by Sara Saedi
“It needs to be someone who’s good at taking care of things. Someone with a nurturing side,” Phinn recommended. “Talk to Joshua. See if he’ll do it.”
“You don’t have to worry. We’ll take good care of the garden,” Maz promised. “When Lola comes back, she’ll have my head on a plate if everything she planted is dead.”
Phinn wondered if he should tell him that Lola was never coming back. But he had already taken away Maz’s girlfriend; he couldn’t take away his hope, too. Over the last few days, whenever he heard Lola’s name, it reminded Phinn that getting sent away was a fair punishment. He was lucky they weren’t executing him.
“And anyway,” said Maz, “The vote hasn’t happened yet. You might be surprised. Even if no one will admit it, we need you here.”
Maz had always been an optimist, but Phinn knew better. By tomorrow morning, he would be on a boat headed to the mainland. He’d packed his belongings, including the cash he’d stowed away in case he was forced to spend an extended period of time off the island. He would take a small pouch of parvaz flowers with him. They’d only last a couple of weeks anyway, so it didn’t make sense to smuggle more than what he needed. And lastly, he made sure to keep his good luck charm in his shirt pocket and right next to his heart. The tiny mirror strung on the chain that had belonged to his mother would somehow keep him safe, he convinced himself. Especially since Wylie had worn it.
Every night, he flew around the perimeter of the shore and landed in the Clearing to roast sugar roots and listen to the hum of the wind bristling through the palm trees. When he was ready to sleep, he’d tiptoe over to the Forbidden Side, careful not to get trapped in quicksand. He plucked the rahat flowers and threw them in a pouch.
His last morning on the island, he woke up in Wylie’s bed. He ripped a piece of paper from Lola’s journal, wrote a long letter, and slipped it under Wylie’s pillow. He took Lola’s journal and slipped it into his knapsack. If he left it behind, someone would eventually find it, and it would only confirm that they’d done the right thing by freeing themselves of Phinn. He hoped they would eventually regret sending him away.
At least he knew the garden would miss his presence, so he spent his remaining hours among the plants that had grown and flourished under his care. What would he even do on the mainland? He had no purpose. He had no family left that he knew of. Years ago, he’d learned that his mom’s sister lived in Connecticut, but he couldn’t exactly show up at her doorstep. What would he say?
Hi, Aunt Barbara. It’s your nephew, Phinn. Yeah, the same one who was born more than fifty years ago.
During meal times, Phinn avoided the dining room. He couldn’t suffer through the humiliation of no one speaking to him or looking at him. So he ate his berries and oatmeal alone in the garden and talked to the chickens.
“Hey, don’t be so sad,” he told them now. “You guys will survive just fine without me. I’m leaving you in good hands until Wylie comes back. You’ll meet your new keeper today. He’s a bit Type A, but that’s good. He won’t let a single meal fall through the cracks.”
By the time he took his last bite of breakfast, the French doors from the kitchen swung open, and Joshua walked in with a notebook in hand.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Phinn replied.
They quietly meandered through the rows of greenery so Phinn could teach Joshua how to care for each of the plants. Joshua took detailed notes the whole time, and asked all the right questions. Phinn knew the kid didn’t have a green thumb or a hidden desire to garden, and that he was merely doing this for his sister.
“I feed the chickens first,” Phinn explained. “It keeps them quiet while I water the plants and pick fruits and vegetables.”
Phinn watched as Joshua pointed out the tomatoes and zucchinis and pame leaves that were ripe for picking. He was right each time.
“I talk to them sometimes,” Phinn admitted. “Sometimes it’s nice to talk about your problems without anyone interrupting with advice.”
Joshua nodded in acknowledgment. He didn’t say much throughout the rest of the lesson, but Phinn filled the silences. If he kept his mouth moving, it would prevent him from thinking about the vote. The ballots had to be in by noon, and it wouldn’t take long to count them aloud.
