The words leave my mouth too fast, I realize, because Neil's response shuts me down quickly.
"Volcano, huh?" he asks in a teasing voice. "Where's the magma then?"
Sam and I both glare at him.
"Inside the volcano, I'm sure, considering that magma is what you call the stuff inside volcanoes. Maybe you're thinking of lava," Sam hisses. A sharp jab of laughter sneaks out of my mouth, and I turn my head to muffle the uninhibited chuckles that follow in Kaia's hair.
"You know what I meant," Neil snaps, rolling his eyes. "Lava, magma—same thing."
"Actually, Sam just explained the difference," I whisper, and Kaia's body shakes with laughter.
"Shut up, Jordyn, before I make you," Neil responds, his eyes going dark. I tense up, but Sam steps in.
"Lay a hand on her, and there's going to be a real fight," he growls as he extends an arm over Kaia and me. "Understand, Neil?"
The two of them stare at each other for a long second before Kaia unrolls herself out of my grasp and points at the two of them with a shaking finger.
"Put the rulers away, boys. We have bigger problems than that volcano-mountain-thing."
They both glance back at her, and I find myself just as confused. A volcano seems like a pretty big threat to me. There's only so far we can run from an eruption, considering that we're on an island. It might not be pouring out lava right now, but that earthquake and smoke has to mean something.
She looks at me and then groans.
"The alcove, idiots," she says. "Our shelter is destroyed. Do I need to keep going?"
My eyes go wide.
No shelter means no protection from the elements. No rock to block the freezing wind, blistering sunlight, or crippling lightning. Yet, it's not only the weather we need to be concerned with. If we're forced to sleep out in the open, we're exposed to lions, birds, and monkeys. Who knows what else could crawl out of the water and nip at our toes. Even that turtle from earlier didn't look friendly.
"Now, I don't know about you three stooges, but I really don't want to be out in the open whenever the creators decide to turn off the lights," Kaia says as she brushes sand off her jumpsuit.
Her recovery time from the panic moments ago is phenomenal. I reach out a hand to wipe sand from her shoulder, and she jumps at my touch. Her eyes go wide for a moment, and her back tenses up. Once she realizes it's just me, she relaxes again.
Maybe she isn't completely recovered.
"We're going to have to find another shelter," Sam pipes up, "and fast."
Kaia and I both nod.
"But where, though?" Neil asks.
"Around the beach?" Sam suggests.
"I walked all around this place," I mumble. "We won't find anything."
"Then we're gonna have to go into the woods," Sam informs me.
I just blink at him. If I had known that's where he was going, I wouldn't have suggested it. The last thing I want to do is wander around inside the jungle that just tried to toast me alive--even if it was my own fault.
I look up at the smoke curling away from the mountain as the three of them delve into an argument about what's best. Smoke means fire, and fire is something I understand. Fire is as familiar as brownies and windchimes, and regardless of what happened earlier, it feels just as safe as Sam does.
YOU ARE READING
The Island
Science Fiction"This is The Island, a prison designed for minors like me- too young to be executed, too old to be reformed, and too much of a stain on humanity to let exist. It was 'the answer' to the growing crime rate resulting from a world that was falling apar...
