Page 89 of Dawn of Hope

“C’mon Lennox!” I hear his small voice from behind the rocks.

I eye the small space warily. There’s no way I will fit through, and I’m shocked he did. The surfaces are too slick to climb over, and there doesn’t seem to be a way around.

“Just walk through!” he calls out.

I decide to trust him and step up toward the boulders. I turn my body sideways to squeeze through, hoping that the jagged rock won’t tear my clothes or scrape my skin. I slide against the surface, and it is as if there aren’t any boulders there at all. My body glides right through a hidden portal to the other side, just like at camp. I pop out on the other side to meet Fin smiling up at me.

“Let’s go!” He yells, grabbing my hand again and pulling me forward up a steep rocky slope. We clamber over rocks and hug the side of the mountain to stay away from the edge.

“How did you find this before, Fin?” I peek over the edge and try not to get dizzy from how high we have climbed.

“It was on accident!” The excitement in his voice makes me crack a smile. “I wanted to climb on those big rocks, and I just went right through! Do you think it’s important, Lennox?”

“It could be. We’ll have to keep looking and see.”

“Let’s go, let’s go!” He sprints across the rocks in front of us, hopping over some sharp points that stick out across the trail. The higher we go, the hotter it gets. Without the shade of the mountain, and the coolness of the soil and trees below, my body is dripping, and it is definitely slowing me down. My eyes sting from the sweat falling into them, and burn from squinting into the light.

I step over the sharp rocks Fin has just passed and come to a halt, pulling my water skein off my belt and taking a swing. Fin is just ahead, looking between two different paths. I hand him the water and he takes a quick drink.

“I went that way last time,” he says, pointing to the right at a steep path that wraps up rather than around.

“You did that by yourself?”

“Yeah! It was fun. It didn’t go anywhere, though. Just a dead end. So I came back down. We should try this one.” He points to the other path.

“Let’s do it. I’ll lead. We don’t know what we will run into.”

“I’m not a baby Lennox,” he pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh, I know you aren’t. You climbed that thing all by yourself. But I can still try to protect you. Would your big sister let you go first?”

“No…” he mumbles, a dejected look crossing his face.

“Alright then. Let’s get going. We still have to get back down and back to camp before it gets dark.”

Luckily, this path is more flat than the one Fin had already tried, but the height is making me nervous. I’m beginning to feel like we made a mistake as I take in the path and how much less trodden it is than the others. Thoughts of what the island could do to us flash before my eyes, many of which end with us dead at the base of the mountain. I glance back at Fin, but as always, he seems fearless.

That could change at any time.

I decide to keep him distracted from the potential danger ahead. “So tell me, how has your search been going? Where have you been looking?”

“Fine. I haven’t found anything special. I can’t make it too far, but it has been fun. It’s almost like a game my father plays with us back at home, so I don’t get too sad about not finding it. It’s like I’m home again.”

“Do you miss everyone back home?”

“Yes,” he whispers.

My voice softens. “You know Fin, it would be alright if you went back home with your family. I know you came here by accident. I know Dane would help you if you really wanted to go back.”

He doesn’t respond, so I stop and turn back to him. His face has fallen, the excitement and pride previously there from finding and scaling this mountain by himself, gone.

I kneel in front of him and watch a single tear fall on his cheek.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I say, reaching up to stroke my hands up and down his upper arms. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I just want to help her,” he pushes out, hands swiping at his face. I wrap my arms around him and he curls his body into me. He rests his head on my shoulder and his tears soak my shirt. I squeeze him tighter before quickly releasing him and holding him at arm’s length.

“That is what we are going to do, alright Fin? We’re going to find the cure. For you, for me, and for all the other Voyagers.” I stand up and extended my hand to him. “Are you with me?”