Boz had no idea what to think.

His world crumbled around him. Something was wrong – he couldn't say whether it was him or if someone else was involved. Either way, Boz was seeing things that weren't there and it unsettled him, scared him to his core because everything was fine just yesterday.

How did it go so wrong so quickly? What was happening?

The stares were the worst. The guards looked at him, trying to figure out for themselves what happened. Some glared at the false alarm, others might feel pity for the boy who cried wolf. Still, Mikayla's compassionate eyes were the only ones Boz wanted to look at – her gaze didn't feel as condescending as the others'. Even Mason did not seem to get Boz wouldn't raise the alarm if it wasn't serious.

Boz returned to the courtyard, away from the guards. Mikayla followed him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. Boz shook his head.

"I have no idea." He clutched his crutches. He would love to throw them out and flee into the comforts of the jungle. Which wasn't a good idea if he wanted his leg to heal. Away from everyone and everything that ever judged him for what he's done. Maybe there, he might discover what's actually going on.

Boz frowned when he heard the kings scream. It wasn't one for fear – it was an attempted war cry. The double doors flung open and Brady and Boomer came running outside, each holding a knife. They must have been eating lunch or something when Boz called the alarm. They wanted to fight the mummy with knives. While Boz admired their bravery, he also had to consider their stupidity might have put them in danger if the mummy truly was here.

"Where is the mummy?" Brady asked, looking around. Boz could see a hint of relief in his eyes when he didn't immediately spot the enemy.

"Drop the bread knives," Mikayla said. "He's gone."

A little disappointed, Boomer lowered the knife. "Did you beat him?"

"False alarm," Boz said. He was so sure… but Kaita hadn't been there. "I, er, I thought I saw him with the bat medallion, which is bad, but…"

Boz trailed off. But he wasn't there. The longer he thought about it, the more certain he became that Kaita had never been there. A figment of his imagination, or worse. It felt like it was going to get worse.

"Dude, you look like you've seen a ghost," Brady commented.

Boz saw the worry on his face and wondered how bad he must look. He had no mirror, but imagine a pale face, a slight tremble, uncertainty that was visible from each careful move he made. Boz sighed.

"I probably have," he muttered. He shook his head. "I don't know what's going on – it's so weird. Why am I seeing things that aren't there?"

Boomer shrugged as if the question had been directed toward him. It hadn't.

Boz let one of the crutches lean against him and ran a hand through his hair. "Why is this happening to me?"

Mikayla looked at his arm with a frown.

"What's that?" she asked as Boz lowered his arm again.

"What's what?"

"Under your arm," she said and approached him. She took his arm and lifted it, watching it intensely.

"There's nothing—" Boz looked at his arm and stopped. There was something. It was some sort of birthmark, like the Kinkow swirl, but different. This one was darker and depicted some waves. When Boz stared at it for too long, it seemed to be moving.

Boz looked at it incredulously. "That wasn't there yesterday."

Mikayla and Boz's eyes locked. They had a clue – but what did the dark waves mean?

Boz sat on the couch in the throne room. Mikayla sat across from him, the great book on her lap. How she was so strong to let that book just sit on her lap, Boz would never know. But the nerves grew with each page that Mikayla flipped, looking for the symbol that had appeared on Boz's arm. The sooner he knew, the sooner he could do something about it. until then, he had to wait.

He hated the wait. At least he was taking this a little better than Brady and Boomer. Their curiosity had been sparked and they wanted to know as much as Boz what was going on. but their impatience had reached a limit.

"How long does it take to look something up in the Great Book?" Brady wondered out loud. He wanted that answer now.

Mikayla looked up from the book and gave him an annoyed look. "Will you try to look it up?"

"No, have you seen how big that thing is?" Brady reacted. Boomer nodded in agreement.

"He's right, that's huge," he said.

Mikayla shook her head lightly and looked at Boz. By now, he was starting to grow impatient, but he could mask it better than his immature brothers. He merely looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Could you hurry, please?" he asked in a small voice. Mikayla did not give him the same annoyed look – maybe because Boz was the one with the birthmark. And because something else was distracting Boz – something that induced great stress. Mikayla had noticed he often glanced behind her, to the space between the throne and the vault, sometimes to the stairs.

