Page 57 of Lost Starlight
“Oh—” I said.
“Can you gather them?” Dominick asked. “When you distract the crew, maybe open the cages and they can escape? Can one of the lost boys assist you?”
“Perhaps. Shadow is very stealthy. Stone is their leader, so he would probably help, too.”
“Those are shark-infested waters; they’d need a boat.”
“I can bring a boat,” Gwen said.
“What? So close to the pirates? No,” I said.
“But the boys will not make it, then,” Gwen said.
“I can fly them out if I do it one-by-one.”
“Won’t that be difficult? You would not have enough time,” Dominick added.
“Yes, but—”
“I can be in the water, swim under the waves, and come up and help swim them safely to the shore. Sharks are dreadful, but the boys have the best chance with me,” Meria suggested.
“Are you okay with that?” I asked Dominick.
“If Meria says she will be okay, I trust her. She knows what she can and cannot handle,” Dominick said with a nod.
“I’ll be okay,” Meria said, smiling at Dominick.
“You better end up okay, or I may have to kill every single last shark that ever—”
“I will be fine,” Meria said again, covering Dominick’s mouth with her hand. When she removed her hand, Dominick picked it up, kissed it, then looked up at me.
“So, it’s settled,” Dominick said, tossing the stick he had been using to mark on the dirt map into the fire.
I watched it as it caught fire and bent with the flames before it was engulfed and turned to ash.
Would we be successful, or were we heading into the impossible?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Peter
Present Day
“Please keep an eye on Meria,” Dominick said as we walked through the jungle to the lookout point the next morning.
“So, you are worried about her being in the water?”
“No one is more capable than Meria, but she’s not an Ancient. She can still get hurt.”
“I will try to keep an eye on her.” I didn’t want anything happening to my new sister. I liked Meria; she had been nothing but kind to me.
“I’m sure Gwendolyn will be well. The boys do love her,” Dominick saidwith a chuckle.
It was true. The lost boys were in love with Gwen. Just that morning at breakfast, she had passed water to them all, and each of them, with the exception of Shadow, gave her bashful smiles. Bear kept glancing at her. They were infatuated.
“She’s going to lose her mind with all that attention. She’s not used to it, and when she gets too much of it, she might faint.” I paused. “Perhaps, I should go back and check on her.”
Dominick stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “Her brother is there, so she will be well.”
