"It'll hurt for a few minutes, but it'll be better, I promise," Lincoln Cole told the little boy in front of him as he bandaged up his arm. The little boy smiled up at him before running off to find his friends and continue playing. Lincoln smiled as he watched him run off before straightening up and turning around to see his aunt, Emmaline Cole, standing behind him. She had a knowing smile on her face and her hands on her hips.
"You like being a doctor?" She asked him and he nodded his head.
"I do. It helps people," He said as he glanced around the small village they had stopped to resupply in before they would continue on with the search for Emmet Cole, Lincoln's father and Emmalina's older brother. He had gone missing six months ago. After everyone had given up hope that they would find him, his beacon had gone off. Lincoln's mother, Tess, had put together a crew to go find him.
"Other jobs help people too," Emmalina pointed out to him.
"I save people's lives, Aunt Em," Lincoln said quietly and she nodded her head, understanding him. He started to say more, but the sound of a helicopter approaching the area stopped him and he glanced over to see it land. Out of the cockpit emerged Lena and Brielle Landry. Daughters of Russ Landry, a cameraman who had gone missing with Emmet. They were both blonde and blue eyed but Brielle was a lot more petite than Lena, and she had finer bone structure. The party walked forward to greet them.
"Lena, Brielle." Tess greeted them seriously, giving them a nod. Emmalina rolled her eyes at her sister-in-laws serious attitude and smiled at both the girls. Lincoln stepped forward and hugged both Lena and Brielle. Tess turned back to the group.
"Here we go, speech time," Emmalina muttered, pushing her dark, mahogany coloured hair off her shoulders and twisting it into a bun. She had the same deep blue eyes as her brother, with dark rings around the outside.
"Girls, I've already briefed everyone when we first set out and obviously you know why we're here." As Tess spoke to them, Emmalina watched the two. Lena tended to be more opinionated and outspoken, whereas Brielle was more quiet and watchful. Brielle glanced around, searching for the nearest free camera she could hide behind. Her father had always been behind the camera and she felt that's where she belonged as well.
"We want to help," Lena stated but Lincoln shook his head.
"There's nothing to help with," He told her.
"How could you not tell us Emmet's beacon went off?" Lena questioned. "If you can find Emmet, we can find our dad too. He was with him."
"Lena, the beacon was a dead end," Lincoln told her. "We don't even know where to look anymore," He added.
"Yes we do," Lena stated. "I know where the Magus is. We can find it, and they'll be there."
"Where is it?" Tess asked Lena.
"We're coming with you," She stated, determination in her green eyes. Tess sighed but nodded her head as she led the way back to the Hopewell. Once on the deck, Lincoln pulled out a map and led it across a table. Lena pulled out a GPS system and typed in something before pointing it out on the map.
"They'll be there," She said.
"Lena, there's nothing there," Lincoln said. "It's not on the map. All that's there is jungle, there's no river."
"I tracked the tide patterns. I had five different options, the other four didn't check out. But this one will," Lena explained. "That's the co-ordinates. That's where they'll be."
"There's nothing on the map. If it's not on the map it doesn't exist," Lincoln said. "There's no river for a boat to be on."
"They'll be there. They have to be. Emmet and our dad... they'll be there. We at least have to check, right?" She urged. "A boat doesn't just disappear."
Tess nodded. "All right. We'll go. Tell the rest of the crew," She said looking at Lincoln before Jahel spoke up from behind the group.
"No. Esto es Boiuna. No podemos ir alli," She said quietly, fear in her voice.
Tess glanced at the girl before turning back to Lincoln. "Tell the crew we're going," Tess stated, ignoring Jahel's comment.
"Wait... What'd she say?" A.J. asked.
"She said 'it's the Boiúnaand we shouldn't go there'," Lincoln translated.
"Why?" Clark asked.
"Does it matter why?" Tess asked, a little snappily. "We're going there and we're going to find Emmet," She stated.
"And our dad," Brielle said quietly, correcting Tess. That was the first time she had spoken since she had met up with the group.
"And anyone else on the expedition," Tess restated, not trying to single anyone out. Brielle gave her a long hard look before turning away. Emmalina shook her head before following the small blonde girl to the other side of the ship.
"Hey," she said and Brielle turned her blue eyes up to the older woman. "You okay? I know Tess can be a little... cold minded." Brielle shrugged her shoulders in response.
"She's just trying to find her husband," she said, her voice even. Emmalina raised her eyebrows.
