Chapter Twenty

            

 

                 Tito’s Gone Missing

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

      “You’ve really out done yourself,” Mai said, looking around the grassy field. Wyatt’s party would be starting soon. Celie had made an extra hole in the ground—for a swimming hole—with her Earth Powers, and Mai and Dakota had helped carry the water over and fill it up.

    “Oh, it was nothing,” said Zina. Mai couldn’t wait to see the look on Wyatt’s face when he saw it. This was going to be his best birthday ever. About half an hour earlier, Mai and Celie had gone to retrieve their presents.  Mai had grabbed Dakota’s for him. They had placed them among the many others on the table.

    The sun was sinking low in the sky, and it was starting to get dark. Celie stretched her arms. “How long until Wyatt gets here?”

    Kohana answered this time. “Hervia will be bringing him shortly. There’s just enough time to put up lanterns.”

    Celie offered to help light lanterns with her Light Powers, using the Bright Style, which Mai had only seen her use a few times. After the lanterns had been put up and the last guest had arrived, everyone assumed their places, ducking down in the tall grass, hiding from view. Celie put out all the lanterns with a wave of her hand. With a similar motion, she would be able to turn them all back on at once.   This would be perfect for when everyone jumped out to surprise Wyatt. As soon as the sun sank below the ocean, as soon as it was too dark to see the field, Hervia would lead Wyatt up the dirt path. The minutes slowly crept by, everyone was starting to get restless. Mai could hear Celie breathing beside her, and shifted with discomfort. Finally, the sun shone its last ray of light down on the island, and it was time. There were voices coming from somewhere ahead of them. Mai could make out Wyatt’s voice.

    “…The town just seems empty, where is everyone? It’s like a ghost town or something.”

    Hervia’s clear voice rang through the trees. “It does seem a bit strange.” They both immerged from the forest. Everyone was waiting for the signal from Hervia. “But I think I might be able to answer your question!” As they heard Hervia’s signal, Celie lit the lamps and everyone sprang to their feet, glad they no longer had to crouch down like a frog.

     “SURPRISE!”

    Wyatt jumped back, startled by everyone’s sudden appearance. His expression changed from, startled, to confused, then to excitement as he let out a laugh. Everyone ran up to him, Zina in the lead. 

    Wyatt looked over at Hervia, who only smiled in return. “What in the world is all this?” Wyatt asked.

    Mai ran up to him and hugged him. “Happy birthday, Wyatt!” Dakota and Celie ran up to him as well, closely followed by Amo and Tito.  Wyatt looked around him, a look of pure joy on his face.

    He grinned broadly. “My birthday? I can’t believe it, I forgot my own birthday! What’s wrong with me?”

    Many people came up to pat him on the back or shake his hand, he seemed overwhelmed by it all, but still happy. As soon as everyone calmed down, Zina spoke up in her loud voice.

    “Now, if you’d all sit please, so we can start our feast!” Everyone hustled to the main table, Mai was caught in the rush of people, she couldn’t have stayed behind even if she wanted to. Everyone grabbed a chair.  Mai had not noticed before how many chairs there were lined along the table. There had to be at least over a hundred. Wyatt sat at one end of the extremely long table with Dakota on one side of him and Hervia on the other. Mai and Celie took their seats together about half-way down the table since there were no more available chairs near Wyatt. Mai noticed some familiar faces among the people sitting around her. Jim was sitting across the table from her, talking to a short, bald man; some of the kids who Dakota had been telling stories to; and a few of the people who had ambushed them when they had first arrived on the island. 

     Mai wondered how many people lived on this island, and how they were going to get enough food to feed them all at once. 

     Zina stood at the other end of the table, and once everyone had been seated she cleared her throat. “Okay, now that everyone is ready, I think it’s time to bring out the food!”

