"Stop it! Don't touch me! Get off!" Andrew shouts as he fights his sleep. I hear him mumbling and tossing in the dark as I groggily sit up to face him in the darkness.
"Andrew," I say, shaking him a little.
"Ow! I don't know where she is, I don't know!" My heart sinks because I know exactly what he is screaming about. I shake him harder.
"Andrew, Andrew, please wake up."
"Wait no, don't touch her! You leave her alone! NO-"
"Andrew!" I say, shaking him again as he sits upright in the bed, shaking and sweating. I can hear his breath as it begins to slow from its heavy, and fast pace.
"Hey, you're alright," I say as he buries his head in his knees. He sits there, letting my rub his back, until he sits up, pulls on a pair of pants over his boxers and walks out the door. I'm wearing my blood-stained shirt as I follow him out the door. The cool air hits are like a gust of wind as I sit next to him on the moonlit cliff.
"I'm sorry for waking you," he says, opening his arms so I can lay in them.
"I don't mind. My dreams are never pretty either but you know that" I say as he kisses my head a couple times.
"They could have had me on the verge of death and I never would have betrayed you," he promises, and I begin to cry. "What's wrong he asks, as I push myself away from him.
"Gosh I cry too much," I say trying to laugh, but instead there is just more tears and an odd choking sound.
"Ella no. Of course, you don't. It also doesn't help that your hormonal," he says, and I nod.
"I'm sorry they hurt you," I tell him, cupping his hands in my face. "You being here is all my fault. It's all me..." but I can't continue, nor do I have to.
"It's not your fault! You didn't know who I was or what I would mean to you. All you did was try to protect the people you love, Ella I don't blame you for anything," he reasons, but I still feel terrible.
"But-" I try to start but he cuts me off.
"No. Stop it. I don't want you looking back to what happened then. I forgive you and I love you now, that is all that matters. Besides," he says, placing my hand on my abdomen dom. "Now it's our future we need to look to." I nod as he kisses me, ignoring the tremor in my lip. Then he picks me up and walks me back into the house where he holds me until we both fall back to sleep.
There's a knock at the door, followed by Frost's voice as I groan and roll out of Andrew's arms.
"I'll get it," he says kissing my head and going to see what Frost wants. I head some mumbling that I don't really care about and then Andrew walks back into the room and pulls the clothes from when he got here off the shelf.
"Where are you going," I croak, opening one eye to see his muscles flex before he puts his shirt on. He notices me doing this and a smile creeps on his face.
"Hunting with the boys. I think you girls might get a head start on the other cabins," he tells me as I sit up. My stomach starts to turn while my headaches. Andrew notices and brings me a bowl to throw up in.
"I hate morning sickness," I say when Andrew comes back from disposing of the bowl with a glass of water. I nod in thanks.
"I know you do, now drink that," he tells me, and I do as he says.
"I want to see you later," I say, rolling onto my stomach to look at him while he changes his pants to a pair of shorts. He smiles a little more. The turning in my stomach has stopped.
"Don't worry, you will. Now put this on and get up," he says, throwing me some pants that I slip on over my underwear, this time as he watches. I use a piece of soft vine to tie my knotted hair with as Andrew grabs two mangos from a bowl, and hands me one. I notice one of the bows and an arrow sheath slung over his shoulder. When we walk outside the air is remarkably warmer than the night before and the sun is seen just over the horizon.
"Okay bye, love you," he says kissing me on the cheek before walking off with Frost to join Ethan, Coby, Jack, and Devin. I make my way down to where the girls are also eating mangos.
"I can't wait till we all get beds. It is going to be so much better than that sand," Emma says, cracking her back.
"Well then we should probably get started," Sophie says, heading towards the water.
"Want me to come with? I can help carry some metal scraps," Adriane offers and Sophie takes it. Since the hovercraft crashed in the water, Sophie is really the only one who had the ability to get it.
"Kate and I will go grab stones since we can pretty much just lift a hundred of them over at a time," I say, and Kate nods in agreement. Jane and Emma are left to dig out the foundations where the floors are going. There are going to be two cabins. One for girls and one or boys. Both will be much larger than mine, but there are also five living there instead of two. By the time Kate and I have finished gathering what seems like two hundred rocks, Jane is done digging out the ground space and Emma is making some wood stoves with the metal Sophie and Adriane brings over. It takes me a matter of minutes to place down all the rocks, which makes me love my levitation power even more.