"And I'm just trying to help, so are you but that doesn't seem to matter," she said before sighing. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since you were about eleven." Brielle smiled at her.
"You seemed so scary when I was little," she admitted, a little giggle exiting her lips. Emmalina raised her eyebrows.
"Me? Scary?" Emmalina paused and smiled. "I remember the first time your dad taught you how to use a camera, actually," she said, smiling fondly at the memory. Brielle smiled in return before falling quiet. She just had to find her father.
"You guys found the beacon?" Brielle asked glancing up at her.
Emmalina nodded her head. "Yeah... but it was a dead end, like Lincoln said. It was attached to a cage," She stated. Brielle glanced down, an odd look in her eyes, but Emmalina chose to ignore it and nodded. "We'll find them. Emmet and Russ and the rest of the crew. Don't worry Brie."
Brielle nodded her head and smiled up at the woman. "Thanks, Aunt Emma." Even though Emmalina wasn't related to either girl, Lena and Brielle still called her their aunt because she been there for them just like Emmet and Tess had, just as much as their own father. Emmalina gave a pained sort of expression when Brielle said 'aunt', but the younger girl didn't question it. And Emmalina quickly replaced it with an encouraging smile.
"No problem, sweetheart. Now, let's get onto the Zodiacs," She said as she motioned to the red rafts where the other members of the crew were loading up. Brielle nodded and weaved forward through the people. Emmalina watched her before glancing around. She saw Kurt, their security standing a little way away from the group, watching them. She walked over to him. Tess had hired him since the beacon had gone off but he had had little to do with the rest of the crew.
"Hey," she said, smiling up at him. He glanced down, his face completely devoid of emotion. "Well aren't you the friendly one," she joked.
"Friends are not what we are here for," he replied bluntly, his accent cutting through the air. Emmalina raised her eyebrows.
"And what exactly are we here for, then?" she asked.
"We are here to find your brother," he said pointedly. "That is what I'm being paid for." She studied him skeptically, not saying anything until her stare became obvious. "What?"
"Do you mean to say that if we weren't paying you, you wouldn't be here?"
"You are not paying me. He is," he replied harshly, indicating to Clark who was hauling something onto a boat. Emmalina's eyes flashed, and Kurt smirked at the emotion. "Are we done here?" he asked.
She simply nodded and walked away. She understood that he was security and the norm was for them to keep their distance but he didn't have to be rude. While it was true that Clark was paying, it was her and Tess who had organised for him to do so. She knew she would have to keep an eye on him. She shook her head before walking over to join the group at the edge of the boat. Everyone was climbing into the Zodiacs to ride it down the rest of the river where Lena and Brielle were telling them to go.
They only had two Zodiacs to ride, so the group had to be split up. In the one raft sat Sammy, Tess, Emmalina, Jahel and Emilio. The larger one held Kurt, Clark, A.J., Lincoln, Lena and Brielle. They followed the way the two girls had told them and found a smaller tributary off to the right of the main Amazon. Upon directing the Zodiacs into the smaller river, the sunlight slowly disappeared and could only be seen streaming through the tops of the trees. Brielle closed her eyes and enjoyed the cooler weather that came with the shade of the trees while Lena glanced at Lincoln.
"I expected for you to call when you found out his beacon went off..." She said quietly, glancing down at the floor of the raft.
Lincoln sighed. "I'm sorry... I got busy with school and things," He said. "I meant to call. I meant to call you both," He added glancing at Brielle who nodded and gave him a smile.
"So, what you do must be boring compared to what your father did," Clark commented, trying to get some rise out of the boy.
"Yeah well, that's the point. Science isn't a great big wonder anymore," Lincoln retorted. "Discoveries are made in the lab, not the jungle."
Brielle smiled at his answer before glancing out at the trees that surrounded them, then glanced down at the water. She watched small fish swim underneath the boat and she stuck her hand into the cool liquid, her fingertip grazing the surface. As they got further into the Boiúna, the trees overhead grew thicker and a dense fog rolled in over the water's surface, giving the area a cool, crisp feel. Out of the fog, bright blue dragonflies flew to greet the Zodiacs and Brielle smiled at the insects and the color. They were beautiful. One flew in front of Lincoln and hovered for a few moments, almost like it was staring him down before darting away from him and he couldn't help but smile at the creature.
"Okay, now that was pretty cool," He admitted out loud and Lena smiled at him before it was replaced by a serious expression as a ship came into their view.
