Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The dull murmur of conversations among the Voyagers quiets as the entire collection crew approaches the beach where they’ve gathered.
I scan the faces to find that every single one had decided to try.
There’s no one waiting back at camp willing to let the chance at what they came here for slip away.
“Captain,” Mara says with a curt nod, the corners of her lips turned down in a frown. She still hasn’t warmed up to Weston being in charge, but with the way the entire crew and even some Voyagers continue to defer to him, she doesn’t have much of a choice.
“Mara.” His hands rest on his hips as he looks over the crowd, taking in the hopeful faces as they wait for the next step. “Is everyone ready?”
A collective of affirmations echoes through the crowd, and even though it sounds enthusiastic, I want to be sure.
I know what being denied the waters did to my self-worth, and I don’t want anyone to experience that pain if they don’t want to.
I have to know that everyone who is here is here willingly and is ready to face whatever Dawnlin decides.
“Are you all sure? Once you go in, there’s no turning back. You can’t decide you would rather live without knowing.” I look specifically at Roley, but he just gives me a smile.
“We’re all sure,” Mara says. “We talked about it last night. We’ve all been here too long not to know.”
“Then let’s move,” Weston calls. “We will lead you to the entrance. Once we arrive, follow my lead, and then we will see you on the other side.” He nods toward Sig, and she starts out across the beach, waving her hand overhead.
The crew falls into step behind her, chattering among themselves.
Weston takes my hand and follows the last of the crew, and Mara motions the Voyagers forward.
We aren’t bringing them through the tunnels.
Before we left the ship, the crew all agreed that even though the island trusts the Voyagers enough to reveal us, we still want to have something to ourselves.
Something to keep us safe in case the worst happens.
After living in hiding for so long, it’s hard to just change overnight.
The energy thrumming around us feels different. The excitement of the Voyagers is palpable, but it also feels like the island knows exactly what we’re doing. Like it expects us.
Maybe it will finally tell someone yes.
Sig comes to a stop just before the stone bridge, the mist from the falls already coating us as we approach.
The crew moves, forming a barrier between the bridge and the pathway so no one can cross, or worse, be called into the lagoon.
Dropping Weston’s hand, I step in line beside Sig and watch the faces of every Voyager as they take in the scene around us.
They’ve seen it thousands of times before, passed by it every day, and by the looks on their faces, they’re stunned.
So obvious, yet so well hidden.
“We’ll help lead you in, and stagger everyone by a few minutes,” Weston yells so the group can hear him over the roar of the falling water. “Like Lennox said before, once you go in, you can only go forward, so if anyone has changed their mind, now is your last chance.”
He pauses, waiting for a response, but the only sound is the crashing water behind us.
“You will be inside all day, but it won’t feel like it.
We’ll be waiting for you at the end. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
” He looks directly at Roley before meeting the hopeful gazes of the other young members.
“Just remember that we’ve all been through it, and you will make it, too, whatever Dawnlin decides. ”
My chest squeezes. Weston doesn’t really know any of the remaining Voyagers, but is still treating them as if they are already part of his crew.
Hope is written all over his face, and I know he wants someone to be granted the waters, even with no dust to return home.
Maybe if someone is, the island will reveal how to replenish it.
“Line up!” Everyone shuffles at Weston’s command, forming a long line at the base of the bridge.
“Sig, you, Veck, and Stassia stand on the bridge and be ready to go in if anyone slips. Jorn, you’re with me on the platform.
Ryum, help them get started across.” The crew jumps into action, moving to their assigned locations, with the rest surrounding the area and keeping watch for any dangers the island might throw at us.
Weston turns to me, leaning down and lowering his voice. “And you. Please keep your feet on solid ground. I’ve already jumped in after you once.”
I push him away with a scowl, but I can’t help but huff a laugh at his knowing smirk.
“I’ll space them out,” I say, but before he can turn away, my fist clenches around the fabric of his shirt and I pull him closer to me.
He doesn’t pull away, simply quirks his head with a curious look on his face. “Please be careful.”
