly cut on the side of his forehead. Blood was caked down the right side of his face; it had soaked his hair and shirt.
“Help me up,” he gasped.
Ariel put her body under his arm and helped him to a chair. She put the towel around his neck, then used the edge of it to dab at the gash.
“How did you get out?” he whispered.
For a moment she thought he meant Phyllis’s house, but then she realized he thought she was Sara. Maybe she could trick him into revealing something. “I found a way out,” she said. “After what you did to me, it’s a wonder I’m not dead.”
He took the towel from her. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You must be the other one. I heard there were two of you.” He tried to push himself out of the chair, but fell back down again. “I have to go! I have to find the twins.”
“I don’t think you can walk. I’m assuming you’re Gideon.”
“Yeah. And what have you been told about me?”
Ariel couldn’t answer, but just stood there looking at him. Was he a friend or a foe? Eula said the boy was “evil,” but then she’d said the children were— Right now Ariel didn’t have the luxury of taking time to decide whether someone’s character was good or bad. He didn’t make her skin crawl and his main concern was lost children. That was good enough for her. “Where are the children?”
Tears came to Gideon’s eyes and again he tried to stand. “I have to go get them,” he whispered. “They followed me. They’ve been out there all night.”
“Where are R.J. and Sara?”
“Trapped in one of those damned holes. I told them not to go, but R.J. thought he could find Fenny’s killer.”
“They told you about that?”
“Yes. But that doesn’t matter now. I have to go find the twins. I saw them. Lightning came and I saw them.”
“I’ll find them,” Ariel said. “I’ll—”
“You?” In spite of his pain, his expression was one of contempt. “Is that pack Gucci?”
“And my earrings are real diamonds,” Ariel snapped. “If you can get up and go with me, do so. If not, then sit there and wallow in your own superiority.” She grabbed her pack and headed down the path to the left, hoping it was one that led to wherever R.J. and Sara and the children were.
She expected the boy to follow her, and hoped he would, but she walked for nearly thirty minutes alone. When he did show up, it was abruptly. He had a bandage on his head that was already spotted with blood, a pack on his back, and a rifle in his hand.
“Sorry about what I said. We King’s Islanders are a bit standoffish with outsiders.”
“Don’t get me started,” Ariel said. “I’m going to recommend this place for atomic bomb testing.”
“We’re not that bad,” he said. He was trying to keep up with her but with every step he was wincing in pain.
“Are those children yours? Phyllis said they aren’t, but—”
“You’ve been talking to Eula.”
“Your mother.”
“I don’t think so. I think she—”
Ariel held up her hand. “The less I hear about the people on this island, the better I like it. Tell me about R.J. and Sara.”
“Her leg is broken. She’s okay, but she’s in pain. They went off by themselves yesterday but I followed them. The twins must have followed me. A tree came down in the storm and I thought it had hit
them, but by the time I got to them they’d fallen into a hole. This area is pocketed with them. I climbed over the tree to get to them, but then the lightning flashed and I saw the kids. I also saw a person behind them. R.J. and Sara seemed to be okay, so I went after the kids. It was raining hard and I couldn’t see much, couldn’t hear anything. I climbed all over the mountain. I went to the springs, and I—”
“The hot springs?”