(Madelyn's POV)
"That's not how you punch someone." Ethan tried to correct me as I hit the punching bag. Why was he talking to me? I rolled my eyes and looked over at him.
"How about you come over here and we'll find out if that's the correct way or not?" I suggested. He chuckled and accepted my challenge by standing up. He walked toward me and I backed up to put more space between me and the punching bag.
"What's wrong? Didn't expect me to challenge you? Don't have your boyfriend to protect you?" Was he serious? He knows nothing about me and Jason anymore.
"I don't need anyone to protect me. Especially not from you." I scoffed. He chuckled, pulling a sly smirk onto his lips. He enjoyed not caring about me anymore.
I threw a punch, but he saw it coming. He gripped my fist and turned me around, restraining me so I couldn't attack him. He found amusement in stopping me quickly and I found him annoying. "See, you couldn't throw one punch."
He had some nerve talking to me like that. I don't know why he was bothering me. If he wanted to get under someone's skin he should go to Caroline. She won't get physical with him, but I've gotten physical with every boy in our group. All of them have not been able to win in the end because they get tired.
"Expect the unexpected, asshole," I said before kicking his shins. He pulled away giving me enough time to escape his hold. Before I could go in for another punch, Noah and Jason had walked in on the exchange and immediately interfered.
"Woah, woah, hey! What's going on?" Noah said, coming between us while Jason grabbed my fist and pulled me away.
"Just giving Madelyn some pointers--" Ethan teased and I tried to go after him again.
"Oh, I'm gonna--" I didn't get to finish my threat because Jason wrapped his arm around my waist and effortlessly picked me up. He pulled me away before I could finish what he started and maybe that was the best thing in the long run.
"It's not worth it, Maddie." He assured, glaring at his emotionless friend.
"That's right, Maddie. Have your boyfriend save the day again." Ethan shouted as Jason pulled me out of the room and Noah stood in front of Ethan to try to shut him up.
I angrily took off my gloves and threw them on the table. I ran my fingers through my hair while Jason watched me with a slight smile. "I can't stand him!" I complained. "I mean, someone's got to fight him or knock his teeth in. Why can't it be me?" Jason chuckled.
"Because I don't think the way we're going to win Ethan over is by fighting him. And I think it has to either be Tyler or Danielle." My face changed into an obvious dirty look and he seemed to think it was cute.
"Why them? It took all of us to get Danielle's emotions back."
"No, it took Tyler going AWOL on our plan and almost killing Ethan. You do know why he did that, right?"
"No, why?" I asked, taking a sip of my water.
"Because he would rather Danielle hate him than Ethan, and I think that's the most selfless thing he's ever done." I sighed and shook my head. This was annoying and I hated the way Ethan was acting right now.
"But why can't we all just kick his ass and then he'll be okay?"
"Because he's not going to come back because of us--"
"But we're his friends, Jason! How do we not have any sort of emotional attachment to him?" Caroline asked in impatience. I looked over at her. She said the same thing I was thinking.
"We do. That's why he won't hurt us. But within this group, there are clicks whether we admit it or not. He was very close with Tyler and Danielle--"
"But we were close too!" Caroline defended. He shrugged and Noah walked in on the conversation too.
"I don't think Danielle is going to bring him back. It's got to be Tyler." Noah sighed. The room fell silent. "Should we even give him his emotions? We can use it to our advantage. He can kill and feel no remorse."
"Noah, you don't know what it's like," Caroline said. We turned to her and she stared off into space. "He's screaming to be saved on the inside. It's like something takes over your body and you are trying to scream for help, but you're restrained." I looked at her in sympathy. I don't want to imagine how she felt during that. I wish she didn't have to experience it.
"All we need to do is make him have a power surge." Noah reminded us.
"But he's smart. He'll know when we try to do that." I added, looking at Caroline and Jason for any ideas. They are smart and often think of good plans.
"Yeah. He's not going to willingly power surge, and he doesn't look uncomfortable. When the chemical courses through you, Mana wants it out. Mana pushes the power against your veins to try to release it. It's painful." Caroline explained. I nodded, looking past Caroline to the boy who walked in. Kaeo. He smiled at us.
