Page 31

From Evelyn Terry’s Private Journal, Dated June 10, 1825

For the first day this week, it didn’t rain. Fog rolled in off the water, blanketing my father’s crops and the ground, making it hard to see from my bedroom window…

The sky turned a strange shade of orange, and the wind picked up this afternoon, leaving the water with a constant chop, whitecaps on the bay. The air was thick like a blanket, both warm and cool at the same time.

My father stared at the sky. “The Blood Orange Moon has arrived ahead of schedule.”

My heart thumped in my chest, panicked. “Can it do that?” I’d told my friends to be at the island at sunset. What if they missed their chance?

“The Blood Orange Moon can do whatever it wants, my dear girl,” Papa said. “There will be a storm, I’m sure of it, and we will need to bring the animals in to give them shelter. I’ll need your help.”

“Yes, Papa,” I said softly.

I hugged my father then, which made him laugh. “Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

“I just want you to know how much I love you,” I said, breathing in the scent of fresh cotton that he always wore thanks to Mama doing the wash. I kissed Mama too and tried not to get emotional as I rubbed the head of our dog, Walter.

I didn’t know if I was coming home again.

It was the one thing I was struggling with. If my friends took Kimble’s treasure and could live forever, how could I grow up and grow old without them? They’d stay young while I eventually withered away.

Selfishly, I wanted to save them and be together.

But if I had a coin, and I left with them (because we’d have to leave town, wouldn’t we? How would we explain why we stopped aging? We couldn’t.), I’d lose my family, who I loved desperately.

Did I go back to the island and steal another coin for myself? Or did I keep my feet firmly planted on dry land?

I walked down to the water to contemplate my choices, and the island revealed itself to me once more. I could hear the treasure calling to me, but I didn’t heed its call. I just stared at it, like a mirage and wondered what future me would decide. Where is Kimble? I wondered. Does he know what I’ve done? If he did, he was surely angry with me. My betrayal affected him too, and the guilt was eating at me.

Hours later, I still hadn’t made my choice. I snuck out to meet my friends at the sandbar at dusk. I was the first one there, holding tight to my cloak as the wind whipped through the trees and the thunder rumbled. Rain was imminent, but on the island, I knew it would be sunny and warm, as always. Whispers called to me from the other shore. Welcome, Evelyn Terry! Welcome! I tried to ignore them and focus on the path, willing my friends to appear.

When I saw Aggy approaching, my heart sung with hope. “Aggy!” I said, running toward my best friend.

She held up her hand to stop me, coughing hard and trying to catch her breath. Her face had hollowed in just a few days, the dark circles under her eyes worsening, and she was wearing a white nightdress. “Don’t come closer.”

“It’s alright,” I said. “You won’t be sick much longer now. We need to get you to the island. Then the coin will work. I’m sure of it.”

“I believe it will,” she said, sounding terribly sad.

She was staring at me as if she was trying to commit me to memory, but in that moment, I knew my decision. I wanted to be with my best friends. With Gil. With Laurel and Thomas. All of us would be together: A family, like we were on this isle of forever.

“Don’t be sad,” I begged, wishing I could hug her. “I’m not going to leave you. I’ve decided. I’m coming too. I’ll steal one more coin from Kimble’s treasure and join you. We will be young. Forever. All of us together as we’re meant to be,” I could hear my voice shaking, my hesitation possibly seeping through.

That could be why Aggy shook her head then and smiled sadly. “Sparrow, listen to me,” she whispered, starting to cough again. “I can’t stop what is already in motion. What’s meant to be will be, but what comes after is up to you.” Her eyes searched mine. “You’re the only one who can save us in the end. Did you read my letter?”

“No,” I said stubbornly. “I don’t need to. We aren’t saying goodbye. You’re going to be fine!”

Aggy’s eyes were sad. “I just wish you’d read my letter. So you’d understand. I don’t want you to be angry after…” She sighed. “Just know I am not mad at you. You’re like my sister.”

Mad? I didn’t understand what Aggy was trying to tell me. “We are like sisters,” I agreed. “That’s why I’m coming with you.”

What I didn’t tell her was that while I had made my choice, I was scared too. I didn’t want to leave my parents, my brothers, or Greenport, but I couldn’t let Aggy go through all this alone. Why did my friends get sick while I was spared? Why did I have to choose which life I wanted to lead?

“You can argue with me, Sparrow, all you want, but we both know you can’t come with me. Your path is different than mine!” she said forcibly now. “I explain why in my note. Promise me you’re going to read it.”

I pulled the envelope out of my pocket in anger and made a move to rip it up. “No! You don’t get to decide my future for me! Why should I grow old when you all get to stay young together?”