     Mai looked around but saw nothing. There was no food on the table and there was no one coming to bring it. Mai looked around the table at each person, but no one was standing up. She noticed that Kohana was not among the people sitting at the table, in fact, she was nowhere to be seen. A soft shuffling noise caught Mai’s attention, as well as the others at the table. Heads were turning in different directions, trying to locate the source, but they could not see what was beyond the lamp light. Then, a fox stepped into view, carrying a tray of food on his back. Everyone looked at each other, some laughed. Wyatt grinned when he saw it, and Hervia whispered something into his ear. Then another fox came, and another, and soon there were twenty foxes standing around the table, all carrying a platter of food, and some holding a bottle in their mouths. Kohana stepped into the light and walked over to the last empty chair and sat down. One fox came up to her and she leaned over and whispered something to it. The fox nodded and leapt onto the table, taking care not to step on any plates. Several people shouted and tried to shoo the fox away. But the fox lowered himself down and carefully slid his platter off his back. With a swish of his red tail, he jumped back off the table and walked off into the darkness. The other foxes hesitated, but then all followed the first fox’s lead. Each one leapt onto the table, discarded their tray, or bottle and walked back off into the forest. The table was now lined with plates of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, salads, and soups of every sort. There were plates of bread, turkey, roast beef, berries, and even hotdogs. Wyatt’s face lit up as he saw all these things, and he looked eager to eat.

    Zina raised one hand. “Now, let’s eat, but first, we will make a toast to our special guest, Wyatt.”

    Everyone reached for their glasses and filled them with whatever was in the bottles. Mai lifted a bottle and looked it over carefully. There were no markings and it was impossible to tell what it contained. Celie had already filled her glass and was looking expectantly at Mai. Mai shrugged and filled her glass.

     Zina raised her full glass and said, “To Wyatt. May the stars watch over you, and may you be at ease on your special day.”

     Everyone but Wyatt raised their glasses. “To Wyatt!” There was a loud cheer and everyone drank. Mai looked into her glass at the strange liquid. It was bright blue and looked very clear. It seemed to be fizzing. 

     Celie took a sip from her glass. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you thirsty?” Mai looked into the glass; the liquid seemed familiar to her somehow. She felt as though she had seen it somewhere before.

     “Hello? Hello, Mai are you there?”

     Mai shook her head. “Sorry, Celie, what did you say?”

    Celie rolled her eyes impatiently. “I said, aren’t you thirsty?”

     Mai shook her head. “I am, but what is this stuff? It looks kind of strange to me, I’m not so sure about it.”

     Celie laughed. “That’s Iku. It’s a drink that comes from Solaria. It enhances your energy, but don’t get too carried away with it, or you might lose control.  It’s not dangerous though. Try some.” 

    Mai hesitated, then slowly took a small sip from the glass. The Iku felt as cold as ice, its taste was like nothing Mai had ever tasted before, though it seemed oddly familiar. It seemed to cool her from the inside out, and she felt as though she could stay up all night. She took another large sip, savoring its unique taste.

    Celie smiled. “I knew you’d like it. But just be careful, people often get carried away when they try it for the first time.”

    After everyone had finished eating, Zina announced that it was time for everyone to give Wyatt their gifts. Hervia led Wyatt to a chair with a fluffy, white cushion. Wyatt sat down and waited patiently as everyone went to retrieve their present from the table. Everyone lined up in front of Wyatt.  Mai, Dakota, and Celie were in the back. Amo came up behind them with Tito on his back. Tito was holding on to a small package, and Mai guessed Dakota had told them to get a present as well. As the line grew shorter, Wyatt’s pile of gifts grew larger. Mai peeked around to see what he had so far. He had several books, a bow with a small case of arrows, a large rucksack, a dagger, and a small sword polishing kit. Each family had given him something, instead of each individual, or else he would be drowning in gifts. Finally, when Mai reached the front of the line, she handed Wyatt her gift and stood back. Wyatt tore the paper away from the box and opened it. He pulled out the sheath and grinned broadly.

     “Thanks, Mai. This is great! My old sheath was starting to fall apart, so I was planning on getting a new one anyway.”

     Mai smiled and inclined her head. “You’re welcome, Wyatt.” Wyatt placed the sheath on top of the pile. Mai backed away, and Dakota walked up next. He handed Wyatt his package and he unwrapped it. Wyatt looked curiously at the pad of paper and the pencil kit. His expression changed from excited, to a bit nervous. 

     He smiled at Dakota. “Err…Thanks, Dakota.” He placed the pencil kit on top of the pad of paper, and tossed them into the pile. 

Dakota shrugged. “No problem.” He backed off and Amo and Tito walked up to Wyatt, who took the package off Amo’s back. He opened it and held up a small box.