"Are you seeing something again?" she asked.

Boz nodded. "Yeah."

"What do you see?"

Boz took a deep breath and looked at the monstrosity again. The razor hawk – Kaita's razor hawk – sitting in the middle of the throne room. It didn't do much, but it sometimes roared. It insulted Boz in a way that no other human could understand and kept glaring at the boy who beat his rider.

"I'd rather not tell," Boz said. He didn't want to worry them with a creature they wouldn't encounter for years – which Brady would not encounter at all. So he stayed silent and tried not to look at the monster, instead of focusing on Mikayla. Still, its roars could take him out of his concentration and induced anxiety.

Mikayla turned to another page and put her hand on it.

"I found it," she said. Boz sighed in relief, a weight falling off of his shoulders. Brady and Boomer flocked towards her, behind her, to catch a glimpse at the page that explained what was going on with their friend.

"Thank you," Boz said. "What does it say?"

Mikayla read a little ahead and lifted her head again when she found it.

"You have the mark of the ocean."

A shiver ran down Boz's spine. It sounded bad. He didn't know why – it just did.

"What's that?" Boomer asked.

"She was just getting there," Boz told the king. He looked at the guard girl again. "Mikayla?"

She took a breath before continuing to read from the page. "The mark of the ocean is given by the ocean spirit. It's a mark to identify who is going to be punished next."

Boz frowned. "Punished?"

"The Drowned will find the person who's marked," Mikayla continued, "and give him a fitting punishment for the horrors they have committed and, where possible, to right the wrongs done."

The news hit him like a wave of cold water. He knew what was going on. The ocean spirit deemed Boz guilt of letting his people die. He pulled the plug. It was his fault people died. And now, the ocean spirit was coming after him to properly punish him for his crimes.

Mikayla, Boomer, and Brady lifted their heads at the same time and looked at him. Boz preferred the angry glare of the razor hawk over their confusion.

"What did you do, Boz?" Brady asked him. There was something Boz hadn't heard from him. Brady was afraid of Boz.

This was not what he wanted. Boz shook his head.

"Nothing. I don't know why…" No. He did know why. He could not finish that sentence. "What is 'the Drowned'?" Might as well figure out what that is and prepare for it.

"It's the representative of the ocean spirit on land. It apparently is supposed to look like you. when you see this, it's almost time for the punishment," Mikayla told him. She glanced to where the razor hawk was still taunting Boz. "Is that what you're seeing?"

"No, that's not it," Boz said.

"Then we can figure out how to stop it," Boomer said, and Brady nodded in agreement. Boz smiled a bit. Again that mix of bravery and stupidity. Maybe Boz was just the same still, too.

But Mikayla said nothing. It worried the brothers.

"We can stop it, right?" Brady asked.

"The Great Book doesn't say anything about stopping it," Mikayla broke the news. Boz's heart was shattered. So there's no stopping it? he should've figured – the spirits were not to be messed with and could not be stopped by human force. They always saw things through.

"Just great," Boz said, his anxiety spiking up. "So what? I'm going to be punished. Or worse."

"Don't think like that," Mikayla said.

"I can't stop thinking like that," Boz said, almost speaking over her. His tone was cold, hastened – he couldn't believe they could do nothing. "You know, I have been feeling miserable all day. Is that also the power of the mark or is that just a me thing?"

"It doesn't mention feeling miserable," Mikayla said, "but depressing thoughts and hallucinations about bad experiences are listed as symptoms."

Boz scoffed. "Symptoms." He stood up from the couch, taking the crutches as support. "At least I now know why I'm seeing the razor hawk," he muttered.

"I'm sorry, you saw a what?" Boomer asked.

Boz almost said it. But he didn't care. He wanted to spare Boomer the image.

"Never mind. It doesn't matter," Boz said. He turned to the three. "Thank you for your help. Wasn't really helpful, but thanks anyway."

"Boz…" Mikayla said, but Boz already walked away. The razor hawk roared once more as Boz left. He had to clear his mind. He had to get out of the castle, if only for a little while.

It had only gotten worse. It seemed, since Boz learned what the mark meant, the ocean spirit dialed it up to eleven. After the razor hawk, Boz did not see any hallucinations anymore, but something else had overcome him – something that he could not ignore, something that made him feel awful, something he could not ignore.

