by Sara Saedi
But then she spotted the knob turning.
Phinn took a step back as the door swung open and nearly hit him square in the face. Nurse Conway stared back at them with his one good eye. He looked disoriented and even paler than normal.
“Olivia needs you,” he said.
“What’s going on?” Phinn asked.
Nurse Conway grabbed them by the wrist and pulled them out of the room. All this time, his lanky body type fooled Wylie into thinking that he wasn’t very strong.
“Your girlfriend is going free.”
He led them down the hallway, and Wylie immediately recognized that they were in the same wing as Dr. Jay’s hospital room. She hoped he was still alive. Nurse Conway dragged them all the way to the Clearing where the rest of the kids waited. Wylie tried to take inventory of who was present and who was missing. Micah, Joshua, Tinka, and Hopper: present. Maz and Lola: absent.
Her brothers’ shoulders sagged with relief when they spotted Nurse Conway yanking her and Phinn toward the group. Olivia stood in front of the crowd. The look of fear and anxiety on her face highlighted her wrinkles, but also made her appear younger at the same time. Her nervous demeanor startled Wylie. She was used to an Olivia who was in complete control of her emotions, however irrational they might be.
Hopper broke off from the group and pulled Wylie into a tight hug. She could see cuts and bruises scattered across his neck, and wondered if he’d resorted to violence to try to find her.
“They found us,” he whispered in her ear. “We’re going to get out of here. We’re gonna get back to the island.”
But their joy was cut short by Olivia.
“You did this!” Olivia screamed in Wylie’s face. “You broke the cardinal rule! You exposed the island to the world!”
Wylie felt like her head might snap off as Olivia grabbed her by the neck. She could hear the rest of the kids clamoring for Olivia to let her go. Wylie wanted to fight back, but she was weak and tired and was afraid that Olivia would stick her with another needle and put her to sleep. Olivia pushed her face into the lagoon and held it below the surface till Wylie thought she might pass out.
The moment she was pulled out of the water, Wylie could hear Hopper’s and Phinn’s voices above the rest. They screamed at Olivia to stop, but her loyal army of orderlies restrained them from intervening. Wylie opened her mouth to scream, but Olivia shoved her back into the lagoon and water surged down her throat.
The next time she pulled her up to breathe, Wylie managed to get an arm loose, and elbowed Olivia in the face. Olivia lost her balance and released her grip on Wylie. Blood was dripping down her nose and onto her otherwise pristine lab coat. Wylie wished she’d hit her hard enough to knock her out completely.
“Let them go,” Olivia managed to say as she wiped the blood off her face.
“All of them?” Nurse Conway asked.
“No, you idiot. Just Wylie and her brothers. They’re the only ones they came for anyway. It’s time to admit defeat and head to the safe house.”
Olivia looked at their surroundings and shook her head in disbelief. “It’ll take years, but I’ll build another island.”
Wylie sensed a reluctance among Olivia’s cohorts. The end had arrived and they would be held accountable. But Olivia was either in denial or just way too stubborn to back down.
“We’re not leaving here without our friends,” Wylie declared. But before she could give a rousing speech, her throat was inundated with coughs and her eyes stung as they filled with water. Smoke billowed into the room and thickened around them like batter. She didn’t know if Olivia was trying to poison them or if the authorities were holding her feet to the fire to set them free. Whatever was happening, it was making her dizzy and nauseous. Hopper held her up, and as she looked at him, she noticed he was completely immune to the smoke.
“It’s tear gas,” he said.
Wylie felt like her skin was going to bubble and melt until her bones seeped through. She could hear Phinn coughing next to her, and sinking his body into the lagoon for some relief. The nurses and orderlies were doing the same. But none of the other kids seemed remotely bothered by it. And then Wylie remembered they still had rahat pills in their systems. Though her vision was beginning to get blurry, Wylie could tell from the silhouette of Olivia’s posture that she wasn’t feeling the negative impact of the tear gas either. That meant she’d been partaking in rahat as well. Aside from the staff, Wylie and Phinn were the only ones who no longer had pain relievers keeping them numb. And yet, somehow through his agony, Phinn’s voice emerged above the shouts and residual panic.
