"You know we have to go, Ethe," Delia says, rising from the bench with Simon when we've drunk our coffee and Kira has completely fallen asleep.

She is lying too still and breathing too quietly; I keep on leaning over to feel her breath against my cheek, making sure it's still flowing.

I know Deli's right. I heard Kicks beg us not to let her spoil the festival for us, but how am I supposed just to get up and leave when she's lying here like this, fragile and bruised? Every time I look at her, my throat closes up.

"I know," I grunt, laying my cheek on Kira's hand, resting in mine. "I can't go."

"Buddy," Uncle Joe says, looking up from his computer where he's working at the small table we pulled near the bed for him. He doesn't seem comfortable in that setup, but he refused to go back to the office. He has to monitor a project, but he wants to do it from here.

"She's not spoiling the festival for me," I argue, turning my head to look at Kira's father and I can see on his face that he understands how I feel about leaving. "All I wanted was to hang out with her. I'll just do it here."

"Ethe," Uncle Joe gives me a slow smile. "I know. I get it, buddy, but she'll be devastated. You know she hates being an inconvenience, and she'll be extremely upset if you don't go to the festival and have fun."

"I'm really not in the mood for games and stuff," I tell him, sitting up when Delia pats my shoulder.

"Are you injured worse than you're letting on?" she asks me, and I look up at her with a frown. I'm not telling her and Kicks about the stitches because they'll make a big deal out of it. Besides, it's not that bad. I've had more stitches in the past and it doesn't hurt all that much now. Yvonne gave me some painkillers a short while ago. It's not my injuries that are robbing me of my desire to get up to chaos.

"No," I huff. "I'm upset, okay? I'm Sir Faintsalot, and I need to stay here with Mattress and the sleeping beauty."

"What?" Deli frowns, and I nod my head, standing by whatever the hell I just said.

"Exactly! Nothing makes sense anymore, and it won't until Kicks gets out of this bed," I grumble, lifting Kira's hand to my lips. I don't want to leave her.

"Ethe, I'm going to be right here with her, and if it even looks like she's waking up, I'll give you a call to come back, I promise," Uncle Joe tells me. "She's going to be lying like that for hours, and you are going to have to sit still and not make any sounds so she sleeps well."

Well, when he puts it like that.

"Okay," I sigh, still not able to let go of Kira's hand. "Just a little bit longer. You guys can go; I'll take the bus back," I tell Delia and Simon. My sister is about to say something in protest, but then she smiles and bends over to kiss my cheek.

My parents had to get back to their duties at the festival and were finally resigned to doing so when they were sure that Kicks was going to be alright. Simon used his mother's car to follow my parents' car to the hospital when he saw Delia get into it and leave. She was so freaked out after the accident she barely spared the guy a thought.

"Promise you'll come," she whispers, stroking my head.

"Promise."

"You can take my car when you're ready," Uncle Joe tells me, and that satisfies Deli. Simon squeezes my shoulder, says goodbye to Uncle Joe and off they go. Their departure causes an unbearable silence to fall over the room, only broken sporadically by Uncle Joe typing or clicking his mouse.

I know they told me that Kira is okay and that she just needs some sleep, but I cannot get over what happened today. Earlier, when the doctor gave us the good news, I felt the tension lift, but it came back when Kira fell asleep, and it was time for me to leave.

I hate this.

There's a gentle knock on the door, and I look up, surprised to see my aunt entering the room. She looks wide-eyed and harassed, her blond hair tied in a messy ponytail, and she's wearing some kind of loud yoga outfit. She doesn't generally go to the festival.

I highly doubt that she'd been doing yoga. She always says she only does yoga with wine. It's too early for wine. I'll bet she was using her gaming dance mat again or playing Deadly Assassin with her cats.

She likes stalking them and shooting feather balls at them from a pump-action plastic gun that used to shoot foam darts, but they're all gone now. The cats love the game.

"Hey, guys," she whispers loudly, charging at me to kiss me on the top of my head. "I'm so glad to see you're alive and well," she says, dropping the bag she has with her on the bench to hug me and cup my face between her hands to kiss me on my nose the way she'd been doing since I was a toddler.

"Oh, my soul!" she gasps, looking up to see Kira lying in the bed. "She looks so small! Is she okay? How is she?"

She lets me go and moves around the bench to reach the top side of Kira's bed, where she strokes the girl's hair and leans over to kiss her forehead.

