Lucy woke up as early as the sun rose and washed her face in the ocean. She smiled when looking back to a pair of playing white snow hares scampering out of the woods but puzzled to see them fleeing as an anteater wandered to close. Lucy thought them odd cohabitants and wondered where they had landed.
The others were still asleep or just getting up with groans or snores orchestrating along with the minimal noise of the awakening island. The scene reminded Lucy of the campsites she shared with her brother, except Jared always woke up before her with a ready breakfast and smile.
Lucy put the nostalgics to the back of her mind and located the lump of supplies Brickwood left them. One sack had her name pinned to it and she opened the folded paper to read,
Good luck on proving them wrong.
~Brickwood
P.S. Sorry in advance for any of Algernon's brooding unpleasantries.
That had made her laugh on her way into the cover of the forest to change.
As she was just getting done taking off her clothes Lucy heard a rustle through the surrounding thickets. She grabbed for her opal dagger as her adrenaline slowed time. After years spent in amazons and forests Lucy encountered every type of wild animal lurking after her, except this one.
"Lucy, where di-" Jasper stopped his speaking and walking as soon as he spotted Lucy, who was barely able to cover some of herself with the shirt and pants she was preparing to change into. Jasper didn't say anything as his mind went blank trying to register what he was seeing, still half asleep, but not so much anymore.
Lucy was too shocked and her experiences too limited to do anything but blush. Animals didn't react this way and all she knew was how to scare away wild animals away, not boys.
Before either of them had recovered enough to act, a hand covered Jasper's eyes and pulled him backward.
Jasper barely had time to yell out an apology before he was dragged away by his face. Algernon was now standing there instead, with his hair a disordered mess of curls, looking tired and annoyed, except for when he glanced over Lucy and his grimace softened.
Lucy blushed and hoped the reason Algernon's eyes were half-lidded and moved slowly over her was only due to his tiredness.
Algernon turned away but smiled to himself.
"Any more lecherous perverts I'm going to need to save you from?" He asked, glancing behind him but not enough to see any more of what he still imagined.
"Yourself!" Lucy yelled, straining to cover herself as much as possible.
Algernon continued smiling as he walked away. He hadn't expected such a welcoming surprise in the morning, and it helped tremendously with shaking off his grogginess.
Lucy changed quickly after that and the rest of them got ready just as fast. Jasper profusely apologized again and promised he had seen nothing. Lucy instantly forgave her friend, but not Algernon as his purposeful silence on the matter made it clear he had seen something, and that he wasn't going to apologize for it.
Pecilia was the last to fully wake but could grasp something was very wrong when Lucy was subtly pouting, and Algernon was not-so-subtly grinning.
Lucy avoided Algernon for the better part of the morning after that, striding ahead of him as the group descended deep into the island. Although she couldn't see Algernon, Lucy felt his eyes on her back and every time she turned around Algernon didn't even try to pretend he wasn't staring at her or thoroughly enjoying her embarrassment.
Jasper followed behind the both of them and noticed how fixated Algernon was on his friend. It made him think back to that fifth-year boy, and how he had fixated on Lucy during their fight. He fell in step with Pecilia who was the furthest away from the group because of her uncomfortable but fashionable shoes.
"Pecilia," Jasper whispered low enough so no one could hear. "What did Luke mean when he said those things to Algernon?"
Pecilia's eyes landed where Jasper's did, on Algernon's eyes falling on Lucy. "Hopefully nothing."
"But most likely something?" Jasper pressed, his eyes searching hers for answers.
"Most likely everything." Pecilia groaned, more convinced than ever she was right about that as she watched Algernon not even take a second to tear his eyes away from Lucy to look where he was heading in the rocky unknown terrain.
Jasper grabbed the top part of Pecilia's arm, stopping her. His eyes turned as serious as his voice. "Why does it involve Lucy?"
Pecilia scowled at where Jasper had so informally touched her and yanked free her arm. "If you want it to not involve her, then never speak to me or anyone about this again." Pecilia bumped Jasper's shoulder as she strutted ahead and made sure to hit Algernon's shoulder even harder as she glared daggers into his black eyes.
Jasper couldn't let it go and replayed those ominous words in his mind, straining to make sense of them.
"Freya, where did you get that?" Lucy asked, seeing the girl's satchel full of food slung across her chest like a swaddled baby.
"A space stone," Freya said, finishing her third-morning muffin. "I always make sure I have one on hand that has enough food for at least three days." Though Lucy thought by the looks of her bulging bag, it was much more than three days, especially for one small girl. "Want a scone?" She offered.
