I inhale, wrapping my mind around the new information he’s given me. Outside, the rain has lightened to a sprinkle, though from what I can tell, the sky is still dark and ominous, promising that another band of the hurricane is on its way. “Okay. So … we’ll go to the airport, find something you can fly. Can single-engine planes cross the Atlantic?”

“Depends.”

“We’ll figure it out when we get there.” A smile creeps onto my face as my anger at Elliott fades. For the first time since we’ve been exiled, I have a plan that actually stands a chance at getting me to Ty. Although … if I’d have known Elliott was a pilot before today, I wouldn’t have been around long enough to get exiled in the first place. I would have done whatever it took, including kidnapping him, to get in the air.

Lucky for him, I had no clue he’d even existed until yesterday. Which on an island the size of ours is a near miracle. I glance at him. “How can you be a pilot and the mayor’s son and, apparently, a shadowseeker, without anyone knowing about you?”

He’s silent for a moment, and I don’t think he’ll answer. Then he sighs. “Remember when I told you I used to be a failure? I was being literal. I got expelled my sophomore year and never finished high school.”

I blink, taken aback by his confession. “You got expelled? What’d you do, lecture someone to death?”

“No. I put my principal in the hospital.”

I take my eyes off the road to look at him. He’s staring straight ahead, jaw set. “Seriously?” I ask, trying not to sound impressed.

He hesitates again, then shrugs. “Yeah. My mom was city treasurer in Madrigal at the time, running for mayor there. The guy running against her—who also happened to be the principal of my school—kept airing these awful, really personal attack ads, telling all sorts of lies about her. It was working, making her drop behind in the polls. Mom was devastated. I was so angry that he could do shit like that to her and just get away with it. So I dug up his home address and confronted him. Things … escalated. We got in a fight. He ended up in the hospital. Afterward, unsurprisingly I guess, he expelled me.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You beat up a dirty politician, huh? On behalf of every American, I thank you.” Unwilling to break our semi-truce, I don’t mention that his mom was probably just as terrible as the other guy.