“Do you have any other questions?” Phinn asked, after he watched Joshua hold his breath and carefully collect the eggs from the chicken coop. Joshua nodded, then said:
“Do you think she’ll forgive me?”
“Who?” Phinn asked.
“Wylie. Do you think, if she’s alive, she’ll forgive me for taking your side before?”
Phinn wasn’t sure how to respond. Wylie wasn’t the most forgiving of people, but he could have been the perfect boyfriend, and he still wouldn’t have been able to displace her brothers in her heart.
“You know Wylie. She usually blames herself, like with the accident in the Hamptons. In this case, I’m the only one to blame.”
“Did you . . . have anything to do with the accident?” Joshua asked.
Phinn shook his head. He hadn’t needed to destroy the Daltons’ lives to convince them to come to the island. Even if their parents had been happily married and Joshua hadn’t been a day away from going to juvie, they’d probably still have been lured by eternal youth and unlimited freedom.
“Did I tell you where we keep the baby three-legs?” Phinn asked, wanting to change the subject. “Wylie and Lola had quite the collection.”
“Are you scared to grow old?” Joshua asked.
Of course he was scared. He’d been a teenager for more than three decades. He only knew how to take care of himself on the island. He hardly knew how to handle money. Phinn couldn’t imagine getting a job. He didn’t have a high school diploma, and most of his life, he’d answered to no one.
“Yeah,” Phinn admitted. “But I’ll figure it out.”
At least that’s what Tinka had told him. The night before, she’d caught him sneaking into the Forbidden Side to pick rahat flowers and followed him in.
“Tinka.” He’d said her name softly. “Come with me.”
“No,” she’d said. “If you’re off the island, there’s no reason to leave.”
In the years they’d known each other, it’d been the first time Tinka had broken his heart.
“I’m in love with someone else,” she’d gone on. “And I won’t be there when the votes are counted. I don’t care if it makes me arthritic. I don’t want to say good-bye in front of everyone. So let’s just do it now. I hate you, Phinn, but it is going to be weird to live without you.”
“Right back at you.”
They had hugged, but it was brief and awkward. It was hard to believe it would be the last time they’d ever see each other.
A shrill scream put an abrupt end to Phinn’s memory. Startled, Joshua dropped the eggs from the coop, and they broke on the ground.
“Someone’s here!” A voice shrieked.
Phinn recognized it as Bailey’s. Joshua dashed out of the garden, and Phinn followed him. They arrived at the Clearing where they found Maz and a dozen or so residents already gathered. More were trickling in from the deck.
Bailey tried desperately to catch her breath, then frantically filled them in on what she’d seen.
“It’s a boat. A big one. I was writing a song on the beach and I flew back here the second I saw it.”
“How much time would you say we have?” Phinn asked.
“Ten minutes? Tops,” Bailey replied.
“All the girls need to go into the panic room,” Maz ordered.
“No!” Phinn said.
He’d recently bolted the floorboards in a symbolic gesture for Wylie. There was no way they could pull every nail out in time.
“I closed it off. But we need weapons. Bandit, take a team with you. Bring the entire suppl
y.”
Bandit didn’t bother arguing with him or pointing out that they didn’t take orders from him anymore.
“Do you think it’s Hopper?” A terrified voice called out. Phinn wasn’t sure who asked the question.
No, Phinn thought. Hopper and the rest of the lost kids were probably living a cozy life with a foster family somewhere on the mainland.
“Yes,” Phinn said aloud. “It could be.”
* * *
Wylie had been right. It was better that no one was hiding in the panic room. There was safety in numbers, and Phinn was glad the girls were standing behind him, gripping spears in their hands. Maz and Bandit wanted to plow through the trail and take their attackers by surprise, but Phinn insisted on playing defense.
“They could be passing by. Maybe they’re lost. But if they see that the island’s inhabited, they’ll want to investigate,” he argued.
If they flew toward people on a ship who were armed with guns, they’d take the residents out like a flock of game birds.
