Chapter 2

The Sound of the Shell

Disclaimer: Read my last one. I still need oxygen.

Ok, this chapter is dedicated to my friend Sam, mentioned in the foreword of the last chapter, and whom, I'm glad to say, is now a fellow LOTF obsessee. This is due to my INFLUENCE. Anyway, it's her birthday tomorrow (at the time I'm writing, 26th of October), so this is her sort-of birthday present. I shall write a dedication later. She requests that there be a lot of Roger, Simon and Samneric, the characters that SHE is officially obsessed with. (This is my fault again. Maybe I shouldn't have called her Sam.) Jack and Ralph are so much better. Phht. Have I got her a present (apart from this) yet? Don't ask.

ANYWAY...

This chapter, "The Sound of the Shell" is dedicated to Sam, one half of Samneric, in recognition of her birthday. Also in recognition of the fact that the school year is now over, and that I am grateful for Sam's obsession in a class of LOTF barbarians. Clear? Good. NOW ON WITH THE FIC!!!!!!!!!!!
An uncomfortable lump in the small of her back was the first thing Kitty noticed as she gradually came awake. Shifting her position slightly, the girl identified it as a tree root arching up in a curve from the ground. Kitty groaned, a sleep-mumbled noise that was swallowed up by the jungle, and shifted position so she was clear of the root. Now that she was halfway alert the heat of the tropics hit her like a hammerblow. She finally took in her surroundings, which were illuminated by the bright, clear light of morning. All around her was green vegetation, the sameness of which was occasionally broken by the scuffling of small animals which somehow she never managed to catch a glimpse of. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, sending raindrops pattering to the ground.

Kitty's thumping headache had subsided to a dull throbbing, and she felt well enough to take stock of her surroundings. She cautiously levered herself into a sitting position, noting the myriad of aches in her limbs. Uncomfortable, but nothing seemed to be broken. As Kitty grabbed hold of a root and used it as a crutch to stand, she hissed a sharp intake of breath when she brushed against the tree trunk. Stripping off her stifling blazer and pulling up her grey school shirt, the girl discovered a deep purpling of bruises down her side.

Kitty leant her hand against the rough bole of the tree. Now that she had woken fully, she smiled delightedly and stroked the tree trunk. The rough bark forced her to accept the reality of the island. Here was a paradise on Earth - lush, verdant greenery, bright, rainbow-coloured birds feeding on abundant fruit blown to the ground by the storm. A veritable utopia, with no one to claim it but herself and whoever had survived the crash.

Far away, the rumble of breakers crashing on a beach caught Kitty's attention. Folding her school blazer over her arm, the girl set off in the direction of the sound.

The jungle was no country road, even though a wide swathe had been created by the passenger tube; the ground was strewn with leaves and branches scattered there by the storm. Creepers swung crazily from the treelimbs, some as thick as Kitty's arm. They created a maze that was so hard to bypass that she was forced to bend double for some stages, slowing nearly to a crawl.

Her attention was so concentrated on her movement that she did not hear a rustling in the bushes until she was too close for comfort. Heart pounding, Kitty ducked behind a bush. The jungle screened all view of whatever creature had made the noise. Something big. What kind of beast could there be on this island?

Don't be silly, Kitty told herself. There is no beast. What you just heard was probably a branch falling. Nothing at all to worry about. However, she still pressed herself into the shrub, with her back to the noise, as the rustling in the bushes advanced.

"Hullo!" This was the last thing Kitty had expected. Trying to turn around suddenly and stand up at the same time turned her movement into an ignominious scrabble for balance. She nearly fell over, and the speaker grabbed her arm.

No beast then, but only a boy. Cheeks burning, Kitty raised her eyes to his face, and suddenly recognition hit her.

"You! The boy from the train."

The coincidence set them both laughing delightedly. Now that Kitty was standing clear of the obstructing bushes, she realised that the fair boy was not alone. Hovering just behind him was another boy, about twelve years old and extremely fat. He was wearing the customary school uniform, including a blazer, which he had not yet removed - out of habit or decorum. Perched on the bridge of his nose were enormous round spectacles, the thick convex lenses of which were fogged from exertion. He was wheezing heavily.

"My auntie told me not to run - on account of my asthma."