"Hey, guys. Want any breakfast?" He asked, walking toward the kitchen. I rolled my eyes as Jason began muttering stuff to Noah. We didn't get any explanation of Kaeo's part in this. He just expects us to trust him.
"No." I spat at him, marching toward him. "I want answers." I placed my hands on the counter while he stood on the opposite side. His eyes looked like they were admiring me, but his lips were serious. He didn't want me to think he was amused.
"Ask away. I'll give them to you."
"Why do you care, Maddie? He betrayed us." Jason said, coming to my side. I brushed him off. Just because he didn't care, doesn't mean I didn't.
"Were you always working with her? Is that why you approached me at the party?" I asked forcefully. Kaeo looked at my friends behind me, feeling awkward about answering in front of them. I was angry. I wanted answers.
"No." He cleared his throat, looking at me. "Maybe we can talk outside..."
"So you can feed her more lies?" Caroline accused him.
"No, because this seems personal–"
"Why should we trust you alone with her?" Jason was next to ask.
"I've never done anything to hurt her–"
"You betrayed us!" Caroline defended me, but this wasn't getting anywhere.
"Everyone shut up!" I yelled, turning to Kaeo. "You want to go outside? Fine. I can take care of myself." I walked to the front of the house that faced the ocean. There was a bench swing on the porch and some other chairs. He followed me outside and sat on the swing. I leaned against the post, facing him. "Were you always working for her?"
"No." He said, looking up at me with wide eyes. "When I saw you and your friends at the party, I just wanted to talk to you. There were rumors about these kids who showed up on Nani and Casper promised everything would be free. I wanted to see who these random Americans were."
"Why?"
"No one usually visits the island. I told you, Americans were easy to spot. Nani is not a popular island." He explained. I crossed my arms. "I remember Danielle on the beach earlier that day. She was talking to my friend, Matt. When I saw you all walk in, I thought you were pretty and I was interested. Our meeting was unplanned, and I know you felt the same spark I did. Maybe if we had more time..."
"What did you want with us?" I asked, trying to quickly change the subject. I didn't want to drag this out more than it needed to be.
"You all are interesting characters." He sighed, resting his back against the swing.
He was keeping his body open to me to show he could be trusted. I could see the tattoos lining his arms and his hair was wild. He was wearing a white sheer buttoned shirt, but the buttons were hardly buttoned.
"From the start, you could tell Tyler was a partier. He looked like he would be ready for anything. He would fit right in with our group. Jason looked like he was rough and an asshole, which I was right about. Ethan looked like a softie, but still cool. He looked like he would have a good time. Noah was the typical jock-looking guy. Caroline looked wild and like you couldn't pin her down if you tried. She was a partier too, and a flirt. Danielle is sweet and innocent. I didn't understand why she would go for someone like Matt..." He listed all of my friends and their accurate descriptions. "Then there was you... the beautiful athletic girl. You were cautious, but still wanted to have a good time. When my friends and I saw you guys on the beach, we knew you all would fit right in. We wanted to be your friends."
"Skip all of this story-telling. You know what I want." I ran my fingers through my hair to get it out of my face. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees.
"Rebecca found me after the party. She had been kissing Ethan, but he didn't realize it because he was drunk. She warned me that you guys were trouble and we should all stay away from you."
"Did you know Rebecca before?" I accused him. He looked up at me, trying to find the words to explain. I knew the answer because of his hesitation. I scoffed.
"Y-yes, but it wasn't like that. We knew she was Casper's daughter and Kristine's lost daughter. We let her hang with us because she seemed cool. She came two summers before and would leave for America for school. We all went to the party together, but we usually split up. I don't think she knew you guys were going to be there." He tried to explain. I shook my head, feeling tears trying to form. I took a deep breath to stay calm. I needed to hear what he had to say. "She told me everything you had done to her."
"I didn't do anything to her! She–"
"I know! I know that now, Madelyn." He interrupted me, but his voice was soothing. "When she told us all of that stuff, I thought it was fishy. I did some research when I got home."
"How? There was no internet." I asked, trying to piece his broken story together.
