It was a rainy day when they finally declared their raft repaired. But despite the bad weather, the ocean was calm - calm enough to at least launch it. They definitely weren’t going to wait for the morning, this time. Who knew what the mad guy would do? He might be bound, but he was staring at the raft with a calculating glint in his eyes, so they ( Read more... )

Since they hadn’t been able to get any relevant answers from the man, and they couldn’t afford a saboteur among them, they had tied him to a tree and started to repair the raft.

Sadly, he’d been able to get rid of his gag - and now they were treated to his tales of a hidden treasure that he was supposed to guard: with gold en masse and gems as blue ( Read more... )

Richard reacted fast: Before the others had even had a chance to identify the rustle as out of place, he was already sprinting towards the noise. There was a shout, there was a struggle, and soon after he dragged something, no, someone out of the bushes.

It was a man, dressed in what looked more like rags than clothes. There was a mad glint in his ( Read more... )

Two days later, they were nearly finished with their work on the raft. They decided to test its seaworthiness after a good night’s sleep, before adding the last details. Excitement kept them from having a truly restful night - and yet, none of them were prepared for what they found in the morning.

The pitiful remains of the raft lay on the shore, ( Read more... )

“How do you figure there’s land, just from looking at the planks?” Jeremy asked while they worked on binding the planks together.

Samuel knocked on the wood he was holding. “This here… it’s weathered but still strong. It would have started to rot, had it spent the last years at the bottom of the sea. And I don’t think so much of the ship would have ( Read more... )

Samuel’s suggestion brought on a round of protests from Richard - the teen’s father - and, of course, Victoria. While the others understood Richard’s worry for his son, they rolled their eyes at Victoria’s reasons. God forbid she’d break a nail helping to build the raft or get a sunstroke while out on the ocean!

Samuel tried to assuage their doubts ( Read more... )

Dawn found them all exhausted. The storm had subsided some time during the night, but they hadn’t dared to leave the cave. Now, in the rosy-tinted light of the new day, they were glad that they hadn’t, because strewn all over the shore lay the remnants of a ship.

“Now we can leave,” said Samuel. The young sailor looked at the wreckage with something ( Read more... )

The storm hit the island at night and caught them unprepared. All around them the wind howled, and there was nowhere for them to hide: They couldn’t go near the shore, because the waves crashed into the rocks with far too much force. They couldn’t go further up the slope either, because there was the forest, and the trees were already creaking ( Read more... )

They had a routine: There was always at least one of them - preferably two - who walked along the shore to look for ships. The others either looked for food and water, slept or waited for their turn at watching. All but one of them took those duties very seriously.

Victoria - “Miss Rutherford to you” - was a rich girl who deemed the work to be ( Read more... )

On their nineteenth day on the island, they found a nest with five decently sized eggs.

“One for each of us,” said the youngest of their group - a boy of barely sixteen years. But just as he reached for one of the eggs, his father pulled him back.

“Hey,” he cried indignantly, trying to free himself from the tight grip. “You’re keeping me away from ( Read more... )