Chapter 111 Chapter 111: The Sector Born Camp
Senna’s POV
The next morning, back at the waterfall cave, everyone agreed that we should go out and look for sector borns. We had a safe place to bring them to. If anyone wanted help, we could offer that for them.
Junie was getting ready to go but I shook my head.
“No way,” I told her. “It’s not safe for you.”
“Well what am I supposed to do?” she asked.
“Stay here,” I told her.
“Alone?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“It’s safe here,” Kalev said gently. “No one can find you. The island will protect you.”
“I can look after her,” Jett said. He stood up. I’d almost forgotten he was there. He’d been lurking in the shadows of the cave, out of sight.
My first instinct was no. We didn’t know this boy. He was from the capital. Junie was important to me. I’d made a promise to Mira that I would protect her. Was it really a good idea to leave her here with a stranger?
“That sounds good,” Kalev said. “You can both stay behind. Sit tight. Don’t go anywhere.”
Korrigan and I exchanged a look. It was clear that we both had hesitations about leaving Junie here with the boy. But Kalev seemed really confident about it.
“Is that okay with you?” I asked Junie. Junie glanced over at Jett. Her eyes lingered a little too long. They made eye contact and she looked away. It was only then that I noticed the young boy was actually quite handsome. To a young girl like Junie, anyway.
“Yeah, I guess that would be fine,” Junie said, looking down at the cave floor.
“All right,” I said. “But you heard Kalev. You stay here. Do not leave this cave. We’ll be back soon.”
Korrigan led the way through the forest. Isolde stayed close behind him, quieter than usual. Kalev walked beside me, close enough that our shoulders almost brushed when the path narrowed.
It didn’t us long to find them. The forest led the way.
We came upon what appeared to be a camp. Verity could smell sector born wolves. My heart was light as we approached the camp.
Good. We’d found some. Now we could bring them back to the cave behind the waterfall and….
“Oh my god,” Isolde whispered.
We all stopped dead in our tracks.
From a distance, the camp looked almost untouched. There was a smoldering fire that gave off thin, gray smoke. There were also supplies that had been left all around it. I saw bags half-open, bedding, and a pot overturned near the ash.
It looked like whoever had been here left in a hurry.
Then I saw the bodies.
There were three of them. All of them sector born.
They lay on the ground in strange angles, blood in the dirt all around then.
Korrigan stopped walking. Isolde made a small sound behind him. I didn’t want to keep going, but we had to. The closer we got, the clearer it became what had happened.
This had not been a proper fight. One of the bodies still had his hand half-curled around a broken blade. Another one had a piece of torn fabric in her fist. The third body was turned slightly toward the fire.
“They weren’t just killed. They were slaughtered,” Isolde whispered.
It was true. They were all covered in bite marks. The man with the knife in his hand had bitten so badly, his insides were spilling out onto the ground.
Korrigan swore under his breath, low and sharp. Isolde stepped back like the sight itself had pushed her.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no…”
Then she broke. Her breath hitched. Tears streamed down her face as she pressed her hand against her mouth.
I moved toward her.
“Don’t,” I said. It came out sharper than I meant it to. Her eyes snapped to me through tears.
“Don’t cry,” I repeated, softer this time. “Not here. Not yet.” She shuddered. “We will find the others,” I said. “We won’t let this happen to them.”
Korrigan looked at me then, something raw in his expression.
“And if we don’t?” he asked.
I met his gaze.
“We will,” I said. I had to believe it. We couldn’t let this happen to the others.
Just then, a sound cut through the silence from above.
“We’re up here! Help us!”
We all tilted our heads toward the trees.
Two figures emerged carefully from the canopy above. They climbed down with caution. They were sector born too, but younger than the dead bodies laying in the dir.
One of them almost slipped near the lower branch. But he caught himself at the last moment/
“We escaped,” one of them said quickly. “They attacked us in the middle of the night. We managed to climb up the trees. We’ve been up there ever since.” His voice cracked slightly.
“You can come with us,” I said, extending my hand. One was a boy and one was a girl. They both looked terrified.
“I’m Sandra,” the girl said. “And that was my big brother.” She glanced at one of the corpses. “This is Martin.”
“We have a safe place,” Kalev told her. “No one will hurt you there.”
We took them with us. No one spoke much on the way back. We were all too rattled by the camp and the massacre there.
When we reached the waterfall, the sound of rushing water greeted us. It parted and we stepped inside. Sandra looked at us quizzically.
“I’ll explain once we’re inside.” I said, stepping into the cave. “It’s a long story and….”
My voice trailed off.
No was in the cave. Both Junie and the boy, Jett, were gone.
“Junie?” I shouted. But it was useless. There was literally nowhere to hide in the cave.
My heart dropped. I crossed the space quickly. Kalev was already scanning the ground.
“She’s gone,” I said. My hands began to shake.
“Maybe they just went out,” Kalev said. But I shook my head.
“No, Junie would never do that. I told her to stay here. She would have stayed.”
“No one can get in the cave,” Kalev said.
“But someone did. Because she’s gone,” Isolde said. “Someone took her.”
Korrigan’s expression darkened.
“Or he did,” Korrigan said.
“Who?” I asked.
His next word landed heavy and hard.
“Jett.”