Mortality

Chapter 15: Savannah

I told Cole where I was headed, but his eyes glazed over, only half listening. Waving goodbye to the kids, I started to follow Belle when Cole called my name.

“Savannah, you’re leaving? Wait a second,” he called after me.

“My dad needs to talk to her,” Belle responded, crossing her arms over her chest as we continued walking.

“She’ll be right there,” he said. He gently grabbed me by the wrist to stop me from following Belle. I let myself slow to a stop.

Belle pursed her lips but didn’t argue. “Alex and Pierce are already on their way, so don’t take too long,” she added.

“Head over where exactly?” I asked.

“See the big yellow tent?” Belle pointed toward the center of the camp. Sure enough, the Mayor’s tent was impossible to miss. It was easily one of the biggest we had and was an obnoxious shade of highlighter yellow.

“Alright, I’ll be there in just a minute, okay?”

“Sure, whatever.”

Cole waited until she was out of ear-shot and then pulled me behind a nearby tent. “I need you to do something for me.”

“You’re pretty big on asking for favors, eh?” I wasn’t about to agree blindly to anything.

“This is the same favor as before. I really need you not to tell anyone about what we discussed.” He leaned in closer and whispered, “About the cure.” As he pulled away I could see the worry in his eyes.

“Not a big thing? How is anything involving the possibility of a cure not a big thing? A huge thing, even. People need to know about this.” As I spoke, his expression became almost panicked. He probably regretted telling me any of this.

“No, Savannah. They really don’t. It’s not ready yet, and you know what happened the first time a miracle drug was announced. We can’t afford to lose any more people to panic and rash decisions. This has to stay between us for now, or we could be risking everything.” That seemed a little over-dramatic to me, but it was hard to argue.

It was easy to imagine Paulson, or even Mrs. Park, finding out about this and making demands. It would even have been understandable, but we’d all experienced first-hand the effects something like this could have on people and it wasn’t all good.

“What about all of these people? Don’t you want to help them?” I crossed my arms, adopting Belle’s earlier stance.

“Of course I do, but we have to think about the big picture.”

“Okay, what about once everything is good to go? Will you help them then?”

“Come with me and I’ll have to, won’t I?”

“You’re bribing me now? Really?” I smiled to show him I was only teasing.

“You know what I want, and I’ll have to go soon. I don’t think Carol will come with me, but that’s probably better. The faster I can go, the better. But I don’t need an answer right now, just soon. Please just don’t say anything. Not to anyone.”

“I can promise that I won’t say anything right now, as this probably isn’t the best time to throw a new issue into the mix anyways. If things change, then I’ll at least give you a final chance to talk me out of telling. Final offer.”

Cole nodded without hesitating, but he didn’t look happy with my answer. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t have time to worry about his feelings right then. I was about five minutes away from becoming New Ravencrest’s most notorious member. If offering up the hope of a cure was my only option to make it up to everyone, then I’d at least have to consider taking it. Deep down I knew there could never really be a good reason to dangle hope in front of these people, but I had to tell myself that they were the most important thing here.