A loud rumble jolted me awake. I jerked upright, looking around half asleep. The sky outside my window was clear and as blue as the ocean beneath it.

Through the haze, I formed thoughts. That’s weird. Take a breath and think.

Another rumble. I shook my head and took a few deep breaths to clear my foggy brain. No sign of a storm. With my head as clear as I could get it, the next rumble revealed the source. A dark, heavy cloud in the back of my mind. I flopped back onto my pillow with a sigh.

Why did it have to come back? Didn’t I get over this years ago? What the frack man?

As I focused on it, an old, familiar heavy feeling settled over my chest weighing me down. I groaned.

With no chance of going back to sleep, I forced myself to get out of bed, pushing the blankets away. 

A static shock went through my hand as I grazed the sheets.

“Ow, damn it,” I griped as I got up.

I threw on a plain black shirt and jeans and left my room. I neither saw nor heard any sign of my dad as I walked through the house. 

I sighed. Must be at work.

My stomach let out a grumble prompting me to head to the kitchen. After debating the pros and cons of cooking versus cereal, I settled on the latter. After pouring a bowl, I sat at the table to slowly eat while staring out the window. The sun streamed in through the glass along with the gentle roll of the ocean.

Before I knew it, my spoon clattered against the bowl signaling the end of breakfast. After washing my dishes, I head out into the yard.

 I could already feel the heat. I hated it. It was morning and I was already starting to sweat. It was gross. There was a small gap between my house and the fence which I crossed in three steps and pushed open the gate. Directly on the other side lay the beach. To my right was a vacant house and on the other side of that was the dense rainforest. It surrounded the whole neighborhood and stretched beyond it.

I walked through the gate and onto the beach, stopping at the shoreline, just outside the water’s reach. Waves rolled over the sand as the scent of salt bombarded my nostrils. I stared out at the ocean. I listened, hearing only waves. 

The morning sun hung low in the sky, shining brightly  just above the waterline, but not one bird called in the breeze. They should have been squawking up a storm by now. For some reason I couldn’t explain this silence set my nerves on edge. I could feel them tingling in my toes. 

As I stared out over the water, something shiny glinted in the corner of my eye. I scanned the jittery ocean. The object escaped my sight until I spotted it again, stuck in some kelp. Keeping my eyes on the thingy, I waded waist-deep out to it. At least the water was somewhat warm and it was better than sweat. The textured plastic of a clear bottle wrapped in kelp kept a rolled-up sheet of paper safe and dry. Curled around the paper was a shimmering yellow stone on a gold chain. I pulled the bottle from the seaweed.

What's this about? The cloud rumbled in the back of my mind. Does someone on a deserted island need help?

The lid had crusted around the rim but I twisted anyway. After some effort and using my shirt I finally got it open. I shook the items into my hand, and the pendant came out easily, but the paper. not so much. The incessant waves weren’t helping either, but I pushed against them to keep my balance until I got enough grip to get the paper out. Finally the note, which was handwritten and short on regular notebook paper, slipped out.

It read:

To the finder of this pendant:

Our world is in dire need of your help. Lord Phiale has killed our leaders and taxed us into destitution. Disease and famine run rampant. Our only hope is if this pendant reaches your champion. It grants the ability to open the path to our world. Please hurry. Our survival depends on you.

Sincerely,

Lliw

I lowered the paper. “Lliw? Lord Phiale? Who wrote this crap?” I scoffed. “Yeah, right. Nice joke.”

I held the pendant up for inspection. The cloud thundered. I ignored it, opting to keep the pendant in the hope it would bring me good luck. Maybe even canceling out the cloud once and for all. Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen.

That cloud wasn’t going anywhere after coming back, if it had even left in the first place.

As I slipped the chain around my neck, I heard a voice call me from the beach. 

“Hey, Will!” Nell waved at me from the shore. 

My heart beat faster at the sight of her straight, shoulder length, raven hair lifting in the gentle wind, though I didn’t understand why.

“Coming!” I tossed the bottle into the water and carefully made my way back to the shore, trying to keep the paper dry. “What’s up?”

“What were you doing out there?” she asked.

“Getting this,” I said, as I handed her the note.

