Jude sat up, his body sore in the sweetest ways. He looked around at them all, still breathless, bare, bathed in that strange, eternal light. "We gave it something," he said. "And it gave something back."
Sophie looked toward the tree line, her jaw set. "Then we need to decide what we do with it."
Rose sat up then, her body moving with elegant ease, the way a flame sways in calm wind. "We protect it. We cultivate it. We've rooted ourselves here - this is our center now. The island gave it to us because we chose each other."
"What happens if we leave it?" Lucy asked.
"We won't want to," Rose said. "You'll see."