It was old, rusted and stuck in the trees that grew on the bank and looked like it had been there for quite a while. On the side of the ship the words Magus was written in big, dark paint and Brielle sat up straighter. This was it. Either Emmet was here or he wasn't, and she could only hope her father was with him. The Zodiacs got closer to the ship and pulled up to the side with a ladder. Lincoln climbed out of his raft and helped the girls up onto the deck with him. Once everyone was off of the rafts, Kurt began to tie them to the Magusto secure them and make sure they didn't float away.
"Emmet's gotta be on here," Tess said to the group before. "Em!" She shouted into the ship as she moved along to the side to get to the front. "Em!"
"Dad!" Lena shouted as she followed after Tess, but suddenly stopped when a loud noise could be heard from below deck. It sounded like something large was scraping against the metal sides of the ship.
"What was that?" Brielle asked as she glanced at Lincoln. He shook his head.
"I don't know..." He said turning to his mother. "Mom?"
"It's got to be Emmet," She said, a smile on her face. "Em!" She exclaimed before she moved to the entrance to the area below the ship. She flew down the small stairs and was greeted by pitch black darkness.
Suddenly the room was illuminated as the cameras came down with the others, the lights being turned on. Kurt and Lincoln also turned on their flashlights and Emmalina moved to the front of the group to stand by Tess.
"This boat is only so big, Tess... If we can't find him then he's not here," She said quietly, but Tess didn't want to listen to her.
"Em!" She shouted as she moved through the hallway and stopped when a noise greeted her. She glanced around, but no one had made it. Kurt stepped forward and picked up a metal bar that was lying on the ground before banging it against the metal of the ship. Almost instantly, something responded and banged from the other side of the wall. He banged twice, and it responded with two large bangs as well.
"It's coming from the Panic Room!" Tess exclaimed before moving down the hallway towards the room she had spoken off, not even thinking twice that it could be something else in that room other than Emmet.
Turns out, it wasn't Emmet or Russ; it was some shadow demon almost that attacked Lena and left her with a large gash in her leg. Thankfully, Lincoln was a doctor and was able to stitch her leg back up and she didn't die.
They figured out that Lena and Brielle had had communication with Emmet over his travels, and Tess wasn't happy about that. Lena showed the crew some tapes that Emmet had asked her to burn if something ever happened to him, but she thought it might help them in their search for him. And so they watched. The tapes were of Emmet and his crew performing... magic. It sounded crazy, but that was the only word for it. Emmet produced fire out of his hands, he walked on water, dragonflies followed his movements...it all seemed like something you would read out of a book but would never experience yourself. It all seemed so unreal, but it was happening.
The next few weeks they spent hitting and missing with locations on where Emmet could be. They hadn't found him, but Tess kept saying they were getting closer and closer to him and his whereabouts. Each time, there were small clues and hints that told them they were going in the right direction. They encountered spirit doll trees that tried to kill Tess. But with Lincoln's quick thinking, they dug up the mother of the lost girl and sent her into the river. The little girl's spirit released Tess and they headed back to the ship, grateful.
The most latest adventure they had all gone on had ended in everyone going blind, minus A.J. and the crew being attacked by the Morcego tribe. The Morcegos were a tribe in the Amazon who judged people and tested them to make sure they were there for true purposes. Eventually, Clark-after having been accidentally stabbed by Kurt-convinced the tribe it was all his fault and they should kill him and not the rest of the crew. His selfless sacrifice caused the Morcegos to realize they had pure hearts and they left the Maguscrew alone. Shortly after, Lena, Kurt and A.J. returned with the bulbs from under the Sentido tree that could cure the blindness everyone had experienced.
Now, the crew was just going down the river, hoping to come up with anymore clues or hints that could lead them in the direction they needed to go. So far, nothing. And Emmalina and Tess were growing impatient, especially with Clark constantly having a camera in their face. After losing Sammy Kirsch to the shadow demon, Clark had to become a cameraman himself, even though he hated doing that because he was the producer. But, as the producer, he did what was best for the show.
He angled the camera down the river, the murky brown water swirling beneath its lens. A shadow fell over the part he was filming as Emmalina walked over to the railing. If Tess Cole was day, then Emmalina Cole was night. They were both fighting for a common cause but the ways they would go about doing it were completely different. Emmalina's thoughts cleared as she watched the river go by. She'd always loved the water and the Amazon, as dangerous and deadly as it was, was exactly the same. The boat rounded a corner and Emmalina glanced up, her eyes scanning the foliage as she thought she caught a movement. She quickly looked around the top of the Magusto see who was around.
