Born To Be Free | a trolls story

17. Searching

"Are we there yet?" Guy Diamond groaned. Tekai hit her head repeatedly against the steering wheel, annoyed.

"Guy, that's the 70th time you've asked me that!" Tekai snapped.

"And every time I ask, you don't tell me!" Guy grunted back. 

"Can we throw him overboard now?" Tekai groaned.

"No!" Branch called back.

"Then can I throw myself overboard? It'd probably be better than listening to Guy for another four hours!" Tekai said. 

"Can we at least stop to rest for a bit?" Biggie asked.

"It's only been 3 hours! Besides you guys haven't exactly been doing much," Tekai replied. "Iris, how are we doing with searching?" 

"I don't really know, we've passed some familiar-looking islands that were on the map, but strangely enough no lykars yet," Iris answered. "Keep an eye out for them, if they're shadowed we can follow them." 

***

Hours had passed and everyone was growing tired, the only lykars that had been seen was Spirit and a small pod, but they weren't shadowed and were going to a different place than them. The sun was slowly going down which had them concerned, there hasn't been sight of land for a while now. If they didn't find an island to camp for the night they could be seen as easy prey by predators. The darker it is, the more sharks, lykars and other creatures could come and even with Spirit, she wouldn't be able to fight off a shark by herself. Branch knelt down by the edge of the boat to check on Spirit.

"You okay there, girl?" Branch asked, Spirit tiredly poked her head out of the water.

"I feel like my fins are going to fall off," Spirit yawned, Branch placed his hand on her head.

"We'll find land soon, just hang in there," he reassured her. 

"Are there any islands shown on the map?" Correy asked Iris.

"There should be a few coming up," Iris rubbed her eye. It was getting dark fast. 

"Look!" Smidge pointed out. In the far distance there was a small island crossing their path.

"Finally!" Biggie and Guy Diamond exclaimed in relief. 

"Race you guys there!" Spirit called as she dove deep under the waters. 

"You're on!" Correy pulled down on a nearby rope and the sail opened as wide as it could go. The boat zoomed across the waters, splashing water everywhere. Some of the trolls kept a look out for Spirit. She surfaced by the side of the boat, spitting water at the trolls. 

They reached the island just after Spirit did, she shook off her fur, soaking everyone with water.

"Ha! I win!" Spirit chirped. The trolls smiled and rolled their eyes at her. The island was small and rocky with some patches of sand here and there. There was a large cave in the center of the island, perfect for everyone to take shelter in for the night. When inside, the trolls settled down in the cave and Branch made a fire to keep everyone warm. There was a small lake inside the cave so everyone could have some fresh water to drink instead of the salty ocean. Spirit had dug a shallow hole in the sand that was roughly her size for a nest for her to sleep in, she walked in a circle a few times like a dog before lying down.

"So Spirit, are you excited about seeing your pod?" Iris asked. 

"Definitely!" Spirit replied, her smile soon faded, "I just wish my mom could have been here too, you know so the four of us could be reunited and be a family."