The fair boy glanced at his companion, looking vaguely irritated at this interruption. The statement did not seem to require an answer so he turned back to Kitty.

"What's your name, then?"

Kitty told him.

"I'm Ralph."

Kitty looked him over. Instead of a busy train station there was now a backdrop of island greenery, but Ralph still was Ralph, station or island. She had only caught a shallow glimpse of him back in England; being more concerned with the imminent necessity of finding her train. Now that she could examine him more closely he proved to be pleasing - looking, with fair hair, tangled by the trek through the jungle, and brown eyes. A bleeding scratch swiped across one cheek, and as she looked Ralph's hand came up and scrubbed his face, streaking blood over a wider area.

The fat boy was bobbing on his heels.

"I don't care what they call me, as long as it's not what they did at school."

For the first time, Kitty was interested in him.

"What did they call you?"

The fat boy glanced furtively around, as if he expected the jungle to be listening in. Bending close, so that Ralph and Kitty had to stoop to listen, he whispered, "They used to call me Piggy."

"Piggy!" The two older children's laughter shattered the green calm of the forest. Faced by this ridicule, Piggy smiled uncertainly, glad that they were at last taking notice of him but chagrined at the mockery they were making of his nickname.

"As long as you don't tell anyone..."

The other two were already gone; making their way through the jungle towards the sound of the sea. Piggy sighed and followed, slowly and painfully.

As the distant roar of the waves grew louder, Kitty struggled through the jungle, batting away twigs that caught at her hair and face. Beside her, Ralph soldiered on, neither of them speaking. The thrill of the island and the camaraderie of new companionship was enough. Behind them, a wheezing in the bushes told them that Piggy was gamely following behind.

Ralph and Kitty burst through the last screen of bushes and stopped dead. After the vegetation was a layer of loose soil carpeted with grass, then white, fine sand. As the beach progressed the sand became more golden, firmer and wetter, culminating in a foamy sweep of waves. The green of the sea turned to deep blue the further out it was, and the black scribble of underground coral or rocks was visible through the water. The island curved further down the bay, cupping the blue waters in a blanket of green forest and pink rock. Overhead, seabirds wheeled and cried, and the sky was an improbable blue.

The two children dashed down the beach, Piggy panting along behind them. Kitty ran forward, down to the sea, then darted back as a wave rolled in over her shoes. Laughing, she kicked up the foam left over from the last breaker, rejoicing in the white droplets against the sky. In a sudden movement, almost fiercely, she unlaced her black school shoes and stripped off her socks.

"Coming in?"

Ralph used his hand as a visor to shield against the sun.

"Might be sharks."

Kitty splashed water. For a few minutes, Ralph joined in, both children feeling the joyous reality of the island. As their school clothes were rapidly soaked, Kitty thought guiltily of adult retribution.

"Are there any grown-ups?"

Piggy had not dared to join the water battle. Now that there was no threat of getting splashed, he staggered cautiously across the shifting, wet sands to where the others were, just in time to hear Kitty's query.

"I don't think so. There weren't that many grown-ups on the plane, were there? There was - there was -"

"The man with the megaphone -"

"The pilot -"

Piggy folded his arms across his chubby chest. "Maybe they're all dead. The plane was shot down, wasn't it? Maybe there aren't any grown-ups anywhere."

This was a sobering thought. Ralph and Kitty looked at each other. Kitty pulled her shoes and socks back on, grimacing at the friction of wet sand against wool. Retrieving their blazers, which had been carelessly thrown down on the tideline, the children started off down the beach, parallel to the sea.

They had been walking for quite some time. The sun beat down overhead, parching all the moisture from their mouths. Kitty longed for a drink, but the only beverage available was locked in the coco-nuts on the trees dotted along the shoreline.

Piggy was the first to complain.

"I'm thirsty."

There was more than a hint of irritation in Ralph's voice.

"So are we."

Faced with this indifference, Piggy was forced to expound on his chosen theme.

"It's different for you," he said." You're older, and stronger, and you don't have asthma."

Kitty sighed in exasperation; Piggy was a bore, his asthma and whinging a constant liability. The fact that she too was thirsty and irritable from the heat and her uncomfortable, sandy shoes made her lash out.

"Sucks to your ass-mar."

Piggy looked hurt, and about to start his oratory again, so Ralph made an effort to keep him quiet.