“I’ll stay with you, Olivia,” he said. “You can do whatever you want to me. Just let the others go home. You had a good run, but it’s over.”
Wylie wasn’t at all surprised when Olivia scoffed at Phinn’s overture.
“Why would I trust you?” Olivia shouted. “Why would I want to have anything to do with you?”
Wylie was finding it harder to see, but she moved toward Olivia’s voice. Even if she went blind, she’d use her other senses to plan her assault. She was close enough now that if she reached out her arm, she’d be able to touch Olivia’s neck. You can do this, she told herself. I trust you.
Wylie jumped onto Olivia’s back and grabbed her in a headlock from behind. She heard more yelling, but this time the protests came from adult voices. They’d always outnumbered the BioLark staff, but now the tear gas wouldn’t allow the staff to use their Tasers or inject them with sedatives. Wylie coughed from the smoke and fell to the ground on top of Olivia. It felt like her pupils were being bombarded with cataracts, but she felt for Olivia’s hair and pulled it tight. She pulled back Olivia’s head and pounded it into the ground.
“That’s enough, Wylie!” Micah yelled.
Wylie was stronger than she thought. Olivia was no longer moving or fighting back. Through the haze of smoke, she couldn’t tell if Olivia was dead or unconscious. At least the rahat had prevented her from feeling her skull hit the ground. Phinn snagged Olivia’s ID and ripped his mother’s necklace off her. Micah searched her pockets and handed a pill bottle to Wylie.
“Take this,” Micah ordered. “It’s parvaz.”
Wylie quickly popped the parvaz pill and passed the bottle to Phinn. The effects were immediate. As soon as they shot up above the poisoned atmosphere, they were able to see better. The image was one she’d never forget: a mass of teenagers floating in the air while a scattering of white lab coats writhed in pain below them. They were free from their captors, and yet, they still didn’t know how the hell to get out of here.
“Go to the deck!” Phinn yelled.
They followed him as he ran down the deck, swinging open the door to each bungalow they passed. Wylie wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Maybe he was hoping he’d find Lola and Maz, but none of the rooms were occupied. Finally, he opened one door of a bungalow and let out a yelp.
“Get inside,” he ordered.
The bungalow was smaller than most, which meant only a dozen of them could squeeze in at one time. Aside from a chair, there was no furniture inside. Phinn levitated to the ceiling, waved Olivia’s ID, and waited for a door to open above them. Phinn pulled a ladder down and directed them to climb up it.
“It leads to the roof,” he said. “Go! But don’t fly until you know it’s safe.”
Wylie stood behind him, but she didn’t plan to leave. She was only here to make sure her brothers got out in one piece, and then she was going back for the others.
“I’m not leaving Lola and Maz or Dr. Jay,” she cried.
“You have to!” Hopper demanded, standing behind her. “I’ll get them.”
“You’ll never make it,” she said, suddenly afraid of being separated from him.
“Yes, I will. You have to trust me, Wylie,” Hopper said.
She nodded. She did trust hi
m. He wouldn’t let her down. Wylie scrambled for the ladder and pulled herself up. Phinn held it steady, allowing her to climb up faster.
The first thing she noticed was that the sky was dark and littered with stars. She could hear a voice echoing through a megaphone, reminding Olivia that they were armed. The dome-shaped roof blocked Wylie’s view of whoever had come to save them. Helicopters paraded overhead and Wylie hoped that none would land on them. Joshua and Micah trickled in behind her. Then Tinka. Then Bailey and Bandit and Nadia and Aldo and Patrick. One by one, they waited until they were together. Wylie kept waiting for Phinn to emerge from the opening next, but he didn’t appear.
