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Soon Ms Octavia and the squirrelicorns made it to shore, followed by Henry and Crow, and then out of the water rose Florence, unscathed

Alex craned his neck and squinted to scan the water "Have you seen Spike?" Alex called out to her "Is she okay?"

"She’s great And having more fun than anyone else under the circuhtning "Apparently she found a lagoon on the leeward side of the island where the water’s not as rough," Florence said "She’ll be fine there I told her to hole up for the duration and we’d find her e need her"

"Good" Alex sighed in relief and batted at a sodden lock of hair that kept dripping into his eye He looked around in the diht? Where’s Kitten?"

"I’ve got her," Saed fro and over to Fox to perch on his head

"I feel bloated," Fox said to no one in particular

"Okay, good," Alex said, ignoring Fox for the moment "Squirrelicorns?"

"Over here in the corner," piped one of them "Six in number, sir!"

"Great Everyone’s accounted for"

"Except the ship," Florence said "And it’s too dark to see if any of it survived"

That took the mood down considerably For several oing to get out of here?"

Finally, Alex quieted the group He didn’t have an answer, but he knew things weren’t completely dire "Look, everyone," he said "I know this feels bleak, and we’re all cold and wet, but we’re safe, and we have to stay positive," he said "We’re sure this out Once the storm is over we can see what the ship looks like And at the very least, we’ll have Simber back here soon to rescue us I’m sure he’ll find us It’s hard to miss Florence when you have eyes as sharp as his" He sounded ht," Ms Octavia said "Simber will be back to save us All is not lost" She looked at Florence, then tapped a tentacle to her lips as her face clouded "Well, except for you," she said