As I watch the Similars pepper Levi with questions about whether Gravelle hurt him, and when he left the island, and how he got here, I feel like an onlooker to a private moment, one I’m witnessing but not central to. Some of the Similars even ask questions in Portuguese. Levi answers in English, though, so I get the gist of what they’re talking about, even though I don’t catch every detail. All the while, there’s that pull to Levi—that thread—that feels like it’s only ours. He doesn’t look at me now, or direct any of his conversation to me, but I feel like we’re both hyperaware of each other, and of the fact we haven’t hugged, or touched, or said anything to each other besides a few cursory words. I’m waiting until we have a chance to be alone. I wonder if he is too.

“You look exactly the same,” Theodora’s saying, her hand squeezing Levi’s shoulder through his white T-shirt. Is it weird I feel instantly jealous of her, standing so close to him? Touching him?

“You look good to me, man, but I guess I’m biased,” Ollie interjects, making us all laugh with that icebreaker.

“What did he make you do?” Pippa finally asks, and the group quiets down as we find seats on the grass. We’re all hungry for information. We want to know what went down on Castor Island.

“Nothing any worse than usual.” Levi shrugs. “There was training. And brainwashing. You know, normal senior year kind of stuff.” He doesn’t mention the injuries to his face. The black eye I saw in that photo. I don’t bring it up, either.

“Why did he want to keep you there?” Jago asks. “Besides the obvious.”

“You mean to torture him?” Maude cuts in. “And us?”

“I’m not really sure,” Levi answers, his face a mask as he runs a hand through his brown hair, his gray eyes catching the light. “He’s lonely. He’s miserable. I think a part of him wanted me to share in that. Since he has no one else.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, because we’re beyond happy to see you,” Theodora says, still not taking her eyes off Levi. “But why are you here? And why now? Emma said—” She stops abruptly, looking over at me as if to ask permission to keep talking. I nod, not letting myself look in Ollie’s direction. “Emma said Gravelle called her. Told her that you wouldn’t be coming back this year,” Theodora continues. “That you were going to wait it out on Castor Island until after graduation.”