"Look. See that platform of rock over there? Along the beach, with all those trees growing on it? We'll walk until we get there. Then we can rest, and see if we can't find a drink."

Striding out ahead, he started off for the rock. Kitty made an initial run to keep up with him, then fell into step. Piggy hung bumbling behind.

Some freak of nature had ensured that a huge chunk of pink rock had been deposited in the centre of the beach. Years of sea breeze had blown fine sand and loam into the cracks and crevices of the rock, as well as spreading over the top, so that it was carpeted with the hardy, resilient vegetation that could survive the poor soil. Some of the coco-nut trees growing there had not been able to find enough sustenance in the thin layer of soil, so when they reached a certain height they fell and died, creating a criss-cross network of tree trunks.

Even though the sides of the platform were taller than Kitty, the side they were closest to sloped towards them. The myriad of handholds and footholds dotting the rock made it easy for Kitty and Ralph to scramble up, then turn around to assist Piggy, dragging him up bodily by both arms. Piggy's inevitable complaints were silenced by his ass-mar.

On top of the platform was all green light and shadow, with golden patches of sunlight filtering in through the palm leaves. It was much cooler here than on the beach, where they were completely unprotected from the sun. Ralph and Kitty immediately began a mission to climb one of the smaller coco-nut trees, with Piggy sitting on a palm trunk that had fallen and wedged itself between two other trees, forming a natural seat.

Not long after, Kitty, as she was the smallest and lightest of the two, had shinned up one of the thinner, shorter trunks and dropped three green coco-nuts down to Ralph. As she came sliding down, covering the whole front of her grey shirt with dirt, Piggy perked up visibly and held out his hands for one of the coco-nuts.

However, they had not the means to break them open. After a few futile tries with a rock, Kitty threw her coco-nut into the bushes.

"It's no good."

Ralph had given up on his coco-nut earlier than she had, and had devoted his time to exploring the platform. Now he paused on the opposite edge and shouted.

"Hey - look!"

Kitty ran over to join him, and saw that which had been invisible from all except that edge of the platform. On the beach on the other side of the platform, the wind had banked sand into a deep, spacious beach-pool, with one side of it formed by the rock of the platform. The pool's surface was stirred by the breeze, and Kitty saw that, at one end, the water was deep enough to be dark green.

The two older children wasted no time in a hasty descent down to the beach. Piggy followed, his ungainliness in climbing outweighed by his desire for company. However, the pull pf the old society was too strong to let him swim. He muttered something about his auntie forbidding it and mooned on the edge of the pool, trailing his fingers in the water.

Meanwhile, Kitty hastily shed her shoes, socks and skirt, so that she was dressed in her underwear and shirt. Ralph was busily engaged in doing the same, although the protocol of their society allowed him to take off his school shirt. The two children ran forward to the pool, splashing an indignant Piggy in their haste to gain the water.

To Kitty, the water was a pleasant, cool shock after the stifling heat of the beach. She had always been a good swimmer, and she dived underwater at once, flipping onto her back and opening her eyes to see the shifting patterns of sunlight and the vague, uncertain shadows of trees. Soon, she and Ralph were engaged in splashing each other, the salt water stinging their eyes but so cool that they continued.

While they splashed and laughed, Piggy had retired from the edge of the pool, for fear of the water getting on his glasses. He wandered off down the beach, sometimes picking up an interesting shell or stone to examine it. Soon, he was walking along the tideline, close to the sea. His cry brought Kitty and Ralph, reluctantly, from their bathe, pulling on their clothes along the way.

"Hey, Ralph, Kitty, come here! Look what I found!"

He was annoyed by the slowness of their progress.

"Come on!"

Finally, the two older children reached him. Kitty looked out to where Piggy was pointing, to a spot in the sea not too far from the shore. She caught a glimpse of something creamy-white, half-hidden by the swirling waves.

Wading out to the thing in the water, Kitty hefted it out of the breakers, and saw that it was a shell, white with slightly pink lips, an eighteen-inch tube culminating in a creamy twist. It was heavy as she upended it, sending wet sand and seawater gushing out.

Behind her, Piggy was babbling.

"I know what that is. It's a conch! I seen one of them before! The boy who had it played it like a trumpet! He used to blow it and then his mum would come."

