I squeezed the latch.
The door came open in my hand, almost too easily. Father’s fail-safe had accounted for the beasts’ limited dexterity, but not for deceit. He’d been too arrogant to think one of us would betray him.
I opened the door an inch—that was all it took, just an inch.
I fell back, my face burning from the heat. Jaguar slunk inside.
The barn roof collapsed with a roar. The heat singed my cheeks as I clutched the wooden box to my chest and stumbled back toward the main gate. Montgomery was there in the entryway, calling for me. Whether or not he’d seen me open the door, I didn’t know. His hand latched on to mine, and he pulled me from the flaming compound into the cool evening air, where Duke pawed at the ground, ready to bolt. Balthasar took up the reins as we clambered into the wagon and vanished into the jungle, leaving the smoldering wreckage behind us.
Forty-five
FROM THE STRIP OF sand at the ocean’s edge, we could still hear the fire’s roar. The beasts had started howling as the fire intensified, filling the night with wild screams. Montgomery held me close in the back of the wagon, hands pressed over my ears. But nothing could keep the sounds away. They’d haunted me since childhood. They would haunt me forever.
At the dock Balthasar stopped the wagon. Our blue-and-white boat waited, tethered to the pile, ready to take us to sea. Only when Balthasar climbed down from the driver’s seat and offered me his massive hand did I remember my promise. You can come with us, I’d told him. But I’d never had any intention of bringing him. Someone would find out what he was and try to replicate him. Someone would take it too far, just like my father.
Balthasar cocked his head at my hesitation. I took his hand and climbed out of the wagon. Montgomery was already carrying an armful of jars down the dock. His steps were purposeful and determined, as if he was as ready to get off the island as I was, even if it meant abandoning the place he’d called home for six years.
Would he be the one to tell Balthasar or would I? We’d never spoken of it, but I knew Montgomery felt the same way. This island was my father’s prison, his tomb, and all evidence of his work had to be buried with him. Even Balthasar.
Balthasar picked up two water jars, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, and followed Montgomery down the dock. My heart wrenched. Was I a monster for leaving him behind? Balthasar was the only innocent one of us. He hadn’t killed. I didn’t think he was capable of it.
I cradled a glass jar in the crook of my arm, watching the two of them in the moonlight. There should have been so many more of us. Alice. Edward. Their ashes tied their souls to this horrid island.
Montgomery came back to fetch a small trunk that contained an expensive china set. He glanced at me. I sensed that his resolve had hardened, as if he was steeling himself for the awful task of leaving Balthasar behind.
“We don’t have a choice,” I whispered. I shifted the weight of the glass jar to my other arm. “They were cursed as soon as they were created.”
He didn’t answer but hoisted the trunk onto one shoulder and started down the dock. Balthasar took a load and followed Montgomery like a shadow. I brushed the hair out of my eyes and looked back toward the burning compound. I couldn’t see the flames, but the column of smoke said enough.
I hugged the jar and hurried down the dock. Montgomery was already carrying another load. There was an urgency to his every move. I dreaded the moment when we would push off in the launch. I was afraid of what we would tell Balthasar, left on the dock, the last innocent being on the island.
“One more trip should do it,” Montgomery muttered. We took the last of the cargo, and Montgomery unhitched Duke and pushed against his shoulder.
“Get on, you old boy,” he chided, but his voice caught. Duke took a few steps back but didn’t leave. His ears were alert, watching his master, ready to follow him to the ends of the earth. Montgomery picked up the last of the water jars and didn’t look back at the horse.
Every step down that dock was one less I’d ever take on the island. One more toward England. Montgomery and I would make a life there with each other. Comfortable. Quiet. We’d never mention the past. If he’d seen my role in Father’s murder, he’d never say anything, just as I’d never ask if he missed Balthasar. We’d forget about Edward—no, that was impossible.
I’d never forget Edward.
One more step. And another. And then I was at the launch.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said, my vocal cords trembling. Montgomery’s eyes reflected my own tangled emotions. For a moment I studied his face in the moonlight, wondering if the tie between us would be different in London. For now, it felt as though he and I would always be bound together.
I reached for the line holding the launch, but Montgomery touched my shoulder softly. He turned me back to face him again. His features were knotted and tense, but then his lips parted. “Juliet—”
He pulled me into a deep kiss. My surprise melted and I kissed him back. My hand found the hard silhouette of his chest and pulled with trembling fingers at his shirt. I wanted to hold on to him forever. Believing in nothing except the truth of Montgomery, who for all his faults was as steady as the sea, as honest as the sun. My eyes watered with unexpected tears, and I kissed him harder, desperately. It wasn’t a happy ending. He and I would return to the real world, but there was only anguish left for Balthasar and the others.
Montgomery broke off the kiss, reluctantly. Swallowed hard. He was as afraid of the future as I was. For a moment it was only he and I and the sea and the unknown.