~Map of Taibhsean No. 1~

That's a really good map Jarvis! The plane crash and the castle are across the island from each other. Long ways away!

~Part 4~

     No matter how many blankets or sweatshirts Danielle piled on top of herself, nothing could squall the bone-deep chill. The worst part was that it wasn’t just cold, it was wet, and the air was heavy with freezing drops of moisture that cut through the fabric as if it was nonexistent. Danie had spent the first hour praying it wouldn’t rain, and then the next few trying to sleep amidst the tumbling of thoughts in her brain.

    Despite the fact that she had survived the plane crash, this didn’t change the harsh reality that she was stuck here, with no contact to the outside world. Her parents were probably frantic with worry and anxiety. What had they done by now? Called the police? Searched the airport for anyone with information? How long would it take anybody to find the exact location of the wreck, and then what would they do? How much time did they have until they were rescued, assuming they didn’t starve to death first?

    Hour after hour, Danie’s washing machine of thoughts always cycled back to the same thing: sleep. She had to rest and regain her strength; there was no other option. Burying the still brimming but slightly more calm storm of panic inside her, she pressed her face against a bundle of sweatshirt-

    -and immediately jerked it back up again. For a fraction of a second, a large swath of light, similar to a car’s headlights, had swooped across her vision. The shadows of the trees had reached out as if to grab her, then reluctantly returned to their original place.

    Blinded by the flash, Danie staggered to her feet, nearly hitting a tree limb directly over her head. She fumbled her way to where Lindsey was sleeping, curled up in a ball between two roots- and hesitated.

    It was probably a false alarm. What was the point of waking them up? Lindsey would probably say something ever-so-kind that would demote Danie from being completely useless to being completely useless and a scaredy cat, at least in Kes’s eyes. No, there was no point. She would go back to bed and forget about it in the morning. It was probably a figment of her imagination anyway.

    Which might’ve been the case, had not another flash of light whisked its way across the clearing and startled Danie enough into keeping her eyes open, giving her enough visibility to realize three things at once:

1. The camp was a giant mess.

2. Kes’s makeshift bed was flung all over the place.

3. Kes was not there.

    Danielle’s blood went cold. No more excuses, now was the time to wake Lindsey.

    “Lindsey! Get up!” she shouted, wincing at how much her voice filled the empty space. “Wake up, now!” She pulled off the blankets, but Lindsey didn’t even stir. It was if the girl was unconscious; after two full minutes of trying to get a reaction out of her, Danie had to admit defeat. This, of course, meant she had to go with the final option: wandering off into the woods at night.

    It was slow going- she had no light, and the brambles caught on her clothes every step of the way. Even so, Danie circled the camp twice before the third flash, which (finally!) illuminated a tall and thin figure, barely distinguishable from the tree trunks.

    “Kes,” Danie hissed. “What the heck are you doing?” The figure, however, gave no response as to whether or not she had heard; for at that moment, she turned jerkily and began to walk in the opposite direction. Danie yelled after her, but it had no effect; the figure just kept plodding along monotonously, one foot after the other in a straight line.

    And so Danie did the most natural thing given the situation: she huffed with exasperation and started to follow.

    From time to time the light would fade, submerging everything in a cesspool of inky darkness, and Kes would rush ahead, as if the shadows gave her momentum or strength. It was in times like these that Danie would almost lose her, but then the light would return for a half second, pinpointing the shadow that was Kes and allowing Danie to keep pace. Gradually, Danie’s thoughts began to become muddled. She didn’t notice the strange way sound was being leached from the world around her, as if a giant noise sponge was sucking it up. She only vaguely registered the fact that she could no longer hear her own footsteps. The world had become dream-like, and Kes- why was she following Kes again?- stayed always out of reach, a butterfly flitting tantalizingly close but always just out of Danie’s line of vision.

    And then the trees stopped.

    The sudden air brought Danie a glimpse of the sky for the first time that night. It was flooded with soft moonlight, but she could not pinpoint the moon...or the stars. Beneath it, Kes had finally stopped, and stood at the hillcrest, her long, pale hair fluttering in a breath of wind that Danie could not hear or feel. It was the same spot she had found yesterday, the hill that overlooked the rest of the island and the...standing stones.

    At last, Danie had found the source of the light.

    The ring of stones was glowing with beams of encircling light that seemed as though they were entwined in complex patterns. They illuminated the surrounding hills in bright clarity, but the interior of the circle remained mysteriously shrouded. It reminded Danie, she thought vaguely, of a carousel, but without all the tinkly music. In fact, it was entirely in eerie silence that Kes swooped down off the hill with inhuman speed towards the glowing ring.

    Danie tried to follow, but was held back by an unseen force. She pushed and struggled, as if fighting a hurricane, but could only watch as Kes approached the circle of stones and, pausing only once, pressed her hand against one.

    Perhaps it was sleep that had finally caught up with Danie. All she remembered was the lights flaring bright and collapsing, all last trails of thought swallowed by the night.