Aggy snatched it and held it out of reach. “No,” she said. “I won’t let you be a stubborn mule. This letter is important and you will want it later.”

I started to cry and Aggy hugged me. I was so surprised, I let her. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I just don’t understand why you don’t want to be together forever.”

Aggy was calm. “It’s not that I want to leave you. It’s that I have to.” Her lower lip trembled. “You’ve always been stronger than me.” I tried talking and she shushed me. “You have! That’s why you have to do what’s hard and stay behind now. If you really care about us, you’ll do as I say. You know I have the gift of sight. You have to trust me on this, even if it doesn’t make sense.” Her eyes searched mine. “Promise me you won’t come to the island tonight. You’ll let the treasure be. You’ve done your part. Now let me do mine. Promise me, Sparrow. As my best friend, you must swear. On your life.”

Aggy never swore. This was serious. “I promise. Just tell me why? Please. You owe me that.”

Aggy smiled then. A real smile. “Because I want you to live. And grow old. And marry someday, have babies, and name one after me. You aren’t sick. You and your family will be fine. And you will be too. You are going to have a wonderful life.”

I let out a sob. “How can my life be wonderful if you aren’t in it? We won’t be friends if I grow up and you stay the age you are now. When you come back from the island tonight, you will have changed and I will still be the same.”

Aggy’s eyes had a sparkle to them. “Actually it is the opposite. You are the one who will do many things,” Aggy told me. “You will play many games, but this one, the one in my letter, is the most important game you will ever play. You aren’t in this part of the story. We need you to be here. In Greenport. That’s how you save us.” She clutched my hands now, despite her illness, and started to wheeze. “I know you don’t understand. But you will. After. And…” She hesitated. “Be patient with Kimble. Don’t hate each other for what happens. You will need each other. Promise me you’ll find a way to get through to him someday. Promise, Sparrow.”

“What happens to Kimble?” I asked, but before she could answer me, I heard shouting.

Gil was coming now, followed closely by Thomas, who was carrying Laurel. She looked worse than anyone, but she was alive and clinging to Thomas’s neck.

“We’re here, Sparrow,” Gil said, smiling at me despite how ill he looked. He was pale. So very pale.

“You came,” I said, wiping my tears and placing Aggy’s note back in my pocket.

“How could I not when you said we needed to be on the island for the magic to work?” Gil replied.

“I still don’t understand,” Thomas said. “How do you plan on saving us?”

“Only medicine can help me now,” Laurel whispered, leaning her head on Thomas’s chest. “I don’t mean to scare you, Sparrow, but I don’t think I am going to make it.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Thomas said, his voice hoarse. “Sparrow has a plan. She found this island, didn’t she?” He started to cough, unable to finish the sentence.

I couldn’t handle hearing Thomas like that or seeing any of them so ill. Aggy could barely stand, but her eyes never left my face. For someone about to be saved, she looked so sad.

“I did, and now you must go,” I said. “Quickly now. Take your coins and get to the island. I think the magic needed to make you well only works if you’re there.”

Gil looked at me blankly. “What coin?”

“The coin,” Thomas said, and held his and Laurel’s up. “Didn’t you get one?”

“No,” Gil said worriedly.

“Yes you did,” I insisted. “I placed it in your pouch. There was a letter and a coin inside. A piece of eight.”

Gil pulled his envelope from his pocket and frowned. “My envelope had no such coin, Sparrow. Just a letter.”

Everyone looked at one another as thunder rattled the earth.

“But that’s impossible! I gave Axel the envelope to give to you. He promised he’d give you what’s inside. He—Axel.” I realized something and looked at Aggy. I could tell from her face she already knew. I could feel myself pale, my legs starting to wobble, threatening to take me down. Axel had done just what I’d feared he’d do. And I’d told him everything he needed to know about finding a treasure that could make one live forever. He’d even taken the coin I’d earmarked for Gil to help him get well. How could I have been such a fool?

There was no way the richest boy in town was going to allow our friends to be richer and live forever without him. I knew then what Axel would do if he found the treasure chest. He would take it. All of it. And sell it to the highest bidder.

How much would someone with the Cough pay to be well? To live forever?

That rat. Why had I trusted him?

“I gave you each a coin to take to the island so its magic would work before the Blood Orange Moon was high and you could be well again. That coin is the key to saving you. It will let you live forever.” I closed my eyes in horror. “Axel must have taken your coin. He’s going after the treasure for himself.”

“Look!” Thomas cried pointing to the island visible from the sandbar. Lights appeared in the growing darkness. They had to be coming from a lantern. Axel .

“We have to stop him,” Gil instructed. “A treasure like that is too powerful to be in the Rudds’ hands. They will squander it. We have to get it first!”

