Owen broke a single hard tack into small pieces before placing them into a bowl and passed it arround.
Everyone took a piece and passed the bowl until it reached Owen who picked up the last piece.
One of the men began to say a prayer.
"And so we thank thee for the-"
"Land!" Barzilli yelled drawing everyones attention.
He pointed out into the distance to show them the island he had spotted.
Everyone pulled out the oars and started to row their way toward the island until Alexandrea yelled out.
"Hold fast!" She ordered, staring into the distance of the ocean.
"What's wrong?" George asked his daughter.
"Its been following us!" She yelled back.
"The whale?" Owen asked looking into the ocean.
It was as if Owen too sensed what she sensed and pulled out his riffle.
"Lexi what are you doing" Thomas wispered as he took her hand into his despite theit little argument.
"Why have we stopped!? What the devil is it?" The captain barked, clearly frustrated.
"Its him!" Owen said loudly, loading the gun.
It was then, the men saw the whale approach them.
"Brace!" George yelled as the beast came closer and wrecked the boat closest to it.
Few of the men fell into the water while Owen's boat was still afloat.
"Where is he?" Owen called out.
Everyone looked arround for it while the two kids clung on to eachother.
Ever thing was suddenly a blur.
One moment they were all looking for the beast and the next, they were tossed out of the boat and into the water with the whale splashing arround before disappearing into the depths of the dark waters beneath them.
Thomas barely had enough time to fathom what was happening as he was pulled along with the currents and was tossed arround in the waters before he opened his eyes to find himself on the island.
The boy stumbled to his feet, regaining his balance. It felt weird to be walking arround on land.
As if on instinct, the first thing the boy did was call out to Alexandrea.
"Lexi!" He hollered, hoping that she was ok "Lexi! Answer me please!"
"Thomas!"
The boy spun arround and saw Lexi stumbling toward him. He ran toward her with whatever strength he had and engulfed her into a tight embrace.
"Kids?"
Owen jogged upto both the teens.
"Come on" he said beckoning both of them to follow him "We're starting a fire"
Everyone was gathered arround the flame, few men had taken off their shirts and placed it by the fire to dry off while the rest were busy muttering small talk amongst themselves. The kids went back to ignoring each other.
"hey" Chase wispered to Thomas "you both still aren't talking?"
The boy only shook his head. Owen could tell that Thomas was missing the company of his friend.
"Go on, talk it out" Chase said shoving the boy playfully "she misses you just as much"
Thomas sighed and walked upto the girl sitting further away from him.
"L..Lexi?" He stammered "can I talk to you? Alone?"
Lexi heard Henry whistle but ignored her relative.
She got up and followed the boy as they walked along the shore line.
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you" Thomas said coming to a halt "I was just...eh.."
"What?" She asked
"Tired a..and cranky and I'm sorry I took out my anger on you"
"Thomas-"
"Its just that I've had a lot of things in my mind that are driving me insane. Why did this happen? Are we going to survive? Will we get back? Once we do, will I see you again?"
The boy sighed
"I just..I... I'm sorry"
"Thomas" the girl said softly taking his hand in hers and tilting his chin up gently so that she could gaze into his dreamy brown eyes "we will get back home and it's not like we'll never see each other"
"About that, i-"
"Hush Thomas, we'll be okay"
The boy smiled fondly at her.
Alexandrea still wanted to annoy the boy though, so she did what she always used to do.
At least that what Thomas said used to annoy him while everyone knew he secretly liked it. And that was Lexi hugging him and kissing his cheek.
"Tommy!" She yelled as she threw her arms arround him and pressed kisses against his cheek over and over again.
"Lexi!" The boy exclaimed, trying to act like he was disgusted. Instead what came out were giggles and he ended up blushing real bad.
"Well," Owen chuckled looking at the two in the distance before turning toward Joy who was also watching the the teenagers
"they're back"
The two kids decided to sit away from the rest of the men for a while.
"So all this time you still haven't settled things with your father?" Thomas gaped at the girl who shook her head
"You really think I want to talk to him after what he said about you and-"
"Hey," the boy spoke softly "Its alright, I don't care"
"But I do" she said looking up at him.
"Lexi," the boy smiled, moved by how much she cared about him "look, he's you're father. I don't think you ought shut him out completely. You have no idea how lucky you are to even have a father. Believe me, it hurts when there's no one for you. He was only doing that to keep you safe. Maybe he doesn't trust me, he thinks I'm not good enough for you and that's alright, it's what father's do, they only want the best for their kids. You need to understand that, even though he's short tempered or so, he still loves you. We're only going to see eachother for a little while, but your father will stick with you forever. Talk to him"
Lexi stared at the boy with total adoration.
"Alright" she sighed as she rose to her feet "thanks"
The boy only smiled in response as he watched her walk away from him toward her father.
The boy stared off into the distance and was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice George Pollard walk upto him from behind.
The boy stiffened up when he spun arround to find the Captain sitting behind him. He quickly tried to get up and walk away.
Instead, the Captain told him to stay put.
"Thomas" George spoke seriously "a word?"
The boy only nodded as he gulped.
"So" Pollard continued "I see that you've taken a fancy to my daughter"
"Sir i-"
"Let me finish" he cut him off "I've seen the way you look at her, don't deny it. I've also seen how happy you've made her these past few days. I haven't seen her this happy since her mother passed. Sure, she never sulks but with you she's genuinely happy. And I'm not going to deby it annoys me but all I want is to see her happy"
Thomas only smiled sweetly, slightly flustered.
"She loves you" Pollard said quietly, making Thomas' eyes widen slightly "I don't know how you haven't noticed it but she does. But we both know that you two can't be together"
"Y..yes sir" the boy answered sadly
"You're a good kid Nickerson" Pollard said patting his shoulder and standing up "but you know this won't last"
"Right...c..course sir" he forced a smile.
He sloppily followed George toward where the others were getting ready to sleep.
He chose to sleep toward the far edge, away from the rest.
Lexi watched as her father walked back with Thomas following close behind.
Her father sat closer to the fire as he was getting ready to sleep.
She noticed that Thomas had made himself comfortable farther away from the rest of the crew,so she walked over to the boy.
"Aren't you coming to sleep?" She asked.
"I'll be sleeping here" the boy smiled.
She sat down next to him and looked at the boy who was watching her with fondness in his eyes.
"What?" She chuckled catching his gaze.
"You're beautiful, you know that right?" He smiled as he spoke genuinely.
"Shut up" Lexi blushed and she playfully punched his arm to which he chuckled.
Thomas took her hand in his as he mumbled a soft 'stay'
The girl rested her head on his bare chest to which she blushed.
"Goodnight Lexi" Thomas said wrapping his arms arround her.
"Goodnight Tommy" the girl wispered.
Thomas kissed the top of her head.
He could've swore he heard her wisper a soft 'I love you' but she couldn't have, could she? He was at sea for so many days and was tired so it probably meant he was just imagining it.
Right?