And Then There Were Four by Nancy Werlin

Author:Nancy Werlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2017-05-04T09:41:26+00:00

Chapter 32. Saralinda

I move as unobtrusively as I can between Caleb and the end of the dock, except I am probably quite obtrusive because I sort of lurch and I need to lean heavily on Georgia after having run earlier which I am not exactly accustomed to doing, I would never have believed how fast I could go and pain totally did not matter. But what is important now is to get in Caleb’s way because before he knew I was here he was leaning toward the ocean in a very scary way.

Caleb is lethal it turns out just like I always thought, but it is not in the way I used to think. I am upset about what might be going on with my mother but right now more upset about Caleb because not only is he dangerous to himself, he is dangerous to me.

Because when I look at him with his hair hanging down around his face I could drown in his pain and go down almost willingly.

I ask, “What happened just now with your father?”

“Oh.” He pauses for a second, as if he forgot and has to remember. “The cop was trying to climb the fence, and I have this folding knife, and I stopped him.” He looks at his hands. “I, uh. So I stabbed him in the leg and he fell.”

On one of his hands I see dark stains in the folds of his knuckles and around his fingernails. I blink. He used a knife to do physical harm to another human being on our behalf, me and Kenyon and Evangeline.

“Are you hurt?” I ask feebly.

“He’s the one who got hurt.” Suddenly Caleb grins which makes my stomach lurch in a melty way.

I manage to say, “Let’s go. Kenyon and Evangeline are waiting.”

Caleb doesn’t move though. “Saralinda, listen. My father is letting us get away. He wants us to run, that’s what’s going on. He’s giving us rope. This is fun for him. A game. It’s not only about Kenyon and Antoine.”

I look up at him again. “He said that?”

He holds my eyes. “He said it. He said he was playing a game.”

“What does it mean, a game?”

“For now, it means that we have to stay alive. All of us.”

“I guess that’s not brand-new,” I say slowly, as I try to take this in. “But what kind of game? Was Antoine a game, or—wait, what does your father have to do with, well, me? Or Kenyon, or her grandfather, or—” I stop. I am totally confused.

He shrugs. “I don’t know those things either. We’ll have to all talk, I guess, except right now—we have to get out of here.” He looks beyond me. “Where are Kenyon and Evangeline?”

Silently Georgia and I lead the way to a large sailboat and I motion to Caleb to get on board, then Georgia and I clamber after him. We duck beneath a loose tarpaulin and call out that we’re coming (although they probably heard us already, as Georgia and I are more clumsy than usual).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.