Hey Everyone! Just thought I'd tell you about the random book quotes at the beginning of each part. They don't have anything to do with the story, they are just there for you to see what I find interesting in current books I'm reading outside Wattpad :)
Book Quote
"Falling in love could be achieved in a a single word - a glance." - Atonement, Ian McEwan
__________________________________________________________________________
Celia, Jack, Martyn and Adrian are quite frantic as they get ready for their quest while Ella is nowhere to be seen.
Tina doesn't like work and decides to do as little help as possible. If anyone made her do work, all she needed to do was threaten to tell the other islanders.
"Why do you want it to kept so quiet anyway?" Tina asks as everyone stuffs back packs with food, lighters and tents.
"We can't get the islanders' hopes up," Jack explains.
"They would all be counting on us and we just can't have that pressure put on us," Martyn sounds quite serious for once.
Ella decides she will help, but one thing has to be done before she leaves.
"Do we have any paint anywhere?" Ella asks the three boys as they pack.
They are very focused on their mission and don't even glance at Ella. Luckily, they don't ask why she needs the paint. She gets an answer instantly.
"In the shed behind cabin two, it's in a blue box. Take what you like," Martyn responds quickly.
Ella smiles at how well everything is going and rushes to the shed at the back of cabin two. When she gets there, all sorts of rubbish fills the small space. Two surf boards, plenty of books, paper and pencils, beautiful paintings in frames and more. This is where all the entertainment is.
She scans the room for a bright blue box and finds it easily. A part of her wants to stay and look at everything there, but she needed to get her plan done before she leaves for the blue liquid.
When she has the fairly big blue box firmly in her hands, she kicks the door open, creating a creak and walks out.
Without worrying if she will get noticed or not, she heads towards cabin 26 so she can see how Henry is doing.
Before she enters, she knocks the door. "It's Ella, the girl who took you out of prison."
Without expecting a response, Ella enters to find Henry sitting on his bed in silence. A part of him looks silently more relaxed, but he is still silently distraught.
"I know you don't like the outside, so I got some paint to keep you amused," Ella places the box on the bed. Henry kneels on the bed and peers into the box.
"Look here," Ella gets out the bottles of acrylic paint and squeezes the colours onto the pallet. She doesn't bother using water. Henry, curious as a child, places his finger in the little dab of green paint. Ella grabs a paint brush and dips it into the green. "All you need to do is draw shapes on the walls."
Ella draws a circle, then adds two dots and a curved line which creates a smiley face. Henry tilts his head at the image then sits back on the bed, curled in a ball.
Ella is fully aware of how much trouble she will get in for wasting the paint and painting the walls of the cabins, but she doesn't care. Jack doesn't seem to be punishing her and she chooses to risk punishment once again.
"I have to go for... I don't know how long. Hope you enjoy the paint, use as much as you like," Ella suggests and makes a gentle smile to reassure Henry that he is safe.
Ella exits the cabin and grabs some clothes for herself in her own. Henry has let out her sweet side, the side she was ashamed off and the side she rarely shows. The only people who have seen how soft she can be are her parents and Celia. Not even Pamela got a glimpse of it yet. It really took someone special for her to show it.
"Look what I got!" Martyn calls when Ella returns to the boys who are packing backpacks.
"What?" Adrian asks. Martyn grins and holds up a pink and white plastic bag full of soft marshmallows.
"Perfect for the camp fire, this will be pretty awesome!" Martyn holds out his fist for Adrian and Jack to touch his knuckles with theirs.
"Is this some kind of game for you?" Ella asks seriously.
"No..." Jack responds.
"You are treating it like one..." Celia softly speaks under her breath.
"This is a mission to get ourselves off... Turninsula or whatever you call it. We need to be focused in order to achieve this," Ella explains.
The boys show no guilt. "Relax a little. We're still teens and we need time to just chill. Not everything has to be serious, of course we will be thinking about this mission," Martyn explains.
Jack stares at his friend; Martyn has such a smooth way with words. Sometimes Jack envies his friend's brilliant skill of making speeches, but he tends to shrug it off.
"OK, good..." Ella responds. "Are you done packing yet?"
"Pretty much," Adrian responds. "Here!"
Adrian stands up with the six bags placed in front of him. "One bag each." Tina stands in disgust.
"Do I really have to carry a backpack as big as that?" Tina asks. Ella doesn't roll her eyes and think about how pathetic Tina is, because the backpacks are actually quite large and rather heavy.
