The Adventures of Jake the Explorer!: Part Two

"Ah~ home, it's always nice to come back after a long excursion. Don't you think, Jake?" Hannah the Brave said to me.

      "Sure, but I can be just as happy sleeping on a log, or resting by an ancient fountain - long lost by time," I replied.

      "I prefer caves, myself," Hannah said.

      The N.P.S. Meowclops - the ship that Hannah and I were aboard - was making its way to the docks of Krawk Island. I must admit that I have never been to such a scurvy, flea-bitten island full of backstabbing liars and traitors. But I figured it couldn't be any different than Mystery Island and its share of barbarian natives.

      I just had to make sure I kept an eye on my neopoints. Of course, according to Hannah, the currency of Krawk Island was dubloons, so maybe my neopoints were safe. Yet that raises a new problem: How was I supposed to eat if I have no money to buy food?

      I checked my little pack full of Islandberries. Well! That answered THAT question.

      The captain of the ship - a blue Xweetok - announced that we had arrived. "Welcome to Krawk Island, I hope you enjoy your stay."

      "Come on, Jake, time to get off." Hannah bounded down the gangplank. "Ah~ do you smell that?"

      "I sure do. What is it?" I pinched my nose.

      Hannah laughed. "That's home!"

      "I feel sorry for you then," I said.

      But really, it didn't smell that bad; it smelled of the ocean - and fish, lots and lots of fish.

      Mystery Island's air was perfumed with flowers, trees, and the moist earth.

      "There's the tavern where I first worked," Hannah was saying. "I gotta go check on my friends. I hope you find what you're looking for."

      "Wait, huh? You're... not coming?" I asked.

      "Nope. I'm sure you'll miss me, but you'll get by. See you around, Jake the Explorer!" The small Usul trotted away.

      Alone once again, I had to analyze my situation. I took the letter in a bottle out. "So, Isea, huh? Who are you and where can I find you?" I looked around at all the passer-byes, decked out in their finest Pirate attire. One of them had to know who Isea was.

      And so the search went on.

      "Isea? Never heard of 'em," an Eyrie missing a good portion of one ear told me.

      "ISEE, did you say? Nah, haven't seen anyone around here with that name," an Acara wearing TWO eye patches said.

      "I See? I see what? The sea? Of course you do, it's all around us! Now move along, yeh landlubber!" A decrepit old Lupe pushed me out of his shop.

      "Well, that got me nowhere," I said aloud.

      "Are you looking for someone?" a Cloud Aisha asked me. "I'm searching for someone, too."

      "Yes, but no one around here seems to know her - or him," I said.

      "You don't know if the person you're looking for is male or female? Sheesh! No wonder you can't get any help."

      "Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered.

      "Let me hear it," the Aisha said.

      "Huh?"

      "This Neopet's name; or picture, if you have one."

      "Oh, it's Isea."

      "Yeah, I'm sure you understand, but the name, what's the NAME?"

      "That IS the name," I said. "It could be pronounced Is-Sea, though."

      "Is-sea? IS there such a Neopet with that name? Not here. There is, however, an ISCA. THAT'S who I'm looking for. I was named after her - Mermaid Isca - but you're not looking for me, that I know." She peered out at the ocean. "She's an Aisha too, Isca is. But she's from Maraqua."

      "Maraqua...?" The letter mentioned sunken treasure!

      "Well, I've got to go," Mermaid Isca said. "She doesn't seem to be around here. Ah! Maybe she's with Garin and Jacques! They are all friends." She dashed off.

      I dashed after her.

      I bumped into a number of people, trying to keep Mermaid Isca in my sight; I ignored their outbursts of "Scurvy dog!" "Yarr! Yeh landlubber!" and "Bilge rat!"

      Soon the Black Pawkeet was looming ahead, anchored at a dock - Captain Garin and his first mate, Jacques, standing on the wharf. Now where was Isca?

      Mermaid Isca stopped just short of Garin and Jacques to stare out at the ocean, but I went on, to talk with the Usul and Kyrii. (Sigh... as if I need the company of another Usul.)

      "...Oh, come on, Garin, you know you can't trifle with the Drenched," Jacques was saying to his captain. "And I should know."

      "Yeah, but they stole my Maractite blade," Garin said.

      "Which, need I remind you, YOU stole from King Kelpbeard; just let it go."

      Garin shook his head. "No way, that is the best sword I ever had. It's gotten us out of a lot of scrapes. I've GOT to get it back!"

