It was early in the morning when Audrey shook me awake for my turn on watch. Still dazed, I walked to the front of the boat where Isaac was already sitting.

"Hey," I mumbled sleepily.

"Hey," he replied. He passed me a small tin. "Chocolate?"

"Oh my goodness, yes," I said, gratefully taking the tin and taking some out. "Where did you get this?"

"It was in the food storage place," he responded simply.

"Hm." I took a bite, savoring the sweetness.

Isaac bumped my arm. "Look at Deynan and Sophie."

I turned and saw that Sophie was snuggled up against his side, his arm curled around her shoulders. I gasped slightly. "Awww! They're gonna be so embarrassed when they wake up."

Isaac laughed softly. "Yeah." He tilted his head. "Deynan acts differently around her. It's slight, but it's there. He's a bit gentler, a bit more teasing instead of blunt."

"Sophie's different too," I said. "She's more outspoken, less shy. I can't tell if he annoys her or if she views him as a challenge. It's weird."

Isaac nodded. "Yeah. Weird. Maybe they like each other."

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the sleeping pair again. "Maybe. But if they do, they definitely don't know it yet."

Isaac laughed again. "You're right. It'll be interesting to watch it play out." His gaze shifted over our sleeping friends before coming to rest on a certain dark skinned girl.

"What do you think of Amarie?" I asked quietly.

Isaac let out a slow breath. "I think she's incredible."

I smiled. "Why do you say that?"

"It's...hard to put it into words," he said. "She's just gone through so much. Her entire childhood, she was raised in fear and hatred, in an environment that perpetuated negativity and pain. Most people take that kind of pain and become twisted and cruel, or selfish and horrible. All the Tormentors and Tempters stem from fear. They can bring us to our knees. I can be bitter, Deynan can be greedy, Ravi can be self-focused. I don't know about you guys."

"Audrey can be abrasive or caught up in her own guilt, Sophie can be self-deprecating and distrustful, I can be dishonest and weak-willed," I said softly.

Isaac nodded. "Exactly. Because we all have fear in our lives. It's unavoidable. But Amarie...she was surrounded by fear and tortured and who knows what else. And yet, she still manages to be kind and polite and selfless. She turned all that negativity on herself. She's trapped herself in a prison of self-loathing, but towards the rest of the world, she has shown nothing but kindness and helpfulness, even though she has every reason to hate the world." Isaac shook his head in wonder. "She's...amazing. I've never met anyone quite so strong. And she doesn't even know it."

I stared at Amarie, curled into a tight ball, defensive even in sleep. "She is pretty incredible, isn't she?"

He nodded. "Now if only she understood that." He chuckled. "She doesn't even know how beautiful she is, and even a blind person could tell that."

I nodded, though a small part of me smiled on the inside. Could it be that Isaac liked her more than he let on?

"That's what I told Ravi when we first met her," I said.

Isaac grinned. "Did he disagree?"

I looked at him in surprise. "Yeah. How did you know?"

Isaac chuckled. "She's not his type."

"That's what he said too!" I gasped. Isaac clearly knew his friend well. "What is his type? He wouldn't tell me."

Isaac shook his head. "Sierra, for as good as you are with people, you sure can be dense sometimes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He looked at me slyly. "Why are you so interested in Ravi's type anyway?"

Heat rise in my cheeks and I looked away. "I don't know, I'm just curious."

Isaac leaned towards me. "Sierra...what are your favorite things about Ravi?"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

He shrugged mischievously. "Just curious."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow, but indulged him. "Well...Ravi is smart, obviously. But also very caring about others, even though he may not realize it. He makes me laugh. He has a strong sense of right and wrong. And mostly, when he really cares, when it really matters, he puts his whole heart into it. Just watching the determination in his eyes, his passion...it's really awe-inspiring."

Isaac was quiet for a few minutes. The waves lapped gently against the side of the boat.

Then he smiled broadly. "Oh man. You guys are perfect."

I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head, still grinning. "Don't worry about it."

I still had questions—like, why did he care?—but kept them to myself. Except for one.

"Isn't this technically gossiping?"

Isaac laughed. "Oh man. Uh...nah. We're just talking about our friends while they sleep. Literally behind their backs."

"Well, when you put it like that," I grumbled.

Isaac laughed again. "But don't feel bad. We're saying nice things!"

I chuckled. "Fair."