"She'll be fine," Uncle Joe assures her. "She was given some meds to let her sleep for a while."

"I'm so glad to hear that... uhm... hello, Joe," she smiles, straightening up and coming back to my other side, where she opens the bag, removing a sealed plastic container and a fork from it. Since she walked into the room, Uncle Joe has been blinking at her as if he's seeing a disturbing vision. Her outfit is pretty colourful with neon green and scream pink, but I don't think that is why he looks so confused and shocked. He always looks like this when he sees my mom's twin sister (unidentical).

"Hello, Eden," he says, frowning when she leaves my side and hurries around the bed to him.

"Gemma told me you were here. She said you haven't had lunch and asked me to feed you, so here you go," she says, holding the container out to him. "Enjoy!"

"Wow! Thank you," Uncle Joe smiles, opening the bowl and taking the fork she's handing him.

"I have no idea why she thought it was a good idea to ask me to feed you," Aunt Eden says, stepping back to straddle the bench closest to Uncle Joe - across the bed from me - so she can see both of us simply by turning her head from side to side. "I can't cook to save my life."

She's not lying. My aunt's cooking attempts could kill ants. I grimace, watching Uncle Joe hungrily eat the pasta steaming in the bowl. It smells surprisingly good, though.

"This is really awesome, thanks," he says between bites. I know the guy tends to starve himself while he's working on projects, but he really seems to be enjoying the meal.

"What?" Aunt Eden says, giving me a look and shaking her ponytail. "You really thought I would be so cruel as to cook for the man after the shock he'd suffered? I bought that at Giovanni's!"

I laugh, relieved that she's not trying to kill my father-in-law, and he agrees, chuckling, "I'm really grateful for that." Yup, he has tasted some of her concoctions.

"I'm so glad Kiki is okay. It was quite a shock," Aunt Eden says, rising from the bench and, standing beside Uncle Joe's chair, she rubs a hand over his upper back. Frowning when she sees my injured arms, she leaves his side to come to me. "And here's the hero," she smiles, pulling my head against her stomach and stroking my hair.

"Mind if I stay for a while?" she asks Uncle Joe, and when he smiles his approval, still looking baffled, she sits on the bench beside me. She leans against my shoulder, touching Kira's fingers as if she's afraid of breaking her.

I see Uncle Joe, watching my aunt with an odd expression on his face and remember Kira and me conspiring to get them in each other's company more frequently. This was definitely not what we had in mind, but I'm not going to waste it.

"Okay," I sigh, giving my aunt a hug before getting to my feet. "I'll go win those prizes for Kira, like she ordered me to do."

I'm about to take the car keys Uncle Joe digs from his pants pocket when there's another knock on the door, and Burlap and Wendy storm inside, looking freaked out. They both sag with relief when they see me, and Wendy rushes over to wrap her arms around me.

"Hey," Burlap says, flashing anxious eyes from me to Kira and back. "Hello, Uncle Joe, Aunt Eden."

"We just heard," Wendy says, releasing me to grab my hands, gaping at my scrapes and bandages. "You're in one piece," she says, looking relieved. "I thought you were both cactus!"

She flashes her eyes to Uncle Joe and tries to smile. "Sorry, it's just... we saw a video."

"Someone was recording his girlfriend decorating the bleachers and caught the whole accident on camera," Burlap clarifies, resting a hand on my shoulder. "The video didn't show much after you flew up those bleachers like bloody Superman. We weren't sure how badly both of you were hurt. We could only hear you screaming on the other side of a crowd blocking the camera."

"We're both fine," I smile, glad to see the tension slowly leave Burlap's eyes, but he keeps on darting anxious looks at Kira, frowning.

"They gave her some medication to sleep off her headache," Uncle Joe explains. "She's fine."

"That's a massive relief," Burlap grunts, pulling me in for a hug, which Wendy joins again and if they keep this up, I might not be that fine for long.

"I was just about to go to the festival," I tell them. "Can I ride with you?"

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Burlap asks, searching my face.

"No, I don't, but Kicks sent me on a mission," I grimace. "I'm going to need all the guys."

"Yeah... sure, okay. Let's go."

I shouldn't be surprised that Burlap rushed right over when he found out about the accident; I should also not be surprised that Wendy came with him. I'm glad to see them and to have them with me when we leave the hospital and head back to Egret's Rest and the festival I've lost all interest in.