My eyes lingered over her as she read. She stood a couple of inches under my six feet. Being a descendant of the original Polynesian settlers and spending a lifetime under the sun had left her skin with a dark coppery glow. Her sparkling, light brown eyes squinted over the words, causing crinkles in their corners and sending strange pangs through my chest. Her loose navy shirt fluttered in the wind while her denim shorts looked like they were molded to her slender legs. 

My nerves fired on all cylinders as I waited until she was done reading. I really didn’t know why I wanted her to finish it so badly. Maybe I just wanted to hear her voice again? Why did she always bring out this feeling in me? Everything about her from her smile to the way she put her everyone else first strangely flooded my body with butterflies.

She finished reading. “Who wrote this crap?” she asked.

I smirked, pushing every feeling deep into my flip-flopping stomach. I couldn’t let her sense the state I was in whenever she was near. “I said the same thing.”

She noticed the pendant. “Is that it?”

“Why are you saving it?”

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “To show Sam,” she answered as if I should've known what she was doing. “Come on. Let's go for a walk.”

I plodded beside her on the beach. I realized too late I should have changed out of my wet clothes, but I figured they would dry as the air warmed. My eyes kept wandering back to look at her. Something about her had a calming effect, even with the nervous energy she caused within me. Yet while my shoes padded through the soft sand, the cloud in the back of my mind kept up a low, constant rumble.

“What's that in the sand?” Nell asked, breaking into my thoughts.

I looked ahead at where she pointed. Something glimmered in the light, though we couldn't make out what it was. Once we were close enough, I recognized a similar bottle to the one I had found. When Nell had extracted it from the sand, another letter and pendant were shown inside. The cloud rumbled loudly.

What the frack is going on here? Where are these things coming from? 

I tried to think of answers while Nell carefully opened the bottle. She used her left hand while keeping it steady under her right arm. Before I could comment she got the lid off and emptied the bottle.

This pendant was red, but like mine, on a gold chain. She unrolled the paper and read it aloud.

“To the reader from another world,” she began. “Our world has fallen under the tyrannical rule of Lord Phiale. Through taxation, disease, and famine he has very nearly destroyed us. This pendant is our last hope of survival. Use it to unlock the path to our land. We are in desperate need so make haste. Please come. Llen.” 

“Ugh.” Nell looked at me with an arched eyebrow. “Who the chizz is doing this? I mean, seriously. What have they got against us?”

“Lord Phiale sounds like Lord Vile. They seriously didn’t put any real thought or originality into this, did they?” I said. 

Looking at the new pendant gave me the same heavy feeling as before. She slipped it around her neck and the note into her pocket. 

“Going to show Sam?” I asked sarcastically.

She nodded. “Don’t we always share what we get up to when one of us is missing?”

“Yeah, good point. I guess that’s what friends do.” I looked down at the bottle she dropped. “Aren’t you going to pick that up and recycle it?” I teased.

She punched me in the arm again. 

Why is she so violent? 

“I’ll pick it up on our way back. At least one isn’t in the ocean.”

I shook my head and we resumed walking again, going down the beach in a direction I hadn’t been. “Where are we going, anyway?”

Nell shrugged. “I’ve never been down this way before. Just cause I was born here doesn’t mean I’ve explored every inch of the island.”

“Fair enough. We can discover it together.”

She smiled, though I had no idea why. I hadn’t said anything funny. I had more important things to think about anyway: the bottles. Two had already shown up. Would there be more, and if so, how many more are there?And what’s up with them anyway? Why us?

I glanced at Nell as we strolled. Was she thinking about them too? Or was her mind somewhere completely different? I stopped focusing on her to scan the beach. If I didn't solve this mystery, it would annoy the crap out of me. I really wanted to know who was doing this and why. It seemed pretty elaborate for a joke and why were they targeting us? Were we even the ones these messages were intended for? The thundercloud in my head grew darker as we walked. The rumbling grew until my brain vibrated like it was in the middle of a loud bass speaker. I did some deep, silent breathing to relax my mind. After a few minutes, the vibrations calmed down to minor tremors, nothing I couldn’t handle. I just had to get used to it again. 

