"You came!" Ello cried as the inflatable boat bumped against the houseboat. "I thought you wouldn't!"
"Of course we came," Zann said. He was happy to finally see Ello's face in person. "Help us up."
Ello held out his hand. Everyone climbed up onto the houseboat's deck, and then Zann and Darb pulled up the inflatable boat.
Gliss turned to smile at Ello.
"We're glad you're safe!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"Hey!" Ello shook off her hug and took a quick step back.
Perda frowned at him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Ello said quickly. "Uh, I'm sorry. I've been alone so long.
I guess I've forgotten how to act around people."
Zann glanced around. "Wow, this houseboat is bigger than it looked from a distance."
He bent to peer at an odd stain on the floor.
The boat was missing a few chunks of wood here and there too.
But for the most part, the vessel seemed sturdy.
"Why are you alone?" Gliss asked Ello. "What happened to your people?"
Ello scratched his head. He was wearing a pair of dark gloves.
That seemed a little odd to Zann, but he soon forgot about it.
There were more important questions to be answered.
"Wyssa said she was going to come back and rescue you," Zann said. "Didn't she do that?"
Ello frowned. "She did come back to Skellia.
She promised to take all of them—uh, I mean us—to an unoccupied world where we could resettle.
But when they left, I was at the back of the group. They accidentally left me behind."
Gliss gasped. "That's horrible! Didn't she come back for you?"
Zann was wondering the same thing. Wyssa might be kind of cranky and unpredictable, but she had very strong magical powers.
She could have easily come back and rescued Ello once she realized he was missing.
"Obviously not." Ello frowned, looking around the houseboat.
"I figured a gulper must have eaten all the wormholes after they left.
Or maybe she just didn't bother to come back for me."
He shrugged. "Wyssa probably had other things on her mind besides helping me."
Ello sounded bitter. Zann was surprised.
The last time Zann had met Ello, the Skellian boy was kind and optimistic despite his people's dire situation.
But Ello had been alone for a long time now.
He'd been left behind and apparently forgotten.
Anyone in his situation would be bitter.
Darb was peering through a door leading to the interior of the houseboat.
"This place is pretty nice," he said. "Where did it come from?"
"Where did what come from?" Ello fiddled with the tips of one glove, not looking at Zann or his friends.
"The houseboat," Perda said. She sounded impatient. "Where did you get this houseboat?"
"I made it, of course," Ello said.
"Really?" Darb stared at him in surprise.
Zann and the girls walked over to Darb and looked through the door too.
The interior room contained a bed, a table, and various other necessities.
"But your people don't have much magic," Gliss blurted out.
"How in the world did you make all this stuff?"
"Yeah," Zann said. "Uh, no offense. But last time we met, you could barely conjure food or water.
So how did you manage to conjure this boat all by yourself?"
Ello looked away from them and bit his lip.
"Um . . . I'll tell you about it later, okay?
Right now we have to get out of here.
A storm is coming, and my boat just sprang a leak this morning. See?"
He knelt down and placed his gloved palm on the deck.
At that moment Zann was distracted by the guidelink, which jumped in his pocket.
He glanced down and wondered what had set it off.
Then he noticed a gulper glide by.
Perhaps that creature's magic had caused the guidelink to jump?
He turned his attention back to Ello. Ello had just stood up again.
In the spot he'd touched, water was welling up through a crack in the boards.
"Yikes!" Perda stared at the leak. "I didn't see that at first.
You're right—we need to get out of here."
"Especially if Ello’s correct and there's going to be a storm." Darb squinted up at the sky.
Zann looked up too. As usual on Skellia, the sky was filled with foreboding clouds, though the sun was peeking through in a few spots.
It didn't look particularly stormy to Zann.
But he assumed Ello knew the weather on Skellia much better than he did.
"Okay, let's take our boat," he said.
"We can use the guidelink to find a wormhole."
"The what?" Ello sounded curious.
While Darb and the girls tossed the boat back into the sea, Zann quickly told Ello about the guidelink.
"Its power will attract gulpers," Zann said.
"But if we're quick, we can get through a wormhole before they catch up."
By then the other three kids were already in the boat. "Hurry up!" Perda called.
"Coming!" Zann jumped into the smaller boat.
Then he looked up. "Come on, Ello!"
Ello hesitated, looking fearful as he stared down at them.
"Hurry!" Gliss cried.
Finally Ello jumped off the deck. Just then a large wave pushed the small boat away.
Ello let out a cry as he plunged into the sea between the two vessels.
"Oops," Zann said. "Get ready to help him aboard when he surfaces."
He leaned over the side, ready to grab Ello's hand.
But when Ello's head finally popped into view, he was too far away.
"Swim this way!" Perda called.
Ello's arms flailed. He gurgled and sank underwater again.
"Oh no!" Gliss cried. "I think he's drowning!"