“Why do I have to be the guinea pig?” Phoebe whined.
“Do I really have to answer that?” Carmen smirked at her.
“Nobody has to be the guinea pig,” I stood at the corner of the deck, where an extension from the body of the yacht stretched out, shielding me from the wind, “I’ll just see if I can make the wind blow around my body first.” I briefly took inventory of myself. My hair wasn’t blowing around, nor was my clothes. Taking a wild guess, I closed my eyes and put my hands up. I tried to channel my emotions like Finn had taught me in the ocean. I calmed myself and imagined the air compressing and swirling around me. After a couple of minutes, I didn’t feel a thing, so I hesitantly peeked out one eye. No wind. Not even a slight breeze around me.
“Try blowing air out of your mouth, maybe you have to give it a little motivational push.”
Phoebe suggested with an encouraging smile. Carmen snickered at her, but I closed my eyes again and forced air out of my lungs. I tried over and over to no avail. It only made me lightheaded.
“Maybe hold your arms out and move your hands around like you’re stirring it,” Willow shrugged her shoulders. We were starting to throw shots in the dark, but I figured it was worth a try. I held my arms out to the side and did small circles. Beginning to feel really stupid, I felt something shock my left forearm right before something landed on it. My eyes flew open and I looked directly at a curious seagull perched on my arm. It squawked at me and I heard Phoebe gasp and Carmen laugh.
If I couldn’t make wind blow, maybe I could test if I had an affinity for seagulls. I instantly wished I had questioned Kira more about her ability.
The spark it caused on my skin was a good sign, though. I blocked out everything except the bird and tried to ‘feel’ it. It cocked its head at me and squawked again as I brought my arm in front of me. Suddenly, anxiety hit me and a slight buzzing slid through my veins. I could tell immediately he was under a great deal of stress.
“Are you okay?” I whispered to him. He turned his head, looked at me through his other eye, and adjusted his feathers. He let out a heartbreaking soft squawk. It was almost a whine, but it was so sad it brought tears to my eyes. That’s when something slammed into the boat.
Chapter 32
All four of us were thrown forward violently, landing hard against the yacht’s exterior.
Carmen fell into the door of the cabin, breaking the hinges off, as she slid halfway down the hallway.
Phoebe ended up on top of me and Willow was crumbled in the same corner I had just been standing in.
“Are you okay?” I asked Phoebe, as she untangled herself from me.
“I think so,” she looked herself over and glanced at Willow, “Willow! Are you okay?”
“Yea, ow, my arm just hurts.” She attempted to sit up carefully.
“Carmen?” I looked down the hallway and saw her rubbing her head. Then my stomach dropped to the floor. Phoebe and I stared at each other in panic.
“Olivia.” We said at the same time. Running down the hall, we climbed the stairs to the third level in record time.
“Olivia! Olivia?” I looked around frantically and found her lying on the floor against the bottom of the front console. I could already see a cut running the length of her arm. “Olivia!” I shook her gently and she slowly opened her eyes. When her memory caught up with her, they flew the whole way open and she jumped to her feet.
“What happened? Are ya’ll okay? Is anybody hurt?” I took her hand to calm her down.
“Everybody’s fine, we’re okay. You didn’t see what happened either?” We searched out the front window for any sign of what hit us, but there was only water surrounding us. I looked out the side window. Still nothing.
“The front of the boat looks fine, but how’s that possible? We had to have run into something.” Olivia was peering out the front windows at the bow of the yacht. I crossed the room to the other windows and stopped dead in my tracks, my heart squeezing in my chest.
“Uh, guys?” I pointed toward the windows. Phoebe and Olivia ran over to see what had me stunned. They glanced at each other, and then back at me.
“What?” Phoebe walked to the window and looked out both ways.
“Right there,” I pointed again, “you don’t see it?”
“See what?” Olivia looked at me like I had gone completely insane. I blinked several times, but it was still there. My feet started moving, taking me down the stairs, through the first level hall and out to the back deck. They walked to the side railing and I held on tight, steadying myself.
Stretched out before me was a picturesque island with long white beaches backed by towering mountains. Even from this far away, I knew without a doubt it was the Fortunate Isle. I could feel it. I knew behind those mountains stood a lush forest surrounding a beautiful lagoon. A ribbon of golden happiness made its way into my soul.
“Stasia?” I turned towards Willow and noticed the tears swimming in my eyes. I wiped them away quickly. “What are you doing?”
“You don’t see it either?” She followed my gaze and shook her head solemnly.
“I just see water. What is it?” She placed her hand on my shoulder, sending tingles of numbness down my arm, relaxing my muscles.
“We’re here. We made it,” I smiled at her. Olivia, Carmen and Phoebe walked outside.
Olivia’s arm had been bandaged up and she frowned at the broken door but didn’t say anything. They gathered around me, looking concerned. I pointed at the island again.
“It’s the Fortunate Isle. We must have hit the shield surrounding the island,” I told them.
Willow looked at everyone.
“Can anyone else see it?” Everyone shook their heads. I had a bad feeling about this. If they couldn’t even see the island, how were they going to gain admittance? I couldn’t do this by myself.
Several minutes later, we had dropped anchor. Thankfully the shield hadn’t damaged the yacht, only our bodies. I had a couple of bruises on my side and Phoebe had a scratch down her leg.
Willow had a knot on her head and Carmen’s shoulder was banged up pretty bad, as well as Olivia’s bandaged arm. We were a mess. Luckily, we had our own personal healer. Willow was going around healing each person one by one. I could tell it was draining for her but she refused vehemently when we told her we’d be fine.
For whatever reason, I had a hard time not constantly staring at the island with longing. To look away was almost painful. I wanted nothing more than to jump in the ocean and swim ashore, but I knew that wasn’t possible. According to Willow, high tide was still a couple hours away. We were stuck for a while.
“Next?” Willow walked up behind me and gave me a quick hug as I tried to tear my eyes away from the island again. She placed her hands on my side and started to work her magic. I was becoming accustomed to the tingles and numbness that flowed from her hands.
“Hey, Willow?” She stepped around to face me, keeping her hands on my side and raising her eyebrows in response, “Do you think I’ll have to go alone?” I wanted her to tell me no. I wanted her to tell me not to worry about anything; that everything was going to be okay. But I knew she wouldn’t lie to me.
“I think that might be a very good possibility,” she smiled encouragingly, “but we would just slow you down anyway. You’re really amazing, Stasia. I know you’ll find her and bring her home.”
Once again she had more faith in my abilities than I did.
“What if I can’t?”
“What-ifs are kind of like ex-boyfriends.” Carmen had appeared on my other side, “The more attention you give ‘em, the more likely they are to stalk you and show up in your bedroom closet when you’re getting out of the shower.” Willow and I looked at each other and started laughing.