     “It’s a video game system!” he cried. “Now I won’t get bored on the ship, thanks!” Amo gave a small roar and Tito purred. They backed away as Hervia stood before Wyatt. She was holding a glass sphere that had clouds of white and blue smoke swirling inside it.

     “This,” she said, “is my crystal ball. It does not tell the future, but it will let you know when danger is near.” She carefully handed the ball to Wyatt, who took it and looked it over. He looked back up at Hervia and smiled gently.

     “Thank you.”

     Hervia smiled back. “My pleasure.” She backed up as Celie walked up, and tossed her bag into Wyatt’s arms. He caught it and opened it. He pulled out a small ball, not much bigger than a marble, and there was a string sticking out of it.

     “What’s this?” Wyatt asked. He reached for the string. Mai and Celie were the only ones who knew what would happen if Wyatt pulled that string out of the small smoke bomb.

    “NO!”

    It was too late. Wyatt pulled on the string and it popped out of the ball. It made a soft fizzing nose. Everyone came closer to get a better look, but then with a soft boom, thick, black smoke came pouring out of the ball. Wyatt dropped it and backed away. The smoke was spreading and Mai could understand why Jim had said they were good for a clean getaway. The smoke was so thick she could hardly see past her nose. 

     She heard Celie cry out, “Wyatt, those are smoke bombs! Don’t pull the string out unless you want it to explode!”

     “Cool!” 

     People were shouting in surprise or alarm as the smoke spread over the field. Mai suddenly heard a familiar voice, whispering from somewhere behind her.

    “They’re over here, I saw them over here before the smoke came. Grandfather, are you listening? Grandfather…grandfather Aldrich?”

     Mai felt her heart skip a beat. It was Fudo! She had to find the others without letting Fudo or his grandfather know that she knew of their presence. She carefully walked in the direction she had last seen Dakota, her arms out so she wouldn’t bump into anything—or anyone. She heard Dakota’s voice from somewhere to her right.

     “Hold on, just calm down everyone. I’ll clear this smoke in just a second.” Mai was starting to get frantic. For one reason, Dakota had just given away his position, and the other reason: if he cleared the smoke, Fudo would find him right away.

     “Here, Wyatt,” said Hervia’s voice, “I’ll help you put all your gifts into a bag. That way you can carry them back to your room.” Mai was frantically pushing her way through a crowd of elderly men when she heard Dakota’s voice again, this time from somewhere behind her.

    “Just hold on one more second everybody.” Mai’s heart started beating faster. She had to get to Dakota in time. She started running in the direction from which she had heard Dakota’s voice. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her foot as she stubbed her toe on the leg of the main table. She cursed under her breath as she walked forward a bit more, but tripped over one of the chairs. She looked up to see a man dressed in red eating some of the leftovers from the table.

     The man looked down at her curiously. “Well, hello there, Mai,” said Aldrich, grabbing a piece of bread. Mai stood up quickly, wishing she hadn’t left her water pouch all the way back on their ship. Before she could do or say anything in response, there was a rush of air and the smoke cleared as Dakota blew it away with his Wind Powers. Mai immediately spotted the red dot among the sea of white, green, pink, and purple. She looked over to the place Fudo was heading and spotted Dakota standing next to Wyatt, Hervia, and Celie. It didn’t matter if Fudo knew she had seen him, if Fudo snuck up on Dakota, it would be even worse.

    “DAKOTA, BEHIND YOU!”                           

    Dakota turned on his heel and spotted Fudo, who was no more than fifty feet from him. Everyone else turned their heads towards Mai, looking to see what she was yelling about, when someone from the crowd spotted Fudo and shouted, “Fire Tribe! Fire Tribe on Muwao!”

     Aldrich shifted slightly as he saw Mai run off towards Dakota and the others. Fudo wasted no time. He pushed his way through the crowd, who were caught off guard by his sudden appearance. Mai got there before Fudo. She didn’t have to struggle through the crowd. 

    Hervia grabbed Wyatt’s upper arm. “Grab your things and follow me!” Wyatt grabbed his bag of gifts and he, Mai, Dakota, Celie, Amo, and Tito followed Hervia as she quickly led them out of the field and back into the forest. Mai thought she could hear Fudo somewhere behind them, but it was too dark to tell. Once they had reached the town, Hervia stopped and turned back to them.