We said nothing else as we continued our trek on the beach. Nell’s face didn't show her thoughts and I didn't get a chance to ask because a rocky outcropping taller than us blocked our path. It stretched out like the tail of an Indian mongoose from deep in the jungle and sloped far into the water. 

I looked at Nell. “I guess we have to climb.”

She cringed. “Are you sure? There’s no other way?”

I shook my head and set my foot on a rock, slowly and carefully heaving myself up so I wouldn’t slip or cut my hand. The wall wasn’t tall, but some of the rocks were sharp, so careful hand placement was necessary. My shoe slipped when I tried to push myself up, but I was able to stop before I slid back to the sand. When I got to the top, I looked back down to see how Nell was faring. She was going slow, her face contorted into a look of exertion. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes were narrowed. Sweat beaded her forehead as she tried to drag herself up. 

“Help me,” she panted.

I reached my hand down. She missed the first time but the second time she managed to get it. A mini jolt shot through my hand as I grasped hers.

What the frack was that? More static?

“OW!” she yelped, yanking me out of my thoughts. “Be careful. I burned myself this morning and it still hurts.”

“Sorry. I'll be careful,” I promised. 

I eased my grip a bit hoping it wouldn’t cause her to slip.

Despite the leverage the rocks provided, my arm still felt like it would be pulled from its socket, or I would be dragged down to a painful, anticlimactic death as she put all of her weight on it. I grabbed her wrist with my other hand and pulled every time she took a step. It was slow going but she made it to the top. She held onto me as she caught her breath. That’s when I saw the burn on the web between her thumb and forefinger of her right hand. It didn’t look too bad but it was dark red and slightly swollen. 

“How did it happen?” 

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Her face flushed with red. “Burned it on the toaster getting my pastry. Something distracted me out of my kitchen window, it's no big deal”

I waited until she was ready before we started down the other side.

At least this time, I could see where I was putting my feet since I was able to look down. It was easier to help Nell down to the sand. Once we were back on the beach I noticed something I had never seen in my life. A thin, green creek came out of the underbrush and went down to the water. The green ended the moment it mingled with the regular water. 

“What the chizz is up with the water?” she asked.

I crouched to get a better look. “I don't think it's water,” I said as I slowly stuck my fingers into it.

“Will, don't!” Nell screeched. “It could be poisonous!”

I pulled my fingers out and rolled the thick, syrupy gunk around with my thumb. It began to pulse. “What the frack?” I muttered.

Something that sounded like a foot slipping came from behind us, causing me to flinch in surprise. I turned and edged closer to Nell, ready to defend her when a head with matted curly black hair popped over the rocks. I breathed a sigh of relief as Sam climbed down to where we were. He moved easily and quickly down the rock pile, his broad shoulders allowing his arms a wider than normal range of movement. Water dripped off him the lower he came, some even landing on me. A blue pendant rested against his shirtless brown skin. 

Why are these people laying them out where we can find them? When did they do it? And why? Are they following us? Are we connected in some way?

“Hey, guys,” Sam said. “What’s up?”

Nell gestured to the creek. “Well, this stuff could be poisonous and Will just stuck his fingers in it all willy-nilly.”

“I was curious,” I defended myself.

“That’s no reason to put your fingers in something potentially dangerous.”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“Who knows what kind of shelf life it has? It could take a while to kill you!” Her eyes flashed with something I didn’t recognize as she said this.

“Guys!” Sam cut in.

We both looked at him. “What?” 

“Could you stop for a minute? Check out the necklace I found.” He indicated the blue pendant. “And it came with this weird note too.”

“Did it come in a bottle? If it did, and you didn’t recycle it, Nell might punch you in the arm as punishment. Apparently, she’s very concerned about it.”

She punched me. “Will you get off that already?”

“Why always me? Why not him? I just risked my life to help you up the side of a cliff and I still don’t get a pass?”

She smiled a sly, coy smile that sent my heart fluttering. Even though I still didn’t understand how she could make me react with a single glance, smile, or remark. “Because you’re more fun,” she said as she nudged my shoulder.

“And you’re violent,” I stated, playfully nudging her back.