"Clark!" she called and he immediately lowered the camera he had pointed at her. "Come down here a minute?" Clark made his way down to the lower point Emmalina was standing on, sensing something in her voice.
"What do you see, Lee?" Like most of the people he knew, he shortened her name.
"I'm not sure," she replied while her eyes continued to look at the vegetation on the river bank. "I thought I saw something move." Clark lowered his camera slightly again to raise his eyebrows at her.
"You thought you saw something move... We're in a jungle, Lee. Lots of things move," said Clark, rolling his eyes. Before Emmalina could defend herself, there was a deep voice from behind them.
"She is right," said Kurt, walking up to the edge of the boat. "I saw this 'something' move as well." Emmalina noticed his hand was resting on his gun. Clark rolled his eyes again, dramatically.
"I'm surrounded by crazy people," he said, right before the bushes thrashed just in front of his eyes.
"Tess! AJ!" he called. "Get down here!" As the boat went further around the bend in the river, a horrific image was painted.
A man hung from the tree, a rope around his neck, his feet kicking at the foliage around him. His efforts to get loose were what had alerted Emmalina to his presence at all. The rest of the crew emerged on the desk. Jahel's eyes were wide and fearful and she began muttering in Spanish the moment she saw him. Emmalina tore her eyes away from the sight for just a second to tune into Jahel's words. She'd learnt better than most that when the young Spanish girl was speaking, she usually had something useful to say. Emmalina couldn't quite understand the dialect but she caught the gist of it.
"The Hanging Man?" she said aloud, catching one particular phrase. The rest of the group looked around, surprised she'd spoken.
"Yes, we can see it's a hanging man," Clark said a little irritably. AJ sniggered beside him as Tess Lincoln, Brielle and Lena came up the stairs. Emmalina glared at him.
"No. El Colgado is the Hanging Man," she said, gesturing to Jahel. She nodded.
"The Condemned Man." Kurt's low voice once again backed up Emmalina's point. It was a little unsettling. As Lena came around to spot the body she gave a little cry.
"It's Jonas!" she yelled. No one recognized the name. "He was a cameraman on Emmet's crew. He's still alive! Get him down!" As she yelled this, Kurt moved to the front of the boat, lifting his gun and aiming it at the man in the tree. Lincoln was right behind him.
"What are you doing? He's still alive."
Kurt simply shrugged off the hand on his shoulder and continued to aim at Jonas. After a few seconds, he fired. The rope holding Jonas up snapped and he tumbled down through the trees and into the water. That has to be a near impossible shot thought Emmalina, looking down at the bodyguard with respect. The boat surged down the Amazon, soon reaching Jonas who was floating on the water, slowly sinking. Kurt moved down to the lowest part of The Magusand pulled him out, hauling him up the stairs.
Brielle watched all of this with an expression of horror on her face. She recognized Jonas once he was closer; she'd met him once or twice. Lena had had more to do with him but from what Brielle could remember he was friendly. He didn't treat her like a little girl, or like Lena's younger sister. The curls that fell around his face were wet, sticking to his skin. Lincoln quickly pushed through, as the "medic", and Brielle watched curiously as he touched Jonas's pulse points.
"He's still alive but only just. We need to get him downstairs," he said, before Kurt bent over and picked him up and brought him down into the belly of the sip. He laid him on the table as Lincoln made a quick diagnosis.
"He has malaria," he said grimly. "And he'll die if we don't do something quickly." Brielle slipped in beside Lincoln, watching his hands move quickly.
"Do you need help with anything?" she asked quietly. She wasn't actually that shy but she tended to go unnoticed because she was quiet. Lena was the one everyone focused on because she was pushy and outspoken. What everyone didn't know was that she was just as driven to find her father.
"I don't know what to treat him with," Lincoln said, frowning as he pulled off Jonas's wet shirt. "I don't have the medicines I need here." There was a pause and he took a deep breath. "Brielle, can you watch that his temperature doesn't rise above 90 degrees." She nodded, taking a thermometer and moving over Jonas's body. His eyes flew open when she touched him.
"You need the sequoia tree." Kurt's deep voice cut across the babble in the room. Lincoln glanced up in surprise.
"Sequoia?" he asked, trying to do a million things at once and not pausing to think of its relevance.
