A Curse of the Heart - Jungle Cruise

~Written in Stone~

When Lily ventured down below decks herself following the husband and wife's argument, she found Rafaela in the cabin grumbling to herself. 

"I just hate the way he talks like that, like he's ready for his life to be over," she said when she noticed Lily standing there. 

"I understand."

"I just can't stand to hear him say that. I know I don't fully understand his side, all that time he's been stuck here I've been off chasing the Arrowhead." She shook her head.  "I don't want to lose him."

"You won't," Lily assured her.

"Maybe, but unfortunately, that might not be up to us."

-----------------------------------------

"Turn water to stone..."

"This must be 'turn water to stone'..." Lily cried as they reached their destination, surrounded by hills on all sides except for the opening they had sailed through. 

Frank dove down to inspect and sure enough there was something below them.

"However, it was made for someone narrower," he updated them upon returning to the boat.

Lily paled,  but Rafaela was already on it. 

"I always did love a good swim."

Having spent most of her life here along the river, her very extended life, she was a very accomplished swimmer. This included being able to hold her breath for extended periods of time under water. 

"She's been down there a long time," Lily mumbled from where her and Frank stood on the deck of the boat, watching and waiting for any signal of Rafaela's resurfacing.  "You sure she's okay?"

"Uh oh-" He suddenly said.

"What? What uh oh?"

"Piranhas." He nodded out to where the water bubbled, fizzling the surface. 

"Wait, you can't die, but can she?"

He didn't answer, but promptly dove into the water after his wife. 

"Oh my God!" Lily cried when he brought Rafaela back aboard, unconscious. 

He lay her down on the deck. "Rafaela! Rafaela! Raf!"

Her whole body shook as she choked up a mouthful of water. "Your man-eating piranhas!" she choked out, swatting at him. "Don't tell that joke again! It isn't funny!"

Her anger and their shock and worry quickly faded as they gazed at the changing surroundings around them.  It had worked. All around them the water was draining to reveal  grand stone towers shooting into the sky high above them.

"'...Turn water to stone...'" Lily recited once more in awe.

"After four-hundred years," Frank breathed. "I found it... We found it!"

"We did it! We found it!" The trio hugged in triumph and excitement. They had come so far, all of them! 

"Now you can be the Darwin of flowers!" Frank told Lily. 

"And the petal's right there, now you can be free, you can - I mean it's not like the river's not beautiful, it is, stunningly beautiful, but you can go anywhere,  anywhere your heart desires!"

"You can see the world," Rafaela joined in.  "We could go to London - Lily could show us! She's got a motorcar!"

"You can come to London," Lily agreed and offered.  "I'm from London, I could show it to you. And yes, I do have a motor car - oh! I could be like your skipper, Skippy, if you want-"

But his expression was unchanged. "Raf, I would love to do all that with you. And thank you for the offer, Lily, but I've made up my mind. There's no London for me after this, there's no motor car, there's no visiting Lily in London. I'm ready."

Raf's voice was breaking. "No, no don't say that." 

"It's my time - it was my time long ago."

"But I'm not! I'm not ready! No, no I don't accept it. You could have one more life!"

"Well luckily for me, it's my choice."

"Well it shouldn't be because - because you have very poor  judgement-" She was stumbling over her words now, trying not to break down right then and there. She pointed at him accusingly.

"You have the world, you have your world to go back to, it's your world-"

"But it could be yours too! It could be ours - at least I'd hoped it would be. You're not the only one who's been waiting for you to be free," she cried. "It could be that one person's world enough."

"Could be," he agreed. "But it's my life." 

"Yes it's your life but I'm a part of it! And I have been for the past three hundred and ninety five years, five months,  thirteen days, and oh I'd say about six hours!" She was shouting again now.  She bit back another yell.  "Let's just find the tree. We don't have to make a decision now."

"Rafaela - Raf-"

"Oh no-" Lily suddenly cried.

As if to add a worse sting to the injury and pain, a certain submarine was rising out of the water nearby, right in their path in fact, the same submarine that had been tracking them this whole time.

The German expedition had caught up to them, right at the doorway to the treasure. 
 

(Kind of a cliffhanger! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! See you all in the next chapter! :))