By the time the tents had been set up in a loose semicircle under the shelter of the trees and the central marquee was constructed, everyone was exhausted. It had been a busy day of preparation and travel so by mutual assent they all called it a night almost immediately after dinner had been made and eaten.
Alec lay alone, trying to settle in his sleeping bag. It wasn't that his camp bed wasn't comfortable, it was perfectly fine for sleeping on. It was just that he was still mortified from earlier. How could he have been so clumsy?
And then he'd gotten so flustered by Magnus' kindness. OK so he'd been laughed at a bit. But then Magnus had stopped laughing when he'd seen how much it was denting Alec's pride. He still couldn't work out what the look Magnus had given him could even mean.
He pressed a palm to his face. He couldn't afford to think like this. They had weeks together on this island and as much as Simon and Maia would distract him, he was sure if he didn't keep his thoughts in check he would snap and do something wholly unprofessional. He had to remember this could impact his reputation, this could put his career at risk. No one would trust him to teach again if the second he went on a research trip he sexually harassed his colleague/boss!
He turned onto his side, trying to focus on the purpose of the trip. Reminding himself that this was a good opportunity to break out of the classroom and get some field experience. Field experience with Magnus. Experiencing Magnus.
No, it was no good. His brain was clearly on a single track this evening and he really needed to get out of his own head quickly. Grabbing his head torch, he made his way quietly out of the tent, intending to wander down to the beach to get some peace.
A soft voice in the darkness startled him, "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Maia asked.
Alec blinked until his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he could just make her out, sitting against a tree at the edge of the space they'd made camp in.
"No, jet lag I guess," Alec shrugged at her. Despite her likely not being able to see the gesture. "How about you?"
"I just don't really sleep at all anymore," she sounded weary, and not just in the bone tired way that a day of hot sun and physical labour would likely cause.
"Magnus mentioned you needed the break away," Alec said. Trying to keep his tone light and not prying, while also encouraging his new colleague that this could be a safe space.
"Yeah, it's been a strange year. Maybe this will be my opportunity to reset."
Alec smiled, again knowing the gesture would go unnoticed.
"I'm sure it will. If nothing else, we should get some interesting stories out of this trip. Magnus will make sure of that," he chuckled.
"Oh yes, I have no doubt!" Maia's voice sounded less melancholy now, the topic change clearly suiting her. "What is it with you two anyway?"
"We studied together, back in the day," Alec shrugged. "Not much to tell, we haven't really had much contact in the last few years but I guess Magnus remembered how much I enjoyed the mystery behind Raziel's treasure, so he brought me along for the ride."
"Sure, he only invited you because you love the mystery," her tone carried a teasing edge. "And you only agreed for the mystery I assume?"
"The mystery and the experience. I've been cooped up in a classroom with my head in textbooks for so long that it was a good opportunity to get away."
"As historians, isn't hiding in classrooms our MO?"
"True, but I've always lived this way. Even at university." Alec grimaced. "I guess this is just my way of finally taking a risk or two."
"Well I hope it pays off," Maia said before they lapsed into companionable silence.
The wind rustled through the trees, a gentle breeze on the warm air. Despite being the middle of the night, the temperature was still comfortable. Alec forced himself to relax the muscles in his shoulders and neck, rolling his head from side to side and focusing on each muscle group individually. He used the sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline, drifting in from the nearby beach, to settle his breathing. In and out, he matched the pace of his breaths to the flow of the tide.
The conversation with Maia had helped remind him why he was here. It wasn't just about Magnus, though he would admit to himself that Magnus' presence had been a deciding factor. He was also here for himself. To break away from the box he'd built for himself, to do something just for himself, away from the shadow of his siblings. He loved them dearly but this was his first real time apart from his family, to discover who Alexander Gideon Lightwood really was when he wasn't Professor Lightwood or the overprotective big brother.
Separating these thoughts from his attraction to Magnus helped. He could acknowledge that Magnus was physically attractive, kind, funny and intelligent, all characteristics Alec looked for in a partner, while acknowledging that this trip was about more than a companion. He felt himself relaxing, the anxious thoughts in his brain quietening to an ignorable hum. Yawning, he stood, dusting the dirt off his palms and shorts simultaneously.
"I think I'm going to try to get some sleep, tomorrow will be a big day," he said.
"Goodnight Alec, thank you for the company," Maia's tone was sincere, which surprised him. He felt he'd mostly been antisocial, allowing the conversation to die out and losing himself in his own thoughts.
