Chapter II
"Bring-a-ling! Wake up, Sleeping Beauties!" Isis' dad shook both the top and bottom bunks of the bed. Dina was sleeping on the bottom, Isis on the top.
"Papa, if you were really an alarm clock I'd get a baseball bat and smash you to pieces," Isis groaned and pulled the covers over her head.
"Don't be so rude, we have a guest." Her dad stepped on the rail of the bottom bunk to raise his head up to the top. "If you don't get up, I'll have Thomas come in here and tackle you down."
"Bring that mutt in and I'll give him a what for!" Dina argued.
"See, Papa?" Isis smiled. "Dina's on my side."
"Fine," her dad breathed. "Then I'll have the dog come in and get both of you. And I won't call him off until you two are dressed."
"You're letting the dog watch us get dressed?" Isis scoffed. "Are you trying to make him perverted?"
Her dad just laughed and climbed off the rail. He walked over to the door and called out "Tommy! Come here, boy!" Isis reacted quickly and climbed down the bed. She shook her friend out of the bed.
"Jeez, Isis! I'm up!" Dina complained as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Is the dog that bad?"
"He licks you to death and will keep going unless you're either strong enough to push him off or if you can get on your own two feet," Isis' dad explained. He smiled, said a final good morning, and walked down to the kitchen. Isis handed Dina her bathing suit and clothes and told her that one of them was going to change in the bathroom. Dina got up slowly and bundled her clothes in a ball and dragged her feet to the bathroom across the hall. Isis closed and locked the door so no one, not even her dog, could get a look at her. She acted like she was back in the gym locker room and got dressed in three minutes and was out of her room and ready to eat some breakfast.
"What do we have?" Isis said, sitting down and holding a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. Her dad put a plate in front of her that was topped with eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. She looked at her dad. "Compliments to ze chef!" she said in a French accent. She dug into her bacon first, then grabbed the ketchup across the table and poured it on her eggs and gulped them down. Just when she was about to eat through her toast, Dina came down, fully dressed.
"Did you bring any sun lotion?" Isis said, biting into her toast.
"No," Dina said sheepishly. She turned to Isis' dad. "May I borrow some, Mr. Blanks?"
"By all means!" he said. "Don't want to bring you home looking like a red she-devil. Your mama might kill me! It's in the bathroom cupboard; the mirror."
"Thanks," Dina sighed, and ran up to find the lotion. Isis finished her breakfast and dumped the crumbs into the trash. She rinsed the plate off and placed it in the dish washer. She ran upstairs to help Dina.
"You find it yet?" she said, standing in the doorway. Dina was rummaging through it and dumping out half of the shelves.
"Is it…orange with a blue cap?" she said.
"That's the one. Here, let me do your back." She grabbed the sun lotion and rubbed some of it on her hands. Dina moved her ponytail so she wouldn't get any white lotion on it.
"God, that's cold!" she flinched. Isis laughed.
"You big baby," Isis giggled. She finished the rest of her friend's back and gave the lotion to her. "There. You can do the rest yourself."
Dina said thanks before Isis skipped back downstairs to help her dad pack for the day. He planned to go fishing, hiking, and swimming in one day. What a guy.
The four, including the dog, made it to Red Lake in about one hour and Dina was already fixing to go swimming before anything else. Isis told her that she might be a guest, but she would still have to help at least a bit if she wants to go back home. She handed her a box of fishing bobbers and bait and told her to put it on the dock to save a spot for her dad. Dina groaned in refusal, but helped anyway. She put the box down and looked out to the lake. On the other side, she could see at least twenty other people playing in the water.
"Come on!" she shouted to Isis. "I want to go swim already!" Isis was about to shout back in dissident when her dad cut her off and said they could go.
"But hurry up," he added. "Rain's fixing to come. Take the hiking trail over there. It leads over to the lake. Again, hurry!"
"You got it, Papa," Isis said swiftly and ran to Dina to tell her. The two girls ran off to the trail. They followed it for about ten minutes and were wondering where the lake was.
