The moment my eyes took in Bobby's astonished expression, my memories of three days before all came rushing back to me.

I remembered Bobby carrying me while he traveled on rollerblades into jellyfish territory. My vision wasn't as reliable as my hearing. I heard voices when we showed up outside of Belaire Botanicals – Mercedes and the voices of the retailers. One patron pointed out that I was the one who hung out with Shuffle's murderer.

"Get out of the way! Let me through!"

That was Bobby. He sounded like he was in no mood to explain anything to anyone. When the voices only grew more curious and started pressing in on me, Bobby grunted in frustration right before something loud exploded near our heads. There was gasping among the crowds. The sounds of something rupturing all around us began to build and build.

"I said, MOVE!"

Bobby's movements picked up speed again. I clung to his clothing, straining to focus my gaze on him rather than whatever craziness was going on around us. My eyes locked onto the moles trailing down his neck. I could even see the finer muscles charging just under his skin as he rollerbladed us in and around the crowds.

My head swam. I was going to be sick from all of this dodging and weaving. It was only a matter of time. But I didn't want to unload my guts on Bobby, who was only trying to help me.

My vision blurred again and I shut my eyes. Bobby slowed and said words that I knew were not for me. Then I heard Hector's voice. The two of them went on for a while, exchanging information in alarmed voices.

I heard the chime of bells as doors swung open and shut. The sudden concentrated scent of florals was too much for me. Bobby set me down and that's when I realized that I couldn't hold it in anymore. I lurched forward and saw something leave my body and splatter across the clean quartz-toned tiles. All the while, Bobby was rubbing my back and telling me that it was okay.

Hector's footsteps came up fast as he slid a bucket under me to catch the rest. I willed this sickness to pass so that I could tell them. No matter how much my head throbbed and my stomach flipped, I had to tell them what happened.

When I finally caught my breath, I wheezed, "Rex stabbed Sheldon to death. The people there want it that way. They want to follow Rex."

I coughed up the last of my food.

Bobby whispered, "Sheldon who?"

Hector spoke for me. "She means the private investigator at the purple tent." His hand then came down on my shoulder to steady me right before he followed up with a question, "Aqua, is Rex in charge of the tent people now? Are you sure?"

If I were to nod, I might have puked again. So I just said, "Yuh. I'm sure."

The weight of Hector and Bobby's hands disappeared as gravity dragged me down. And that's where the memory died.

I saw this all in a flash. My awareness came back to the present, where Bobby made eye contact with me from across the room.

I reached for the hair at the nape of my neck, suddenly self conscious at how I looked. My face heated up in embarrassment at the new knowledge that he had seen me puke all over the floor of this room.

I started to stand. "Bobby!"

The surprise dissolved from his face. "Don't get up. I'll be right over there."

I plopped back down on the bench, a little bewildered by the command in his voice. It made me feel like I was talking to my doctor instead of my friend.

Hector took one look at Bobby and then at me before declaring, "I'll give you two some privacy."

By the time he left, Bobby was seated next to me and offering me a wrapped gyro.

Remembering his mention of soup earlier, I asked, "Isn't that one for you? It's fine. I can eat the soup."

"Weren't you out of it for three days?" he shot back, mimicking my tone. When I chuckled, he pushed the gyro into my hand. "It's fine, mi amor. Eat."

I accepted the food, but not without shooting him a look. "Mi amor? But doesn't that mean –"

Bobby cut me off with a groan. He made a T with his hands. "Time out. Time out. First off, I'm half Puerto Rican, remember? Everyone is mi amor! Especially when you've got me worried half to death."

On the last word, Bobby placed his hand on my leg. I know he was only trying to comfort me, but the contact promptly shut me up and made me pay attention to the gyro in my hand. I took off the wax paper and ate the Greek wrap in silence, aware of the weight of Bobby's hand just above my knee and the warmth radiating from his palm.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel him watching me the whole time. He didn't move or touch his food until I was close to finishing mine.

When he was finally satisfied with my progress, he took his hand away and started opening the styrofoam cup. The air filled with steam from the soup. He sipped from it a few times before gently asking, "How are you holding up? Did he... did Rex hurt you?"

"No." I set down the crinkly paper. "He just killed someone right in front of me is all."

Bobby knew this already. But he also knew that I had scarcely enough time to process it. He put down his cup. "That's... fucked up."

Him saying that unlocked all of the pent up emotions from that horrific moment. I turned and threw my arms around Bobby. He grunted in surprise, but returned the embrace. Every muscle in my body seemed to seize up as I bit back an angry sob against his shoulder. Bobby didn't say anything. He just rubbed circles into my spine as if he could massage reassurance and safety into my being.

