“Thanks for helping us carry the rope, Cal.” I gushed.

He blessed me with a grin. “Of course. Islanders should stick together.”

The trek upwards wasn’t as bad as I’d initially thought, but there was definitely a shift in arrangement. With Cal volunteering to help Tima and me carry the pod rope, Synder and the other boys ended up staying close behind us to make sure we didn’t get entangled and trip. The girls were shortly behind and Chicory Bacon was far up with Commander Lori.

I had no interest staring at his back the entire way up, so I was happy to turn to my right where Cal chatted happily.

“We’ve arrived!” Lori called from the top. Synder and the boys raced up to see Panglao Point. I squinted up to see, only to find Chicory’s mask pointed at me. I heard rustling from above.

He shouted, “You idiots—”

Something heavy dropped from the trees—I screamed and fell backwards, pulling Cal and Tima with me. I shivered at the silhouette, suddenly recalling the drills with ma’am. It couldn’t be a monster—n-not here, we’re on land!

I need my gijo stick—I-I just can’t quite—

“OOF!” Something knocked into whatever was looming over me, and Tima and Cal each took one of my arms. Some guys were laughing.

“You jerks! She’s shaking!” Tima cried. I blinked, the chill over me snuffed away. I looked up to see Chid with his gijo stick against another boy—apparently it was he who’d dropped from the trees, and his friends were still crying with laughter from a few branches down.

“Clench your teeth.” Chicory Bacon growled to the boy as he raised his gijo stick.

“Hold it! That’s one of ours.” Commander Lori called from the clearing opening. “He’s from the other pod. Stand down.”

Chicory scoffed and got up. The boy looked more spooked than I did.

Cal patted my shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.

“...U-um...” I was too embarrassed to say anything. How could I have let that scare me? I glanced over quick at Chicory, trying to gauge how much I owed him—but he didn’t even spare me a glance.

“It’s over, it’s over. Get up and go.” Coraline said as she passed, sounding all too bored. Ofelia and her girls were right behind her, and they looked down at me as if I was the most pathetic mollusk they’d ever seen.

Ofelia snorted behind a hand. “I bet she peed herself.”

I stood and dusted myself off, embarrassment returning. I mean, I didn’t...

Tima and Cal pulled me along through the narrow path and I blinked, impressed with the view.

Panglao Point was spaciously flat and cut off to a huge view of the valley below. The ocean we’d come from was visible to the left, and to the right, I could see clusters of buildings likely to be the city of Ma Anod. We could see every sliver of river that connected to the ocean, like veins of a single body.

The only thing separating me and this vast new world? A flimsy wooden fence.

“Oh good! Everyone’s finally here!” A bearded man traipsed over from one of the groups—the other two pods were already set up near the fences, and Commander Lori appeared to be giving out orders at a spot likely meant to be ours. The man handed me a coconut cup topped with water. “Sorry about the scare. I told them to hunt for dinner, but, eh. You know how boys are.”

I could still feel the jitters in my fingertips. “I-it’s okay. They were just...j-just playing.” I muttered before taking a sip.

“Do you remember me?” the man grinned heartily. “I’m Commander Araceli. I was in your mother’s pod for a few years.”

“O-oh, of course. Nice to meet you.” I kept my eyes to the ground. I’ve met too many people ma’am has worked with. I can barely remember their faces, let alone their names.

“My pod’s camp is right there,” he pointed to the far middle spot behind the fence. “And Commander Duma’s pod is next to it.”

I nodded and glanced to Tima and Cal, ready for either of them to pull me out of this conversation.

“How’s Commander Lori treatin’ ya so far?” Araceli asked.

I was tempted to tell him how much I hated her.

It would’ve been so easy to complain about all the extra drills, all the errands she seems to burden only my shoulders with. How easy it would be to say she cracks that rod on us so often that she’s had to replace it at least three times already.

But I also know, that this treatment, of singling us out and making us all paw for that coveted number-1 spot, was for our own good. I know because these were the same methods my mother subjected to her pods. The same method she subjects to her broken family.

I can’t even remember the last time she’d hugged me.

Ma’am was always pitting me and my sisters against each other, goading us into being her favorite. I use to try winning her love by pushing myself into things I wasn’t ready for. Things like monster slaying.

So this question, while I know was hanging in the air for a while, couldn’t have been answered with the whole truth. There was something about Lori being the only girl, the only student commander in Spring Troop, that made me want to smear that condescending grin off of Araceli’s face.

“She’s great.” I chirped. “I’m learning so much. I feel like I’m improving every day.”

Tima and Cal finally pulled me away at the impromptu fake smiling contest. Araceli gave a petty wave, replying “I’m glad to hear that.”