Soon Ms. Octavia and the squirrelicorns made it to shore, followed by Henry and Crow, and then out of the water rose Florence, unscathed.
Alex craned his neck and squinted to scan the water. “Have you seen Spike?” Alex called out to her. “Is she okay?”
“She’s great. And having more fun than anyone else under the circumstances.” Florence’s wry smile was evident in a burst of lightning. “Apparently she found a lagoon on the leeward side of the island where the water’s not as rough,” Florence said. “She’ll be fine there. I told her to hole up for the duration and we’d find her when we need her.”
“Good.” Alex sighed in relief and batted at a sodden lock of hair that kept dripping into his eye. He looked around in the dim light from the highlighter. “We’re all here, then, right? Where’s Kitten?”
“I’ve got her,” Samheed said. Kitten emerged from his pocket and ran down his leg and over to Fox to perch on his head.
“I feel bloated,” Fox said to no one in particular.
“Okay, good,” Alex said, ignoring Fox for the moment. “Squirrelicorns?”
“Over here in the corner,” piped one of them. “Six in number, sir!”
“Great. Everyone’s accounted for.”
“Except the ship,” Florence said. “And it’s too dark to see if any of it survived.”
That took the mood down considerably. For several minutes the cave buzzed with questions, mainly, “How are we going to get out of here?”
Finally, Alex quieted the group. He didn’t have an answer, but he knew things weren’t completely dire. “Look, everyone,” he said. “I know this feels bleak, and we’re all cold and wet, but we’re safe, and we have to stay positive,” he said. “We’re smart. We’ll figure this out. Once the storm is over we can see what the ship looks like. And at the very least, we’ll have Simber back here soon to rescue us. I’m sure he’ll find us. It’s hard to miss Florence when you have eyes as sharp as his.” He sounded more sure of himself than he felt.
“Alex is right,” Ms. Octavia said. “Simber will be back to save us. All is not lost.” She looked at Florence, then tapped a tentacle to her lips as her face clouded. “Well, except for you,” she said.
“We can’t leave Florence here!” Lani said.
“Don’t worry about me,” Florence said. “But did you notice all the shipwrecks? I’m feeling a bit of an itch to explore and maybe see if we can build something that will take us home.” She grinned. “We don’t need Simber to save us. We’re perfectly capable of rescuing ourselves. Right, Alex?”
Alex laughed uneasily. “Right, of course!” His gaze automatically went to the sky, as if looking for the flying cat would bring him soaring in. But there was nothing to see but driving rain and lightning. “Of course,” he said again with less enthusiasm this time, but trying his best to stay heartened. “We managed to bring back Artimé without him, didn’t we?” he asked, glancing at Sky.
She smiled. “We did.”
“Well then,” Alex said, “I figure we can get out of here no problem, ship or no ship!” But his insides felt extremely uneasy.
The words seemed to reassure everyone, and eventually they settled under the overhang, spreading their wet outer layers of clothing over rocks to try to dry them—though the hope for that was minimal as the air around them seemed almost as wet as the rain itself.
The mood changed once more as the group fell silent, each member lost in his own individual fears.
“We may as well try to sleep,” Alex said presently. “And hope the weather clears up by morning.”
There was nothing to eat and only rain to drink, and no dry wood for a fire. So the Artiméans huddled together, trying to get comfortable under the shallow overhang in the storm, occasionally struck by slaps of wind and rain so strong they stung. Florence, who couldn’t fit under the overhang, sat outside trying to block the flying debris from the others. The rain didn’t really bother her. She kept watch so those who needed sleep could get it, just like she would do back home.
It was at times like these that Florence’s thoughts often turned to Talon. But tonight, her mind was on Simber. After a few hours of silence, Florence overheard a whisper from the back of the cave. It sounded like Lani.
“What are we going to do if Simber doesn’t come back, Al? We don’t have any food or fresh water. . . .”
There was a long silence, and for a moment, Florence thought the storm had drowned out Alex’s response. But then she heard it.
“We’ll do the only thing we can do,” he said, his voice tired and defeated. “Try not to die.”
Copper Steps Up
A dreary morning dawned. The wind died down and the thunder and lightning quieted, but a steady drizzle remained. Florence reached under the overhang and nudged Alex awake.
He groaned and rolled over, finding Crow’s feet in his face. His eyes shot open. He sat up and looked around, and then seeing Florence beckoning to him, he crawled out from under the overhang and got to his feet. She stood as well, and Alex followed her around their shelter so they could talk without waking the others.
The island was simply rocky and barren. There were no trees anywhere, only large slabs of moss-covered rock peppering the landscape, with an occasional scrubby bush growing sideways because of the wind. Near the water were pods of wet sand, and the sea churned dark gray all around—no gently lapping waves on the beach here, like in Artimé. It was the ugliest place Alex had ever seen. Even Quill couldn’t compete with this. “Wow,” he said, taking it in. “It’s bleak. Any inhabitants?”