Seeing how rattled my friends are, I feel terrible that I didn't even think to send them a message. Well, I guess I didn't have much time.

"I'm sorry," I tell them when they talk about how they've frantically been trying to call me and Deli and nobody answered. They even tried calling my parents. "I have no idea where my phone is. Probably in the bag, I left... somewhere."

Shit! I have no idea what I did with the bag I brought with me this morning.

"I found your bag under the whiteboard when I raced to the beach to see if there was anybody with any news about you," Burlap says, swallowing, his face in the rearview mirror tightening. "I recognised your bag..."

"Wow! Thanks!" I grin at him, catching his eye, and he smiles back, but I can see that he is still upset. We're in the car his grandfather signed over to him in a moment of clarity when he realised that Burlap needs it more than he does now that he can no longer drive.

Burlap wasn't able to be at the festival early because he was looking after his grandfather. He must've just missed my parents when he arrived and left again when he heard we were taken to the Silverview Hospital and not lying in the medical tent.

"The video popped up on the school's group chat," Wendy explains, turning in the front passenger seat to look at me sitting behind Burlap. "I ran over to James' place when I saw it. Seriously, Ethe, it was the worst thing to see..."

"Believe me, Wends," I say, pulling a face. "It was the worst thing to experience too." I feel bad that they were that worried, but they cannot possibly feel worse than me.

"I'm so glad you're both okay," she smiles.

When Burlap parks the car, and we walk to the beach, seeing the bleachers hits me harder than I thought it would. It looks different now. Strangely normal, with scores of people sitting on it for the opening of the festival. There's no sign that there'd almost been a tragedy there a couple of hours ago.

Sensing my anxiety, Burlap drapes his arm over my shoulders and guides me to where my parents are already seated, looking every bit as enthusiastic as I'm feeling. We sit on the level below theirs, and my dad leans over to rest his forearms on my shoulders.

"You doing okay, buddy?" he asks.

"Yes, thanks, Dad," I say, trying to smile at the people in the vicinity praising me for saving Kira. News spread really fast, and some of them might have seen the video that upset Burlap and Wendy.

I don't want to see it.

We've missed the boring opening speeches because Mr. Pravin is getting ready to tell the story about how Egret's Rest and the larger Summerfields community came to be. I take the phone from the bag Burlap gave me at the car, and my hand shakes when I see all the missed calls and messages from him and Wendy and a few other people. I'll answer them later; for now, I'm going to record Mr. Pravin's story since it's probably his last time telling it.

The man is over 90 years old.

Today, they gave him a typed version of the town's story to read, which was a brilliant plan, but unfortunately, his glasses don't seem to be working. He keeps on putting them on and taking them off, frowning and looking perplexed. I'm not surprised when his equally elderly wife steps up to the platform and asks him for it.

"Those are mine," she says, and when she wins the rather lengthy argument that breaks out and returns to her seat on the bottom step of the bleachers, Mr. Pravin decides to just wing it... as usual, and I know we're in for a ride.

"In the year 1234," he begins, and I'm pretty sure that is the wrong date. "Three beautiful ships with falcons on their bows were peacefully sailing the seas just beyond the welcoming arms of our cove."

Yup, we're off to a great start. Where the heck did the falcons come from? There was only one ship, and it had an Egret on its bow. What's a little species change between friends?

"They were whale hunting, having quite a lot of success too, when a terrible storm suddenly overcame them and drove the beautiful ships of Captain Respator into the treacherous waters just outside the cove, where they ran onto the rocks."

"Wait, isn't Respator the captain of the pirate ship that chased the founders here and then lost track of them in the storm?" Burlap asks, and I chuckle happily. This is the best version of the founders' story I've heard so far! I didn't even know that there'd ever been whales in these waters.

"Nope, he is now the leader of the founders. I'm a descendant of pirates, mate!"

"That sounds about right," Burlap chuckles, and on my other side, Wendy - clinging to my arm, leaning her head against my shoulder as if she's afraid I'll blow away in the wind - laughs too.

"That explains so much about you!" she says.

She's clearly still not over the shock of seeing that video and the stress of not being able to find me. I pat her leg and squeeze her head, not sure how to help her feel better, so I just let her hug my arm as much as she wants to.

"While the wooden hulls of his ships were torn asunder, Captain Respator yelled out to his men to save themselves and swim for their lives while he nobly went down with his ship."