“He went to help Hopper,” Bandit said.
Wylie didn’t think Phinn could survive the tear gas again, but she knew it wouldn’t do anyone any good if she went back inside.
“Let’s fly down,” she said. For all they knew, Olivia planned to blow up the building and they needed to get a safe distance away. Wylie floated up in the air and the rest of them followed. They came down the side of the roof and spotted dozens of men and women in suits and bomb squad gear surrounding the building. Wylie watched as their eyes nearly tumbled out at the sight of dozens of teenagers gliding toward them from the sky.
“There’s still a few people inside,” Wylie called out as she landed on her feet. She heard someone running toward her, but it was too dark to make out the figure.
“Wylie!” the person’s voice screamed out.
No other voice could make her feel quite as safe or quite as important. It was her mom.
Wylie ran toward her and they embraced.
“Mom,” she kept saying over and over again as tears flooded her face.
Behind Maura, Wylie glimpsed her dad walking toward them as fast as he could. She could tell he was limping.
He looked like the last six months had aged him by years. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and his formerly dark hair looked frosted over. Micah and Joshua hurried over, and they all threw their arms around each other. It had been six months since they’d been together as a family.
Her parents weren’t perfect by any means. They’d made a lot of mistakes, but they didn’t deserve to be punished by losing their kids. Wylie felt badly that the other kids didn’t have family members here waiting for them, but she knew that in a matter of days, news would spread about the cold cases of missing teenagers who’d been found. She didn’t know how anyone planned to get back to the island.
Wylie’s own definition of “home” had been lurking in her head for a while, and she could no longer dispute or ignore it. Right now, wrapped in her parents’ arms, she knew she was back where she belonged. Some relationships were worth trading eternal youth for.
The reunion was interrupted by a group of EMTs who wanted to check Wylie’s and her brothers’ vitals. As they took her temperature and measured her blood pressure, she saw that the rest of the kids were being looked after as well. Tinka was nearby, watching Gregory and Maura hover over their kids and ask a bevy of questions of the triage team. Wylie gave her a reassuring smile, and planned to tell her that she was a part of their family now, too.
“Please,” Wylie kept saying. “There’s more people in the building.”
“We’ve got people looking for them, sweetie,” one of the female EMTs replied. “Don’t worry.”
Just then, a wall in the building burst open, revealing that it had been a hidden door. Wylie saw a hospital bed with a sleeping and oblivious Dr. Jay lying atop of it. It was Hopper who pushed the gurney through the opening.
“We need medical assistance here!” he yelled.
A few more agonizing minutes passed, and then she heard an FBI agent shout that more kids were emerging from the roof. Wylie looked up and saw Phinn and Maz holding Lola in their arms. Wylie broke free of the blood pressure monitor and ran toward her best friend.
Lola coughed from the tear gas and was quickly surrounded by the team of doctors who placed her on a stretcher. Wylie held Lola’s hand as they examined her. A doctor placed a stethoscope on her belly, and Wylie stroked Lola’s hair to keep her calm.
“I can’t feel anything moving,” Lola confessed.
The baby was going to survive, Wylie kept telling her. And the child wouldn’t be treated like a case study or a lab specimen. The doctor smiled and told them he could hear the heartbeat. They needed to run more tests, but hopefully the baby was okay. Maz was so thankful that he pulled himself onto the gurney and buried his face in Lola’s hair. Wylie could see they were crying, and decided to give them their privacy.
A few feet away, Wylie overheard members of the rescue crew trying to process what they’d seen tonight.
“I hope these kids are ready to become famous,” she heard one guy say to another. “Their lives are never going to be the same again.”
Standing nearby, Phinn had heard it too. He looked at Wylie and she mouthed, “Thank you.” Phinn nodded in acknowledgment, but before he could retreat into the crowd, Gregory came barreling toward him.
“You son of a bitch!” Gregory yelled.
