"Tamsin!!!" I squealed and hugged her. "Were you singing?"

"Me? Sing? Oh no... I am not accustomed to singing much." She said laughing nervously.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" I said.

"Blue as the blueberries weren't you? Oh my poor Heather... I was afraid I wouldn't see you!"

Pepper suddenly caught up to me.

"Heather, who is this person you're hugging?" She asked.

"It's Tamsin! The one I told you about! The blueberry pancakes Sam like come from her!"

"You're Tamsin?..." Pepper asked. "My, it's nice to meet you!" Her cheerful attitude returning.

I slotted back to my senses. Why is she here?...

"What are you here Tamsin?" I asked her.

"I was about to ask the same thing." She said.

"Long story. Amazingly long." I said groaning.

"I guard something here... A very sacred object." She said shaking her head.

I remembered the song again. It was faint. Very faint. Like someone was straining their voice. They wanted to be heard. But by who and for who?...

"We have to go. Before things get worse." I said. "It was great seeing you again... Mom..."

She sighed and hugged me. "I'm sad to see you leave..."

"So am I." I said. And I took off to the corridor behind her. Pepper was suddenly ahead.

"You teleporting cheat!" I said. I turned back, Tamsin was gone???!!!

I shook my head. She probably left while I was leaving.

I took off towards the first set of stairs I saw and ran off. The song was suddenly louder.

"I can hear it now Heat!" Pepper squealed.

We shouldn't be excited but I wanted to keep her spirits up... After the fiasco earlier.

We made it to the final floor which had a balcony and saw two people in front of what looked like a large tv-sized computer... With golden buttons, Aztec carvings and Moss growing. The other guy was holding what looked like a stone and gold mic.

"Sam!" I squealed hugging the one with the mic. He didn't look at me. He dropped the mic.

Robert looked at me though. "Ah! Theres me lasses! Where have you gals been?"

"We got lost." I said.

"Sam?..." I said letting go of him. I realized what I did and backed off. I hugged him?... What...?... I am dead confused...

"Heat... I... Heather! Sorry! Heather! Why are you so happy?" He asked. "Did you find the mirror?!"

"No. No! We found Tamsin!" I said.

Robert suddenly looked a little worried.

"Well? What do we do?" I asked.

"What we can. I sang the first song that popped into my head since this old thing only responds to singing." He suddenly blushed. "I'm surprised you know it Heather..."

"I... Don't know where I heard it but I did." I said.

He nodded.

I smiled a little and hugged him again.

"I'ts good to have you back." He said hugging me tightly.

"I am not completely back ol Sam. Just in a good mood. I am still pissed with ya. That's for sure." I said teasingly.

"OK, OK. I can let ya be happy. Whatre we supposed to do now?" He said.

I facepalmed. The book. Duh!

I pulled the book out of my bag and flipped through some pages. Then, there it was, the map of the eye. Perfect.

"Well... We're probably here..." I said pointing to the map's illustration of this place called Crystal Radio. It made sense. I mean, it only responds to singing right? The fact that this map has older locations looking good could be a problem.

"It's so new! This must be an old map." Pepper said takig the book from me and fumbling with it while muttering.

Robert sighed and looked irritated. Wassup with that?

I don't think I'll mind it. It's really nothing. Probably something to do with us fighting.

"Well... Where was the um... I..." I started stuttering. I didn't want Robert to know we only came here for the mirror.

Pepper seemed to have understood and started flipping through pages. She smiled and patted a page. "Bingo!"

I took the book and stared at the page. It was a long journey from here. Really long. A long river to follow, hills and mountains to scale, a mysterious wood... And then a mysterious cave where we'd find the mirror. This wasn't a good sign at all. It was gonna be dangerous.

I sighed. I don't know why we're doing this anymore...

"Well... It looks like sundown... We'd better get some rest or something. A shelter or something." I said.

"We're already here. Best we use some sleeping bags from the backpacks." Sam said.

