I crawled toward the widest tree trunk and pressed myself against it. As the voices came closer, I shut my eyes, held my breath, and flattened myself against the tree so hard the knobbly bark itched my face.
Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as the people ambled by, deep in conversation.
First a man’s low voice. “You know I will never do that. I will keep my faith — and so should the rest of you.” He sounded angry.
Then a reply. “But, Saul, how long will you wait? The danger is imminent.” The other voice sounded higher pitched, female.
“What do you want me to do? Give up on the Prophecy?” the first voice replied. This time he sounded even angrier. And closer. I shrank farther into the tree and held my breath even more tightly.
The second voice was diplomatic, bargaining. “Of course that’s not what I want you to do. But maybe it’s time —”
Then a third voice spoke. Male again, but this one sounded younger. “Saul, you know we’re in great danger,” the new voice said. “Not just those of us on this island. All the other islands in this ocean face danger — and all the coastlines beyond as well. Can your belief stop it from wiping us all out?”
The voices were coming closer all the time. When the first voice — Saul — replied, it sounded like they were right in front of me.
“That is the whole point of belief,” he growled.
“But what if it’s not enough?” the female voice persisted. “Lives are at stake here. An awful lot of lives. We have to tell people. We have to find a way to get out of here and warn them.”
“As I said, there is no way out,” Saul bellowed. “You know that as well as I do.”
The others didn’t reply. All I heard in response was the crackling of the ground as they walked away from me.
I gulped as I managed to take a few shallow breaths. What were they talking about? A threat to all the islands in the ocean? We were staying on the very next one!
I had to get back to Shona and get out of here.
The voices were a long way off now. I was pretty sure it was safe to come out of my hiding place.
I carefully stepped out from behind the tree. One step — not even one step, half a step — and then I heard it. Saul’s booming voice again.
“What was that?” His voice echoed through the forest.
I held my breath and stood as still as I could, but at this point, I was standing on one leg since I’d been midstep, and I was starting to lose my balance. I gently put my other foot down, making sure to land on leaves and not tread on a twig.
“There it is again!”
That was impossible! I’d stood gently on a leaf ! How had he heard that ?
“Joel.” The booming voice again. “Go see what it was. Dinner, perhaps. A bird, maybe an eagle.”
“Go. Hurry,” he said.
Which was when I knew I had only one option.
Run back to Shona faster than I’d ever run in my life and hope that throwing ourselves back into the falls would be at least a little less life-threatening than someone hunting for dinner.
They say fear gives you energy. Well, whoever “they” are, they’re right.
Fear, instinct, and adrenaline somehow had me back at the water’s edge before I could stop to think about it.
Panting and sweating, I glanced all around me to make sure I hadn’t been followed. I hadn’t. The hunter must have run in the wrong direction.
“Shona!” I called in a stage whisper that I hoped wouldn’t give me away to the hunter.
Where was she?
I slipped into the water and started swimming away from the rocky shore. As I moved through the water, the familiar feeling of my legs turning into a tail calmed me a little.
After dipping below the surface, I traced the edge of the coast. I spotted her in a gap between two massive rocks.
“Shona!” I gasped, swimming over to her.
“There you are,” she said. “I was just —”
“We don’t have time!” I interrupted her. “Swim! As fast as you can!”
“But I thought we —”
“I’ll explain on the way. We have to get out of here!”
“You found a way out?” Shona asked as we swam away from the rocks.
I shook my head as we swam. “No. We’ll have to go through the falls again.”
Shona stopped swimming. Spinning her tail to keep herself upright, she glowered at me. “Emily, I can’t go through that again.”
I took her hand and tried to pull her along. She resisted. “Shona,” I said. “We have no choice. There are people in the forest. I think they know we’re here . . . and they’re hunting for dinner.”
“What? Are you kidding me?” Shona asked.
“No. There are people living on the island, and I don’t think they’re happy. They sound desperate and angry. And it looks like there is a big threat coming. Shona, please, we have to get away as quickly as possible.”
Shona let out a massive sigh. Then she started swimming again.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“Don’t talk to me,” Shona snapped.
“Don’t — what? Why?”
“I can’t even look at you,” Shona replied frostily. “I can’t believe you got us into this. I can’t believe I let it happen.”
“Shona, please —”
“Save it, Emily. Just swim. I don’t want to talk anymore.”
Shona’s face was set. She was really angry — and I didn’t blame her. So I did what she’d said. I stretched out and flicked my tail. I reached out my arms and prepared myself for the journey back.
We didn’t get far before the rushing water picked us up.
Here we go again.
I glanced at Shona. She was swimming straight into the stream of water. At first, it carried us out like a riptide running really fast.
My hopes lifted. Maybe going back out wouldn’t be so bad.
And then they plummeted again as the riptide gathered pace and turned into a whirlpool. Before I could prepare myself or waste more time wondering about things like whether we were going to live or die, we were hurled around and around, up, down, and inside out.
My tail looped almost over my head, and my arms were flung everywhere; my body felt like a ball in a particularly crazy pinball machine.
I could see the same thing happening to Shona nearby.
