AN: Review, review, review, everyone! Come on, look at me, updating twice in one day.

Wow that's gotta be either awesome or annoying for you guys. Sorry—I love writing and when I have free time, like I've had A LOT of lately, I get a good chunk of it done.

Anyways, I'm hoping to post maybe a one or two chapters tomorrow, which is Thursday for me, because I have off all day and I doubt I'll be able to post again until Sunday, maybe Monday, because it turns out I actually have a life O.O

So yeah, enjoy!

Chapter 21.

I was lying very comfortably in Edmund's arms, despite the rock I was laying on that was giving me a bruise. Half asleep, I shifted slightly so that I wasn't on it anymore.

I'd just started to fall back asleep when I heard someone yell, "Everybody!"

I jumped slightly. Ugh, go back to bed, Lucy.

"Everybody, wake up!"

"No, thank you," I muttered, snuggling closer to Edmund as I felt him begin to stir. "I would prefer to sleep."

"It's the blue star!"

My eyes flew wide open and Edmund and I both sat up, looking up at the sky. I exhaled sharply.

She was right. There, in the middle of the early morning sky, was a bright, blue star. It looked gorgeous surrounded by the pink and blue flecks of sunrise. I heard exclamations and excited murmuring from everyone. I looked around and saw that Reep had barely gotten Eustace to wake up. I couldn't tell if he was excited by the star or not. I sighed. I hoped we'd find a cure for him. Even he didn't deserve to spend the rest of his life as a dragon that looked as if it hadn't gone through puberty yet. No one could ever doubt it was Eustace.

Everyone began getting up and talking about getting back to the ship immediately. Well, there goes the sweet dream of getting a good, long night's sleep. Groggily, I got to my feet and stretched, practically cracking every bone in my body.

"Sleep well?" Ed asked me as he stood up.

"Pretty good," I said, smiling. "And you?"

"Fantastic."

Despite the uncomfortable, hard ground, being held by him did wonders, especially after last night. The thought of our confessions for each other and how heated things got between us made me blush.

I turned away so he wouldn't see, though with how he was grinning I'm pretty sure he saw.

With the crew all awake, everything erupted into one big, excited ball of chaos. Everyone was running around like crazy, gathering up our belongings and such.

Some of us ran to the rowboats and began to load them so we could get back to the ship as soon as possible and follow the star before it disappeared or something.

Ah, hell, that would suck so badly! I could just see it now. We board the ship proudly, ready to kick some ass, then it disappears soon as our feet touches the deck.

Well, not all of us will be on the ship. I glanced back at the exhausted looking dragon.

"Eustace is flying, I suppose?" I questioned the two kings as I stuffed a bundle of blankets in the back of the boat.

Caspian and Edmund looked at each other then back at Eustace, who was looking more awkward than ever in his dragon body.

"I guess," Caspian agreed, not looking particularly concerned.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," I said, exchanging a look with Edmund. "He's not very good at it."

"We don't have any other choice," Caspian pointed out as Reep scampered down off of the rowboat.

"I'll stay with the lad," Reep volunteered cheerfully. "I can direct him."

In the end they agreed with that plan and Reep went off to Eustace. A mouse helping a dragon fly. Ohh boy.

"Don't worry, guys," I said sarcastically as Caspian ran up to go inform the crew we were ready to go. "There's absolutely no possible way that this can go wrong."

"Don't be so negative," Lucy chided me, looking more cheerful than I'd seen her in a long time.

I chuckled. "Sorry, Lu. It's part of my job description as a crew member, you know."

"If we had known that we'd have left you in the water when we found you," Edmund teased, just as we finished putting the last of our things into the rowboat.

"Admit it, you couldn't resist the power of my bikini," I said slyly.

"Well, haven't you got me figured out?" he said mockingly.

"Whatever happened to your bathing suit, anyway?" Lucy interrupted curiously.

With a grin, I pulled up my shirt to reveal it just as Caspian came back down. The look on his face was priceless.

"One day you'll need someone to swim," I said gravely. "And no one is going to want to get their clothes wet, but then I will step forward, rip off my clothes and save all your lives."

Caspian stared at me as if I belonged in an insane asylum.

"It'll happen," I said defensively. "You're welcome, in advance. No thanks necessary."

He shook his head slowly and looked at Ed. "Wow . . . you lucky bastard, you."

. . . Needless to stay, it took a while for Edmund and Lucy to stop laughing. Royalty and their cruelness towards peasants these days was astounding.

Once the crew gathered together in the boats, we hastily rowed back to the Dawn Treader. I hadn't even properly woken up yet and we were on the move, racing towards the star that had finally decided to reveal itself to us. At least it hadn't disappeared. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Leaving the crew to do all of the work without feeling the slightest trace of guilt, Lucy and I went to our room and cleaned ourselves up and changed into fresh clothes. Once we did that, we went out onto our balcony and watched as the island from hell become smaller and smaller.

"I'm not sorry to be leaving it behind," I said quietly, thinking of all the shit it'd put us through yesterday.