We each had one and if anything got lost, Pepper could materialize one up. But that wasn't an easy spell either. A lot of energy is drained in materialization. And lucky for Pepper, she brought an extra sleeping bag. Robert was supposed to stay with us... But I couldn't shake of this feeling about him though.

"I'll go get them firewoods or something and be back faster than them Sharktopus." He said smiling.

Pepper smiled. "OK!!!"

Sam gave him the thumbs up sign and I smiled slightly. My suspicions were still up. I couldn't peg something down, but I could feel like something was gonna happen. Sooner or later.

We already set up the sleeping bags when Robert returned. He had an armful of sticks and branches. He dropped them in a pile in the middle and Sam got two broken pieces of stone from the building and rubbed them together.

"Does iit seriously take this long to spark something up for fire?" I asked impatiently. It was getting a lot colder.

"Look. Chill. Uhhh... Actually, don't chill. I'll be a minute or two." Sam said continuing to rub the stones.

True enough, the sparks created a fire.

"Couldn't you have sparked it with an Aurora blast or something?"

"Heat-"

"Heather!"

"It doesn't work that way!" He protested.

"OK, fine whatever!" I retorted.

Pepper slammed a large box in front of me and Sam.

"Dig in!" She said cheerfully. "Robert, come on. There's enough for all four of us. I made a lot."

I don't know how she's able to stay so optimistic at a time like this but yeah.

Sam flipped the box open with levitation skills and when I looked inside the box, there were loads of sandwiches.

It was great to see food again. I felt so energetic for some reason I could scream!!!

"Robert! Uh... You have the first sandwich k?" She said pushing the box towards him.

He smiled. "I appreciate ye kindness. Thanks." He grabbed the first one and bit into it.

I wonder if the pirates are this kind to each other. His smile seemed really... Well... Sincere... I dunno. But these were pirates weren't they?

I picked a sandwich at random from the box and opened it up to see what was in it. Mayo, lettuce, tomato, some cheese strips, a triangle of ham. Basic sandwich ingredients.

I bit into it. I smiled a little.

"Someone's happy eh?" Sam said teasingly biting into the sandwich.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

Mom: Honeypot!!! Where are you? Are you OK??? I'm so worried about you???!!! Me, your dad, Your sister???!!! I haven't texted!!!

It's this mom person again. I grunted and deleted the message then I felt my stomach churn a little.

Then, it hurt. A lot. I dropped my sandwich and clutched my stomach.

"Yo! You ok?" Sam said. "Did you eat something bad?"

I ran to the edge of the balcony and tried to breathe. I felt my skin itch and I let out a small scream. I felt like puking.

Pepper, Sam and Robert immediately ran to my aid. Pepper was panicking, Sam seemed distressed but didn't really show it, but Robert?... He just flinched and looked really uncomfortable and nervous.

"Food poison or allergy???!!!" Pepper was shrieking.

"Prow...bab... Wy... *gasp* adw... *gasp*... ergy!!!" I said in between breaths and wheezes.

She immediately put a hand on my back and I puked on the balcony.

"Gah! Get her something to clean her up!!!" Pepper ordered.

Sam immediately moved and got a towel from her bag. I took the towel from him and wiped at my mouth.

I felt a cooling sensation and I felt less worse. My breathing stabilized. But I still felt so dizzy and hung on to the railing of the balcony.

"Than...zzz..." I tried to stay.

"Welcome Heat." Pepper said smiling.

I stared down at my shirt and saw the splatters. There weren't that many, but I kinda found it gross.

"Eugh! Oh my, you have ruined both your shirt and jacket!!! " She said dramatically. "Even after the great fires." She mumbled.

"Can't you... Hehe... Snap... Fingers?..." I said trying to walk but almost collapsing.

"Yes, yes. I suppose I can. And I will! Of course." She said and in a snap of fingers, my clothes were good as new.

"Hehe... Thanks..." I said collapsing on my sleeping bag. "No more sandwiches..."

