“Sig said you know him from before.”
“I do. We were friends growing up. We didn’t find Dawnlin together, but we were both at camp for a while before he disappeared.” He shakes his head before looking up and meeting my gaze. “I didn’t think Jorn would ever do what Dane said Weston and the Castaways were doing. It never made sense to me. But I didn’t argue. I just kept trying to find the waters.”
I lean back in the chair and my shoulders relax. “You’re taking this all really well. It was not the same for me.”
“Really? How did it go for you?” he asks.
“They didn’t hurt me,” I say. “It wasn’t anything like that. Let’s just say Weston and I had history, so I didn’t believe anything anyone said.”
His head tilts to the side and his eyebrows knit together. “You had history?”
I nod. There’s no point in keeping anything from him now. He’s one of us, and I’m sure he will find out eventually. He’s had doubts about Dane for who knows how long, and he isn’t hostile, and I honestly don’t care if it ever gets back to Dane that I kept that secret from him.
I’m glad I did.
“I met Weston before I found the waters. Twice,” I wince.
“But you didn’t tell Dane.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why?”
“I can’t really explain it. Something deep down told me not to. Sometimes I think maybe it was the magic, or maybe I just sensed something was off. I kept it a secret, but that didn’t mean I trusted him when I got here. I actually fought him every chance I could.”
Thinking back on it now, I see how I played right into Dane’s lies, and interpreted everything Weston and the Castaways did in a negative light. I can see how he tried to protect me and take care of me, even though I fought him with everything I had.
And even after I did all of that, even after I treated him so badly, even after I physically hurt him, he still kept coming back, kept breaking through my tough exterior and defiance to show me I could trust him.
“Seems like everyone has secrets.”
I nod slowly and swallow the lump forming in my throat. “How are things back at camp?”
“Honestly? Really odd. Everything just feels…uneasy. It’s the worst that it’s been since I came to Dawnlin.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s never been fights or any turmoil between us, but Mara has been on a tirade since she says she saw you. Did she really see you? I didn’t know if I could believe her or not.”
“She did,” I say. “It wasn’t on purpose. Roley was in trouble, and I was trying to help, but she attacked me when she did.”
“Ever since that day, she’s been searching for you now more than the waters. She keeps telling everyone you’re a traitor, and trying to convince them you’re as evil as Weston. I didn’t know you that well, but again, I had my doubts.”
My stomach sinks. Mara was my friend.Ismy friend. How could she turn on me so easily? If she ever found the waters and we had to take her back to the brig, she would take even more time to acclimate than I did. I shudder at the thought of what she would try to do to Weston on the beach if that day does come.
“Do people believe her?” I ask.
“Dane shuts her down quickly, so no one really responds to her. He keeps reminding her we don’t harm our own. He was pissed she hurt you.”
I expect to feel something, some warmth and happiness at hearing anything confirming Dane’s affection toward me, like I felt when I knew he was still searching for me, but I don’t. He’s caused too much harm to people I care for, lied about too many things from the moment I laid eyes on him, and all of that overshadows any feelings I may have had for him.
“How has Dane been with all of this?” I ask.
“Not good,” he says. “He’s…different. It’s like something flipped inside of him when you left. I don’t know how to explain it, but camp hasn’t been the same.”
Has Dane really been that affected by my absence? We were friends, and he made me feel desired and excited to live,something I’d never felt back in Blackwood before. But anything between us always had a time limit, and he knew that. We discussed it on the cliffs when he brought me to see my first sunrise.
He has no way of knowing that when the island denied me the healing waters, I wanted to stay, to abandon my duty and my kingdom, and live with everyone here. But now? After everything I’ve learned, after all the deceit and most importantly realizing what I would give up, I don’t want that anymore.
