Looking her younger selves in the eye, she knew she could always end this pain. All she had to do was dip her foot into the fountain and she would shrink into that adorable little girl she had been. Perhaps she could make herself a toddler so she would have a long time before this happened again. And then she could be the youngest and have the others take care of her instead of her taking care of them.
She shook her head. No, she couldn't do that. If she were little again, how would she ever find her parents? She had spent too much time here already. No, she had to get off this terrible island and find her parents. They would help her through all of this with their love.
"Samantha? What are you doing here?" Miss Brigham asked behind her.
"I was just thinking."
"Oh, I see." Miss Brigham sat down next to Samantha, her reflections joining Samantha's in the water. Miss Brigham pointed to the face of herself at thirteen, a face scarred with angry red spots. "Oh my, can you believe I used to look like that? I'm so glad my skin finally cleared up. At least most of it. There's still a pimple or two on my forehead I can't ever seem to get rid of. At least I can cover those up."
"Uh-huh."
Miss Brigham put an arm around her shoulders. "Rebecca told me what happened in the meadow. You shouldn't feel ashamed about it. You're growing up, that's all."
"Maybe I don't want to grow up."
"Now I know that's not true. In time you're going to become a beautiful young woman. If you're lucky you won't have all these nasty pimples like I did." Miss Brigham touched Samantha's cheek. "You have such lovely skin. Those pores aren't going to get full of grease like mine."
"But why is this happening to me? Why not Prudence or one of the others?"
"You're the oldest, dear. They'll all go through it too, even that nasty little Helena. You'll see. That is unless you're leaving us."
"Is that why you came to find me? So you can talk me out of going?"
"I only want to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons, dear. You aren't leaving because the other children made fun of you, are you?"
"No. I want to find my parents. I know they're out there, waiting for me. I want to go before it's too late."
"Too late for what?"
Samantha shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's like you say, I'm growing up. I want to find them before I'm too grown up. Does that make sense?"