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Too risky. Too close.
Peter would’ve rounded them up…if he’s still standing.
If I’d learned anything in my time here, Peter wasn’t just a serving slave. Somewhere along the line, he’d become one of Victor’s trusted servants, and if anyone would know this island…it was him.
You’re making shit up, Ri.
As if he’d be allowed out of the gates.
He’d be as clueless as the rest.
In that case, he’d probably lead them to water.
That would be my plan.
I’d take the chance to swim, even if I couldn’t steal something that floated.
My mind ached with memories from this morning.
Victor said Daxton boated here.
He’d been one of only a few Masters permitted such freedom. Maybe another Master was staying right now with the same privileges. Another boat moored somewhere. The smallest chance that a crowd of jewels could clamber onboard and sail out of our reach.
I ran harder.
The crash of heavy surf beckoned me forward.
The forest sloped downward, guiding me toward watery boundaries.
It didn’t take long before the trees thinned and spat me out on a rugged beach. Dull sand glittered with blue and green sea glass, almost as if Victor tossed all his broken bottles into the ocean and let the sea turn them into wave-tumbled gemstones.
My loafers crunched over them, scattering a few as I jogged down the small embankment and leapt over a few larger rocks. Seaweed clung to an outcrop of boulders, the scent of salt and dead fish in the air.
Stopping in the middle of the sea-whipped beach, I looked left and right.
A few Masters spilled out onto the sand, glancing around like me.
The beach curved around a headland to my left.
In the distance, a long table, a few plastic tubs, and two youngish men worked under the scrutiny of four guards. Sunlight glinted on sharp filleting blades, followed by the glitter of fish scales.
Well, that explained the stench.
I supposed living surrounded by the ocean, Victor had his staff go fishing rather than import seafood. Did he have his own lobster pots and crab stores too?
Turning away from the staff preparing tonight’s dinner, I held up my hand to ward off the sunlight spearing off the waves.
Before me stretched an incredibly long pier.
Buoyant and locked together with black flotation pieces, they interlocked like a giant puzzle snake, stretching far out to sea. With every wave, it rolled and crested, riding the water with its interconnecting pieces.
Whatever vessel sailed in could dock without any worry of shallows and hidden reefs.
Farther down the pier, a few posts stabbed the sky with tethering ropes…
But no boat.
No way free.