     She held Wyatt’s hand in hers. “You have to leave, now. Don’t worry about us, you can’t get caught. Wait…I think I hear them coming! Wyatt, use one of your smoke bombs!” Wyatt did not hesitate. He reached inside his large sack and felt around until he found the small bag. He pulled out a bomb and pulled the string out. It began to fizz, then with another soft boom, smoke leaked out of it, slowly filling the streets. Mai couldn’t see anyone anymore, everything was swallowed up by the dense smoke. 

     “Good, now get out of here!” said Hervia, though Mai could not see her. She heard Dakota cough.

     Wyatt spoke in a firm voice, “I’m not going to leave you.”

     Mai heard Hervia laugh. “Like I said, don’t worry about us, we can hold them off. From what Wyatt’s told me, there’s only two of them, right? Fudo and his grandfather, Aldrich? You get out of here and they’ll follow, but we’ll try to buy you some time. Now hurry, get out of here!” Mai jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, preparing to punch Fudo, but froze as she made out Kohana’s face through the smoke. 

     “I’ll lead you out of here,” she said. “Quickly, you must follow me. Hold hands, so we don’t get separated.”

     Mai took hold of Kohana’s outstretched hand, and felt someone grab onto her other one. Kohana pulled them through the town, and Mai wished she could see it one more time before they left, but the smoke was too thick. Soon, Kohana led them into the clear and out of the smoke. They were now in the forest. Without letting go of Mai’s hand, Kohana dragged her and the others through the woods and back to the beach where they had first arrived. Their lifeboat was still sitting in the sand, waiting to be cast off. Kohana let go of Mai’s hand, and Dakota—for that is who had been holding Mai’s other hand—let go as well. Wyatt, with his large sack, and Celie, were right behind him, with Amo and Tito following.

     “Quickly, you must leave now, before that boy finds you!” said Kohana, ushering them towards their lifeboat.

     “Thank you, all of you, for helping us out so much,” Mai said, helping Wyatt lift his sack into the lifeboat.

     “It is always a pleasure to help someone in need. Now hurry!” As soon as everyone was in the boat, Kohana helped push it into the water. Dakota and Mai used their Water Powers to propel the boat forward, against the waves.

    “Tell Hervia goodbye for me!” Wyatt shouted back to Kohana.

Kohana smiled. “Don’t worry, I will!”

 

 

    “How could they have gotten away again?” Fudo cried. He followed his grandfather back to their lifeboat. He had been so sure that he would have them this time. He already knew who two of the Chosen Ones were, that was a start, but the only thing was, just knowing who they were wouldn’t help him. He had to capture them and present them to his father. He knew it was almost impossible, but he had to try, he had too. It would all be worth it in the end. Aldrich had his arms full of food, a loaf of bread, a bottle of Iku, two sandwiches, and a jug of water. He had bought all these things while Fudo had searched the town. At first, everyone seemed determined to keep him at bay, crowding in front of him, or purposely tripping him. Aldrich was the only thing standing between them, and Fudo’s fiery fist. Lately he seemed more aggressive, unable to keep control of his anger, and he didn’t know why. He had always had a bit of an anger problem, but never this bad. Aldrich had convinced the town’s people that they meant them no harm, and all they wanted was to restock on food. 

     One girl had seemed to keep an eye on Fudo as he paced the street, waiting for Aldrich to buy all their necessary supplies. Most of the time, her face had been hidden behind her blond hair, but as Fudo and Aldrich had left the town, she showed her face and looked him in the eye. Her blue eyes didn’t seem to blink as she stared him down. Everyone was very solemn as they left, and Fudo was sure that they never wanted to see him or his grandfather again. Fudo climbed into the lifeboat with Aldrich and prepared to row all the way back to the ship.

 

 

     Celie ran up to the control room and reset the autopilot to take them away to the next island. Mai helped Wyatt carry his sack of gifts to his room, while Dakota helped Amo and Tito out of the lifeboat, which proved a harder task than it had seemed. As soon as the ship was sailing away from Muwao, Celie came down and met the others in the sitting room. Wyatt was testing out his new game system with Dakota, Mai was unbraiding her hair, Celie was watching Wyatt beat Dakota at every game they played, and Tito was curled up with Amo, sleeping next to the sofa. After Wyatt beat him one more time, Dakota gave up and sat down on the couch next to Mai. He gave her a solemn look.

