With that thought in mind he looked at his watch again, knowing they could not be where they were meant to be, but he was once more distracted by something below. It still seemed Joel was holding court with all the others standing around him. Or all but one. Because someone had left the group now and was walking up the hill to where Tom was sitting.

She stopped where he had and also picked up a bottle of water, and then continued on toward him. It was Alice Dysart, who was actually in all the same classes as him, though he didn’t think he’d ever spoken to her. And he wondered if she’d just broken free like he had, or whether Joel had sent her to bring Tom back, because to people who thought Lord of the Flies was a survival manual, it was probably vital that they all stick together…

CHAPTER 6

Alice seemed to climb without much difficulty, an easy balance about her, as if she found walking up the slope no more taxing than a flat path, yet it seemed to take her a long time. And the effort of doing anything in this humid blanket of heat was apparent in the damp patches already appearing here and there on her T-shirt.

She threw glances at the debris as she walked, but didn’t look up at him at all. It meant he was able to watch her progress. Until recently she’d always worn her fair hair long but she’d had it cut short, perhaps specifically for this trip. She was pretty, although he didn’t think he had any more in common with her than with any of the others.

She’d almost reached the top before she stopped and finally looked at him and smiled. “You must work out. You flew up here.”

“You made it look pretty easy yourself.”

“Didn’t feel like it.” She opened her bottle and drank some water. “They’re already driving me crazy, and I think it’ll be a while before anyone comes.” She looked around at the dense growth surrounding them.

Reminded again, Tom looked at his watch, checking that it was working. It had been his dad’s watch, and it had never let him down in the couple of years his wrist had been big enough to wear it. But if it was right, it really didn’t make any sense at all, not unless they’d been through a wormhole.

“I saw you check your watch earlier—what’s wrong?” He was surprised that she’d noticed, in the same way that he was surprised when anyone really noticed him at all. But before he could answer, she said, “No, tell me in a minute. I want to see what’s over that ridge first.”