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“I don’t know…” Camilla whispered.
A rustling sound in the foliage nearby made Adela’s heart pound against her chest. She watched Camilla clench her fists, ready to fight off whatever would jump out of the bushes.
Adela picked up a four-foot long stick next to her feet. She wrapped her fingers around the stick, holding it over her shoulder as if she was about to hit a home run.
“What are you doing?” Camilla whisper yelled.
“What does it look like? I’m not about to get eaten alive by whatever that is.”
Camilla’s blue eyes widened. “Maybe it’s just a feral cat like we have at home?”
The rustling sounded further away after Camilla and Adela’s loud discussion. Adela let out the breath she was holding. She slammed the stick against smaller sticks and twigs, making a path through the jungle.
“Watch your step, Cami. I don’t know why, but it gets muddy here.”
“Thanks! I wonder if there’s a water source?”
Adela slashed an enormous leaf in front of her and froze in surprise when the leaf fell to the ground.
“What is it? Is it a cat?” Camilla whispered behind her.
Adela moved to the side for Camilla to take in the spectacular view of a serene-looking lake that seemed two miles wide and at least four miles in length.
Slippery, dark rocks and low hanging tree branches surrounded the lake. The thought of grabbing one liana and drop herself in the deep end of the lake to cool off crossed her mind.
Camilla held Adela’s hand and squeezed. “Oh, wow. I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Me neither,” Adela said.
As a biological oceanographer, Adela was curious about the ecology and the organisms living in the lake of this island instead of the marine environment she normally studied.
“I-I’m tongue struck.”
Adela laughed. “Well, that’s a first.”
Camilla let go of Adela’s hand, dropped Raven’s drawstring bag and ran into the water to dive straight in.
“Cami!”
Adela waded into the lake, testing the clarity of the emerald water that turned turquoise in the middle of the lake. She brought a hand to her chest when Camilla finally came up for air.
“Whoo-hoo! I can’t believe we found fresh water!” Camilla said as she washed her face and put some water in her hands to drink from.
“Don’t drink the water! We need to boil it first!”
She couldn’t believe Camilla was about to taste the water, since as a marine biologist, Camilla knew what contaminated water could cause. She must have been extremely thirsty to throw caution to the wind and risk getting sick like that.
Camilla immediately dropped her hands, coughing and spluttering. “Ugh!”
“Yikes. Are you okay?”
Camilla scrunched her nose. “It tastes like wet socks.”
Adela laughed. “How do you know what wet socks taste like?”
Camilla waded through the water, drawing closer. By the playful glint in her eyes, Adela knew her friend was up to something. Before she could head out of the water, Camilla already jumped up from her spot and pulled Adela into the deep end of the lake.
“By all means; have a taste for yourself!” Camilla shouted and laughed as she pushed Adela’s head under water.