     “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting lately. I guess I was just so excited to get all that attention, I never got any attention while I lived with Sam and Fudo, so I guess I just let it go to my head. I’m sorry for the things I said to you, Celie, I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry.”

     Mai looked at Wyatt, who looked at Celie. Celie looked at Dakota, and her expression changed to a smile.

     “I forgive you Dakota.”

     The next few days, Wyatt spent a lot of his time playing his new game system. Mai was still trying to figure out how Tito and Amo had managed to get one. Celie was on deck most of the time, she was trusting the autopilot more now, and took to practicing with Black Light. Dakota was content just talking with Mai. She was glad he was back to normal, though Wyatt seemed to have changed. He wasn’t his usual goofy self. 

     He seemed older, more grown up, and Mai was not sure if it was just because he turned fourteen, or if it was for some other reason. But she was glad of the change…but then? She had always known Wyatt to act that way, and she thought she might miss the old him—just a little. Dakota noticed the change too, as did Celie, who seemed disappointed that she could no longer make fun of Wyatt, or tease him. When Wyatt wasn’t playing video games, he would either practice with his swords, or go into his room. Mai couldn’t figure out what he was doing. Whenever she went in to see him, he quickly hid something beneath his pillow, or under his sheets. Mai didn’t want to invade his privacy, but she really wanted to know what he was doing.

     “Maybe he’s planning something?” Dakota guessed when Mai voiced her curiosity.

Mai doubted Wyatt was planning anything behind their back, but then, what could he be doing?

     “I don’t know, but I don’t think we should worry too much about it now. If it start turning into anything serious, then we should look into it more.” Three days had passed since their departure for Muwao, and Celie announced they were approaching a new island called Rima, and they would arrive there in about an hour. They were running dangerously low on food. They were supposed to restock at Muwao, but they had left in such a hurry, they didn’t have time. Everyone waited up on deck, eager to touch land again. They were glad to find out this island had a dock, so they would not need to use the lifeboat. Celie decided that she would steer the ship up to the dock, she didn’t trust the autopilot that much. Wyatt didn’t want to drive anymore, so Celie had become the driver, even if she didn’t realize it. She steered the ship up to the dock and pulled in. They lowered the ramp and took a look around. This island had many people walking about, carrying packages or baskets of fish. There were small buildings lined along the shore, and there were people of all ages. This place was much livelier than Muwao, and it seemed everyone had something to do, somewhere to go. A woman in pink robes came up to them and cast a strange look at Amo and Tito, before bustling off again.

    “This place is like the city,” Mai said, looking over her shoulder as the woman hurried off. There were shops of all sorts in a row alongside the buildings; each one had a line of people waiting outside them. The group walked forward into the crowd, taking care not to get separated. Tito jumped onto Wyatt’s shoulder so he wouldn’t get stepped on be the many pairs of feet.

    “I never knew there was an island like this,” Dakota said. “I always thought they were all like Muwao.” They pushed their way through the crowd and made their way over to one of the shops. They needed to get more food.  There was a shop to their right that had a display of bread in the window.

    “Let’s take a look in this shop,” Wyatt said, jerking his thumb at it. Dakota decided to leave Tito and Amo outside the store.

    “The owner probably won’t appreciate it if we brought you in. You two wait out here, okay? Don’t go anywhere, or you could get lost.” They both nodded and the four kids walked through the doors.

 

    I wish I could get some of those pastries, Tito whined. He looked longingly through the window at the loaves of bread. He hadn’t eaten a full meal in days, none of them had. They had been trying to conserve what little food they had left. He could smell all the different kinds of pastries baking inside.

   Amo snorted.  So do all of us. Just keep quiet, whining about it won’t get them to you any faster. Get on my back so you don’t get stepped on. Tito leapt up and leaned on Amo’s neck and sighed. Why don’t you try to take a nap or something? said Amo. You’d be much less annoying to me if you were asleep, Tito. 

     Tito scowled and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, but his stomach wouldn’t stop gurgling. He stood up and leapt back onto the ground.

    I’m going to sleep on that barrel, although I don’t think I’ll fall asleep at all. He jumped up onto the barrel and closed his eyes. Five minutes passed and he still lay there, awake. Suddenly, a small hand closed around his middle. His eyes shot open, Amo was laying ten feet away, apparently asleep. He looked over his shoulder and saw a small girl, no older than four years old. She picked him up off the barrel and held him like a baby.

