The Missing - Kiersten Modglin (the reading strategies book TXT) 📗

I moved a hand to my chest, remembering the pain, and realized there was some sort of fabric covering me. Noah’s T-shirt.

I grasped some of the fabric between my fingers as it sank in and, as it must’ve registered on my face, he cleared his throat. “Don’t read too much into it,” he said firmly. “Your skin’s burning badly, and I need your help carrying these back.” He gestured toward the pile of coconuts next to my feet, at least ten of them, but I couldn’t keep my head up long enough to count. Suddenly, the sound I was hearing hit me, and I realized what I’d just seen. “Water?” I asked, looking up once more.

“There’s a waterfall,” he confirmed, almost hesitantly. My mouth became dry at the thought. “Here, have some more.” He lifted my head again—I’d almost forgotten his hand was still resting under my neck—and placed the coconut to my lips.

I sucked the liquid down obediently, the warm, sweet water suddenly heavy on my tongue. “Can we drink the water?” I asked when I’d swallowed the latest gulp.

He shook his head, looking to his right, where I knew the waterfall must be. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I have no idea if it’s safe.” He rolled his eyes, the wrinkle between them deepening. His next sentence was hesitant, as if it physically pained him to say the words. “Harry would know.”

I couldn’t hide the grin that grew, almost forcefully, on my lips. Upon seeing it, he scowled.

“What?”

“It’s just…that’s the first time I’ve heard you call any of us by our actual names and not a nickname.”

His gaze narrowed at me, the dark brown of his eyes locking on mine. “Yeah, well my throat’s too dry to call him Captain Smarty Pants every time.” With that, he lifted the coconut to his own lips and drained the remaining liquid.

I tried to sit up again, wanting desperately to see the water I could hear splashing over the falls ahead. I took it slow, relieved not to feel my head spinning as soon as I’d moved. The black dots in my vision didn’t return. I pushed farther, sitting up slowly, and felt his hand on my back as he laid the coconut down. He studied me.

“You good?”

I nodded, inhaling deeply at the sight of the waterfall ahead. It was smaller than I’d been expecting, the water cascading over the top of the cliff coming in three small streams rather than a large powerful gush. The forest wrapped itself like a cocoon around the waterfall, leaving just a few feet of bare ground encircling the body of water on every side. Red flowers bloomed near the water closest to the fall, and the trees drooped over the small lake, making a sort of dome over the top.

I tried to catch my breath as I stared at the crystal-clear blue water just feet from me, my body physically aching to touch it.

“Did you know this was here?” I managed to squeak out.

His reply was a stiff nod.

“You knew we were all dehydrating, and you didn’t say anything about the fact that you’d found a lake?”

“Calm down, Officer,” he said, looking toward the water. “I planned to tell you all, but when I came back, I saw the note. That changed my mind. And, it’s not like I let you dehydrate. I brought back coconuts so everyone could get a drink. I was just trying to decide what I wanted to do about this place…”

“That’s why you didn’t want to bring us back here… Why you insisted we stay near the beach…” The realization hit me with a sudden weight, and anger bubbled in my belly. “You were actually considering letting us die? Keeping this place to yourself?”

“You mean you weren’t?” he demanded defiantly. “Not even a little bit?”

“No!” I said quickly. “No, not even a little bit. There’s no way I would’ve kept this place from anyone.”

He pressed his lips together. “Well, pardon the hell out of me for not being Mother Theresa. What am I keeping from them, really? We don’t even know if it’d be safe to drink.”

“But Harry will know. You’re right about that,” I said. “And besides, even if we can’t drink it straight, surely we can boil it. We can use it to bathe, to clean wounds. They have to know about this place.”

He shrugged. “Well, it’s your secret now. I can’t keep you from telling it, I guess, but all I’ll say is that you need to think about who you trust here. You may be an angel, but not everyone here is. We could keep this place to ourselves. Bring back coconuts daily, sure, but never let them anywhere near here.”

“You’re not going to stop me from telling them?” I stared at him, trying to determine whether or not he was joking.

“Would I have just saved your life if I planned to kill you to keep this a secret? I could’ve just left you on the forest floor when you collapsed. I could’ve dropped you in the lake and let you drown while you were unconscious. Instead, I carried you here and nursed you back to health. Does that sound like someone planning to hurt you?”

Something about the way he said the words made me think he’d actively weighed those options before deciding what to do. “You carried me?”

“Well, you didn’t fly.”

I felt warmth spread through my stomach. “Why would you do that? What happened to every man for himself?”

He groaned, standing up and refusing to meet my eye. “Yeah, well, don’t make me regret it. Come on, we need to get these coconuts back to the beach before The Professor and Warrior Princess come looking for us.”

I started to stand, taking it slow, but losing my balance anyway. His hand shot out, catching me before I could fall and bringing me to his side. “Easy does it…” he whispered.

A smile spread to my lips again, and