"Could have used that the other day," Jane growls, and I know she is talking about the floor they built for Andrew and I.
"Well we did say it would be a lot easier with Ella around," Sophie says, smiling at me.
"I'm sure this will be easier too," I say, turning to face the sea and I face my palms upwards and bring them slowly towards the sky. As I do so, clay for our mortar floats out of the water and I turn and drop my fingers into one of the cracks where they rocks lay. In seconds the first floor is complete and within a couple more so is the second.
"I've got this part," Sophie says, pulling the water from inside the clay to make a large water ball as they clay hardens almost instantly. She tosses the ball back into the water, and we look at our progress. The floor is complete and so are the two wood stoves. This time the part that takes a long time is Jane growing enough trees that are big enough to make the walls. Adriane has no problem making axes sharp and strong enough to but through them with one swing so that part's easy. By the time the boys come back sometime, I would assume is around two all of the walls are up, including the inside ones, and all that is left is the roof. The boys managed to find some wild turkeys that apparently were easy kills, so we will have a nice supper tonight. Jane builds the roofs, which takes some time, but she manages, and in the meantime, the rest of us stone a wall so we can put the stoves in, build some shelves, beds, and make Frost add in some dressers, plates, cutlery, glasses and windows. I manage to dig a large enough hole so that the two wells connect and Sophie only has to fill one big some ideas of two small ones. This is so easy without powers. Without them, we would pretty much be screwed.
"Nice job ladies. I love that we have proper beds, not bunk beds," Frost says, nodding in approval. Everything about the houses is the same as mine, but the difference being there is only one big room with lots of single beds instead of the two smaller rooms. Adriane gave everyone a bow with an arrow along with a sword to their fitting that hands over their beds.
"Yeah, yeah, it's great, but where's the food at?" Jane asks, looking to Ethan who is holding a plate of roasted turkey. We eat some more carrots and potatoes with it, and it's a delicious meal altogether. Everyone sits outside to eat while watching the sun go down.
"Andrew?" I ask, stealing one of his potato bites.
"Yes, food thief?" He asks but lets me bite another one of his forks regardless.
"Tag you're it," I smile, standing up and sprinting towards the water. He smiles at me before slapping Frost on the back and running after me. Soon it's all our free for all and everyone is screaming, laughing and running in the moonlight.
"That was fun," I say, wearing my newly made pyjamas and sitting in front of the fire to dry my hair.
"Yeah it was nice to let loose and feel like kids again," Andrew nods, placing a pot of water and mint leave onto the stove to boil. When my hair is mostly dry I sit back onto the couch. I take some of the clay I had just gathered and shape it into mugs as the water boils. I use Sophie's trick of sucking the water out to dry it faster as well. Since it is salt water I have to throw my ball outside instead of down the well. I do take the time to wash it out, but when I sucked the water out I also got most, if not all the dirt. When the water is done boiling Andrew takes the mugs from me and fills them with mint tea.
"Thank you," I say as he sits next to me. Every time I put my hand down it rests on my stomach.
"Are you nervous?" Andrew asks, noticing my movements.
"A little to be honest," I reply. "Are you?"
"Oh I'm terrified," Andrew tells me, which makes me smile for some strange reason.
"You're going to be a great father," I tell him, taking his hand so he's touching my stomach.
"As long as I'm nothing like mine," he smiles weakly.
"From what I've seen you're nothing like him," I tell him, trying to make him feel better.
"Yeah except for the part that I've killed innocents, and-" he stops, seeing the pained face. I don't even mean to make it, it is just natural when we talk about the people we have killed.
"Different motive though," I whisper, feeling like I have already lost this battle.
"Yeah, I guess so," Andrew replies as I take another sip of tea.
"I wanted to postpone this, but we have to talk about you running away like that," he says now serious, and moving his hands so they wrap around me instead. I start to feel nervous as I lean into him.
"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have gone, but I got so scared that you would be mad or upset and you sounded so disappointed," I groan, burying my face into him, feeling guilty and terrible.