      "Um, excuse me." I finally had to cut in - neither one of them was hearing my coughing-for-attention.

      "Who are you and what do you want?" Garin said.

      Nice manners.

      I only finished introducing myself when the Cloud Aisha cried out: "There she is! It's Isca! Hi Isca! Over here!"

      I swung around to see the Maraquan Aisha swimming up to the dock. She turned Mermaid Isca's way and smiled, giving her a little wave.

      "Garin," Isca greeted, "good, you got my letter; I've been looking for you."

      "Letter?" The pirate cocked his head.

      "Yes, the letter in a bottle," Isca said. I jumped. "I was told you had gone to Mystery Island, to raid some cove of treasure, so I traveled there and cast my letter."

      "Um... Garin never found a letter in a bottle," Jacques said.

      "Hm? He didn't...?" Isca tilted her head to one side.

      "Uh, actually - " I began to step forward, when I was suddenly pushed aside by a blur of blue and white fur.

      "Isca!" the Cloud Aisha screamed hysterically. "This is awesome! I am such a big fan of yours. Where's Caylis, huh? Is she near? Tell her I think she's cool, too, okay?"

      "Okay..." Isca started to say.

      "Hey!" I began to protest to Mermaid Isca.

      Garin sighed loudly, went up to the Cloud Aisha, and shoved her away. "You're too noisy, little missy."

      SPLASH!

      Mermaid Isca fell into the ocean. "Ack!"

      Isca put her hands on her hips. "You're incorrigible, Garin!"

      The Usul shrugged. "Now tell me about this letter."

      "Actually," I said once more, "maybe I can explain."

      Three pairs of eyes looked my way.

      I showed the frosted bottle.

      "My letter!" Isca exclaimed.

      I nodded a little sheepishly.

      "Never trust a Kougra, I always say," Garin said.

      "That's the first time I'VE heard that saying." Jacques elbowed him.

      "Explain, please," Isca said to me.

      I told them how I came to find the letter in a bottle.

      "Oh dear..." Isca moaned.

      "I wasn't on Mystery Island very long," Garin said. "The Drenched attacked and took my Maractite sword."

      "We tried to follow after them," Jacques said, "but they vanished as quickly as they came."

      "So what now?" Isca asked.

      Three pairs of eyes were on me AGAIN.

      I knew I was the third wheel - or, in this case, a fourth wheel. I was an uninvited guest, and it was hard to tell if I was welcomed nonetheless.

      "Well!" Isca said cheerfully, "I DO have an extra necklace." She produced a rope of seaweed.

      I had heard about Isca's magical necklaces; they allowed the wearer to breath under water.

      "You want him to tag along?" Garin asked.

      "Why not? He already knows what this is about, it'd be wrong to leave him out now."

      "You are too nice, Isca, too trusting." The Usul shook his head.

      "Excuse me, but I am a very trustworthy-kind-of-guy," I said.

      "We will see about that, JAKE." Garin gave one of Isca's necklaces, that she handed out, to Jacques.

      "All I can say is this." Jacques looked at me, then turned to Garin. "Try not to get yourself killed; I can't always be there to save your fur."

      "Heh, I'll say the same to you, Jacques," replied Garin.

      Isca beckoned the three of us to join her, then she dived.

      "Say hi to Caylis for me!" Mermaid Isca yelled to me from the dock. It was good to see that she hadn't drowned.

      ***

      The world under the sea was beautiful; sea-meowclops swam by, Maraquan Anubises floated in small groups, kelp swayed peacefully - the ocean was full of treasure.

      "So Isca, what is this all about?" Garin asked. "You normally don't encourage treasure-hunting. In fact, you never do."

      "This is different," Isca said. "I found an old artifact from the surface dwellers' past - a ship in almost perfect condition, its cargo: a tablet depicting Ancient Maraqua."

      "A tablet of Ancient Maraqua?" Jacques asked. "How did surface dwell - I mean, sailors get a hold of something like that?"

      "That's why I wanted you two to see it," Isca said. "I think it's a clue to Maraqua's past."

      "What kind of clue?" Garin asked.

      "I don't know, but... Oh, you just have to see it; you will see what I mean."

      We swam on, deeper.

      "You know," I said, "I know Old Maraqua was a kingdom living secretly under the ocean - until Scarblade came - but it could be that long ago it was known to land-dwellers - which would explain why the tablet was on one of their ships."

      "I thought about that," beamed Isca approvingly. "Because the ship doesn't look piratical. But it's not just about that, it's what the tablet depicts."