Laying back down in his tent, he rolled over and almost instantly fell asleep.
The next morning he awoke with the sun. Bleary eyed, he made his way out of the tent, looking over to the tree he'd propped himself against the previous night with Maia. He could make out the scuffles in the dirt where they'd both been sat but he was pleased to see the young woman had clearly gone to get some rest at some point in the night.
Looking around he noted that all his companion's tents were still zipped closed, meaning they were likely still asleep. He leaned back into his own tent, grabbing his towel and decided to make his way down to the beach for a morning swim. It would allow him to shuck away the dirt and stickiness he felt from sleeping up in a warm tent and the exercise would wake his muscles, still aching from the combination of multiple flights followed by heavy lifting.
Once he got to the beach, he stripped out of his shirt, leaving it with his towel on the sand and waded into the sea until the water reached his knees. Breathing in deeply, he felt a sense of peace that he had never managed to achieve in the bustle of New York City. He took a few moments to enjoy the sensation of the cool water lapping at his legs under the warmth of the early morning sun before crouching and pushing forward in a steady breast stroke. Once he was far enough out to sea that his feet were no longer scraping along the sand he turned and began swimming parallel to the shore, not wanting to drift too far out for fear of unpredictable currents. As he swam the stiffness in his shoulders began to fade, leaving him rejuvenated by the feel of the ocean against his skin. The sweat and sand from the previous day washed away by the gentle waves.
He swam for what felt like a reasonable amount of time - it could have been half an hour, it could have been four hours, it was hard to relate to actual time in the perfect tranquility - before he made his way back to shore. As he stood, brushing the wet hair back from his forehead, his attention was captured by a quiet whistle. Squinting against the sun, he felt his face flame as he looked up to catch Magnus leaning casually against a tree observing him.
"Well good morning to you, Alexander," Magnus smiled at him, straightening up and making his way down the beach to meet Alec halfway. "When you didn't appear from your tent this morning to tell Simon to hush with his incessantly cheery singing I realised you must have already started your day, and here you are!" Magnus sounded entirely pleased with his discovery, as if finding Alec was the solution to a puzzle he'd been poring over.
"Here I am," Alec rubbed his hair dry with his towel feeling awkward but unsure why.
"I hope you've worked up an appetite, Simon made breakfast!"
They made their way back to camp and settled down to eat breakfast with Simon and Maia, all the while enjoying pleasant small talk. Once breakfast was over, they set about tidying up their camp and organising themselves. The previous day's exhaustion had meant that all their equipment and supplies had been somewhat abandoned in a pile under the marquee they had constructed. They separated items into cooking, day to day supplies and those that may be required during their search for the treasure.
Alec was busy organising their 'base camp' when he spotted Magnus attaching something to the outside of the marquee. Stepping outside he groaned.
"Really, Magnus?"
"We are on the hunt for pirate's treasure Alexander, it's only appropriate," Magnus cried, outraged at Alec's derisive tone.
Hanging from one of the support poles was an adaptation on the Jolly Roger, a stark black background providing contrast to the bright colours of the skull and cross bones design - striped in three distinct bands of pink, purple and blue.
"The bisexual flag merged with a pirate flag? That might be the most extra thing I've ever seen!" Alec groaned.
"I'm impressed that you know how to use the word 'extra'. You clearly listen to the kids you teach!" Magnus teased, causing Alec to glare at him. "And anyway, pirates were incredibly inclusive… Lost your leg? Peg-leg. Lost your hand? No problem, that's what hooks were made for. It's only natural that they would be as accepting of different sexualities."
"Well of course, all the research and accounts show that to be the case. But that's beside the point, do we really have to be this dramatic?"
"You have met me before, right, Alexander?" Magnus questioned, his eyebrow raised in challenge.
"Hmmm," Alec crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrow back.
"I'm funding this trip, I'll hang the damn flag if I want to," Magnus stated.
Alec groaned, but accepted defeat. He returned to sifting through the crates in the marquee, muttering under his breath about how ridiculous the entire situation was.
Once everything was as organised as they were going to get, the team gathered round the fold-out table in the centre of the marquee. Magnus brought out a binder from a storage crate labelled "reference material" in big, black letters and began extracting documents and papers from it, distributing them across the table.
"So this is a satellite image of the island, as you can tell it's extremely helpful to know that the island is almost entirely covered in trees," he explained, voice dripping in sarcasm.
