“I don’t know,” Cassie says, hugging herself harder. “Quentin stopped telling me anything as soon as we got here. Maybe he had Stuart shoot Fiona, I don’t know. But he seemed worried about someone finding us here. Maybe that was an act, or it could be someone really coming.”
“It was so stupid to trust him, Cassie,” Jasper says, his voice cold and sharp. He won’t even look at her. “Totally fucking stupid.”
Cassie looks over at him, her eyes desperate. “You’re right, totally right,” she says. Then I watch her face change, set with determination. “But I am going to fix this. I promise.”
“Awesome,” Jasper says. “And I’ll be sitting here, holding my breath.”
I remember the plywood in the corner then. Did Jasper forget how close we already are? Soon, who was wrong, who lied about what and to who—none of it will matter. Because we will be free.
“Wait, what about …” I head to the back of the cabin, heart racing, to the spot where we spent so long turning those screws earlier. But Jasper is already shaking his bruised face. He looks like he feels sorry for me. “What do you mean, no?”
He makes his way over in silence, finally pulling out all the screws and lifting the plywood away.
And all I can do is stare. There is a hole in the cabin wall. The one I put my hand through. It’s even as tall as the plywood. But it’s much, much narrower. Large enough to have felt like a way out, but not to be anything of the kind.
I look up at Jasper, my eyes wide. “I know,” he says. “Messed up, huh?”
“They’ll have to come back eventually,” I say. “If Quentin thinks he needs me so bad, he’s not going to just leave me out here.”
“Yeah, and?” Cassie asks. “How are we going to get out with him in here?”
“We’ll just have to figure out a way.”
Because I don’t have to be an Outlier to know that much for sure. That our lives depend on us getting out that door.
In the long hours that follow, we discuss plan after plan, none of which have any hope of succeeding. At least we think it’s hours. All of our phones have been taken now, so we have no idea what time it is. And the day is gray, so it’s not easy to track the sun. But it seems like a long time. And by the end, we are just throwing ideas out so we can watch them drift away into the useless ether. We do search the cabin again for another way out. But Jasper and I have already done that. There is nothing left to find. Jasper hands out the granola bars that Quentin left there when we first arrived and some water. The last thing I want is to eat or drink. But Jasper is right. We should if we have the chance. Just in case we do find a way to run.
And a while after that comes the quiet and then the dread.
Eventually, we all drift off to sleep. Or Jasper and I must have, because we both startle awake when there’s a sound at the door. When I look over at Cassie, I can tell from the raw look in her eyes that she hasn’t slept a wink.
When the door finally opens, it’s Lexi who steps inside, looking sheepish and sad. She has some more water bottles in her hands.
“Hi,” she says quietly, hopefully almost. I don’t know how long we were asleep, but it’s much darker now. Not pitch black yet, but getting there. I reach over and turn on the kerosene lamp, and Jasper does the same for the one near him. “Sorry to wake you. I thought you should at least have some extra water just in case.”
But that’s not why she’s there. She came with questions. She’s worried about herself, her baby. Doesn’t trust that Doug has any of this under control.
“Quentin is lying to you,” I say. There’s such a churning mix of feeling coming from Lexi. I try to focus on it, make sense of it. Isn’t that what an Outlier should be able to do? “He is going to kill us.”
“That’s not true,” she says, though she doesn’t seem sure.
“Yes, it is. That’s his actual plan. To get what he wants and then kill us. And do you think he’s just going to trust you enough to let you go after that?” I ask. “What happens to your baby if you don’t make it home? I know what it’s like to grow up without a mother. And my mom had an acc— You have a choice.”
Lexi shakes her head, looks warily over her shoulder toward the door. And then I feel a flicker of anguish—hers, not mine. I have to try to use it any way I can.
“You can’t just help Quentin because Doug is telling you to. Listening to him got you into this mess in the first place,” I say, hoping it will be enough to make her come to her senses. Lexi is a troubled person, but Doug is a bad one. “Are you really willing to risk not getting back to your daughter for him?”
“Oh my—” Lexi puts a hand over her mouth as the color washes from her face. She looks like she’s just been startled awake. “I’m sorry, I have to go. Right now.” She’s already backing toward the door. “I have to get home to my daughter.”
“But first you have to help us,” I say. “All you have to do is distract Stuart for a minute, make sure the door stays unbolted.”