"Well, what do you expect? This is meant to be for an over night trip, of course the bags will be rather big," Adrian explains firmly. Not many expect this from the boy who is usually quiet and in the corner.
Tina sighs, a part of her senses that blackmailing them again will be no use. She lifts up the backpack and places it on her shoulders along with everyone else.
"Well, looks like we're ready, let's go!" Jack announces.
They come out of the large cabin and tread past all the other cabins. Several people who are washing clothes glance at them.
"I thought they were not supposed to know," Celia whispers to Martyn.
"They don't," Martyn snickers slightly. "They think we're out searching for gold or precious stones... Or some stupid stuff that archaeologists would find interesting."
When the six of them are well away from the cabins, Jack treads towards the front.
"What are you doing?" Ella asks him when she notices how far he is towards the front.
"I'm leading the way," Jack responds like it's obvious, but Ella doesn't quite see why.
"Why are you leading the way?" she asks challengingly.
"For a start, I'm the King of this island. Secondly, I know exactly where I'm going," Jack explains.
"Exactly?"
"Exactly."
Ella realises there is no use trying to shove the stubborn boy from the front. Though she is still unsure if Jack knows exactly where he is going, she leaves him hiking at the front.
The journey goes on and the teens don't think much about where they are going, they leave Jack to do that for them. Ella wishes she knew the island so she can keep an eye on Jack and where he is going.
In the back of the group, Martyn walks beside Celia who is staring down at the floor.
"I've noticed something," Martyn announces to Celia.
"What?" her heads comes up instantly.
"You're pretty quiet. If you have any problems; feel free to let them out," Martyn offers. Celia responds with a gentle smile then faces the ground.
"Do you miss your family at home?" Martyn asks, quivering slightly in fear that he had been poking his nose in too far into something that is none of his business.
"A bit... I guess..." Celia is still facing the floor. "I bet they don't miss me."
Martyn knows Celia wants to tell him something, but a part of her wants to keep her misery hidden in fear of facing rejection of the dull subject from him.
"It's OK, you can tell me..." Martyn tries to be gentle.
Celia sighs which makes Martyn feel a pinch of guilt in case he forced the information out of her. "My family have been struggling with money for ages. When I say struggling, I mean really struggling. Apparently it's 'poverty'." Celia explains.
"That must be bloody awful. But how does lack of money mean your parents won't miss you? I'm sure they will," Martyn reassures her.
"No... You see... I overheard my parents talking the other night. They said they were considering throwing me out the house," Celia explains.
"What? That doesn't mean they don't like you," Martyn protests.
"But it probably does," Celia looks up at the other in front then turns to Martyn. "For a start, I'm the fourth child out of eight. It's a bit random to choose me, don't you think?" Before Martyn can respond, Celia continues her explanation.
"My three old siblings were planned, so I was the first accident. Also, I have been the biggest failure in school, out of the family so far, what use will I be?"
Martyn is tempted to raise his voice so he can show how sure he is, but he appreciates that Celia probably wants this to be kept to a hush. "I'm sure they have other reasons besides that."
"Really?" Martyn feels that he has lifted Celia spirits. "Name an example."
Unfortunately, her 'Really?' was her way of challenging Martyn against his suggestion. He was stuck and could not think of any decent response. Celia looks him straight in the eye and waits for an answer, building pressure and only causing the knot in Martyn's tongue to be tied tighter.
"That's what I thought," Celia faces the ground again and treads on ahead, leaving Martyn at the back on his own.
The journey continues. Most of the kids are quiet, though their are some casual conversations here and there.
"I'm tired," Tina moans as she dragged her heavy feet along the ground, at the back of the group.
"We all are but you don't see us complaining!" Jack yells impatiently. Tina had been moaning about the journey the past half an hour which was secretly irritating the whole group.
"Actually, I think we should take a break for a few minutes," Martyn suggests.
"OK, five minute rest," Jack announces.
Quite suddenly, Tina, Celia and Adrian drop their bags on the floor. The other three are more gentle and place the bags on the floor, then find some logs on the ground.
"Who wants marshmallows?" Martyn calls to everyone. "What the heck, I'll give one each. Take the bag, grab one and pass along."
He snatches one from the bag and passes it to Celia, gradually, the bag is passed around.
"Where did you get marshmallows from anyway?" Tina asks.
