Lady of the Snakes

Chapter 12

Nora woke up, the still form of Simon lying beside her. His eyes were open, and he blinked and looked up at Nora. "Can we go now?" she begged.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

The black spots were gone, and Nora told him so. The blood that had been on her arm from the past night was gone, and she realized that Simon must have cleaned it off in the night. It was late in the morning now, and the sunlight already bright and streaming through the cracks in the hut.

A soft, rustling knock came from the door of the hut. "Can I come in?" Ralph's voice sounded. He poked his head in. "Nora, I-" He caught sight of Simon and closed his mouth abruptly.

Before he could say anything, Maurice popped into the hut unannounced. "Jack told me to tell you to come see him if you want them back, Nora. On the castle rock." He chewed on a nail before wondering, "Who's them, Nora?"

"What's going on?" Ralph demanded. 

Pulling herself up slowly, Nora said, "Come on, Simon. You too, Ralph," she added, walking out of the hut. Simon, Ralph, and Maurice followed her, the latter two still asking questions. As the group made their way through camp, they gained the following of all the other boys, who, upon seeing Nora up and walking, leapt up immediately. Soon there were at least twenty voices talking, asking Nora and each other questions.

"Nora, you're up!"

"Where are we going?"

"What's going on?"

"Get off my foot!"

"How come Simon and Ralph get to walk next to her?"

"What does Jack want?" This last was from Ralph, who was having to run a little to keep up with Nora's steady uphill pace. "Nora!"

Nora stopped for a moment and looked Ralph in the eye. "I can't tell you until it's done. But, Ralph-" He opened his mouth to stay something, but she rushed on. "Please, please don't try and stop me."

"Stop you doing what? Nora!" Nora kept walking. She knew two things: That she would free her sisters at any cost and that if she told Ralph what she was doing, he'd try to stop her. Ralph was bigger and stronger than Nora, and she knew that he would fight her if it meant protecting her. She thought that there was a chance she might be able to get through him if needed, since she also knew that Ralph would never seriously injure her on purpose.

The group climbed for what seemed an eternity until they came to the foot of the castle rock. There, Nora stopped. Most of the boys collapsed onto the ground and continued to talk to each other in excitement. The only ones still standing were Simon, face grave but determined, Ralph, desperate questions repeating from his mouth, and Maurice, chewing on another nail.

"So," Jack's voice echoed from the top of the rock, "You decided to come after all." He was standing in a sort of fort that looked as if it had built by two boys in the middle of the night, which it probably had.

Nora glared. "You'll let them go if I do what you want, Jack."

"Of course!" Jack smirked, and for a blink of a moment Nora saw him, the boy standing in the field in the rain, again. He beckoned imperiously. "Come along, then."

Maybe it was the arrogance of the gesture, or the barely disguised desire in the smirk. Possibly it was Nora's own pressing desire. Whatever the reason, Nora whipped around to face Ralph, whose look of concern flashed into one of surprise as she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his in an urgent kiss. His surprise slowed him down enough to not respond until Nora had broken away, breathing hard. 

Slowly, she turned to face the castle rock, hooting from the other boys fading in her ears as Nora caught sight of Jack's face. It was smear of shock and fury. Roger was next to him, a smirk on his own face and a sharpened stick in his fist. She glanced back once at Ralph. He was finally silent, hand pressing his mouth. 

Then she began her ascent. The hooting had quieted down, and now there was no sound but the crashing of the surf, the rustling of the wind through the trees, and the crunching of sand under Nora's feet.

With every step, Nora added another thought to the pile in her mind that was growing steadily taller. Crunch. Jack's face showed quite clearly his outrage. Crunch. She knew that even before she kissed Ralph, chances were small that Jack would keep his promise. Crunch. And now the chances were positively miniscule. Crunch. What had her impulsiveness cost her? 

Finally, finally, she got to the top of the rock. Jack's hand stretched out and roughly pulled her into the fort. From this point, Nora could see that the front of the rock, the part facing the group of boys at the bottom, was the only fortified part. It seemed that Jack and Roger had given up halfway on making the fort and had started sharpening sticks instead. There was a pile of these in a corner, and (Nora almost cried out in relief) around the side of the rock was Ada and Bess. 

Bess screamed out, "Nora!" Nora rushed to the girls and clutched them to her, looking Bess and then Ada over for any scrape or injury. But before she could say anything, Jack was pulling her away.

"Let me go!" Nora writhed in his grip. 

Jack slapped her across the face. Nora blinked, surrounded once more by the dingy London flat, her father's hand still burning across her cheek. Jack hissed, "You are mine now, and you shall act as I tell you, girl." Nora grimaced at him. He pulled her forward, facing the crowd at the foot of the castle rock. He began to speak as if giving a speech, addressing the boys. "You see now that you will have to choose." The crowd began to murmur. "Will you stay with him-" pointing at Ralph, "Or go with me. I'll lead hunts every day, and we'll have lots of meat." The murmurs grew louder. "Make the decision." Jack folded his arms and waited.