Chapter 1~The Island
It was now almost a week after the business team of Lanner, Harper, and Davis had moved their families to the city of Gold Coast, Australia. It was the third move of the year and Jillian Lanner, Alice Harper, and Rikki Davis were sick of all the moving around. No matter where they moved, they could never make any good friends before it was time to move again. So after a while they decided to stick together so that no matter where they went they never had to say goodbye.

"This place is so weird," Rikki mumbled as they walked along the sidewalk in their new neighborhood. The girls decided to go check out the beach that was down the street from their new homes.

"It's not too bad," Jill shrugged, trying to be optimistic, "I mean, it's got a beach and palm trees."

"We had that stuff in California," Rikki reminded her as they neared the beach, "Besides, the people talk funny and the driver's seat is on the wrong side of the car."

"So what? Who cares?" Alice asked in her usual perky voice.

"I do, that's who," Rikki answered. Jill shook her head and laughed quietly.

"Rikki, you always have something to complain about," Jill told her with a smile.

"That's because there's always something to complain about," Rikki replied with a grin as the three of them stepped onto the beach.

"Hey, look at that," Alice said in a suddenly quiet voice, pointing toward an island out in the distance. Rikki and Jill followed Alice's gaze to the island. They let out a quiet gasp when they caught sight of the island. There was something beautiful, mysterious, and magical about that island. What it was, they did not know.

"Wow. That island is beautiful," Alice and Rikki whispered in unison.

"Why don't we take a boat out to the island and get a closer look?" Rikki suggested, looking from Alice to Jill.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Alice exclaimed excitedly with a big grin.

"Jill?" Rikki asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't know," Jill replied, unsure.

"Sorry, you're out-numbered," Rikki told her with a shrug, leading them over to the boat docks. Jill and Alice followed close behind.

When they'd gotten to the island, they jumped onto the beach and pulled the boat out a little farther onto the shore. Then, they made their way inland. They weaved in and out of trees and bushes and tripped on a few rock here and there. Finally, they came to a small waterfall with rocks and boulders everywhere. They climbed up onto the boulder from which the waterfall flowed.

"This place is so____WHOA!!!" Alice screamed as she slid down into a dark cave. Rikki and Jill glanced at each other then back at the dark cave.

"Alice! Are you OK?!" They shouted down the cave in unison.

"Yeah! Just a little freaked out!" Alice answered from the bottom of the cave.

"Well, do you think you can climb back up?" Jill asked loudly. There was a shuffling sound from down in the cave and then it stopped.

"No. It's too steep!"Alice told her. Jill thought for a second then decided to come down to Alice.

"Look out! I'm coming down!" Jill warned, then she jumped into the cave, Rikki followed close behind. Jill hit the bottom of the cave and let out a small, "Ooof!" Seconds later, Rikki crashed into her.

"OUCH!" Jill shouted falling flat on her face, "A bit of warning would've been nice, Rikki!"

"Sorry," Rikki apologized in a defensive sort of way, "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"Well, you were supposed to stay up there and throw down a rope!" Jill exclaimed fustratedly, sitting up and wiping the dirt off herself.

"What rope?! There is no rope!" Rikki yelled back, "We're in the middle of a deserted island!!!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!!!" Alice yelled, her face turning a bright red. Jill and Rikki looked at Alice in shock. They'd never seen Alice so angry. Alice was usually the peace keeper and never seemed to get too mad.

"Sorry," Jill and Rikki mumbled in unison. Alice let out a big sigh and smiled at her friends.

"Thank you," Alice thanked in a quiet whisper. "Now Jill, it was pretty stupid to think that there was a rope somewhere out here.

"But..." Jill protested, but Alice quickly silenced her. Alice turned to point at Rikki and said, "You should have looked for something to pull us up."

"Like what?!" Rikki asked crossing her arms in front of her and raising her eyebrows.