“Again? You guys just finished!” Sam said.

Nell looked at him. “Sorry. It’s his fault.”

I was about to speak up but Sam shook his head, stopping me.

“We found some notes, too,” Nell told him with a glance at me.

What is her deal? What was that look? 

I flicked most of the green gunk off my hand and Nell and I held out our pendants. Nell also showed him our notes and he showed us his.

Sam’s note was nearly identical. There was the same doom and gloom, the same Phiale guy ruining everyone’s day, but his was written by someone named Mas.

Something about this note bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I took all three notes to study them.

“What are you doing?” Nell asked.

Nothing jumped out at me though something still nagged at my mind. I looked at the names and it occurred to me. “Guys, look at the names.”

I held the notes out to them.

“What are we looking at?” Sam asked.

“Just look,” I said.

They did and I watched their faces change from confusion to wonder as my discovery dawned on them.

“They’re our names spelled backward,” Nell paused. “And we each found the note with our name on it.”

Sam shrugged. “So they know our names. Big deal.”

“It could be just a big coincidence,” Nell added. “Or a big fat joke.”

“Why would anyone go this far to play a prank on us?” I asked. “And who would? They would have to know us and our habits pretty well to guarantee we were the ones who found them.”

We looked at each other and I knew what we were all thinking.

“Jake and Bobby,” we said in unison. 

They were the resident bullies and they hated me from the moment they met me. I admit I might have caused it.

“But do you really think those two have enough brain cells between them to come up with something this elaborate?” I asked.

“Good point. But if it’s not them, who?” Nell asked. 

Sam gestured toward the creek. “You think this has anything to do with it?”

Nell shrugged. “None of the notes mention anything about it, so I doubt it.”

Sam smiled. “So if this is a gag, then no one would expect us to follow it. It would throw them off if it’s not part of it.”

Nell and I agreed and it was decided.

We pushed our way through the dense underbrush of the jungle, trying to keep an eye on the creek though the thick mass of vines and exposed roots made it difficult to see the ground, let alone the rivulet. We caught a few glimpses here and there, so we knew we were on the right track. I stumbled more than once. A particularly tall and thick bush stood in front of me. I forced my way through, branches whipping me in the face.

On the other side, thick trees rose like prison bars to block our path. As we wormed our way around them, I briefly worried about losing our trail. When we were clear of them, we had to dig through the vines to find it again, cutting up our hands in the process.

“Lousy cat’s claws,” Nell muttered.

It went much deeper than I expected, but we eventually found the source. There was a pond about half the size of a convenience store gas station parking lot full of the green stuff. It trickled from a metal tunnel about the size of a fully grown man and half of another that stuck out the side of a hill. By the time we found it, scratches covered our arms, and in Sam’s case, his whole torso. 

“So, this is where it starts,” Nell said as we looked over the scene.

I rolled my eyes. “Duh, Nell. Let's use your brain for a minute here.”

“Shut up, Will,” she muttered.

“Well, if you wouldn't state the obvious, then I wouldn't have to say that,” I quipped.

Sam sighed. “Guys, enough. There's obviously something more going on here than we thought .” He gestured to the large pipe.

I walked to it.

“Where do you think you're going?” Nell demanded.

To my doom, most likely, I thought grimly as the cloud rumbled and darkened in the back of my mind. “To see where that pipe goes, where else?” I answered without turning. “I want to see where that stuff comes from and see if we can stop it. We can't let any more of it get out. After all, you said it could be dangerous.”

Despite how often I ignored the cloud, it had never been wrong when warning me about danger, and it had been going off all day after years of being silent. I took a step forward, that familiar, heavy feeling spread throughout my body. The feeling that always came with the sense of death. Or maybe it caused it, I didn’t know. I was fighting another internal battle, and who knew how long it would last this time.

Every muscle in my body screamed for me to turn back and leave it alone, logically I was still just a kid. What did I have to prove? And we didn't even know if this had anything to do with the notes, and pendants, but I forced myself to face whatever was coming. Running headlong into danger was never something I enjoyed, but when it affected me directly, I had to stare it in the face until it flinched. One day I would be the one flinching, until then, I couldn’t live my life afraid of everything the cloud warned me about. 

