Page 27 of Blue Arrow Island
I sit down by myself at a table. Pax told me to meet him here at eight this morning. I felt guilty snoozing my way through the camp alarms at five thirty and six o’clock, especially when Rona had to get up to come to work. The extra rest was nice, though.
I’m not sure what time it is, but I know it’s not eight a.m. yet. I take my time with the warm broth, sipping it slowly. Some people at other tables are talking and laughing, while others stare forlornly into empty bowls. I wonder how many of them know what’s happening to the children here.
“You’re fucking dead!”
I snap to attention, setting my bowl down. Everyone in the dining shelter turns to look at the man who yelled. He’s stalking toward us, his blond hair unkempt and his expression unhinged.
A woman stands up from her seat as he walks into the shelter, putting a palm on his chest. “Hey, take it easy.”
He pushes her arm aside. My skin prickles with awareness of approaching danger. His furious attention is locked onto someone, and people are starting to get up and scatter. I’m on my feet, about to move, when the man wraps his hand around the back of another man’s neck. He yanks him from his seat, the other man yelping with alarm.
“You got her pregnant! You fucking asshole. You knew I wanted her.”
Before I can even process what’s happening, the wild-eyed man is shoving the other guy into one of the shelter’s thick wooden support posts. His hold on his victim’s neck lets him smash the man’s face directly into the post, the squishing and crunching sounds with each hit sending my heart rate soaring.
“You! Fucking! Knew!” He slams the man’s face into the post over and over again, blood running down the wooden surface.
“Adler, stop.” A tall, muscular man wearing a four bracelet barks the order, putting his arms around the attacker’s midsection to pull him away.
The body of the man he killed falls limply to the ground. His head is halfway gone, the force of the hits so powerful that it broke his skull into pieces.
“What the hell happened?”
Virginia Marsden races up to the two men. It’s the first time I’ve gotten a close look at her. She’s lean, like everyone here, the lines in her face making her look like she’s in her early thirties. Her blond hair is secured in a neat bun at the nape of her neck.
The four, who’s holding on to Adler, waits for him to speak, and when he doesn’t, he locks eyes with Virginia.
“Rodriguez was sitting here eating when Adler pulled him up and did that to him.” He gestures at the body on the ground.
A muscle in Virginia’s jaw tics as she turns to Adler. “Well?”
Adler’s expression has morphed from madness to contrition. He looks like a different man now, fear swimming in his eyes.
“I shouldn’t have done it.”
She shakes her head. “What a waste. You could have called him into the circle.”
His shoulders slump. “I know. I just...my rage just took over. I couldn’t control it.”
She pulls a knife from its holster on her hip, then turns to look at those of us still gathered here. There are around threedozen people, all of us silent. Some are deliberately looking away, but others, like me, can’t help but look at Virginia.
“Briar.”
My stomach rolls as she says my name. How does she know who I am? And what could she possibly want from me?
“Y...” I clear my throat, keeping my chin up despite my worry. “Yes?”
“Which of our tenets did Adler violate with this attack?”
Peace, order and prosperity. I almost say peace, but I change my mind at the last second. She didn’t want the dispute to be avoided; she wanted it to take place in the circle.
“Order, Commander.”
I’ll play the part of an eager Rising Tider while I have to. No more questioning anything. I could easily end up like Rodriguez if I’m not careful.
She nods, turning back to Adler.
“Robert Adler, for taking the life of another Rising Tider outside of the circle, I sentence you to death.”
