“It’s time,” Blair said. She walked to Lucy. “If you believe that the people here on Kymberlin will fight for you...you may not be wrong. But my father will fight for your destruction. You can choose, Lucy. But if you don’t take our out, we can’t guarantee your life or the lives of your siblings...”
Lucy nodded. “Give me a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute,” Gordy said.
“You will give me a minute,” she said, firmer this time. Lucy looked at Galen, “Get the kids. Pack some things. Only necessities and one artifact each.”
“Lucy—” Galen said.
“Do it,” she whispered. Turning her back to her visitors and her brother, she ran up the stairs and knocked on her mother’s door. When she opened it, her mother was awake, sitting against the bed on the floor. She was staring at the wall. There was a single bulb burning from a lamp. It’s light was dim and it cast long shadows against the wall. Lucy walked over and touched her mother’s arm. Maxine didn’t look at her. “Mom, we’re going. Right now. I need you to get up and come with me.”
“Going?” Maxine asked. She shook her head. “No. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Mom,” Lucy said, not trying to hide the panic in her voice. “Come with me. What do you want to take? Anything.” She rose and went to the dresser. The top was empty, bare. She opened up a drawer and there was nothing in there either. “What can I take for you?” she asked and turned.
“Lucy, I’m staying here. I will not run scared for my entire life. I made my choice to stay and I will stay. I owe it to your father to fight for what he wanted for us. I won’t cower to those fools...I will stand tall until the end.”
She watched as her mother stood and walked to the door and held it open. She wasn’t crying or yelling. Her eyes lacked brightness or awareness, but she stood firm and pointed to the hall. She was unwavering.
“Go, Lucy. You go.”
Lucy hesitated.
She could hear the voices of Monroe and Malcolm beneath the loft. Galen was corralling them, zipping them into coats, checking their backpacks. His voice carried to her.
“We have a long way to go, little one,” she heard him say. “You can pick one more thing to take. Your book? Okay. Let’s get your book.” He was a good big brother. He was a good friend.
“Your father died here. And this is where I wish to die. You can’t take that from me. Let me die, Lucy. Let me join him. Save the kids.” She pushed Lucy gently out into the hallway. And then Maxine started to close the door. Lucy pushed back against the closing door and it banged against the wall. Then she reached in and grabbed her mother’s hand.
“You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“It’s a lie,” Maxine said without hesitation.
“It’s not.” Lucy pulled her mother gently into the hall and she resisted. “Dad’s sacrifice was in vain if you just sit here in this bedroom and wallow. We have been offered a chance out of this nightmare and we’re taking it. Do you hear me?” She waited, and when her mother didn’t answer, Lucy took another step forward. “Don’t make me say goodbye to you, Mom. I’m leaving. I made the choice and it’s my choice and we’re leaving Kymberlin right this instant. And I’m not leaving here without my mother. So, you have a choice...you will pack a bag and come downstairs and help me with the kids. Those kids are not losing their mother and father in one day.”
Maxine lifted her eyebrows. She paused as if she were going to launch into one of her patented diatribes; when Maxine made up her mind, no one changed it. Lucy could see her mother slipping from her. Then Maxine smiled. Her face scrunched up and she tried to push away the tears; she smoothed down her bangs and cleared her throat. “What’s my choice?” Maxine asked in a shaky voice. “You said I had a choice and then only listed one option…”
“Mama Maxine staple parenting tactic,” Lucy replied. “I lied.” She held her head up high. “There is no choice.”
Maxine leaned in and pulled Lucy into a hug. She rested her head against her daughter and pushed their cheeks together. Then in a whisper, she said, “Well shit, Lucy Larkspur. That’s a pep talk I wasn’t expecting from you. Like a slap in the face. On the way out...maybe you can advise me on my financial future?”
The statement seemed incongruous and Lucy pulled back. “What?” she asked, confused, looking at her mother, whose dark eyes sparkled.
“Because I think you just did it. You got what you wanted. You grew up. In that moment…you grew up. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you sounded just like that Darla you talked about.”
There was a hidden dock. In order to access it, they had to journey down to the Remembering Room first; then Gordy led them to a secret elevator off the control room. It took them back up to the surface of the ocean and into a small loading dock with a collection of boats. Big and small, luxury, and military. When they slipped through the control room, Lucy noticed that the cameras were off. Kymberlin was experiencing a visual blackout. The operators were gone, too. Gordy and Blair had orchestrated a series of open windows for them—and as she realized the lengths of their charade, she knew that she would be forever indebted to them for this second chance.
As they neared the bottom of the stairs, she looked up to the mirror in the top of the control room where she and Grant had just stood...yesterday? Had it only been yesterday? And she tried to picture them up there now, looking down on the people below and hoping for a miracle.
Grant knew then that he was leaving. He had stood next to her and kissed her and held her hand, and the whole time he knew that he might have to say goodbye. The group of escapees only had a few hours head start, but Lucy hoped that their plan had been a success and that they could catch up to them. She didn’t want to be the one to tell Ethan about their father. She didn’t want to watch his face when she admitted that they couldn’t all make it off the Island.
She wanted to say or do something for him. She wanted to stop and pray—could she remember Grant’s prayer for Salem? But she knew that she would never have the right words to memorialize the moment. They were alive: her mother, her, Galen, Monroe, Malcolm, and Harper. They were alive and they were together. That was enough.
They maneuvered around the dock. Lucy kept Harper close and led the way behind Gordy and Blair. They put them on a white boat—a simple motorboat. Each of them climbed into the rocking vehicle and took their seats. Her mother sat down with the younger kids and Galen deferred to his older sister. Lucy looked at the ignition, a key dangling; the boat rocked and swayed on the water.
“I don’t know how—” Lucy started, but Gordy’s radio interrupted her. He listened intently. The vigil was over and those who had left their posts would return soon.
“Thank you,” Gordy said into his walkie-talkie. Then he turned to Lucy. “You have to go now…no more time.”
Lucy nodded and swallowed. “Okay,” she replied. Blair leaned across the bobbing dock and reached for Lucy’s hand. Lucy slipped over and shook Blair’s hand—her fingers were cold to the touch.
“Teddy,” Blair said and she nodded. “If he ever asks about me…if he remembers…” then she stopped midsentence and let go of Lucy’s hand and she walked away with Gordy back down to the entrance. They didn’t turn around to say goodbye or wait to make sure the Kings made it safely. Instead, they just disappeared back into the belly of Kymberlin without another word.
Lucy started the boat and took the wheel. She backed out of the dock slowly and slipped out into the rough waters outside Kymberlin. It was like driving a car. She kept saying that to herself: it’s like driving a car, it’s like driving a car. The large metal doors closed after her, sealing them off from the tower. Huddled together, the Kings sped away. Lucy turned back one last time to see the windows of the tower shining brightly over them. She kept the lights off on the boat, cloaking them in the approaching darkness until they were far enough away from Kymberlin to avoid detection. Then she just kept driving straight toward the sand. The boat carried them all the way to the shore; she beached the motorboat as far up the sand as it would let her before it became bogged down in the wetness of the land. Lucy hopped down from the boat first and the cold water licked her legs. She helped Harper down next, then the boys, and then her mother. Finally Galen jumped from the boat into the wet sand and they stood on the edge of the tide.