The Gem Of Chikara

Chapter 19

I brought Wesley head out of the water as he coughed and slumbered backwards, while I still had Anthony under the water, then pulled him out to, throwing him carelessly back to the ground as well. They both needed it, in my opinion. And by the look in their eyes I say that the water reversed the effects of the pheres.

Meaning Simon was wide awake. Good, otherwise this rescue could go a whole other way.

"What the bloody hell!" Wesley exclaimed as he went into another coughing fit. "Why did you do that?" Anthony asks and I stare at them, and sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. Then it got quiet as I peeked at the two of them, and by how wide their eyes were, I say they remembered everything.

"I guess you remember?" I say and Anthony and Wesley look at me horrified. "Your beautiful with your hair down" they both say in unison ad I rolled my eyes. "yeah , yeah. I'm pretty, I know. But answer the question I asked you before I dunked your heads under the water" I say and they both started to think, "Diligence!" Wesley exclaims.

Diligence..Diligence meant careful and persistent. That was how we get across without being hit by the pheres!  Gosh, I wish I had figured that out before this, maybe then Simon wouldn't be in the water.

But I knew I couldn't stress over that right now, because we had to get Simon and I don't think Kūki could get Simon out of the water.

"Come on, we need to get Simon" I tell the boys and dart into a sprint as I run along the sides of the lake, until I could hear Kūki cawing, and saw him holding Simons collar, and Simon was gripping a tree branch which was keeping him from going down the falls. "Simon" I scream across as I stopped from my fast running, and I could hear the other two behind me panting, until they came to stand beside me. Simon looked at us relieved, "was wondering when you would get here" he says as he stared at me then looks at the falls. "I need help.." he says and I could see the fear in his eyes which made my heart pump with sadness.

Which by the way, I haven't felt since my father passed away.

But I did need to think of a way to get across to him, and right now his own grip on that branch, and Kūki assistance was what was keeping him from falling back into the water.

And I don't think he could hold on for long, and Kūki could without notice accidentally release him, making him lose his grip and fall.

Relax, Lara. If you don't relax, you won't think properly. And that is exactly what you need to do right now, so you can save Simon. I just had to remember that.

I closed my eyes as I turned away from Simon and I began to think, shutting out the voices around me, and tried to remember the looks of the area around Simon. Grass, trees, water, rocks...rocks a bit yards down that went to the other side. If we were to cross, we could pull him out. And it was an easier way across than those lily pads.

Why didn't we just keep walking down?

But life, especially my life, liked making things harder, and not letting me see things completely clear.

My eyes snapped open and the moment I saw those two fingers in front of me snapping I gripped them and pulled making the two gasp in pain, and I brought them to the ground. "Both of you stop snapping your fingers and yelling at me. Simon I know how to save you. So save your energy on holding the grip that is on that branch, instead of yelling!" I tell them and turn around as I walked to the edge of the lake and jump onto the rock.

I turned back to look at the other two staring at me. "I'm going to need all the strength I can get" I tell them and turn back around, jumping to the next rock. However, they were starting to get smaller.

"Be careful. They seem to be getting smaller" I remind the to boys and I jumped to the next rock, but my leg got into the water and now my leg was kind of cold.

But I had to keep going.

Simon is probably even more cold than I. Looks like I'm going to have to light a fire tonight.

"Lara I don't think I can hold on much longer" Simon gasps as he re-tightens his grip on the branch, and Kūki pulled on his collar, trying to bring him up more. I took another jump and land on the next rock, "We are going as fast as we can Simon. But with this current it's pretty difficult" I tell him and look back at the boys behind me. "Would you two hurry up he probably can't hold on much longer. Kuki can't either" I remind them and jump onto the next rock.

Then the branch where Simon was hanging slowly cracked a bit, and Simon screamed and it made Kuki release his collar. "Simon!" he two boys yell and Simon was breathing heavily. "We can't rush to much. And we have to stay calm Simon, otherwise the branch will snap completely" I tell him, "just stay calm, keep re-gripping the branch slowly." I tell him softly and he nods. "I promise you, you will not fall" I promise him, and he nods feeling a bit more brave.

I took a deep breath, and jumped onto the next rock. When I noticed behind me, Anthony and Wesley were both seeming to be rushing over to Simon and I could hear cracking, "Stop!" I yell at the boys and when they stopped it was too late. The branch snapped and Simon went splashing back into the lakes hard current. I ran onto the rock behind me, and jumped to the next, then fell down to my knees and grabbed Simons arm.

"Hold on" I tell Simon and Anthony and Wesley come over and grab his other arm, as the helped me, despite the cold splashing water onto all of us, and we pulled him out of the lake, and onto my rock which was the biggest of the two.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" Simon says happily as his arm came around my neck and he hugged me tightly, which shocked me, but I smiled and wrapped my arms around him, happy that he was safe. "Thank you" he whispers in my ear and I couldn't keep the grin off my face. "I made a promise to a kid i'd bring you all home safely" I say loudly and I could see Anthony and Wesley smile behind Simon knowing that it was Andy. "Andy.." Simon says and I laughed, as Simon pulled away from our hug. "I did promise. And I don't break promises" I tell him, making sure the others heard me as well. "Now come on" I say as I stand up and help Simon stand, as I led him into Anthony and Wesley arms. "We should get back across" I tell them.

The boys nod as Wesley let go of Simon, and jumped to the next rock, as Anthony helped Simon to Wesley, then jumped onto the next rock himself. They did team work all across the rocks, and I felt I was crying from being so proud.

God, I was acting like a mother, shesh!

I followed the boys as I jumped from rock to rock, until we reached the other side of the side, and Simon lay on the ground as water dripped from all of us onto the ground. "Come on, I'll start a fire" I say as I notice Simon shivering, and look at Anthony and Wesley. "Can you two go gather some sticks, but be careful" I tell them and they nod as they walked into the forest o find some wood, while I took out my bag and took out a towel, as I wrapped it around Simon. "That should keep you a bit dry" I tell him and he looks at me smiling. "Thank you" he says and I smile and nod towards him just as ten minutes later Anthony and Wesley came back with lots of wood.

And minutes later I had a nice fire started, with Simon laying close by as his hair started to dry, and he stopped shivering. His eyes were shut as he was sleeping, and Anthony and Wesley were right beside his sleeping form, as they were eating some of the saitan left over. Each of them had their sleeping bags with them, and I was on the other side of the fire as I was eating my saitan, and couldn't help but feel nervous.

Everything in my life about a year ago felt so normal, and some things I had done I regret, but meeting these bakas I don't think was one of them. "Where will we be going tomorrow?" Anthony asks me and I shrug my shoulders. "We'll find out in the morning. Right now, we all need to sleep" I tell him as I finished my saitan, and lay on the blanket I was lying on, as I wrapped it around me.

"We all need the rest" I tell the boys as my eyes closed and I let my mind wander before darkness took over me. But through the night it felt as if something was trying to invade my mind, until in my dream I heard a voice that I couldn't describe, telling me that I could use the gem for myself..