Phinn didn’t dare say it aloud, but he hoped Wylie was on the boat and she had found someone to bring her home.
It was quiet long enough for everyone to let out a communal sigh, but just as they exhaled, the ground beneath them shook from approaching footsteps.
“Stand back,” Phinn ordered. “Weapons at the ready.” They all braced themselves, their spears poised.
See, Phinn wanted to say. What would any of you do without me?
No one had ever invaded the island. Sometimes, Phinn wondered if it was only visible to a privileged few. None of them knew how far its magical capabilities extended. Lola’s tribe had claimed that adults couldn’t survive on the island, but Phinn assumed that was a lie to help ease the pain of losing their parents. They’d intercepted several boats and sailors over the years, but managed to stave them off with clever lies and excuses for why they were there. The one that worked most often was claiming they were production assistants on an exclusive movie shoot. Any interlopers would shut down production, and face a hefty fine from the studio. Most people believed them and sailed away. Clearly, Hollywood was a very powerful force on the mainland.
Phinn was squeezing his spear so hard he thought he might accidentally snap it in half, when a handful of men wearing lab coats bombarded the Clearing. They were armed with handguns, drawn and ready to shoot.
Phinn suddenly regretted his decision not to import guns from the States. They were surprisingly easy to purchase, but random shootings were rampant on the mainland, and Phinn had always wanted life on the island to stay idyllic.
The men held up their weapons and pointed them at the residents.
“Hands in the air!” one of them said.
They didn’t seem surprised to find dozens of teenagers staring back at them.
“Who are you?” Phinn asked. “What do you want from us?”
“Hands in the air!” The man yelled it this time.
Phinn nodded to the kids to follow orders. He put his hands up in surrender and dropped his spear in the process.
“No sudden movements,” another person warned them.
A few of the men made their way through the crowd, checking to make sure no one had other weapons hidden on their person. Phinn stood still as they patted him down.
“Don’t touch me!” Phinn heard Nadia shouting at one of the men. She flinched as he patted her down anyway, and another pressed a gun against her temple.
Put away the gun, Phinn wanted to yell. That’s not what’s scaring her. It’s your face.
The creased skin, specks of salt and pepper stubble, and thinning hair were terrifying for the kids. After years of isolation, they were suddenly up close and personal with adults. For some, it would have felt less scary to be attacked by aliens.
Before Phinn could demand that the men tell him what they were doing here, a woman entered the clearing. She looked at least thirty years older than the kids, with faint smile lines and crow’s feet, and gray roots peeking out beneath her tight curls. She was dressed in cargo pants and a long sleeved cotton T-shirt. She grinned at him.
“Hi, Phinn,” she said as she looked him up and down. “Wow. You haven’t aged a day since I last saw you. Literally.”
Phinn tried to remember if they’d met on the mainland. Was she the mother of one of his recruits? Something seemed familiar about her face, but he couldn’t place it.
“What’s wrong?” the woman asked. “Don’t you recognize me? I’m not as pretty as I used to be. You, on the other hand, are still as porcelain as ever. How lucky are you, toy soldier?”
Toy soldier. The nickname made Phinn’s blood run cold. It was what she’d called him from the very first night they met. She was sixteen then. Phinn had crashed a party at her parents’ mansion in east Hampton. He’d been amused as she drunkenly berated her grandmother in front of all the guests, and then stalked off to bed. Phinn had pretended he’d gotten lost among the endless maze of bedrooms and hallways, and stumbled into her outside her bedroom door.
“Where do you think you’re going, toy soldier?” she’d asked him.
“I must be lost,” he’d said.
They’d spent the rest of the night flying high on parvaz and bonding over adults who didn’t understand them.
“What made you snap at your grandma?” Phinn had asked.
“She told me that women are meant to be nurses and not doctors. She refuses to pay for me to go to medical school someday. She’s an old-fashioned hag.”
