Ankyra Sound Judah sees a ghost

The last image of his father is conjured by the sting of her question. He shakes his head slowly: I don’t know.

Why had his family left? Even dad had given up, too.

It had awakened something, a place where pain could enter. It tethers him to this girl’s suffering. But he is also bound by endless love. Somewhere in these wilds is his father. He will find him, and together they will return to their island, to rebuild Sweetharbor into a place of healing. A refuge for those who cannot yet see their own brilliance through the darkness; a place for those like Caracal, and maybe for those like this girl, too.

All the boy's doing is by gesture; a tender touch to her shoulder with his own, eyes that look intently into her face, communicating wordlessly that he is here.

He thanks God silently. He had showed him there was great work to be done, and that it would not be done alone.