The Island by Teri Hall Read Free Book Online Page B

wherever Pathik and the others were, but she didn’t trust this woman. “Bring them here, to me.” She waited, but Filina didn’t respond to her demand. “Bring my friends here .”
    Filina stared at Rachel’s face, but she didn’t seem to be seeing it. After a moment she turned to Sarah. “We’ll join you in the office shortly.”
    Sarah looked from Filina to Rachel and back again. She seemed surprised about something, though Rachel was so angry about Nipper that she barely noticed. Filina raised an eyebrow. “Sarah, I said we’ll be along shortly. Now go.”
    Sarah stalked off, but she looked back twice, a speculative expression on her face.
    Filina returned her gaze to Rachel. She stared at her for another long moment. “I give you my word nothing will be done to . . . Nipper, while you’re gone. Now, let’s go, shall we?” She extended her hand again, keeping her eyes on Rachel’s.
    This time, Rachel took Filina’s hand. She felt like there was some sort of fog in her mind, a gray fuzziness that impeded her thoughts. She followed meekly behind Filina without a single glance back at Nipper.
    “Rachel!” Vivian rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the girl, burying her face in Rachel’s hair.
    “Mom.” Rachel felt strange, as though she had just snapped back to reality from a hazy dream. She looked around the room Filina had led her to—it was wooden structure built against one wall of the larger cavern. There was a door set into a wooden frame, closed now so that none of the noise in the main cave was audible in the room. In the center of the room was a long table, with chairs on either side. Daniel, Malgam and Nandy stood near the table, and Pathik, too. There were three others in the room; Jim, the man who had dozed Pathik and her, was seated at the table. David, the other man who had been in the group that took her, sat next to him. Across from them sat Sarah, a sour look on her face.
    Pathik waited while Daniel held his daughter, waited while Vivian hugged her again, while Malgam and Nandy greeted her. He stood back, watching, searching her face. Finally, when everyone else had had their turn, he approached. “Did they hurt you?” Pathik looked straight into Rachel’s eyes.
    “I’m fine.” Rachel felt her cheeks flush. She wanted to touch Pathik. She wanted to feel that he was real. “I was worried about you .”
    Pathik smiled then, just a slight upturn of his lips. He stepped close, put his arms around her and held her. Rachel let herself relax into his arms.
    “We’re having a meal brought in—I’m sure you all must be hungry.” Filina gestured to the table. “Now that you can see your girl is unharmed, shall we sit? We have a lot to talk about.” Everyone began to take their places at the long table.
    “They have Nipper!” Rachel blurted it out. It felt like something she’d just remembered. As soon as she said the words, she felt the strange, foggy feeling in her mind again. She shook her head, fighting to clear it away. 
    Nandy froze, half-seated. “Where?”
    Filina stared at Nandy. “Nipper is fine. We can see to him after we talk.”
    Nandy sat down.
    Rachel couldn’t believe it. Nandy sat down . After hearing that Nipper, her beloved Woolly, was here, she just sat down.
    Something here was very wrong. Rachel frowned. “But don’t you want—” The fogginess reappeared, and for a moment she couldn’t remember what she had been about to say.
    There was a knock on the door.
    “Ah, here they are.” Filina sounded pleased. “Some lunch for our guests.”
    A young woman entered, followed by two boys, all laden with trays of food. They placed the trays on the table along with dishes and a pitcher of water, then left as silently as they’d come. Filina poured water for everyone. “Come now, eat. After what I’m told you’ve been through you must welcome the sight of a hearty meal.”
    The food did look good. There was bread and a soft cheese, along with a