I'm Alive

“Amara!” Layla burst open my door, an excited look on her face. “Amara, I know you’re just waking up and all, but you have to see this! I think we found where the island is, but the waters are bizarre!”

I lazily looked up at her and sat up, getting off of my bed. "What do you mean the water is bizarre?" I asked her, following her outside to see what the heck she was talking about.

“Come on!” she insisted, and dragged me out on deck to see. There was Cuba on one side of us, not that far but still quite a few miles off, and then in the distance there was a large dome of water. It was like a constant, never ending wave in multiple directions surrounding something. Percy was approaching it steadily, and Derek was having a nervous breakdown.

“Are you seriously going up to that… that death trap?!”

Percy nodded and took a large sip of water nonchalantly. “Yup.”

Derek looked at him, astonished. “Are you out of your mind?”

Percy’s eyes remained focus on our destination, but he gave a nod. “Yup,” he repeated.

"But Derek, the insane people have the best ideas; don't worry, Percy will get us there safely and we won't die... if we’re lucky," I let out a nervous laugh.

"What’s with that laugh? That sounds like a ‘hahahaha... aaaah we are going to die’ laugh," Derek partly shouted at me.

"Calm down," I said and walked over to Percy. "You are going to get us there safely, right?" I asked with concern tracing my words.

“Well,” Percy paused for a moment, “I can’t really promise anything. I know as much as you guys, so I’m just hoping for the best and praying to my dad a lot,” he smiled, hoping we would take his answer without panicking.

All of a sudden, the light bulb over Layla’s head went off as her eyes seemed to brighten. She gave a nervous smile and then turned her attention to Percy. “Percy, I have an idea, and it’s mad! But please, let me try it.” She then ran off to her sleeping quarters and came back with her surfboard. She threw her hair up in a ponytail and stood on the edge of the boat with her board tucked under her arm. She attached it to her ankle and looked over to Percy. “Give me a bubble when I’m underwater so I can breathe just in case, okay?” she asked him. Percy nodded and cast anchor right next to the area, as the waters surrounding the wave-dome were a little rowdier than the water we were currently in. Layla took her board, and dove in to the water, heading out and getting the surf as quickly as she could. When she reached the dome, she circled the dome on her board, looking for an entry point in the waves. Eventually, Layla did a trick on her board that we had seen her do many times, getting some serious air before falling in through the dome.

"She made it through... I just hope she is okay," I said to no one in particular.

“Oh my god,” Derek sighed. Percy seemed super focused, and then breathed a sigh of relief. He saw it before we all did; all of a sudden, the dome of waves collapsed, creating a magnificent show of water falling out, away from the island that was revealed once the dome had fallen. I didn’t see Layla, but I saw her surfboard sticking up in the sand. I then saw her wave her arms a few times; she must have been lying down in the sand.

I started to lightly slap Percy repeatedly. "Oh my gods, Percy, you have to get over there now!" I pointed to Layla and only used one hand to continue to lightly slap his arm. I was just happy that she was okay and it got me excited.

Percy shifted his position as he reeled in the anchor. “Please stop slapping me.”

"Sorry, force of habit sometimes when I'm happy or excited,” I let out a nervous laugh. “At least it was very light slapping," I smiled and held my hands behind my back.

Percy awkwardly nodded and didn’t say anything. He got us to the island as quickly as we could and as he cast anchor, Derek and I headed to the island. Layla smiled up at us, her body comfortable in the white sands, the clear water crashing up around her feet and ankles.

“Are you okay?” Derek pursed his lips. Layla just laughed.

“Okay? That was the best wave I’ve ever surfed!” She was in hysterics, and as Percy came to join us she looked up at her board next to her. “It split my board right down the middle, though, see?” she pointed to her board, and she was right; the board was still intact but if anyone tried to move it, it would be destroyed. There was a split that horizontally divided the surfboard in two pieces, but she didn’t seem disappointed by this. “Good thing I’ve got others back home, huh?” she chuckled. Derek’s eyes were wide open and Percy grinned in amusement at her antics.

I looked at her board, which was totally trashed. "I'm happy that you're alright," I said and hugged her.

“Thanks,” she laughed, returning the hug as she sat up, “I’m just happy that my idea actually worked,” she sighed in relief. She looked over her shoulder and her board and shrugged. “I guess it’s a good landmark to know where we’re at, right?”

"Yeah, so do we head into those trees and plants and vines and… and stuff?" I asked.

"I really hope not but I'm sure we are going to anyways," Derek sighed.

I looked at the trees bunched together and the plants, some still growing. It was untouched by man and it looked like it wanted to stay that way, but I know it couldn't since we would going through there to find the key. What fun.

“The key is in that slew of monsters somewhere,” Layla stood, and Percy frowned and took out Riptide in its pen form.

“I guess we should get started as soon as we can? Try to get this over with?” he suggested. Layla nodded.

“Probably the best way to go about it,” she let out a nervous chuckle. Percy handed her a sword, which she took with a nod for a thank you, and the two looked to Derek and I. “Any thoughts before we tackle this thing head on?”

"I'm very happy to have met all of you, even with all the drama included but yeah... you get the point," I smiled nervously at them and took my own sword out.

"I'm too young to die," was all Derek said, taking out his own sword.

"Well it's now or never, any volunteers to go first?" I looked to them and asked.

“Come on,” Percy shook his head, as if it was no big deal, “we’re most likely not going to die; we won’t as long as we stick with a buddy system, so as long as two of us are together at all times it’ll be fine if we ever have to split up.”

“He’s right,” Layla agreed, “let’s just go.” Percy and Layla took the first steps through the jungle, Derek a bit more hesitant. I saw them beginning to cut out some of the vines or push them aside with swords to make a pathway, and there was no turning back anymore.