the thirst trials..

chapter XV

Kali's POV

I wake up, blinking away the blurry. I turn to see Aidan, his arm bandaged and ointment applied. Maggie, the early-bird she is, packs all our extra food into the small, burlap sack. "Rise and shine!" she says in a sing-song voice. "A new start to a new day. Let's get moving." She climbs up the rabbit hole, awaiting our presence. When we all finally reach the top, working with each other, we begin to make our way to the boulders, wind in our hair, sea breeze blowing. You can taste the salt in the air. I fumble for the edge for the edge of the cliff, hooking my fingers onto Maggie's hands. She pulls me up, heaving one person after another. Making our way through the dense, suffocating undergrowth, we fight through the air, which hung heavy, moist and still. Trees as tall as cathedrals surround us, and a strange green light shimmers through the vast canopy of the leaves. The rain forest seemed to have an intelligence of its' own. Its' voice was the sudden screech of a parrot, the flicker of a monkey swinging through the branches overhead. It knew they were there. "There's a lagoon down that way," Aly points. "We used to camp down there." She links her arm to Aidan's. We follow them against the outskirts of the jungle, greens turning to blues, mildly changing. Small, wet pebbles that lined the area sparkle in the lingering light of sunshine. The water was almost still, small ripples occasionally hitting the edge of the pools with little force. I reach down to pick one up, running my thumb over its' smooth surface. It's perfectly round, with no sharp or jagged curves. I swing my arm back, and flick my wrist, watching the small pebble skip across the surface of the infinite pool. The pool that goes on forever, spilling over the edge. A volcano floats behind the scene, hovering. Rocks stumble over, hooded above a single lagoon. Water tumbles down the rocky outcrops, tinkling in a laughing sort of way. Closer we drew until they were in the plume of water vapor that hung over the plunge pool and in only minutes we were as drenched as they would have been in any rainstorm. My hair clings to my head and around my face, but no matter how wet we became, it could not dampen our spirits. We stood in awe. It was beautiful. A bright, white light shone, blinding-almost holy. It was the kind of blindness that sears into your retinas making you close them for fear of going blind; a brightness that would make fresh snow look grey and dull. It was a brightness to revival the sun itself. Fading out, it shows them, lolling there in their lagoon. Everyone stopped in their tracks, except Aidan. The sirens, pulling him towards them, ready to gobble his being. "She" sat up upon the rocks, singing a song of sorrow and heavy heart. Aidan sat staring. "Kali," he mumbled. "She" noticed him staring and out folded her wings like the snow on top of mountaintops. "She" sang more, allowing her voice to drift on the wind. Aidan walked to her, pulled by an invisible string of sympathy that drifted from her lips. Aidan lost himself in black eyes. He sees me. The vision of me appears on that thing's face. "She" lets out the last note from her song letting it curl slowly from her lips. "Aidan," I let out. "Aidan!" I yell, splashing through the stream that separates us. It's too late. He's already gone. The song was irresistibly sweet, yet the sadness and grief was laced into her words. "She" leaned down and attached her lips to his. As Aidan releases his final breath and falls limp in her arms, he smiles, drifting into permanent rest. The melody purred to his soul, piercing through and engulfing Aidan's entire body from within. Maggie turns back to me, locking eyes, sad, caring eyes. Skylar, Maddie, and Maggie begin to walk towards me, staggered in the waves. Skylar mouths, "Disaster." It clicks. The clock is ticking, but there is no timer, dividing time into even smaller slices. In the distance, the volcano shimmers, and white wisps fly, rising. The volcano lies craggy against the bright blue sky, like a bomb in wonderland. When the volcano blew, it was like a psycho-killer climbing out of a television set; something my mind demanded should stay fictional burst into reality, filling my senses with the horror it promised. The rain became rocks, the sky filled with a choking smoking powder and the air warmed quick. I keep my eyes on the horizon, my heart beating faster than a hummingbird's wings. Without warning, the ground under-boot and the air is rent with a noise that leaves my ears feeling like they just exploded. Without a conscious decision to drop we are all on the chilled mud and rock, hands clasped over our ears tight. My lungs are full of rotten-egg smoke and I can't see through the constant streaming of my eyes. Aly is the first to recover, and though all I can see is the profile of her face, I know it's bad. Her eyes tilted upward and her unspeaking mouth is a perfect "o". There's no color to her face. She stands like a statue before sinking to her knees. All that can be seen of the mountain through the dark veil is the lava that flows in thick rivers, pursuing a path as it goes. "ALY!" I yell, screaming to a lifeless figure. She's not going to move, frozen in time. Distance was all that mattered. I don't know what I'm doing, but I run, away from it all, the girls following behind me. I don't look back, but I can hear them running, hear it slithering. My feet slip outwards on the thick sand as I round the corner, the cold air shocking my throat and lungs as I inhale deeper, faster. with each footfall, a jarring pain shoots from ankle to knee. My heart beats frantically, all or nothing. Fail and my whole body will pay the price. The jungle: an assault on all senses. The virescent hues were the foreground, the background, and as high up as you can see. I jump into the jungle, and the girls follow behind. The jungle terrain blocks out the lava, pushing to greet us. Safe. We're safe. For now.