"I don't know! A long tree branch maybe!" Alice replied, rolling her eyes in an annoyed way, "So how are we going to get out of here?" The girls looked around the cave and spotted a small tunnel. Rikki and Alice's blue eyes stopped at the tunnel. Jill continued to look for a way out. Rikki looked from Jill to Alice then back at Jill, slightly confused.

"How about this tunnel?" Rikki suggested, pointing at the tunnel behind her. At the suggestion, Jill's face went a ghostly pale.

"No way!" Jill refused shaking her head, "There's probably snakes and bugs or-or-"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Rikki asked, putting her hands on her hips, "We can't get out the way we came. It's the tunnel or we stay down here."

"Fine," Jill mumbled in reluctant agreement, crossing her arms, "But if I get attacked by a snake, it's your fault."

"I can live with that," Rikki told her, nodding her head. Then she turned around and crawled into the tunnel, followed closely by Alice. Jill sat in the same spot for a few more seconds, her mouth wide open in shock then reluctantly followed Alice. They crawled through the tunnel for, what felt like half an hour. Finally they came to the end of the tunnel and walked into a big, rocky, underground space. On one side of the space, there was a small, blue pool. Above the pool was the cone of the volcano. The sky was dark and the stars were out.

"We're gonna be in so much trouble when we get home," Jill muttered, shaking her head, "I'll be grounded for weeks! Maybe even a month!"

"Maybe there's a way out through this pool," Alice thought aloud, ignoring Jill's comment, "I'll check." She sat down and started to take her shoes off. "You guys stay here," Alice ordered as she stood up and got ready to dive.

"No problem," Rikki replied, leaning against a large rock wall. Seconds later, Alice dove into the pool. Jill sat down next to the pool and stared at the water, watching closely for Alice. "This place is really cool," Rikki commented looking around herself as she walked over and sat next to Jill, "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is…I guess," Jill somewhat agreed with a shrug.

"What do you mean 'I guess'?" Rikki asked somewhat surprised. Jill was usually the most adventurous of the three. It was very rare that Jill would pass up any opportunity for any kind of adventure.

"What is up with you today?" Rikki demanded. But before Jill could answer, Alice was back.

"I was right, it's about a twenty second swim out," Alice told them.

"Great, let's get out of here," Rikki sighed as she started to take her shoes off.

"Are you this is the only possible way out?" Jill asked desperately. Rikki and Alice exchanged looks of confusion then looked back at Jill.

"Positive," Alice assured her, "Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. There's just something weird about all of this," Jill replied with a shrug, slowly starting to take her shoes off, "About this island, the cave, and that pool."

"Now that the mention it, I have been getting a weird feeling about this too," Rikki agreed, nodding her head and looking up at the cone-shaped opening above the pool.

"Me too, but we have to get out of here, so come on," Alice ordered, gesturing to her friends to get in the pool. Tossing her shoes to the side, Rikki stood up and jumped into the pool.

"Come on Jill. We don't want to have to leave you here," Rikki warned only half joking. Sighing, Jill stood up and, closing her eyes tightly, she jumped into the pool.

"Ready?" Alice asked once Jill came back up. But before Jill or Rikki could even nod in reply, the pool started to bubble. The three of them looked up at the cone-shaped opening above them. Directly above the pool, centered in the opening was the full moon. The girls stared at the moon until they could no longer see it. Once the moon was out of sight, the pool stopped bubbling.

"Wow," Jill said, a little shaky.

"Come on, let's get out of here before anything else weird happens," Alice told Jill and Rikki, with a note panic in her voice. They nodded and quickly followed Alice out of the cave through the pool. Once they were out, they quickly swam to the surface. They took one last glance at the island behind them then turned their backs on the island. Suddenly, a bright light from a rescue boat flashed on them.

"Please calmly and quickly make your way over to the boat!" a man with a megaphone on the boat ordered. So the girls quickly swam over to the boat. Another person on the boat helped them on board and gave them each a towel.