I heard my friends groan loudly and start pushing through the underbrush. They caught up with me as I stepped into the tube, continuing to protest as we made our way down the damp, cool pipe. It was easy not to walk in the green stuff because the stream was so thin. The further from the entrance we got, the harder it was to see where we were going. 

I felt a strange heat on my chest and looked down. My pendant was glowing a dim yellow.

“Will, do you have a flashlight?” Sam asked, his voice echoing from behind Nell.

“No, my pendant is glowing,” I answered, as if it were a natural occurrence.

“Oh, okay,” he said, then must’ve realized what was said. “Your pendant is what?”

I stopped and turned to show them. “It's glowing.”

“How is that even possible?” Nell asked.

“Ours aren’t doing it,” Sam added. “What makes yours so special?”

“You know, I think that. . .is a very good question,” I answered. “And I wish I had an answer for you.”

The light steadily grew brighter the deeper we went, and eventually, I was able to see a few feet ahead of me. As if to match the increasing brightness, the air around us was steadily getting cooler. Goosebumps rose on my arms. My muscles started to quiver to increase heat.

“I h-hate the c-cold,” Nell said through chattering teeth. “Why is this pipe so cold?”

“C-can we go back now? There’s n-nothing here,” Sam griped.

The chill made me shudder from time to time, and as we went further in, I found it harder to control the shivering my muscles so desperately wanted to do. I gritted my teeth so they wouldn’t chatter. “I’m not quitting until I find out what’s on the other end of this thing.”

I was confident that before long, we would learn the origin of the green stuff but the pipe had other ideas. We soon found our path blocked by a set of bars. Our journey was at an end with no answers for our trouble. My stomach sank. Had I led my friends there for no reason? I hid my disappointment, which was easy with the near darkness around us. Since my pendant was the only light source, I used it to illuminate the area. I ran it slowly over the sides of the metal pipe. There was no way to squeeze through the bars, and I saw nothing at our feet. The sides were smooth. 

“Up there,” Nell said.

Above us was a hatch with a handle. Relief flooded through my body as I let out a ragged sigh. But could we get to it? I reached up, found it was too high, and jumped up. All I grabbed was air.

“Well, ain’t that just g-great,” Sam griped. “Guess we can all get out of h-here.”

I tried again, this time somehow managing to get a grip. Before I could slip off, I used my other hand to grab on. I was now dangling in the air from a handle that was obviously stuck from rust.

Nell laughed. “You look s-silly.”

“You c-could help m-me,” I said.

They grabbed onto my legs and pulled me down until the handle gave way, flakes of rust landing on my face. The door swung down, causing me to lose my grip and we all fell into a pile, right in the thin stream of ooze. I looked up through the open hatch into a white room.

“That was fun,” Sam grumbled.

I looked at my friends. “Help me up.”

I reached up, putting my feet in their hands and they pushed while I pulled myself toward the exit. Sam grunted. I did my best to make things easier for them, but there wasn’t much for me to grab on to. As I tried to use the hanging door for leverage, I felt them sliding around as they heaved. Somehow, I managed to get my head through the opening so I took a chance by using what appeared to be the floor of a building to hoist myself. Unfortunately, the floor was tile. I slipped back down.

“What are you doing up there?” Sam grunted as he tried to push me back up.

“Sorry! I have no grip up here!” I called to him.

“Can you take some more of his weight? I can’t hold on,” Nell wheezed.

I did what I could to shift my weight and keep it balanced for them. I gripped the edges of the opening and, mustering every ounce of strength I had, I heaved while they pushed. With that, I got to a point where they could let go, leaving my legs dangling. 

I was over halfway through so I inched along the floor, kicking my legs to get some momentum to push myself the rest of the way, the edge of the floor digging into my gut. With one final effort, I succeeded. I rolled onto my back and away from the opening to catch my breath.

“You okay?” Nell called up.

“Just a second,” I wheezed. 

Every breath was pure agony. Stabbing pains shot through me every time I inhaled. I checked my stomach, and it was red. Visible scrapes ran down it. As I lay there, I noticed the increase in temperature and it felt so much nicer than the cold of the tunnel. I flexed my fingers to return the blood to them. Feeling slowly returned to my hands and I realized how numb I had gotten.

