Willow comes to get me for lunch as she said she would. Her hair is pulled up into a ponytail and she chats about how she was the one who finally got the boys to do chores. Aaron was too easy on them which created an everyone helps themselves kind of attitude. Then they started to expect her to take on all the responsibilities like she was their mother. She says she laid down her foot from day one and let them all know she wasn't anyone's servant.

I do my best to pay attention but what the boy with the buzz cut said is stuck in my head. I wonder if his sentiment has spread to the rest of the island's residents. If it did, I might as well find a cave to live in because they'll all hate me.

We don't go into the dining room. It’s fitted with three tables of a considerable length lined with a considerable amount of dust. We go right past it and under an archway that leads to the castle's garden. The plants are all wilted, most of them hugged by weeds. I can imagine that the rows of perfectly lined plots of dirt were a beautiful sight to see when flowers were in bloom. Surely, no one here is taking care of the garden so it’s a pity I’ll never get to see it for myself.

Willow leads me to a field of grass a few feet outside the castle. It is there I spot about a dozen boys draped across blankets, snickering in their conversations or chasing each other like leopards. Aaron is crouched between what looks like two ten year olds. Their grins are as wide as his when he pulls one of them into a headlock to give him a noogie.

My chest hurts at the thought of them once being in Nakpuna’s possession.

"Dovie!" A boy with hair that stands up like he's been electrified rushes towards me. He’s out of breath by the time he clears the space between us. His cheeks are chubby with youth and his voice is squeaky like it can't decide whether to speak deeply or high pitched. "Welcome to paradise!"

"Thank you." I can't help but feel giddy at his warmness, especially after my run in with buzz cut boy.

"This is José. He's taken to being the island's welcome committee recently." Willow shoots him a wink. "Very recently."

"I can take it from here if you'd like! Sitting with me will give you instant status.”

I shrug and follow him. Having heard what one of these boys think of me, I should be doing all I can to rack up points with them. It becomes apparent upon arriving at his blanket that he has exaggerated a bit.

There is only one other boy sitting with us. He’s leaning back, a lazy smirk on his face and a glare on his circular frame glasses. He seems much older than José who isn't a teen just yet. “I’m Luka. If José told you that we’re the cool kids he was lying.”

“Dude!” José hisses as he plops down beside me. “We could have had her fooled for a couple days at least!”

Luka holds out a plate filled with off-brand oreos. They are different flavored and I take one with the strawberry filling. This gets a gasp out of José.

“We’ve finally found someone who likes strawberry cookies!” His eyebrows lift up at their ends, giving him a funny expression his buddy does not return. “This is perfect! Luka usually eats the vanilla ones, I eat the chocolate, and now we have someone to complete the circle of cookies!”

Luka groans. “This is why we sit alone during meal times.”

“We are bound together by cookies. You can’t ever leave us now!” José grabs a cookie, pulling it apart and lifting the creamy middle to the sky like an offering before dropping it into his mouth.

I laugh. "Wasn't planning on it."

"We need a group name now. How about the three amigos?" José pitches. His gaze bounces back and forth between the both of us.

Luka pops a cookie in his mouth, chewing while he speaks. "Sure. That works."

"And that means you have to sit with us at every meal - cause you know, that's what amigos do." José points his finger at me, mock threatenly.

"I can already tell this will be fun," I say, and I mean it.

From the corner of my vision, I spot one of the younger kids trip over the ball he was chasind. He clutches his knee as bright red oozes from underneath his hand. He can't be older than six.

I move to rush over to him, expecting him to burst into tears at any moment. I don't have any younger cousins or anything but I've seen enough kids fall over at the park to know what happens next. Luka holds out his hand to stop me.

"Don't be a mom," José says with a mouth full of cookies. "He'll walk it off."

"He's bleeding."

"Most of us have learned to look after ourselves. We don't need a mother nor do we want one." Luka's tone isn't mean but matter of fact. He gestures over to the boy. "If you baby them, you'll make them uncomfortable. Just treat them like siblings - really annoying siblings."

The boy's friend has leant him a hand in getting up. He roughs up his hair and then warns him not to get blood on the soccer ball. The boy laughs and runs off the field, calling over his shoulder that he'll be right back.

Regardless of how well Luka's point is demonstrated, I have a hard time believing none of the boys have needed a mother or that they truly don't want one. The image of my mother lying in bed with me until I fell asleep every night when I was five is still fresh in my mind. I would ask her to stay because I feared the transition of being awake to falling asleep. The concept felt so abstract and solitary, like making a journey to a different world all alone. Looking back, she probably only did it to shut me up but when you're a kid you don't mind. You just want someone to be there. These kids must want someone to be there.

Mischievousness plays in Luka’s eyes as he chucks a crumbled up wrapper at José’s face. He promptly dodges it.

“This one was rescued before they even got him onto the ship so he’s a bit too giddy for the rest of us to handle sometimes.”

“You can handle me fine considering you’re sitting here with him.”  José picks the wrapper up and throws it back at Luka, completely missing. The wrapper hits the leg of a boy emerging from the forest behind the clearing. He doesn't notice it. His buzz cut tells me who he is right away.

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“That’s Shawn." Luka rolls his eyes like he's bothered by the boy's very name. "Why? Did he say something to you?”

I’m surprised his guess is so accurate. I nod.

“Yeah, it figures. We heard him giving Aaron a piece of his mind about you the other night.”

“Very loudly,” José adds.

My stomach sinks. I had been worried this would happen. Shawn's point isn't wrong and because of that, everyone here has a reason to kick me out. It makes me wonder why Aaron even decided to go through with my rescue. He said he wouldn't be able to rest until everyone was safe from Dr.Nakpuna but this was a risk that might cost him everything he’s accomplished.

Though I fear the answer, I know I have to ask. “Do you guys agree? With what he said?”

Luka bites his lip, tugging at the grass that peeks over the blanket. “It was no more riskier than any of our rescues were. Besides, getting someone out once they’re already on the ship is nearly impossible. It had to be done.”

I relax into my spot next to them. “So you aren't going to threaten to kill me?”

“He threatened to kill you?!” José’s mouth is hanging open but Luka is laughing.

“Good for him! When he first got here - a couple of years ago - he was mute. He wouldn’t say a single word. Remember that when he tries to act all tough. He's just as messed up as everyone else.”

I’m watching Shawn from afar and he must feel it because he catches my eye. He averts his gaze quickly as if the very sight of me is sickening.

I am startlingly aware, yet again, how lucky I am that I was never doomed to remain on that ship full time. My parents still expected me home by 7:00pm on school nights and healthy enough to complete my schoolwork. I had to make it to cheer practice. There were people who would ask questions if I had scars or bruises. I never had to go down to the lowest level where the sound of crying children radiated from because it was reserved for those who belonged to the research company.

All for what? A miracle injection that would give someone the ability to fly? Maybe it’d make Dr.Nakpuna millions or even billions if it ever really worked but what about everything he’d lose if he was found out? Logically speaking, this project of his had to hold promise for so many big named organizations to cover up for him. Perhaps he was close to his answer.

Perhaps the next kid Aaron recuses will be able to fly.

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