on finding where I’d be most useful. Ferrying items to boats took up a lot of my time. Helping Regina and Antonio in the caves with some of the fae prisoners was another task I enjoyed. Seeing them come back into themselves, the looks on their faces as they realized they were free, that really got me. I’d been there when we rehabilitated Wally in the fountain. I’d watched him transform from a beast into the Mohawk-wearing boy I knew.
More than the dismantling, I found myself drawn to the rebuilding. I’d known enough destruction. Right now, I wanted rebirth.
But today was a day for demolition. The witches had cleared the building of everyone and everything that mattered. Now, they wanted to destroy it for two reasons. First, so that it could never be used again. This island had a lot of powerful magic, thus the strange fountains and more we still didn’t understand, and a building like that would just invite trouble, evildoers who would seek to bend the island to their will.
Second, it was a message to the world: We will not tolerate this injustice. Try it again and watch yourself reduced to rubble.
Vaughn touched my elbow, pulling me back to the now. “It’s about to start.”
I blinked out of my thoughts and turned my eyes to the building down the hill. At the moment, it appeared as it always had, a silent fortress of concrete, large and indomitable. But soon, the ground rumbled, and the foundations began to shake.
Around the structure and at a safe distance, witches circled the building. They aimed their hands at it and shook the building to bits. Wally, with his Quake powers, stood at their side as well.
The shaking intensified until it felt as if the whole island was vibrating. Birds cawed and shot into the air and branches fell from the trees that surrounded the clearing, but my eyes remained glued on the building as it came apart.
Cracks snaked up the sides. Large chunks fell. Soon, whole walls came apart, taking the roof with it.
Then, with a mighty rumble, the entire thing collapsed into a heap.
A cheer went up from the witches and some of our group, too. I fell silent, mourning for those we’d lost. This spot would be a memorial to Daniella, Vinya, Chan, and so many more names and faces I would never know.
Vaughn put a reassuring hand on my knee. “It’s over.”
I nodded, hopeful, this time it finally was.
That night we feasted outside by the light of bonfires fueled by prison uniforms and bedsheets. Standing beside the blaze, we watched as the old ways burned. My eyes traced the ashes into the star-filled sky, wondering where they might end up.
Being outside with a fire roaring reminded me so much of my homeland. Even now I longed to return to a land I knew no longer existed. Faerie was gone. My parents were gone. Home was gone.
We were coming to the end of our time here, and the thought of “home” weighed heavily on my mind. The Academy had been a wonderful respite, but a hut on the outskirts of a campus I didn’t attend could never be the place I called home. This island certainly wasn’t either. It had brought nothing but hardship and death.
So where was home?
My eyes trailed across the crowd of people until I found him.
Vaughn.
He had wandered over to Ronnie and Becca and was sampling something Ronnie had offered. I watched his eyes light up in wonder and surprise at whatever he was sipping.
“It tastes just like Cap’n Crunch!” Vaughn clapped Ronnie on the back while the boy beamed.
“When do you head home?” I heard Vaughn ask as I sidled up to him. He threw an arm over my shoulder, pulling me close as he waited for Ronnie’s answer.
“Tomorrow. My parents are coming in to get me.” A giant smile spread across the boy’s face, flooding it with so much happiness I couldn’t help but smile, too.
“What about you, Becca?” Vaughn asked.
“I’m flying home with Ronnie and his parents. My mom will come get me from their house.” Her hand instinctively found his.
My heart warmed as I watched them together. At least something good came from all of this.
And my “something good” pulled me into an embrace as he turned all his attention back to me.
“We leave tomorrow,” he said into my hair. “I can’t wait to get this island’s dirt off my feet for good.”
I slid my arms around him without response, and