“But that doesn’t make sense, why would all these people risk their lives for our freedom?” I urge.
“Well, what would you do if a group of Future Holders got together and told you that if you helped get their children to freedom the future would be much better for your kids?” Cooper says simply.
“I mean, I guess I would have to believe them,” I agree.
“Their only alternative choice is to continue living under King Renon. I think I’d take my chances in the woods too,” Alexander agrees.
“Have you heard from our father since he left?” I ask Cooper, finally finding the question I’d been wondering this whole time.
Cooper is silent for a while before he forces out the answer, “No. We have connections living in Sard that said they arrived. Usually, groups stay overnight with our sources in Sard before heading out onto the ocean. A couple of days after they left Sard someone said they’d found washed up remains of what seemed to be a boat.” Cooper senses my body tense up and he reaches over to put a hand on my shoulder.
“We don’t know for sure if it was their boat. Our father has made that journey dozens of times, right?” I ask him and I’m finding that I don’t know if I really want my father to be dead. I spent all this time hating him and wishing he were dead, but now I don’t know if that’s what I really want.
He drops his arm and pulls out a gold chain from his pocket. My heart tightens at the sight of it. My father’s gold compass. Cooper doesn’t have to say anything, and he hands the heavy metal memory to me. “They found this in the ship wreckage.” My father would never go anywhere without it. I hand the compass back over to Cooper, haunted by its past. From the distant look in Cooper’s eyes I know that, just like me, Cooper has had to accept the fact that our father is gone and out of our lives. At the confirmation of my father’s death, I’m surprised relief and joy aren’t what I feel. Hadn’t I wished for this? Just the other day in the woods I begged the universe to let it be him instead of my mother.
I look up to Alexander and see the blank expression on his face. “I’m sorry about your mother.”
He shakes his head and says, “It’s okay Adaline. She’s been gone a long time, this doesn’t change anything.”
We are all quiet for a moment. I try to process all the information that has been poured out to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Alexander processing all of the information as well. We look at each other for the first time and hold each other’s gaze. Who is he? I can’t even answer this question anymore. When I look at his face I still see him with me as my neighbor. I still see him running through the woods and the town. I still see him as the boy who sat behind me in class, who could finish my every thought, who came over with his family for Christmas and Thanksgiving. All the birthdays we celebrated together, all the school projects and presentations we did, every memory I still see his face. I try to make myself picture them with Cooper instead.
No Alexander wasn’t at my 5th birthday party where we dressed up as princesses and princes, that was Cooper, my brother. And as soon as I make myself make this connection I feel as though a string holding the bond between Alexander and I snaps, and it physically hurts my heart. I’m torn between not wanting to lose him from my memories and wanting to know the truth about my past. But I’m not the only one whose memories have been infused with Alexander. I remember that Zavy believes that he was just as good of friends with her as me. Was it really Cooper in all those memories?
“Mother messed with Zavy’s memories too?” I ask, still holding Alexander’s stare, both of us looking at the other trying to figure out who they really are.
“Yes. All those days it was you, Zavy, and I in the city. Alexander was never there,” Cooper says gently.
“So where was I?” Alexander asks Cooper, but still not dropping my gaze. “You can just replace me with Cooper in all your memories, but what are my true memories?” Alexander asks his voice weak and empty.
“They’re in there somewhere,” Cooper says, obviously holding back information.
“But how do I access them?” Alexander says more sternly, frustration building in his eyes.
“We have something that can return all of your memories back to normal,” Cooper says flatly and Alexander and I both break our stare and turn to him.
“You what?” Alexander asks.
“When we left that night, the night we were all brought here, my father gave us supplies that we would need in the future,” Cooper says as he rises and starts looking through some of the bags in the tent.
“We have a couple of swords, some knives, cooking equipment, maps of the island, and this rock. It’s enchanted and is supposed to hold the power to recover all lost memories. Don’t ask me how or where he got it from, I’m only the messenger. He told us we would need to use it to fix the memories our mother had altered in Adaline, but I bet it would work for you as well,” Cooper says pulling a large, perfectly round, grey rock from a beige bag. Then he comes and sits back down across from us. “We can fix your memories now,” he starts to say before I stop him.
“Wait,” I interrupt. Alexander and Cooper look to me. Alexander sees the