"Do you think we're lost?" Dina said.
"No, we're not lost, we're just…off-roadin'," Isis said in a Southern accent. Dina gasped.
"We are lost!" she screamed. "Admit it! The trail's gone!"
"Aw, come one, at least things can't get any-" She was cut off by the sound of thunder and her smile quickly disappeared and morphed into a frown. Dina ran her fingers through her hair.
"Worse. Were you about to say worse?" she mocked.
"No. I-I was gonna say… more improved."
Dina was about to call her something but chose to let it go. "How lost are we?"
"Uh…" Isis looked around for a blaze on a tree. Crap, they really were lost! "Maybe if we, uh…went…backwards, we could…Ah, screw it! We ain't getting back." She sat down on a tree log.
"What a day!" Dina shouted, throwing her hands up and sat next to Isis on the log. "Did we bring any food?"
"Well," Isis dug in her pocket, "what can we do with a penny, two nickels, and a button that says 'Vote for Maya as School Pres.'?"
Dina sighed. "Is there water around here somewhere?"
"Look up and wait," Isis joked. Dina slapped her on the arm.
"This is not funny, Isis Blanks!" she shouted.
"Well, sorry, Ms. Barley, but I'd like to keep my sense of humor in cases like these!"
It started to rain and Dina shouted for it to go away. Isis had to remind her to watch the temper and she just screamed out at her, too. "This is your fault!" she shouted.
"How is it my fault?!" Isis argued.
"You got us lost in these woods!"
"Unintentionally."
"There's no water, no food, no shelter!"
Right when she said that, Isis heard a crash of water. She whispered "Falls" and almost left Dina behind to go find it. She started singing I Love the World from the Discovery Channel while Dina stumbled over some rocks and tree roots trying to keep up with her.
"Wait! Isis!" Dina shouted. Isis kept singing and jumped over whatever Dina would trip over. When Isis stopped, she was standing right in front of a waterfall that had a deep pool at the bottom of it.
"Dina Ensley, I give you your swimming pool!" she said. She took a step back and ran in shouting, "Cannon ball!" and splashed in the pool. Dina nearly went into shock.
"Isis!" she screamed. She looked around above the water, looking for her when she stuck her head out of the water and gasped.
"This water's freezing, man!" she said. She looked up to Dina. "Come on in! It feels so much better when it's raining!"
Dina felt timid and took a step back, shaking her head no. Isis teased her and flapped her arms in the water as if calling her chicken and added the clucks to go with the mock. Dina's face turned red and she stepped back farther until Isis couldn't see her.
"Dina?" she called. "Yo, Dina! Where'd you-?"
"Banzai!" Dina ran off the edge and dove into the water, almost drowning Isis. Under the water, Dina could see the bottom of the pool. She was freaked out for a minute when she saw something that had to be impossible! Two large, mechanical bodies lying on the ground before her, dead. She forced a few bubbles of air out of her to form a muffled scream. Dina swam back up to the top, the rain hitting her head harder than it felt before. Isis was next to her.
"What happened?" she said with large eyes.
"There's something down there!" Dina said hastily. "I saw something, it's…You'll have to see it for yourself!"
Isis took in a deep breath and ducked her head under. She stayed there for five seconds until her head came back up.
"What the frick is it?!" she screamed.
Dina went into hysterics. She swam towards the edge of the pool and got out, Isis following. Dina gasped, "I think we better steer clear of that."
"Agreed, and I-" She was cut off again. This time, a lightening bolt had struck a tree they were under! Dina screamed her head off, but Isis was too paralyzed to do anything! Fire was close to falling on top of her until she felt something push both her and Dina out of the way. The tree fell down and dropped into the pool. Isis spit out some mud that was in her mouth and opened her eyes. A boy was pinning her down to the ground! He had white hair, pale skin, and wore nothing but the shorts on his legs. Dina was pinned down as well, but this boy was a bit tougher and his hair was so black it was nearly blue and he also wore only shorts.
