Amongst The Water-Fresh Waters

Chapter 8: An Australian Adventure! Part 2

First Uploaded: 2013-2014  Dates updated: January or February 2018 October Jan. 13, 2020

Kylie and Nicholas are at the Crab Shack eating shrimp and plain fish sandwiches. Kylie grabs a piece of shrimp puts it up to her lips, then drops it. Nicholas turns in the direction she is staring at and notices it's the tan tall guy who saved his sister from getting knocked out by Jakobe.

Nicholas looks down at the last 2 shrimp in the basket then at Kylie. "I am going to get another order of shrimp." Kylie shakes her head okay. After Nicholas leaves, the handsome guy asks if he can sit down. Kylie motions toward the chair. "Yeah sure."

"Hey." Finn says. Kylie looks over to where Nicholas is standing talking to a few friends from school. Then she looks back at Finn. "How was detention? And thanks for helping me.

"Boring. And you're welcome. Again." Kylie looks down at her empty plate. "I haven't known Jakobe that long, but does he always have a temper like that?" A loud shrieking sound comes from the other side of the dining area. Kylie and Finn, along with everybody else, look toward that direction to see a customer screaming because a waitress spilled water on her. "You idiot! You should be fired!" The customer screams in rage. Then she walks out without laying a tip down.

Finn looks at Kylie. He rolls his eyes. "That's Kaylee, the wicked princess from hell." Kylie shakes her head and chuckles. "Yeah. I've met her before. She has this weird obsession with Jakobe's brother Brian and thinks I have the hots for him."

Finn nods slightly smiling. Happy someone shares his dislike of Kaylee Andrews. "Yeah she is...well...." Kylie chuckles. "A psycho princess." Kylie finishes for him. They both laugh and look up at Nicholas who is standing next to Kylie staring at Finn sitting across from Kylie. "Oh. Sorry, Nicholas. I will let you get back to hanging with your sister." He gets out of Nicholas's chair and looks straight at Kylie. "See you at school tomorrow."

Nicholas sits back in his chair and waves his hands in front of Kylie. "Earth to Kylie!" Kylie stops staring in the direction Finn Chrisholm exited. "I'm sorry, what were you saying." Nicholas shakes his head. "Sis, I heard a lot of bad news about him. You can't be crushing on him. He is a heartbreaker."

Kylie looks confused. "What...no I am not crushing on him. I barely know him."

"Okay. But we can't be friends with him. Dad doesn't like him and he doesn't sound like a good person." Nicholas says right before he puts a piece of shrimp in his mouth.

Kylie takes a few sips of her apple and grape low-fat smoothie wondering why everyone hates Finn. Then she takes a piece of shrimp and chews it slowly thinking about what she is going to wear for her first concert in Aussie. After she finally finishes the shrimp, she looks at Nicholas. "So do you still want to go to that island." Kylie looks down at her Para-Cord Cross bracelet.

"Since Jakobe and Brian are busy. I'll ask people around here for directions." Nicholas hesitantly answers. "Ummm... yeah sure." Kylie nods as she picks the leftover shrimp up and walks to the overly primped girl behind the counter and asks if she can have a to-go box. The snooty looking girl says perkily. "Yeah sure sweetie. Have a nice day." Kylie smiles and takes the box and says thank you. Kylie sits back down and begins putting the shrimp in the to-go box.

"So do you know what grade he's in?" Nicholas looks confused. "Who?" Then he figures out she was talking about Finn. "Oh. No, I don't. People don't say much about him. Other than him being a jerk." Kylie looks a bit disappointed. "Hey. I told you he's bad news." Nicholas tells her again. Kylie stands up. "Have you actually witnessed anything he has done? Or are you trying to be all 'big brother' on me? Even though I am older than you." Nicholas smiles. "Of course sis. It's my job." He grins at her and she shakes her head and smiles. "Okay. But you are only 11 and it's my job to be YOUR older sis." She nods her head toward the door. "Now let's go. I think I hear that island calling our name." Nicholas laughs and follows her out the door.