Nobody went down with the ship. They had lifeboats and used them in time.

"Desperately clinging to pieces of the wrecks and barrels from their holds, the men waited for the wind to die down and the waves to calm," Mr. Pravin is excitedly starting to get into his story. I realise that I'm going to miss hearing him tell it, even if he always gets confused and messes it up. His enthusiasm is admirable and contagious.

"Unbeknownst to them, they'd drifted into the embrace of the rocky arms protecting our famous little harbour from the elements. As soon as they passed the mouth into the cove, they were in calmer waters and finally found their footing in what is our home now. Falcon's Nest, where Captain Respator became the first mayor."

"I thought he went down with the ship," Wendy giggles.

"He didn't let that stop him," Burlap explains. "He had grand political aspirations."

"Did he just rename the town?" I laugh, finally feeling the stress leaving me one drop at a time while I listen to Mr Pravin's ridiculous story. I think if Sir Faintsalot had been around at the time, Summerfields would never have come into existence because he would not have allowed many of the things Mr. Pravin claims to have happened.

In this version, the villagers on the other side of the mountain who stumbled upon the colony while looking for their animals became men looking for the women these pirates beguiled into following them to the cove. A terrible battle ensued, and the women fought along with Captain Respator and his charming crew.

Apparently, seeing that their women had defected, the villagers gave up. They decided to have a huge festival instead, where they sat on bleachers, listened to speeches, built sand castles and ate candy corn... kind of like we do.

"Some Villagers stayed and helped the founders build the towns, and others went back to the other side of the mountain, where the Wizard of Oz lives in the dark tower, tossing lightning bolts into the sky to bring rain."

"Uhm... what?"

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is why we have rain all through the year, and I think it is important to have covered walkways between each block of the main square. Thank you! Remember to cast your vote wisely."

"What the hell just happened?" Burlap whispers when Mr. Pravin bows and steps away from the microphone.

"I think we time-travelled to a past town council meeting when he was one of the biggest champions for the covered walkways," my dad explains, and now I'm just sad. Those walkways have existed for more than fifteen years now.

When the crowd starts to applaud him for entertaining and confusing them, I stop the video recording and slip my phone into the pocket of my pants. If I have it on me, I won't miss Uncle Joe's call when it comes.

"Right," I tell the guys later when we're all finally assembled on the lane running between the festival kiosks. Lurch, Barn and Jet were skateboarding, of course, but they came to the bleachers to hear the story the way we always do. We found them right away.

They didn't hear about the accident as they weren't around when it happened and went straight to our favourite unauthorized skating grounds - the paving and steps of the library with the wheelchair ramp and sturdy railings. They were happily having fun until it was time for the speeches to end, blissfully oblivious to all the drama.

Perfect.

They went on the school's group chat to watch the video when they heard of its existence, and it's clear they wish they hadn't. I also wish they hadn't because they're giving me really weird looks now, and they keep on hugging me. Even Jet and he is not a hugger.

It's freaking me out, and I'm soon going to punch someone.

"We have a lot of ground to cover," I tell them now that they've stopped asking questions about my bandages and Kira. "We have to win every single prize in this place for Kira."

"Really," Deli frowns. She and Simon are, of course, joining the mission. "Every single one?"

"Uhm... no?" I shrug. "No... maybe not."

"Let's go!" Barn laughs, ready, willing and able to pillage the game kiosks. Well, after paying to play the games and winning them.

The first half hour is torture. I get to win at throwing darts at balloons, shooting at targets, fishing with magnets and all the games I always suck at when Kicks is around because we're usually more invested in making each other lose than we are in winning the games except for the ones where we team up to win. I miss hearing her laugh and seeing her eyes sparkle while she trash-talks to me.

I miss her so friggin' much.

"Wanna play against me, Ethan?" A little boy with a cute face covered in freckles and a sandy stand-up fringe grabs the edge of my T-shirt, and I recognise him as Tommy, one of Lurch's many, many, maaaaaaaaaaaany cousins.

The game he wants to play is a suspended tabletop covered by a maze, and two players have to tilt the table to make their ball travel through it to fall into a hole. The one who gets their ball into the hole first wins the game.

"Sure!" I tell him. "If you'll let me win."

"What?" he asks, blinking up at me and, grinning, I take my place at one end of the highly unstable table. He eagerly joins me. As usual, I make the game last a while so that the kid can have some fun, and when I see him growing tired, I let him get his ball into the hole. I slap my forehead in defeat when the sensor in his ball causes the buzzer to sound and the lights to flash.

