He wiped some strands of hair off my face, and his hand continued around to the back of my neck. "It's already changed. The only question is whether we want to admit it."
I smiled, aware of how near his mouth was to mine. When he kissed me, his lips were softer than I'd expected, though maybe it was because rain was still pouring down on us. But in that moment, the chill in the air was replaced with warmth and fullness. I forgot about the storm and about Della and Jonas on the other side of the fence, and even about the Colony. As he pulled me closer, all I could think was that Weevil was here with me, and I wouldn't have him be anywhere else.
When we parted, he brushed my cheek again, this time with the back of his knuckles. "Now I'm all right." He shrugged and the glimmer of his eyes reappeared. "I've wanted to do that for a while."
"Well, don't wait so long for the next kiss," I replied.
He leaned forward again, but then a hand pounded on the opposite side of the fence. Jonas.
"Townsfolk sure aren't very patient about being rescued from evil wardens," Weevil said, chuckling as he started to work at the knot binding our wrists.
We tied my end of the rope to the nearest tree, and then Weevil slipped back into the water. He would return to help Jonas bring Della under while I worked on this end to pull the rope against the current.
"Keep hold of that rope," Weevil said with a wink.
"Stay on the other end of it," I replied.
Weevil jumped in and disappeared beneath the fence. The rope immediately pulled tight, and I grabbed it, ready for his signal. Luckily, the storm above us was finally beginning to let up, or at least, the thunder and lightning had passed, even if the rain was still fierce. That was good news, except it would also make the wardens more likely to come out and search for us.
Where was the signal? Hurry, Weevil!
Finally, I felt the tug on the rope, but it was heavier than I had expected. They must've all gotten into the water at once. The rope wasn't made to hold three people. Weevil should've known that! Threads began snapping. It wasn't a question of if this rope would break, only when. If I let it break too soon, my friends would be lost to the river.
I grabbed the rope and braced my weight against the same rock Weevil and I had used to climb out of the water, but with so much mud beneath my stockinged feet, I was mostly slipping around, almost falling back into the water myself. There wasn't much I could do to help them swim forward, but at least my hold was taking some pressure off the weight on the rope.
Finally, Della's head popped up from beneath the fence. I released the rope and reached out a hand to her, then pulled her onto the riverbank. Immediately afterward, Weevil and Jonas came through, similar to how he and I had done it. Della and I took their hands, and together, everyone made it to shore.
"What took you so long to come back?" Della asked.
Weevil and I shared a mischievous grin, which Jonas must've noticed because he only rolled his eyes. "Good grief. Now?"
While they continued catching their breaths, I asked, "Did any wardens see you?"
"I don't think so," Jonas said. "And they won't believe we ever made it upstream through that river. I don't think they'll look for us on this side of the fence."
"Of course they'll look," Weevil said. "Hopefully not tonight, though. Let's find a shelter to rest until morning."
We got up to begin searching, except for Della, who was smoothing the wrinkles from her wet, muddy dress. She said, "Well, Ani Mells, these ribbons are definitely ruined now, and it's all your fault." Before I could protest, she looked up at me and smiled. "Thank you for getting me this far."
"We have farther to go before we're home." I offered her a hand to stand up. "I'm glad you're with us."
Jonas suddenly patted his pockets, as if panicked, then shoved his hand in one and his face lit up. He withdrew a handful of thrushweed leaves, knelt beside Della, and offered them to her.
"Where did you get those?" I asked.
"They were in my cell in the infirmary. I asked the man in the neighboring cell about them. He said infirmary patients were given as many as they wanted until they felt healthy again."
This confirmed my suspicion that Colonists were healed of the Scourge once they went into the infirmary. However, I was still confused about why people were given the Scourge in the first place and what happened to the people after they were healed. Why heal people that nobody would ever see or hear from again?
Once Della had put a leaf in her mouth and begun chewing it, she made a face. "This tastes awful! River People like these? Have you never had real food before?"
I grinned. "If that's a hint you want to come for dinner in the river country one day, it won't work," I replied. "Once you get a taste for thrushweed, real food will never be the same again."
"It's not a hint," she said, though we all knew Jonas had a lot more thrushweed in his pocket to give her. She didn't have to like it, but he'd make sure she ate it.
There were no buildings on this side of the fence, and the terrain here was hillier than in the Colony, but otherwise, the two halves of the island felt roughly the same.
In the darkness, we slowly moved southward until Della noticed a rocky overhang with a shallow cave beneath it. Enough wind had blown around earlier that the ground was muddy, but little rain was falling there now. If we squeezed together, the four of us could fit inside the cave. I didn't mind that. Both Della and I had been shivering since getting out of the river, and other bodies near ours would keep everyone warmer.