    Amo! Amo help me! But Amo did not rise. Tito struggled against the small girl’s grip, but she was too strong. She carried him off through the crowd. He saw no way out of this one. What if he never saw Dakota again? What if he would be lost forever? What if the little girl was someone who liked eating fox-squirrels?

     Calm down, Tito told himself, you’re being over dramatic. I’m sure the little girl will get tired of me, and then put me down. Then I’ll be able to find Amo and Dakota again. I just hope she gets bored with me soon.

 

 

    Mai was looking at a small pastry, it looked like a doughnut, but still, she wasn’t sure. She thought it was odd that they were in another bakery. 

    Solarians must really like pastries, she thought. Wyatt and Dakota picked out some loaves of bread and sweets while Mai and Celie kept track of how much money they had left. They had agreed, on the ship, that they shouldn’t make their presence to noticeable, or they could risk being discovered. They would have to use their money carefully though, they didn’t have very much. Celie had explained to them that Solarians use a different money system that consisted of gold pieces, silver pieces, copper pieces, and steel pieces. Celie explained to Wyatt and Mai that three steel pieces made up a copper piece, five copper pieces made up a silver piece, and ten silver pieces made up a gold piece. 

     Celie had only five dollars left in Earth money, but the rest of her bag was full of Solarian coins of every sort. Wyatt and Dakota had picked out eight sweets and two loaves of bread, which cost them three silver pieces and one copper piece. The man behind the counter didn't seem to hear so well, so they had a hard time communicating with him.

    “You want me to put cones on your head?”

    Wyatt was trying hard not to lose his patience, Mai could tell. “No,” he said calmly, “I said can we also get two loaves of bread.” By the time they had finally gotten what they wanted from the bakery, the man seemed very irritable, so they were glad to leave. When they stepped outside the store, Dakota searched around for Amo and Tito, he spotted Amo’s tail through the crowd, and as they pushed their way towards him they saw that he was curled up on the ground, and Tito was nowhere in sight.

    “Amo,” Dakota said as they approached, “Amo, wake up!” Amo jumped awake and looked around frantically. He calmed down when he saw Dakota and the others, but Dakota was not calm.

    “Amo, where’s Tito? Isn’t he with you?” Amo snorted and jerked his head in the direction of a barrel. But when Amo saw that Tito wasn’t there, he stood up suddenly, looking worried.

    “He’s not there, Amo!” Dakota cried. Amo was starting to look frantic. “You may have seen him there before, but he’s not here now!” Dakota shouted, Mai could tell he was getting mad. She looked around, keeping a look out for any sign of a bushy tail. Dakota seemed to be very angry with Amo, he was shouting things at him, but even though Mai and the others couldn’t hear Amo’s responses; they could tell he was trying to calm him down.

    Mai put a hand and Dakota’s shoulder. “Dakota—”

He whipped around and pushed her hand off. “What!” he shouted at her. “What do you want?” Mai snatched her hand back and stared at him, she had never seen him act like this before. A few people on the street stopped and stared as Dakota shouted, “What are you all looking at!” Everyone quickly turned and walked away, leaving a clearing around them.

    Mai took a deep breath. “Dakota I know you’re upset, but yelling won’t help find Tito. We’ll all help you look for him, don’t worry.”

     Dakota seemed to calm down slightly, but his only response was a nod. The four of them and Amo made their way around the small town, looking through the street, asking people if they had seen a small fox-squirrel, but no one seemed to have seen Tito. Mai could tell Dakota was on the verge of tears, she felt so sorry for him. She knew how hard it must be for him to lose Tito, and although she was upset too, she knew that it must be even worse for Dakota.  He had known Tito his whole life. As she carefully looked him over, she thought that he reminded her of someone. Someone she had known a long time ago, someone who had often lost control of his emotions like this, but that thought quickly faded away. She had never really been interested in boys before, but now? She couldn’t help the way she’d started feeling about Dakota, just in the past day or two. She tried to keep her mind busy with other things, but her thoughts always ended up on him no matter how hard she tried.

    He’s two years younger than you, Mai told herself.  I don’t have time to be thinking about this kind of thing right now.  

