“How are you, my darling?” my mother asked anxiously, her eyes raking over me, as though looking for signs of injuries.
“I’m fine,” I replied. “How are you two?”
My father swallowed. “I’ve felt better, I’ll be honest.”
I eyed the support around my mother’s neck worriedly. “What is the damage, exactly?”
“We don’t know,” she replied, her voice coming out raspy. She took a sip of water. “We only just woke up, about fifteen minutes ago, when a guy came down the aisle, saying we are going to land soon and passing out food and water.” She grimaced, her hand moving to her injured thigh as she shifted position slightly on the bed.
“We fell unconscious on that branch,” my father continued, “and I guess we’ve been out ever since. We weren’t conscious when they wrapped us up like this.” He glanced at the casts enveloping his limbs.
Well, hopefully we’d find out the extent of the damage soon. Anna had mentioned the availability of medical assistance on their islands.
“So, you haven’t seen Bea yet?” I asked.
“We have,” my mother replied.
“Uncle Vance came down to see us about five minutes ago, with her and Jack. They headed back that way.” He pointed toward the direction I’d been heading, toward the bunk Bea and I shared.
“Okay, good. So you know she and the others are safe.”
“Do you know if we lost anyone at all?” my mother asked, her expression growing tense.
My breath hitched at the thought of losing any one of our community. “I guess we won’t know until we’re all down on the ground,” I managed. “There are a couple of other ships following us, carrying the rest of our people. They had to move us in shifts because their aircraft aren’t big enough to carry all of us at once.”
My mother exhaled. “Okay, well, I guess you better go get seated.”
I thought about telling them about the conversation I’d had with Anna, but then her voice suddenly crackled down from somewhere near the ceiling, “All passengers be seated, please! We are landing.”
There wasn’t time now.
I kissed my parents on the forehead and hurried down the corridor.
When I reached my compartment and pushed open the door, my eyes fell on Bea standing in the middle of the corridor. Her cheeks were flushed. She was having some kind of heated debate with our four-year-old cousin, Jack.
“But she could be in trouble!” she exclaimed, her eyes bulging.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jack replied with a little shrug, his tone impressively calm. “My papa said we can’t leave the corridor and need to sit down.”
She drew in a dramatic breath, puffing up her chest, before blowing it out. “Doesn’t matter what your papa said when Tani could be in trouble!” Her hands were sticky with sandwich paste, I realized, as she gesticulated wildly to emphasize her point.
“Well, you can go,” Jack retorted, folding his small arms over his chest defensively.
“But I can’t open the door by myself!” Bea yelled.
I chuckled quietly to myself, and then approached them, before Bea could bust a lung.
“Hey, guys,” I said, grinning as my little sister spotted me. Her face brightened instantly.
“Monkey!” she squealed and rushed toward me.
“Piglet.” I caught her in my arms and held her tightly, kissing the top of her curls, which had long escaped her pigtails and were dangerously close to becoming a jungle.
“Hey, Tani,” Jack murmured, looking rather relieved that he didn’t have to deal with Bea’s nagging anymore.
“Hey,” I said, ruffling his short brown hair.
Jessie and Robert poked their heads out of their bunks as they realized I had returned. Nervous yet relieved smiles spread across their faces.
