"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 at 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 wrapped 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 a while 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 deerskin dress, her skirts would be difficult to swim in, she heard 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 outside and down to the beach, the air was warm.
Silvia was the first into the cold water, Lacey slowly followed her. They had gone 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 and 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 could respond or even realized what was happening she was pushed under the water, she gulped in, water filled her nose, fear gripped her as she went limp, and 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. "Are 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 didn't 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 and 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 deerskin dress clung to her form. She grimaced and hurried up the path to the tree house, once in Silvia's room she quickly changed.
-to be continued