Encala (9 page)

Emily pulled on the shirt Kyle had given her
on the raft, and followed him back to the cave as the guards headed
off to get some things done. He reached over and put his hand
against the small of her back. Before they reached the cave, he
pulled her close to him and looked into her eyes.

“
How are you holding up?”
he asked, touching her cheek lightly.

“
I’m ok, really. We have
food and water, that’s all we need.” She pulled away from him, not
wanting him to get the wrong idea.

“
He’ll come for
us.”

“
I know,” she said,
smiling.

Before she could protest, Kyle’s lips
pressed against hers. She tried to pull away, but he held her close
to him. She put her hands against his shoulders and he finally let
her go.

Kyle smiled at her, “Sorry about that.”

“
No you aren’t. I just
don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” she said, moving a step
back.

“
I know that.”

“
I also don’t want you to
get caught overstepping. You know the guards would tell him,” she
said, watching him.

“
I know that, too, but
maybe it’s worth it,” he told her, and took a step toward
her.

“
Kyle, don’t.” She stood
her ground and watched him.

He nodded, “Come on, let’s go back to the
cave.”

She followed a few steps behind him. She
could hear Allen laughing as they approached the cave. One of the
guards had collected some twigs, and they were building houses with
them on the floor of the cave. Allen had a banana in his hand as he
watched his guard build a miniature town.

Emily sat down and grabbed half of a coconut
and a sharp rock. She scooped the pulp out and ate it while
watching Allen play.

***

“
Sir, we’re at the location
the coast guard said they found debris,” the Captain of the boat
said to Chevalier. He was standing on the bow of the ship looking
out over the water.

Something out on the water caught his eye
and he watched it closely as the boat moved slowly towards it. He
reached the hook into the water and pulled up a chaise cushion. He
knew the debris was from Emily’s yacht, he had these cushions made
especially for her in her favorite color. He knew she was alive and
safe, he could feel that. He couldn’t, however, figure out where
she was, and that infuriated him.

“
Are there any islands
around here?” Chevalier asked the Captain.

The Captain pulled out a map and started
calculating their location, “Nothing close by. Maybe they are out
on a raft?”

Chevalier couldn’t explain to him that they
weren’t on a raft. He knew that Emily was too content to be hungry
or thirsty, which she would be if they were still out on the
water.

“
Head for the closest
island. I want to check all of them in this area,” he said to the
Captain. The captain was getting paid well enough, that he just
nodded and headed east toward the closest island.

“
We should be there
tomorrow afternoon.”

Chevalier nodded.

***

“
It’s worth a shot, it
can’t hurt, right?” Kyle asked, gathering the coconut milk into the
empty husk.

“
Yeah I guess,” Emily said,
and slipped her shirt off. The burns were painful and she was
getting a fever and a body ache.

Kyle slowly poured the coconut milk over the
back of her neck, arms, and legs. He wanted so badly to reach out
and hold her as she gasped in pain. He noticed her color was off
and he knew she was running a fever. He felt extremely helpless as
he watched her slowly getting sicker.

“
That does feel good,” she
said, shutting her eyes.

“
Get more,” Kyle ordered
one of the guards, who began refilling the husk.

After Kyle poured more milk on the blistered
burns, Emily could finally lay down without so much intense pain.
The guards had piled palm leaves in the corner of the room and then
layered their shirts on it for a bed. She fell fast asleep, aided
by the fever. Kyle sat by her and watched her sleep, no longer
caring what the guards told Chevalier about their time on the
island.

Allen tried to wake her a few times, but the
guards stopped him and eventually took him out to the fresh water
pond for a swim. Kyle was now alone in the small cave with Emily.
He gently pulled a shirt over her, and then sat back again.

“
Stop,” she whispered in
her sleep, jerking slightly.

Kyle put his hand against her shoulder to
try to calm down the nightmare.

“
Don’t please,” she
mumbled.

“
Shhhhh,” he whispered, and
kissed her forehead lightly. He was worried about how hot her skin
felt against his lips.

Kyle got up and soaked a shirt in the cold
water, and then put it against her forehead. When the guards
returned with Allen, they kept him busy while Kyle took care of
Emily. She stopped stirring and fell into a fever induced sleep. He
kept a cool rag on her forehead and held her hand through the
night. Allen fell asleep curled up with Kralen, one of the guards
he had become attached to. The night air turned cold as it began to
rain. The cave kept them dry, but the wind was coming in from the
opening. Emily shivered slightly and Kyle pulled another shirt over
her.

The rain stopped just as morning came and
the cave began to warm up. Kyle changed out Emily’s cold rag and
began to get more concerned when she didn’t wake up. Even when
Allen started to cry after falling and scraping his knee, she
didn’t move.

“
Is this because of the
burn?” one of the guards asked.

“
I don’t know enough about
burns to know, but I’m assuming it is,” Kyle said, watching her
breathe.

“
Want more coconut
milk?”

“
Yes, let’s try that
again.”

The guard returned a few minutes later with
a husk full of coconut milk. Kyle dipped the shirt into it and
gently ran it across the burns on her legs, then moved to her arms.
She groaned softly when he touched her neck, and he pulled his hand
back quickly.

“
Can mortals survive off of
bananas and coconut?” he asked Kyle.

Kyle shrugged, “I don’t know that
either.”

“
I could try to catch a
fish.”

“
That’s a good idea. Take a
shirt to use as a net,” Kyle suggested.

“
Mommy?” Allen asked,
walking over to Emily. Kyle pulled him into his lap to keep him
from touching her.

“
Mommy’s sleeping,” he
whispered into Allen’s ear.

“
Wake up Mommy!” Allen
yelled, before Kyle could cover his mouth. Kyle frowned when she
didn’t respond.