"Well yes there's that and I understand why you left, so just promise me you won't do it again? You scared me, I thought the worst. Maybe I was a little shocked and scared so I'm also sorry that you only saw what was on my face instead of what was in my heart," he says, calmly, looking into the fire.
"Your heart?" I ask, looking back up at him.
"Well, as scared as I was, within a short time I grew excited. Then I was worried I would lose the two things I have fallen in love with," he continues in the same tone.
"So you weren't mad?" I ask, feeling hopeful.
"Well of course not. The closest I can to mad was when I realized you wanted to hide it from me."
"I never meant to hide it from you. I was just panicking of what I was going to say to you," I reply, trying to get closer to him.
"Well problem solved now," he laughs nervously. We sit in silence for several minutes, until I finish my tea.
"Andrew?" I ask, in a light tone.
"Mhmm?" He answers before yawning.
"Do you think I hurt it?" This question has been gnawing at me forever.
"What?" He seems confused.
"My powers, do you think I'm hurting it? And then I was tortured and shot and so many bad things have happened. What if it's dying?" I panic a little and force myself to stand. I begin to pace the room, my hands over my abdomen, protectively.
"Okay first of you need to relax. You being anxious isn't going to help it either," he advises me so I stop pacing. "And honestly I was thinking the same thing. Well kind of. With everything you have been through I'm surprised it's held on this long, but then again, have you felt extra drained when using your powers lately?" He questions, sitting up straight and looking at me. I can see the gears turning in his brain. I think about his question. I mean, I guess so now that I think about it. Everything seems to take a little extra effort, even with my stone and I working together. I noticed it more today when I was lifting the rocks. I was after that one task.
"Yeah kind of, why?" I look at him intently.
"I think it may be absorbing some of your energy." My puzzled look makes him continue. "I mean I think the reason it has stayed alive this whole time is that it has been absorbing the energy you use to heal people. That would also explain why you could only heal one of us on the hovercraft. You weren't even bleeding out, but it wore you out so fast you couldn't save yourself," he finishes, looking at me in the eyes as he speaks.
"Wait if it's absorbing my energy then..." I think about it but Andrew finishes my ideas for me.
"It may be born with powers too."
"Mommy mommy what it is!" The little girl shrikes, running towards me.
"It's just a storm," I smile, blowing out a candle. She runs to my leg and pulls me to pick her up.
"It scares me," she wails, clutching me tighter.
"Remember what I told you? How daddy is in charge of the storms. He must be practicing-" but then my mind goes foggy and my heart begins to race. My sentence is cut off when I hear Andrew cry out to me in my mind.
You have to go! Take her and go!
The door bangs and the little girl screams again as the door swings open. The dark pool of smog rises into the room.
"What is it! What is it!" The girl cries, struggling to cling to me harder.
"Listen to me," I tell her as the darkness spreads into the room. I run to my bedroom and smash the window, struggling to get out. "I want you to run and wake auntie Emma. She will take you somewhere and I will meet you the okay my star?" I tell her, trying to be calm for her sake.
"Mommy what about you! Don't go!" She begins to cry, and I kiss her on the head.
"It's okay, I am just going to get daddy don't worry," I lie, half dragging her towards the stairs.
"Promise you will find me?" She sniffs, looking into my eyes.
"Oh my little star, I will always find you," and with that, she turns and runs while I am left to face the darkness that seeps towards me...
"Andrew! Andrew!" I cry, shaking him awake with rattling hands. My heart is beating so fast I can feel it shaking my bones.
"I'm awake! I'm awake. What's wrong?" He asks, and I begin the story on what I have just seen.
"It was so real! Andrew what if it is real!" I cry, worrying myself.
"Calm down, relax!" He says, trying to get me to come to my senses.
"No, no, no. You have to see it!" I say, throwing off the thin blanket and stepping out of bed. I throw off my pj's and press my finger to my stone so my body is covered in my suits material.
"How am I supposed to do that?" He asks groggily, following my movements.
"Devin," I reply, with a little bitterness in my voice.
"Didn't you punch him in the face? Why would he do anything for you?" Andrew asks, following me out the door, also dressed in his suit. The sun is starting to rise, and everyone will be up soon anyway.
"Because Emma is going to ask him to," I say, walking down the hill. Without knocking I walk into the girl's cabin, and through the door where they all lay asleep.
