“Is that all you’re worried about, getting away?” William said in a surly manner. Vincent and Thomas both glared at him.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve spent a lot of money getting to this place, and you’ve spent a lot of time and effort. Aren’t you curious to find out the secrets of Dragon Island, or were you really only concerned with finding your parents? I don’t want to have given my time and money to a selfish course. We have a whole island to explore here. The last thing I want to do is try and get home. What do we care about that? Do any of us really have anything waiting for us? There’s a reason why we all wanted to come here, and it’s because we’re explorers. If you’re going to spend your time sending up signals so that we can go home, then I’m going to take my share of food and water and go into that jungle and you’re never going to see me again. We all know there’s something out there, something waiting to be discovered, and it’s our job to figure out what that is.”
I arched an eyebrow. Thomas and Vincent were seething in silence, and they both looked at me, evidently curious about how I was going to handle the situation. I think what I said surprised them.
“William is right,” I admitted. “We didn’t get here the way any of us would have liked, but the fact is that we did get here. We might not have the equipment we wanted, but that just means we’ll have to do things the old-fashioned way. There’s a big island for us to explore, and that’s just what we’re going to do.”
Somehow, looking forward like that made the whole world seem brighter, I reminded myself that I was an archaeologist like my parents, and that I would have to keep on searching for the truth even through the most arduous circumstances. I told William and Thomas to make an inventory of the food we had while I went to the jungle and broke off a stick, returning to the cave. When Thomas and William told me what we had I was a little disheartened. It wouldn’t last us long.
“Looks like we’re going to have to tame this land and become masters of it. We need to find fruit and berries, and perhaps even hunt for wildlife. There’s a great deal we don’t know about this place yet, but we’re soon going to find out. Now,” I began to draw a rudimentary map on the cavern floor, marking out lines in the sand, “this is where we are. I think we should try and climb one of the mountains when we’re ready,” I glanced at Vincent, “as that will give us a better view of the surrounding areas. If there are any ancient cities then we should be able to have a good vantage point of those as well. I don’t need to tell you that we have to be very careful. We don’t know what predators are out there, or if there are any tribes. We have to make some weapons. I think we should spend the rest of the day and the night making whatever tools we can, and then hopefully tomorrow we can start to move and really get our teeth into this island,” I said. I was starting to feel more excited. For better or worse, this is exactly what I had planned; to be on Dragon Island, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from exploring it.
Everyone had their jobs so we all got to work. I left the others to go and explore the beach by myself, hoping to see if anything from the plane had washed up on shore. When I was sure that I was alone I opened my locket and looked at my parents again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” I said. Part of me felt responsible that they had died alone. I told myself that I couldn’t have tried any harder. The temperature dropped rapidly as the sun dipped below the horizon and relinquished the celestial throne to the moon. I gazed up and was awed by the sight of twinkling lights, a blanket of endless wonder hanging above me. There definitely was something special about Dragon Island because even the stars seemed brighter than usual, and the storm seemed so far off. It was so peaceful that it was easy to forget that this place had costed the lives of at least four people, perhaps more over the years, yet the sea was still and wine-dark, there was no sign of the plane wreckage, and the air was sweet and crisp. Goosebumps prickled on my arm and I rubbed myself to keep warm, taking it as a sign to return to the others.
When I got back, I saw that a fire was raging and I was glad of the warmth. Vincent looked in better spirits and the brothers were finally pulling their weight. I nodded to them, and even gave Thomas a smile. We shared out food and sat around the fire, enjoying the warmth.
“You know, when I’ve been on other expeditions we usually use these moments to bond, but I can’t say I feel much like bonding. I’ve been on other jobs where I’ve lost people and you’d think that over time, I’d have steeled myself against it, but you never do. One minute you’re alive, and the next you’re gone. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, no sense of destiny, just cold, cruel luck. It could have been any of us in the sea with Duncan and Daniel, so let’s not make their lives be in vain,” Vincent said. We all cheered to his toast and took sips of water. The food was bland, but welcome sustenance. We all stared into the fire, each one of us accompanied by our own demons.
The evening passed, and eventually Thomas and I were left by the fire. Vincent was sleeping and William had gone outside, wanting to spend some time by himself.
“Are you afraid of what you might find on the island?” Thomas asked. I looked up at him. The fire cast his face in a luminous glow and I don’t know how to describe the way he looked properly, but it was almost like he was more alive than before, as if some aura cloaked him and made the air around him sizzle. I was probably just tired. I rubbed my eyes and thought to myself that I should get some sleep soon because I was getting tired of seeing things that weren’t there.
“I’m more afraid of finding nothing. The worst thing I can think of is that we’ve come all this way only to find that the island has no mystery, has never had any mystery, and is just a hunk of rock that’s shaped like some mythical being.”
“So, you don’t believe in dragons then?” Thomas asked, looking amused.
“I don’t see why I should. There’s never been any evidence of them. Do you?”
Thomas shrugged and shifted around so that he was sitting beside me. The air was suddenly rife with tension. Despite all we had been through, all the sweat and blood and tears, he still looked and smelled amazing. I gulped, feeling my heart race, and my head swim with intoxicated desire.
“I think there’s some truth in every myth that exists. Every story has to begin somewhere after all,” he said, dropping his voice an octave. It was low and smooth, dripping honey, and I wasn’t quite sure what was happening. “I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you. I’d love to say that I understood, but frankly I’ve never had that much of a
close relationship with my father so I wouldn’t know how to feel if I ever came across his skeleton, but I think it’s poetic and admirable that you’re here. Everything you’ve told me gives me confidence in my decision. When I first looked into you and read about you and saw your proposals for the project, it was clear that your passion was unrivaled. You wear your heart on your sleeve Amber, and that’s something I greatly respect and admire. In my world, people always say one thing and mean another, but not you. You might not believe me when I say this, but there’s nobody I’d rather be stranded on a deserted island with than you.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. For a moment I enjoyed the heat, enjoyed the passion, but then I recoiled in horror as I realized what was happening and jumped up.
“What the hell are you doing?” I said, wiping my lips. Thomas smirked.
“I’m just starting a new story. Amber, you can’t deny that there’s something between us, and what could be more romantic setting than this?”
“But…but I’m not interested.”
“That’s not the way it seems,” he said, stretching out his legs.
“I already have a…someone I’m interested in.”
“Oh please, that charming young man at the plane? What was his name, Billy?”
“Bobby,” I corrected him, glaring at the arrogance.
“Oh yes, Bobby. And tell me Amber, how many times have you thought about Bobby since you’ve been here? Was your first thought that you couldn’t live without him, that you couldn’t get back to him? Or have you not thought of him at all?”
I stood there, utterly speechless. I don’t know how Thomas did it, but he seemed to have a window into my mind. My cheeks flushed red and I was too ashamed to admit that he was right. I hadn’t thought of Bobby at all, and it made me wonder if my feelings for him were as strong as I had believed. I clenched my fists by my side and huffed, then stormed out of the cave, only to bump into William. Looking at him was like looking at Thomas again, although the only way to tell them apart was that William didn’t share his twin brother’s smug look.
“I see Thomas’ charm hasn’t deserted him,” William said. I stared at him and rolled my eyes, aiming to move past him. Neither of the brothers had endeared themselves to me, and yet there was a part of me that was drawn to them, to Thomas mostly, for he had at least shown me a sliver of kindness, but because William looked the same it was confusing to be attracted to one and not the other. My mind didn’t know what to think of it.