Page 241 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Sawyer limped into the living area rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Andvari said our ride is here.”

“They are. We’re taking you home in style.”

“Not home,” Sawyer said with a sigh. “I want to go home, though.”

Henry reached out and grabbed Sawyer’s hand, threading their fingers together. “Then we’ll go to our home. I bet we can get Augustus to find us some fancy private jet to use. Or maybe one of those high-speed helicopters. That’d be fun, right?”

Sawyer smiled softly but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He leaned into Henry, touching their heads together as they looked out the door at all of the movement. Crew members were shuttling back and forth from the yacht, dropping them off on shore, and then going back for more.

There appeared to be seven of them on board, at least from what Henry could see. He knew Draco and Eduard would check it out thoroughly before they went on board. Henry planned on doing a quick magic check as well.

“I’m scared to go back there,” Sawyer whispered.

“Then we won’t go back,” Henry said. “It’s that simple. We’ve got to use the boat to get out of here, but there are a hundred places we can stop between here and the griffin’s island. We’ll hop off, get our own damn helicopter because you’re loaded and Eduard knows people who know people. And we’ll get Cecil and the crew to bring Pearl with them and get on the road.”

“Pearl,” Sawyer wheezed. “I don’t want to leave her there.”

Henry pulled Sawyer against him, holding him gently as he trembled. “What can I do?”

“I don’t know,” Sawyer said.

Draco landed on the ground in front of the cabin, transforming as he approached them. He wrapped his arms around them both, sending Henry a questioning look.

“He’s scared,” Henry murmured. “And he wants Pearl.”

“It sounds stupid when you say it,” Sawyer complained. He leaned into Draco, though, his body still shaking as their departure grew nearer.

“What do you want, love?” Draco asked quietly.

“I want to go home. To our home.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Eduard will have to stay behind and deal with… the situation, but he’ll be able to join us within a few—”

“No.” Sawyer lifted his head and stared into Draco’s eyes. “We stay together.”

He squeezed them both to him, shielding himself between their bodies. Henry met Draco’s gaze and cuddled close to Sawyer’s back.

“We’ll stay together,” Henry promised. “Will you be okay on the boat?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Henry said. “How about this: we try the yacht, at least to get us to civilization. You don’t want us to separate, but we don’t have a way out of here together unless we walk and you’re not really up for that, right? Then, if we get out there and you’re not okay, Draco will fly you and Eduard will fly Andvari. We’ll have the yacht guys floor it and get me and Ward back to you as fast as they can. We don’t have enough fliers for us to all go together that way, but those yachts can move so we wouldn’t be apart for more than a few hours.”

Sawyer reached back and tugged Henry around so he could see him. They stood huddled in a circle, waiting for Sawyer to think through the options. “Okay. We can try that.”