After questioning locals and researching the mysterious Island. Kylie and Nicholas finally arrive several feet from shore when their boats motor stops running. Kylie tries dozens of times to test the motor again. But it gives off a weird sound. Kylie huffs and looks down at her knees. Nicholas gently touches his distraught sister's arm. "What are we going to do. We can't call dad. He's going to ground us if he finds out we left without asking him." Kylie scratches her head and looks back toward the island. Her eyes open wide as she's in deep thought. "Maybe we don't have to call dad. I think it's a short enough swim to get to shore. We both have had enough swimming classes to make it. And it doesn't look that deep."

Kylie starts to let the anchor down but is stopped by Nicholas. "Wait! Sis remember how many sharks people said are around here. I don't think it's a good idea to swim. We can call Jakobe to help us." Kylie looks at Nicholas but she lets down the anchor anyway as she notices the waves are slightly pulling them away from shore. "I still need to drop the anchor. We don't want to be any farther from shore." Nicholas looks at his sister. "Oh. Yeah."

Kylie stands up and looks around hoping to see someone close by before calling Jakobe. She wants to avoid calling him because she knows he'll bring Brian and Brian creeps her out. "And besides. The shark breeding ground is many feet away." Kylie nods in the direction of the Red 'Danger' sign to their right. She closes her eyes and silently mumbles something. By the concentration and calm manner, Nicholas knows she's praying. She quickly opens her eyes as the waves almost knock her into the water. She regains her balance and happens to notice something floating. She kneels down and reaches for it. "You want some Kelp?" She says holding the thick lengthy seaweed and looks at Nicholas. He shakes his head fast at the slimy brown Kelp. "Yuck." Kylie throws it back into the ocean and sits back down.

"Yeah. It does look weird. But it has a lot of nutritional value to it. Apparently, people around here harvest it and cook it. Some even pickle the Kelp."

"Eeewww." Nicholas exclaims. Kylie laughs at her brother's non-adventurous taste for exotic food. Nicholas stares at his sisters face trying to figure out what she is thinking. Before he can ask her she answers his non-verbal question. "If there was Kelp around us. Then it could be what's stopping the propeller." Her realization causes her heart to race. She loves to swim, but she's unfamiliar with this area. But she has to do something to get them home or at least to shore. She takes a deep breath and prays. She gives Nicholas her phone and quickly takes her life jacket off and tells Nicholas if she's down there too long then come and save her and quickly jumps in before she rethinks.

"SIS! NO!" But he's too late. His sister is already plunged into the deep blue water. Just a minute later she pops back up and is holding a handful of Kelp.

"Sis! You scared me!" She lifts herself up a bit to throw it away from the boat and away from shore. "I'm sorry. But there's still more I have to untangle from the propeller. It shouldn't take long. Be back up." Nicholas lunges to stop her but is too late again.

Kylie's quick thinking brings them to Mako's shore just a few minutes later. Nicholas hugs his sister and doesn't let go. "Nicholas I can't breathe." He quickly let's go and stares at her. She shakes her head and smiles. "I told you I'd be okay. And I told you we wouldn't have to call anyone to help us."

Nicholas laughs and tells Kylie her need to explore is going to get her into trouble. She shrugs as they both begin to go deeper into the large forest that surrounds them. They come across many beautiful and rare plants and flowers, along with some weird bugs.

But what really catches Kylie's attention is an interesting looking cave. She stops dead in her tracks as she sees something glowing in the depths of the cave. Nicholas goes on and on talking about something random in the distance. He obviously doesn't know his sisters' curiosity distracted her once again.

She looks behind her to check if he's okay. Her phone beeps, but she begins to walk closer to the glowing cave instead of checking it.

"Sis. Come on. Dad is on his way home. We have to go." Nicholas yells from a distance motioning for her to hurry. She whips her head behind her and slowly backs away from the cave in wonder. The entire time going home Kylie's mind was questioning the little glowing light in the cave and what could be in there.