Kitty turned around, wading back to the others on the shore. Piggy was still chattering, but Ralph was silent, hit by an idea.

"Use it to call the others."

"What do you mean?"

Ralph stumbled over his words as he gesticulated, trying to express his notion.

"The others! There must've been some other children who survived, right? Well, blow the conch, let them hear it!"

Kitty took the conch in both hands. Slipping her hand into the long opening that ran down the shell, she blew with all her strength. Nothing happened.

Piggy had stopped talking, but started up again at Kitty's failure.

"You blow from down here -" indicating his sizable abdomen - "Try it! My auntie wouldn't let me blow it, on account of my athsma."

"Sucks to your auntie." Kitty had taken her lips away from the conch to quash Piggy, but put them back almost immediately, blowing with air from her diaphragm.

She had gotten the hang of it at last. The conch sounded in a rush of noise, a deep blare of sound, as Kitty blew. Echoes reverberated from the pink rocks ranged into cliffs along the beach, increasing the initial note of the conch tenfold. Brightly-coloured birds, scared by the alien noise, fluttered up from the jungle foliage like rainbow confetti. Taking a breath against the shell, the girl blew again with even more force. This time, the noise was even more strident and blaring, causing Piggy and Ralph to cover their ears.

As Kitty ran out of breath, the sound of the conch faded and died. Ralph took his hands away from his ringing ears.

"Golly!"

Words were not enough to express the majesty of the conch. Instead, Ralph stood on his head. Meanwhile, Piggy had been scanning the shore.

"Look - there!"

Ant-like figures were making their way along the beach, some coming from the jungle, some labouring across the sand. Kitty blew the conch again as they were coming into view, not so much calling the other children as rejoicing in the stupendous noise she was creating. As the black specks that were children largened and came into focus, Ralph pulled Kitty's arm.

"Come on - we'll go up to the platform. That's the place to hold a meeting."

Most of the children could, upon reaching the platform, climb up onto it unaided, but some of the littler boys needed help. Kitty put the conch aside and, together with Ralph, became busily engaged in giving the ones in difficulty a leg-up. Piggy sat to one side, upon his palm trunk, and gave comments, helpful or unhelpful. Neither of the older children paid any attention to him.

One of the little boys Kitty helped up was a small, sturdy individual, about six years old. He had a mop of curly, mouse-brown hair and a broad, grinning face splashed with freckles. He smiled at Kitty as she boosted him up to the platform, an infectious outflash of joy that made the girl grin back.

"What's your name?"

"Percival Wemys Madison, the Vicarage, Harcourt St. Anthony, telephone, Harcourt 241."

Soon, all the children who had answered the call of the conch were comfortably seated on the palm trunks that criss-crossed the green darkness of the platform. Kitty stood, cradling the conch in two hands, with Ralph beside her, surveying the newcomers. She noticed that the children's ages were spread out over a wide range; a little boy who did not look older than four or five was sitting on a trunk, legs dangling, holding a model aeroplane. Close beside him was another boy who looked to be about Piggy's age. They were all dressed in school uniforms, though some had removed various articles of clothing. Kitty saw that there were no other girls, and some of the boys were eyeing her with naked surprise. Everyone was speaking at once, but they quietened down when Kitty gave another blast on the conch. They seemed to revere the shell, perhaps because it had brought them all together.

"Piggy. Take their names."

Piggy, prompted by Ralph's order, stood with an air of pompous self-importance and moved among the crowd.

"What's your name?"

"Robin."

"Yours?"

"Piers."

"Digby."

"Michael."

Piggy turned to a pair of boys sitting close together. They were twins, identical in every respect, with thick, tow-coloured hair and upturned noses, peaked school caps sitting at identical angles upon their heads. The other children eyed them with some trepidation - there was something unnatural about one person split into two.

"What's both of your names?"

"Sam -"

"- 'n Eric."

The fat boy pointed from one to another.

"You're Sam?"

"I'm Sam -"

"- I'm Eric."

Presently, though, he got confused, and the assembly roared with mirth at Piggy's ineffectual effort to tell the twins apart.