“
Is Mommy sick?” Allen
asked Kyle.

Kyle nodded and sat him back on the
ground

“
Do you think it would help
if we took her into the pond?” Mark asked.

Kyle thought for a moment, and then
shrugged, “I guess we can try it. So far, nothing’s working to get
the fever down.”

Kyle picked Emily up gently, but she still
moaned in pain. He carried her limp body to the pond and then
stepped in, fully dressed. He walked in until she was submerged and
only her face was out of the water. He could feel the heat from her
body even under the cool water. As her body began to cool, she
blinked a few times and opened her eyes.

“
Hi,” he said, smiling down
at her.

She looked around confused, “Where are
we?”

“
In the pond. I’m trying to
get your fever down.”

“
I hurt
everywhere.”

“
I know, does the water
help?”

She nodded and then shut her eyes again. He
brushed his lips lightly against hers and held her close to his
body. It wasn’t until darkness set in that he took her back to the
cave and laid her down on the palm leaf bed. Allen was already
asleep on a makeshift bed in the opposite corner. The guards
listened to the rain fall all night and watched over their
charges.

For the next few days, Emily was in and out
of consciousness as the guards played with and fed Allen. Kyle
stayed by her side and helped her drink water and try to eat when
she was awake. Even awake though, she was dazed and couldn’t
remember where they were. Kyle stopped telling her about the
island, it upset her, so he lied and told her they were at the
palace.

The morning of the thirteenth day on the
island, Emily sat up and looked around. Her fever had broken in the
night, and the blisters had either dried up or burst. The skin on
her legs, face, neck, and arms was peeling.

“
How are you feeling?” Kyle
asked, handing her a coconut husk full of water.

“
Ok,” she said, her voice
cracking. “What day is it?”

“
Friday”

“
So we’ve been here for six
days?”

Kyle pushed the hair off of her shoulder,
“Thirteen days.”

“
No sign of anyone else?”
She sat up and reached out for a banana.

“
Nothing, we have a guard
on lookout with a bonfire, but so far he hasn’t seen anything,”
Kyle explained.

Emily ate in silence and watched Allen
playing with Kralen. When she was done, she laid back down, feeling
tired again.

“
How are you all holding
up?” she asked.

“
We’re fine.” He
smiled.

“
Not thirsty?”

He shrugged, “It’s manageable.”

“
Hmm, I’m so
tired.”

“
Then sleep,” he suggested,
smiling down at her.

***

“
I don’t think it’s a good
idea,” Mark said, frustrated.

“
I just need some time
alone,” Emily explained, heading out of the cave.

“
You have thirty minutes,
and I’ll come looking for you.”

“
I’m not a child, and
there’s nothing on this island to hurt me. Stay here and watch
Allen,” she said, and disappeared into the jungle.

Emily walked through the dense trees and
looked around. She needed time to think, and the tension in the
cave was stifling. She knew the heku were getting thirsty. It’d
been three and a half weeks since the shipwreck, and as she was the
only adult mortal on the island, she could feel them watching her
closely. She knew they wouldn’t attack unless it came down to too
much pain, but she wasn’t sure when that would be. She also wasn’t
sure she could sustain fourteen thirsty heku and she worried about
dying and leaving Allen alone with them.

Emily walked for about an hour and then sat
against a tree on the spongy moss. She pulled her knees close to
her and wrapped her arms around them, “Where are you, Chev?”

She sighed when she heard footsteps,
“What?”

Kyle stepped out from behind a tree and sat
by her, “Are you ok?”

“
Fine,” she snapped. How
hard was it for him to understand that she needed some alone
time?

He put his arm around her, “I’m worried
about you.”

“
Why?”

“
The bad dreams. It’s
obvious you’re worried about us.”

“
Of course I am. How long
before you can’t control your thirst anymore?”

He smiled, “A long time, you’re safe here.
Look at me.”

She glanced away, fighting back the
tears.

Kyle put his hand under her chin and pulled
her to face him, “You’re safe.”

“
For how long?”

“
We can go years without
eating, Em.”

“
You can… but how long
before instincts kick in and …” He cut her off with a kiss. She
tried to pull away from him, but he held her tightly. He leaned her
back against the soft moss and trapped her wrists above her head
with his hand.

“
Kyle, stop,” she said,
trying to get out from under him. He was kissing her neck softly
and using his body weight to hold her down.

“
Stop fighting me,” he
whispered, before pressing his lips to hers again.

Emily turned her head to the side, “Get off
of me.”

In one swift movement, Kyle tore her shirt
in half and re-trapped her hands above her head, then began kissing
down her neck slowly.

“
Don’t do this, please,”
she said, as she felt his hand at her back, untying her bikini
top.

“
Just relax,” he whispered,
and then ran his tongue along the vein in her neck. She felt his
teeth slowly sinking into the flesh of her neck and then the
soothing warmth that came with the feeding process.

Emily knew what she had to do, Kyle had
obviously lost control. She shut her eyes and focused. Within
seconds, Kyle rolled off of her and writhed in pain. She felt the
control. She didn’t want to turn him to ash, but needed to
incapacitate him long enough to get away.

She watched as his body shook with the pain
and his hands clutched at his chest. He groaned with the burning in
his body and she got to her feet. She finally released him and
watched as he fell unconscious to the mossy ground.

Emily grabbed her torn shirt and held it
against herself as she ran back for the cave. The guards looked at
her as she ran in and they got to their feet.

“
What’s wrong?” Mark asked
her.

She took one of their shirts from the bed
and turned to the wall, putting it on quickly. The two puncture
wounds on her neck didn’t go unnoticed as a small trickle of blood
dripped down onto the white shirt.