It has always been hard to ignore your mind, anyway.

He likened it to a persistent headache. You power through the day, ignore the problem, but unless you take some medicine, it wasn't going away. At one point, you needed that medicine to eliminate the headache. But for these kinds of things, there was no medicine – there was only Boz and his mind, and he'd have to deal with it.

He was in the worst position. He wanted to rest, but the thoughts hit him harder. He wanted to distract himself with games, but his mind found ways to disengage him. He could not do physical activities to clear his mind, as his cast made that impossible. At long last, the options were running low, and Boz had no choice but to be subjected to whatever thoughts the ocean spirit planted in his mind.

He needed help.

Boz walked to Mikayla's bedroom door. She didn't have a shift today, so she should be in there. Boz nodded once to convince himself he got this and he raised his fist, to knock on her door.

No. What was he thinking? She wasn't interested in what he was going through. Nobody was. He'd just be a burden upon her, a burden she did not deserve. He couldn't unload on her. He couldn't unload on anyone. He had to find a different solution.

Boz sighed, lowering his hand. "Bad idea."

He turned around and was ready to walk away. The door opened and Mikayla stood there. Now he could not walk away without her knowledge. That sucked.

"Boz, there you are," she said. She sounded happy to see him. "We were worried."

We. Who's 'we'? Her and Mason? Lanny – definitely not Lanny. And then Brady and Boomer…

"I doubt the kings were," Boz said. Mikayla gave him a look of disbelief. "C'mon, they only think about themselves. They won't miss old me."

Did they even realize they were walking around the castle with their best friend? They didn't consider him as a real friend, anyway – if they were, they would have already looked for him, talked to him, supported him. They didn't, because the kings were egotistical asshats who only cared about themselves.

Mikayla did not share his opinions.

"You're having bad thoughts," she carefully told him. "That's part of bearing the mark."

"Doesn't make it any less true," Boz scoffed. He'd noticed their behavior before, but he never wanted to acknowledge it. he didn't want to say definitively he came back for two egoists who could not remember his name.

Boz took a step away from the door.

"Stay," Mikayla said. "Please. Let's talk about it."

Boz turned his head to her. "About what?"

"What you're thinking about. I can help," she said. Boz gave her a defeated look – how could she help him? She was a guard, not a psychiatrist. "Look, whatever you may be thinking, there's a logical way to rephrase it into something positive."

Whatever he was thinking, Boz could not deny that Mikayla genuinely tried to help. She was there for him, even when he literally turned his back to her. Maybe she was the only friend he had in this day and age. And it couldn't hurt to try.

"Alright," Boz said. "I'll bite."

Mikayla sighed in relief and helped him into her room. She didn't often let people in here, so it was a privilege to be here. Boz took a seat on the chair, placing the crutch next to it. Mikayla sat down on her bed and gave Boz her undivided attention.

"You do need to tell me what's going through your mind," she told him.

Boz stared at her. Where should he start? What crimes to confess to, which anxieties to lay bare, what fears to bring to her – but would she even understand everything that was going on in his mind, even if he explained it all perfectly?

Boz shook his head. "Everything." It was a sigh, a whisper. Everything was going through his mind. How could it feel so terribly like the calm before the storm while the whirlwind left a trail of destruction in his mind?

"Start small, then," Mikayla said. She sounded so supportive of him, looked genuinely interested in helping him. He looked at her for a couple of moments. If she only knew, she'd turn her back to him, as many have done in his life… but she asked for something small, and that's exactly what he was going to give her. Though he didn't know what he would give her until the words escaped his mouth.

"I should not have come here."

That was it – the big thesis. The beginning of all his problems. He should not have come to Kinkow. Boz wasn't thinking about the time travel, which was something else entirely.

"Well," Mikayla said, clasping her hands together and trying to put a positive spin on his words. "I think you were meant to be here."

"No, I'm not," Boz said. He shook his head. He wasn't meant to be here – especially in the way that Mikayla thought about it. "I came here for a very selfish reason. I left my family and friends behind. I left them specifically to come here and meet the kings. Get in touch with that side of the family."

