As the tracer burns a trail through the sky, with nothing but ocean beneath us, I imagine what awaits us when we get to Kauai. My mind plays a thousand movie reels on a continual loop, a daydream that becomes more lucid as the trip drags on hour after hour. Soon, my eyes grow heavy and my body screams for rest. I twist in the seat, my back begging to recline so I can turn sideways and use my hands as a pillow. At first, I'm staring at the transparent door and then I turn to face Eve. Her head leans against the door on her side, the spare blanket cushioning her cheek. The twins sleep in her lap, her arms coiled around them, keeping them from falling into the floorboard with Daisy. The baby goat catches my eye, and I shrug, not sure what I've gotten us all into.

As we travel west, we race the sun to the horizon for most of the trip. It appears we are flying in perpetual daylight, as if nighttime will never come. I remind myself that we left the West Coast at around 2 p.m. Pacific Time. Halfway through a ten-hour flight would make it only 7 p.m. back in Oregon, but we're going to Hawaii, which is three hours behind. According to the mapping system, we'll reach our destination at 9 p.m. local time. With the time of sunset, we end up with only about two hours of expected darkness during the flight. When the sky grows dim, my legs are fidgety and I've only slept a little, fighting the uncomfortableness of my seat.

A few minutes later, a velvety black canvas stretches from one horizon to the other. The stars twinkle, but the moon isn't visible. I check the map display for the time left before we reach our destination, and I feel a strange mixture of joy and fear turning flips in my stomach. We're set to arrive in Kauai in an hour and a half.

My mind goes back to what we might find when we get there, but soon, not even anticipation can keep me awake. I'm so tired and my body throbs with the desire to sleep. It doesn't take much longer for those daytime visions of a tropical island getaway to turn into a dreamy slumber.

But after snoozing for a while, I open my eyes.

Eve stirs beside me in her seat, and suddenly, Autumn's and Ash's eyes pop open.

"We're here," Eve says. The first sight we see is that of sunny skies and coconut trees. "I told you this was the right decision. Look at this place."

Before I shake loose the cobwebs, she cracks open her door and jumps down with the twins in each arm. I don't know how she accomplished such a feat, but in a few seconds, she bounds around to my side.

"Come on." She gestures toward the center of the island, using the twins as pointers for the direction she wants me to go in. "We have to find Jude. He has to be here somewhere. This is the exact coordinates he gave us."

My head spins from falling asleep and waking up at our destination as if my eyes were closed for a few seconds. "My rifle?" I turn back toward the tracer.

"You don't need it," Eve says as she urges me deeper into the heart of a tropical rainforest. As we walk, birds call from the tallest trees. Water drips from thick leaves, splashing onto the undergrowth, smothering the sides of a worn down trail leading farther into the island's interior.

"You think it's safe?" I glance back at the tracer, but we've trekked so far into the rainforest that I can't see it anymore.

"Of course it is. Why would Jude lead us here if it wasn't?"

That's a good question. One I'm not sure I have the answer to.

The farther we go into the darker heart of the rainforest, we encounter tiki torches that light the trail on both sides. Flames and thin smoke tendrils lick the air. Overhead, the tree canopy comes together in a thick tangle of limbs and leaves. Eve takes me by the hand and draws me along, chancing quick glances back at me to make sure I keep following her. I can't see the twins anymore, shielded by her body. I'm not sure how she can carry them both with one arm.

Just when my heart reaches the crescendo of its rapid hammering in my chest, we break into a clearing and the rainforest opens above our heads, revealing the bluest sky I've ever seen. I can't describe the color. It's such an azure blue. Like the clearest, most real life image possible on a television screen.

"Where's Jinx?" I look around to see if he's following us at a distance.

"We don't need him anymore," Eve says. "We're safe here."

We walk toward a cluster of thatched-roof huts arranged along the perimeter of a tiny village. "See. One of these is ours."

"How do you know?"

"Jude invited us here. He must have planned on making room for us."