"What were you allergic to perhaps? Umm... Mayo? The beef?..." She started... Enumerating.

"Hehe, chill... You... Got anything else?" I asked.

"Oh... Um... I think a few shimbleberry pies." She said checking her bag.

"That'll do... I've eaten...  Eh, shimbleberries before." I said trying to sit up.

My phone buzzed again and I grunted looking at the sender. Luckily, this time it was Scipes.

Scipes: What is up??!! Are you people at an island without me???!!! Where's Pepper???!!! 😬😬😬😤😤😤

I handed it to Pep. She stared at it for a while and then looked worried.

"She won't like it... But tell her we are..." Pepper said covering her face with one hand and giving me back the phone with the other.

I took it hesitantly wondering what to tell her then I just put in the truth.

Hey. Feeling sick.😷 Yes. We r at an island. Sorry. Heh. :You

I grunted and covered my head with a pillow. Someone tapped my head and I looked up. Pepper was holding out a pie and smiling nervously.

I took it and a fork appeared in my hand. I immediately stared at Sam. Pepper told me about his teleportation and I witnessed and became a part of it a few times. 

I had a bite. It was good. For shimbleberries anyway.

"I'm delighted that you love them! Baking is a Pepper specialty!" She squealed.

"It's true. She bakes a lot in the house." Sam said.

I looked at Robert who was eating another sandwich. He was awfully quiet... Maybe he's just tired, we all are. Especially me. I had puke all down my front!

"Hey Pep, what happened between the two of us... Y'know." I asked.

Things got awkward fast.

"Do you want to know?... The short version?" Sam asked.

"Of course I do!" I said.

"*sigh* let's talk in privacy." Sam said and pointed outside the room.

"Sure its safe?" I said trying to get up.

Robert helped me up. "Sure it is me lassie. No one has been on here island in a long time."

"OK then..." I went out of the room followed by Sam. We walked down the long hallway not saying a word until I leaned against a wall in the long corridor. "So...? Spill it."

"OK... I'll tell you how it started... You ended up... In Snoeshore... We walked back to Peps together-"

"Together?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah... Anyway... We worked together to clean my room... Heh, I've kept it clean and practically untouched until now."

"Go on." I said.

"We went to Flares... Some Diner."

"Flares? Hmmm... Never heard of it." I said.

"Heh, it's cause you opened my hoodie from your eyes. Anyway, long story short, I used a... Spell... For you to like me... Things seemed better that way until they wore off."

I backed off.

"It was a spell?..." I asked. My sword suddenly and slowly materializing in my hand. Sam seemed a little nervous but still stayed.

"Yeah. I don't care if you hit me or anything. It doesn't matter. I deserve it all."

Right then and there, we heard a loud roar and the floor from under Sam opened up and he fell through.

"Sam!" I grabbed hold of his hand.

"*sigh* Jes let go of me... Kid. It's too late. I just want to die..." He sighed. But he was still smiling all the same.

I felt my eyes fill with tears and fear. "I am NOT letting you die!" I shouted.

"Heh, just earlier you acted like you wanted to die. Jes let go of me and we're good." He said.

"I. Said. No!!!" I  levitated him up and he landed on me near a ledge.

"Where's Pep?" I asked him.

Too late. He was asleep. I couldn't carry him over the broken bridge between the other end of the hall to the room.

"Grrr... You lazy..." I mumbled. I can't just levitate. We could fall through. Great. One things for sure, we're stuck here.

I heard a shout.

"Heather???!!! Sam???!!!"

It was Pepper looking for us. I heard running footsteps and a saw a light coming from the distance.

I held Sam close to me. We could fall through if I moved anymore of the floor. He was still fast asleep. I don't know how he was able to sleep when he was about to die.

I stared up ahead. Pepper was running towards us... But there was no ground to walk on she was stepping on air! With Robert running beside her.

And then, Pepper hugged us. Sam still hasn't waken up.

