Chapter 14

“Ow! Don’t do that!” Griffin yelled, causing Ebony to cover his mouth with her hand. We had finally found a relatively safe place, hidden under the roots of an old, hollow tree. It was the perfect place to hide for the time being. Ari was inspecting Griffin’s leg, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. That was what had caused his sudden outburst.

 

“It looks like you’ve sprained your ankle,” Ari said calmly. Griffin jerked Ebony’s hand away from his mouth.

 

“Thanks, Doc. Now why don’t you just have Nyssa heal it so we can be on our merry way?”

 

“Because it’s a good idea to know what she’s healing.”

 

“And we’re not going anywhere just yet,” I answered as Nyssa knelt down to heal Griffin’s ankle.

 

“Why not?” he asked.

 

“Because we don’t know anything about this planet. Our best bet would be to try and meet up with Jim. Then, we’ll work from there.”

 

“What about our father?” Gale asked and I bit my lower lip. I turned my head and stared at the dirt wall in front of me.

 

“I don’t know yet.”

 

“We can’t just leave him there! The reason we teamed up was to save him! Now you’re just going to leave him behind?!” The rage emanating off of Gale was overpowering and it brought tears to my eyes.

 

“I don’t want to leave him behind, Gale. Right now, we have six other people to worry about.”

 

“Are six people we’ve just met more important than our dad?!”

 

“Of course not, but they’re not any less. Life is life.”

 

“The cost for saving them may be our father’s life! Are you willing to pay that price?!” Gale demanded.

 

“I don’t know!” I yelled back, finally looking into my brother’s red eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Gale! Honestly, it scares the hell out of me! It’s like balancing on a tightrope: one wrong move and I could lose everything! I don’t want to do that!”

 

“Then get some better balance,” Gale muttered angrily before leaving the shelter. I could feel all eyes on me as my brother stormed off. I brushed the tears from my cheeks, but couldn’t bring myself to look at the others.

 

“Where’s he going?” Nyssa asked softly.

 

“He’s the one with Clairvoyance, remember? If I had to take a guess, he’s either going to storm around the forest and blow off some steam, or try to rescue our dad,” I answered, still staring at in the direction my brother had gone.

 

“Aren’t you going to go after him? He’s your brother,” Griffin asked.

 

“I’m surprised you care what I’m doing.”

 

“If it was my brother, I’d go after him. What he’s doing is suicide.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Don’t you care?” Ebony asked.

 

“Of course I care. He’s my brother.”

 

“Ember,” Ari said, resting a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to look at him. “You go get him. We’ll be fine.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“We’ll be right here when you and Gale come back.” I nodded with a small smile and ran out of the makeshift shelter. I knew I had to stop Gale from going into the Aurum alone. My only hope was that I could catch him in time, if that was what he was planning.

 

“Gale!” I called. “Gale, where are you?” I was answered only by silence. “Where is he? Gale!”

 

I frowned as I was met by more silence. Looking around, I found a few low branches and began climbing into the trees. After climbing at least two stories up into that tree, I could see so much more around me. The view was beautiful and I was surrounded by a lush green forest. I could even see the Aurum relatively nearby, but there was no sign of my brother. I growled under my breath and punched the trunk of the tree I was in. I needed to find Gale, and soon. I looked out over the landscape below and I saw something zip by out of the corner of my eye. I glanced around and was greeted by a small, chattering, transparent pink blob. Morph licked my cheek and snuggled up against me.

 

“Morph!” I exclaimed and held him in my hands. “Where’s Jim?”

 

Morph turned into an arrow and pointed behind me. I turned around to see my husband in a longboat, speeding towards the tree I was in. When he saw me, a smile broke across his face and he stopped the boat beside me. I leapt onto the boat and threw my arms around Jim, kissing him. His arms wrapped tightly around me, like he never wanted to let me go.

 

“Are you alright?” he asked, looking me over.

 

“I’m fine, but I need to find Gale,” I answered.

 

“What happened? And were you crying?” I swiped at my eyes again to make sure there weren’t anymore tears on my face. The skin around my eyes must have been red and puffy.

 

“We weren’t seeing eye to eye.”

 

“Shocker.”

 

“He ran off and I can’t find him. He could just be walking around or he’s going back to the Aurum. I don’t know and I’m afraid he’s going back alone. It’s suicide.” Jim let me go and started up the boat, sending it forward.

 

“We’ll find him,” he said. Morph nodded in agreement and I forced a small smile. I could only hope we would find my brother before he did anything stupid.

---

 

One wouldn’t have needed Ember’s gift of empathy to know Gale was angry. It was apparent by the look on his face. He wasn’t quite as angry at Ember’s actions as he was by her words. He could handle confusion, even understand why she was conflicted. The reference to the tightrope was what had triggered the anger. His mother, a former tightrope walker herself, was his emotional backbone. Ember may not have realized it, but she’d struck a highly sensitive nerve. Gale needed time to clear his head, before he ended up hurting someone he cared about. He had heard his sister calling his name in search, but ignored it. He’d go back when he was ready. He didn’t need his younger sister acting as though he needed her protection.

 

“Gale!” Ember’s voice called, grabbing his attention. She sounded much closer than she had only a few minutes before. He turned around and saw Ember and Jim in a longboat as they slowed to a stop before him.