As we enter the village, people dressed in cargo pants and T-shirts, much like ours, exit their huts and come out to meet us. Eve swivels on her heels, walking backwards, grinning at me. Now, I see Autumn and Ash clutched in each arm. Sight of them calms my beating heart.

A woman with silvery-blonde hair greets Eve and tells her how glad they are to see us. "We've been waiting for you."

She shakes my hand and gestures toward the village center. "Jude is looking forward to meeting you."

The sound of her voice makes me feel at ease, but questions remain, eating away at me. "How did he contact us? You must have a power source, right?"

"We'll answer all of your questions soon. Don't worry."

The people—men, women, and children—wave and smile at us. The place feels like home. As we near a large hut in the village center, I take Autumn to lighten Eve's load. To one side of the structure, the burned out remnants of a campfire sit within a stone circle.

Near the hut entrance, a man stands with his back to us, talking to a woman.

The woman with the silvery-blonde hair says, "I'd like to introduce you to Jude."

When the man by the hut turns, I stumble backwards at the sight of... Cain. And the woman... Jezebel.

"No, it can't be."

"But oh, it is," the man says.

As I falter, my gaze falls to the ground and Eve catches my arm. When I look up, the man no longer resembles Cain, but his hair is the same dark color, only shorter. Also, the other woman doesn't look like Jezebel anymore either.

"Are you alright?" the man asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Eve narrows her eyes and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Everything is going to be alright, Noah. We're safe here."

I want to reply but find myself at a loss for words.

"I'm so happy to meet you. My name is Jude." The man sticks out his hand, and with reluctance, I summon the courage. When our palms meet, he gives me a subtle grin. "I'm glad you took me up on my offer. If you would, I'd like to invite you into my humble abode. My employer wants to meet you."

I catch Eve's eye, and she nods for me to enter the hut. When I do, the interior remains dark as I cross the threshold, and the next thing I see is... is... is the black swells of the Pacific Ocean outside the tracer's transparent door.

I jerk away.

In her seat, Eve startles next to me. "Are you okay?"

The twins cry out in unison, but she's quick to soothe them, shushing them until they calm down and fall back asleep.

"Did you have a bad dream?" she asks.

"I don't know." Confusion fogs my brain as I realize we're still in the tracer and have yet to arrive. I take a deep breath and rub my eyes. "Yeah, I think I did. It seemed good. Then bad." After a moment of gathering my wits, I tell her about it.

"Interesting," she says. "I'm sure it was your subconscious trying to make sense of everything we've been through."

"In my dream, it was daytime. It feels a little unsettling to wake up to a pitch black night." I check the map display on the dashboard and tap the screen. "And still an hour to go."

"After the way you scared me, I doubt I'll be able to go back to sleep."

"Me either." I stretch my legs as best I can, which isn't much. "You know, thinking about the dream, I realize how little we know about where we're going and who we're meeting."

Eve sighs. "Now that we're this close, I'm feeling butterflies."

"Me too." From my pocket, I pull a handful of weeds I had gathered from the beach and give it to Daisy. The little goat gnaws on the wild grasses like it's a tasty treat. "So, what do we say when we get there?"

"That's a good question. I'm sure we'll think of something."

"The only person we've had pleasant experiences with was Abraham. Our other interactions have been bad."

"Guess we have a lot of learning to do."

"I think you're right."

We sit there in silence, pondering it all, and when we finally arrive at our destination, it's nothing like what I imagined. First, I can't see much because it's dark outside, but when I flip on the tracer's floodlights, we realize we're approaching a mountainside that juts high into the air, covered in trees and vegetation. As we draw near, I notice a sandy beach that extends back to the base of the vertical cliff. That's when I see a towering concrete facade, a rectangle that's much taller than it is wide. At the foot of the mountain is an enormous door. I can only imagine how deep it goes into the earth, but from the looks of it, I'd estimate it to be extensive.

A subterranean bunker.

When we land on the beach and exit the tracer, we're able to stretch our sore muscles and joints and take in the sight before us. As we do, a mechanism within the door unbolts with a series of resounding thuds, and then it swings open.