Page 98 of Forsaking All Others

“It’s no use. I can’t solve the puzzle. I just told you. I have to swim back and get more clues.”

“Swim back?” They say in unison.

“Yes,” I sigh. “So, no. I don’t want to join you and your babies. Speaking of which, where did you get two, Thorun?”

“The twin,” she says quietly, “she floated past, and I saved her baby.”

“It worked then,” I grin.

“I only saw one,” she says, her eyes pooling with tears.

“What worked?” Sona asks.

I shake my head as a warning to Thorun not to say anything, but she’s so busy wiping away tears she doesn’t notice.

“I distracted the twins in the car on the ride over and Cat slipped sleeping tablets into their water bottles,” she chokes. “I didn’t want to, but I did.”

“Oh, that’s what your asthma attack was about. I didn’t think you had asthma. When you collapsed so dramatically, I was sure something was up.”

I grin at the fact my plan worked.

“You don’t have a future in the acting department, Thorun,” Sona adds quietly.

“It worked, though,” Thorun sighs, “one twin, at least, has drowned.”

“You'd better hope two drown, Cat,” Sona murmurs, “because I wouldn’t want to know how the other one’s going to react if she lives and learns who killed her sister.”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

“I’m just glad I saved her baby,” Thorun blows her nose on her sleeve and straightens up, “that’s the main thing.”

“Yes, you saved the baby,” I nod. “But fat lot of good that’s going to do you if you can’t solve the puzzle.”

“I’m excellent at puzzles,” Sona shrugs, “one or two more pieces and I believe I can crack this.”

I stare at her hard, knowing that if anyone can solve this with limited pieces, it will be her.

“You don’t have any other offers of help, as far as I can tell,” Thorun adds.

“Che palle!”

I throw my hands into the air, and they shake their heads as they do whenever I speak Italian.

“A pain, a fucking pain in my ass. That’s what the two of you are.”

“The way I see it,” Thorun says quietly, “we both gained clues that we’re ready and willing to hand to you. Clues you otherwise would have had to fight other competitors for.”

“If we combine them and work together it’s a huge leg-up to help solve the puzzle,” Sona nods her agreement, “and all we ask is that you get a couple more, come back, and we’ll hopefully solve it and all get to the end.”

“With your protection,” Thorun adds.

“And I suppose in the meantime you’ll both be doing what you do best?” I scowl.

“Exactly,” Thorun grins. “We’re going to run with the babies.”

“And we’ll find a place to hide and work on the puzzle,” Sona smiles.

“And I’m going to swim through dark tunnels, battle my way against the current and other competitors, and get more puzzle pieces.” I run my hands over my face again as I say this, as though I could scrub the words off.