Chapter 11

Jasper

It had been several days since we washed up on the beach. The shore opened into a dense jungle with a wide variety of food and fresh water for us to gather. By all accounts, it looked like a tropical island paradise. The seawater was impossibly clear, and the jungle behind us was thick and lush, its deep greens rivaling any emerald I'd ever dug up in the mines. The place was beautiful. The only reason we hadn't left yet was that a few of us needed to rest before continuing the journey. No matter how many times I replayed the last few days in my head, I still couldn't find a way it should have been possible for all of us to make it through that storm practically unharmed.

The day passed, and now I was sitting with the group, eating fish they'd caught that morning in a nearby stream. It was lunchtime, and our group of around ten sat together near the campfire. Mishael was quiet as usual, and Noah was already on her third fish, chewing like she hadn't eaten in a week. A few people down, Aaron was deep in conversation, laughing hard enough to throw his head back. Though we hadn't been together long, I could tell everyone's walls were coming down. I'd learned that a few people had traveled from almost the other side of the world, hoping to find the New Promised Land. Some had even been captured under Commander Kira and were on their way to the same slave garrison I'd escaped from.

Noah turned to me, her mouth still full of fish. "Jasper, can you read us a story from the Book of Light?"

"No, Noah. Not right now — I don't want to interrupt everyone's lunch."

"Please, Jasper?" Mishael's whine joined hers.

"Oh, come on, Jasper. No harm in a few stories before we get back to the day." The kids turned to Aaron as he weighed in. If there was one thing I'd learned about Aaron, it was that he was stubborn.

"Fine," I said. "I'll read a story."

I opened the Book to a passage my father used to read me — one of the earliest in the Book. It told of a man who, against all odds, believed in the Great Light and built a massive boat to save himself, his family, and the animals of the earth from a flood that would cover everything. As I read, my mind drifted back to my father reading it to me as a boy — the man's faith to build something he'd never built before, the water that didn't just fall from the sky but tore the earth itself apart, the animals coming two by two with no one to lead them. It was one of my favorite stories growing up.

When I finished, I looked up and realized every conversation around the fire had gone quiet. Everyone was listening. I couldn't help but squirm under all those eyes.

"Are the stories in the Book actually true?" Noah asked, looking at me with her strange, uneven eyes. In the afternoon light, they seemed even more striking than usual — one a soft grey, the other a bright green, so different from each other I found it hard to look away.

"That's what my father always said. It's what a lot of Lusho believe — that everything in the Book happened long ago." Even as I said it, doubt circled in my head. How could any of it be real? Half of what was in that Book seemed impossible. And yet, looking back at the last few days, I couldn't deny that the impossible had already found a way to happen to us.

"What about you, Jasper? Do you believe it?" Mishael asked this time, though from the way everyone leaned in, I could tell they all wanted the answer.

"Honestly, Meesh, I'm still trying to figure that out myself." Saying it out loud felt almost foolish. Here I was, reading these people stories about a place that might not even exist, leading them toward it with a faith I wasn't sure I had. "I grew up on this. But somewhere along the way, I wanted to find my own path. Guess it's funny that I ended up right back where I started." I braced for disappointed looks. None came.

Someone across the fire spoke up. "If I'm honest, Jasper, I've felt the same. I've been trying to figure out if any of this — the Great Light, all of it — is even real." I recognized her: the one from the ship who'd called out the rocks as we barreled toward shore. Brave enough to stand watch in that storm. Mary, I believed her name was. Nothing about her stood out except her ember-colored hair, which caught the firelight like it was burning on its own.

The rest of the group nodded along. It seemed we were all in the same place — still trying to figure it out.

Aaron spoke up again. "Well, since we're all in the same boat, why don't we try to figure the Great Light out together? Hold each other accountable, and all that."

Maybe this group wasn't so bad after all. The others agreed, and we spent the rest of the afternoon trading doubts and reading more from the Book. The whole time, I felt something warm settle in my chest. These strangers had somehow built something between them — trust, respect, the beginnings of a real community. Something I hadn't been part of in a long time. It was a moment I knew I wouldn't forget.