"Casper must've lied to you. Maybe they hacked into your phone somehow. Everyone still had internet." He explained. I felt anger, frustration, and everything you could imagine. I chuckled at the irony, but none of this was funny. "I found you on Instagram. I didn't want to believe you all were bad people until I knew myself. You didn't seem like a bitch."
"Thanks," I said sarcastically. He sighed, looking up at me. "Did you take us on the hike because she told you to?"
"No. I was working that day, like I told you. I often did the golf cart-tourist trips around the island."
"How if this island wasn't popular?"
"To Americans. We get a lot of Europeans and Spaniards." He quickly corrected. I tried to understand, but none of it was adding up.
"I saw you guys and wanted to invite you all to a party that night. You guys were on a mission, and I didn't want you guys to be hurt. I also heard stories about Mana. My mother would tell me about it as if she experienced it with her friends. I wanted to see what it was like. When we got there, I couldn't believe it was real. I knew the legends and stories, but no one believes in Mana." He explained. I uncrossed my arms, listening deeper to his story.
"Where did you end up after we got knocked out?"
"I was home again. I was in my bed and my mother was sitting next to me, dabbing a wet towel on my head. She said she felt the crystal in her body and she knew something was wrong. When she got to the cave, all of you were getting escorted out by guards and she was faced with Casper. He almost killed her, but she pleaded and asked to just take me home."
"Why would he take you?"
"Are you kidding? They all used to be friends. My mother, your mother, Casper. Everyone. My mother did everything she could to try and stop them. Your parents left her here and she's been stuck ever since. Casper won't let her leave. Now her son has Mana in his veins and was on his side of the island? It was perfect."
"Why didn't he take you then?"
"Because she lied. She told him the tattoo on my arm prevented me from accepting Mana, so I was useless to him. He let us go." He explained, showing the flower on his arm. I glanced at it, seeing the small sparkle it had against the sun. "Instead of preventing Mana, it fueled it. She told me the story about all of your parents and how they got their powers. Then she said we needed to help you guys, so she trained me, and I carried on about my life as if everything was normal, but I was looking for you guys on my tours."
"How did you end up working for Rebecca?"
"She talked to me a lot. She knew I was in the cave, and she knew I didn't believe her story. I knew she was doing something wrong, and then my mother finally said Kristine had found you guys. Then, I knew the boys had a plan. I wanted to help you guys get out of here, and my mom wanted to leave too." I watched his eyes stay on mine. He was serious. He was trying to help us. "I knew Tyler would be the best guy to talk to because he's not in love with you and he'd do anything for you guys. We agreed that I distract you girls while the guys leave to get Ethan. I'd get you guys on the boat, whether I had to drag you on there, or knock you guys out."
"You were going to drug us?" I asked.
"Only if I needed to." He admitted. I scoffed, crossing my arms. I needed to calm down.
"Tyler said if they didn't get back by midnight, to just leave with you guys. Not a minute before, and not a minute late, but I knew that you guys would find out. I knew the plan would get ruined. When you guys didn't come back by midnight, I knew something bad had happened and I told my mom everything. She told me Kristine had betrayed her again and they took you guys. I formed a plan I knew my mom wouldn't like. I called Rebecca and asked her to meet me. I lied to her and told her that I believed her and wanted to protect her." He explained, looking up at me with a guilty look. "She let me start working with her that night. She wanted to trust me, so I had to work for it. I stayed with her for a few weeks, then she finally let me go home. My mom was not happy. I never wanted to hurt you, Madelyn. I never wanted to hurt any of you. I was trying to help you, and Ethan and I came up with a good plan."
"You and Ethan seem to be good friends now." I snapped at him. He bowed his head, running his fingers through his hair.
"I know I didn't know him before the chemical, but he's not so bad. He helped you guys escape, even if it was for selfish reasons." He explained to me. I scoffed and shook my head.
"Whatever." I began walking toward the door, but he stood up and gently grabbed my arm. He turned me around in one swift motion and I noticed the plants on the windowsill began to bloom so big that it covered the window where my friends were spying on us.
