Chapter 609 Chapter 609
“Where did they take them?”
She shook her head. “That was only the first part of the trip.” She picked up the water bottle and took another drink. Her mouth dried out thinking about it. “It was a small plane.” Her eyes widened. “I’m still shocked I did it. I watched and waited until they were all in it, and then I ran over and opened the little space the man had shoved some bags in. I crawled in.” It had been hard to breathe, and she could remember thinking that was it for her. She would die in there and never be seen again.
He looked upset.
“I didn’t think I was going to live through it.” She clasped her hands together and squeezed them. “It was cold, I had trouble breathing, and when it landed, I thought we had crashed and almost didn’t get out before they opened it.” A tear rolled down her cheek. She hadn’t even realized there were tears in her eyes as the memories went through her mind. “Sorry.”
He gave his head a shake but didn’t say anything.
“They landed right near the water. It must have been a private spot because no one else was there.” She wiped both eyes so she could see him clearly. “They put my sister—all of them on a boat, and then they went for a run, I think. I saw them shift and run off.” She cleared her throat. “I waited to make sure, and I snuck to the boat and onto it. I didn’t want to get caught, so I was careful and tried to find the others.” She shook her head, “I could hear them, but there was a big lock, and I couldn’t get it open.” She took a ragged breath. “So, I found somewhere to hide and waited.”
“Where did they go with the boat?”
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. It was a long trip. Or,” she frowned, “it felt like it to me.” She was still mad at herself. “I fell asleep in that small dark spot, and we were at an island when I woke up.” She adjusted her leg so she could lean forward and rest her hands on the table again. “There was nothing close at all. A few other islands, a city very far away.”
“You were on an island for the last eighteen years?”
She shook her head again. “No, I think it may have taken me at least a year to find my way back, probably more. I had no sense of season until I hit snow.” She took a deep breath and blew it out, “And I’ve seen two seasons of snow since I left.” She bit her lip for a moment. “It snowed not too long into my trip back, so I think it’s taken me a year, a little over, to get back. I think. I really don’t know.”
He sat there looking at her; so many things were going through his eyes that she couldn’t figure out any of them. She remembered her notebooks. “My notebook. I drew what I saw on the way back.” She bit her lip. “I did copy streets or signs, but after a few towns, I realized that every town has streets named the same and I didn’t know the name of where I was.” She rolled her eyes, “so I drew unusual things that would make where I was easier to figure out.” She leaned back.
“You drew landmarks as a map to the island?”
She nodded. “It’s not like I could call home and say come and get me.” She frowned. “My family was gone, and phone numbers weren’t important when I was that age, so I didn’t know any.”
He moved his head, and she was pretty sure if was in agreement with her.
The door opened, and the man with black hair walked in. “I’m Calum.” He set her notebooks on the table. “We’ve looked through these, but we’re going to need you to translate them.”
Journee leaned over and pulled the books closer. She opened the top one and looked down at the sketch. “This is the second book.” She closed it and moved it aside. “This first one has names on boats in it.” She flipped through a few pages. “The ones circled stopped at the island. The others anchored off it and came in with smaller boats.”
She glanced at him; he nodded but didn’t ask her any questions.
“Where’s your sister, Journee?”
She snapped her head back and looked at him. “I don’t know. They took her off the island, and I couldn’t follow that time.” She looked away and back down at the notebook. Rubbing her hand over the one sketch, she wiped a tear from her cheek with the other. “I didn’t even know they took her for a few days. I didn’t know she was on one of the boats leaving.”
“Are there boats there all the time?”
She shook her head and turned another page. “No. There’s no way off it when they aren’t there.”
“They?” Calum asked.
She moved just her eyes and looked up at him. “The men. Five of them always come there, and sometimes they bring others, but they don’t stay.” She looked at the sketch and remembered when she drew it. “Only the women and girls stay there.” She whispered it and then sucked in a breath and looked at him. “I will help with the pictures I drew and words I wrote, I just.” She took a shaky breath. “I’d like to go outside and breath some fresh air.” She looked at Asher, “I haven’t been inside this long since—before all that happened.”
“We can take you out for a bit.” Calum leaned down and pulled the notebooks out from under her hand. “I’ll go get Illias to scan these, so we can start searching.” He turned and left the room with her notebooks.
“Searching?” She looked back at Asher.
“For the island.” He said softly.
Journee blinked. “You’re going to go to the island?”
Asher nodded. “Oh yeah,” he almost looked happy for a moment. “I’ll go get the chair so you can go outside for a few minutes.” He stood up. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
She looked up at him. “Why would I lie about where I was?”
“You’d be surprised. A lot has changed since you’ve been gone.” He paused by the door. “We still have more to talk about,” he looked at the window, “but that will have to wait for a bit.”
Journee didn’t know what he meant but nodded. Maybe he had news about the clan. Were any of her relatives still there? She hadn’t taken the time to find out. It had been so overwhelming when she got back there. Everything hit her at once, and then she was completely exhausted like she hadn’t rested the whole time she’d been gone. She looked at the crackers. She really hadn’t. “Eighteen years.” Picking up the crackers, she put them in her palm and then added the meat and cheese. They were going to the island to free those trapped on it. She bit her lip, she wasn’t sure how she was going to handle that, but she was going to be right there when they did.