"We make requests to UK helicopters which visit once a fortnight. Luckily for you, they arrived the day before you did," Martyn explains.
"So is a fortnight not short enough?" Tina asks.
"It's just about enough. But we try to avoid using it all up soon," Adrian explains. "Just leave all that confusion to us and don't worry about it."
"You guys won't even have to worry about it," Ella states. "We'll be out of here in a week."
"How does finding this blue liquid thing help us get through the force field anyway?" Tina asks.
Everyone just realises that Tina is still mindless of what they are doing. Adrian willingly steps forward to explain.
"We're not sure but we read on some paper that we will gain strength against the force field if we have the blue liquid," Adrian explains.
"I think we probably drink it, which gives us the power to simply walk through the force field or maybe smash it's glass," Ella finishes Adrian's explanation off.
"Oh..." Tina responds to show understanding as Martyn receives the bag of marshmallows. They have gone all the way round the circle of six.
"Right, break's over! We need to get to that abandoned school," Ella stands up and grabs her bag. A few follow but a couple moan.
"Don't you think we should have a longer break?" Celia asks gently.
Despite Celia asking this, Ella rejects her suggestion. "Come on Jack, lead the way since you apparently know best!"
The kids continue the journey which is rather quiet apart from the odd casual conversation. Sometimes they are about school and where they come from in the UK and all sorts.
The quiet is disturbed when Ella makes a confident announcement.
"I swear we have been in this part of the forest before. Yes, we have! Jack, where are we?" she asks, suddenly.
"No we haven't!" Jack turns round and shoots his denial right at her face.
"Of course not," Ella smiles as she speaks sarcastically.
"I have to agree, this place does look familiar..." Martyn points out. Jack glares at him; how dare he take Ella's side.
"Trust me, I know where we are going," Jack turns to both of them.
"You obviously don't. Someone else should lead the way," Ella suggests.
"No, I do!" Jack yells.
"Quiet!" Jack and Ella hear a yell coming from Adrian, they haven't realised he had been trying to get their attention the past thirty seconds. They are instantly silent and all eyes are on Adrian. "I recognise this place and I think I know where the school is. You guys can sit and argue here but I'm going to the place."
Adrian walks away, holding the backpack firmly as he walks. Martyn follows behind along with Celia. Tina does the same which leaves Jack and Ella standing and staring.
Nothing is said between them and they follow the rest. Jack never confesses to his mistake, but nobody chooses to force it out of him.
Following Adrian is soon found to be a good idea when they find a wooden hut painted a sky blue. Martyn gives Adrian a nudge.
"This it?"
"Yup, I think it is."
The six dash to the hut in excitement and stand round for a minute.
"What do we do now?" Tina asks.
"We walk 200 paces north," Martyn smiles.
"Then we will find the clue towards the blue liquid. Maybe we will find it, there is no guarantee. The school might be the wrong place." Adrian explains seriously.
Adrian points north and starts counting in time with his footsteps. He counts slightly under his breath. Everyone else joins in, but a couple of them drift into though and rely on the others to count the paces.
After hearing Adrian point out that actually the school might be the wrong place, the excitement fades. This little mission they are trying to complete could be utterly pointless. They may make tonnes of mistakes to find the clues. After many days of searching for clues eventually leading them to the blue liquid. What if it is not going to be useful to them and it was just some myth? Who knows?
The paces are slow despite it only being 200 paces, the walk seemed to take forever. As time went on, they had more hope that the clue would be there.
When they reach the full 200 paces, there is a large rock.
"Where's the next clue?" Tina asks. Martyn steps forward and stares over the rock. He had muscles and he is going to use them when it is important. This is indeed a time it is important.
Martyn lifts up the large rock, it's a struggle but he does it. His head is trembling and turns red as he lifts the boulder. Is muddy and slightly damp, but there is a piece of paper which Adrian snatches in a hurry so Martyn can rest. Martyn does exactly that and drops the rock on the ground, sighing in relief.
Adrian unfolds the paper and reads it carefully. Since the writing is not very clear, he gets out his notebook and pen so he can write down the next clue. Between the group, they make out what all the words are, which is not very difficult.
"You have found the first clue
It proves you have tried
Now head to a place
Where many have died
Tread 10 paces south
Then 50 west
You'll find the blue liquid
At it's very best"
After Adrian reads it out loud to everyone, they are all silent and in thought. Tina thankfully breaks the silence.
