Chapter 15-Mirrored Panic

"Are you sure this is safe?"

I looked at Cody in earnest. He laughed and nodded. "I'm sure. If not, we've got the water."

Bailey was sitting next to a thick log, talking to Ivan about something. Her ears were perked up in interest, which made me curious. Cody nudged me softly, and I turned back to our own log.

"Alright. Let's do this. On three."

He smiled. "One."

"Two."

And together, we said 'three'. Cody held out his hand, and the middle of the log started to burn away. The rough bark edges turned into ash, and either end became slightly pointed.

"Stop." Cody responded, and the burning stopped. I leaned in and brushed some of the ashes and bits of charred wood away. A smooth, but blackened, edge remained. With a small layer of grass, a pelt, or the like, it would be good enough to use comfortably. I felt Cody's hand slide into mine I smiled and looked at him. "Just a few more days."

"It'll be more than that, if you want the tides right."

A light female voice drifted from behind a pile of fallen trees, maybe a dozen yards away. I turned towards it and drew a knife. Cody pulled out his sword.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you!" A head rose out from behind a log. "Unless your job is to kill me. Then I just might lash out a few wounds." Her face looked strangely familiar. There were black stripes on her face, tiger ears, and her hair was a deep orange. Cody grabbed my hand.

"We killed you. You were wild, and mad. How did you...?"

The girl perked her ears and shok her head. "It might have been Allie. She's my twin. She was attacked by a wolcat and ran off. She might have been infected with something..." She sighed sadly, then perked back up. "I'm Abby. Huntress, DNA, and one of the last to survive the island." She giggled, and a memory of aylee rose up. "But who are you? I know yu two are Runners, you look completely human. And those two over there?"

"I'm Cody. Pyromaniac."

"Cammie, color-changer. Bailey's the fox DNA, Ivan's the other runner. He can change any form of water into something else." I sighed a bit. "I was the one wh killed your sister."

Abby walked over to me. "Hey, it's alright. I'll be the one to live, to tell everyone who she was. Alright?" I nodded. She smiled. "Now, we gonna finish the boat or not?"

The next day, both of the boats were ready. Our stuff was loaded, the oars were made, and we knew what direction we had to row to get to Snatcher's Island. All we needed was the right time, when the tides would help us. And today, according to Abby, wasn't it.

"It's too strong towards the ocean, not the island. We'd be stranded until, if one did, a boat found us. We need the tides to carry us towards the island, not away."

Cody nodded and stroked the fire. All I had on me was an old bow, a handful of arrows, and the blanket, back from when Cody and I had stolen the car. How long had it been since that happened? A month? Two months? A year? I had lost track of days, back when I was first in a holding center. It didn't matter then. It still didn't.

"Where is everyone from, anyways?" Bailey gazed at all of us in turn.

Abby giggled a bit. "Oregon. They had a center there, by the woods, maybe fifteen minutes from the beach. It was nice, really." She looked over at Ivan.

"Russia. They offered me a few years to study here, in a high school, but they lied. They took me and tried to cage me, but I got out. They found me, and they put me here." It came back to Abby.

"I don't know, really. It wasn't near the ocean, but there were some rivers and lakes. Maybe a bit north, because it got really cold." She looked at me.

"Georgia. I lived there with my parents, and my sister, before someone killed her. I knew Kaylee a bit before I met Cody." I gaved over at the boy who had my heart.

"North Carolina, towards the western part of the state. It's just my parents and me. And our dog, if they still have him." His arm went around me. "It's late. Ivan, you and I got first watch." The import nodded. "Everyone else, try for sleep. Tomorrow might be the day, and we want all the strength we can get." He kissed my cheek. "And you had better sleep. No excuses."

I smiled and snuggled against him. "I know." Soon enough, I was asleep.

The first thing I saw when I woke up was the fire, now down to embers. It was morning. I lifted my head gently and saw that Bailey and Abby had taken the second shift. I shifted closer to Cody and gazed into the fireplace.

An hour later, Abby was perched on a rock overlooking the ocean. She tossed e stick, a couple inches thick, into the water. She watched it drift out slowly. "Today. We leave now."