“Come, Gil!” Thomas said, angry now. “Let’s go get your coin and protect the treasure. Aggy? Can you get Laurel to the island?”

“I can,” Aggy promised as Thomas passed Laurel off to Aggy, and she leaned on Aggy’s shoulder. “Go. Hurry!”

“Oh Aggy, what have I done?” I said, starting to cry again as I looked at Laurel, so limp. “I should have found a way to get Gil his letter. I shouldn’t have trusted Axel. If Gil doesn’t get a coin in time…”

Thunder sounded loud overhead, and the rain began to fall. Laurel winced as she tried to lift her head. Then she started to cough again.

Aggy reached for my hand. “Gil will get a coin. Everything is going to be okay, Sparrow. But I have to go now and get Laurel across to the island.”

“I’ll help you carry her,” I said.

Aggy’s brows furrowed. “No, you have to stay here. You and Captain Kimble.”

“Kimble is here?” I asked, alarmed. “He left the island? But I thought he couldn’t till he found the missing coin.”

Aggy pursed her lips. “He is searching in many places. There is more than one way to get on and off the island.”

The cave. The one we were all too fearful to explore. I had seen Kimble emerge from it before. Where did it lead?

CRACK! A bolt of lightning hit a tree nearby, startling us both.

The thunderclouds were pulling in closer, blocking the moon. When I looked up, the sky started to darken to purple, snuffing out the light. The Blood Orange Moon was here. There was a rumble beneath my feet as I stood on the sandbar halfway between my world and the island’s. I wasn’t sure what was happening.

Aggy started to cough then, hacking so hard, she pulled out her handkerchief. I could see the blood begin to spread through the thin cotton fabric. Laurel, by comparison, had closed her eyes. If it wasn’t for her chest rising and falling, I’d think she was gone. Aggy was right. They had to go now.

“Go,” I said. “Hurry! Take Laurel and get to the island. I’ll see you after it’s done.”

The rain pelted the tops of our head and hit the water like darts. It came down in sheets, the water growing choppy and so dark, I could hardly see. Aggy propped up Laurel and slowly helped her start to cross the sandbar.

“Get to the shore,” Aggy yelled back. “And please read my letter.” I started to protest. “This is important. Don’t tear it up! And take care of Winks for me. Promise me you’ll look after her.”

This time I didn’t fight her. “You’re speaking as if I’ll never see you again. You’ll be right back.” Aggy’s expression was hard to read. “And I wouldn’t worry about Winks. She manages fine on her own. I even found her on the island with Kimble one day.”

“You did?” Aggy looked surprised. “That’s…interesting. Now go. Hurry to the shore. I love you, Sparrow.”

The words got caught in my throat. “I love you too, Aggy.” The ground started to rumble again, and I ran in one direction as Aggy and Laurel went in the other.

“Nothing can keep us apart forever,” she shouted, her voice growing farther away now. “Not even a Blood Orange Moon.” Her eyes flashed as lightning lit up the sky again. “Remind Kimble: another moon will be here—in two hundred years.”

I wanted to tell her that she’d be the one who would be alive to see it. Not me. But I didn’t want to argue. Right now what was important was that she get to the island. Two hundred years seemed so far away. The rain was coming down so hard now that I couldn’t see my island. But I imagined I was there with the others. The sun shining on my face as I pictured them holding small pieces of eight in their palms, their fevers and coughs subsiding, the color coming back to their faces. And then they’d walk back across the sandbar, different but the same. Them frozen in time at the ages they are now, me burdened with continuing to grow older.

But they’d live. That was what was most important.

The eclipse slid closer into view, and the world was blocked out, the darkness so threatening, I felt it might swallow me whole. I ran for shelter under a large tree as the storm raged, and waited to see them come across, healthy and new. It felt like they were gone forever, but there was no sign of any of them. I already missed them. The rain stopped suddenly, and I reached into my pocket for Aggy’s letter, curiosity finally getting the best of me. What could be so important that she had to write it down for me?

I opened it and stared at her words in confusion.

Her message didn’t make sense. And the date was nonsensical. Had the Cough made her delusional? Was I reading this correctly? What did she mean?

Find Everly Benedict, age 12, June 2025.

She is the key to saving us all.

Aggy, I don’t understand your letter, I thought, but when I looked back at the island for answers, it vanished from sight as if it had never been there at all.

“No!” I cried, but my voice wasn’t alone. Someone else was shouting too.

I looked over and saw him standing there, Captain Kimble, his wet, muddy clothes clinging to his body as he put his head in his hands.

Uh oh , I thought and took a step backward. My foot snapped a twig and he looked up and saw me. That’s when he growled, almost as if he knew.

“Kid,” he said hoarsely, “what did you do?”