      My curiosity drove me to swim almost faster than Isca.

      I glanced back at the Usul and Kyrii. Garin didn't look too pleased for some reason.

      "Hey! Who said you could be so close to Isca?" Garin demanded. "Know your place, Kougra. And has anyone told you that you have a bad fashion sense? I mean, who wears a hat while swimming under water?"

      "Ha! ME? I'm not the one wearing two earrings in the same ear!" I snapped back.

      "If I had my Maractite dagger - " Garin said.

      "What? What would you do?" I challenged.

      Isca laughed. "Would you two quit fighting, we're here."

      We both turned to see a ghost ship, resting its hull on a hard sand dune; its sails waving silently with the current.

      "It's as magnificent as the Black Pawkeet," Jacques awed.

      "Tch! Yeah, the only difference is that MY ship is alive; THAT one has been dead for quite a while," Garin said.

      "Come on," Isca urged. "The tablet is in the Captain's Cabin."

      "Captain's Cabin, huh?" I said. "Must be a fairly precious cargo if it was stored in there."

      "I wouldn't have guessed," Garin remarked, rather snidely.

      Hmph! Pirate scum! What my little fan, Orpheus Draco, sees in Garin I cannot visualize. I should tell him what a true 'hero' the Usul is.

      "Over this way," Isca guided us; whispering for some reason.

      When I really looked around me, I could see that this place called for soft voices: the atmosphere was solemn, eerie even. It must have been the ship. It had a sad story to tell, and perhaps it still had its ghosts and skeletons - waiting for a lending ear to hear their tale.

      We floated over to the Captain's Cabin, it rested between two stairs that led up to the poop deck. One staircase was smashed, the other ready to crumble.

      "What ERA is this ship from?" I wondered out loud. It had to be very old; but to get an exact date, I needed to study it more closer. "Hm, yes, it could be easily over a hundred years old-"

      Jacques grabbed me. "The tablet is the focus here. You DO wish to see it, right?"

      "Naturally, but this whole ship is a treasure," I said. "You can't blame me for admiring it."

      "Yes, we can," Garin said.

      The Kyrii smiled, shaking his head. "Don't worry, I agree with you. The Black Pawkeet's great, but this ship... this ship has been on more adventures than Garin and I (and we've been on a lot). I can feel it, can you?"

      "I can, yes." I nodded.

      The Captain's Cabin was a mess of upturned furniture: a coffee table, chairs, a dresser - along with the contents of its drawers - a four poster bed sunken in, and a nightstand; with rusted metal objects littering the half-eaten carpeted planks.

      Isca bypassed all that and went straight to a pink flat stone leaning against a desk. The Maraquan Aisha smiled, while Garin and Jacques stared in silence. I joined them and saw that the tablet showed several different scenes in the form of a circle. First there was the Old Maraqua in its former glory, then a Neopet from the surface came, Maraqua was destroyed, but in its ashes were two young sea Aishas - over one's head was a scene of utter destruction, and atop the other twin's was a scene of hope; they were thought bubbles, or dream bubbles that told the future...

      I looked at Isca.

      "Isca, is this..." Garin said, "Does this tell the history of Maraqua?"

      "I believe so," Isca said.

      "But this is an old slab of stone," Jacques said, "carved long ago, BEFORE the fall of Old Maraqua."

      Isca nodded. "A prophecy tablet. But I think it's more than that; see how the pictures are depicted in a circle? After the appearance of the twin Aishas, it goes back to New Maraqua. I think Caylis and I aren't the only twins that could see the future in our dreams; I believe there were others before us. New Maraqua may actually be New-New-New Maraqua, depending on how many times it has been destroyed. And if my guess is right, this is a cycle that must be stopped."

      "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a crackly voice said from behind me.

      We all twirled to see the dreaded Drenched - the three water faerie sisters of wickedness. Just as evil as the Three Dark Sisters.

      Jacques went a little pale.

      "It's you three again," Garin snarled. "Where's my Maractite dagger?"

      "Why, in our stash of treasure, of course," the nastiest of the Drenched said. "Where we'll be keeping YOU!" The three of them lunged at us.

      Isca swam out of a porthole, I dodged out of the way, Garin dazed the faeries with a wood plank, and Jacques got his bravery back to fling a net over the Drenched.

      As the wicked sisters struggled to free themselves from the fish net, Garin, Jacques, and I sped out of there.

