Twice Curse Island, Part II

(Nerina's P.O.V)

As the sun was beginning to set, Calypso tells us to drop anchor and get into our lifeboat to row the rest of the way to the island. We saw William's ship and they were not far behind us at this point. We row to the island as William's ship comes to stop and drop anchor next to ours. I'm anxious to see how this meeting will go between the sirens and William once he finds out what his grandfather did. We finally make landfall and push the rowboat up onto the beach to keep the tide from grabbing it, and we walk with Calypso and the sirens up to the tree line.

"How big is the island?" I ask.

"You can walk around the island in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes, but the forest is dense and difficult to move through. We are also not the only creatures on this island, and it is best that they are left alone," Raine says.

"What other creatures?" Ashe asks, still in awe that what she writes about is real.

"Well, sirens, obviously, sea nymphs, and finfolk—or what you guys would call mermaids/mermen," Pearl replies.

"No water beasts?" Kailani asks.

"You mean like the kraken? Oh yeah, we have one of those, but he doesn't do anything unless we call for him." Brooke says in a nonchalant manner.

"Well, I'm happy we didn't get on your guys' bad side then," Nikita says.

Soon enough, William and the others are joining us in the tree line as the sun has met the horizon. We introduce William and the men to Calypso and the sirens. After a few minutes of disbelief on their part, they accepted the situation as it is and continued formulating a plan.

"We need to break off into groups, it'll make finding the treasure go faster," William suggests.

"I agree with that, girls we can go together, and the men can go together," I instruct.

The girls and I go the opposite direction of the men and begin our search, we decided to start at the center of the island and work our way out, since it isn't a guarantee that my bastard great grandfather buried the treasure in the sand. As we walk deeper into the forest/jungle or whatever you want to call it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I have the sudden feeling of having eyes on me.

"Does anyone else feel like we are being watched?" I whisper to the group.

"Honestly? Yeah, I've been feeling that way since we entered the tree line." Anne whispers back.

"Well, we know there are other beings here, so it could just be that they are curious about what we are doing and not mean us any harm." Ashe points out.

That's not how I felt though, it felt dark and ominous. Like we weren't wanted here and that we were intruding on something not meant for us. We finally make it to the center of the island and begin our look around.

"Umm, this may be a stupid question to ask but, how do we know what we are looking for? I doubt Greybeard took a paint brush and made a red 'X' where the treasure is." Lizzie says.

"No idea." I respond.

"Well, this just got a lot harder," Corie says with a smirk.

"Shut up and just look around." I snap.

We continue our scouting around the jungle, paying close attention to any possible disturbances in the soil or vegetation. Again, the feeling of being watched creeps upon me and makes a shiver go down my spine. We've fanned out from the center and were about halfway to the tree line when I hear Kailani call out for us.

"Hey guys, I think I found something."

"What is it?" I ask, as the girls and I rush over to her.

"Look at the difference in the vegetation between here and here." She says, pointing at two of the same plant but are at different stages of growth.

"Hm, that's odd, but how do we know that it means anything when the sirens or nymphs or finfolk could have pulled up the plant prior?" Corie questions.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to look," I suggest.

I send Nikita and Anne to go and get the shovels from the rowboat, and as soon as they are back, we begin our excavation of the area. Digging seems to go on forever.

"He seriously couldn't have buried it THIS far down and I doubt the chest is THIS wide." Kailani huffs out.

We've been digging for several minutes and have gone deep through the soil and made the hole wide enough for a full-grown man to lay in. Suddenly, we hear a thud. We pause and look up to see Ashe's face full of surprise as she lifts the shovel and pushes it back in the dirt at the same place she just pulled it from, earning another thud.

"Well, I think I found it." She says with a laugh.

We begin to scrap away the dirt with our hands and soon enough, we see the top of a wooden chest with steel bindings and hinges. It takes four of us to lift it out since it's so heavy and honestly a little bigger than we thought it would be. Once it's out of the hole, I call out to the siren Pearl.

"Can you please go and get the men? We've found the treasure." I say, beaming at her.

She walks away toward where I assume the men are and as soon as she is out of sight, the weather turns nasty. The sky is soon covered in clouds and the wind begins to whip through the trees.

"Well, this isn't good." I hear Corie mutter out.

A loud clap of thunder makes us all jump and scream, and it's like the heavens open and the rain begins to come down in sheets. The ground began to shake, causing us to lose our footing and fall over onto one another. Suddenly, I hear a high-pitched scream and look around for the source—Lizzie. She's trying to pull her hand away from something that has wrapped around her wrist, it looks eerily like a skeletonized hand.

"Guys, a little help here!" She screams.

We all jump up and run over to her, pulling on her arm to get it out of the grasp of…a hand. Yup, that's definitely a hand.