ѕуԃηєу ηαтιση: вσσк тняєє

Chapter Twenty-One

Once the group got back to the docks, Urchin parked the boat and dried herself off with a towel. Ember reached down and picked Glory up, and he carried her body over to the girls and Raven, who all looked from him to Glory and back again in horror. They didn't know what to think, but they obviously knew that Ember was in a tremendous amount of pain, so Fawn took Glory from Ember, and this time, he didn't fight against it. He just held his head low and stared at the ground while Raven thanked Hugo for his troubles and the sailor left them all alone.

Even Hugo had a somber and apologetic look on his face, and he left them all alone to grieve. He gave Urchin a sad smile before he left, and she stared after him for a second before she turned back and the girls all hugged Ember as tightly as they could. He stood still and cried, despite the problem that he'd run all out of tears back on the ship. But he tilted his head down and it rested on Peril's head, but regardless of who he cried on, they loved him all the same, and he loved them too.

"We're so sorry, Ember." Astro whispered from behind, her cheek resting against his back and her arms wrapped around his middle. Raven hugged him too, along with Astro too, and he cried with them. Fawn was the only one not in the hug, since she took Glory inside an abandoned dock house to examine.

Urchin wasn't big on embraces, but even she stepped forward and hugged them all. Fawn had been gone for maybe ten minutes before she came back with a relief clouded face and a small smile. "Good news and bad news."

"About Glory?" Ember asked as the group pulled apart.

Fawn nodded. "Which first?"

"Always bad first." Urchin said.

"Okay, well, bad news is that she lost a bunch of blood, and her body suffers from major injuries." Fawn said, wiping sweat from her brow.

"And good news?" Ember asked.

"Good news is that she'll be alright. She never died to begin with, she just had an extremely faint heartbeat and she suffered from another fever dream."

Ember and the girls all gasped in relief, and they all ran over and hugged Fawn. She hugged back with a smile. When they pulled apart, Ember quickly asked her where his love was, and Fawn pointed to a small rustic house at the end of the dock. Ember thanked her again and took off running toward the house, down the wooden docks.

Urchin turned from the group and walked away down the opposite way that Ember went, toward the markets. She found Hugo sitting on a crate at his fish stand, hanging his head low in grief. When he turned his head to the side and saw her staring at him, he raised his head and swallowed.

"Hey." Urchin said.

"Hey, listen, I'm . . . I'm really sorry about your friend. I'm sorry that we weren't quick enough." Hugo apologized, but she held a hand up to silence him.

"Don't say you're sorry, Hugo." She said. "Turns out that we saved her just in time, and she'll be fine."

"Really, that's great." He stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. "I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks." Urchin gave him a small smile, and fiddled with her fingers while he looked up beyond her shoulder.

"Hey, look at that." He said, and she turned around to look.

A gorgeous sunset was forming on the horizon, made of vibrant colors. Orange, yellow, red, pink, purple, and blue. Urchin couldn't stop staring, but Hugo shifted his vision from the sunset to her face, and her short hair blowing in the breeze. She looked quite pretty to him, but he instantly looked away with an innocent glance when she caught him staring, and she slapped his shoulder.