I thought about what Bat Lady said, about how Spoon was meant for great things. I wanted to tell this woman about that, but I knew how stupid it would sound. I didn’t get Bat Lady or Elizabeth Sobek or whatever she was called. I always expected my old mentor to be kinder or sweeter or someone I could relate to. Bat Lady was none of those things. I always felt more puzzled after I left her than before. Sometimes I thought that she had special powers, but then something would happen that would bring me crashing back to reality.

There was no destiny here. No already-determined winner. We could indeed win. And we could indeed die.

Still, Bat Lady had told me Spoon was destined for greatness. She had told me that my father was still alive.

Did she know something?

Did she have some special powers? Or was she just a crazy do-gooder who saved some and lost others?

Mrs. Spindel turned back toward the window, dismissing me, I guess, or giving me permission to visit her son now. I stood there another second and felt a hand on my back. I turned. It was Ema.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Hey.”

We started down the corridor and opened the door to Spoon’s room. Two doctors walked out with grim expressions. It was another dose of reality.

Spoon looked distracted.

“You okay?” I asked him.

Spoon didn’t answer right away.

“Your text said you found something huge?” I said.

“You first,” Spoon said.

“What?”

“Tell us about Luther.”

So I did. I told them about Dylan Shaykes, about how he’d been rescued as a child, about how my father had rescued Luther, about the death of the little boy Ricky, about how Luther blamed my father. Ema listened in shock. Spoon stayed distracted.

When I finished, before Ema could say a word, Spoon said, “Now tell us about Jared Lowell.”

That question puzzled me. “What do you mean?”

“Tell us about your visit to Adiona Island.”

“I did already.”

Spoon looked up at me. “Tell us again. Everything. Everything that happened from the moment you arrived on that island to the moment you left.”

“Why?”

But Spoon just looked at me. He didn’t have to say more. So I went through it again—the ferry ride, the walk down the street, the narrow road where Jared lived. I recounted as best as I could the entire conversation Rachel and I had had with Jared Lowell. Spoon interrupted several times, asking for more details, most of which seemed completely irrelevant.

After I was finished, Ema followed up with the first question, but it wasn’t for me. It was for Spoon. “What was that all about?”

“You really care about this guy, don’t you?” Spoon asked her.

I had never seen him so serious.

“Yes.”

“So do you buy it?”

“Buy what?”