"So, any ideas, boys?" she asks.
"I... I don't know..." Martyn responds honestly. Adrian looks as if Tina had not said a word to him. Suddenly, Jack snaps his fingers and beams.
"Got it! Martyn, Adrian, do you remember that beach we found with loads of dead bodies? That could count!" Jack suggests. "It's not far away at all. We won't need to stay the night or anything. If we find this blue liquid, we could be back at the camp by 8 this evening!"
"Corpses?" Celia asks in slight fear.
"How old were they? Did you know where they came from?" Ella asks.
"They didn't look very old, but they needed to get kicked off the island before they would stink up the place, so we threw them into the sea. We have no idea how that happened and we don't plan to find out either," Jack answers. "Now come on let's go."
Nobody challenges Jack's suggestion, nobody even approves of it. They just follow Jack as they head into the forest. Ella does the same, but she decides to have a quick chat with the leader.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" she asks him.
Staring forward, without even glancing at her, Jack responds. "Of course I do. I know exactly where we are going and I know this is going to work."
"Really?" Ella chuckles.
"Yes, 100%."
"I don't think so."
"Why are you doing this? Just because you hate me, you don't need to challenge and argue over every decision I make," Jack's voice is slightly raised.
"Hate you? No!" Ella is in absolute denial.
"Yeah you do. It's the only reason I made you my bloody adviser!" Jack and Ella have slowed down the pace and were starting to shuffle. The others watched this argument closely from behind.
"I don't hate you, I hate the way you don't admit when you are wrong. Just your attitude in general. That's something you can always change," Ella smiles slightly, as if she said something quite witty, then stomps away.
The others follow and Jack stays towards the back of the group. He doesn't need to lead the way since Martyn and Adrian knew where they are going.
There is quiet amongst the group as they head towards the beach in the east. Sometimes, there is the odd couple of words uttered between two people, but it is rare.
When they are almost at the beach, Tina finds a piece of paper on the ground. It is laminated so the rain has not been able to smudge the typed up writing.
"What's that?" Martyn asks.
"It says 'Elliot Yates: the reason for the Island's state'. It's in pretty big writing," Tina announces.
"He must have been the reason why the island's got this force field round it," Ella suggests.
"Well, if I ever meet this Elliot Yates, I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!" Jack announces angrily.
"Um... We're on a mission," Adrian says firmly but quietly, pointing towards the direction of the beach.
Tina drops the poster on the floor and they continue the journey towards the beach a little quieter than they were earlier.
Eventually, the reach the beach and follow the instructions on the second clue. Counting their steps is slightly more exciting than the other time since they are actually going to reach the blue liquid! They are going to be free! It does create conversation, but not much since they are so focused on keeping track of the steps they have taken.
When they started pacing to the west, counting to the 50 paces, they would look straight ahead to see what was waiting for them. But by the time they reached the 30th pace, they could see were they would end up. There didn't seem to be anything, no caves or fountains. The area did seem particularly different to any other part of the forest.
Some of the teens have already made up their minds about what they had thought of the area, but some were not giving up.
"It might be hiding under the leaves!" Ella suggests as she digs through them. She glances up at everyone else who is staring down at her. "Well, come on! Help!"
Everyone helps but without much hope. Adrian sits on a rock to the side, with his notepad and pen on his lap, thinking. Did they miscount? Was it the wrong place they went to? Maybe Henry's paper was ancient and the blue liquid was already discovered? Or maybe this was all just a joke? Knowing that all his could just be a lie made Adrian very tempted to slam the notepad down and give up.
"Guys," Jack calls to everyone after ten minutes of detailed searching. "It's no good. Let's go back to the cabins before it gets dark. We might be able to find some ideas there..."
Everyone agrees and grabs their back packs.
Just they take the first few steps, a loud bang echoes across the island. It sounds a bit like a gun shot. This is followed by the screams of crowds towards the camp. Several more gun shots are heard along with more screaming.
"Oh my god," Martyn says in panic. "Let's go guys, we have to help!"
The six of them run, but mostly jog to avoid tripping over roots. The giant back packs don't help their balance.
Martyn is charging in front in determination. Ella hangs slightly further back and turns to her friend Celia. This island is a dangerous place to be and there is absolutely no escape. Ella grabs Celia's sweaty hand as they dash to their possible death.
___
I hope this was nice and eventful! And I hope I have left lots of questions for you to ask yourselves! :)