The Archer's Legacy

★彡01|23 - "Y/n, dear, have you been in the sun for too long?"彡★

"You got anything?" Carlos asked the girls as he and Jay joined them at the lunch table.

Y/n moved the paper in her hands in between her fingers. "Not much," she sighed. "There's barely anything about mind-based magic and the things that are there aren't all that useful because they don't explain the process at all."

"You?" Mal then asked the boys, raising a curious brow.

Jay shook his head. "Nothin'. It's mostly wands and magic carpets and lamps but nothing with mind and such."

Y/n sighed, raking a hand through her locks. "What now?"

Carlos' brows pinched at Y/n's downlet expression. "We'll figure something out," he said, his eyes searching for backup from his friends.

"After Family Day," Mal added, nodding. "But for now..."

"We should get your mind off of that prophecy," Evie finished. "Worrying that much is not good for you."

Y/n bit the inside of her cheek in thought before letting a small smile grace her lips. "Sure. What do you guys have in mind?"

The four kids from the Isle shared looks, communicating via their eyes.

Y/n raised a brow. "What is it?"

Mal smirked. "You'll see."

☞♦♢♦☜

"I really do regret most of my decisions now," Y/n sighed, looking down from the tree branch she was squatting on. "How much longer, Jay?"

"They should arrive just about..." the boy trailed, looking upstream the river they were by, or, in their specific case, above. "Now."

From around the corner, there came a small raft.

"Jump in three, two... One!"

Y/n sucked in a breath just in case and jumped, her feet — to her slight surprise — not slipping as she landed on the raft. She let out a breathless laugh of disbelief. "I don't want to imagine how many rules we are breaking right now."

"Not many, actually," Evie informed before starting the count on her fingers. "Leaving the school grounds without permission, not handing in our homework on time, taking a bunch of stuff without the owners' consent—"

"So about a dozen," Mal cut in. "But we're returning all the stuff later so no worries about getting in trouble over that."

"And I think they'd forgive us about the homework, too," Carlos shrugged, steering the raft so it wouldn't bump into the sides of the slow river. "At least when we tell them we were excited about Family Day and forgot to do it because of that."

Y/n smiled, shaking off the fact that she'd told Ben earlier in the day that they were, in fact, going to do homework. "This is a pleasant get-away. Where'd you guys get the idea?"

"Oh, just popped into my mind when Ben took me to the Enchanted Lake," Mal shrugged.

"Is that where the river flows?"

Mal nodded. "We should get there in like half an hour or so."

"And then we'll have a picnic," Evie smiled.

Y/n suddenly realized something. "Please don't tell me you're doing this only because of me."

"No, we're not," Jay said. "We were actually planning to do this on our own so we could have some fun when everyone else is prepping for tomorrow but, considering how you've been so anxious lately, we thought you should come along."

Y/n smiled once again. "That's really nice of you guys, thank you." As she said that, she met eyes with everyone so they'd see how genuine she was being.

Carlos smiled at her. "Of course."

☞♦♢♦☜

"This is so pretty," Y/n mused as the raft slowly drifted onto the enchanted lake. She then took a look at the people around her. "What do you say we race to the shore?"

Mal immediately shook her head. "You guys go, I'll take care of the raft."

For a reason unbeknownst to Y/n, the other three gave her dirty looks.

"Yeah... Maybe not today," Jay agreed with Mal.

Y/n frowned a bit. "Oh.. alright."

"Y/n, we..." Carlos broke the silence regretfully. "We can't swim."

Y/n almost choked at the confession. "What? But you're from an island!"

"Most of the water is behind the barrier and the part that isn't belongs to the pirates, who we don't exactly get along with," Evie filled the girl in.

"I see... That's interesting, because—" Y/n cut herself off, her eyes stopping on the waterfall that fell into the lake not far off from where they were.

Everything around her seemed to freeze at that moment, with only the waterfall still moving. Then there was a log. It fell and fell and—

Suddenly the log wasn't there anymore and Y/n could once again sense the others looking at her expectantly.

"Because of what, Y/n?" Carlos prompted.

"Guys, did you see that?" Y/n asked, switching the topic as she furrowed her brows at the waterfall.

"What?" Jay inquired, looking where Y/n was looking. "There's nothing there except for the waterfall."

"No, there was..."

"Y/n, dear, have you been in the sun for too long?" Evie said softly, reaching to feel Y/n's forehead for a fever.

"No, I'm telling you," Y/n started again, turning away from the waterfall. "There was a—"

CRASH!

The raft rocked as a log fell from the waterfall and everyone yelped, trying to find their balance. Y/n's eyes spotted something — someone — slipping off the edge and, without a second thought, she dove after the person.

At that moment, Y/n was more than grateful for her swimming training, both closed- and open-eyed lessons in murky water. It made it all the more easier to locate Carlos in the crystal clear water of the enchanted lake.

It took the girl a few moments but when she finally reached Carlos, his eyes had closed and jaw was starting to slack. With her heart beating in her ears, she wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and kicked upwards, panting for air as soon as she had both of their heads above the water.

"Carlos?" she inquired, hauling the boy onto shore pretty near to where the picnic was set up. "Carlos?" Panic slowly swelled in her chest as she shook the boy. He couldn't have drowned in such a short time, right?

"Carlos?!" echoed now Jay and Evie, jumping from the raft onto land, leaving Mal to tie the wooden structure up.

Y/n felt for pulse, not minding the nearing steps of her friends. Then, she let out a breath of relief, her heartbeat still loud in her ears despite the fact that it was starting to slow down.

"Well?" Evie inquired, squatting.

"He's alright, just—"

Jay then arrived, slapping Carlos across the face. The other boy suddenly sputtered, coughing up water. "What was that, Jay?" the boy hissed, brushing Evie's arms off his shoulders as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

That's when he got a good look at Y/n, who was wet to the bone, and realized he probably looked the exact same. He shook his head slowly. "Thank you, I..."

Y/n only smiled, wrapping her arms around him and pulling the boy into a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Mal, who'd arrived at the scene, nodded as she placed a hand on Carlos' shoulder. "We all are." Then she looked at the girl who'd just pulled back from hugging one of her best friends. "On that note, Y/n... How'd you react so fast?"

"I..." Y/n's mind flashed back to the way the world had stopped, and how she'd seen the log falling. And then, the crash. Her eyes found the log on the lake, drifting further away from them. "I think I saw it."