"Do you have everything you need?" Gerrard asked me for the forty-ninth time. I gave him a flat look and he looked back at me blankly.

"I'm just trying to make sure we don't forget anything!" he exclaimed.

"I've already told you a million times that we are completely set and ready to go," I replied.

We were planning on leaving for Brazil later that day and we wanted to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. We would be there for two weeks and possibly more if we had the chance. I had told Trey and the others that I wanted some alone time to figure out where I wanted to travel abroad. When Trey offered to help, I told him I needed some time to cool off after the very dramatic incident that happened between us in Australia. He understood when I told him this, because he wanted us all to get along more than anything else.

So I took the opportunity to tell Gerrard that we could go to Brazil while my friends and I took a break from each other's company for some time. He agreed and since we weren't really doing any work for Elijah, we packed up our bags and our maps and decided to leave. Now, we were getting ready to transport to the Amazon River in Brazil.

"Ok, so I'm going to be the one that transports us, all right?" he said.

"I still think that I can do it myself," I said, shaking my head.

"Maybe you can, but I don't want to risk you getting ripped into two halves or getting lost. So let's just do it my way," he said. I sighed and nodded, picking up my bag.

It was a small bag that I put an enlargment spell on. We had packed very little, since we wouldn't need too much while we were in Brazil. We had some spare clothes, the maps, food and water, a tent, and some healing potions that we had made after figuring out the maps. I also had with me my mother's letter and the bracelet she had given me, for good luck.

"Ready to go?" Gerrard asked me. I nodded, feeling my heart skip a beat.

I was nervous; I had no idea what we would run into when we got to the location in the forests along the Amazon River. Would we run into a wild native tribe? Would we find a fluorishing hidden kingdom? Would we find nothing at all and have to come back home? The possibilities were many, but whatever happened, I hoped it would be beneficial.

I took Gerrard's hand, standing close to him. He close his eyes, concentrating his mind. I felt his hand twitch slightly in mine as he whispered the coordinates of our destination over and over again under his breath. I closed my own eyes and braced myself for the suctioning feeling that would take over us as we moved at the speed of light through magical airwaves to get to our destination.

About five minutes later, we reached our destination.

The first thing I felt when we landed was the heat and humidity of the air around us. I immediately began perspiring and silently congratulated myself for making the decision to wear shorts and a thin plaid shirt. I breahted in the thick air and opened my eyes.  

I was momentarily rendered speechless at the incredible sight before my eyes. The Amazon was absolutely stunning. I looked around me, amazed at the vibrant colors, the rich soil, the vast amount of trees. We had transported by the side of the river bank, which flowed swiftly down its stream. I reached down and dipped my hand into the cool water, relishing the feeling of it passing over my hand. I felt Gerrard's hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

"What?" I asked.

"Pirhannas," he replied. I looked back at the water, gazing at it with a horrified expression. I had forgotten about the predatorial fish that lived in the waters of the river.

"So what are we looking for?" Gerrard asked me as I wiped my hands on my shorts.

"Beats me," I replied.

"Maybe we should have done a little more research before we left," he said.

"Well, it's a little too late for that now," I replied. He frowned and looked around him.

"I guess we should just start walking, then," he said.

"Let's use a detection spell to see if we can find any traces of magic," I suggested.

"Good idea," he said, conjuring it up.

A faint yellow arrow formed on his hand and pointed towards the East. It was so faint that it was barely visible on Gerrard's sun-kissed skin. That meant that there was no magic around us for miles. The way a magic detection spell worked was that a colored arrow would appear on the conjurer's hand. If it was faint and not very visible, it meant that there was no magic around. The reason it wasn't completely invisible was because the conjurer had magic themselves. The arrow would point in the direction where it sensed the most magical activity and the brighter it got, the closer it meant the conjurer was to the site of magic. It was a really simple spell and it didn't take a huge toll on the energy reserves, which was nice because sometimes, the spell would be needed for quite some time.

We began walking the direction it was pointing, our footsteps crunching the dried leaves and forest residue beneath our feet. As we walked, I observed my surroundings, gazing in awe at the beauty of the forest.

One of the things I noticed was the amount of noise that was in the air. Maybe it was due to my continuous heightened sensitivity to my surroundings due to my being a witch that had high awareness of her environment, or maybe it was actually loud, but I was overcome by the amount of noise there was. I could hear birds of all different kinds chirping and calling out to one another. I heard the call of the monkeys, the croaking of frogs, the breaking of twigs as forest animals moved about. The amount of sound was overwhelming, but at the same time, it made me appreciate the forest even more.

