Despite her smaller size and weaker muscles, she refused to give Molly up. Whenever she did, the baby would start bawling again, which only made Rebecca cry. That in turn made Prudence cry. Prudence had an easier time of things, still wearing her shoes, though now they were three or four sizes too big. Since neither of them had footwear that fit, they hadn't progressed very far, not after they stopped their panicked flight from the cave.

"Where are we?" Rebecca asked, a childish whine in her voice.

"I don't know," Prudence said.

"So we're lost?"

"We'll find the village soon enough," Prudence said.

"You said that hours ago. My feet are tired." Not only were her feet tired, they were cut from rocks and fallen branches as well. She supposed it was ironic that after what had happened she needed a sip of the fountain water now.

"If you're tired then let me take Molly."

"No. She's sleeping."

"Fine. We'll take a break. Just a short one."

They collapsed onto a scorched tree trunk with tired sighs. Rebecca looked down at Molly, who cooed but didn't open her eyes. "She's going to be hungry soon. We gotta get her back to town."

"Don't you think I know that?" Prudence began to sob. Right on cue, Molly woke up and began to wail.

"Prudence, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Look at us! Miss Brigham is a baby, you're a toddler, and I'm a little kid again. It's not fair."

"We'll grow up again. You know that."

"Maybe, but Samantha was already so much older than me. Now that I'm littler she won't want to be friends anymore."

"I'm sure she won't think that. Even if she does, you'll still be my friend." Rebecca smiled at Prudence. "You're probably twice as old as me now."

Prudence smiled back for a moment. Then her smile faded. "You're so much braver than me. When he was going to throw that water, you protected Molly. I wouldn't have thought of that. I was too scared to do anything." Prudence started to sob again. "And now you're so much littler than me. It's not fair."

"Prudence-"

"You don't have to reassure me. I know how things are."

"You're plenty brave, Prudence."

"Am not."

Though her feet still ached, Rebecca got to her feet. She rocked Molly as much as she could manage. "We'll be all right. All of us. We'll find the village and then we'll tell Samantha what happened and we'll stop Mr. Delgado and then we'll rebuild the island."

"Sure we will," Prudence said, though she didn't sound like she believed it.

"Look on the bright side, we both lost some weight, right?"




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