They made their final sets of preparations, with clear goals about what they planned to do while they were there, and then they left as soon as the sun was rising the next morning.

  They worked together to row the little boat, aiming straight for the island that wasn’t too far from the coast. All she could see from here was the fuzzy outlines the trees gave the island. It honestly didn’t seem like much, but… it was still intimidating. She tried to tell herself, though, that the apprehension just came from exploring someplace new—it was curiosity, not nervousness, and it would fade as soon as the excitement completely overtook her.

  Still, she found herself asking, “Why do you think the record of anyone staying there is three days? As far as we could tell, there’s no definitive reason why someone wouldn’t stay longer. There were, at least, a few people who had intended on staying longer…”

  “Probably got scared by a random twig or something,” Nik answered with a shrug. “I’m pretty sure everyone who’d tried to go here were locals—no one else knows about the place. And there’s not exactly anything exciting here for them to ‘practice’ with. I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys would even feel comfortable camping out on the edge of a perfectly safe forest, let alone a mysterious island. With the exception of the two of us, of course. We’re the knowledgeable, adventurous type of local. We’ll be fine.”

  “But you remember what the back up plans were, right? Just in case.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think we’re going to have to know those? Half the time you admit it’s just so then your mom feels better about you leaving for a couple of days.”

  “This is serious, though. I’m pretty sure this place has the most substantial evidence towards some kind of threat out of everywhere that we’ve gone. I’m not asking because I think something’s going to happen”—she was, actually, partially asking because of that, but that was beside the point—“but just in case it does. Do you remember them or not?”

  “We pack up our stuff and leave,” he muttered. “Not a lot to it. If we somehow get trapped on the island, it’s not going to be that long until someone notices that we’re there. Probably waiting for us to come back crying, anyway.” He looked her dead in the eye and asked, “So, are you really ready for this, or should I be waiting for you to turn back around as soon as something weird happens?”

  She shook her head. “No, we’re doing this. I just wanted to make sure. Sure, this whole thing makes me a little nervous, but… we’re going to get to the bottom of whatever’s going on here. Otherwise, there hasn’t really been a point to the past couple of weeks, and we won’t be able to do anything better.”

  “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! Can we row a little faster, then? I want to be able to see what’s there.”

  “It’s not going to take us that long,” she pointed out, though she was at least grinning now. “But I know what you mean. I’m… I’m excited for what’s there, too.”

  …

  “Do you think this is a good place to keep it?” Clover prompted, gesturing towards the boat. “This tree should be pretty sturdy, anyway, even if it is a little close to the beach.”

  Nik only gave a passing glance over to it, then shrugged. “Eh, it’s good enough. Just keep our stuff back away from the water a little more, and it’ll all be good.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Got it.” She carefully pulled out both backpacks and sat them in the shade of another tree. “You don’t think anything’s going to get into them? I mean, it might be pretty hard for deer and stuff, but it shouldn’t be much trouble for a bear.”

  “We’re on an island, Clover. I don’t think we’re going to run into any bears or deer. Probably the worst will be a snake or something. Besides, for the most part, our stuff is going to be staying with us, right? There’s only, like, two things that we packed that we might not need later. If you’re really worried about safety, it’s easier to just bring everything.”

  “You’re right. Why hadn’t I thought about it?”

  “Probably tired. Most definitely too nervous. You’re not thinking straight! That’s why we’ve got to do something to clear your head while the sun’s still fully up. Are you ready to go for a walk?”

  She nodded. “We shouldn’t go too far right now, though. Let me just grab my sketchbook and we can leave the rest right here for now. Did you already pull out the map of the island?”

  “I’ve kept it on me this whole time, but I don’t know how much help it’s going to be. Seems to be pretty old, and just by looking at it, I can tell some things have changed since then.”

  “Can you keep track of where we’re going and update the map accordingly, then?”

  “You bet I will! Make sure to keep an eye out for anything interesting. I’m not leaving this place until I’ve got a good haul to bring back to the shop. There’s got to be plenty of old junk around here, it’s just a matter of making sure it’s expensive old junk…”

  She pulled her sketchbook out of her bag, then went to stand beside him. Really, she just wanted the vague sense of comfort that came from it while she looked for her next subject.

  Still, she maintained some casual conversation. “I don’t think there’s going to be too many things this close to the shore. There have been plenty of groups before us—if there was anything this close to begin with, then it’s definitely gone by now. Not to mention, three days is probably plenty of time to at least glance over every part of this place…”

  He smirked. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. There’s only a few people with my level of intuition and attention to detail. What everyone else might consider junk is my exact definition of treasure. You know, Clover, I’m almost offended! I can’t believe that you would doubt me like that.” He playfully nudged her. “Do you want to go a little further in right now, or do you just want to stay by the shore? I’ll wander wherever you want to be.”

  “I… think I want to stay here for a little bit longer. Maybe until tomorrow morning. Soon, it’s going to get a little too dark to wander around a forest like that…”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” After she whacked him, he chuckled. “I walked myself right into that one.”

  “Yeah, you did. Go dig around for some scrap metal or something.”

  “And I’ll leave you to draw these lovely trees!”

  He gave an overly dramatic wave, then only moved a few steps away from her. His back was turned, but he was still close, and that was all she felt he needed to be.

  After all, while they traveled together, the thing they always made sure they did while they were out was done separately; she sketched any part of their surroundings that she found interesting, and he tried to find something worth bringing back with them. This little tradition of theirs had been here from the very beginning—fragments of the talents both of them possessed before they met the other.

  So, Clover started looking around for her new subject. She soon found a little patch of trees—there was just enough space between them to frame the shore on the other side. She sat down in the dirt and began the sketch, trying to get every basic shape down so that she had something to go off of later. She didn’t need to finish it now, and she wanted to get one or two more sketches done before the sun set. She knew a base idea was all she needed to continue from later.

  Then she just kept drawing, getting as many interesting aspects of this place down on paper as soon as she could. If Nik, for some reason, thought she might be paying attention to his own ramblings, then he was pretty quickly proven wrong. At that moment, Clover was just in her own little world, focused on nothing else but getting her subject drawn, and not even thinking of stopping until the sun had set so much that there was no more light left.