I realized as we walked through the tall trees and ducked beneath branches why this was such an ideal location for a nation of Earth masters. The nature around us was absolutely magnificent. The amount of sustainable energy that Earth masters could summon from the nature around them must have been endless. Additionally, the forest was so isolated. Not many people lived in the Amazon and even fewer dared to walk through the depths of the forest. The members of the nation wouldn't ever have to fear being found out by the wrong people. It was the perfect location for a nation of magic to thrive.

After walking continuously for about five hours, Gerrard stopped. I had begun lagging behind and tripping over branches. I was sweaty, exhausted, and incredibly thirsty. But I didn't want to show my weakness, so I kept trudging along behind Gerrard. He seemed completely revitalized. Aside from the perspiration that dripped down his forehead, he looked fine.

"You want to stop for a bit?" he asked me.

"Only if you do," I said. He glanced at his hand, which was still sporting the light yellow arrow. It hadn't brightened even a little bit.

Gerrard smirked at me.

"You don't have to act all strong, you know. You can tell me when you're tired. I don't want to push you," he said.

"I'm fine," I grunted.

"Right," he said, "sure you are." I glared at him, which only caused him to smirk further.

"I hate you," I said.

"Sure you do," he replied. "Let's set up camp here. It's getting dark and I don't think it's a good idea to be walking around the forest at night time, even if we can fight off any animal that tries to attack us," he said.

"Ok, I'll set up the tent. You put the protection enchantments up," I said.

"Too weak to do them yourself?" he joked as I opened my bag up and summoned the tent into my hands. I gave him a look and he chuckled, starting to walk around our camp area, muttering spells under his breath that would keep us hidden from sight, would reverberate to tell us if our barrier was infiltrated, and would protect us momentarily if we were attacked by other Magii.

As he did this, I spelled the tent into setting itself up. Then I went to the river bank, which we had stayed by as we walked, and filled up our bottles of water. I splashed some water on my face and wiped my neck, letting the water drip down my back. I sighed, relishing the feeling of the cool water as it slid down my skin. I was tempted to jump into the river, but thought better of it, remembering what Gerrard had said about the vicious animals that lived in the river. Just as I was thinking this, I saw something large move a few yards off in the river. I quickly gathered my things and stood up, getting away before whatever it was tried to attack me. I was much too tired to fight anything off at that point. My energy levels were low and I was incredibly vulnerable at the moment.

I made my way to our campsite and saw that Gerrard had started a fire. He had pulled out some of the food that we had packed and laid it out for us to eat. He had also extracted the water purifying solution we had created so that we could clean the water before drinking it. I sat down beside him by the fire and handed him the bottled waters. He opened the caps and put two drops of the solution into each bottle. Then, he closed the caps and shook the bottles, letting the solution disperse. He handed me one bottle and I opened, thirstily downing two-thirds of the bottle. I wiped my mouth after I was done and looked at Gerrard, who was watching me with an amused expression.

"Thirsty?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up. Don't act like you weren't," I said bitterly.

"I'm not acting like I wasn't," he replied, opening his own bottle and downing most of the water down. The rest he dumped over his head, running his hand over his face.

"So day one was unsuccessful," I said, kicking my shoes off and peeling off my sweaty socks. I grimaced at their dampness and laid them by the fire to let them dry out.

"It's a huge forest. We only estimated the location. Of course we were going to be off by a few miles," he said.

"Try a hundred," I muttered.

"It's going to be the same for all the places that we'll go to," he said.

"I know. It's just annoying that Mikael didn't leave specific directions, you know?" I replied, leaning back on my arms. My legs were so tired that they felt numb.

"Maybe there's a reason he didn't," he said.

"It better be a good one. Because right now, we're wasting time. And who knows how long it will take us to find civilization?" I replied.

"We'll have to be patient, then," he said, ripping a loaf of French bread in half. He handed one half to me and took the other for himself. He slid over a a jar of orange margarine. I popped the lid and dipped my bread into it, taking a bite and savoring the sweet taste of the paste.

"That's disgusting," Gerrard said, noting my action.

"I don't have cooties, Ger," I replied.