Kitty got tired of watching Piggy after a while, so she turned to face the beach, peering through the tangle of trees at what she could see on the stretch of bright sand. Frowning, she abandoned her position against a tree trunk and made her way to the edge of the platform, staring at the beach with greater intensity. Presently, attracted by her attention, Ralph and some of the other boys came along to join her,

What was that black creature trekking along the beach? It was so far away that it was not easy to tell the difference between shadow and clothing, but as the creature drew nearer, Kitty could see that it was composed of a crocodile of boys, each kitted out in a long, black cloak, marching in rigid step. They were marching in pairs, but at the head of the line a boy walked on his own. As the odd procession made their way towards the platform, Kitty could hear that they were singing, a song of which the words were completely unfamiliar to her, probably in a foreign language.

Now most, if not all, of the children on the platform were crowded on the edge, staring at the newcomers. As they marched into the shadow of the platform, Kitty could make out the greater details of their costume. Each boy was dressed in the black cloak, which was closed at the neck with an intricate fastening, leaving the cloak to fall open the rest of the way down the body. The cloak had the effect of dwarfing some of the smaller boys, making them resemble black ravens. At their necks were white frills, most of which were stained with sweat and dirt. On the left side of the chest was an ornate, silver cross, and each member of the group wore a square, black flat cap on his head.

The children on the edge of the platform drew back, intimidated by the strange boys as they began to scramble up the side of the rock, their cloaks a hindrance. The boy who had been leading the procession vaulted onto the top of the platform first, cloak fluttering. He turned to his troupe.

"Choir - halt!"

The choir completed the climb and drearily re-formed into two raggedly equal rows. Seen close to, Kitty realised that the boy was taller and older than both her and Ralph, bony under the swathe of cloak. He had a long face, twisted into a frown from the exertion of the trek and the climb. Sunburn was beginning to colour his face, and new freckles blotched his nose and cheekbones. Under the square cap his hair was red, and he carried himself with an easy air of uniformed authority that automatically commanded acquiescence.

Leaning casually against a coco-nut tree, the boy glanced around the assembly.

"Where's the man with the trumpet?"

Kitty felt the need to assert herself against this newcomer.

"There's no man with a trumpet. Only me."

The boy regarded her superciliously.

"Isn't there a man here?"

The double entendre was obvious. Kitty flushed crimson. Ralph, out of an urge to detract from her embarrassment, stepped forward and answered the question in the negative. The choir leader took this news stoically.

"Then we'll have to look after ourselves." The choir, sweltering in their full-length cloaks, started to break ranks, heading for the cool shade of the trees and the comfort of the palm seats. Their leader gestured impatiently. "Choir, stay where you are!"

Obviously, the choir was used to obeying this boy, but the heat and discomfort was proving too much for some, who started to complain wearily.

"Please, Merridew..."

"Can't we sit down?"

Merridew was all for leaving them standing, but one of the boys, overcome by the heat, tumbled over into a faint, his black choir cloak pooling on the ground. At this the other boys rushed forward to help. Kitty tucked the conch under her arm and assisted, grabbing a handful of the boy's cloak and joining in the attempt to carry him into the shade. The choir used the episode as an excuse to scatter.

Merridew, scowling, stood and watched the breakdown of his authority. Piggy turned to the choir, who occupied the whole of one of the tree trunks.

"And what are all of your names?"

The choir sounded off in order.

"Henry."

"Maurice."

"Robert."

"Rupert."

"Harold."

"Bill."

"Roger."

This last was from a boy of about Kitty's age, probably a bit older. Sitting hunched on his trunk, Roger was a sullen-looking and melancholy boy with his choir cap pulled down low over his forehead. Dark hair swept low over his eyes, half-hiding them so that he had to look up to see; it also gave him a threatening demeanor. Of all the choirboys, he was the only one who was not joining in the chatter and laughter of the others, sitting silent, like a black bird of prey.

The choirboy who had fainted was gradually coming around, cradling his head in his hands. Now that his face was not obscured, Kitty could see that it was small and impish with a thatch of fair hair. The choirboy had blue eyes, which were strangely piercing and perceptive, and one side of his face was covered in sand from his faint. The black choir cloak made his features seem even paler, although a faint flush of sunburn was appearing on his cheeks.

"I'm Simon."

Merridew was determined to win back some notice.

"My name's Jack," he said, hands on hips.

Piggy started to speak. Jack Merridew cut him off mid-sentence.

"Shut up! What's your name anyway - Fatty?"