Alec peered over and snorted, he wasn't kidding! The entire image was green and pixelated, barring a small sliver of sandy beach that circled three quarters of the island, the remaining north face Alec presumed was the cliffs they'd observed yesterday from the boat.
"This topographical map should be more useful, however." Magnus laid out the document in question. "As you can see, the majority of the island is still jungle, however, according to this we should be able to reach the cliff tops with a bit of a hike. There is also a body of water and river which in theory is about half a mile…" Magnus spun briefly, lips pursed before pointing into the trees, "thattaways."
He continued pulling out documents and laying them out for the others to see.
"These are copies of extracts from the ship's logs, the first mate's diaries and most exclusively, letters penned by Raziel himself. There's varying levels of detail in each. None of them are more specific about the location of the treasure, however the closest we have to a clue is a phrase in this letter to one of Raziel's many paramores," Magnus gestured to the paper in question. "In amongst the sickly sweet prose, Raziel claims 'My gifts are safe, guarded by the one who runs forever yet never moves at all. He has no lungs nor throat but his mighty roar is fearsome.' If any of you have any thoughts as to what that means, I'm all ears."
"I didn't realise lions were native to the Caribbean?" Simon exclaimed, earning himself a gentle smack to the back of the head from Maia.
"Lions have lungs and throats, idiot," she grinned at him.
"I know that. I also know there aren't wild lions in the tropics," he rubbed at the back of his head defensively.
Alec tuned out the bickering, racking his brain to try to understand the cryptic phrasing. While he prided himself on his intelligence, he was better at identifying patterns in human behaviour and drawing conclusions across multiple historical sources than he was at solving riddles.
"Anyway, we can ponder on this more later. How about we start looking around our new home?" Magnus asked.
Excited to see more of the island, they all hurried to get ready, Maia sensibly grabbing a rucksack and filling it with a couple of bottles of water and some granola bars.
"I get the feeling Simon will be more irritating if he gets hungry, he's got the temperament of a toddler," she grinned at Alec's impressed nod.
"Hey," Simon exclaimed. Maia merely responded by sticking her tongue out at him.
After a little discussion, they decided to make their way along the beach to begin with as this would be the first area Raziel and his crew would have seen when they arrived on the island. It was unlikely the treasure would be hidden in too easy a place but it felt like a sensible place to start.
The group picked their way back to the beach, the path already easier to navigate following their multiple trips the previous day. Alec tried not to dwell too much on the impact their presence would be having on the island's vegetation. They would only be here a few weeks then the island would be left uninhabited again to recover. They would just have to be careful to minimise the damage where possible.
"Left or right?" Magnus questioned.
"Right will take us to the base of the cliffs, so I vote we start with that," Alec pointed out.
After murmurs of assent from the group, they started to make their way up the beach.
While the beach where they had arrived the previous day was soft, golden sands, as they moved further towards the cliffs, the ground became increasingly rocky. They picked their way across the rocks, moving carefully to avoid rolling their ankles or falling over. Alec in particular found himself trying hard not to repeat the previous day's performance.
As they approached the base of the cliff, the rocks littering the ground grew in size, some of them smoothed by the waves and the wind, others more jagged and broken having recently fallen from the cliff face. The tree line behind them sloped up away from the beach, with hardy ferns and vines draping down obscuring the rockface that seemed to burst from the earth.
Maia crouched to inspect a tide pool which had formed amongst the rocks. Her face lit up in a smile as she observed the creatures in there.
"Cool," Simon whispered, almost speechless by the sight in front of him. Under normal circumstances Alec would be tempted to mock him for being a dork, but in this instance, Alec was as equally spellbound. The rock pool was home to a starfish as big as his hand, as well as several spiky anemone type creatures. He'd seen animals like these before, but only in aquariums, never outside a tank. Without murky glass, smeared by the greasy hands of children, the animals were even more vibrant and beautiful to look at.
Establishing that there was nothing more to be found on this side of the island, at least not without some digging, the group made their way back the way they came. By this point, the sun was high in the sky and despite the breeze coming in from the ocean, the group was still feeling the impact of the intense heat.
"Should we maybe head into the trees and explore more of this side of the island? The beach might be best left to early morning or evening exploration?" Alec suggested, feeling a trickle of sweat running down his spine and making him squirm.
Magnus, who looked by far the least affected by the heat of anyone in the group, glanced around at his companions before agreeing.
"Into the jungle it is!"