Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Amber walked out of her tent and into the sunlight. She walked over to where Adam was sitting and cracking coconuts. "You know, you still haven't thanks me for saving your life," she said. Adam gave her an annoyed look.

"Well that's because you didn't save my life," he retorted hotly. Amber glared at him, her brown eyes fierce. "I did to…. well, okay, I didn't. Maddie and Nick did, but I tried! If it weren't for me, it would have pulled you into the hole quicker and they probably wouldn't have heard us if I hadn't screamed," she said proudly.

Adam looked at her a raised an eyebrow. "Okay fine. Thanks for trying to save me," he said. Amber smiled proudly. "You're welcome," she said. Adam rolled his eyes and went back to cracking coconuts.

"You know we need to find out what that thing is, right?" she asked in a serious tone all of the sudden. Adam looked at her. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her gaze was unreadable. "…Yeah, I guess, but obviously not us," he said. Amber narrowed her eyes. "Why not?" she asked. Adam laughed. "Because, Amber, we're kids," he said.

"Oh, now you're a kid. What about all the times when you were an adult?" she asked, making her fingers quotations marks when she said, adult. "I think you're just scared," she said, turning around and beginning to walk away.

Frustrated, Adam threw the coconut down and said, "Yeah, Amber, I am scared. I'm scared that I might get killed, I'm scared that I might not get off this island, I'm scared of everything here," he said.

Amber slowed to a slow walk so she could hear what he had to say.

"And I know you are too," he told her. "You're scared too," he said.

Amber froze. She turned around and saw that he was standing and staring at her.

--

Maddie sat by the low flamed fire pit, talking with Xander and Vida. "Do you think we'll ever get off this island?" asked Xander.

"We found a radio connection, so… yeah. If there's a station nearby, they could trace our signal," Maddie told him. Vida nodded.

"So the chances of us staying any longer are low?" Vida inquired.

"Very low," Maddie said with a smile.

They all began talking about what they should do while they were there. "Swim in the ocean?" suggested Maddie warmly. Xander nodded. "But not right now. I think I see a pretty girl who needs someone to talk to," Xander said in a flirty voice. He stood and headed over to a redhead girl and Maddie and Vida laughed.

"Just watch… one day, he's going to get smacked upside the head," said Vida, shaking her head, but smiling at the same time. Then she turned back to Maddie.

"Nick told me about what happened yesterday on the way back here. What exactly did you see?" Vida asked her sister.

Maddie's smile disappeared. "V… I don't know exactly what happened, but… I saw Melissa," she said, her voice hoarse.

Vida's eyes widened. She shook her head. "No… that can't be, Melissa's dead," she said.

Maddie nodded. "I know but… I saw her. She was right in front of me as though she were fully alive. She was covered in blood, just like that night. Every time I saw her, my surroundings changed. I was swimming and I saw something shiny, but then they changed back, but I felt like I was still in the water… I couldn't breathe. Melissa just stared at me and didn't do anything. But then Nick came and she vanished. I could breathe again, but… I still felt cold. It was as if she was drowning me," she said.

Vida asked, "How many times did you see her?"

"Twice. Just last night I saw her. She was bloody again and playing with her toy plane, you remember that toy that she loved so much?" she told V. Then my surroundings changed again and we were in the car. She was next to me, dead, but I saw something shiny again and then I was suddenly swimming again, but when my surroundings changed back to normal, I could breathe," she explained to Vida.

"Do you think it's the island?" Vida asked after a long pause.

Maddie nodded. "It has to be," she said.

"But how?" Vida asked. Maddie turned to her sister and gave her an unknowing look.

"I don't know, sis," Maddie breathed.

"Well, we're going to figure this out. If anything attacks or happens, I know all of us haven't lost our battle moves. We may have lost our magic, but we can still fight," she said.

Maddie smiled. She looked into the horizon. It was morning, so the sky was a blanket of light blue, speckled with a few puffs of white. She smiled when she felt a warm breeze whisk around her and closed her eyes. She could hear the ocean waves overlapping and crashing onto shore… so loud, but so graceful at the same time. She opened her eyes and turned to her sister.

"Well," she said. "We might as well make the most of the time we have here," she added.

She and Vida smiled and stood, racing to the ocean. As soon as they splashed into the warm water, they started splashing each other and laughing. It was the most fun that Maddie had ever had since they crashed onto the island… and it felt good.