The Gemini

11. The Fourth Circle

Lena Matthews

The breeze tangled its way through my hair as the ferry rushed across the water. By the time the boat stopped, I was a complete mess and had to take some time to readjust my glasses and hair. I was probably going to be one of the last people off the ferry, but at least everyone was waiting for me now.

It had only managed to get more overcast on our way out here, and according to Kiara, there was going to be a storm soon. Despite that, none of us wanted to surrender to the weather. No one controlled us anymore, and we were ready to exercise our newfound free will on everything.

As I walked off of the ferry, the boat bobbed awkwardly, forcing me to slow down to keep balance. Kiara, on the other hand, was a few paces ahead of everyone, her eyes fixated on the large copper statue. I had seen the Statue of Liberty pictured in so many books, but now that it was actually standing in front of me, it felt small.

I didn't dare to voice my disappointment to the group, who was a lot more enthusiastic. Jane-Anne and Kiara were both grinning like kids.

"We need to get a picture!" Kiara called out, running closer to the statue.

"With what camera?" Carter called back. "Does that thing even have a camera?" he asked, turning to Taylor.

"Why are you asking me?" Taylor asked, bristled.

"Because the phone is in your purse," said Carter, rolling his eyes. "You know, if you actually think about the things I say, you'll find that they make a lot of sense."

"You know, you could have said, 'Hey Taylor! The phone is in your purse, why don't you check and see if it has a camera?'" said Taylor, her voice turning unnaturally ditzy as she imitated Carter.

"You know what, I'll start fully explaining myself when you decide to fully explain what happened with Mrs. Pearce."

Silence.

I glanced at Jane-Anne, whose face looked eerily blank.

"Daijobu?" I whispered.

"Iie." Jane-Anne responded quietly. I didn't actually know what that meant, so I hoped it was Japanese for 'sure' or something.

"What happened is none of your business," said Taylor. "We need to put that stuff behind us."

"Easy for you to say." Carter scoffed. "You were barely there."

"Guys!" Kiara exclaimed.

Carter and Taylor dropped their fight instantly. Taylor rustled into her purse to find the phone Finn had given me and inspected it. "There's no camera on this thing." she turned to me. "No messages either."

"Let me see it," I demanded. I needed to see the phone for myself. Part of me wanted to believe that Taylor was just trying to get under my skin. It didn't make sense that Finn would do everything he could to break me out and then abandon me in New York. But maybe he did. Maybe I was cut off from my entire family for good.

A queasy feeling of guilt took over as I tried to swallow my grief down. I wasn't about to admit to anyone that I missed my family. That I missed the gentle voice of my mother, or Aurelie's enthusiasm, or even my father's guidance when I trusted what he said. I missed the belief I used to have that I came from good people. Now that the illusion was gone, missing them just made me feel sick.

As I reached for the phone, I had to shove past a group of people who were grumbling about getting kicked off the island.

"Watch out!" I yelled to the group, but they didn't bother to turn around. "What's going on?" I asked. As I stared behind Taylor, I realized that all of the tourists were trying to exit for the next ferry. It was cloudy, but still in the middle of the day. Someone in a National Park uniform stopped next to us.