I couldn’t fight it. Couldn’t beat it. All I could do was, once again, give myself up to it and let the rushing, thrashing, spinning water do its worst.
I blinked a few times as I opened my eyes.
Clear, blue water. Sunlight sparkling from above. Neat groups of orange-and-yellow stripy fish slicing along beside me. Seaweed waving gently from a sandy seabed below me.
Did we make it? Were we through?
I swam up to the surface and wiped hair out of my eyes. Swishing my tail to turn in a circle, I looked all around me.
Yes! We did it! We were out the other side! The falls were behind us, and straight ahead, I could see our boat in the distance. They hadn’t gotten back to Majesty Island yet!
I turned to talk to Shona. “Look, the boat is —” I began. But she wasn’t there.
I ducked back under the water and spotted her, swimming away from me.
“Shona!” I flicked my tail hard and caught up to her. “We made it!” I said, grinning.
Shona stopped swimming for a moment. “I’ll see you back at the hotel,” she said flatly, and swam off.
I wanted to swim after her, but I didn’t have time. She didn’t want me to, anyway. If I didn’t get back to the boat before it docked, Mom would be frantic.
So I turned and swam as fast as I could.
I got to the boat just as it was coming into the jetty. Luckily for me, that meant everyone had lined up along one side as the boat approached the dock.
I clambered up the hull on the opposite side and perched on the edge of the lower deck as my tail flicked and disappeared. After rubbing my legs,
I got up and made my way around to the other side — and almost ran smack-dab into Aaron.
“Emily!” He grabbed me and pulled me into a hug that nearly crushed me. “I was so worried,” he whispered into my ear.
I hugged him back. It felt good. Familiar.
“What happened to you? Where have you been?”
“I’ll tell you everything,” I said, drawing away. “Where are Mom and Millie? Do they know I was missing?”
Aaron shook his head. “I didn’t want to panic them. Your mom asked where you were earlier, and I said we were playing hide-and-seek.” Aaron grimaced. “Is that OK?”
I smiled at him. I could hardly believe I was back here with him. I could barely believe I was back at all. “That’s perfect,” I said.
Aaron returned my smile and took my hand. “Come on. Let’s get back on dry land.”
And I had to confess, that sounded like an extremely good idea.
We joined the others congregating in the concourse as we left the boat. When Mom saw me, all she said was how wet I was.
“We got soaked on the deck, didn’t we, Em?” Aaron jumped in before I could even think of a reply.
“Yeah, we did,” I agreed. It seemed to satisfy Mom, as she didn’t ask anything else. Millie was too busy inquiring about whether she could keep her poncho to even notice what we were talking about.
The four of us walked back to the hotel together.
When we all met up for dinner that evening, I kept trying to grab a moment alone with Shona, but she wouldn’t even look at me, let alone speak to me.
I had to get her on her own. I had to apologize and make it right. I couldn’t bear the thought of spending the whole week like this.
I wanted to tell Aaron everything — but I had to make up with Shona first. Then I would tell them together. I needed the three of us to be a team again so we could work together to figure out what to do about the conversation I’d overheard.
The threat that was facing us all.
It was already starting to feel unreal. Everyone here was chatting, laughing, and acting as though none of us had a care in the world.
Were they right? Had I misheard?
This place was an utter paradise! Surely there couldn’t be anything horrible going on. There couldn’t be a threat.
Could there?
As soon as dinner had finished, I got up from the table and perched on the deck next to Shona.
I was planning to slip in the water and see if I could grab a few minutes alone with her. But I didn’t get the chance.
Without looking at me, Shona turned pointedly to the others. “I’m going to bed early tonight,” she said. Then she slipped off the deck and started to swim away.
“Shona!” I called to her.
She turned to look at me for the briefest moment. Her eyes were like steel. “Night, Emily,” she said coldly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And with that, she swam off and didn’t look back.
Aaron was by my side. “Don’t worry about Shona,” he said. “She’s probably just upset because she couldn’t come on the boat. She’ll be fine in the morning, I’m sure. So you want to tell me where you went?”
He didn’t know anything. And I was too weary to explain. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with it all. Maybe I needed to follow Shona’s lead. Go to bed early. Perhaps a good sleep would help me put everything straight in my head.
Whether it would solve anything or not, I knew it was what I needed.
“I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, OK?” I said, and before he had a chance to answer, I added, “I’m going to bed early tonight, too. It’s been a long day.”
I said good night to the others, then went to my room and pulled the sheets over me.
I had barely hit the pillow when my eyes closed and I drifted into a hot, troubled sleep.
Emily.”
Someone was shaking me. They had caught me!
“Don’t! No! Don’t take me! I’m not —”
“Emily!” They were shaking me again.
I wriggled out of their grasp. “Leave me alone! Let me go!” I shouted.
“Emily! It’s me!”
Wait, I knew that voice . . .
“It’s Mom! Emily, wake up. You’re having a bad dream.”
I opened my eyes and blinked in the hazy morning light. A silhouette was hovering over me. I blinked again as my breathing calmed.
“Mom,” I said.
Just a dream.
