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Chapter Six

Ares

Watching Cave chase Vero with a corn sword is the highlight of my week. I don’t go into the cornfield; rather, I stand on the edge of the stalks and watch. Cave and I have an understanding, and it doesn’t include me barging into his territory. I answered his riddle correctly a few years ago, entering because he unsettled me, and I needed to understand why. He is the only person on the island I can’t read, and I didn’t like that.

His riddles are personal, and people don’t seem to be able to understand that fact. He is telling you what he knows about you, so the answer really isn’t the point—it’s whether you know yourself well enough to find it.

It surprises me that Kayla answered it correctly, as it tells me a lot more about her. It’s harder for me to read her when she is reading me; I can’t seem to guard myself and read her at the same time. I hate knowing that she can see through my facade.

I hear Clay before I see him, and he is dragging Kayla with him. I knew he would find her.

He never loses anything that belongs to him, and though he hasn’t admitted that he views her as his yet, I know it’s eating at him.

“Is no one going to help Vero?” Kayla snaps. “His screams are giving me a headache.”

I step into the corn and move in front of Cave, putting myself between him and Vero. He stops, his eyes a void.

“Enough,” I say. “They are mine and you can’t have what belongs to me.”

I mean it in a clinical way, not possessively like Brawley, or protectively like Clay. I have invested in them, and I am not about to let the damn Scarecrow take them from me.

Cave stares back at me for a second, then nods. I nod back, knowing that a favor granted is one owed. Cave will collect when he is ready. The last time I stepped in and saved Vero from getting a cob of corn shoved up his ass, Cave woke me up at two in the morning. He stood over my bed with two shovels and had a bag the size of a body on my floor. How he got it all up the stairs without waking the others is a mystery. I got up, dressed, and helped him dig a hole. I didn’t ask what was in the bag.

I am also useful to Cave on a daily basis, which means he needs me. He comes to the bar each night and collects his food, then goes back to his cornfield.

I watch him turn and disappear without a sound, though it still amazes me that a man of his size can move in complete silence. I stand there for a few minutes after he is gone, as I don’t want to turn around and see Kayla. I have not let myself think about her for days, and now she is here.

When I finally spin around, Vero is on Brawley’s back like a spider monkey, and Clay is storming this way with Kayla thrown over his shoulder. She is beating on his back with her fists.

“You smell annoyingly good for an asshole,” she snarks, and Clay snorts. “And you know this is a really shitty way to apologize.”

“I don’t apologize,” Clay says.

“Clearly,” she snaps. “Add it to the list of things that are wrong with you. It’s getting long, in case you were wondering. I might have to start a second page soon.”

Vero appears at Clay’s shoulder, walking beside them. “What’s on the first page?”

“Vero, I swear to god,” Kayla grits out.

“I’m just asking so I know where I rank. I can’t fix it if I don’t know.”

“You’re not on the list.”

Vero puts his hand to his heart like he’s offended. “I’m not?!”

“No, the list is for assholes carrying me against my will.”

“I could carry you,” Vero offers.

“I don’t want anyone carrying me.” She shifts her weight, grabbing the back of Clay’s belt with both hands and twisting her whole body sideways. It catches him by surprise, and she drops to the ground but quickly jumps up and starts running before any of us fully process what has happened.

Clay straightens up and rolls his neck, exhaling through his nose. No, he let her go. He looks back at me and smiles. “It’s more fun this way.”

All of us race after her, and it isn’t hard to track her when everyone on the island is on our side. I race past Banks, who points toward the alley where I see her slipping into the bar.

When I push through the doors, I find her standing behind the bar with a bottle in her hand, but I pause, not wanting her to throw it at me. There are still a handful of people here, and they look between us.

“Out!” I yell, and they all get up and leave quietly. As the last person walks out the door, I remove the stupid mask and drop it to the ground. Vero, Brawley, and Clay walk through the door, and the lock clicks shut as one of them secures it.