Rising Tides | 2

18 | R a g a n

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August made us ditch the helicopter for his plane. We loaded up on the Regal Duchess and continued our path to safety, wherever that was. He said we were collectively traveling to the Barren Isles as a precaution. We didn't want the Crown to find the base if this wasn't over.

The others seemed okay with the idea of the war prevailing even after we stormed Porthmore. Wren was next to Ember with a rag in hand, wiping away the blood from small cuts that had formed on her face when she jumped from the window. She sat next to Tyler, her brother, who hadn't let go of her hand since we boarded. Their resemblance was obvious to me. They both had the same blonde curls and green eyes. They had similar facial expressions, at least, from what I could tell so far.

"How did you know I would jump out the window?" Ember asked when Wren was finished.

"We didn't," Rhea said from my left. I sat between her and Bear, Calix on his right. "When you didn't follow us out the palace doors, we got concerned and told August to swing around the back. We just hoped you heard the engine and the propellers, which you obviously did."

She sighed, holding her shoulder where a caniree had broken skin. "I had some help. I think Valasia called out to me."

"Again?" Wren asked, eyebrows shooting up.

Ember nodded. "All she said was 'the window', and then I heard the helicopter."

I picked dirt from under my nails. "What about Maddox?"

She gave me a small smile. "He's alive, but I don't know that there's anything we can do for him. He wasn't really that cooperative."

I nodded and stayed quiet. My hopes for him had diminished when he attacked Ember the second time. I wanted to believe there was hope for him, but he didn't seem to want it. He refused to believe that our mother was alive, that there was still light in his life. If I could just get him to see her...

"Are we going home?" Tyler asked no one in particular. His voice was small, and he stared at his feet.

Ember wrapped her arms around him, breaking the hold his hand had on hers. Her eyes held misery. "Soon, Tyler. We'll get you home soon."

He pushed away from her. "No, both of us. You have to come home too, Ember."

She looked down at him in shock. "I can't, Ty," she said quietly. "I don't belong there anymore."

Tears formed in his eyes. "Then I don't either."

Ember shook her head. "You do, Tyler. You need to go back home to Mom and Dad. It's safer there. They miss you."

"They miss you, too!" he yelled. "We never even got to say goodbye." Tears rolled down his cheeks.

Ember bit her lip to hold back tears as she wiped his away. "Tyler, I'm so sorry. I never meant for things to be this way. It was selfish of me not to consider your feelings, and I hate myself for leaving you."

They hugged and cried together. I felt a pang of empathy and guilt in my chest. I turned my back on Maddox all those years ago. If I had just stayed with him, would things be different? Would Maddox have invited Oremis in? Would the Dark Crown Rebellion even exist? Would I have ever met Ember?