"I'm sorry, Madelyn. I know it might be hard for you to accept, but I am. I want nothing more than to get you and your friends off of the island so you're safe. I want Caroline, Tyler, and Danielle to have their parents back. I would also like to get out of this place with my mother." He admitted, pushing a piece of my hair behind my ear. "But, Madelyn, I don't want to lie to you... I don't think I can kill Rebecca for you."
"You would protect her over us," I concluded angrily.
"No. I just cannot kill her. She was a friend. I know what she's done to you all. Bringing you here is psychotic, but I am no killer. She would not attack me." He admitted. I nodded, knowing that she has a soft spot for all of the boys. I wasn't sure how any of us would be able to kill her.
"How could she still be angry with us, but have a good and completely different life here? She has friends now. She doesn't need us." I stated. He shrugged, looking at the features around my face.
"Anger and jealousy can make people do stupid things..." His eyes looked into mine as if he was longing for something. I knew what was coming and I couldn't let him do this to me. Not after finding out what I know. He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my head. His lips came close to my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. "I know you'll tell the others what I told you. I hope you know I told you the truth." He kissed my cheek and I pulled away from him. I walked inside, not looking back at him. I was immediately bombarded with questions while he stayed on the porch.
I walked past everyone, not wanting to indulge in this. I had to deal with this on my own. I walked upstairs to where Danielle and Tyler were. They were probably talking about a plan to get Ethan to power surge. I didn't care. I just wanted to be away from the group. I walked into Danielle's room, where they both immediately went silent. They watched me as I walked over to the bed and plopped down, shoving my face in her pillows. Tyler chuckled.
"You okay, Maddie?" Danielle asked.
"I hate everything." I sighed into the pillow.
"What happened?" I turned over to face the two looking at me.
"Kaeo told me the truth." They looked at me in confusion, but I didn't want to explain the whole story. "Rebecca was friends with him before we came to the island." They now looked at each other and then back at me.
"Then why are we fucking here?" Tyler asked.
"He's been working with her the whole time?" Danielle asked.
"No. That's the thing. He was only working for her to help us escape. And, get this... the power was never out when we arrived on the island. Everyone had the internet. They hacked our phones." I explained, looking at the two very angry people.
"Why haven't we tried calling home yet?" Danielle asked, looking over at Tyler. "We've been here all summer. We've been with Kristine too."
"I guess we never thought about it," Tyler said in realization.
"We should use Ayanna's phone." Danielle began to walk toward the door, but I grabbed her hand to stop her.
"We can't. If Ayanna was friends with our parents, don't you think she would've contacted them earlier? Why would she still be stuck on the island if she could contact them?" I quickly asked her. She shook her head, not understanding my protest.
"Are you saying we shouldn't trust Ayanna?" Tyler asked.
"No. I'm saying that Ayanna might not be able to contact them."
"Maybe she just doesn't know their numbers," Danielle said, pulling away from me and walking swiftly toward the steps.
I looked over at Tyler, who shrugged and reluctantly followed her. I sighed and did the same. When we got downstairs, Ayanna walked into the house with anger and grief. We all looked at her as she looked up at us. Something was wrong, and the entire room felt heavy as she walked in.
"Everything okay, Ayanna?" Noah asked. She looked at him, draping her arm over her stomach.
"No, Noah. Nothing is okay." She admitted, looking at all of us again. "Rebecca started burning our trees."
"Okay, well can't the fire department put them out?" Jason asked.
"They spread too quickly. It took multiple homes..." She looked distraught. I didn't understand what the big deal was.
"She's not allowed to mess with this side of the island though," Caroline said. Ayanna nodded, running her fingers through her hair.
"She said that she wants to end this tonight. She threatened more blood if you all didn't show up. She's ready for war." She explained. My blood ran cold. I felt the seriousness of this situation. All of this was going to end tonight. We were either going to live or die. We were going home or becoming trapped like Tyler, Danielle, and Caroline's parents.
"We're not ready. We don't have the crystal. We don't have our parents. We don't have a boat either." Caroline quickly argued, shaking her head.
"Let me worry about the boat. I can get one large enough for all of us. I can load it with fuel and food. We will get you guys out of here." Kaeo quickly stood up and announced. I looked at him in worry. All of this was happening so fast.