"Ella what are you doing?" Emma groans as I begin to pull her out of bed, pressing her stone for her.
"I need you to see something too and I need Devin's help." She gets up, hearing the panic in my voice.
"Okay, okay, let's go." We walk next door to the boy's cabin and we all walk inside. Frost is sitting at the table as if expecting us and when he sees me, he walks straight towards me.
"What the hell was that?" He asks as Emma goes to wake Devin.
"I don't know, but we are about to find out," I reply as Emma pulls a suited up Devin fro their room. He doesn't look at me, but I can tell whatever Emma has said to him, makes him help me. We all walk outside into the rising sun, form a circle and join hands. I have Emma on one side and Andrew on the other. A current pulses through my body and we are sucked into watching the dream again. This time we are watching like it is a movie screen. It's weird to see myself walk and talk without moving my own mouth. I notice Andrew as he touches the little girl's hair as she is pulled into my arms. He looks at her with such awe it warms my heart, but that is not what we are here for. I look to Frost who has noticed the black smog rushing into the cabin. With a quick glance, we both step into it. The image spins and I scream as I am planted to the ground and pain spreads through my bloodstream. Voices rush into my head, and I grasp at my ears, trying to shut them out. My world spins and I am brought to something I haven't seen before.
"Ella where are we?" Frost asks looking around, but the others are nowhere to be found.
"I have no clue. Are we still in my mind?" I ask, pinching myself but nothing happens.
"No clue," Frost replies. I am facing frost and behind him like a burning wasteland. The mountains in the background spit lava and darkness seem to be settled over the entire area. I try to step towards him but am blasted back by a force.
"What the hell!" I spit, looking up into the pale blue sky...
"You alright?" Frost asks as I pick up a stone and throw it across the barrier. He raises his eyebrows at me. Our two scenes are almost identical except my side is living and filled with bright greenery. When the stone lands of his side it crumbles into white ask and floats off in the breeze.
"Don't bother to run my children," says the women from my dreams. She appears behind me, her hand resting on my shoulder.
"Oh no," says her equal who I have never seen before that appears on Frost's side. "You're home now. How you managed to leave the first time is beyond me, but welcome to your future," he smiles. He's wearing an all-black suit with a collared black undershirt and his eyes are black as night.
"This isn't our home," says Frost who swats away the man's hand when he goes to touch him.
"Foolish boy," the woman says calmly. "You have so much to learn."
"Ella, time to go," Frost told me and the woman frowns as I fall through a black hole. Frost falls with me but as we go to leave I am stuck with unbearable pain.
"Frost! Help me!" I scream, my eyes watering.
"Ella hold on. We are almost back. Don't let go!" He yells, grabbing my arm.
"It hurts," I cry as the pain worsens.
"I know, I know but we have to get back," he says through the darkness.
"I don't think I can," I tell him, feeling like my body is being ripped apart.
"Ella finds him, in your mind, find him. Would he let go of you?" He is pleading with me to stay in it and now he brings in Andrew. Of course, Andrew would stay for me but he wouldn't want to to go through this pain... Would he?
Andrew?
Ella where did you go?
Andrew, it hurts so bad.
Come back to me.
I can't, it's tearing me apart.
How much longer will it take?
Two minutes. Andrew, I can't hold on that long.
I was thinking.
Not the time.
About the baby.
What?
I think we need to stop calling it, it.
What do you mean?
Well, I think we need to call it the baby instead. Makes it more real.
I suppose.
What about names?
Names?
Yes, boy and girl names.
If my nightmare is true then it will be a girl.
But it could still be a boy, we don't know if it is true.
I guess so.
So we need both.
Melody if it is a girl.
Ella...
Do you not like that idea? For your mother?
No, I was going to say you are the most amazing girl I have ever come across.
Well, I better be if we are going to get married.
Yeah, about that. When I see you in five seconds I'm going to make you help me make a ring for myself.
Five seconds?
Three...
You distracted me...
Two...
I love you.
One.
I get thrown onto the soft sand where Andrew is the first to make it to my shaking body. The pain is disappearing but it is engraved into my memories.
"What happened?" I hear Andrew say angrily, turning to Frost who seems fine.