“You all right, sweet pea?” she asked.
I sat up. “Yeah, I . . .”
“I heard you from our bedroom!”
“How did you get in?” I asked, still half-asleep.
Mom pointed at the adjoining door that linked our rooms. “Glad I did,” she said. “You were worked up and shouting all kinds of things.”
I swallowed. “Like what?”
“I don’t even know. Most of it didn’t make sense. Something about being chased and captured.”
I laughed. Or at least, I made a noise that I hoped would convince Mom I was laughing. Inside, I wasn’t laughing at all.
I’d shouted stuff about being chased and captured? A sliver of doubt wriggled through me.
Had it all been a dream?
“Are you OK now?”
“Mm, yeah, sure. I’m fine, Mom. Thanks.”
Mom kissed me on the forehead and got up to leave. “See you for breakfast,” she said, and left.
As I made my way to the bathroom, the sliver of doubt followed me into the shower.
Could I really have dreamed it all? The world behind the water — had it been a figment of my imagination?
Then I spotted my clothes hanging on the radiator and remembered being hurled around in the falls.
It was no dream.
It was real. Every terrifying, life-threatening, disaster-impending part of it had really happened.
And it hadn’t just happened to me. It had happened to Shona, too. I was desperate to explain to her and Aaron about what I’d seen and heard in the forest.
I just hoped she’d stopped being mad at me.
“I’ll tell you what,” Mom was saying as I joined everyone on her and Millie’s balcony. “I don’t know if it’s something they put in the water here, but I had the strangest dream last night.”
“Me, too!” Millie agreed, slicing her roll in half and reaching for the butter. “What was yours about?”
Mom laughed. “We were all flying somewhere, and I went to speak to the pilot. I knocked on the door, and no one answered. No one was flying the plane!”
“Ooh, scary,” Dad said. He reached up to the fruit bowl and grabbed a nectarine.
“I know,” Mom went on. “As soon as I saw no one was flying it, we dropped right out of the sky and landed on the water. Then the plane turned into a cruise ship, and it turned out that’s what our trip was meant to be all along.”
I laughed as I joined them at the table. Shona was sitting on the deck with Dad, her tail swishing lazily in the water. “That’s crazy, isn’t it, Shona?”
Shona shrugged. “I guess.”
“Mine was even stranger,” Millie said. “I can’t recall much of it now. I remember there was a monster in it. I think he was stealing our beach towels.”
Dad laughed. “Those pesky beach monsters. They always do that.”
Millie pursed her lips. “Don’t laugh. It was scary,” she insisted.
“Must be something about this place,” Mom said. “Emily had weird dreams, too, didn’t you, Em?”
“Um. Yeah,” I muttered. Then I shoved a spoonful of cereal in my mouth and hoped I could leave it at that. I didn’t want to tell them about waking up shouting, so they could all laugh at me. And now that Shona was clearly still giving me the cold shoulder, I didn’t feel like laughing at myself, either — or at anything, for that matter.
“Come on. Don’t leave us in suspense,” Aaron insisted. “What did you dream?”
I finished my mouthful and put m
y spoon down. Aaron’s insistence had given me an idea. What if I told them what had really happened yesterday, but disguised it as a dream? That way, I’d get to share it with everyone and test out their responses, so when I came to tell them for real, I could figure out the best way to go about it. Plus, I could see how Shona responded and see if she was ready to make up and talk about it yet.
“OK, I’ll tell you,” I said. I took a breath, and then it came out in a big rush. My real-life dream.
“I dreamed that Shona and I swam into the waterfall we saw yesterday, and on the other side, there was this land. There was a huge forest, and there were animals there — birds and monkeys, maybe snakes, I don’t know. And there were people living there. It was like a kind of paradise. But it couldn’t have been paradise because they were arguing and saying that thousands of people were in danger. And then one of them heard me stand on a leaf, and he sent someone after me, so I ran away and jumped back into the waterfall with Shona. The water was so fierce I thought it was going to kill us. But it didn’t. We swam like crazy, and eventually we both got back in one piece.”
I paused. No one was saying anything. “And, um, and then I woke up,” I finished off.
Aaron was the first to speak. He reached across the table for my hand. “Em, you are adorable,” he said. His eyes were dancing. He was laughing at me.
“Why?” I asked.
“Your imagination! It’s just the best.”
“You’re not wrong there, Aaron,” Mom agreed. She was smiling, too. “That’s what your teachers have always said, isn’t it, sweetie?”
“Mmm,” I said, nodding sharply. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself to say anything else.
“That’s my girl,” Dad said proudly.
Aaron was still laughing. “Even in your dreams, you can’t resist an adventure! It’s a good one, though. I love the idea of a magical world behind the falls. Don’t you, Shona?”
Shona lifted a shoulder in a slow shrug. “Whatever,” she said. “I wasn’t really listening.”
“Bet you anything we’re on a ley line!” Millie declared, breaking the tension, or — more likely — oblivious to it. “I’ll look it up later. But that would account for all this weird energy.”
Mom laughed. “Maybe you’re right. My dream was so intense, it felt real.”