"Piggy!" hooted Ralph and the assembly broke up in merriment. Piggy, wounded, turned away from the laughing crowd and leant against a coco-nut trunk, polishing his spectacles while looking out to sea. Jack, satisfied at being instrumental in the joke, made a concession for his choir.

"All right, choir - take off your togs."

Gratefully, the choir stopped short in their mockery and unfastened the ties that held their cloaks together, swirling the garments over their heads. Underneath, they were revealed to be wearing relatively normal school uniform - white shirts, blue and yellow striped ties and grey shorts. Chattering, they helped each other to pile the cloaks to one side.

Jack had also discarded his uniform; now he turned to Ralph and Kitty.

"We need to decide who's in charge."

Someone shouted out something about having a chief.

"I ought to be chief," said Jack, decidedly. "I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp."

Several of the other boys cheered, overweened by this open display of prowess. Kitty hefted the conch thoughtfully.

"We'll vote for a chief."

The conch, and the fact that she was the one who held it, gave her a certain amount of authority. No one questioned her decision, though Jack and a few of the choirboys looked put out. Jack in particular seemed to be taking the unanticipated presence of a girl on the island as a personal insult.

Several of the little boys needed the term 'vote' explained to them, but after this relative triviality was accomplished, Kitty gave a short blast on the conch for silence.

"All right then! We'll have a show of hands. Who wants Jack for chief?"

She counted.

"And who wants - Ralph?" Kitty had named Ralph as Jack's competitor as he was the most obvious choice; Ralph looked around, startled, at this. The hands went into the air. Kitty counted and saw that the votes were split into exactly half.

Piggy had recovered from his upset sufficiently enough to vote for Ralph; now he bobbed on his heels and put his hand up as if the green platform was a schoolroom.

"You haven't voted yet, Kitty."

The girl nodded, acknowledging her unintentional blunder. She cradled the conch. Hers was the casting vote in the election. Jack was looking mutinous, as if daring her not to vote for him.

"All right, everyone," Kitty said, to attract the attention of those whose awareness had wandered. She waved the conch, collecting her scattered thoughts. "You've voted. We all have, except me. And who I vote is chief."

The tension was almost palpable in the silence as Kitty looked around the gathered boys.

"Well then. Ralph's chief."

It was Jack's turn to blush as the scattered ranks applauded. The choirboys, upset at the failure of their chapter chorister, whispered behind their hands. Kitty handed the conch, ceremonially, to Ralph, who took hold of the shell almost reverently.

"All right. We've voted. So I'm chief."

A murmur of agreement. Ralph, secure in his new authority, turned to Jack and made a concession.

"But Jack's in charge of his choir. Jack, what do you want them to be? They could by an army, foragers..."

Jack's decision was clear to him. "Hunters."

"All right. The choir're the hunters. They'll get us food. Which brings me to the next thing. You know the plane got shot down. Well, we - Kitty and I - don't think there are any grown-ups. So we shall have to look after ourselves."

Several of the smaller boys looked uncertain.

"And another thing. We don't know for certain if this is an island. If it isn't, they might find us straight away. We might get rescued today, or tomorrow. So we have to find out if it is or not. Some of us will go and explore this place to find out. Who wants to go?"

Hands shot into the air. Everyone wanted to go.

"No, that's too many. I'll choose who goes. I'll go, and Jack, and..."

Ralph scanned the crowd.

"Kitty."

Jack jumped up.

"What! Why does she have to come? This is a man's job."

Kitty faced him, fists clenched. "I can do anything you can, Jack Merridew! Anyway, it was me that blew the conch. You'd probably still be walking around the island if it wasn't for me!"

Jack seemed about to retort; his face was flushed and he leaned forward menacingly. In the interests of peace, Ralph stepped between the two. He held the conch out, the symbol of his chieftanship.

"I'm chief," he said. "And I say she comes."

Jack backed down, falling silent.

Ralph scanned the crowd. "One more." He turned to the choirboy who had only lately revived from his faint. "You come. All right now, are you?"

Tucking the conch under his arm, Ralph began the descent from the platform. Jack, Kitty and Simon followed, the eyes of the crowd upon them. Very soon, they were nothing more than four rapidly-disappearing figures walking along the sandy flat.

