Chapter 53

I went into the ocean as usual in the afternoon. I slipped through the grate and explored the deep water. The pull of the current was phenomenal deep down. I got caught in it and it pulled me a good way out. I made it back through the grate just as the keepers were starting to pull everyone together. I chastised myself for almost getting caught.

As I pulled myself out of the water Fuji screamed. I jumped back and stared at her. All the girls were staring below my waist. I looked down and saw a bloody gash down the front of my right thigh. When I had gotten caught in the current I had slipped against a rock ledge, I didn’t realize I was cut that badly. The wound was pouring blood.

The keepers lost their minds, to put it simply. I was carried, despite my objections, back to the compound. They cleaned the jagged cut and started to apply a thick paste over it. Usually the men that cared for us were calm and distant; now they were nearly hysterical.

When the warriors ar