"It's not cooties I'm worried about," he smirked. I picked up a twig and threw it at his face. He ducked and laughed as it missed.

After we finished eating our less than filling meal, we packed up our excess resources and put out the fire. We both climbed into the tent to get some sleep and rest before we would resume our journey the next morning.

"I really want to change into something clean," I complained as Gerrard pulled our sleeping bags out of the cross-body purse.

"Go ahead," he said.

"But then those will get dirty tomorrow anyway. I didn't bring too many clothes," I said.

"Then stop being a baby," Gerrard said. I pouted and he gave me an annoyed look. "Or you could change into something clean now and then use magic to clean the clothes you're wearing right now," he suggested. My eyes brightened at this suggestion.

"Hey! That's a good idea!" I said. He rolled his eyes.

"You've had your powers for over two years now and you still forget you can do magic," he grumbled, tossing over a pair of yoga-shorts and a tank top. I frowned as I looked at the fresh clothes, faced with another dilemma.

"Where do I change?" I asked. Gerrard blinked at me.

"Here?" he replied.

"Then you step out for a minute," I said.

"Are you serious? I'm not going to look!" he exclaimed.

"I don't care! I don't want you to be in here when I'm changing!" I cried.

"You're acting so immature!" he replied.

"I'm not! It's awkward if you're here, even if you aren't looking," I said. He looked at me incredulously and then stood up to get out of the tent, mumbling obscenities at me under his breath. I zipped up the tent and then quickly stripped off my sweaty and dirty clothes. My underwear and bra also felt disgusting, but I guessed I was going to have to suck it up for the night. I changed into the new clothes and then unzipped the tent. Gerrard was waiting impatiently outside, tapping his foot with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Do you want to change, too?" I asked him, stepping out of the tent, my dirty clothes in my hands.

"No, unlike you, I'm not a pansy that's afraid of a little dirt," he scoffed.

"How does wanting to sleep in clean clothes make me a pansy?" I asked.

"Because only a pansy would be uncomfortable sleeping in dirty clothes," he replied.

"That makes no sense," I pointed out. He pursed his lips and I shook my head at him. "Ok, whatever Gerr. I'm going to wash these now," I said, indicating my dirty clothes.

He rolled his eyes and then retreated back into the tent. I made a kicking motion after him and then turned, going back to the river bank to dip my clothes in the water. I needed to start with something to clean the clothes; I couldn't make water out of nothing. I dipped the clothes quickly and gingerly into the water, squeezed out the water, and then dipped them again. Then I went back to our campsire and levitated the clothes in the air. I muttered a cleaning spell and the water molecules that were soaked into the fibers of the clothes attached themselves to the dirt, ridding the clothes of the dirt they had in them. After I was done, I was left with clean clothes again.

Satisfied, I clambered back into the tent to find Gerrard already in his sleeping bag. From what I could see, he had his shirt off. I felt my cheeks flush a little as my eyes darted to where his shirt lay. I silently thanked the higher being above that his shorts weren't there, as well. That would have been awkward.

"Done doing your laundry?" Gerrard asked as I stuffed my newly washed clothes into the bag.

"Enjoying being dirty?" I shot back, getting into my own sleeping bag. He stuck his tongue out at me and I laughed, settling into the comfy down sleeping bag. I sighed when I got situated, staring up at the navy blue canvas of the tent.

"I hope we find something tomorrow," I said into the darkness. I heard Gerrard yawn and shift in his sleeping bag. I turned my head to the side and looked at him.

"Me too," he replied, his blue-grey eyes luminous in the dark. I turned onto my side so that I was completely facing him. His eyelids had begun to flutter closed and I knew he was tired.

"Gerr?" I said.

"Mmm?" he replied, keeping his eyes closed.

"I'm really glad you didn't let me do this on my own," I said. He opened his eyes and looked at me, smiling slightly.

"What did I say to you?" he replied. "I'll always be here for you," he said. "Always."

I smiled back at him and then hid my face in my sleeping bag. Before I knew it, sleep had fallen over me.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up the next morning feeling like I was being suffocated. I gagged and realized that my face was hidden inside the sleeping bag and that it was scorching hot outside. I pulled my head out of the sleeping bag and breathed in the the thick, moist air. I sat up, feeling completely disoriented. Where was I?

