But I can’t bring myself to tell her. To speak all of the details out loud would devastate me all over again, and I’ve been making too much progress.
Back in my room, Kezra is waiting.
“Missed me already?” I quip.
“As much as the trees miss the flarrows.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” She giggles to herself.
I’m guessing the trees don’t miss these flarrows at all. Not one bit.
“So, I have a new backup plan.”
“Make Adrian believe you’re in love with him, get off the island.”
“Are you always listening? It’s a little creepy.”
“No.”
“Okay. Well, yes. That’s pretty much it.”
“It’s not my favorite. But it’s also not my least favorite. And neither is it my middle favorite.”
“Great.”
“I still think we should swim. Swim until the waters touch the cursed land.”
“This land is cursed too.”
“Yes. But not quite so.”
“Why not?”
She shrugs. “Are there creatures of unnatural qualities stalking the night? Are there luminescent plants that snap at you like they’ve got something to prove?”
“No. I did see a glowing snapper fish once or twice while swimming though. I avoided them, somehow.”
“Precisely.”
“But the veil hangs over this land, just like the rest.”
“It does. I have no point here, I’m afraid. Simply an observation that it’s not such a bad place to be, compared to the alternative, which crawls with all manners of cursed creatures.”
“So we should just stay, then?”
“No!” She holds her hand to her head, her impatience visible.
“You’re the one who veered off track,” I mutter.
“The point is, the swimming remains our top priority. The sage-eyed dullard shall be secondary. His personality is as drab as your recent wardrobe.”
“Whatever you say.”
I ignore the insult.
~
