Seriously?â asked Lani.
Kaylee nodded.
This was a foreign concept to all the Artiméans.
âThat is so cool!â said Lani. She brushed her fingers over the Hawaiian Islands, and then did the same to the tiny Polynesian islands below.
âSo,â interjected Alex, âpeople look different depending on where their ancestors came from?â
âYeah, I guess,â said Kaylee. She was shocked that there were intelligent humans who didnât understand this. But it was true that the people of Artimé didnât have a specific look about themâthey had a variety of skin tones and hair and eye colors. Which made sense when she thought about how their ancestors must have come from all over the world.
âWhere do you think my ancestors are from?â asked Alex, leaning over the map.
Kaylee frowned. âIâm not sure about you. Youâre sort of ambiguous. Maybe southern Europe, like Italy.â She pointed out the area on the map. âBut your sisters have different skin and eye color than you and Aaron.â
âThey look like our mother,â said Alex.
Kaylee had never seen Alexâs mother. âThey definitely look more distinct with those black eyes, but I donât knowâIâm not actually an expert on this or anything.â She chuckled nervously, feeling weird about declaring peopleâs heritages without having any information about them.
âYes, but what do you think ?â asked Alex. âItâs not like weâll be mad at you if youâre wrong. Weâre just curious.â
âWell,â said Kaylee, giving in, âmaybe your motherâs ancestors are from Tahiti or somewhere tropical. Or northern Africa, like Morocco.â Kaylee soon realized Alex was right, and theyâd probably never know the truth, so she began to take the whole topic a bit less seriously and started to have fun with her predictions. âIâd guess that Sean Ranger has Irish roots, and Carina looks Eastern Europeanâmaybe Russian. And Samheed has a pretty clear Middle Eastern look.â
âWhat about my ancestors?â asked Sky.
âMexico or South America,â Kaylee guessed. She pointed the places out. âYou know, thereâs a good chance all of you have ancestors from a bunch of different countries.â She paused thoughtfully. âMost people in America are like that too, actually. People from a lot of different countries moved to America in the past few hundred years, so there are a lot of Americans today with combined heritages.â
The friends began to imagine a similar scenario in their worldâpeople from the seven islands meeting others on different islands and falling in love, and somehow they ended up in a silly conversation about what Florence and Talonâs children might look like if they ever had any.
When the fun died down, Alex was quiet for a minute, and then he frowned and turned toward Kaylee. âYou said no one ever returns to your world from the triangles. But your world is so hugeâhow would you know if one returned or not?â
âOh,â Kaylee said, âit would be all over the news channels and the Internet in about ten seconds. Nobody would be able to keep a secret like that for long.â
âThe Inter-what?â asked Alex.
Kaylee sighed, looking suddenly weary. âNothing. Never mind. Nobodyâs ever returnedâyouâll just have to take my word for it.â
Lani bit her lip. âSo,â she said softly, ânow that we know where we are, and we know thereâs no way back to your world, what can we do to help you?â
Kaylee blinked hard and tried to appear brave. âI think you keep doing what youâve been doing all along. We make the best world we can, wherever we are. Because the next person to end up here will definitely be just as sad as I am right now.â She looked at the others. âBut at least thereâs
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley