ѕуԃηєу ηαтιση: вσσк тняєє

Chapter Twenty

Glory woke up slowly, her eyes squinting painfully, and she instantly felt pain everywhere inside her. Her rib wound slowly continued to bleed out, and tears soaked her face and hair. She sobbed and wailed silently to herself, pulling her legs up and hugging them against her chest. She prayed that the dream wasn't real, that what Ember did to her wasn't actually true. He hadn't killed her, but she felt that his emotions and hatred for her were real, and she broke down into painful cries. She ached to mark herself again, but the rib wound was already giving her more satisfaction than marks. Besides, she could hardly move a muscle without hurting.

She faced the closed metal door as she laid there, and saw a very dim glow of light in the cracks that edged the door. If she didn't get medical attention soon, she'd die slowly before she even reached the facility. And all she wanted at that moment was to see the light of day again before her last breath leaked out. But then, she took her wish back. She didn't deserve anything special before she died. She deserved a slow, painful death, where no one would help her. So while she waited for death to come, she lowered her eyelids, welcoming unconsciousness.

But before she slipped away, she whispered under her breath, "I love you."

Ember could definitely see the ship more clearly now, seeing as it was only a mile ahead now, and Urchin poked her head above the surface of the ocean as she kept paddling. She observed the ship ahead, and looked at Hugo.

"Brace yourselves, you're about to get launched onto the ship. And don't cry like a baby." Urchin yelled over the pounding swish of water around them. "I'm talking to you, Hugo."

Ember would've laughed, but he let go of the sides of the boat and let Urchin's warning prepare him for the upcoming blast upward into the air. Urchin nodded as Hugo sat up from where he laid desperately, and he too prepared himself for the launch.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hugo asked.

"Of course not, I come from a family of wild Elves, we just wing it." Urchin shrugged, and stopped paddling with her feet. Then she let go of the back of the boat and let it sit just a couple of yards away while she dove back underwater. She swam down to where Hugo couldn't see her anymore, and the water finally started to get cold. She made it down at least twenty yards, her blue-green body glowing under and she kicked off with her feet. Her sudden burst of momentum created a funnel under her feet, and she launched straight upward through the water back toward the bottom of the boat.

She felt the water around her blow against her face, making it hard to keep her lips from getting away from her. She held her arms up over her head and felt her hands flatten on the wooden bottom of the boat, and she pushed as hard as she could with her muscles. The boat instantly jetted out of the water like they had been sitting on a geyser, and the boys and Urchin all flew straight up in the sky. Hugo screamed like a little girl, which made Urchin groan and fold her arms mid-air, and Ember narrowed his eyes as he neared the ship. He saw as it was maybe now ten feet below him and he soared right over it. Then he curled into a ball and felt the impact of the hard metal hit his back and neck.

He uncurled immediately and regained his senses. He blinked and straightened his hair before standing up on the ship deck and coming face to face with several guards glaring at him. He also puckered his lips at the sight of Urchin and Hugo hurtling toward him, still flying in the air. He squeaked in surprise as they came faster than he assumed, and they crashed right into him, knocking him back down just after he'd gotten up. Urchin on top, Hugo in the middle, and Ember on the bottom. Hugo stopped screaming and saw that he and Urchin's faces were inches apart and she noticed too. She groaned and pushed herself up off of him by shoving her hand on his face.