Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Thirty: Land

June adjusted her position on the cold rock so that her knees were in front of her.

She sat under the shelter of the tent, watching the rain as it crashed violently at everything; droplet by droplet accumulating muddy puddles all around her. She shivered as a chilling wind swept across her. A spidery flash of electric light dashed between the clouds.

Night one, she thought. If it wasn’t for James, who had insisted that he needed a rest from walking for the entire day, she would’ve still been wandering through the forest, searching. But searching for what? She didn’t know. Anything to prevent her from sitting idle like she did now in the situation she found herself in.

Behind her, she could hear James shuffling through the backpack, opening the plastic lid of the lunchbox and shaking the bottle of water. June cringed. It wasn’t the water that worried her; she could summon the entire ocean – it was the food. With the signal lost, no food was refilled. She had counted the sandwiches; from six they were down to four. Two for James and two for her. How many more days would that last?

James, without speaking, situated himself beside her on the rock, gazing at the moonlit leaves and darkened sky. He closed his arms around him in the cold, shivering.

‘Good news,’ he said in a tone that almost sounded cheery. ‘I know where we are.’

June frowned at him. ‘So you know how to get out?’

‘Uh, no,’ he said, his tone still somehow neutral but cheery, delighted almost. Delighted to be lost. That single phrase, she realized, described him fully.

‘Then what exactly?’

He inched closer to her; she could smell the wetness of his body; the scent of rain. ‘In one of my travel books I read about an island that continuously rained. It was called Rain Island.’

June raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. ‘You’re kidding.’

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Hilarious.’

June found herself laughing. How did he do that? ‘So,’ she said, ‘Rain Island. You think this is it?’

He nodded, gesturing to vast expanse of tress that surrounded them, the lake that churned beneath the rocks that they nested on. ’Fits the description. If it’s raining when we wake in the morning, even for the rest of the days we are here, then I know its Rain Island.′

I know. Something about the way he said that made June feel secure.

They sat in silence; watching the grey sky, watching the journey that lightning took to reach its destination. June noticed everything in detail; a way that she wouldn’t have seen things in the human world. The slipping movements of the droplets, splashing from one leaf to another, only to gather at a small puddle that trickled into the large lake, and the lake, eventually flowed into the ocean.

She could barely hear James breathing; she glanced sideways to make sure and saw his face, fair in the light of the moon and his hair, damp, clinging to his forehead. When he turned to her and grinned he looked almost comical.

‘What?’

‘I think we should try Nicole again,’ June said, she had been insisting that they try to gain connection with civilization again, so that she didn’t have to feel entirely helpless.

James looked at her; she looked calm, but he knew that inside she was worried and frightened. It was like another ability she had; a way to hide her emotions in a blank stare. He nodded once. ‘Alright,’ he stood and walked to the backpack, rummaging in it for the ear piece that Charlie gave. He handed it to her.

June turned it in her hand, and placed it near her mouth.

‘Nicole?’

Her heart leaped. A voice.

‘Are you there?’

Nicole rushed to it – she recognized the voice – June. She hopped over everything; the paddle, the benches, harassing the small rowboat she was in, almost toppling it over, and hungrily searching for the sound. Beneath the second bench was the shattered remains of the earpiece she had tried to repair before. Surprisingly; that was where the sound was coming from.

‘June?’

‘... yes ... me.’ The words were woven with static noises; it didn’t sound like they would be in conversation for too long.

Nicole’s heart raced. She blurted out the first question; ‘Where are you?’

‘Rain Island ... James ... you?’

‘I’m in a boat,’ said Nicole. She wiped off a bead of sweat from across her forehead. ‘In the middle of an ocean.’

‘Dominic?’

‘No,’ she wanted to tell and ask June so much more but her mind couldn’t surface them.

‘Is ... working?’

Is my watch working. ‘No, it’s not –’

There was a loud and painful burst of static that made Nicole jerk the earpiece away from her ear. When it was gone, she yelled into it. ‘June?’

But there was no reply. Not even static this time. The signal was gone.

Nicole flung the earpiece onto the floor of the small boat; it shattered into even smaller pieces. If it wasn’t completely broken before – it was now. She stood and paced around the confines of the boat, groaning in anger, in frustration, in restlessness.

Although June had not spoken much, Nicole had gained some useful information. She gathered them in one pile in her head. June was at a place Nicole had never heard of before. Charlie had given her the backpack before they left Enchanted High, so she probably still had it. June had also asked if her watch was working, which probably meant that hers was not as well. Which could also mean that Dominic was lost somewhere too. And June had mentioned James’s name ... why? Maybe he was with her.

She dropped her hands to her sides, taking in deeper breaths than she had ever before. Her father always told her that she was resourceful, that she could build anything with just a few scraps of metal. But right now, she felt hopeless.

She crouched, using the bench to steady her. Her vision had become wavery at this point; the boat was just a wooden box with loose ends and the water ... she could almost taste it – she just had to lean over, a few sips would satisfy everything –

And her legs had begun to move her to the side of the boat; her hands had begun to cup themselves to scoop the liquid, all she wanted to do was feel it on her face ...

She staggered backwards dizzily. And she fell heavily on the dry wooden boat. Energy drained. Her eyes closed like when the screen of her cellphone became dim when the battery was dying.

The last thing she saw was a thin green line that marked the point where the water met the sky – and her eyes shut into a deep sleep –

Land!

She jerked awake instantly, drowsiness forgotten. Blinking several times to double-check – yes; it was land. Sweet, solid land ... it was at that moment when she realized that she had barely spent a day isolated from complete solidness and she couldn’t stand it.

Trembling – she didn’t know why – she reached for the paddle; forgetting her sudden craving for food, forgetting the yells of her body longing for water, and forgetting how hot the sun felt on her skin.

Instead, she concentrated every ounce of energy she had, from every cell in every tissue, to row the boat towards land.

I’ve been to Rain Island. It is a beautiful place, but my boss tells me that if a person lived here for too long, they could be driven mad. I ask her why and she said that it always rained there. And people associate rain with gloominess, sadness - this rain, however, was more powerful. It could force a person into forgetting their happiness. But she also told me that the rain chooses a victim - a bad person. I’m quite proud to say that I wasn’t affected by the rain during my time there. I’m not sure about my boss, though. She has a sort of poker face, so I can’t really tell when something is troubling her.

Love from all the fur on my back,

--THUG.

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