Once the pain subsided, and I was substantially warmer. I stood up. The room I found myself in was half as big as a soccer field and white, with sunlight streaming in through windows set near the ceiling. A silver tank roughly the size of a one-story house stood in the middle of the room. Attached to its side was a tall ladder.

Wow, this place is big. What is it? With the sun coming in, are we still underground?

 I was about to head over toward the tank, but something else attracted my attention.

“Will!” Nell called, flailing her arms through the hole.

I stared at her, trying to understand what she wanted, and then it hit me. “Duh, Will. Let's use your brain for a minute here.”

I grabbed her hands, careful to avoid her burn, and with Sam pushing, we got her up fairly easily. Next came the hard part: getting Sam up with no help from below. I crouched while he jumped, but all I snatched at was thin air. The second time he jumped I caught his hand. The sudden shift in weight threw my balance off, and I almost went back down into the pipe with him. We were saved from this disaster when I felt Nell’s arms wrap around my waist. I stood up a bit and with her help, I was able to get my footing and catch his other hand in my free one.

“Okay, on my count,” I said. “One, two. . .”

“Hurry up! You’re pulling my arms out!” Sam yelled.

“Three!” I finished. 

Nell and I pulled with all of our strength.My arms strained to hold him. I could feel my face heat up as it turned red with effort. Since he had nothing to support him, Nell and I had to carry all of his weight. My arms screamed at me to let him go as our feet kept slipping. I set my jaw and let out a heavy breath. Sam was swinging freely below us as I leaned back. Nell caught on to my plan and moved out the way. I took all the weight to pull him up. As more of him came out of the hole, I brought my legs together as a counter while falling back. I collapsed on the floor; Sam landed partially on top of me but mostly out of the hole. We let go of each other, and he extracted himself the rest of the way. 

Sam adjusted his red swim shorts. “Almost lost my trunks,” he said with a grin.

“You need to lose weight,” I said between gasps.

“No, you two just need to work out more,” he replied. “I am not fat. I swim. I’m lean.”

Nell ignored him. She was too busy jumping up and down to warm herself. “This is so much better than that pipe!” She stopped jumping when she saw the tank. “What's in there?”

“I don't know, but I intend to find out,” I answered, once I caught my breath.

My footsteps echoed off faraway walls as I crossed the room to climb the ladder. A heavy chill passed through my body when I touched the cold metal, and I was a little nervous about going up so high. I swallowed over the thud of my heartbeat and forced myself up, focusing my eyes on the rim of the tank. Almost there. Almost there. 

My stomach did a couple of flip-flops as I climbed. The higher I went, the worse things got. My body trembled, and my breathing grew ragged. I refused to look down. My sweating palms made it harder to grip the sides of the ladder. I hoped they couldn’t see my fear down there. I took it one step at a time until I reached my goal. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, doing my best to clear my head and relax my body. It didn’t help. I hoped I never had to climb this high again. So far, I had avoided it perfectly.

Why did I volunteer to climb this, again?

 Steeling my courage, I looked in the tank.

“What's in there?” Sam called from below.

“More of that green stuff from before!” I answered, my voice trembling. 

“What the chizz is up with that crap?” Nell wondered. “All of a sudden, it’s everywhere.”

I didn't reply. Instead, I busied myself with investigating the stuff in the tank, trying to take my mind off how high I was. Despite the experience I had before, I still wanted to reach into it. My hand was inches from the goo when something moving too fast to clearly make out crashed through the ceiling, landing in the tank. A huge wave of the stuff swept over me, splashing down on Nell and Sam.

“Gross, gross, gross,” Nell exclaimed. “I don’t wanna die!”

“Yuck,” Sam agreed. “Get this gunk off me!”

The goo was thick like syrup, but it wasn't sticky. I froze, feeling the weight of the gunk on me. 

Then everything exploded. I was blasted back through the air. The jungle was a green blur as I flew back. Air screamed past my ears. Or was that me? My flight abruptly ended when I slammed into something hard, knocking all air from my lungs and falling face down to the ground.