Senior year is around the corner, and you'll never survive it if you can't find a way to put Rex's death in the past where it belongs. It would be devastating if you sank any further into the pit this disaster has left behind. It's not like you were embraced by the student body of Ashbrook High in the first place, but you've gone from being someone who could only tentatively be called a social outcast to a full-blown pariah. Nobody said recovering from being blamed for someone's death would be easy, but at this point you're just hoping that it's even possible.
Strange, how you can live your entire life in one place and take it for granted just to have it turn on you so completely. That's not entirely fair, though. It's the people who have turned against you, not Arbor Isle itself. The bay, the woods, the lighthouse, the old quarry, your house, Main Street—these places that you grew up in haven't changed. You know the isle inside out, understand its skeleton, know its secrets better than anyone else. Barely ever leaving a place for seventeen years will do that to you. At least if the mob comes after you, you'll know where to hide.
You realize that your mom has joined you at the ferry's railing. Her concerned eyes lock onto you and do not waver.
"How are you doing? You feeling nervous about coming back home?" she asks you.