When Esther woke up, she was in a different world. The sky was a deep, velvety black, with stars twinkling everywhere. She felt the heat of a fire somewhere near, and heard it hissing and popping. She tried to get up, but was pushed back down by gentle hands. “Where am I?” she asked. Hadassah appeared in her line of vision, and immediately she remembered, and tried to sit up again. “lie down,” Hadassah insisted, and tried to push her back. Esther fought her off and sat up straighter. “What happened?” she asked. “You fainted,” said a slightly familiar deep voice. She turned towards the shadows where she had heard the voice. “Luke?” she asked. He inched forward, the firelight falling on his face. “yup.” he grinned, then frowned. “You should lie down,” he said, firmly. “what are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring what he just said. After all, he was just a spoiled brat.

Hadassah sat down by the fire. “They followed us,” she said, quietly. “They?” Esther asked. “Ryan is here too?” Hadassah blushed at his name, and Luke nodded. Esther looked suspiciously at Hadassah. “Where is he?” she asked. “Ryan is off gathering more firewood, and Amakihi and Marisa are getting some water,” Hadassah answered, stirring the fire with a stick, her face red. Esther lay back down. She felt horrible. “why did it affect me so much?” she asked, almost to herself. Hadassah looked up. “I’m not sure,” she said. Esther felt in her pockets for the paper. Good, it was still there. She sighed and looked up through the branches of the tree covering her. When she looked up at the sky, it seemed like someone was watching her through the stars, keeping her safe and watching out for her. She smiled and snuggled down deeper into her bed of leaves, listening. Ryan crunched through the underbrush and quietly asked, “How is she?” “she’s better,” Hadassah’s gentle voice answered. “She went back to sleep,” said Luke. Esther smiled and watched the light of the fire flicker over her closed eyelids. Amakihi came slowly walking, and Marisa’s uneven gait followed. They set down buckets of water and groaned. “Shh!” Ryan said. “Esther’s asleep.” Esther heard them all sit by the fire and place some more sticks in it. Luke began to sing, a low, sweet sounding song. Esther couldn’t catch the words, but it was very comforting, and the last thing Esther remembered was thinking how beautiful his voice was. Then she fell into a deep, deep sleep.