“Oh, you be quiet!” Lani said again. “I do not.”
“Um, it’s pretty obvious—”
“Come on, Sam,” Alex said. He looked at Lani. “Look. It’s a cool theory and all, but . . . well . . .”
“Wait, Alex—I didn’t even tell you everything. I totally understand you being skeptical about it. I didn’t even start thinking this was a map of the islands, or that there could be more beyond these islands, until I saw this same exact map inside Pirate Island.” Lani’s eyes shone.
Alex grinned in spite of himself. He never got tired of seeing Lani all fired up over an idea. Her face got so animated. She could tell a complete story with her eyes—now, that was true art.
“What are you grinning about?” she demanded.
Alex sobered up. “Nothing. So you saw the same map in Pirate Island.”
“That’s what I just said.”
“Like there would never be a duplicate,” Samheed said sarcastically. “Even Mr. Today has multiple copies of all our books—in the library and in the Museum of Large. It’s not unheard of.”
“Anyway,” Lani said, ignoring Samheed, “in the glass case inside Pirate Island, there was a full map, not just this torn-up part.”
By this time, they had reached the fire, where Sky sat alone, enjoying a giant plate of breakfast that Talon had apparently cooked for her. She looked up at them, mouth full. “Talking about the map again?”
Alex nodded. “So you’ve heard?”
Sky swallowed her food. “You hear a lot of stuff you wish you hadn’t when you sleep on the ship.”
“What do you think?”
“If I said what I thought, Samheed’s head might explode.”
“So you think it’s possible?” Lani asked. She sat down. “See, Alex—I’m not the only one.”
Sky took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “Sure, lots of things are possible. I mean, it does seem strange that nobody would know about land being right there—even Queen Eagala says there are only seven islands. It’s in the handbook and everything. But hey, I don’t know. We’re on a floating crab right now, and we were on an underwater island just a few days ago. Who’s to say there’s not some sort of invisible island out there?”
Alex, Samheed, and Lani stared at Sky.
“What?” asked Alex.
“Are you kidding me?” Samheed exclaimed.
“Now that’s just crazy,” said Lani.
Sky just laughed and shook her head. “Well, I think we found the line that separates possible from impossible.” She shoveled another bite of food into her mouth and said, “And Lani’s theory falls on the possible side.”
A Breakup
The four of them stayed by the fire, Talon bringing more food and leaving again to take care of Karkinos. Alex steered the conversation to the issue of the dying island, telling Samheed, Lani, and Sky everything he’d heard the previous night. Well, almost everything. He left out the mushy parts.
“So what are we supposed to do about it?” Samheed asked.
Lani shrugged. “What can we do? This crab is huge. I mean, we can see if Henry and Carina can get to work making medicine, but it could take forever to mix up a dose big enough.”
“We don’t even know what’s wrong with the crab, so how would we know what kind of medicine to make?”
They stewed over it for the better part of an hour, and in the end, they had no solutions. Eventually, Samheed and Lani left the fire, not fighting this time. Alex watched as Samheed slipped an arm around Lani’s shoulders and Lani slid hers around Samheed’s waist, the two exchanging spirited grins as they called a truce . . . for the moment. Alex smiled wistfully. He turned to Sky, and the smile faded. They were alone.
“I miss you, Alex,” Sky said in a quiet voice. “Where have you been?”
Alex looked into her eyes and was immediately captured, his heart thudding all over the place, out of control. “I’m right here,” he said. “I’ve been here.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
Alex dropped his gaze. “Yeah,” he admitted.
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“It’s not like I want to,” Alex muttered. “It’s just that . . .” He sighed deeply. He didn’t think he was ready for this conversation.
“It’s just what?”
Alex sighed again. This was really hard—harder than he’d thought it would be. He pressed his thumbs against the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out how to say what he was feeling.
Sky waited.
Alex looked at her once more, and his stomach fluttered. “See, you’re doing it again.”
Sky blinked. “I haven’t moved.”
“You don’t have to move. You just— You’re always— Ugh. I hate this.”
“Clearly.”
“I mean, I don’t hate this, like, this thing we have. I mean . . . trying to explain . . .”
Sky just watched as he struggled for words. “Well, I do.”
Alex paused. “You do what?”
“Hate this thing we have.”
Alex stopped breathing. “Y-you what?”
Sky’s face was pained, her voice calm. “I hate this thing we have, Alex. Because it’s not really a thing, is it? It’s just uncomfortable and awkward.”