      "Are you guys okay?" Isca hurried to us. "We should probably - get out of here!"

      Just as she yelled that out, the Drenched burst through the ship’s hull.

      "You won't get away from us this time!" the Drenched vowed.

      "All of you, get out of here," I said. "I'll distract them."

      "Tch! No, you won't. I will," Garin said.

      "This isn't really the time to prove who is the better," Jacques advised us. "We should ALL flee!"

      And so we did - with the Drenched in hot pursuit.

      "This way!" Isca told us men, swimming around a sea mountain.

      I smacked myself into something huge and orange. When I got a good look at it, I gasped. "Flying Scorchios! It's a monster Gulper!" I grabbed for my dagger but Garin tackled me.

      "Calm down, Kougra, this is Goregas, Isca's FRIEND."

      "Oh..." I put my weapon away. "Sorry about that."

      Isca shook her head. "It's all right." She patted the Gulper. "Goregas, here, has that effect on a lot of others." She gave Garin a meaningful look.

      Ahh, so apparently he, too, had the same reaction towards Isca's pet when he first met the Gulper.

      "Did we manage to escape the Drenched?" Jacques asked.

      Before anyone could answer a yes or no -

      "Sooo~ here you all went to," the leader of the Drenched said.

      Goregas rammed the sea witches, giving us the perfect moment to get as far away from them as we could.

      ***

     Maraqua:

      "I'm so sorry," Isca apologized. "I never knew that that ship was a place where the Drenched visited.

      "Oh dear~" she moaned. "They now probably know that we were there for a reason. They will either destroy the tablet, or guard the ship! I need to get that tablet!"

      "Don't worry, Isca, we'll help; right, Jacques?" Garin grinned at the Kyrii, but he gave ME a dirty look. "Jake?"

      "I shall most definitely help," I said. "As much as I am able."

      "Which won't be much, that's for certain," Garin muttered.

      "All right, that's it," I said. "What is WRONG with you? What have I done to deserve your contempt?"

      "You stole my letter from Isca, for one," Garin replied, getting in my face.

      "It fell on my head! And if I might add, it hurt!"

      "Serves you right."

      "Do you want to fight, because I will, USUL."

      "Things are getting out of hand," Jacques remarked to Isca.

      "You BET I do," Garin answered my challenge. "But you probably wouldn't be worth my time."

      "I'm gonna whoop your fluffy tail."

      "Go ahead and TRY."

      Isca went in-between us. "Please, stop fighting. There are no enemies among us."

      "Are you certain, Sister?"

      A sea Aisha - almost a mirror image of Isca (if not for the darker skin) - appeared in the doorway of Isca's room.

      "Caylis!" Isca exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

      "You know I wouldn't come here unless there was good cause to." Caylis stared at me in an odd way: an unconcerned, yet curious look. "And it appears it is true."

      "What is true?" Garin asked.

      "My dream," Caylis said. "Or more better, my NIGHTMARE."

      Isca gasped. "Don't tell me you had another vision of calamity!"

      Caylis nodded grimly. "It was about you, Isca."

      "H-huh?"

      Caylis went on. "In it you were captured by the Drenched - your life ending in their hands."

      "No way!" Garin cried out. "It's not true; I won't let that happen."

      Isca's twin shook her head. "It cannot be helped, because you know my visions can't be avoided, like yours CAN, Sister."

      "Are you sure?" Jacques asked. "Maybe it was just a dream."

      "I know it will come to pass," Caylis said, "because why would I dream of HIM?" She pointed to me. "When I have never seen him in my entire life?"

      "Wh... why was I in your dream?" I asked. Why INDEED would someone I’ve never met dream about me?

      "More like WHAT was Jake doing in your dream, Caylis?" Garin asked.

      "It was a fuzzy vision," Caylis said. "All I remember is that he, you, and Jacques were there when the Drenched ripped Isca apart."

      Isca, shocked to silence, sank into her bed.

      "I am sorry, Isca," Caylis said. "But I had to tell you, even if it can't be avoided. I know we have had our differences, but I will be with you when the moment comes-"

      "Be quiet, you!" Garin yelled. "I tell you now, with all my heart, with all my strength, I shall not let Isca die - even if I have to take her place."

      "No, Garin -!" Isca insisted.

      "If Caylis's prediction comes to pass," Garin said, "I WILL stop it."

      "Yeah!" Jacques agreed.

      "That's right," I said. "I do not doubt your powers, Miss Caylis, but destiny, fate, the future, it is always something that can be changed. Some just need a little more help."

