Page 27

Erik glances over at me with interest. “Fudge dipped?”

“Yes. If we get out of here, I’ll make you as many as you want.”

A hint of a smile reappears, almost teasing this time. “Is that a promise?”

“It’s a promise.”

“Then I guess we have to get out of here, don’t we?”

Though it’s completely incongruous to our dire situation, my heart lifts. Skips. My chest goes tight, but not from fear this time. “I guess we do.”

But.

Minutes later, staring at the intimidating length of wire fence in front of us, I’m not as sure.

It’s the worst kind of tease—this six-foot tall fence standing between us and a stretch of beach beyond. And past that, the water we’ve been searching for, an expanse of deep blue topped with froths of white.

It’sso close. The salty scent is so strong I can taste it. The waves crash softly against the shore, the soothing sound broken by a seagull calling to another.

It’s so normal. So familiar. And it makes me even more sure of our location.

Every summer, up until I graduated from high school, my parents used to take me to Maine for a week’s vacation. Just the southern part of the state—York Beach and Ogunquit and Kennebunk—but I remember how the ocean sounded. How it smelled. How I loved watching the seagulls making their rounds of the beach, searching for food. How the water would lick at the rocks and chill my toes when I dared put them in it.

My body aches to feel the water again, regardless of how cold it is.

But the fence.

And judging from the way Erik’s eyeing it, not a normal fence.

Ofcourse. Because nothing could be easy on this island of horrors.

“It’s an electrified fence,” Erik finally says, sounding shockingly unconcerned. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Electrified?”

He nods. “See those pieces of metal at the end of each wire? Those are insulators. They prevent a short between the wire and the post. So we know by seeing those that the fence is electrified.”

I glance up and down the length of fence, my hopes falling as I see no end in sight. “Do you think it’s installed all the way around? Or could we go around it?”

The second my question comes out, I realize how stupid it sounds. Like the people who designed this screwed up place were going to just plop a hundred-foot length of fence down and call it a day? Ofcourseit’s all the way around us.

Tears spring to my eyes before I can stop them. Sobs bubble up inside me, pressing at my chest and threatening to come out. I dig my teeth into my lower lip hard enough to taste coppery blood, hoping the pain will stifle them.

How can we get past an electrified fence?

They use those forprisons. To ensure violent criminals can’t escape. And here we are, trapped behind one.

Yes, Erik said he’s good with explosives. But an electric fence? With no tools or safety gear to attempt to disable it?

My nose stings. Prickles. My eyes burn.

“Tate.” Erik turns me towards him, his hands achingly gentle on my shoulders. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay.”

“How?” I can’t hide the wobble in my voice. “We can’t get through it. We’re trapped.”

He brushes his thumb across my cheek and it comes away wet. “We can, Tate. I can short it out. Then we can just climb over it. It’s really not that bad.”

“Not that bad? You don’t have any tools, Erik. I know I’m not an expert, but if it was easy to get past an electric fence, they wouldn’t use them for prisons. They wouldn’t use them to guard important buildings. Of course it’s bad.”