"To make quinine. We need to treat his malaria immediately or he will die." He delivered this in an even, emotionless voice.
"Yeah, I know that, smart guy." However as Lincoln continued to scan the room he realised the bodyguard was right. "Okay people I need sequoia! Someone needs to go ashore and get it." An uncomfortable feeling ran through the room.
No one was eager to go ashore after the last incident with the Morcegos. Lincoln glanced at Kurt expectantly. Since he was the bodyguard, Lincoln figured he should be the one to go, but Kurt simply pulled out his knife and handed it to Lincoln. The blonde rolled his eyes before taking the knife from him. He turned back to Brielle and motioned to Jonas.
"Watch him, please." With that, he walked out of the cabin and up on deck to get the bark from the tree. Brielle stayed behind and sat in a chair beside Jonas to make sure nothing crazy happened to him and his breathing stayed normal. In a few moments, Lincoln returned and handed the strips of bark he had gathered to Kurt who began to make the Quinine. Brielle glanced over at Lincoln and noticed he had a cut on his hand from the previous activity.
"You cut yourself," Brielle commented and Lincoln shrugged it off.
"It's nothing," He said. "Kurt, I trust you can give the quinine to Jonas?" He said, a little tone of sarcasm is in his voice. The only answer he received was a blank look from Kurt before Lincoln turned around and headed out of the cabin. He found his mom in the upper deck in the wheelhouse of the ship, a map of the Boiúna spread out on the table, his aunt Emmalina standing beside her.
"We can't turn back," Tess told her sister-in-law, but Emmalina shook her head.
"Jonas won't make it if we don't. You saw the kid. We have to turn back and find a hospital," Emmalina said.
"That's wasting time we should be looking for Emmet," Tess stated as she straightened up.
"Mom, you can't risk Jonas' life for a hunch on where dad is," Lincoln said, speaking up and letting his presence be known. Tess turned to look at her son.
"Are you positive you can't treat Jonas on the ship?" She asked him and he nodded.
"Mom, he'll die out here. I can only stabilize him but I can't treat him. We have to get him to a hospital or he'll die," Jonas said and Tess sighed, not happy about this.
"If we turn back, it's one week we lose in trying to save your father," She pointed out to him, but Emmalina shook her head.
"If we save Jonas, it makes up for the time we lost," The woman said. "He was with Emmet, he can tell us where Emmet was going, what he was planning on doing."
"Seconds count here," Tess said. "Right? I mean if we had been one minute later finding Jonas he would be dead, right? One minute..." She sighed. "You're sure you can't treat him on board?" She asked.
"He'll die," Lincoln confirmed for her and Tess sighed again before picking up the walkie talkie and pressing the button to talk.
"Emilio, turn us around," The curly redhead said and Emilio's voice came back, okaying her request before they felt the ship turn. Lincoln gave his mother a reassuring smile, letting her know she was doing the right thing.
"We'll figure this out. I promise-" His words were cut off by a loud banging sound on the plexi-glass window of the ship. He glanced behind his mother's head to see a blood splatter on the clear covering. "What the..." His words trailed off as he crossed the room to the door of the wheelhouse and saw a black bird lying on the ground by the window. He curiously walked over to it and picked it up, noticing its neck was broken.
"What is it?" Emmalina asked as she followed after him.
"Its neck... it's broken," Lincoln told her as he dropped the bird. He glanced up at the sky to see tiny black dots quickly making their way towards the Magus. He cocked his head, curious until another bird dropped onto the deck beside him. He quickly ushered his family back inside the ship as thousands of black birds dropped fell from the sky.
Once they had stopped pounding onto the ship, Lena came up with a GPS pad in her hands while the others cleaned off the deck. "I think I know why the birds were falling. There's a storm coming our way. A pretty big one at that."
Tess nodded. "Okay, everyone you know the drill," She said.
"Battening down the proverbial hatches?" Clark asked as he filmed the scenes going on. Kurt rolled his eyes at the man.
"It's a boat; there are actual hatches," He corrected. While everyone went to do as instructed, Tess turned to her son.
"You think Jonas can toughen it out?" She asked him and Lincoln shrugged.
"He's gonna have to."
The crew scurried around, tying down absolutely everything they came across. The storm would ravage anything they left out. Emmalina frowned as she passed one of the many dead birds lying on the deck. Something wasn't right here. She watched as Lincoln quickly descended down into the belly of the Magus.She watched him go before turning to secure the Zodiacs. As she turned, a large male body blocked her way. She glanced up to see Kurt's face. He looked down at her, his face as emotionless as always.
