The Island

Chapter 18

Erika's POV

When Cam leaves the room, I continue to sit on his bed holding my head in my hands; the pain is finally subsiding after taking the pain meds. I lay back down, close my eyes and try to rest.

After awhile the bed suddenly dips and I snap my eyes open. The room is dark. I must've fallen asleep while I thought I was resting. I sense someone laying on the bed with me, a big someone.

"Erika, I need to talk to you about something." Cam whispers from beside me. Does he know I'm awake?

"Earlier when we were talking, I lied to you and for that I am sorry. It's time I face the truth." He pauses. "I know you're awake, so I'm going to tell you a story and I want you to keep an open mind."

I feel him shift on the bed. He moves so he's facing me. "A long time ago, there lived a powerful King and Queen who ruled over rich land. They gave birth to a child who would one day become the ruler of their land. As the boy grew up, he became vain. He only cared about himself and to some people that is no way a ruler should act. His parents tried to change his ways but before they could, his parents died."

"Their ship capsized, and they were never found. His uncle became the ruler until the boy became of age. But the boy rebelled. His heart was broken and he thought that no one could ever love him again. So the boy became cold, hard and distant to those around him. People would say he was a tyrant with a temper, a boy that could never be tamed. When the boy got older he was warned that people would only use him for his power."

He looks at the comforter and continues. "The boy eventually met a beautiful woman but she wasn't who she said she was. The boy loved her in the best way he knew how, but the kind of love he provided her wasn't love and it wasn't enough. He was cruel to the point of being evil and when the boy became King his attitude changed and the woman that he thought he loved didn't want him to be King. She believed he wasn't ready and she was right. The boy who became a man wasn't ready for his birth right."

He looks up at me. "She'd cursed the man with a spell that stopped his aging, but the spell also made his true nature come through at night. She told the man that only once he can learn to love will the spell be broken. However, she left out a very important detail because she wanted the man to suffer for wronging her."

"After a century, she came back to the man, still looking as young as the day the man met her. She gave him the truth of the curse she'd put upon him and came bearing a prophecy that would tell him how to break the curse. To this day, the man still searches for a way out and turns into a monster every night when the moon reaches its highest peak." Cam finishes.

Reaches its highest peak. When I dream of the creature the moon is often at it's highest in the sky.

Shaking off the weird thought, I smile at him. "Are you telling me a bedtime story?" I ask, wondering why he's telling me this, there had to be a reason.

The small amount of moonlight coming through the curtains outlines a smile on Cam's face. "I suppose it would come across that way but technically no. The woman in the story is a witch. A witch you met in the forest." He pauses. "The witch who cursed the man in the story was Allura." He stops and sighs. "And the man is me." He pauses again but only for a moment. "Allura wanted me to suffer. She stopped my aging along with the rest of the royal family and their subjects."

"So, does that mean that you're the rock creature from the forest?" The same creature I keep dreaming about every night.

He sighs. "Yes."

"And the writing on your wall, it's the prophecy Allura gave you, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, more awake than I was before, I roll onto my side facing him on the bed. "What happens when you break the curse? How do you break it?" I wonder.

"I will become King of my country again, now known as Australia. As for how to break the curse, Allura had told me I had to find love but she didn't tell me that the other person had to love me back. At least, not until many years later."

Trying to grasp all this information I am quiet for a moment. My head feels like it's spinning; unable to focus on one thing at a time.

"You mentioned having an uncle in the story, who is he?" I wonder.

"Gordon, Sophie is my little cousin." He says. That was the connection between Sophie and Cam, it all makes sense now.

"What happened to Sophie's mother?" I ask.

"She died with my parents. Sophie doesn't remember her mother." He says.

That must've been hard for Sophie to grow up without her mother and continue not to have one.

"How long ago did your parents die if you stopped aging?" I stop, how old could he be?

"I've been cursed for 200 years. They died 10 years before I was cursed. I was 14 when they died, stopped aging at 24 when I was cursed." He tells me and pauses. "Over the years, I've learned from the witches bits of the prophecy they created. They say that Logan could take the woman in the prophecy away from me." he says, and I look up reading A woman of four will arrive during a down pour.

Arrive during a down pour. When I arrived on Pandora, it was pouring and storming. Could it be that I'm the one in the prophecy? I do have four tattoos, could that be what's it's referring to?

"Do you have any idea who the woman in the prophecy could be?" I ask.

"I have an idea of who it could be, yes." He says, focusing his heated blue eyes on me. A blush slowly creeps to my checks.

"So you think the Captain will take this woman away?" I ask, if my instincts are right and I am the one in the prophecy, I can guarantee I won't be going anywhere with the Captain.

"It's possible. But when you think you have the prophecy all figured out, it turns out to be something completely different." He says frowning.

I nod looking down at my wrist and the tattoo engraved on my skin, fire. "How do the tattoos fit into all this?" I ask holding up my wrist.

He grabs my hand and traces the fire symbol with his index finger. "The tattoos will appear to those not native to Pandora. They usually appear when a person is scared or worried." He says.

"Earlier you said you had five tattoos, where are they?" I ask, wondering where they are hidden on his body. I look at his hand and up his arm until the t-shirt of his sleeve and don't see any sign of one.

"My tattoos run across my upper back." He says.

"Can I see them?" I wonder.

He hesitates before nodding, letting go of my hand and sitting up. Turning on the lamp beside the bed, he turns away from me and lifts his shirt over his head. Defined muscles outline his back and it's hard not to admire the man.

As the shirt rises, I see the tattoo across his back. Black ink swirls cover his muscular back. "This tattoo was given to me when I was cursed. It's been a constant reminder." He says as he continues to lift the shirt up, revealing the four tattoos that run from one shoulder to the other.

Earth, fire, water and air. The designs are beautifully crafted on his back and as I look at them, I realize I've seen these designs before. They're identical to mine.