When Raf woke, Hinata was absent. The fire was still going, so he figured they must be nearby.

  His muscles were agonizing. The chains were so heavy he struggled to sit up. He was getting stronger, but his body needed time to recover. Once he managed to stand, Raf looked around for Hinata.

  Looking over the ledge, he started to hyperventilate. Even after swinging one-handed, looking down at the beach from this high up still activated a physical trauma response. Raf collapsed to the ground, frustrated and confused. He thought he'd overcome this already. Why was he still scared?

  On his hands and knees, dizzy with fright, Raf looked over the side for Hinata. His vision was blurring, but he saw them below, swinging just above the water's surface, throwing a chain into the ocean, hooking a fish with incredible aim and skill, and yanking it up quickly into a bag. Raf retreated to tend the fire.

  Hinata swung back up, landing nimbly on both feet and greeting Raf enthusiastically. "Good morning! I caught us some breakfast. Won't take long to cook. Sit tight. I got this."

  They wandered the grove for a short while, collecting herbs and such, then returning to the fire to sit in front of a wide flat rock. Hinata set the herbs and fruits they'd collected on the rock off to the side. Then, from a sheath on the side of their boot, they pulled out a knife and set it on the rock. Finally, from a bag on their side, they pulled out a large silver fish with rainbow scales and set it in the middle.

  It was already dead, either from bleeding out of the hook-induced hole in its body or from lack of water, but it died recently, so Hinata swiftly thanked it for nourishing them, gutted, scaled, and sliced it.

  They squeezed some oily fruit over the fish and rubbed the oil from head to tail, flipped it over, and did it again, this time sprinkling on some tiny green leaves they stripped off a stem. A stick was shoved through the hook-hole, and the fish was set over a low flame until crispy brown and sizzling.

  While that cooked, Raf and Hinata got to know each other. Raf inquired about their family life. Hinata grew up in a cave on the inside of the cliffs, near the cavern village. Their parents weren't thrilled with Hinata running off to the far corners of Crescent, but Hinata was old enough and capable enough to go anywhere they wanted. They had no siblings. Eight cousins.

  Meanwhile, Raf and Hinata ate a delicious, sweet, and healthy breakfast together. And Hinata got to know Raf better, too, inquiring as to his wounds and his upbringing.

  His injuries were healing slowly but steadily. Raf was used to the occasional bruise. Since the day he was old enough to hold a sword, Rowan trained him to be a deadly warrior. And not just in combat. Secretly, Rowan taught Raf and Morgan the fundamentals of mathematics, reading, writing, geography (local and global), wilderness survival, leadership, and critical thinking.

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  After breakfast, they relaxed in the sun, chatting, joking, and laughing. Time flew by, and for a little while, Raf forgot his dire mission and gave himself permission to rest and be happy.

  Then Raf remembered his sister was suffering, and it destroyed any happiness he felt. By evening, Raf had rested enough, and it was time to continue to the last peak.

  His muscles were still sore. His shoulder ached. The wound on the side of his head itched as the skin healed. And his fear of heights still paralyzed him at the ledge. Raf tried to hide his fear from Hinata, but they intuited much of the truth and were gently supportive and encouraging.

  By sundown, Raf and Hinata reached the other side of the island.

  "That's got to be the last peak," said Hinata, pointing upward while dangling in the air.

  A plume of dark grey smoke rose from behind the peak, barely distinguishable in the twilight of dusk. "And that must be Sophia's signal," Raf thought aloud.

  "Race you there!" Hinata swung forward.

  Hinata knew the area better than Raf, but Raf wasn't playing. He was determined, and that plume of smoke meant the next step on his journey to save Morgan. Nothing was going to get in the way. Up his sleeve, Raf had Sophia and her solid flame chain.

  With angelic strength, he catapulted himself over Hinata. Sophia's chain shot into the cliff wall itself, guiding him around a bend, securing Raf's fall, and then launching him forward again.

  Unlike Hinata, Sophia didn't need poles to grapple onto. Sophia's chain fluidly molded to the size and shape of any location required and released as rapidly. So it was no contest. Raf reached the source of the smoke long before Hinata.

  The smoke billowed out of a crack in the mountain. It was well-secluded and inaccessible for anyone without a grappling chain and a lot of determination. If not for the smoke, the opening would have been invisible from the ground below.

  Raf looked into the crevice and saw an underground forest, just as Sophia mentioned, except everything was on fire. Raf looked down in horror at the flaming cavern.

  "Sophia! Sophia, what do I do?" he begged for guidance as Hinata climbed up the ledge behind him.

  The chains vibrated with sound, and Sophia's voice sang out. "Jump into the fire. There is little time. Chainfisher, you did well guiding Rafael to this threshold. Wait here, and when you see a sign, follow it."

  Raf turned to Hinata, and their eyes met his.

  "I want to go with Raf," Hinata pleaded.

  "You will not survive where Raf is going," answered Sophia. "Say goodbye now."

  Hinata looked devastated. Raf almost cried with them. Instead, he rushed forward to embrace them.

  "Thank you for saving me," whispered Raf.

  "Thank you for giving me hope again," Hinata whispered back. "Don't die, and don't forget me."

  "I won't. I promise."

  They held each other for a moment longer, and as they separated, both thought they might share a first kiss, but Raf turned, ran, and leapt into the smoke.