“Anything to report from the outside world?” Jahrra asked as she and Gieaun sat down on one of the blankets.
“No, just the usual,” Scede replied, giving up his post and joining the girls.
After relaxing for a while, Scede and Jahrra decided to have a race from their little island to the boardwalk and back. The rules were that they would swim to one of the pier supports, swim clear around it, and then swim back. Gieaun was to be the referee, since she refused to swim so far out into the lake.
“Don’t you two remember the lake monster father always talked about on our camping trips?” she queried teasingly.
“Oh, Gieaun, there’s no such thing!” her brother groaned.
Jahrra laughed and glanced back at Gieaun, who looked a little vexed.
“Don’t worry, Gieaun!” Jahrra snickered. “If it does eat us, think of it this way: at least you’ll finally know for sure it exists. And besides, you’ll be safe if you stay on Reed Island!”
“Very funny!” Gieaun chirped. “I remember you used to be afraid to put even a toe in the lake Jahrra!”
“Oh, that was ages ago!”
“Ugh, are you going to race or not?” Gieaun asked, sounding a little exasperated.
When Jahrra and Scede gave her a tense look she took a deep breath and said, “Ready . . . set . . . GO!”
They dove into the water and began swimming frantically towards the boardwalk. Gieaun watched them carefully, squealing dramatically every time something other than Scede or Jahrra broke the surface of the water.
“Look out! It’s the lake monster!” she shouted after them.
When the two friends reached their post and started making their way back, they were neck and neck. By the time they were only ten yards from the small island, however, it was clear that Scede was trailing quite a bit. Jahrra reached the small island first and was panting over the muddy bank a full thirty seconds before Scede reached the shore.
Both were out of breath, but Scede managed to say between gasps of air, “Looks . . . like . . . those lessons . . . Jaax . . . is making . . . you take . . . are paying off.”
Jahrra hadn’t realized it, but swimming to the boardwalk and back hadn’t been as hard as it used to be. It also got her thinking that maybe she should be working on swimming lessons as well as everything else. She made a mental note to herself to bring it up with Viornen and Yaraa the next time she saw them.
For the rest of the afternoon, the three of them stretched out on their blankets and watched the clouds roll by overhead. Jahrra spotted a variety of objects, everything from a mouse evading a cat to a kruel of dragons gathered in assembly. Behind them trailed a group of prancing horses and a watchful owl. Scede said he saw a centaur in one cloud, and Gieaun swore that the cloud she was looking at resembled Ellysian.
“It looks just like her!” she insisted. “You know, when she is marching around the schoolyard, telling everyone what to do.”
The children had a good laugh and were soon on the subject of the evil twins once again.
“Ugh, I can’t believe school is starting up in a week and we’ll have to see them again!” Jahrra complained as she continued to stare skyward, her hands behind her head. “I wonder where they went on vacation this year!”
The twins always came back to school with tales of how they’d visited such places as the strange and tropical shores of Torinn or the mysterious and magical lands of Felldreim.
“No one can visit Felldreim!” cried Gieaun, watching the strutting cloud that was Ellysian break up and form into another shape, a mythical mihrcor. “I’m sure they were making that one up! Father says the entire province is surrounded by magic and only those who belong there can enter!”
Jahrra wondered if this was true as she watched what looked like a herd of gelbu taking form above them. Hroombra had taught her a little about the Northern Province, but he never went into much detail, even when she begged. She’d heard many stories from the children at school about Felldreim, but everything she’d heard seemed impossible. As much as Jahrra thought what her classmates said was total nonsense, she hoped in her heart that such a place really did exist. After all, she had seen unicorns in the Wreing Florenn once.
Jahrra rested her head deeper in the soft clump of moss she was using as a pillow and allowed the unpleasant thoughts of the twins to sink to the back of her mind. Before her eyes closed she caught one more glimpse of the streaming clouds above, appropriately shaped like a herd of dancing unicorns.
Jahrra hadn’t been asleep long, but already she was having a terrible dream. Gieaun and Scede were with her, setting out a picnic on Reed Island. She was breathing in the warm summer air and chasing after dragonflies when an unpleasant voice shattered the peaceful atmosphere, “Hey Nesnan! What’re you doing, building your dream house? I guess reeds and mud are a step up from that dragon-infested pile of rubble you live in!”
The sound of Eydeth and his friends laughing hysterically from the boardwalk jerked her awake. She sat up, breathing harder than usual, and looked around. She was still on the island in the middle of the lake and Gieaun and Scede had fallen asleep next to her.
Jahrra closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. Phew! she thought, what a nightmare! But just as she was starting to relax, she heard something that made her stomach turn.
“Would you look at this place? It might be half-way decent if it wasn’t crawling with Nesnans!”
“No!” Jahrra breathed silently, rising up into a low crouch.
She quietly scurried over to the edge of the island and peered out of a small gap in the reed screen. What she saw made her heart almost stop. It was Eydeth and Ellysian, accompanied by at least five of their classmates. They were in the middle of the boardwalk, looking out over the lake. Farther down the shore a pair of horses was strapped to a fancy paddleboat.
“No!!!” Jahrra repeated a little more hoarsely, her teeth gritting together in utter frustration.
Gieaun stirred awake, along with Scede.
“We must’ve fallen asleep,” Scede said through a yawn as he sat up a little.
“Jahrra, what’re you doing?” asked Gieaun sleepily.
When Jahrra didn’t answer, they crawled up next to their friend and peeked out toward the boardwalk.
“Eydeth!!! What’s he doing here?” Scede breathed scathingly.
“And Ellysian, too!” Gieaun growled. “Oh, look at that boat! I wonder who that belongs to! Honestly, is everything they own so, so horribly expensive-looking?”
Gieaun crossed her arms and sat down rather forcefully. Jahrra was still so upset she just continued to glare angrily.
“Well,” said Scede, slumping down next to his sister, “I just hope they don’t come out here.”
Unfortunately, it seemed that’s exactly what they planned to do. The group of children walked down the boardwalk towards the boat and climbed in, Eydeth and Ellysian giving the others orders to row. As she watched, Jahrra grew sick; they were paddling right towards her small island.
Scede saw them too and scrambled to his feet, almost knocking Jahrra into the lake.
“They can’t possibly think of coming over here!” he hissed.
They quickly scuttled back to join Gieaun hampered down on the quilt, listening quietly for their classmates’ voices. Several minutes passed before they could make out Eydeth’s grating voice.