"1 hour 21 minutes by PART FOUR IS OUT"

ARGGGGH!!! The suspense!!!!! 

Overreacter.

Am not.

Are too! 

Am not!

"xywi" 

... 

I LOVE IT!!!

I think it's boring. Why do you bother reading this.

ok, now i'm scared.

*rolls eyes at Blue*

Be nice you two. Anyways Jarvis, YOU ARE AN AMAZING WRITER!!!! 

Very nice Jarvis! 

Hey guys, thanks so much for all the feedback! I hope Part 5 will be finished today! I'm having a couple of issues with it. Does anyone think that the transition from Parts 3 to 4 was too abrupt?

Nah! The transition was fine! Keep up the good work.

Shaddow says "thyk". Think? Thick? Huh? 

~PART 5~

Stella was having strange dreams. She was pretty sure there was a battle going on around her, but she couldn’t make out the soldiers, or the enemy, or the people fighting. The clashes of swords rang out, as did shouts in a language she didn’t recognize, but the only thing constant was the fire, which rose above everything else and consumed it all in crackling hunger. It’s heat seared her face, making her wonder why she hadn’t already been burned to death.

And then she awoke with a jolt, gasping for air that couldn’t exist. Surprisingly, she found she could breathe easily. The cool, breezy air was a relief compared to the hellish nightmare she’d just left, and she drank it in greedily, savoring the way it brushed over her face. Once she was done, she looked at her surroundings.

Stella found herself at the base of a towering stone pillar, rough with age and covered in patches of lichen. Directly opposite was an identical pillar, and balanced on top of them both was a gigantic piece of rock that served as a cruel roof. To her right, she could see a group of randomly placed stones of various sizes, most of which had fallen over. Weeds sprung up around them, from patches of thistle to small, spiky little purple flowers, and everything glittered with orbs of untouched dew. This must be the ruins of something, Stella thought, and she had an uneasy feeling that she was standing in the doorway.

She stepped out from beneath the rock awning and immediately doubled over with hunger and thirst. The world spun as reality hit with the force of a meteor- where WAS she? What was she DOING? Had they missed the ferry? Where were Rohan and Cadence? What had happened? The only thing she could remember was standing on top of a fiery castle, but that made no sense, and even those memories were slipping from her mind like water through a cracked cup. Was she hallucinating? Was she going crazy? Her stomach gnawed at her insides urgently, making rational thought impossible.

“Cadence?” she called out through parched lips. “Rohan? Anybody?” But nobody responded. Desperately, Stella began to climb the sides of the valley, scrambling up grassy hills in the hopes of finding a higher place to survey her surroundings. There had to be someone around! This island couldn’t be entirely empty! There had to be someone around.

She reached the top of the hill and hugged her jacket around herself, peering into the distance. The landscape of rolling hills and meadows was unadorned, and she couldn’t see the castle in any direction, nor could she see the sea. Finally she spotted some trees in the distance, at the top of a large, rocky hill that was even taller than this one. It looked hard to climb, but perhaps there was a path. Stella didn’t want to get lost, so she set off for the trees, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she’d find someone along the way.

Fifteen minutes later found Stella attempting to clamber up the rocks, which were unhelpfully slippery with dew. She  kept losing handholds and nearly falling all the way back down. Normally she would’ve been able to do this with no problem, but she was in dire need of water and felt like she hadn’t eaten in days. As her right hand slipped yet again, she finally gave up trying to scale the rock face and jumped down, collapsing onto the soft, feathery grass. Maybe she could just lie here and rest. Maybe it wasn’t worth it. Maybe…

“Aaaahhh!” Stella was ripped from the land between unconsciousness and sleep by a sharp scream. Her eyes popped open to reveal a girl with prominent obsidian glasses staring down at her in shock. “I thought you were dead!” the girl yelped.  

Relief-warm and glorious-flowed through Stella. “Who are you? Do you happen to have any water…” Her voice gave out on the last word.

The girl calmed herself with eerie speed and seemed to recognize the urgency of the situation. “Hang on. I’ll be back,” she said steadily before racing back the way she’d come.

“Wait,” whispered Stella. But she was gone.

Five minutes later, however, she returned, this time bearing several plastic and foil covered containers and a beat-up teal thermos. “Here,” she said, handing Stella the thermos. “Don’t drink it too fast.”

While Stella gulped down the water, the girl introduced herself as Lindsey, before hurriedly asking if she’d seen any other people on the island.

“No,” replied Stella, whose throat was feeling much better after swallowing almost half the thermos. “Not since waking up. Before then, I was up at the castle with Rohan and… wait, have you seen anyone else recently? Particularly a girl with curly red hair and another with blond hair and green eyes?”

“I’m afraid not. The only two people I’ve encountered were the same two who both survived the plane crash along with me- Danielle and Kes-”

“Wait, so you haven’t seen anybody else?!” Stella’s head spun. “Oh no... did they leave the island without me? Please tell me this is a prank.”