He leans in and presses a firm kiss to my forehead before his thumb trails down the side of my face. “Always.”
Jorn’s crow echoes over the roar of the water, and when I turn to look, he’s already gone, stealthily hidden in the portal behind the waterfall. I make my way over to the front of the line, where Mara stands beside Gauge, the first volunteer to brave the unknown, and I can’t say I’m surprised.
My breath catches in my chest as I watch Weston step out onto the slippery ledge, but despite his graceful movements and sure-footed steps, I don’t let it out until he safely disappears on the other side.
Turning back toward Gauge, I give him the most reassuring smile I can muster. “Are you ready?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” He shifts back and forth on his feet, eyeing the ledge and then glaring at the roaring falls.
“I don’t think any of us were really ready.” I reach out and give his arm a quick squeeze. “But you’ve been searching for this. You just have to trust the island, and take the first step.”
He lets out a deep sigh and rolls his shoulders. “Alright. Let’s do it.”
Ryum reaches up from where he stands on the rocks, and Gauge steps forward, grasping his hand and planting his feet on the ledge.
I watch his back as he slowly scales it, crossing until he’s disappeared through the portal on the other side.
When I turn back to see who is next, Mara has tears in her eyes.
“Are you all right?” I ask softly.
“This whole time,” she says, her voice so small compared to how big it normally is. “All this time, it was right here, and I never found it.”
I remember this feeling, this moment of realization that the waters were hiding almost in plain sight.
The mountain—the crux of the island—held the secret.
It felt so obvious, even though I knew it wasn’t.
I know the flurry of feelings she’s having right now, but she has been here longer.
No one knows how much more time it would have taken her, if she even ever found the entrance.
“A lot of us didn’t find it, Mara. It wasn’t just you.”
She turns to face me. “But you did. You found it, and you had barely gotten here. Fin too. How did you both find it after so little time, but I walked by it every single day?”
“Do you want to know the truth?” I ask, and she nods. “I asked the island to help me make a map. I hid it from Dane. It was how I noticed a pattern in the dangers; how the island changed. Then I narrowed down. And after I remembered the symbols on the fountain, I just found it.”
Her mouth falls open slightly. “I don’t remember the fountain at all. I don’t even know if I looked at it closely enough back home.”
I shrug. “Then you shouldn’t blame yourself for not finding it.
The fountain was fresher in my mind than for you, and it helped me.
The rest…” I trail off. It feels crazy to talk about the magic that lies in Dawnlin.
None of us can explain it, or know anything about it more than we’ve experienced, but it gives me a feeling, and I don’t understand why.
No one else has expressed anything similar, and I don’t want to come off as strange.
“What?” She tilts her head expectantly.
I wave the next person forward, and they start off along the ledge before I turn back to her.
“I don’t know. Sometimes I felt like the island wanted me to find the entrance, even though I wasn’t worthy.
I just felt something when the pieces fell into place, and with the map…
After everything Dane did, it just felt like it was meant to happen.
Every step and setback and decision helped change this place, even though we are stuck here.
It felt like I needed to set things in motion.
It didn’t end how I expected, but it still helped in a way. ”
Her eyebrows draw in, and she tilts her head. “What do you mean after everything he did?”
I let out a sigh. I’ve become close to everyone in the crew, and they don’t even know the entire truth when it comes to the connection between Dane and me.
I am sure Sig knows because of Weston, but I haven’t shared everything with anyone else yet.
Bringing it back to the Voyagers isn’t something I’ve even considered until this moment. Can I trust Mara to know everything?
The island trusts her.
I wave Sawyer forward and weigh my options.
If I don’t tell her, she might question her trust in me, knowing I hid something important from her, which could eventually develop issues between the Voyagers and the Castaways.
On the other side, the dust is gone. There’s no way to get home, and because of that, Dane isn’t coming back.
Nothing will change if Mara knows the truth about his connection to me and my family.
If anything, it will help explain Weston and my relationship, and hopefully keep Mara from shooting us pointed looks every time he touches me.
Fuck it, I’ve got nothing to lose.