"Is there a doctor in town?"
"Not exactly."
"More of a medicine man?"
"Something like that."
"What's wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend."
"It's nothing. It's just that I didn't leave town on the best terms."
"What's that mean?"
She gave him an abbreviated version of what had happened her last day in town, ending with her screaming at Prudence, Rebecca, and the other children. "I know it was wrong. I was just so angry. I was tired of looking after them."
"I get it. You had a lot on your shoulders. It wasn't really fair at your age and with what happened to your memory."
"Still, it was wrong of me to snap at them, especially Prudence. She was my friend."
"I'm sure when we get there you can make it up to her."
"I hope so. She might still be mad at me."
"You kids will work it out."
Samantha nodded. She forced herself to smile. "I guess there's only one way to find out. We'd better get going." She took up the net again and then began pulling him up the trail, into the forest.
***
Samantha almost made Uncle Hector scream again when she dropped the stretcher. She hadn't meant to be so abrupt, but when she had seen the village, her hands had gone slack. "It's gone," she whispered. "It's all gone."
"What's going on, Lucy?"
"The town. It's destroyed." All that remained standing was the church, which looked relatively untouched. The rest had been reduced to piles of wood and stone. The dormitories, Prudence's shop, everything was gone. "This is awful."
"If you want to leave me and go look for your friends-"
"No, I can't leave you. We'll go to the church. Someone might be there."
The children might have gone somewhere else to find shelter from the storm. They could have gone down to the barns, Miss Brigham's cabin, or even the Fountain of Youth cave. Or without her there to help Miss Brigham, maybe they hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe the dormitories had collapsed on them.
She bit down on her lip to keep herself from crying. She couldn't jump to conclusions yet. Not only for herself, but for Uncle Hector as well. He needed her help; she couldn't fall to pieces on him.
Her silent prayers were answered when the front door of the church opened. Little Annie burst from the church to race towards Samantha. "Samantha's back!" she shouted. "Samantha's back!"
Samantha had to let Uncle Hector's stretcher go so she could catch Annie. The little girl threw her arms around Samantha in a hug. She felt Annie's tears on her cheek. "It's all right," Samantha said. She ran a hand through Annie's platinum hair. "I'm fine."