Phinn floated up in the air to dodge her dad’s punches, while several FBI agents quickly held Gregory back.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to my family?” Gregory continued to shout.
“Dad, please. It’s not worth it,” Wylie called out. They were all accountable for this mess. No good would come out of attacking Phinn.
Wylie watched as Phinn landed safely on the ground and held up his arms in surrender. It wasn’t a fight between equals anymore. Wylie’s dad was older and wiser. He’d seen more and lived more. He had a family. Their war was finally over and Gregory had won.
“I’m never going to bother Wylie again,” Phinn promised.
The Feds dragged her dad away, and Wylie followed. She stayed with her parents and tried to reassure them that she was okay, but it would take a long time before they were convinced. She hung back to give her brothers a chance to calm their worries.
“We’re free,” a voice said behind her.
Wylie turned to find Hopper staring back at her. The look of elation on his face told her that Phinn hadn’t been lying about his dwindling youth. Hopper’s eighteenth birthday was fast approaching and he was thrilled that he’d make it back to the island in time.
“We can go home now,” he told Wylie.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was already home, but she also couldn’t ask him give up his dreams of living on the island to stay with her. It wouldn’t have been fair to make him choose after everything he’d already done for her.
“I love you,” Wylie said. She’d strung the words together in her head millions of times, but this was the first time she’d said them aloud.
“I love you, too.”
She didn’t wait to see if he would try to kiss her, since that had gone awry once before. Instead, she placed her hands on his face, stepped up on her toes, and placed her lips on his. For a moment, he stood frozen, and then he kissed her back. It felt different than with Phinn. There wasn’t the same intensity or sense of urgency. The kiss with Hopper felt safe and familiar, like it was exactly where Wylie was always supposed to end up, even if she had to take a long and difficult detour to get there.
“Three hundred and sixteen days,” was all she could think to whisper in his ear after they broke away from each other. It was a reminder of how much time she had left to change her mind and come find him.
epilogue
rooftops would forever remind him of Wylie. There was no escaping memories of her as he made small talk with adoring strangers and sipped cocktails that weren’t strong enough to make him temporarily forget. Tonight should have been about celebrating. Ten months had passed since Wylie sent out her digital flare, got them out of BioLark, and inadvertently catapulted them into the limelight. With most of the other kids back on the islan
d, Phinn was one of the few people left on the mainland to bask in the attention. The footage of them flying out of Olivia’s secret lab had dominated the twenty-four hour news cycle. Not only were they teenagers who could fly, but they were teenagers who hadn’t aged in years. The entire world was fixated on their story, and fame like theirs would last much longer than fifteen minutes.
Now that Phinn was free to roam the streets, there were girls and boys who threw themselves at him, crazed stalkers who photographed his every move, and producers who bent over backward to work with him. It didn’t take him long to have enough money for an apartment in Manhattan that had about as much square footage as a bungalow. He didn’t care about hardwood floors or galley kitchens or high ceilings, as long as the place came with a patio. Most nights, he’d drag his pillow and comforter outside to sleep in the cold night air. There was a multitude of city noises that made the natural sounds of the island seem dull and sparse in comparison.
A young girl stared at him from across the rooftop. Phinn smiled at her as she made her way over. He’d been introduced to her before at some other industry party. Phinn knew she was a famous singer-slash-actress, and that she’d been desperate to play Wylie in a movie some high-powered studio executive had put in development. But she didn’t look a thing like her. The film’s producers assured Phinn they could get her to dye her hair, but he didn’t care. She was completely wrong for the part. Pre-production had stalled because they couldn’t seem to find anyone young with enough gravitas to play the role of Wylie Dalton.
“Hey, Phinn,” she said as she took a sip from her martini.
“Hey . . .” Phinn replied, and clinked his glass against hers. She could keep him company for the remainder of the night, he decided. It was easier to make conversation with one person than deal with tedious small talk with a dozen others.
“Congratulations,” she answered. “You were truly a revelation.”