My voice was thick with emotion when I finally spoke. "No, Bobby. What's fucked up is that... I'm glad it was me that saw it. It means no one else had to." My voice cracked at the end. I wept for my past self. That girl who was too shocked to do anything but get out while she could. My shudders passed on to Bobby, who somehow remained unshakeable until my body found a point of calm.

"Mi amor... don't stay here. Don't live in Hector's house. Find somewhere else."

I pulled back, embarrassed once again by falling apart in Bobby's presence. Putting some space between us and dashing my tears away with the back of my hand, I said, "Tonight I'll stay with Elliot, but I don't know where I'm going to go after that. What about you? Are you a jellyfish?"

"God." Bobby snorted. "Is that what they're calling us?" Then he sighed and stretched his arms overhead. "I sleep over here in the suburbs, but... I told Hector I'm not wearing no dumb rings. Everyone knows I run the Grill."

It surprised me to learn that Hector allowed Bobby to exempt himself from the ring system. Did it have something to do with them knowing each other since middle school? Or maybe the fact that Bobby was one of the few that controlled who got to eat had something to do with what Hector was willing to let slide.

"Hector says I can stay neutral if I want." I said. "The campers recognize this too. It'll let me move around freely." I fell silent, still not sure what this could mean for the future.

Bobby tapped his knee against mine. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "No one can find Delilah. She runs Three of Cups and hasn't been seen in a while. I think my orcas might be able to help lead me to her."

Sean was probably somewhere down in the sinkhole from my dreams, unreachable most of the time. Delilah, I suspected, could be somewhere on the surface among the rest of us.

Back to drinking his soup, Bobby said, "Your what now?"

That's right. Bobby had never given me the impression that he could see the ghosts.

Covering my mistake, I said, "Don't worry about it. Last time I spoke with Delilah, she seemed to have some insight on how the Mall works. I think she may be able to help mollify some of this tension between the two sides."

Bobby lowered his voice. "Be careful, Aqua. Between you and me, if it's Hector that wants you to bring Delilah in, I don't think he's planning to roll out the red carpet for her."

I brought my voice down to a whisper too. "I hear you. But she's an old lady. I personally want to make sure she's okay. If she doesn't want to come back with me, I'm not going to push her. I can tell Hector that I couldn't find her. Besides ..."

Bobby raised an eyebrow at my hesitation.

I crumpled the empty food wrapper between my hands. "Sean might be with her."

A line of concern formed a crease above Bobby's eyebrows. "He tried to come see you, by the way. But Hector wasn't having it. Had those Harry Shuffle lunatics chase Sean out of here before he could get a word in."

Sean had to have known what territory he was stepping into. He risked making himself known to the small mob that wanted him in jail just to see if I was all right.

"Do you know where he is?" I asked, hoping that Bobby could give me something to work with.

Bobby shrugged. "Everywhere and nowhere. I was able to bring him food once. The guy can't go anywhere in this place without being recognized, so he doesn't show his face at the food court. Half of the mall wants to worship him. The other half wants to burn him at the stake. No one sees him as a regular guy anymore. It's like he's become some kind of urban legend."

I had to unclench my teeth in order to speak my mind. "No matter which way you look at it, that's dangerous. Sean's no different from you or Hector or Rex or me."

Bobby drained the rest of his soup. "Yeah, I told him that, but I don't think Sean knows how to make himself look normal to these people. No matter what he does, he's just going to be whatever it is they want to see him as."

I tried to reason aloud with what was going on. "People are scared. They need to believe in things that make sense to them. Some want to believe in a Robinhood like Rex. Or a king like Hector. I think they need something that they can't always see or talk to, but they know it's there. A fairytale or a boogeyman."

"So where do you fit in all of this?" His tone was very serious by Bobby's standards. So was the look in his eyes. I knew he couldn't see my ghosts, but whenever he gave me this look, I couldn't help but wonder how long he had spent contemplating the movement of people and events at Ocean Park.

I held his gaze and spoke as honestly as I could. "There's something I need to do for the Mall. Then I just want to find Delilah. To be honest, I don't think I've given anyone a reason to believe in me."

Bobby slowly shook his head. "Not from what I've seen. You mentioned orcas. That's one of those things the campers love to show off in their murals."

My fever had broken. Thanks to the bath earlier and Bobby's offering of food, I felt refreshed and energized enough to go back out into the world. It was time for me to see what the Mall had done while I was away.

"Could you show me?"