"This can't be your first fucking time," Effy points out once he's close enough for another push, her voice lingering by his ear as he takes off again, growing smaller as he soars into the air, then larger as he returns. That's the important part, though. That he always returns. Effy doesn't have the right to think about the people on the island under such terms, hardly having known them at all and certainly not having done anything that leaves a claim on them, but still she thinks of them as her own. Doesn't keep a leash on each so much as she holds onto the strings.

He swings back, and it tells her that she has enough of a hold on him for now. She hopes it'll always be enough.

"It's lovely," she adds, using Cassie's words. Cassie, who shines like the sun, breezes through life and enchants others without really needing to try. "And you owe me next time."