Jerren placed his box on the ground as Kell took a step back.
“You can’t do this,” said Alice, still defiant and hopeful. “You haven’t got it in you to watch us die.”
He opened the box. “We won’t be watching.”
“Correction,” said Kell. “I won’t be watching. Now please get your hand away from there, Jerren.”
Jerren froze. He kept his hand over the open box.
“Don’t be the first victim, boy. It’s not worth it.” Kell stepped forward and placed the barrel of a gun against Jerren’s head.
Somehow Jerren smiled. “Boy, huh?”
“You think I don’t know that it was you on the ship the other night?”
“It was me and Rose,” I said.
Kell looked up. “Yes. But who helped you get back into the fort without being seen?” He laughed in the face of my silence. “You shouldn’t have hidden from us on the ship, Jerren. If you’d just stepped out, we’d have known you had nothing to hide. But then, you did have something to hide, didn’t you? Wanted to scope it out, see if you could sail it.” He tsked. “I guess your parents would’ve approved of that.”
“Not after you killed them.” Jerren gritted his teeth. “I always knew it was you. Always.”
Kell raised his hand, but before he could strike Jerren, a figure leaped off the wall and landed on him. His gun bounced harmlessly away.
I’d completely forgotten Nyla had been with us. In his haste, so had Kell. Now Jerren had picked up his gun, as well as the one from his own box. He pointed them both at Kell.
Jerren’s hands were shaking from anger, not fear. I could see it in his rigid shoulders and the set of his jaw. “I begged our father not to come to Moultrie that day,” he muttered. “I told him it was a trap, but he said I was wrong, that you’d never betray us. Said Mother needed him. And that you were his closest friend.”
“Your parents stole supplies and hid them,” spat Kell. “They planned to steal our ship too. Chief decided having people like that wasn’t good for the long-term health of the colony.”
Jerren slammed one of the guns against the bars. The ringing sound reverberated around the tunnels. “Was this where you locked her? Right here? Did she really get bitten at all?”
This time, Kell didn’t answer.
“You were going to put me in there too, huh? How was I going to die? A bullet to the head? Or was it going to be slow? Starvation or Plague—a nice, painful death for a traitor.”
“As you say, boy: a traitor.”
There was a click as Jerren cocked the gun. “Where did you put my parents?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kell sounded bored now, but I wasn’t fooled. He wiped his sleeve across his forehead to hide the perspiration. “I think it’s time you gave me back my gun.”
Before he could move, Jerren fired. The shot was loud; the scream that followed, deafening. Kell creased up, right hand clasped against his left biceps. Blood was already seeping through his sleeve.
“You shot me!” he yelled in disbelief. “You . . . you shot me.”
Jerren lowered the other gun so that it pointed at Kell’s leg. “A flesh wound to the arm. Next time it’ll be your leg. Now, where are my parents?”
“Let us out, Jerren,” Alice implored him. “We can help—”
“Shut up! You’re staying right there. You’re not one of us, and you never will be.” He jabbed the gun closer to Kell’s right leg. “As soon as Kell tells me what I want to know, we’re done here. But you won’t be coming back with us.”
Jerren’s words must have reassured him, because Kell began talking. “They were buried in a storeroom under one of the cannons. There are dirt mounds there.”
Jerren took a deep breath. The tension that had marked his features slowly disappeared. He beckoned Nyla to him and handed her one of the guns. With his free hand he removed a key from his pocket and gave her that too. “Let them out,” he told her.
Kell’s eyes opened wide. “But . . . you can’t. They’re not like us.”
“Us?” Jerren snorted. “There’s no us, Kell.”
Nyla fumbled with the lock. As soon as the door was open, we burst through. Alice snatched the gun from Nyla and pointed it straight at Jerren.
“That’s right,” said Kell. “Tell him to end this, Alice.”
Jerren didn’t flinch or turn toward her. It was as if he’d expected nothing else. “Who do you trust right now, Alice?” he asked calmly. “After what you’ve just heard . . . who do you trust?”
She kept the gun on him a while longer, but then lowered it. When Jerren held out his free hand, she returned it to him.
“There’s rope in my bag,” he said. “Tie Kell’s hands behind his back and throw him in there. Give him a taste of what it’s like to be locked up.”
Alice and I tied Kell’s hands and legs securely and pulled him to his feet. Rose stood behind him and pushed him, shuffling, into the cell. Immediately, Nyla closed the door again and locked it.
I stepped forward to stop her and felt a click at the side of my head. “Rose stays in there too, Thomas,” said Jerren. “I’m not going to risk you three turning on me.”
Alice shot him a furious look. “Let her out, Jerren. This is stupid.”
He kept the two guns on us. “No, it’s not. She’ll be fine. Something tells me your knots are as good as anyone’s.” He smiled. “Even Kell here will be free soon, as long as those directions work out. If we dig up those mounds and find nothing there, though . . . well, then Kell’s stay here will get extended.”
Kell broke eye contact.
“Want to change your mind on those directions?” Jerren taunted.
Kell spat through the bars. “Your parents are under the lookout tower. Go through the iron door and down the steps to the end of the corridor. There’s a chamber on the right. It’s sealed. They’re inside. Can’t promise what kind of state they’ll be in, though.”
Jerren flicked his hand, signaling for Alice and me to go. Rose shuffled to the corner of the cell, as far from Kell as possible.
“Please, Jerren,” I tried again. “Rose doesn’t need to stay.”
“It’s all right,” she called out. From the shadows, she fixed her gaze on Jerren, not me. “I want him to understand that he can trust us. And if locking me in here with his parents’ murderer pleases him, then so be it.”
If she was trying to make him feel guilty, it didn’t seem to be working.
“Let me stay instead,” I pleaded.
Rose huffed. “No, Thomas. Just hurry up so we can get back to Sumter.” She watched Kell from the corner of her eye. “I don’t think Kell is acting alone.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. I’d figured all of this was just one more twist in the secret battle between Kell and Jerren. “Did someone put you up to this?”
Kell hesitated. He knew he was supposed to keep quiet, but couldn’t resist the power of his knowledge. Wanted to see its effect on us. “Chief knows everything. Everything. What interests me is what he has planned for your parents and siblings.” He bowed his head, but kept his eyes fixed on us. “I’d say it can’t be any worse than this, but history tells me that’s not true.”
CHAPTER 28
Jerren turned and ran. Nyla was right behind him. They had the key to the cell, which meant we had no choice but to follow. I wouldn’t let him leave the island until Rose had been released. And from Alice’s expression, I could tell that she wouldn’t either.
We crossed the undulating grounds, eyes flitting from right to left, taking in every detail of the sun-scorched grass. Rats might be big enough to see with the naked eye, but missing one could be so costly. Only Jerren seemed to be focused on what was in front of him, as if seeing his parents again could override the dangers we were facing.