"We went somewhere. Somewhere odd. There we people. They spoke to us. Ella had to get us out, but it nearly killed ," Frost pants from above me. My body is wrecked, exhausted and I can barely move.
"It's okay. Take it, take it," I whisper to my baby as my body continues to drain. It's worth it. My pain and lack of movement as long as he or she is okay.
"Where did you go?" Andrew says he is kneeling down next to me.
"We thought we could still be in the dream," Frost tells him.
"What happened to her? Who did this?" Andrew demands. I can feel his breaths quicken as he picks me up. I wince and moan, my body is sore and moving it causes sharp pains to attack my bones.
"She went to teleport us out of there and then all of a sudden she was screaming. She said it felt like she was being ripped apart. We couldn't stay there. She had to keep going," Frost adds, guiltily. Everything around me is blurry now. My eyes keep rolling back and every awkward step Andrew takes make me wince in pain.
"Were you on the island?" Emma then asks as Andrew starts apologizing to me, saying he will be more careful where he steps.
"Um," Frost says looking around. "Ell- Kate do you think you could lift me above the island?" He asks, seeming worried.
"Sure," Kate replies uneasily. There is a gust of wind that lifts Frost into the air. I'm not surprised that Andrew just keeps walking until the door to our cabin swings open and the full light from the fire glows warmth throughout the room. As Andrew set me down on the couch I can't help but yelp when he lets me go and I drop an inch. He places his hand as lightly as possible on my hairline and whispers something I can't catch. I have a glimpse of the fear in his soft grey eyes before my eyes roll back again.
"Andrew, can I speak to you?" Frost's voice echoes through my empty skull.
"Yeah. Be right back, hang in there," Andrew adds to me. As he walks away, Emma takes his place.
"You look terrible," she smiles, weakly. I give a muffled croak in response with a faint smile that hurts my cheeks.
"They're having a serious conversation out there," says Sophie who has just walked in.
"I know, did you catch what they were talking about?" Emma asks, looking to her.
"Something about an island," Sophie answers. It's not very helpful but I wasn't expecting it to be. I'm starting to get normal movement back in my hand when Andrew and Frost walk in.
"So we've come to a decision," Frost says, and there's a grunt caused by Andrew stepping on his foot.
"A decision?" Emma scoffs, standing up next to me with her arms crossed.
"Well yes. We have decided the Ella shouldn't go off by herself anymore. She needs to be accompanied by someone at all times," Frost continues in a serious tone. Another croak comes out of my voice box, but Emma says everything for me.
"And who are you to say what she does?" Emma snaps. I can hear the anger in her voice.
"Look at her! She almost died over something that wasn't necessary!" Frost points out.
"What does that have anything to do with her needing a babysitter? Didn't you say she had to get you guys out of there?" Sophie chimes in, also seeming upset.
"Have you not noticed how irresponsible she has been? How easily she has given into temptations, he hisses the last work and it sends a shiver up my spine. I can move my arm now, but nobody notices.
"Irresponsible?" Sophie spits, her voice also rising.
"She's the reason half of us are alive and or sane!" Emma fires back.
"She is going to get herself killed! This is twice in a matter of days she has almost died," Frost continues, no longer mad but trying to prove a point. My head has cleared of fog and I can see Andrew standing awkwardly beside Frost.
"Ella has more than proven that she can take care of herself," Sophie hisses.
"How the hell are you going to feel if you find her lying dead or having to fight her because her soul can't handle the darkness here?" Frost questions. The darkness... Did I not just walk right into it a matter of an hour ago? Am I not able to ward off the darkness in my own heart?
"She doesn't need to be watched!" Emma throws her arms in the air.
"Andrew," I stutter, thinking about the last time I didn't listen to what Frost told me to do. How I almost did die. In fact, it was worse, I almost got caught by the darkness.
"Ella," he responds, kneeling next to me as I sit up. I put my forehead to him and he rubs my hair at the back of my head.
"What do you want me to do?" I whisper, closing my eyes and feeling his breath gently touch my upper lip.
"I want you to live long enough to become my wife and the mother of my child. If you need a little extra help fighting the curses of this island, I think you should take it," he tells me honestly.
"Can we go for a walk?" I whisper, and he nods, helping me stand on wobbly feet. The other's stare at me breathlessly as I put an arm around Andrew's shoulder and we walk out the door.