"Brendan! Brendan, answer me, just let me know that you are alive," his friend Adam was so distressed he was shaking visibly.
"Cut it out, he will live," muttered Zinc dryly.
Everyone on the yacht had seen them on shore, their lips entangled; it was not hard to imagine what went down when Brendan almost drowned to death.
Before he met Charm, never in his entire life had Zinc wanted to change places with a man on the brink of death, until now.
"Wow…I still can't believe it Adam but I'm alive and well thanks to her," Brendan wheezed.
Brendan tried to put on a brave front for his friends but inside he was freezing, he wanted to get out of his wet clothes immediately.
Still he did not want to leave the side of the beauty without learning her name.
Still confused, he turned his attention to Charm, "thank you for saving me. Even though I still don't know how I ended up in the water. I'm Brendan, please tell me your name so I can make it up to you."
He leaned over to clasp her hands on his own; they were warm unlike his cold shivering hands.
"There's no need, I did what anyone else would have done in such a situation and my name is Charm," she blushed profusely as she responded to him.
Charm, the name suited her; she was like a fantasy come to life for him.
Everything about her seemed so warm, so ethereal to him, like an angel, no that's not it either, more like a shimmery mermaid from the sea.
Brendan instinctively wanted to get closer to her body heat.
Charm didn't want to leave Brendan's side, not when just a few minutes ago he had been scared that someone on the yacht had deliberately tried to murder him.
Next thing Brendan knew, they were being torn apart, as a blanket was flung around his shoulders by his friend Adam.
While the other guy, the strange one that had been frowning at him from the moment their eyes met, got the girl.
"Your foot is bleeding," said Zinc to Charm, "let me help you to board the yacht."
"It's nothing to worry about," she said stubbornly giving Zinc the polite brush off, "just a small scratch."
It was what happened next that shocked them all.
After Zinc took a closer inspection at Charm's wound he instantly panicked.
There was nothing delicate about the way Zinc swiftly scooped her up in the blanket with his rough, impatient hands.
Brendan and his friends shouted for Zinc to stop but he ignored them.
There was simply no time to explain, it was a matter of life and death.
He ran with her away from the others.
Along the coastline of the beach and then into the Mangroves; a dense group of trees and shrubs that grew wildly near the sea.
Zinc just wanted to make sure that they were out of sight before he could help Charm.
The strangest thing was Charm was dying and she didn't even know it.
Even if they got on the yacht and tried to rush her to a hospital it would be too late.
Charm was already having a terrible reaction.
As she panicked and pounded his back.
Wondering why the crazy lunatic was kidnapping her and taking her away from Brendan and his friends.
Why did no one try to stop Zinc?
It was a miracle she was breathing much less moving and talking.
Charm was obviously a lot stronger than she looked.
Having grown up near the seaside his entire life Zinc instantly recognized the punctured tiny concentric holes that formed the wound on her leg.
Somehow, she must have come in contact and brushed against the highly venomous lionfish.
Though those colorful fish might look harmless darting around in the water.
They were known to cause excruciating pain, swelling and in more severe cases even death.
Charm must have a high tolerance for pain because any other girl would have been hollering in agony.
Yet she didn't seem like the type that liked to draw attention to herself.
He was risking his own life, his heart pounded as he realized it was a race against time.
Charm violently began to react to the venom while he carried her, numerous spasms as she shook uncontrollably.
Her face was turning purple.
She was now having trouble breathing.
Pain filled his heart as he knew what he had to do next wasn't pleasant.
When he first laid eyes on Charm she had a golden glow about her.
Now as she lay limp in his arms that glow was gone and she looked dull and almost lifeless.
The only time people's unique glow disappeared for him, was at that moment, when their life hung in the balance and they faced death.
"Don't die on me Charm," he pleaded softly.
He put her gently down on the ground.
Zinc wanted to caress her skin.
Whisper comforting words for her to hear and ease her suffering but there was simply no time for that.
Instead he focused his attention on the wound, placed his hands over it, hovering in the air and simply waited.
At first nothing happened.
He concentrated harder.
Then slowly the spines from the lionfish started coming up.
Zinc applied more heat and pressure until they were out fully.
Then he took a rag from his back pocket and quickly removed them.
Not wanting to get in contact with the venom and risk poisoning himself too.
He felt sorry for Charm, what he was about to do next was going to burn, but Zinc had no choice.
Zinc scooped up some sea water and used it to wash away the blood and the last traces of the venom.
She still wasn't out of danger yet.
He started to chant so that his healing powers could accelerate.
Then he didn't stop until her breathing returned to normal and a very dim halo returned.
Charm was no longer on the verge of dying.
Only then did he relax and let out the breath Zinc didn't realize he held in the entire time.
Voices could be heard drawing closer to them, Charm was going to be okay.
That thought exploded in his mind, then feeling depleted of energy Zinc collapsed next to her.