     Dakota’s rage was replaced by sorrow as the day went by. Tito was nowhere to be seen, and Mai was starting to think that it was useless to keep looking, but she didn’t want Dakota to be upset. She remembered how she had felt after Wyatt had fallen overboard, and knew Dakota was probably feeling the same way. They decided to split up.  They would cover more ground that way. Wyatt went with Celie and Amo, and Mai went with Dakota, they made arrangements to meet back up in front of the bakery. As the group went their separate ways, Mai took Dakota’s hand in hers.

    “I know how you must be feeling.” Dakota looked down at the floor, appearing lifeless. “I know it must be hard for you to lose him, but you can’t give up hope. If you give up hope, what else will you have?”

    Dakota looked up and met her eyes, a small smile on his face. “I’ll have you.” Mai felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

    She smiled back and hugged him. “It’ll be alright. We’ll find him, don’t worry.” As the day went on, Mai could tell they weren’t going to find Tito that day. She had a hard time telling this to Dakota, who barely acknowledged her. She led him back to the bakery, to find Celie, Wyatt, and Amo already waiting there for them. Dakota seemed eager to reach them

    “No luck,” said Wyatt glumly. Dakota hung his head, his spirits seemed to drop, and Mai still found it strange to see him like this, not his normal, happy, perky self. The usual sparkle was gone from his eye.

    “If it makes you feel better, we can camp here tonight. Maybe Tito will come find us in the middle of the night,” Mai offered. Wyatt and Celie looked at her in shock, but Dakota seemed to like the idea.

    “Sure, I guess.”

    The four of them, plus Amo, made their way out of the busy town—which took almost three hours—and finally found a small forest.  No more than a few acres of tree were on this island, but they were all glad to finally escape the rush of the Solarian city. The sun was starting to set, and everyone agreed to go to bed after they ate. Wyatt handed each of them two slices of bread, though they were all still hungry afterwards. No one wanted to sleep on the hard ground, but they managed to find a comfortable patch of grass and curled up. Within minutes, Mai heard Wyatt snoring and Celie’s deep breathing, Dakota had always been a quiet sleeper. It was very dark now, and Mai could hardly see. 

     She lay on her back for an hour or so, looking up at the stars. Once she thought she heard someone creeping around, but the sound went away quickly and she figured it was just an animal of some sort.  She hoped it was not a bear-coon. She was trying hard to fall asleep, but failing miserably. She decided, since she couldn’t sleep, to walk around just a bit. She stood up silently and tiptoed away from the others. She walked out a ways, careful not to wander too far away from the others. She heard the sound of a stream, trickling along, and slowly followed the sound until she stepped out into a small clearing in the trees. A small brook was running out towards the city, and Dakota was standing alone at the riverbank, practicing the Water Snake. 

    Mai walked up behind him and spoke quietly. “What are you doing out here?” Dakota turned around, surprised and dropped his Water Snake.

    “Mai, you scared me!” Mai walked up to him slowly, her violet cloak flapped behind her in the gentle breeze.

    “Sorry,” she said, “So what are you doing out here?” Dakota lifted another Water Snake from the brook.

    He swirled it around his head. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came over here to practice my Water Powers. What are you doing?”

    Mai shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep either. Want to practice together?” Dakota nodded, he seemed to be a bit less gloomy. They two practiced together, using every technique they could remember, it had to have been at least midnight before they finally decided to return to their campsite.

    On the walk back, Dakota said, “Mai, I know this might sound a little weird, but…” he took a deep breath, “You seem really familiar to me, like someone I knew a long time ago, someone I…loved.”

    Mai felt her heart wrench, that was exactly how she felt about him. He felt the same way?

    “Really?”

    Dakota chuckled. “Yeah, it’s weird but—”

    “No,” Mai interrupted, “No, it’s not weird at all. Well I mean—it is, but to tell the truth, I feel the same way about you, like I knew you a long time ago.” It was an awkward moment, Dakota was looking directly into her eyes, her face was burning, and she was just glad it was dark enough to hide that she was blushing. The two made their way back through the forest and found the place where Wyatt, Celie, and Amo were sleeping. They both lay down in the grass, side by side. Dakota heaved a heavy sigh.

    Mai took his hand. “You must miss him.”

    Dakota nodded. “Yeah, I do.”