It didn’t take much to convince her to follow Phinn across the ocean. Not only would she get to stay young forever, Phinn had told her, but she could also practice medicine on the island. She’d even brought along a suitcase filled with cash from her parent’s safe. It was enough money to keep the island fully stocked with items from the mainland for years.
Now the woman staring back at him barely resembled the teenager he’d once called his girlfriend.
“Olivia Weckler,” Phinn said. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, you know. I’m just here to take you and everyone else back to the mainland. What’s that saying, Phinn? What goes around, comes around. It’s a bit of a cliché, but I think it’s fitting under the circumstances.”
Phinn took a tentative step toward Olivia, but she backed away from him. He’d always feared this day. He always knew it would come. Someone would show up and try to destroy everything they’d built. It was already too late for him, but it didn’t have to be too late for everyone else.
“Take me,” he begged. “I’m the only one you’re really here for. But leave the rest of the kids here. Please.”
Olivia shook her head. “I can’t do that, toy soldier.”
Phinn had promised his friends that he’d protect them if anyone tried to invade the island. He grabbed Olivia by the collar, but someone behind him quickly pulled him away from her. He got a brief glimpse of a lab coat as a fist slammed into his gut. He tried to breathe through the pain, but the same fist punched him across the face and sent him to the ground. Phinn felt the back of his head hit the sand. Above, he could see the palm trees rustling in the breeze.
And then he saw her floating behind them. She was tiny, but he knew he wasn’t seeing things. For a moment, he felt safe. After all, it was Tinka’s face that always came into view when he hadn’t died. Micah was perched in the air next to her.
Right before his eyes closed, he saw Tinka place a finger in front of her mouth.
“Shhhhhh,” she warned him.
He tried to nod, but he couldn’t lift his head. He felt a trickle of blood travel to his forehead and down his cheek. All he could do was let his eyelids shut. In that moment, he didn’t even want Wylie there with him. The only person he wanted was his mom.
CHAPTER FIVE
deserted island
“i hate this stupid trail. Always h
ave, always will,” Zoe complained. “It’s the longest hike ever.”
Zoe reminded Wylie of her best friend Vanessa from back home. They both spoke in hyperbole no matter what they were discussing. Everything was always the “best” or the “worst” thing ever. At first, she’d found it charmingly familiar, but after nearly an hour of incessant whining, Wylie almost couldn’t fault Phinn for locking Zoe up on the Forbidden Side. She was only tolerable in small doses.
“Someone please tell her to shut up,” Sebastian groaned.
In close quarters on the boat, they’d bottled any tension and managed to avoid arguing. But right now, it felt like they might turn on each other and start their own war. They were all tired and hungry. They’d had another sleepless night on a ship, deciding to wait for daylight to explore the seemingly empty island. Wylie hadn’t even bothered closing her eyes or deluding herself into thinking she could fall asleep. Rest would elude her until she found out if her brothers were okay.
As soon as the orange glow of the sun lit up the sky, the lost kids picked up their spears, stepped off the boat, and ventured toward the Clearing. This time, they wouldn’t divide and conquer.
“Until we know what’s going on, we stick together,” Lola declared.
When Wylie and Hopper had returned to the beach and told the others that the island looked deserted, Lola’s knees had buckled, and she’d gripped her belly as she vomited on the wet sand. Wylie held her hair back, and between retches, Lola had cried out Maz’s name.
“It’s okay. We’re going to find him,” Wylie had said, trying to soothe her best friend.
The Clearing looked even more trashed in the daylight than it had the night before. The waterfall had all but dried up. The tea lights had melted. Swamp-like algae muddied the lagoon’s formerly glittery waters. Remnants of the memorial were scattered over the grounds. The lost kids were touched and amused by the messages they’d found from their old friends. Hopper chuckled when he saw his supposed Hopper Was Here calling card carved into the trunk of one the trees. They were about to move on to the bungalows when Zoe let out a blood-curdling scream.