A comfortable silence fell between us, and I found that I felt no obligation to break it. So we sat like that until the sun peaked over the horizon.

~~~~

The morning passed somewhat quickly, everyone tending to keep to themselves. There was a lazy, relaxed air about the boat. I sat on the bench and gazed at the gentle motion of the water.

Ravi came over and sat beside me. "Hey."

I smiled almost without thinking and subconsciously tucked my hair behind my ear. "Hey."

"What's on your mind?"

I shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. Just...appreciating the world, I guess. The water is really pretty. And the breeze, and the sunshine, and the sky...it's all so magnificent, and sometimes, it's nice to just sit and appreciate it for a second."

Ravi rested his elbows on the rail. "I think there are people like that too. People who are magnificent and beautiful, but everyone just kind of takes them for granted. They need to be appreciated too."

I smiled at his kind thought. "Yeah. Everyone needs a kind word now and then." I glanced over and realised with surprise that he was staring at me. The moment we made eye contact, he looked away quickly. I blushed, my heart beating a little faster.

Gah. What was wrong with me?

"Hey, Sierra!" Deynan shouted, snapping me out of my awkward moment. "Your butterfly thingy!" He pointed towards the glittering orange hair clip, flapping closer and closer towards us. I grinned, and everyone stood up to gather around it.

It landed on my outstretched finger and the familiar orb floated out. Tess' voice rang out throughout us. "Hey. Tess here. You knew that, of course, sorry...I always find this a bit weird. Anyway, the attacks are getting worse. They're way more frequent. We're rotating between small groups of people. Everyone is fighting at this point. I'm not sure how much worse it will get."

"On the bright side," a new voice piped in, "there are fewer monsters in the attacks themselves!"

"Shut UP, Lee," Tess grumbled. "Didn't I say you could only be here if you promised to keep quiet?"

"Yeah, I know, but you were making it sound so NEGATIVE. Not everything is bad!" Lee's voice was considerably more chipper.

Tess sighed. "You're impossible. Whatever. Yeah, okay, I guess that's true. But still. The sooner you defeat this guy, the better. That's the problem with synthetic monsters—they don't get tired. And I'm tired."

"I'll give you strength, Tess!"

"For crying out loud, you only have one leg!"

"My lack of a limb doesn't mean my heart is any weaker."

"Oh my god, what is wrong with you? Listen, we need to finish this message. Sorry, guys. I'll control her better next time. Or just throw her off the dock. Who knows? Anyway, good luck. Go slay some monsters."

"Bye!"

The orb sank back into the butterfly and a new one floated up. I glanced around at my companions, who shrugged.

"I don't really think we have anything to say," I muttered. The others nodded in agreement. I looked at the butterfly curiously and tapped the orb. It went away and the butterfly went inanimate in my hand.

I raised an eyebrow. "I guess that worked." I replaced the clip in my hair.

Audrey stretched out her back. "Well," she said, "what now?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"Truth or dare!" Deynan shouted excitedly.

Sophie's eyes widened. "Um..."

Ravi grinned slowly. "I think it's a good idea. There are some questions I wanna ask you, Deynan."

Deynan narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"

They held eye contact for a few more seconds. Deynan scowled. "If you ask me what I think you're going to ask me, I'll just ask you right back, Ravioli, so watch it."

Ravi nodded slowly. "Fair enough. So we shouldn't play?"

Deynan looked down and grumbled under his breath. "Probably not."

The rest of the boat shared concerned glances. What were they talking about?

Then Isaac let out a laugh. "Oh, I get it. Maybe we should. Say, Deynan, what do you think—"

Deynan jabbed a finger in Isaac's direction, effectively cutting him off. "Oh, no. You wanna play that game? Because Ravi and I will destroy you."

Isaac pursed his lips in thought, his cheeks growing pink. "You may be right."

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Audrey demanded.

"Nah," the three boys said in unison. Sophie giggled, then sighed.

Just then, I felt a tap on my elbow. I turned to see Amarie. She fiddled nervously with her fingers. "Um, Sierra? I don't know if this is important or not, but I had a dream last night, and the mirrors were there, and Ravi said something about them earlier..."

"That's very important," I said, somewhat in surprise. "What was the dream?"

The group fell silent as Amarie began. "Well, it wasn't anything special. There were mostly images of Damius grinning or laughing or...I'm not sure. It was hard to tell because the image was so broken up."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Amarie shrugged delicately. "The mirror had cracks in it."

I shared a concerned glance with Ravi, but she kept going. "But what was most interesting was that the image sort of...shifted back. And I could see the area around the mirror."

Ravi straightened. "What do you mean?"

"It was a huge cavern, full of mirrors. They were all drifting around, each one reflecting a different scene. There were small strings of dim light everywhere. It was strange."

Ravi narrowed his eyes. "That is strange. I wonder what it means."

"Do you think there's a place where all the soul mirrors are?" Sophie suggested. "Maybe not physical, but a sort of shared separate plane of reality."

"What?" Deynan said.

"That might be it," Ravi said, nodding slowly.

"Well, as fascinating as this conversation is, I'm afraid we have to cut it short," Audrey declared.

"Why is that?" Amarie asked, nervousness creeping into her voice.

Audrey pointed to the sky. "What else? Another Whisperer."

~~~~~~

A/N: Sorry this is so late! But, exciting announcement! I GOT MORE FANART! I'm kind of freaking out, you guys, this is the most amazing thing ever. ^_^ Anywho, here it is!

From the app Recolor, here's @GoldenInkDrop's artwork of Sierra. I'm smiling so big right now, I'm so happy!

Also, there is now a movement to call my readers Mythical Beans (for an explanation to that, look at my "A Splatter of Paint" chapter). What do you think? XD

Much love to all,
Margot