“No it isn’t- at least, not a prank I’m in on.” She paused. “Um...is abandoning you something they would’ve been likely to do?”

“No!!”

“Ok, I’m just as much in the dark as you. Both Danielle and Kes vanished last night. I’ve been searching all over for them...hmm, would you like chicken dinner, ham sandwich, or tuna salad?”

“What?”

She gestured to the three foil-wrapped packages in front of her. “Airline meals. I’d go with the tuna if I were you, otherwise it might spoil soon.”

“Sure.” She took the third package. “Thanks. I’m Stella, by the way. I came here on a photography trip to photograph the ruins.”

Lindsey remained silent as Stella ate, often staring off into the depths of the forest, as if listening for something. She got up and started to pace with nervous energy, around and around until Stella began to get dizzy watching her. Stella prodded the tuna salad with a fork, trying not to think about it’s suspiciously sponge-like texture. All at once, Lindsey stopped circling. “Is it possible they just wandered off?” she spoke.

“I don’t think so. Rohan said-”

“I mean Kes and Danielle.” Lindsey fingered a thin branch from a nearby sapling. “I mean, that would be silly. Anyone can easily get lost in the woods at night. Kes knows this.” She paused. “Maybe they were sleepwalking? Both of them, shambling in different directions and somehow not running into a tree- or each other? Sorry, just thinking aloud.” She glanced at Stella. “Are you finished yet?”

“Nearly. Don’t you think it’s weird that there were two disappearances on the same night?”

“Mm.” She traced her fingers over a leaf, pondering. “Yeah, you’re right. It is strange. I just...don’t see why.” She straightened up. “Tell you what, I should get you back to camp and show you where it is. Do you have any transport off the island?”

“Only the ferry, and that was supposed to come this morning.”

“Phone?”

“No, it’s back at the castle, and I have no idea where that is. Do you have one?”

“Unfortunately, it’s dead. Phones are remarkably flimsy when it comes to plane crashes, though, so I’m lucky it’s still even working.” Lindsey led her up a snakelike path, little more than a trail, that meandered behind the rock face and sloped upwards towards the trees. In her weakened state, Stella had been unable to find it. As she followed, Stella began to have doubts about following a complete stranger into the woods. However, Lindsey was the only one she’d met, plus she’d given Stella food, so it wasn’t like she had any other option. They passed the top of the hill, which had a terrific view that made Stella long for her camera. She thought she saw something in the distance, but couldn’t stop to investigate what it was. Thin trees around them grew to towering evergreens, with knee-high underbrush in between and patches of mushrooms and moss. The sound of the forest filled the silence with birds chirping, squirrels and bunny rabbits rustling, insects burrowing under the bark, and above all, Stella’s feet crushing dead leaves and briars in a continuous crunch, crunch.

Eventually, they came to a clearing, where an abundance of moss had cleared away most other ground plants. There were clothes scattered everywhere, as well as miscellaneous piles of food, water bottles, purses, chocolate, and half-destroyed suitcases. And in the middle of the clearing, her face smeared with chocolate, sat Rohan.

***********************************

“Oi!!” Lindsey scrambled into the clearing and pounced on the unsuspecting thief, who raised her hands to protect herself. In response, Lindsey ripped the candy bar from her grasp and found, to her dismay, that it was almost entirely gone. “You can’t just come here and steal our stuff!! This is rationed!”

“You didn’t ration mine,” said the girl she’d just found- Stella- behind her.

“You were starving to death. Plus, it was about to go bad.” Lindsey rushed to check the rest of the food stack, which had been scattered about the camp like dying leaves. “What have you done?” she screamed at the thief, who, she now noticed, was another girl somewhere around her age with wispy blond hair wrapped in an exhausted bun. At the same time, Stella let out a cry.

“Rohan?!”

“Stella?” The thief looked up with wide eyes. She jumped to her feet and rushed past Lindsey. “What the heck! How could you just dump me on some random beach to starve to death?! Yes, I nearly did starve, Stella. This better not have been a joke.”

“It’s not! Please believe me. I just woke up as well in the middle of some ruins, and if Lindsey hadn’t found me…”

Rohan turned to look at Lindsey, who was staring back, dumbfounded. She still felt angry at Rohan for trashing the camp, but at the same time, she felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe, if Rohan could be found, then Danielle and Kes were nearby. “Look, it’s ok. I- I shouldn’t have jumped on you like that. I’ll get some real food. How much did you have, Rohan?”

But Rohan ignored her. She turned to Stella, her face creased with worry. “Cadence?” she whispered.

“No sign of her,” said Stella quietly. Rohan sagged inwards, blowing hair off her forehead.

“Don’t worry,” Lindsey said, trying to sound optimistic. “We’ll find her.” But the gloom of hopelessness and uncertainty had settled over the clearing, and with a resigned slump, Lindsey went off to find how much damage Rohan had done to their food storage.

Byte says mazd. Zoom zoom zoom... ;)