Next time

Ryder's eyes widen as he gets hit in the arm, and his initial reaction is to recoil in irritation. But then he sees Thirteen's tears. Hearing her wavering voice, he suddenly realizes what he'd just done. And he feels terrible. "Aw, Thirteen."

He hangs his head, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back up at her. He hadn't been thinking. He thought she'd be okay at the back of the crowd, and to him, fooling with the crocodile wasn't anything to get excited over. But he often forgot that to other people, it was scary.

Reaching out, he pulls her into a hug instead of chiding her. "I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I wasn't thinking." Pulling back, he ducks to see her eyes, wiping away some of her tears with his thumb. "I'm okay, see? It's nothing to be scared of... remember all those stories I told you about me and crocodiles? This is just another one of those." He tries to get her to smile. "C'mon, ay? Don't be mad at me. Next time I won't leave you with a mob, k?"