"Me either," she agreed. "I don't even want to begin to imagine how it can get any worse than what happened to the boys." She paused. "All three of them."

"Don't jinx us," I warned her, eyes wide. "We could be next to go insane or change into a dragon."

She smiled apprehensively. "I really hope not."

"Smack me if I get out of line," I suggested. "It's okay, I can take it."

She giggled. "Alright."

We looked back out to the ocean just as a water figure shaped like a woman rose. She seemed to be waving at us. Lucy and I laughed.

"I'll never get used to the creatures here," I said amazed. "It's all so breathtaking."

Smiling, Lucy opened her mouth to respond but stopped, her face going serious.

"What's wrong?" I questioned.

"Look," she said softly.

I looked back at the water woman and frowned. She wasn't waving hello to us, she was waving her arms wildly, as if afraid, and mouthing something I couldn't understand. "No", maybe?

Lucy and I looked at each other confused as she disappeared back into the water.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked slowly, staring at where the woman had disappeared.

"I think she was trying to warn us of something," I said grimly.

"What though?" she wondered.

I shrugged. "Who knows?"

Trying to push it out of our minds, we went back into our room to see Gael waiting for us, patiently.

"There you are," she said happily, holding a hairbrush. "I have a bad knot in my hair and it hurts."

"I'll get it," I assured her, taking the brush. I gently brushed through her hair, getting out the snarls and making it neater. When I got to the knot, my jaw dropped. It was only a little smaller than my fist. That's what we get for sleeping on the ground, I guess.

"Geez, Gael, you weren't kidding!" I worked on it for a good ten minutes, trying to get out. The poor thing was wincing with every stroke of the brush, though I tried to be as gentle as possible.

I was this close to getting in when suddenly the boat lurched, sending the three of harshly down to the floor.

"Damn it, what the hell was that?" I said through gritted teeth, forgetting once again I was in the presence of a child.

"Ow," Gael whimpered. I glanced down at my brush and my eyes widened. Oh shit.

"Well . . . I got the knot," I said sheepishly, chucking the brush behind me as hard as I could.

The sound of cheers from the deck made me and Lucy raise our eyebrows curiously at each other. The three of us got to our feet and dashed out of the room to the deck to find something that I definitely wasn't expecting—not even in my wildest dreams.

Eustace had wrapped his tail around the very front of the ship and was now pulling us.

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was hallucinating. Leaving the two girls behind, I went to find Edmund.

"What's going on?" I asked as I approached him.

"Eustace is helping us," he said, looking as surprised as I felt. "This way we're hopefully going to get there much faster."

My stomach growled just then. "Good or I might have eaten him."

"You and the rest of the crew," he said with a sigh, looking around at the men who were now going back to work.

"He'd have tasted weird anyway," I said, wrinkling my nose. "I bet I'd have gotten food poisoning."

Unable to help myself I stepped closer and teasingly trailed a finger down his chest. "You on the other hand . . ."

He swallowed, staring at my hand wide-eyed before looking back up at me.

"It's a good thing it doesn't run in the family," I whispered before I pressed my lips to his.

Before we could even really get into it, Caspian walked by and playfully shoved Ed.

"No kissing on deck," he said mockingly disapproving.

"Since when do I listen to rules?" I said, throwing my hands, exasperated at his faith in me. Of course, I was ignored.

"Don't listen to him," Ed assured me, trying to pull me back into his arms.

My eyes lit up with an idea. "No, no, he's right. Let's just go on his hammock for a while and wait until the middle of the night to tell him we borrowed it."

He laughed. "Tempting, but, uh, after yesterday I better not push it."

I made a sympathetic face. Since the moment he said he loved me, I'd forgiven him, but I certainly hadn't forgotten about it.

"How's that going?" I asked him, lacing my fingers through his. "Are you two okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Did you talk about it?" I pressed him.

"No," he said, giving me a weird look.

I rolled my eyes. "Men."

He shrugged, looking "innocent".

"Anyway, I don't even want to think about how much worse this is going to get." I shuddered.

He wrinkled his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

I snorted. "Let's see, we haven't even made it to the dark island yet and we've almost been torn apart, your cousin turned into a dragon, and pretty boy came to the realization that he could get ugly someday. Though that last part was admittedly my fault."

"Good point," he said, trying to keep from laughing.

I looked up at the blue star. "I just hope this isn't a trap," I said with a sigh, thinking of the water creature who had truly seemed to be telling us something important.

"Of course it is," he said lightly. "Which is why we're going there."

I blinked. ". . . Yeah, what the hell, who needs logic, anyways?"

"Nothing is going to harm you, Rose. Not with me there."

I smiled slightly. "I can take care of myself, you know."

He smirked. "I've seen you use a sword, so I may have to disagree with that."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and kiss me before I go be a bother to someone else."

He chuckled and obliged my request, the both of us ignoring the teasing from the crew members.

If anyone tried to hurt any of these people, I'd kill a bitch. Magical mist or not.