Page 5 of The Same Backward as Forward

Surely Jackson wasn’t out in this.Surely.

I stood and grabbed my tray, and it was only by chance that I was still looking out the window when lightning struck again in the distance and what looked like a massive fireball shot up into the sky.

An explosion?It had come from the direction of Rockaway Watch. I broke into a run, my heart pounding in my throat with every step. I made it to my beat-up old car in record time and drove until I made it back to town, then kept driving until I could see ocean. A fire raged in the distance, out on the water, like a mansion-sized torch in the dark.

Hawthorne Island.

Chapter 4

Jackson showed up on my doorstep eighty minutes later, soaked to the bone. The second I opened the door, he spoke.“Hannah.”

He’d never said my name before, had never sought me out—never soughtanyoneout, as far as I knew.

“You need to come with me.” The recluse’s voice was raspier than normal. He didn’t appear inclined to explain his demand.

I didn’t ask.

It wasn’t until we were halfway to the lighthouse that Jackson spoke again. “I should have most of what you need,” he gritted out.

I had to push myself to keep up with him. “Most of what I need for what?”

“Boy’s half-dead.” Jackson picked up speed, his stride and his words both erratically paced. “Head injury. Burned. Nearly drowned.”

Burned. Drowned. Boy.My mouth got there before my brain did: “Hawthorne Island?”

“Explosion threw him from the cliff,” Jackson practically growled. “I fished him out of the water.”

One of the outsiders.In my mind, I could see a boy whose dark green eyes shined with bad ideas and worse ones. I couldhear a dry voice inviting me to have a little fun—toset the world on fire.

“It’s a damn miracle the kid survived.” Jackson’s voice grew hoarse. “Fishing’s good on that side of the island, especially during a storm, so I was close. The way that the mansion blew when the lightning struck—there was nothing natural about it.”

“What are you saying?” I came to a halt. “Jackson, when you find someone half-dead, you take them to a hospital!” Why hadn’t I ever bought a cell phone? The money hadn’t seemed worth it, but… “We need to turn back and call nine-one-one.”

“Can’t.” That one word was as harsh as a blow.

“Why the hell not?” I demanded, and for once, there was nothing quiet about my voice, nothing soft or understated.

Jackson grabbed my arm, pulling me onward. “Only word he’s said—screamed—since I pulled him out iskerosene.”

Kerosene. Set the world on fire. Nothing natural about it.My brain churned like stormy waters. “There were three boys,” I said. “Three outsiders. The others—”

“There are no others anymore.” Jackson’s voice broke the way the surface of an icy pond breaks if you hit it with a hammer, cracking in unexpected places. “They’re all dead, except him.”

Which him?I didn’t ask the question. What did it matter? “We have to go back to town,” I said. “We have to call—”

“Four.” Jackson came to a standstill. I stared at him, not understanding what he was saying. “I saw the boat that took their group over to the island this morning.” The fisherman’s words came out stilted. “There weren’t three passengers on that boat, Hannah. There were four.”

Suddenly, Iknew. I knew why Jackson’s voice was cracking. I knew why he kept saying my name. I knew who the fourth person on Hawthorne Island was.

Maybe I’ll see you around, my sister had told the outsider boy.

“Kaylie,” I whispered.

Jackson Currie might have been a recluse, but he still knew the people in this town, and everyone knew the Rooneys.

And Kaylie—sheglowed.

“No,” I said. Jackson was acting like there weren’t any other survivors, like there couldn’t have been, but there was more to Hawthorne Island than the mansion. If she’d been far enough away when the house blew—