Chapter Eight

There was a soft moan. Sean furrowed his brows. Why had there been a moan? Who was moaning? Why couldn't he seem to comprehend anything at the moment? He felt his eyes heavy as he forced them up with more effort than it should to open ones eyes.

One of the piranah's were lying beside him and he rolled away from him it petrified. Although, when he looked at it once again he realized it was dead.

He sighed as he pushed himself up on his palms. Looking down he noticed that there was sand beneath him. A beach?

"Sean..." his head snapped to his right. On the other side of the fish was Emmie tangled up in the blanket and rope on her stomach.

Crawling over to her he pushed the hair that had fallen in her face out of her eyes. She blinked up at him dazedly and he noticed how bloodshot the normally gray eyes appeared.

Inspecting her carefully he couldn't see any outstanding bodily harm other than a few cuts and bruises, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," Emmie groaned as she began to sit up. He placed a hand behind her back and helped her stay upright as she brought a quivering hand up to her head. Pulling her fingertips back she saw a few drops of blood.

"Ouch," he winced as he saw a deep cut on her forehead. "That doesn't look so good."

"It hurts..."

He tugged at the bottom of his maroon shirt until it ripped. He made sure he tore enough of the fabric so that it would wrap around her head. Standing up, he held out a hand which Emmie took. They both stumbled over to the ocean having trouble steadying themselves from their collision with the sandy ground.

Dipping the fabric into the water he dabbed at her forehead. She didn't even seem to notice the pain, "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not really. I can't feel it," she looked at him glossy eyed. "My head is throbbing though."

"Maybe you have a concusion or something."

She shrugged, "The water is pretty warm."

Sean re-stuck his hand in the water. He hadn't noticed being so consumed with cleaning her wound that the water was indeed significantly hotter. Almost unberable at that point.

"We should hurry Sean," she grabbed his hand as he still sat trying to clean her cut. He nodded his head and placed the fabric around her head and tied a not in the back.

"Hello!" Sean called out as the couple began to walk along the beach toward a cliffy area ahead. At this point he didn't know where he was. "Trevor! Hannah!"

Emmie almost felt asleep as she walked a few steps behind Sean. He kept screaming and screaming, which only made her headache worse. She pressed her fingers into her temple and massaged it hoping it would relieve some of the pain.

There was a chirp that made them both look up, "Look! It's one of those birds."

She nodded at Sean, "Do you think it's the same one from the raft?"

"Hey little guy," Sean cooed at the blue feathered creature. "You want to help us find our way out?"

The creature chirped as if it had said yes. Then it flew off between the cracks of the cliff that Sean hadn't noticed was there. He quickly followed and Emmie eyed the younger boy in front of her. She thought the heat was started to affect him in negative ways.

Sean frowned, "Hey, you are going too fast!"

It disappeared around the corner and Sean threw his hands up in defeat. He turned to look back at Emmie who seemed to be sleep walking. Her hair was a tangled mess and her eyes were even more bloodshot and half open.

When they rounded the corner Sean cried out happily. A stream of water was falling down the rocks. It probably wasn't clean and could contain harmful bacteria, but it wasn't salty and could replenish them.

He held out his hands and splashed his dirty face. Looking beside him he tugged Emmie over and placed her gently underneath the lightly dripping water. She opened her mouth and gratefully let the warm liquid fall between her chapped lips.

"Thanks," Sean grinned up at the bird and it sang dantily to him.

Emmie didn't think she was as quenced as she liked to be, but when she knew she would be able to carry on she moved over to let Sean get some more. She smiled as the bird continued to fly around their heads in gleeful circles. Either she was going crazy too... or that bird really was helping them out.

Digging through his pocket Sean pulled out the compas Trevor had given him. His uncle had said it was his father's; he had found it in the tree house. The red arrow pointed South.

"This is the right path to the gysers," Sean looked beside him. Thankfully Emmie looked better after that little bit of water. Color began to return to her cheeks and the bloodshot eyes reduced a bit.

She leaned over his shoulder and read the inscription, "So you can find your way home..."

"Yeah," Sean licked his lips as their eyes met. Her eyelashes fluttered while her lips parted letting out a small breath. He could almost feel the magnetic force pulling them together.

However, the bird swooped down between them giving a warning chirp. Sean had almost forgetten they were running on a time limit.

He coughed as Emmie moved away from him slightly. A moments hesitation passed before they started to follow the bird once more. It felt like hours before until something, other than their muscles being strained from all their walking, happened.

There was an odd shift in the air that made Sean slow his pace as they entered a large cave of sorts. He squinted in the distance to see a large opening at the other end straight across from them. Emmie began to walk slowly ahead of him glancing at the walls of the cave intrigued.

Tripping over one of the rocks, Sean fell hard onto his chest. Emmy spun around and was about to ask him if he was alright when she noticed the switchblade that had once been in his picket was floating in the air around him.

"Magnetic..." the boy muttered shocked as he stared at the floating object. "This is a magnetic field."

Cocking her head to the side, "Magnetic field?"

"Yeah," Sean stood and started hurrying towards her. "We should move faster. It's getting really hot."

Both of their paces picked up. Emmie gasped as she felt her foot slip through one of the rocks and they seperated underneath her. She hadn't even realized she screamed until she was hanging on the edge of the rock for her life.

Sean's eyes widened as he reached out for her. As he was pulling her up that's when he noticed the rocks were magnetic. There was nothing underneath the rocks, they were just drifting through the air.

Emmie latched herself to Sean's chest breathing heavily, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die."

"I've got you," Sean ran a hand down her back soothingly. He placed his head atop her messy hair and she closed her eyes tightly. "I promise I'm never going to let you go."

After she composed herself they began to tip toe over the rocks. Things got a bit more difficult as they seperated the father they got. Emmie stiffled a few screams as Sean, ahead of her, almost slid off a few times. His body was larger than hers so it was hard for him to balance on the rocks.

Then Sean jumped and knocked the rock between them too far out of jumping distance. He compressed a shout as the rock started to tip backwards. He gripped the sides praying he didn't fall off, "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Sean!" Emmie tried to swing her hands out to move the rock. Surprsingly it started to work as if the air was water and she was rowing a boat with her hands. "Hang on! I'm coming!"

Relief came over him as the rock started going back to it's original position with him on top. But a scream came from his lips as it tipped back around.

Emmie sighed when the rock stopped short to the path on the other side. He scrambled off the magnetic one onto solid ground where the bird was perched waiting for them.

He frowned as the bird looked at him somewhat questionably, "Oh yeah! You try doing that without wings."

When Emmie was in reaching distance Sean held out a hand and she hopped off the rock. He caught her around the waist and she grinned up at him. The bird chirped and they started their journey through the cave.

Sorry for the late update... I've been going through a terrible breakup and I have been so emotionally drained for the past month that I didn't even have the energy to post anything. I'm back. I'm here. And I'm stronger than I've ever been (or at least trying to be). Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm glad I've changed some of your minds on my story :-)