Chapter 18

"Don't hold it like that." Tim said grabbing for Silvia's arm, she pulled away. "I know how to use a sword." "Come on! Give it back." Tim said reaching for his sword. Silvia stepped back out of his reach. "Give me a minute." Tim sighed. "You have been saying that for the last hour." "It hasn't been that long…" "Here!" Silvia said shoving the sword into his chest, before he could grab it.

She let it go, it stabbed into the soft dirt at their feet, she turned and jumped grabbing the branch of her tree to climb up. Leaving Tim standing there with his sword at his feet. He sighed pulling it out of the ground.

"You didn't have to drop it..." He grumbled, wiping the blade off with the edge of his shirt. He turned to Lacey as she walked up with a rabbit in her hand. She smiled. "Good morning." She said as she walked past him, a small giggle escaping her as she climbed into the tree.

"So now what do we do?" Asked Tim as they sat up to the stone table in Silvia's cabin, where they were eating a late breakfast. "What do you mean. 'What do we do now'?" Silvia asked stopping mid bite. "I mean What do we do now, because we have broken the magic bearer, so what do we do now." Lacey set down her food.

"Well… I would… like to." "Like to what?" Silvia cut her off. Lacey smiled. "I would like to go home." Everyone stared at her blankly, Ray's food fell from his hand. He quickly grabbed his food up and took a bite. Tim sighed. "Me too…" Silvia was silent. Silence fell on the room. Minutes passed before Silvia got up and left, Lacey got up and followed her out, and up the tree to the hidden room. When the door closed behind them Silvia sat down at the table. "What's wrong?" Lacey asked sitting down beside her. "I don't know…"

Silvia mumbled in her arms that she had placed her head on. Lacey placed her arm around Silvia's shoulders, a couple minutes passed before Silvia stood up, Lacey's arm fell away. Silvia paced back and forth, shaking her hands in frustration. "What's wrong?" Lacey asked again. "I don't want you to leave… I do not want any of you guys to leave… I don't want to be alone… again…" Silvia said. "Oh… Silvia." She stood up and rapped Silvia in a hug. "I thought you were going to come with me.

Why would you stay?" Lacey had to listen closely to hear Silvia. "I don't know if I want to leave here. This is home…" Lacey pulled her out to arm's length. "Well I know this could be scary, but I really would like it if you came with me. It could be fun." Silvia looked sad but smiled then hugged Lacey. "Thank you." They talked for awhile before leaving the hidden room.

Ray and Tim were still at the table when they entered the cabin, they stopped talking when the girls entered. "Is everything ok?" They asked. "You guys just up and left." Ray said looking at Lacey.

"It's all good." Silvia said moving to clean up the leftover food, Lacey followed to help her. "Let's go for a swim!" Silvia said after the clean up was done. "Huh? Where would we do that, the lagoon is to small." Tim said. "We are going to swim on the beach. Dummy!!" Silvia said, Lacey headed up to Silvia's room to change from her dress to the small dear skin dress, her skirts would be difficult to swim in, she hears Silvia say to Ray.

"Ray are you coming to swim?" She didn't hear Ray's answer, when she was dressed she descended the ladder, then followed the others out side and down to the beach, the air was warm. Silvia was the first into the cold water, Lacey slowly followed her. They had went swimming a lot last summer when she had first come to the island.

Tim slowly put a foot in.

"Wow this is cold." The girls laughed. "Tim don't you live by the sea?" Ray asked. "Yeah. But that doesn't change the fact that it's cold." Tim said. Silvia had gone under the water and hadn't resurfaced. Tim slowly made his way down into the water until it was to his waist and he stood beside Lacey. In a flash he was pulled under before he could scream, he grabbed on Lacey's arm.

Tim resurfaced as Silvia did too coughing and swearing. Silvia was laughing Lacey joined her. Tim grabbed Silvia trying to dunk her back, they moved away splashing water. Lacey giggled and moved away to avoid the worst of the water coming her way. She looked over at the shore to see Ray sitting down a little ways up on the sandy beach. She moved slowly in his direction. "Are you coming in?" She asked, he shook his head, suddenly before she cold respond or even realized what was happenng she was pushed under the water, she gulped in, water filled her nose, fear gripped her as she went limp, strong arms pulled her up.

She coughed when she broke the surface and sucked in lungs full of air. Coughing and sputtering she finally was able to catch her breath and noticed that she was in Ray's arms and he was standing on top of the water as he held her. As he walked back onto the shore, he kept asking her if she was ok. After her shock of realizing he was walking on the water she was finally able to nod her head as he set her down on her feet on the sandy beach.