"No thank you," Lucy replied, knowing the dry sweet would make her only crave water more, which she ran completely out of once she had finished the satchel Brickwood had gifted each of them.
"This one's lime." Freya sang as she swayed the treat in front of her nose. "I know you like lime."
Lucy smiled and couldn't say no when Freya played at being so cute. "Thank you." She said, taking the food.
Freya skipped behind them to offer a snack to Pecilia, who sneered at the offer despite the growling stomach it's smell evoked.
"Lime is an interesting flavor to favor," Algernon remarked, coming to join Lucy.
"Is it?" Lucy replied. She passed the scone to her other hand. "It's the most popular flavor in the tropics."
Algernon eyed the pastry reproachingly. "I couldn't imagine why."
Lucy handed the scowling boy the scone. "You should try to hate less the things you haven't yet experienced."
Algernon frowned at the food but took it when he was distracted by Lucy's pretty gray eyes meeting his. She continued ahead, while he paused and took a bite. His face immediately soured with the bitter citrus hitting his tongue. "I don't like tart things." Algernon groaned to himself though Lucy could just overhear it.
"Here," Algernon said to Lucy, catching up with her.
Lucy turned around as she began telling him she didn't want the scone back when she saw it was his canter of water, he was holding out to her.
"Oh." Lucy mouthed surprised.
"You ran out of water a while ago," Algernon stated, presenting his for her to take.
Lucy questioned how he knew that but only replied with a thank you before drinking.
Algernon watched drops of water miss Lucy's lips to land in the opening of her shirt. His eyes tore away as soon as she finished and tried to give it back.
"Keep it." Algernon said. "I don't want it after you've drunk from it."
Lucy's mouth dropped open. "Give me back my scone." She demanded, offended into anger as she tried to grab for it, but Algernon dodged her. "Give it back!"
"No," Algernon said, guarding his unwanted scone. "You've taken my water and now you want my only source of food? You're a parasite."
Lucy recognized the prodding tease, but even so, wasn't immune to it. "And you're mean." She shot back, still squabbling for the pastry. "And mean people don't get scones."
Algernon halted and held the scone above his head, letting Lucy stretch herself against him in her struggle for it.
"Mean people always get what they want. And besides," He said, getting closer to her face while keeping the scone just out of reach, but close enough that Lucy still tried for it, "If I was really so mean I would have stared longer as you got dressed this morning."
Lucy blushed furiously. "You didn't see anything." She adamantly denied as if she could will it so.
"Definitely not." Algernon said, keeping his tone flat as his eyes slowly rolled over her. "And I definitely didn't see that birth mark a few inches in on your hip."
"Don't think about that!" Lucy shouted, wrestling against Algernon for her scone and a little bit of her dignity back.
Algernon stared at Lucy pressed up underneath him where he could see right down her shirt to where the water droplet from before had landed. "If you really don't want me to, this isn't helping."
Lucy stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest but grew acutely angry once again at the sight of Algernon's smirk. "Give me back the scone!" She made one last effort to grab for it but tripped over herself as she did. Algernon instinctively caught her before she could fall. Lucy's feet were still crossed as she relied on Algernon's hand around her back to keep her up when he stared directly into her eyes and with his free hand devoured the rest of the scone in one bite.
Lucy squinted up at him and shook her head in scorn filled disapproval, which made the corner of Algernon's lips rise even with the sour taste plaguing his mouth.
Lucy was about to verbalize her outrage when something past Algernon's shoulder caught her attention. She untangled herself to walk over to the outline of a rectangle carved into the side of a mountain with Algernon following after her.
Lucy traced the outline that reminded her of the entrance into the goddess of creation's temple.
"Pecilia," Lucy called as the rest of the group came with her. They all saw what she did, coming to the same conclusion. "How did you open the door to the parish?"
"Creation magic unlocked it," Pecilia said, and tried the same thing on this door. It lit up a soft red on one side but didn't open.
"What about light magic," Freya proposed, pressing her hand against the rock and pushing forward her magic. A different side of the door started to glow a soft red but still remained shut. She tried the other two magics as well but they only lit up the remaining outlines of the door one at a time.
"All of them," Lucy said, figuring it out as she joined Freya's hand with her own. "At the same time." Jasper and Pecilia helped as well, while Algernon stood to the back, slightly impressed by Lucy's keenness.
All their magic joined at once and the stone outline of the door glowed bright blue before it retreated into the rock, opening up to a dark tunnel it concealed.
"Ooo! Creepy cave adventures!" Freya cheered, clapping her hands in excitement as she stared into the black abyss. "My favorite!" She was the first one to gallop in with everyone else following in much less enthusiastically.