"Come on, guys, you look like you've seen a ghost. We're getting out of here tonight." Ethan said. We looked at him. I didn't feel right about this situation. Something was off.
"What are we going to do, Ayanna?" Danielle asked. We haven't fixed Ethan yet. We weren't ready to fight Casper, Kristine, and Rebecca.
"Can we call our parents? You have internet... cell-service..." I said, hoping that it would be available to us. Ayanna shook her head sadly.
"I've been trying to contact your parents for twenty years... my phone only works for this island." She explained. I turned to Kaeo in accusation.
"You said you looked up my socials... how?"
"I used my phone, but Rebecca corrupted it when I was working for her. We could try the computer at work, but that would take too long and we'd be too exposed." He explained. I shook my head, turning to Ayanna for any answer.
"Look, all of you have the crystal running through your veins. Mana wants this to end too. Remember, they don't have island magic. They just have experience and an army. We need the crystal and your parents, but your parents will be weak. We need to get them once most of the army is down..." Ayanna was acting quickly. She knew what needed to be done. We had to put our lives in her hands. "You all have to realize that tonight, you will be murderers."
"Anything to get us out of here," Caroline admitted. I nodded, looking at the others for confirmation. This was the night when everything was going to end.
"Good. Some of you will need to go into the building to find Laura, Emma, and Michael. One of you needs to find the crystal. Everyone else will be distracting... fighting."
"I can do it. I'm fast, no one will know how they got out." Jason was quick to volunteer. "I'll get the crystal too. I just need someone to break the glass." He looked around at us.
"I'll go. I can freeze the glass enough to cause it to shatter. Then you can get us all out and then find the crystal." Caroline stepped forward, looking at Ayanna. Ayanna nodded and looked at Jason.
"You'll have to run fast. The boat will be close to the border. You can bring them there and I'll heal them. You can carry two people at a time. Emma and Laura, then Caroline and Michael." Ayanna explained. Jason nodded and I felt the pit in my stomach grow. "Then you will look for the crystal. Just one sweep, but if you don't find it, leave. We don't need to dwell on it."
"Can't forget about their power-dampening bullets," Ethan added. We all looked over at him in confusion. "Come on, guys, how do you think I got caught?"
"We figured you were pus–" Tyler began, but Danielle slapped his stomach before he could finish.
"What power-dampening bullets?" Ayanna asked.
"They drench the bullets in a chemical that stops your powers when it's injected into your skin. They shot my calf and I couldn't use my powers until they got the bullet out and cleaned it." He explained.
"Okay, so don't get shot." She said, looking at all of us.
"Sounds good to me," Jason said, crossing his arms.
"No bullets," Noah added.
"Is this happening? Are we going home?" I asked. Kaeo gave me a small smile.
"Yes," Ayanna said.
"If you guys can pull through," Ethan added, standing up and looking at us. "We can only do this if we can kill Casper. He's the main man we need down."
"Right. Once he's down, Kristine and Rebecca will fall." Kaeo agreed. We nodded, agreeing with this plan.
"Come on, we have a lot of work to do," Ayanna announced.
As the day went on, she had us go over the plan, train, practice the plan, and try to channel as much of Mana as we could. None of us knew what that meant, but we all felt stronger. It was because of Ethan's new tattoo. That's what kept us stronger. Kaeo asked me if I wanted to come with him to find a boat. At first, I didn't, but I wanted to make sure the plan was set in place. I wanted to be sure that we would be out of here by tonight.
We walked out of the house and along the beach in the opposite direction of the typical border. We haven't explored much of Palekana. We haven't explored much of the island in general. Nani was very beautiful. The plants were vibrant. Some animals walked around, and no one gave them a second thought, yet they looked healthy.
"You must not have this in Flordia," Kaeo suggested. I guess he could see my face wandering around the surroundings.
"Flordia is similar, but this is just beautiful. It's not overrun with tourists. The water is so clear..." I admitted, looking over at Kaeo.
"If the circumstances were different and if this would've been a mix-up with the tickets by chance... I think you would've loved it here. I would've taken you all on a proper tour... the safe hike had such beautiful sights. The culture here is beautiful too." He listed everything that sounded amazing. The island of Nani was beautiful, but Casper corrupted it.