"You all right?" I heard a voice say. I blinked and squinted in the direction of the voice. I saw that it was Gerrard, who was standing in the opening of the tent in nothing but his boxers. The memories of the previous day flooded back into my mind and I remembered where I was: in the Amazon Rainforest with Gerrard looking for whatever it was the Mikael Gemeni wanted me to find.

I groaned and fell back into my extremely warm sleeping bag. I pulled my legs out because I was already sweating. While the warm down feathers in the bag kept me warm at night when the temperatures in the forest dropped, they made the inside like an oven in the day.

I sat up and exited out of the tent, where Gerrard was turning a stick with a fish on it over a fire.

"Finally awake, Sleeping Beauty?" he asked, glancing at me. I was distracted by his glistening body, which was dripping with water. Had he taken a dip in the river while I was asleep?

"Put some clothes on, douche bag," I grumbled, sitting on an overturned stump.

"You don't like the view?" he asked.

"Even if I did, I don't think Isobel would appreciate the fact that I'm seeing it," I retorted. He chuckled in response and went over to his clothes, which were lying on a rock to dry.

"Did you take a dip in the river?" I asked him.

"Yeah. It felt great," he replied.

"What happened to pirhannas?" I asked accusingly.

"Well, I'm a warlock and those little beasts have nothing on me," he replied pointedly. "Did you forget that you can use magic, again?" he added.

"You're the worst! I wanted to take a bath yesterday!" I exclaimed.

"Who was stopping you?" he asked.

"You were! You said the water was dangerous," I replied.

"Well, it is. At night," he said, pulling his t-shirt on over his head. I stood glaring at me and he smirked back at me as he pulled his shorts on. "You're free to go now," he said. "I'll stay here and make breakfast."

"Which is?" I asked.

"Burned fish," he replied, frowning at the fish on the stick.

"Sounds delicious," I grumbled, making my way to the river.

I scanned the river and frowned at its color. It wasn't a clear blue. Rather, it was a murky brownish green color. I muttered a sanitation spell and then a presence detection spell to make sure there weren't any creatures lurking below in the depths of the water. After cleaning the water slightly, I stripped down to my underwear and bra and then dipped my foot in, shivering as the cool water touched my skin. I jumped into the river and relished the feeling of the water on my skin.

After rubbing my legs, arms, back and stomach and running the water through my hair, I decided it was enough, although I really did not want to get back out into the heat. But I figured the longer I stayed in the water, the more of a chance I had to encounter an alligator or crocodile or some other vicious beast. With that in mind, I stepped out onto the bank and into the humid air.

I realized I didn't have a towel or anything to dry myself off with. I was less comfortable than Gerrard to walk around half naked, so I put my clothes on over my wet body. They stuck to me uncomfortably, but I would have to make do with it until I got to the campsite. I walked over to the tent, taking ginger steps on the hot earth.

When I approached our campsite, something felt odd. I hadn't felt the rippling of the barrier that allowed me to go through it. Had Gerrard taken down the enchantments? But I couldn't see the campsite. When I walked foward a few more steps, the tent came in to view, but I didn't see Gerrard.

"Gerr?" I called out.

"Caley! Watch out!" I heard him shout.

But before I knew it or could react, I felt something pinch me in my neck.

And then, the world went black.

__________________________________________________________________

A/N: Ok, so not as long as I was going to make it. I was going to put all of the Brazil scenes in just one chapter. But then I realized that the chapter would be like...15 pages long if I did that. And I didn't want to make you guys wait that long for a new chapter. So here's part 1 of the Brazil adventure!

The next chapter will be a LOT more interesting. This chapter was just to set the scene I guess. The next chapter will have action, information, and will overall be more exciting. So look forward to that!

What do you think happened to Caley at the end? And what do you expect in the next chapter?

Leave me a comment below! And don't forget to VOTE!!!

Also, I have some REALLY exciting news: I checked the Watty Awards page recently and I saw that my book, Night Life is in the MOST POPULAR category under ADVENTURE!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read and vote for that book if you haven't already. One of my goals when I joined Wattpad was to make it to the Watty Awards. It would mean SO much to me if I got nominated. But for that to happen, I need you guys to SPREAD THE WORD AND VOTE!! Please help me out!

Hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon. It depends on how I allot my time during my Thanksgiving break. I have quite a bit of work to do for school, but hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a few hours to write. I'm really excited for where the story is heading and I hope you guys are enjoying it as much as I am!!

XOXO