The sun was past its zenith; and the relative coolness of the afternoon was a welcome relief after the sweltering morning. The four children made their way along the beach, their shoes making four pairs of footprints, stretching out in a line across the beach. Ralph had tucked the conch under his arm, and now and again he would reach around and pat the creamy shell. Simon watched him with a kind of suppressed happiness that nevertheless bubbled over into a grin that dominated his elfish face. Jack strode along, looking straight ahead. The beach was already starting to make him forget his earlier humiliation. Beside them, Kitty, eyes wide, took in the wonder of their surroundings. Even though she had been across the beach before the glamour of their coral island never failed to make her wonder.

When they were about halfway across the beach, Ralph turned to the others.

"We'll make for the top of that mountain. We'll be able to see if it is an island from there."

The mountain dominated the scenery; a great hump of rock carpeted with jungle vegetation. Here and there were bald patches where no plants grew, and the exposed bare rock was pink like the cliffs. To the children it looked gigantic, but in reality was not very tall. The top of the mountain was flat, and it was from there that they would be able to survey their kingdom.

Soon, they were off the golden beach into the green calm of the jungle. Here, where the trees were not disrupted by the scar, they were even harder to bypass; the children had no breath to talk. Jack surprised them all by producing a large sheath-knife from a scabbard hung from his belt and using it to hack a way through. After this it was a bit easier, but Jack's knife was no machete, and soon Kitty was scratched and her shirt torn from the numerous thorn trees that dotted the jungle. The ground was going up in a steep incline, and they were forced in some difficult patches to bend double and grab for handholds. However, no one complained. The thrill of exploring hitherto uncharted territories far outweighed the obstacles encountered.

As they neared the top of the mountain the vegetation became sparser, giving way to pink rock. The wall of rock was nearly sheer, but pitted with cracks and crannies in which small, brilliantly blue flowers grew, sustained by the thin, loose soil that has drifted there by the wind. Simon picked one of the bright blossoms and presented it to Kitty, and they all laughed, even Jack. During the trek up the mountain a kind of truce had developed between Kitty and Jack, so that they now regarded each other with no antagonism, but mutual admiration and respect.

They had been preparing themselves for the final climb up the mountain; and now they launched themselves at the rock, scrambling up the final obstacle to finally stand at the top of the mountain. Up there breezes could more freely circumvent, so it was much cooler than the humid, oppressive jungle. The flat top of the hill was covered in scrubby grass and a few wildflowers, around which butterflies flew and sipped.

Kitty stood on tiptoe, all the better to see the view from the mountain. She ran across the flat summit, Simon close behind, and peered over the opposite edge. Below them, the great Pacific Ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Kitty bent down to examine her shin where she had barked it against the rock. "So it is an island."

Ralph's eyes glittered. Standing on the edge of the summit, he stretched his arms out, still holding the conch.

"This belongs to us." Then, as his first proclamation had carried a note of uncertainty, "This belongs to us!"

He lifted the conch, but was unschooled in playing it, producing a sound halfway between a whistle and a shriek. Jack and Simon fell about with laughter, but Kitty snatched the gleaming shell and blew, a long strident blast that seemed to shake the island. The microscopic figures near the platform looked up and waved. Jack and Simon fell silent. Ralph turned to them.

"All this is ours. There aren't any grown-ups. We can have fun until they come and rescue us!"

Kitty gave another blast on the conch out of sheer delight; Jack pretended to knock Ralph down and soon they were wrestling on the rock, sending earth flying. Simon did nothing, just stood, nodding and nodding his head and grinning from ear to ear.

The shadows were becoming long; the sun was just beginning its nightly descent. Ralph heaved Jack off him and dusted himself off. "Come on. We ought to get back to the others."

Together, they started to make their way down the mountain.

End of Chapter 2!!!!!!!! WOW this chapter took me quite a few days to write... one of my longest. If I'm not mistaken it's about 6000 words... ah well. But Mr. Golding wrote them longer.

-Kitty (Aerona)

Just so you know, I might be a bit delayed in posting the further chapters of this fic, because Christmas is coming and I HAVE TO HANDMAKE 12 CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FOR MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm actually using a cheapskate way to have fun while working, because I'm catering to my second obsession, Kingdom Hearts. Organization XIII bookmarks, heh heh.

BUT WHY IS SAIX SO HARD TO DRAW?!?!?!?!???!??!?!?!??!?!