"You two worried me! You two always worried me!!!" She said.

"Are you OK youngins?" Robert asked.

"We're fine." I said. "How are you doing that?" I asked.

"It's a special ability... But it isn't mine. Or Roberts! Someone is able to create invisible things from air!" Pepper gushed. "It would be so handy!!!"

I signed. I levitated Sam upwards as we walked back. I never remembered Tamsin having a special power like this. Maybe she was keeping it secret from me but I couldn't pin it. I just know who has this power! I know it!

As we were walking we heard the roar again. It hurt my ears like crazy. I tried hard to keep Sam floating so that I wouldn't drop him but my ears hurt so bad I needed to let go but I couldn't.

Suddenly, Sam woke up again and placed us in a box.

"Thanks for saving me..." He smiled.

"No prob."

The roar was less ear piercing in the box. We followed it going in different directions. Mostly going down. Then, there was a huge hole. Like it wasn't part of the building. Like something burrowed it.

Pepper got scared and squeaked like a scared mouse.

"Should we go in? We might find something down there." I said. "Robert, waddya think?"

He nodded like he knew what this was.

Sam brought the box through the tunnel. It was dark. But my sword and Peppers fans kept light at our side but Sam shot Aurora's to lighten up the path in front of us.

Then we heard the roar again. Louder than usual. Even from inside the box. We were close.

Then, I saw a light. It seemed like an Exit. Then, we heard the roar getting closer. But it was from behind us. Not in front.

I looked back and saw a large rat coming straight at us. It's big red eyes, it's large spiky teeth, the dirty fur, but it's tail belonged to a dragon and it had the wings of one.

"A Dratgon!!!" Robert shouted trying to push the box forward.

Sam brought is going forward we were almost to the light when the Dratgon pulled the box towards itself.

"Can't we go forward???!!!" Pepper panicked.

"I'm trying!!! Whaddya think I'm doin, playing???!!!" Sam exclaimed.

I slammed myself against the wall but just hurt my arm. I slammed myself again. Sam just pulled me closer to him.

"Don't try!!! It won't work!!!"

I gritted my teeth and let go of his grip. "That's it! Drop the box!" I said.

"Don't go around doing things that crazy! It's too big for ya kid! Just stop!"

"Sam! Just let me do this for you!" I found only one way to get him to stop. I took a quick breath and kissed him on the cheek. The box immediately opened up and I materialized my sword in my hand.

You idiot!!!

"Hey!!! Fat furface!!! Yolo!!!" I shouted.

All the Dratgons attention was out on me. It roared again.

I levitated myself up and struck the Dratgons eye.

It squeaked this time. Still ear-piercing however. It slammed me to the ground with its tail.

Ii got up I flinched. I looked down. It was my leg again. Always the leg.

I heard Pepper shout in the distance. I quickly looked back. There was a speck of red, blue and fur infront if the light. They made it.

I put all my focus back on the Dratgon. It would take up too much energy to keep levitating so I jumped as high as I could and swung some sword bolts at its face.

It roared louder than usual after getting struck and the roar slammed me on the wall. I got up again. I couldn't say I was resilient but I was holding up what I could.

I aimed some sword bolts at its wing this time. It shrieked again. I covered my ears for a split second.

I swung my sword at its foot. It's large gross toenail got cut. Eugh. Gross.

It roared once again. I heard a rumbling sound... A boulder fell on the Dratgons head. It fell to the ground and squeaked in terror.

The tunnel... Was going down to pieces. I ran as fast as I could towards the group. I got closer... Closer... Closer... Bang.

A boulder fell right on my foot. I couldn't pull it out! I was so close... If I could get it off... I can make it... I was too tired.

I saw something running towards me... Was it an angel?... Here to take me away?... I blacked out.

***
(Longest... Chapter... Eva!!! I think... 3085 this is rare. I have my limit between 2000 but hey, wassup? Listening to Sucker 4 Pain while finishing this... Seeyanara!)