Lucas snorted. "Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Maya grinned. "You’re welco!"
He shook his head but held onto the shell.
He didn’t really believe in luck, but... sothing about it felt different.
Maybe it was the way Maya had found it, or maybe it was just the mory it stirred in him. Either way, he wasn’t going to argue.
The two of them stood there in silence for a mont, listening to the waves.
The sky had darkened even more, the stars growing brighter.
The constellations he had once traced with his mother were out there sowhere, waiting to be found again.
Maybe tonight, he’d look for them.
#####
Lucas ran a hand through his hair as he trudged back toward his tent, his head feeling heavier with each step.
The conversation with Maya had been nice — fun, even — but sothing about it had stirred up mories he hadn’t thought about in years.
Maybe it was the stars, or maybe it was just the way she had smiled when she handed him that fire opal shell.
Either way, it left a strange ache in his chest.
’Or maybe I’m just seasick,’ he thought, rubbing his temple.
The thought made him pause for a second.
Was it even possible to get seasick while still on land?
He didn’t know, and honestly, he didn’t care to figure it out. All he wanted now was to crawl into his sleeping bag and close his eyes.
Maybe then, his mind would shut up long enough for him to actually rest.
But just as he reached his tent, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.
Lucas tensed, instinct kicking in as he almost jerked away.
The combination of the headache and the sudden touch made his frustration spike, and he was halfway to muttering a curse before he caught himself.
The grip wasn’t harsh, wasn’t aggressive — it was hesitant, almost unsure.
He turned his head, and his gaze t soft, familiar eyes.
"Mia?" he said, blinking.
"I’ve been looking for you," she whispered.
Before he could react, she pulled him toward his tent with surprising urgency.
"Mia, what the hell — "
"Shh."
She dragged him inside, quickly zipping the tent shut behind them. The space was dimly lit by the moonlight filtering through the fabric, casting everything in a soft bluish glow.
He could hear the distant sound of waves crashing against the shore, the muffled laughter of students still awake outside.
Mia took a deep breath, her hand pressing against her chest as if steadying her heartbeat.
"I think it’s ti I tell you sothing," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Lucas frowned. "Tell what?"
She hesitated, glancing down. "You... you think I destroyed the rafts, don’t you?"
His stomach twisted slightly at her words. "I didn’t say that."
"But you thought it," she murmured.
He exhaled sharply, rubbing his temple again. "Mia, my head is killing , and I’m not in the mood for mind gas. If you have sothing to say, just say it."
Mia swallowed and nodded. "Okay."
She shifted, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the tent. Lucas followed suit, though his posture was far less relaxed.
"Last night," she began, "I couldn’t sleep. You know how I am — I wake up at the smallest noise."
Lucas nodded. Mia had always been a light sleeper.
She was the kind of person who would wake up if soone even so much as shifted in their sleeping bag.
"I heard sothing outside," she continued, her voice lowering. "At first, I thought it was just the wind, but then I realized... no, sothing was being smashed. Destroyed."
Lucas sat up straighter.
"I got curious. I an, I knew I should have just stayed put, but I couldn’t help it," she admitted, twisting her fingers together. "So I got up and stepped outside as quietly as I could."
Her lips pressed together, her expression tense.
"I saw them."
Lucas’s heart thumped. "Saw who?"
"I... I don’t know," she admitted. "It was a guy and a girl. I couldn’t make out their faces, but they were working together. Tearing apart the rafts, making sure they were completely useless."
Lucas’s mind raced. A guy and a girl.
That ant at least two people were involved in the sabotage. But why? Who would do sothing like that?
"I tried to get closer," Mia continued, "but then..." She bit her lip. "I stepped on a twig."
Lucas almost winced.
"In the middle of the night, when everything’s quiet, even the smallest sound is deafening," she murmured. "The second it snapped, they froze. And then — then they started looking around."
He could see it in his head. Mia, barely breathing, hidden in the shadows.
Two figures, tense and alert, scanning the darkness for whoever had just stumbled upon them.
"I panicked," she admitted. "I ran straight back to my tent and didn’t look back."
Silence hung between them for a mont. Lucas took a deep breath, processing what she had just told him.
"You didn’t tell anyone?" he finally asked.
Mia shook her head. "Who would believe ? I didn’t even see their faces."
Lucas ran a hand down his face. "This just makes things worse."
"I know," she muttered. "But I had to tell soone. And... I trust you."
Lucas hesitated.
Trust.
It was such a fragile thing, wasn’t it?
He wanted to believe her.
Mia wasn’t the type to lie about sothing like this.
But at the sa ti, this wasn’t just so minor thing.
Soone — or multiple people — had deliberately sabotaged their ans of survival. And for what?
"What do we do?" Mia asked, her voice uncertain.
Lucas exhaled. "I don’t know yet."
There was so much to consider.
If they went to the teachers with this, what would happen? Would they even believe it? And if the ones responsible realized soone was onto them, would they try to cover their tracks — or worse, strike again?
For now, one thing was clear.
Soone on this trip wasn’t who they seed to be.
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