"Something is not right here," he told her, his accent making every word sound more harsh and serious than it actually was. Emmalina rolled her eyes and went to step around him.
"You don't say. After all, it's not every day a thousand birds fall out of the sky."
Kurt raised his eyebrows. "It is the Condemned Man," he said. Emmalina frowned a little, before glancing down to where Jonas had disappeared to, to where Jonas was residing. "He is the one causing this."
"What—" she began to ask before a large wave hit the boat. She stumbled a little but Kurt grabbed her arm, holding her upright.
"I would be careful if I were you," he said, before moving away. Emmalina shook herself off, trying to get rid of the shivers the whole situation gave her.
Meanwhile, Lincoln was moving along the corridor. The boat was rocking even more down below. As he stumbled around a corner he bumped into someone. He pulled back, expecting it to be Jahel or AJ or anyone but the person he saw. Jonas was out of the medical room. He was swaying where he stood but his eyes were focused.
"Hey, there you are!" Lincoln said, frowning a little. "You shouldn't be wandering around, let's get you back."
"You're Lincoln," he stated and Lincoln nodded his head. "You're the guy who saved me?" Jonas asked, to which Lincoln nodded again. Jonas took an unsteady step forward and clapped his hand onto Lincoln's forearm. "Thank you doc."
Lincoln shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm not really a doctor. Not yet anyway..." he said, trailing off uncertainly as he realised if he didn't ever get off the river, he would never be able to fulfil his dreams."
"I know what you are, Chicago," said Jonas, rolling his eyes. "Your dad was always bigging up his kid at med school. Top of his class. Wasting his talents in a windowless lab." He said the last part in imitation of Lincoln's father, causing the other man to press his lips together. Jonas took a deep breath in and glanced around. "What happened here? This place looks how I feel," he said with the faintest hint of a grin.
"And how do you feel?" Lincoln asked quickly. Jonas's eyes continued to dart around the boat before looking back at him.
"Malaria-ish" he said and Lincoln rolled his eyes. He was just about to ask him something when a small blonde girl stepped around the corner. His first thought was Lena but as his eyes adjusted, he saw it was Brielle.
"Hi Brielle," Lincoln said, giving her a quick smile. She smiled back before glancing at Jonas. He turned to her, grinning.
"And you must be the beautiful angel that saved me from my deathbed." Lincoln snorted at the comment from Jonas as Brielle raised her eyebrows, her cheeks colouring slightly.
"Can't say I am sorry to disappoint you," She said, and Jonas gave her a grin.
"I don't disappoint easily," he said. Lincoln couldn't believe what was happening. Brielle was like a little sister to him, and here was Jonas, only just recovered and he was already flirting with her. He made a noise at the back of his throat and the other two glanced up at him.
"Jonas, you're lucky to be alive," he began, before taking another deep breath. "But what the hell happened here? How did the ship end up like this?" His questions tumbled out urgently and Jonas narrowed his eyes.
"What story do you wanna hear?" he asked cautiously, and both Brielle and Lincoln frowned.
"There's more than one?" she asked a tad suspiciously. Jonas shrugged again.
"I could lie to you," he said.
"Why would you do that?" Lincoln asked. Before Jonas could reply, he cut over himself. "Hey, what have you seen out there?"
"What have youseen?" Jonas repeated. All traces of the grin had vanished. "I know that look man," he said, indicating to Lincoln's face. He turned slightly to Brielle, sensing she might be more understanding. "You're thinking 'what am I gonna say to my friends back home over drinks.'" He took a deep breath, his eyes turning to the ground. "Sometimes it's okay to lie. Sometimes it's your only choice. Morals have different compasses down here." Lincoln snorted again, thinking of Clark and his 'moral compass' the one where north was replaced with the show.
"What do you want me to tell you?" Jonas asked, meeting both Brielle and Lincoln's eyes. "That I got separated from the crew? That I got lost in the jungle? That I was sick? That suicide was my onlyway out? Because that's what makes sense. That's what you want to hear." Brielle started forward, shocked at what he was saying.
"Is that what happened?" she asked, her voice lowered, just as Lincoln asked "is that the truth?"
"The truth?" Jonas hesitated as if he were considering what he was about to say. "I don't remember how I got lost. Or when. Which scares me even more." There was a deathly silence among them before Lincoln ran a hand through his hair.
