Chapter 18

Even though my feet are on the ground, my head is far up in the clouds. Aaron is holding my hand and though we've done this since the day we met, it makes me light headed in the best way. I keep that sensation all the way back to the castle. 

"Should we tell them?" Aaron asks as the others come into view. Willow, Luka and Shawn are huddled together in the yard caught in a heated conversation. I imagine Shawn has been causing trouble again. "About us, I mean." 

"Why wouldn't we tell them?" It's enough that they don't know about his flying abilities. Willow will love to have a girly chat about Aaron and I. I can already hear her begging me to tell her all the details about our trips around the island.  

"I don't know. There's a little fun in keeping secrets, isn't there?" He smirks, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. 

I playfully narrow my eyes at him. "As long as you're not keeping any from me." 

He places a hand over his chest. "I would never!" 

Willow makes a beeline for us. My smile fades when I see that her face is tight and her eyes are glassy. 

"We have a problem." 

Aaron's hand falls away from mine and grasps Willow's shoulder. She looks like she might pass out. 

"What is it?" 

"It's José," Luka says, coming up behind her with his arms crossed at his chest. "He said he wasn't feeling good this morning and now he's got a high fever with his head in the toilet." 

Aaron winces. "Have you given him the medicine we have stored?" 

"Yes but his fever is really high - like we need to take him to a hospital-high." Willow rubs her nose with her hand. Her skin is blotchy though she's yet to shed a tear. "He can barely get a coherent word out." 

"But he was fine just yesterday . . ." I feel dumb right after I say it. Things change. One day life is manageable, the next your parents have traded you for some cash. 

"Where is he?" Aaron follows Shawn who is heading back inside. 

"He's with Logan," he answers. 

We travel to José and Logan's room. José's tan skin is pale and covered in beads of sweat. His gaze wanders the room, not quite looking at anything. Logan is tucking a blanket over the existing one as José mumbles the word "cold" over and over again. 

I walk to the foot of his bed with my heart in my stomach. This wouldn't be such a big deal if there was a hospital here. He needs a hospital. 

"Can't you call one of the people we have on the outside? They can take him to get some help." Even as the words leave my mouth I know how bad this is. Bringing José back to the mainland puts him and all of us in danger. Not to mention that the hospital will have questions. 

 "The fever might go down if we give it some time," Shawn says. He rubs José's arm, a gesture that is more rough than nurturing. "Come on, you little dufus. It's just a fever." 

Shawn doesn't even sound confident in his own words. How could he when José is shivering so violently? 

"You should call them anyways. If he gets better we'll tell them to forget it," Willow says, chewing on her nails. 

Aaron nods. "I'll give them a call." 

When he leaves the room, he squeezes Willow's shoulder and claps Luka on the back. I wish he would grab my hand again. I wish the feeling of weightlessness hadn't left me. 

The others follow him out, leaving me there to hover over the boy. I pull up a chair to the side of his bed. José has his eyes half shut and I can practically feel the heat radiating off of him. It's enough to make my own skin sizzle and pop. 

Maybe he needs a good distraction. 

"José, that sketch I was drawing a couple days ago, it was of Aaron. You were right." 

His chuckle that morphs into a wheeze is followed by a quiet string of words. "I knew it." 

I'm relieved at the sight of the small smile on his face. "Yeah, yeah. You caught me. To be fair, I think you knew I liked him before I did." 

His eyes flutter shut. 

"So, who on the island did Willow date?" I ask, trying to nudge him awake. He doesn't budge. 

I should let him sleep. 

Sitting there in silence, I almost fall asleep myself but soon Aaron appears in the doorway motioning to me. I tiptoe out of the room and close the door behind me. Once we're in the hallway, he grabs my hand. 

"I just got off the phone with help. Someone will be here for him around midnight." His brows furrow. "Are you okay?" 

"Yes but I think I want to stay with José until then to watch over him." 

I can't get what he said about me reminding him of his big sister out of my head. His big sister would stay with him until he was better. His big sister would know how to fix this.

"That's really helpful, darling. Thank you." He kisses my hand and then lets it drop to my side. 

Before I go back to José's room, I stop by the kitchen to get him some crackers and water in case he wakes up and wants something. I'm about to leave when I find Willow wrapped up in someone's arms.  

"I don't want to lose him," she says with a sniffle. "I can't stand to lose anyone else - not after Micheal and John." 

The figure pulls her closer and I have to crane my neck to see the two without being spotted. 

"He'll get better. The fever will pass."

This is the couple José was talking about. 

Aaron left this way when we finished speaking. Surely José would have told me if Willow and Aaron were together. If he suspected that I liked him then shouldn't he have given me a warning? And Aaron wouldn't have kissed me if he was with Willow, right? 

The two of them shift into view. I let out the breath I was holding. 

Shawn. 

It's Willow and Shawn. 

I wrinkle my nose. I'm not sure how that works but it's better than the theory of Willow and Aaron having been together. I suppose after all they've been through they can work through some simple differences. Maybe those differences balance them out . . . or maybe Willow needs to get off this island to realize her standards are really low. 

José will hate that I figured it out without him.

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