Get in touch with Brady. Who left the island of his own free will. For the chance to meet Brady at his worst in his reign, he left behind the best versions of Boomer, Mikayla, Mason, Lanny, and a lot of other good people he hasn't met yet in his past, in this present. They were so much better than this premature version of Brady.

"You came to explore your Kinkowian heritage," Mikayla said. "You want to become a guard, which – especially on Kinkow – is not selfish at all. In fact, it makes you pretty selfless."

She really tried to make him feel good about himself. It wasn't working. Maybe because of the mark, but Boz guessed it wasn't just the mark's doing.

"I'm not selfless. I'm the opposite," Boz said. He shook his head at her and looked to the floor between his feet. "You don't get it. You'll never get it."

"And I never will if you won't tell me."

Boz took a deep breath and sharply turned his head to Mikayla.

"I'm the spare. Okay, here it is. That's what you wanted to hear, right?" Boz breathed a little faster, shallower, as he raised his voice. "All of my life. I'm the spare guy. I'm the one they call to replace someone who's fallen ill, got injured, or died. I'm that guy. I'm the replacement guy."

His boy warmed up. All the energy inside of him came bubbling to the surface – all the anger, sadness, everything related to this problem came up, and he wasn't holding back anymore. So much so that Mikayla was a little taken aback by his behavior.

"There's… there's some honor in this—"

"No, there's not," he interrupted her. "Mikayla, I'm always in second place. Second rate. I'm adopted because the couple's first kid died. That's it. That's the only reason why they adopted me. They needed a son and there I was, ready as a replacement. Then they died and I had to run their business on my own. Of course, I had help, but it's damn hard to fill such big shoes, especially when your brother has such high expectations you can never ever live up to, no matter how hard you try." Boz scoffed. "Even here, I can't escape. With Junga ball and the Junga cup, I was on Boomer's team. I replaced Wally. I replaced him." He pointed at himself. His finger trembled and he could feel the tears in his eyes. "I'm the spare. Everywhere I go, whatever I do, I'm the spare. How can I be me when I'm always connected to the moment that I take someone else's rightful place?"

He turned away his head and tried to wipe away the tears. Mikayla shouldn't see him like that. They were a sign of weakness and he did not want her to see him like a loser – more than she was already thinking. She had to think he was a loser.

Her lack of a reaction was saying a lot. She blinked a couple of times, astonished by his backstory. It took a while to process everything he said

"Wow," she said. "That's…"

"A lot, I know," Boz said. Even now, she was flabbergasted. A positive sign he made a mistake by coming here. She couldn't help, no matter how much she wanted or tried to. "Now I've overwhelmed you. I probably should go."

Boz stood up from his chair. Mikayla put herself between Boz and the door, a determined and stubborn look on her face. Boz could only respond with a pitiful gaze.

"No, you're not leaving," Mikayla said. "We are going to figure out how to stop this. Even Brady and Boomer are thinking about it."

Boz shook his head, trying to suppress a laugh. Did she really believe that? "Are you sure Brady's not just thinking about and Boomer about donuts?"

Mikayla shook her head in disappointment.

"They're trying to help. Everyone is," she said. "I need to know what you did to warrant getting the mark of the ocean."

What did he do? Half of his people died. Drowned. Joined the ocean spirit in his watery lair at the bottom of the ocean, all because Boz made a stupid honest mistake. A mistake that nonetheless cost many lives, which have haunted him to this day – which had never haunted him so physically since this week.

Did she need to know? Maybe. Boz wasn't telling. Mikayla was a smart girl – she couldn't know. If she knew what he did, she was going to figure out the truth. He only kept his identity a secret so his younger self could still enjoy his life on Mindu without being visited by his older self. There was no telling what Mikayla could do. He'd worked hard to gain her trust, and now he finally had enough of it to call her a friend, this would break that trust indefinitely. He could not lose that trust.

Mikayla looked at him expectantly. "Boz?"

Panicked, Boz shook his head.

"I can't," he said softly. "I can't tell you."

He walked past her and stormed out of the room. He hoped he would feel like he could breathe again, but he felt just as pressured out of the room as he was inside.

When was this going away? When was this going to stop?

There was one way. Easiest, fastest.

Boz needed to get to the beach.