"Hey, I'm from Overland Park, Kansas," Kate answered with a grin, as if that explained exactly why she wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. It did, in a way. Growing up in the middle of Kansas had pretty much meant no camping. No real vacations either. She'd never even seen the ocean until she'd come to the island. Her biggest adventure had been planning all the ways in which she'd leave home and never actually doing any of them.

"We're just lucky I remembered to bring food and water," she said, following Effy into the trees. The second island seemed a lot like the first, at least from where she was standing right now. The jungle looked the same, the beach was just sand, but it felt different somehow.

It hit her after a moment what was different. It was quiet. No sounds of kids playing on the beach or people shouting in the surf. Just the two of them walking through the jungle.