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Rachel reached for him, but he shrugged her off.
Sighing heavily, Rachel let fear braid with her temper. “How the hell do you know a shortcut? What shortcut? You’re as high as the clouds, and if you say you can fly in those clouds, I’ll—”
“Rachel.” I shook my head. “It’s okay.”
Tears instantly welled in her eyes. Gritting her teeth, she looked away.
Peter stumbled as we bolted down the lush grass of Victor’s runway and past his private plane. A split-second idea of stealing the plane and flying everyone out of here tantalised. If only I’d studied to become a pilot instead of a gemmologist.
As we dashed past, the roar of the ocean crashed against the cliffs to our right, almost deafening us.
Everything was louder out here, alive out here…wilder out here.
The forest we sprinted toward beckoned with bark and leaf, promising to protect and hide us.
A few running jewels looked at the cliffs.
A guy I hadn’t spoken to and Suri—the girl who’d been on show with Kirk the night of the treasure hunt—gravitated toward the edge.
“Don’t you dare!” Peter bellowed, tripping again as if his burned and blackened feet were moments away from snapping off. Shaking his head to clear the clouds Rachel mentioned, he added, “Ignore me. I can’t fly. No one can fly. No one jumps, do you hear me?”
“What’s the point in running?” Suri gasped with tears as she did her best to keep pace. “They’re going to catch us. They always catch us.” She broke ranks, drifting toward the cliffs. “I-I can’t take anymore.”
Peter cursed and charged after her. Wrapping his bleeding, brutalised hand around her cuffed wrist, he dragged her back into our midst. The drugs in his system faded just enough for seriousness to bleed through his fantasies. “It’s almost over, Suri. I promise.” He looked at me with pure agony in his gaze. “Ily and I are going to get you out. I swear.”
“Hell, not this again, Pete. Stop saying shit like that.” Dane put his head down and ran harder, grabbing the elbow of a small dark-skinned girl flagging beside him.
Suri wrenched out of Peter’s grip and couldn’t stop her tears.
Hauling the girl he’d grabbed into speed with him, Dane shot me and Peter a look. “You’re collared, Pete, just like us. You live under the eye of a million cameras, just like us. You’re a slave, just like us. How the fuck are you going to get us out?”
“I don’t know yet, but we are.” Peter did his best to keep going even though it cost him. “Just trust me, okay? One day…one day soon…you’ll be back with your families and—”
“That’s so fucking cruel.” Citra darted toward us. “You can’t give us false hope like that. There’s no getting out of here—”
“I vow on my life,” Peter spat, his naturally dusky skin going white with agony. “I know you think I’m high, but I’ve never been more serious. I’m done. We are all done. Just…trust me.”
“I trust you.” Rachel gasped for breath, her face blanching with pain from Victor’s beating. “But I have no idea how you’re gonna keep that promise.”
“Oopsies.” Peter stumbled, almost face-planting in the grass. He laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
“Shit.” My hand snapped out and grabbed his left arm just as Rachel grabbed his right. Together, we managed to keep him upright.
He stopped laughing and swallowed hard as if he might throw up.
Just because he had drugs in his system nullifying his pain didn’t mean his body wasn’t completely saturated with trauma.
God, how much longer can he run and not pass out?
Getting his rhythm back, Peter swiped at sweat running into his eyes. Looking at every fleeing jewel around us, he vowed, “I’ll kill you myself if I fail to give you freedom. How about that?”
I didn’t know if he was joking or serious.
He glanced at Suri who ran close by. Her black hair flew behind her; her slim figure covered in thin silver scars. “If we fail to get you out in a few months, I’ll kill you. I’ll make it as quick and as painless as possible.” He snickered. “You can even request the method. Pillow over the face? Drowning by bath? I’ll be the full-service assassin, how about that?”
Suri cried harder.
“Goddammit, Peter.” Kirk changed his trajectory to wrap an arm around Suri’s waist, awkwardly hugging her while running. “Don’t listen to him. He’s flying with the fairies. I’ve got you, Su. You can’t leave me, alright? Just…let’s get through today, and then we’ll figure shit out, okay?”
