Kletter looked like she had gained twenty pounds as she marched behind the group. Isaac couldn’t help but take a peek back at her every minute or so. Her dark skin shone, her eyes no longer hidden inside pits of hollow despair. Hair washed, newly clothed, well-fed, she seemed an entirely different person from the weak, feeble creature Isaac and Miyoko had pulled out of the ocean. She reminded Isaac of Ms. Cowan, as if two twins of might and strength had been reunited at last. It didn’t hurt that Kletter held a large weapon that shone staticky blue in places, something never seen before on their little island. Holding it, she seemed about an even match with Sadina’s mom.

Isaac and about a dozen others—including Carson, Jackie, and Lacey from the west side—each person holding at least two canvas bags of supplies, were walking at a steady pace toward the beach where Kletter’s ship, The Maze Cutter, had been moored. As quickly as this rug had been pulled out from under him, as quickly as his entire future had been altered by these people, Isaac felt no panic. Just that odd, uneasy, untethered feeling, too numb to process the anxiety and fear that should be pumping through his nerves.

“Why are we letting her hold that weapon?” Isaac asked Trish since Sadina was busy getting instructions from her mom. Dominic and Miyoko were right behind Isaac. “First we let her drug our friends and now we let her walk around with some big-ass killing machine? That thing looks like it came from Mars.”

“You know why,” Trish replied.

“So it looks like she kidnapped us.” He said it deadpan, showing just how stupid he thought the idea was.

“Yes, Isaac. So it looks like that. Not everyone is asleep, remember?”

“I just think we’re trusting her too much.”

“Amen.” That came from Miyoko.

Trish offered a nonchalant shrug. “All I can tell you is that I’m convinced after talking to Sadina and her mom. Plus it sounds exciting as hell to go on a boat to places I’ve never been before. You wanna stay here, stay here. But you really need to hear them out first.”

“Well, I’m waiting for that.”

“I’m with Trish on this one,” Dominic chimed in. “I don’t care if that lady eats puppies for lunch, I can’t stay stuck on this scrap of land when I know there’s a chance to get off.”

Isaac turned and walked backward for a few steps to address him. “And you’re just fine with your dad waking up in a few hours, thinking he’ll probably never see you again?”

“We’re coming back, man. They’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re going to the moon.”