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feel the “old” me there, and I want her to break free.
    I’m tough, strong, and smarter than I ever remember being, but I also feel , and I somehow know that’s new. I feel like we’re making some kind of grave mistake as we fly towards Buccaneer Archipelago, off the cost of Australia. We know the threat is coming from there, but we don’t know what we’re walking into. All the spy and detective genes in the world can’t tell us something we can’t see. Satellite and infrared images were blocked, so we’re going in blind.
    I know there are snakes, crocodiles, sharks, and a tide that could kill a human easily. I don’t think we’re fully human, but since I don’t know exactly what we are, I don’t know what I can survive. Going in blind is never the best option, which also tells me the Creator doesn’t care if we live or die, as long as we complete the mission.
    I shouldn’t have fought Abigail for dominance, but there’s something wrong with her. Not just her personality change, but something else. She doesn’t just enjoy being mean, she seems to revel in it. Does she not feel like I do? Like there’s part of her still left from before? Do none of them feel it?
    I can’t ask, but I want to know. I need to know, because I want to come back from the islands alive, and I don’t believe any of us will do that if we’re kept apart. We need to work together as we face whatever’s coming our way. Even Sabrina wouldn’t be able to make that happen, though. We’re immune to each other—at least I think we are.
    I shake my head to try and clear these thoughts I’m having, and walk back into the body of the plane. The Creator is looking at me with an almost fond expression, and I force myself to smile back. I’ve never faked anything ever , but now I feel as if lives depend on it. Not just my own, but others, too. I don’t know how or why I have this overwhelming feeling, but it’s there.
    For the remainder of the flight, I go over information on the islands once again. There are roughly one thousand, but our strike will be focusing on just the one. The pictures of the snakes make me want to shudder, but showing weakness right now isn’t something I can do. The energy around me is tense, but excited, and I’m not in the mood for another fight. The “new” me should be, but that old part is still testing the hold on my brain. I bring my face into a disinterested sneer, and keep reading.
    I have a photographic memory, and I’ve been over all of this already, but I keep thinking I’ll find something I missed. I don’t know what, but there has to be something that can help me—help us all. Two hours later, and I’ve found nothing.

Hinton
    I ’m trying to remain calm, because I don’t think anyone else heard it—heard him. The voice in my head, telling me not to trust my Creator. He started speaking to me once we left the building and were walking outside to the airplane, but since we’ve been inside again, I’ve heard nothing.
    I want to believe it’s just a hallucination, or my subconscious telling me something is wrong with all of this, but I know that’s not the case. Until the voice was in my mind, I didn’t doubt what I had to do. My mission was—is—clear. Find the bad guys and take them out. I won’t stray from my mission just because someone’s trying to mess with me.
    That’s the only explanation I can come up with; it’s gotta be someone messing with me. Maybe even one of the others. I don’t trust them, and I know they don’t trust me, either, but I wouldn’t mess with someone. Why do that? We have too much to worry about without trying to get a laugh or two. I’ve got no time for anything frivolous.
    “Fasten your seat belts, everyone. We’re making our descent into Derby.”
    Derby, in the Western part of Australia, is the closest place to the island that has an airport where we can land. We’ll be taking a boat over there, and with all I’ve read, it looks to be a