"This island has a beautiful secret and maybe if we finally stop Casper, we can set something in place to protect it. Our families and us... We know what this place holds and I'm sure when the cops question us, they won't believe anything we say about powers and Mana." I explained. Kaeo nodded.
"That's probably why no one has ever come here to try to stop Casper. Your parents never told anyone." He concluded.
"Why would they? We would sound like we belonged in an asylum." I chuckled. He nodded, smiling too. "They think I'm crazy for knowing about Zodiac signs..."
"I think it's interesting. They are pretty accurate." He said, raising his eyebrow at me.
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter." I shook my head as we walked along the sand. "I'm just ready to go home."
"I'm sure. You spent your whole summer here." He nodded, looking around the island he grew up on.
"And you're ready to just leave it behind? Without saying goodbye to your friends?"
"I'll find them after we find the boat. I can drop you off at my house and then I'll get the supplies." He spoke quietly and was now more upset. I don't think he thought about leaving his friends, which I understood. I couldn't imagine not seeing my friends every day.
"Where is this boating place?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"We're almost there." He assured as he stepped over a tree branch. He held out his hand for me to take, but I ignored it. I stepped over without help and we continued to walk.
We finally arrived at an old-looking warehouse. The walls had rust, the windows were broken. There was an old rusted truck outside of it too. I started to get a bad feeling about this. There's no way this guy had a big enough boat for all of us, and even if he did, there was no way that it could get us home.
"Don't be deceived by looks, Madelyn," Kaeo warned.
"There's no way this place is reliable." I scoffed. Kaeo motioned for me to follow him, and I did.
"Let me do the talking. I know these guys." He cleared his throat as we entered the run-down warehouse. I looked around in disgust. It smelled old and like they didn't know what cleaning products were. There was dust everywhere. "Robbie!" Kaeo whistled.
"Damn, kid's back." Someone muttered. Their voice was like gravel. Two big men walked out of the shadows. One was holding a wrench while the other was wiping his hands on a cloth. They were both wearing messy clothes with holes. They were dirty.
"What do you want, kid?" Robbie asked. Kaeo stood up straighter, not being threatened by these guys.
"We need your boat." He demanded. Robbie and the other guy began laughing a nasty wheeze that turned into coughs.
"What makes you think I'm going to give it to you? I heard you used Frog's boat three weeks ago." Robbie said, eyeing Kaeo with a death stare.
"Things changed. We need a bigger and better boat." He explained. Robbie began walking toward his tools, shaking his head at us.
"Where are you trying to go?"
"I can't tell you." Robbie and the guy began laughing again.
"This isn't a joke." I snapped. They stopped laughing and glared at me. I felt like I wanted to die right there.
"Who is this bitch?" The friend asked. I scoffed at the offense.
"Don't call her that. Look, we need this boat. What do you need? I'll get it done." Kaeo offered. The two looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"We're not giving it to you. We heard you and your mommy have a tough time getting off of the island. We wouldn't want to upset Casper." Robbie mocked him. I could see Kaeo getting angry. I looked around, trying to see why Kaeo was so bent on using these guys. I looked outside and noticed the large dock. Sure enough, there were boats easy enough to use and grab. We had plenty of ways to get out of here, but getting a boat is the hard part.
"You don't understand, Robbie. We need it. It's important." Kaeo said through his teeth.
"Not going to happen, Kaeo. Get out of here." The friend said. I turned back to the men, wanting to intimidate them. I wanted to show them the fire and abuse we've gone through on this island, but I know it wouldn't get us anywhere. Kaeo nodded before turning around. He gripped my hand and pulled me away.
"Wait, you're just giving up?" I asked, looking at the warehouse and then at Kaeo. "Are you going to Frog's or whatever? Hello, Kaeo, why aren't you saying anything?" When we were finally out of range of the dock, I pulled my hand away and stopped in front of him. "Why aren't you trying to get the boat?"
"We're getting the boat, Madelyn." He assured me, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward his house. "We're just going to have to steal it. I need Tyler's help."