"I should get back up there and help them," he said before climbing up the ladder quickly. Jonas turned to Brielle.
"You really don't remember anything? Anything about Emmet, anything about... my dad?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper as she looked down. Jonas frowned and stepped forward, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.
"If it comes back to me, you'll be the first to know," he said before moving around her and slowly making his way back to the room where he'd come from, but she stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm.
"Maybe you should come up on deck, to see everyone. Maybe you can help them?" She asked and Jonas hesitated before nodding his head and allowing her to lead the way up to the wheelhouse of the ship. Once they were up, everyone turned towards the noise. Lena smiled and stepped forward to hug Jonas, glad he was feeling better. Jonas gave a weak smile to everyone gathered up on deck as he stepped back. Tess immediately stepped forward, wanting information.
Brielle held up a hand to her. "He doesn't know anything, or remember for that matter," She said as Jonas glanced around.
"So where is Emmet? And Rabbit and Manny?" Jonas asked. "Where is everyone?" He paused by the downcast expressions on everyone's face. "What is it? What did I say?"
"Emmet... the crew... they disappeared," Lena explained to him.
"Everyone?" He asked and glanced at Lena and Brielle. "Your dad too, Russ?" Lena and Brielle glanced down, and Tess stepped forward.
"Jonas. Emmet's tapes show you were the first to get separated from the group, but that was months ago."
"Months?" Jonas asked. "I've been out here for months?" He scoffed and shook his head, trying to make sense of it all. "I guess somewhere after eating your one thousandth earthworm it all starts to blend together."
"Jonas, I need you to help me. We need you to tell us all that you can about what Emmet was doing out here," Tess said.
"I told you, he doesn't remember anything," Brielle said speaking up, but Tess brushed her off with a wave of her hand. "Where he was headed... anything at all."
"Mom... Jonas doesn't remember much," Lincoln said quietly, hoping his mother would understand not to pressure the boy.
"I wasn't exactly inner circle," Jonas said. "I mean, Emmet talked about magic, tribes, legends that were real... never anything specifics though. He was cagey... You've seen his journal," He said motioning to the paperback notebook that was lying on the table. "It's all in code. I mean, all he told us was that we were on a path. Now, I don't know what that is, and I'm not sure how much I can help you," He told Tess. He gave an apologetic look that he couldn't be more helpful to her on her quest for her husband. He glanced at Lincoln, Emmalina, Brielle and Lena and gave them all the same look because they were missing someone as well.
"You must know something," Tess said and Brielle glanced at the older woman. She was pushing Jonas after he just recovered from being sick.
"I'm just the cameraman," Jonas replied quietly. Tess started to ask him another question that he likely wouldn't be able to answer, but Emilio's voice from outside on deck cut her off.
"Hey everybody! Come take a look at this!"
Tess glanced at everyone before walking outside to see what he was referring to. Out on the horizon, there was a large black cloud moving towards the ship. A buzzing noise accompanied it, but everyone brushed it aside. As Emmalina stared at the cloud, something about it seemed off to her. It seemed to be moving in thousands of different dots. She didn't understand, but it didn't look like any storm cloud she'd ever seen before. And it was moving way too fast for a normal storm cloud. Something was not right.
"The storm's coming," Tess commented.
"It's coming in fast," Lena added as she stepped up beside the woman as they watched the cloud move closer and closer to the ship with each passing millisecond.
"Uh, now it's coming in really fast," A.J. said as he held a camera up on his shoulder, filming the black moving cloud and as it got closer, the buzzing became louder.
"It's not a cloud!" Someone shouted, and Emmalina didn't register whom, but it didn't matter because the black, buzzing cloud had turned out to be a swarm of locusts that descended upon the Magus.
"Everybody get inside!" Lincoln shouted as he held up his hands and batted away at the bugs that attacked him.
Lena and Brielle screeched as bugs got caught in their hair as they both quickly rushed to climb below deck with the other member of the crew quickly behind them. Once down there, they found a room and closed all the doors, even going so far as to block off the vents with rags and cloths to keep the bugs out. A few bugs had gotten into the room, but not nearly as much as their were outside. They had all of the rooms in the ship sealed off, but if they needed anything outside they were all out of luck.
"Did you close off all the vents?" Kurt asked, making sure everything was secure.
"This is the last one," Lena replied as she stuffed a cloth through the slit of the metal.
