if I wanted to get there before dark.
Lush green hills rolled across the landscape, raising the heights of the tall trees until it looked like some reached the sky. They seemed endless, like they went on forever. I scanned them, and it became harder to believe the tales told to us by the tribe, that there was something to fear here. It dawned on me that maybe they had only said those things to scare us off, to keep us outsiders from stumbling onto their island’s best kept secrets.
Pushing my weight off the rock, I stretched, anticipating the long walk I had ahead of me. And that’s when I spotted it, the crest of what looked like a dark mountain. Only, it bottlenecked to an opening. There, several miles from where I stood, was a massive volcano. Possibly the mysterious one Marcela mentioned.
Mouth gaping open, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It existed.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” The deep voice coming from behind just about startled me out of my shoes. I turned abruptly on my heels to find all four of my mentors hovering.
And they didn’t look very happy.
“Having a good time out here, Princess?” It was Paulo who asked. “You know … NOT following directions and staying on campus grounds where it’s safe?”
Instead of answering, I just swallowed hard, wondering if they’d been following me this whole time. Wondering if they’d seen me bury the satchel a mere foot away. My gaze settled on the rock I placed on top of it, and then shifted back toward the guys.
“I thought our orders were pretty clear,” Ori spoke up.
That word—orders—didn’t sit right with me, snapping me out of the daze I slipped into when I was first caught. Suddenly fuming, I folded both arms across my chest. Was this guy serious?
“Orders?” I scoffed. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
The hard glare I kept trained on Ori panned left, but only for a moment when Kai lifted his arm a little, placing it over his stomach. I hadn’t realized it before, but he didn’t look good. Compared to when I’d seen him a few hours ago when they trailed me to my dorm after class, he seemed pale, weak.
“On the contrary,” Paulo interjected, stealing my attention. “You’re not in Kansas anymore, which means you don’t step foot off academy grounds unless we say so. And trust me, we’ll never say so. Besides, shouldn’t you be in your room, shining your tiara or something?”
I wanted to scratch his eyes out, the smart-mouthed bastard.
These four, in general, just rubbed me the wrong way. I looked them over, feeling the overwhelming urge to take my fist to someone’s face. However, considering their enormity, I thought better of it.
“Look around,” I stated, gesturing around the space I’d selected, “seems pretty safe to me.”
“Well, I’m sure you know looks can sometimes be deceiving,” Rayen jumped in.
Tell me about it. My first impression of them had been deceiving. I foolishly allowed myself to fantasize they’d be sweet, as appealing on the inside as they were on the outside.
No dice.
They sucked.
“Whatever,” I sighed. “Save the lecture. I was just heading back anyway.”
“We don’t lecture. It was on your parents to teach you to follow directions. Not us,” Ori scolded with a shrug. “If you wanna get yourself killed out here, be our guest. Can’t say we didn’t warn you.”
It was clear he wanted me to believe they didn’t care, but the fact that they were present contradicted that idea. While, no, I wasn’t stupid enough to think they cared about me, I imagined they did care about being scolded by their chief. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have followed me.
“Why’d you come here? Just to harass me?” I sighed, certain they knew I was beyond frustrated.
“Actually, we only intended to find you on campus to let you know we wouldn’t be around for a few days, but it turns out us dropping in was a good thing. Otherwise, we never would’ve known that you can’t be trusted.”
“Trust me or don’t,” I scoffed. “Your opinion of me is a complete nonfactor.”
That was mostly true. Aside from the fact that I did care a little that I was sweating like a pig at the moment. A small part of me hoped I didn’t look and smell gross.
Tired of my commentary, Paulo rolled his eyes.
“Anyway, don’t let me interrupt,” I said with a smile. “It sounded like you had good news to share. Something about not being around for