Everyone was shocked. Poppy glowered at Jeorge, her eyes aflame.
"Give it back," she whispered furiously. Suppressed rage boiled inside of her, just waiting to be unleashed. She was about ready to explode when Jeorge looked her straight in the eye.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I took your stone, and I'm sorry I made you mad in the first place. Will you forgive me?"
Poppy's rage drained away, and she was touched. So Poppy did what she aways did when she was moved by something. She apologized. Poppy was seldom guilt-stricken, so she very rarely apologized. But when she did, it was like a reversal of everything normal. Words spilled from her mouth, and she let them flow.
"I forgive you! I'm so sorry that I got angry, and maybe we can continue to travel. If not, that's okay too."
Jeorge beamed at her. Poppy smiled, and her face lit up beautifully. He reached out and handed her the stone. It had obviously been polished, and shimmered like it was brand-new. Each of the crudely sculpted petals had been hewn into a precise shape and detailed finely with gold. A single amber stone shimmered in the center. Poppy stared at the elegant thing resting in her rough hands, and started to apologize all over again. Jeorge hugged her, laughing a little.
The girl stared as the boy with the dark hair and the girl with the powerful eyes embraced. The stone that she had slipped to the girl with the powerful eyes shone with a great light. She didn't know why, but something seemed familiar about the girl. She didn't have any sisters. Why did it seem like she had a connection to the girl with the stormy eyes? She reached back and rubbed the odd birthmark behind her left ear, the one shaped like an eye.