"Okay, everyone stay calm," Lincoln addressed the group before turning a smashing a bug that was crawling up the wall. "The storm brought the bugs in with the headwind," He explained. "It'll pass," He added.
"And what if this isn't a normal storm?" Clark asked, his camera filming. "This all started when Jonas came aboard. What if he's causing it?"
Jonas stared at the British man for a few moments, trying to decide if he was serious. He couldn't tell so he decided sarcasm was the best way to go. "Yeah, because I control bugs." He hit the back of his own head lightly to get a bug out of his hair.
"Jahel says he's bad news," Clark explained, ignoring Jonas. "She says we better toss him overboard. Look, we've been on this river long enough. I don't know what's possible anymore all I know is that when that girl gets scared. I listen," He said. Tess frowned at his words, turning to Jahel.
"Jahel, Por qué esta sucediendo?" Tess quickly asked the Spanish girl what was happening. Jahel shook her head fearfully. "Dime" Tess pressed on. "Qué está pasando?"
"Es él." Jahel pointed a shaking finger at Jonas.
"It's him?" Emmalina asked, frowning, feeling like she must have missed something in translation.
"What?" Lincoln demanded, his tone sounding disbelieving. "Him? How can we blame one guy? How could this possibly be his fault?" he said, defending Jonas. However, before Jonas could say anything, he began coughing up blood. He went pale and his feet fell out from under him. He went to topple to the floor but before he hit it, Kurt caught him. Lincoln immediately went to his side, helping Kurt lower him to the ground.
"Watch his head. Watch his head!" Lincoln said, his voice raised. His hands went to Jona's wrists and neck, checking his pulse. Lincoln began swearing under his breath as Jonas began to have small seizures. "He's overdosing on Quinine, Kurt." Kurt had been the one responsible for Jonas's medication. "He needs oxygen now!" No-one knew what to do. Everyone looked on helplessly. Everything had happened so fast, the storm and now Jonas. "Someone, please oxygen" Lincoln yelled after her got no answer. Brielle watched Jonas lying on the ground, choking on his own blood as she ran some ideas of how to help him through her head. The answer soon came to her.
"The SCUBA gear," she said, under her breath. The only person near enough to hear her was Lena.
"The SCUBA gear!" Lena repeated, a lot louder than Brielle had said it. Lincoln paused to glance up at her.
"Great idea Lena, go and grab it please," he said, his tone urgent. He turned back to Jonas, feeling his pulse again and swearing as it dropped further.
"I need epinephrine and morphine." Kurt who was crouched beside the medical kit began searching through it. He extracted a syringe and handed it to Lincoln. Clark was circling the drama, his camera constantly focused on Jonas. Tess was watching out the window, at the approaching storm while Jahel huddled in the corner, speaking to her father rapidly in Spanish. Emmalina moved down to beside Lincoln. She'd never met Jonas before but no-one deserved to die.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked quietly. Lincoln spared a second to glance at her.
"Keep his head elevated," he said and Emmalina manoeuvred herself round to support his head.
"There is no morphine," Kurt said, as he continued to search through the pack.
Lincoln shook his head as he uncapped the syringe and glanced down at Jonas. "Sorry, this is really gonna suck," He said before plunging the needle into Jonas' chest where his heart was located. After a few moments, Jonas began to cough and gasp for air as Tess and Clark walked out of the room and into the hallway just as Lena walked in with the tank of oxygen from the scuba gear.
"I got it," Lena said and Lincoln nodded.
"Kurt, help me move Jonas onto the table," Lincoln said and the security guard moved forward and helped Lincoln pick Jonas up and place him onto the table in the kitchen. Lena started to sit down beside Jonas, but Lincoln shook his head. "I need you to help me. Brielle, sit." He motioned for the blonde girl to sit where Lena had been sitting. He set the oxygen tank down beside her and instructed her on what to do. She nodded her head before holding the mouth piece up to Jonas' mouth who had begun to come back to consciousness.
"Hey," Brielle said smiling down at him. "You're awake. You feeling better?" She asked him quietly while Lincoln and Lena moved around the kitchen, trying to clean it up. Lincoln walked past Jonas and he placed his hand on top of Brielle's and pulled the mouthpiece out.
"Thank you," He told Lincoln, his voice weak. Lincoln smiled.
"You're welcome," He said and Brielle moved to put the mouthpiece back into Jonas' mouth so he could gain the oxygen he needed.