He kept ahold of her for a few more minutes and Lacey felt like she could melt into the strong arms around her a feeling went through her and she realized it was the same feeling she had had the night at the lagoon.

As his arms started to loosen from around her, she threw her arms around his neck and whispered a thank you into his ear. Ray smiled and kept his arms softly around her for a few more minutes. "You sure you are ok now?" He asked. She nodded and then they let go of each other as they heard Silvia asking if she was ok from the water. "Yes, she is fine." Replied Ray.

"Just a little shocked and scared." "I'm sorry, I did not mean to hurt you." She said to Lacey as she came out of the water and onto the shore beside them. "That was amazing what you did, Ray. Did you know you could do that?" "No… I just quickly reacted when I saw her go under." Tim got out of the water to join them. "You should go change." Ray said looking at her, Lacey nodded silently and started walking into the trees.

She did not wait for the others and headed for the cabin. The small dear skin dress clung to her form. She grimaced and hurried up the path to the tree house, once in Silvia's room she quickly changed.

Lacey climbed down the ladder to enter the main room of the cabin, Silvia and Tim stood dripping water that seeped through the cracked floorboards, when she got to the floor Silvia spoke. "I'm sorry we scared you… I didn't mean to hurt you…" Lacey looked at her and Tim they were looking at their feet. She sighed picking up her big skirts to not get them wet. "Its… Ok. I'm fine." She answered, as her dress flashed rainbow light then it was gone in a flash. She stood in a knee length skirt dress that was a little shorter in the front.

"You guys go change. I am going out." She grabbed her spear and walked out the door[LB1] [LB2] . She left the tree heading for the meadow. She got to the meadow to see it had been half blowen away by the blast from the bearer which left a big clearing strewn with big leaves and branches. She sighed and got to practicing with her spear. She was frustrated and mad at herself.

She was afraid of water, she just wanted to go home, all this was getting to her. She was sick of being out here where there was no one and she just wanted her bed! Her family! She swung her spear around her head in a move she had never tried before. She wanted to go home. "Ugghh!!!" She screamed stabbing the spear into the ground and sat down in the grass throwing her hands up and falling back to lay in the grass. She shut her eyes and took deep breaths to slow her beating heart. The sound of footsteps coming up behind, made her open her eyes.

She sat up and turned to Silvia on Lilly's back. "Do you want to come with me?" Lacey got up and pulled her spear out of the ground. "Sure, where are we going?" Silvia smiled and gave Lacey a hand up. "I am going to fly over the island. The bearer is gone so we don't have to worry about that." Silvia said.

"Oh." Once Lacey was settled behind Silvia, Lilly took off. Lacey put her arms around Silvia's small waist as they continued going up, they topped the trees and looked out over the forest. They could clearly see the long stretch of cleared land left from the blast of the bearer, that stretch from the mountain to the sea. They circled and spent awhile looking around before landing back in the clearing, they hadn't seen any of the monster bird's since they had crashed after going through the barrier weeks before.

Lacey and Silvia were met by Ray and Tim when they landed. Lacey jumped off. "That was enjoyable." She said with a bounce to her step as she walked towards where Tim and Ray stood. She turned back and watched as Silvia stood rubbing Lilly's neck. "Did you notice that there were no big birds up on the mountain As we flew over them. Silvia?" Lacey asked. Silvia came over to where the others stood and Lilly followed her.

"You are right, I did not see any since that day. I wonder where they all went. Come to think about it I have not seen any of the fierce beasts since then and more of the mild ones like dear and rabbits and squirrels and other animals that are more or less harmless." "That is interesting." Said Tim. "Maybe they were part of the curse along with the barrier." Said Ray. "That could be it." Replied Lacey.

"So, who is up for an adventure?" Asked Lacey. "What are you thinking?" Asked Silvia. "Well, I really want to go home and let my family know I am still alive and I know you would all be welcome to come with me, so I figure we could all go to my home, and then if we want we could come back. Do you think Lilly could fly that far? It isn't more than a day's journey from here in a boat. What do you think?" Said Lacey excitedly. "That might work. If it is about a day's journey by boat then Lilly could probably do it in a couple of hours." Said Silvia thoughtfully.

"I would like to come but I'm not looking forward to the flight." Tim said. Lacey looked at Ray awaiting his response. Ray smiled at her then nodded. "Ok!! We can pack a couple things and leave tomorrow." "There's not much to pack." Laughed Tim, Lacey smiled. "Well let's do some training to pass the time." Ray said. The others nodded. They ran through their routine of exercise before heading back to Silvia's cabin for the evening.