I congratulate him when he collects his prize, and when I see what they gave him and the way he is frowning at what was clearly not what he wanted, I am overjoyed. It's a small doll. One of those material ones with a painted face and yellow wool hair in two thick braids. She's wearing a lacy white bonnet and a floral dress with a frilly bibbed apron.

Kick's will love her!

"Hey, Tommy," I say, opening the canvas shopping bag I got from my dad's car when I went to stash the bag I brought with me this morning to carry my work snacks and a clean t-shirt, which I'm now wearing since the other one got covered in blood. "Would you please give me that doll in exchange for one of my prizes?"

His face lights up, and he looks at me as if I'm Santa with a bag of toys. After digging around in there, he pulls out a small kid's cowboy hat and a big spiral-head lollipop.

"I want this and this!" he tells me, shoving the doll into my arms and popping the hat on his head. He shouts me a thank you and runs off with his prizes.

I pull the bag onto my shoulders, grinning at the doll still in my arms, as I walk off to join my friends where they're gathering to take part in the barrel battle.

"It's you and me, babe," I tell the doll, and when I look up, I see Jet getting ready to be a pest.

"Are you-" he doesn't get any further because Barn wraps his arms around his head, muzzling him. He clearly doesn't want anybody messing with me right now. I'm touched but also a little frustrated. I need them to act normal around me.

"I just wanted to tell him he has a pretty doll!" Jet complains, breaking out of Barn's hold and seeing his indignant face causes me to double over, laughing. I toss the doll into my bag and turn to where the groups waiting to play in the event are gathering.

"You're not serious," Burlap says, pulling me aside when he realises that I'm going to take part in the battle. "You have stitches."

"So?"

"They need to stay clean and dry," he points out. "If you fall off a barrel, they won't stay dry."

"I just better not fall off then."

"Ethe..."

"I'm fine, Burlap. I need to do this. I really do."

Burlap looks into my eyes longer than is comfortable, but it somehow helps him to see that he shouldn't get in my way right now. He doesn't argue anymore, and when the six of us (Barn, Lurch, Jet, Burlap, Simon and I) take to the barrels, I see with relief that my parents are busy helping at other stations; neither of them know that I'm taking part in the barrel battle. By the time we have an audience and they notice, it's already too late for either of them to stop me.

I stay on the barrel out of sheer stubbornness, almost getting knocked off a few times. I somehow manage to beat all my friends one by one until it's only Lurch and me on top of the rolling barrels, hitting swinging balls at each other.

The game consists of a big plastic swimming pool filled with water, with a frame built over it from where multiple rubber balls are suspended from various lengths of rubber cords. The idea is to run on the barrel, staying afloat while trying to knock each other off, using the hanging balls.

Sometimes, when the official games are done, we lie on our barrels and use our arms and feet to paddle around, ramming each other. We often do that in Burlap's swimming pool too. I obviously cannot do that today, so when we're done with the official game, I'll just sit out the splashy game like a good little boy.

By the time I see Lurch topple with a mighty splash, I have no doubt that the guys let me win. They didn't make it easy, though. It took a while and was actually fun, and I am now the owner of a weird-looking plushie animal of undeterminable species... or combination of species.

Well, it's official, right? The mission is complete!

My sister, my friends and I took part in every single game here. I even joined and won the barrel battle. I have a bag full of prizes, and I'm not handing them out to kids I cross paths with the way I normally would.

I've completed my mission with success! I now get the big prize, right?

"I'm going back to the hospital," I tell Delia and my parents.

"That's a good idea, sweetheart," my mom says, laying a hand against my cheek. "Please tell Uncle Joe that if he needs to work tonight, we would love to have Kira at our place where I can keep an eye on her. In fact, there's no way I'm letting her stay at their place alone."

"Take my car," Dad says, handing me his keys and when I look up at him, his eyes have lost the hard, anxious look I've seen there for at least the last year. They are gentle and mellow, as I used to know them. He looks relieved. I guess deciding not to send me away has taken a weight from his shoulders. "I'm proud of you, Ethe," he tells me, when I take the keys, getting ready to leave.

"I'm proud of you too, Dad," I grin, and then my feet are carrying me to the car, my heart feeling lighter the closer I come to seeing Kira again.

♂♀