Stolen

As Ty leads Gemma back in the dark, she wonders if she should just give in and accept him. She wants to sit outside and look up at the stars, and he allows him to sit with her. They discuss the constellations they imagine in the stars. He tells her about “the sisters,” a legend where the first women on the land ran away from the men and leaped into the sky, becoming stars. The man chased them and became a star himself, always watching, never catching them. Ty moves closer to Gemma, warming her up. They draw more shapes in the sky. She suddenly feels an ache for her home. He wraps his arms around her, and she leans into him. She asks him if, knowing her as he does now, he would still steal her. He answers that he would. She lays down with her head on his chest, and he talks her to sleep.

She wakes up in the morning craving his warmth. He has left her a note that he went to catch a snake. She wanders to the Separates. She finds him with his arms outstretched, looking for the snake. He tells her to stand still. She becomes shaky with fear. The snake slithers toward her, and she jumps onto the boulder. She slips and steps on the snake, and it bites her.

He ties her shirt around her leg to try to stop the venom. He tries to project calm, but she can see he is very worried. He carries her back to the house. She starts to feel feverish. He lays her on the table and wraps up her leg. He gives her antivenom that he stole from a research lab. He reveals that she was bitten by a death adder. He tries to reassure her, but he’s clearly worried.

Gemma’s fever rises. Ty suspects that the antivenom isn’t working because he stored it in a warm location. He gives her a choice: She can ride it out with him, or he can take her to the mine site. They have a clinic and an airstrip there. She chooses the mine site. He leaves to prepare the camel, and she thinks about dying. When he returns, he slips a gemstone ring on her finger. He saws the legs off the table and ties her to it. He ties the stretcher to the camel. Gemma feels intense pain as they walk through the desert sun. She slips into sleep, dreaming she’s watching herself as a kid through the window. She places a robin’s nest on the windowsill. She realizes she’s playing the role of Ty in the dream as well as herself.

She wakes up, and it’s raining. They have to wait out the downpour. He builds a makeshift shelter out of tarps. He tells her about the rain as she tries to stay awake. Soon, they’re off again.

They reach the car, and he extricates it from the sand. He unharnesses the camel and releases her into the wild. The camel follows them for a while as they drive off. Gemma says goodbye to the camel. She’s barely awake when they reach the mine site. She sees glimpses of trucks and mining structures. Ty takes her to the clinic. They put an oxygen mask on her face, and she can breathe again. He drives her to the tarmac and takes her onto the plane. She holds his hand tight and won’t let him go. He glances back toward the land but stays with her.

They arrive at a hospital. Gemma sees people pushing Ty back. She reaches for him. He leans over her and says goodbye. She shakes her head. She pulls him to her and kisses him. Then, the hospital staff wrestles him away. She watches him as she is wheeled away. He blows a handful of sand after her.

She wakes up alone in her hospital room and asks where Ty is. She sleeps. Her period arrives. She hears her parents speaking in the hall. They rush in, happy and sobbing. She tries to speak but can’t find any words. She’s overwhelmed, and they have to leave.

Later, her mom comes in by herself. She apologizes for overwhelming Gemma. She tells her that the police have Ty, and Gemma will need to make a statement. Her mom calls Ty a monster. Gemma insists he isn’t a monster. Her mother wonders what he did to her to make her think that way.

The police begin interrogating Gemma. She eventually gives in and tells them what happened. A new therapist, Dr. Donovan, starts visiting Gemma. Dr. Donovan explains that Stockholm syndrome happens when a victim starts to bond with their abuser. Gemma feels mixed up and defensive of Ty. Gemma’s mom brings in newspaper clippings from when she was missing to show how much the world cared about her story. She sees an article with a line drawing of Ty, who has pled “not guilty.” Gemma’s mom tells her that Ty will argue that Gemma went with him of her own free will. Gemma agrees to go back to London until the trial. They fly across Australia. Gemma looks down at the land and realizes Ty was painting it as if looking down from above.

In the airport, she’s swarmed by reporters. She dreads going back to the cold, gray city. She breaks away and hides in the bathroom. Her mom comes in and hugs her close. Gemma begins to wonder if the stories Ty told her about her parents weren’t true. She realizes, crying, that she isn’t ready to leave Australia.

Gemma and her parents move into a temporary apartment in Perth. She immediately snaps and throws everything she can find. She asks her mom if she was planning to move away. Her mom says no. Gemma feels hatred toward Ty for destroying her life and making her question her parents. She also realizes that she wants him there, and part of her thinks she loves him.

Gemma looks ahead to the trial. She realizes her feelings change every day. The police and her therapist visit often. Dr. Donovan suggests she write about her experience, and it becomes this letter to Ty. Everyone thinks she has Stockholm syndrome and frets when she says good things about Ty. She tells them what they want to hear—that he is a monster. She thinks about how he stole her but also saved her. She still dreams about him and wears the ring he gave her.

She imagines the trial. She imagines the version where she tells them he stalked her, drugged her, threatened her, and hurt her. She imagines the version where she tells them she befriended him in the park, he protected her, she fell in love with him, and they decided to run away.

She realizes she can’t save him like that. She needs him to know that he was wrong. She decides to tell the whole story, the good and the bad. She hopes it will help him grow into the person he can be. She doesn’t want to stop writing, but she knows she needs to. She tells him about a dream she’s been having where she buries the ring in the Separates. She says goodbye to Ty.