Never Ever by Sara Saedi Page B

because she was certain they were both thinking the same thing. What did they mean they were never going to turn eighteen? Were the Daltons witnessing some sort of strange suicide pact?
    Phinn laughed. “You guys look confused.”
    â€œWe’re just not sure what you mean by
never
turningeighteen. Do you all plan to off yourselves or something?” Joshua asked.
    â€œNope,” Phinn said, refilling his beer glass. “You could say we’re timeless.”
    â€œAre we the butt of some elaborate joke?” Wylie asked, defensively. “Is this some weird hidden-camera show?”
    â€œIt’s not a joke,” Phinn assured her. “The reason we’ll never turn eighteen is because we live on an island that’s frozen in time. Hence the name Minor Island. You grow up to be seventeen, and then you stop aging. Told you I had a good reason for bringing you here,” he added, clearly pleased with himself.
    â€œYou’re full of it,” Joshua said, examining all the faces of the inner circle. None of them gave anything away.
    â€œThis is a place where we don’t answer to any adults or parents or
police officers
.” Phinn made a point of looking at Joshua. “It’s magical and tropic and we’d love it if you decided to stay. I know it’s all been shrouded in mystery and you’ve had a lot of questions. Now I can answer them.”
    Wylie almost didn’t want to allow herself to believe what Phinn was telling them was the truth. An island where no one aged past seventeen, but with all of the perks of being an adult? She could take care of herself and never age a day in her life. No mortgage payments or divorce filings. No diseases brought on by old age. If this was a joke, it was a cruel one.
    Joshua asked the first question. “Okay, if this is for real, how did you guys even find this place?”
    â€œMy parents met and fell in love in the sixties. They had me and then five years later, my dad got drafted to Vietnam.He didn’t want to go, and my mom didn’t want him to leave. So they left the States with a group of friends in a similar predicament. Maz’s parents and Tinka’s parents were with them. My mom insisted that instead of crossing the border, they sail to Nova Scotia. But they got caught in a storm and were lost at sea for hours until they washed ashore here. Lola’s family was indigenous to the island, so they were already here. They took our parents in and let them stay.”
    Wylie’s hands shook as she refilled her glass. Bandit was right—Phinn had given them the opportunity of a lifetime. He wasn’t a psychopath after all. What he’d done on the boat wasn’t a kidnapping; it was a rescue mission.
    â€œDoes your family still live on the island?” Wylie asked Lola.
    Phinn answered for her. “There weren’t many of them left by the time we got here. After some years of living here together, they decided to leave.”
    â€œWere they pushed out?” Wylie continued to press, uneasy with the notion that they’d be forced to leave.
    â€œNo,” Lola was quick to respond. “It was their decision. In fact, we begged them to stay, but they wanted to move on. After meeting Phinn’s parents, they became obsessed with the idea of getting older. Me, not so much.”
    Micah asked the next question. “So, what happened to all of your parents?”
    The room fell silent and the faces around the table went dark. Phinn took a long swallow of his beer. Wylie could tell this was a subject no one liked to discuss.
    â€œThey died when we were all very young.”
    â€œHow? When?” Joshua blurted.
    â€œIf you don’t mind, I think we’ll plead the Fifth on that one for now. It’s not exactly a happy story,” Phinn replied. Wylie wondered if he’d ever open up about how he’d lost his mom and dad. From the way his smile faded, she could tell