"Who the hell are you?!" Isis screamed. The white-haired boy said nothing but stared at her. "I repeat, who are you? And get off of me!" She pushed the boy and he stood up. He said something in a different language and ordered the other boy up.
"What just happened?" Dina gasped. Isis stood over her.
"Two freak-a-zoids just jumped us to get out of the tree's way," she said.
"Really? Are they hot?"
Isis sighed. "Look for yourself." She pointed to the boys who stood next to each other. "The tough one is the guy that jumped you, if that makes you feel any better."
"You should be the one that feels good!" Dina said, her mouth wide open. "I think the white head boy over there is cuter! He just needs a slight tan, though. He looks dead."
The white-haired boy spoke something to the other, and he replied in the same language.
"Let's give these guys nicknames, since they can't tell us who they really are," Isis suggested. Dina agreed and they gave the name Snow to the white-haired, and Zeus to the tough one. They cheered at their simple creativity and the boys just looked at them like they were crazy.
"Where do you think they're from?" Dina said after all the giggling.
"I can't tell. It ain't Spanish, that's for sure. But it's also a mix of Japanese and African. God, I wish I knew!"
Snow gave an order to Zeus and the black-haired boy stood over Dina. He put his arms under her and picked her up. Dina started giggling.
"Wow, I like this one already!" she chuckled. Zeus smiled at her and walked down across the edge of the pool. Snow looked at Isis and she felt like she was going to puke. He walked politely up to her and bowed. Isis tried to hold in a childish giggle and Snow grabbed her hand to kiss the back of it. Isis couldn't help it any longer; she laughed like Julie. Snow smiled up at her and wrapped his arm around her back. Isis found out that he was trying to warm her up and it was seriously working! He strolled with her behind Zeus and Dina. Isis was curious of where they were going but knew she wouldn't be able to get an answer from them. They walked to the other side of the pool and under the waterfall. Isis didn't know, but there was a large cave behind the fall and it was lit with crystals! It was all diamonds, really. But it was so beautiful! They couldn't tell if it was the water that gave the crystals its ability to light the cave in blue, or if the crystals did that themselves. Either way, it was a smorgasbord of riches!
"Great googly moogly," Isis whispered. It echoed across the cave.
"You can say that again!" Dina cheered. Isis decided to repeat it as told and Dina laughed. Zeus set her down on the edge of the cave and was about to lie down next to her until Snow shouted something to him. Zeus stuck out his tongue and looked back at Dina. The brunette giggled again and Zeus petted her hair.
"No one's ever been this nice to us before," Dina said to Isis.
"You got the nice one!" Isis disagreed. "I've got the one that rather be a gentleman than be all snuggly like yours."
"Eh, Snow will learn," Dina shrugged. Zeus put his arm around her and nuzzled Dina's forehead. He scooted closer until their bodies were so close that not even a thin magazine could get between them. Dina's face was visibly red and her smile was so large that it could beat the size of Texas.
Snow, on the other hand, escorted Isis over to the other side of the cave and laid down. Isis was scared that he would react to this, but she laid her head down on his chest and heard his heartbeat. It was slow and strong. She felt Snow's arm move from beneath her and his hand rested on her head. He petted her hair just like Zeus had done with Dina. Isis took in a deep breath, let it out, and fell asleep.
xXx
Dina: I so wish that Zeus was my boyfriend!
Isis: Lucky! I wanted the crazy one! You know, someone I could relate to...
Brianna: Isis, Isis, Isis. Do I detect a hint of jealousy?
Dina: With a dash of lonliness, I might add.
Isis: Shut up! *sniff* I...I don't know what you're talking about!
Brianna: It's all right, girl. You've had a right to be lonly ever since-
Dina and Isis: *tackles Brianna* NO! DON'T GIVE IT AWAY!
Dina: You're not supposed to say anything ahead of time!
Isis: Aren't you the writer?! Get with the program!