      Caylis smiled for only a second. "If you believe so strongly then perhaps it CAN be avoided."

      Isca saw that chance to tell her sister about the tablet. "We have to get it away from the Drenched. It's part of not just Maraqua's history, but OUR history, Sister. Will you help?"

      "Such actions will put you in a situation much like my nightmare," Caylis said. "With that knowledge you still want to go? Is the tablet THAT important?"

      "If you say it's going to happen, then it will," Isca said. "I'm not giving up on life, I'm just not going to live in fear. Will you come, Caylis?"

      "I suppose."

      ***

      Over a cliff the five of us looked, down at the old ship. There was no sign of the Drenched. They were in the ship, some other place they call home, or watching us.

      "So what's the plan?" I asked.

      "Get ourselves killed, of course," Jacques tried to joke. But ever since Caylis's news of her Nightmare, nobody thought it was very funny, not even Jacques.

      "We split up," Garin said then. "Isca sticks with me while we go to the Drenched's hideout - where I can get my Maractite blade back - while the rest of you retrieve the tablet."

      "You will take my sister into the hands of the Drenched?" Caylis growled.

      "We don't really know where those three are at this time," Isca spoke up. "They could very well be in the ship - or somewhere else entirely. They stick to their haunts, but the Drenched have many."

      Caylis grumbled.

      "Don't worry, Caylis," Isca said. "Garin WILL protect me. And I'll bring Goregas along."

      The Gulper appeared out of a tall bush of giant brown kelp.

      "Is everything agreed then?" Jacques asked. "All right, then let's go."

      We watched Garin, Isca, and her pet go. Then Jacques and I followed Caylis to the sunken ship.

      There was that crushing quietness again, as it swallowed us whole.

      "What an accursed place," Caylis remarked. "I am not surprised the Drenched lounge around here."

      "You don't... you know... sense any impending doom, do you?" Jacques asked the sea Aisha.

      "I do not sense doom," Caylis said.

      Jacques breathed a sigh of relief.

      "I dream of it," Caylis corrected.

      "O-oh. Sorry..."

      Caylis smiled at the Kyrii. "Don't worry about it."

      Odd. Caylis didn't remind me of someone who'd be nice too to many Neopets.

      I wonder if there existed a bond of friendship between Jacques and Caylis, such as the one between Garin and Isca.

      We came to the silent ship, circled it three times, then entered it. Jacques stood guard while Caylis and I went to grab the tablet. Only... it wasn't there.

      "Well? Where is it?" Caylis demanded.

      "I don't know." I turned furniture over, to see if the tablet had been buried, or hidden.

      "What's the problem?" Jacques asked from the entrance.

      "The tablet is gone," I said.

      The Kyrii came to look as well. "This can't be good."

      "Oh, I don't know about that," a slithery voice said. It chilled me to hear it. "It depends on who gets the prize. And it looks like I do - " a witch of the Drenched floated out of a dark corner - "that's good for ME."

      "Grr~" Jacques unsheathed both the swords he carried.

      The evil water faerie laughed. "Swords do not work so well in water - unless they are made of Maractite." She showed us a blue, glowing dagger.

      "Garin's blade!" gasped Jacques.

      The sea witch grinned wickedly. "Let's try it out, shall we?" She made to cut the ship's roof support beams in half.

      Caylis shoved Jacques and me out of her way and blasted the evil faerie with magic.

      Jacques grabbed the Maractite dagger, and once again we were fleeing from the sunken ship.

      "The tablet must be in the Drenched's treasure trove," I said.

      "Yes. Follow me," Caylis said.

      I couldn't tell if it was the sun setting or not, because where we were going was darker. Fewer fish swam here, the sea ferns were all a Darigan purple, and rock formations became craggier and twisted.

      "Look there," Caylis spoke then. She pointed to a cave, its outside covered in sick-green seaweed.

      Jacques shivered next to me. "Thought I'd never willingly come here again," he said.

      "I see Goregas," I said. The Gulper was munching on a sparse patch of sparkling sea grass. "Isca and Garin must be inside."

      "And you can bet the other two Drenched are in there with them," Caylis said. "Let's hurry."

      At the end of the cave tunnel was an air pocket. Jacques warned us to surface cautiously.

      Isca was chained to a wall, while Garin was being tied up.

      "You fell for our trick quite easily," the leader of the Drenched snickered. "By now your friends are probably dead."

      Garin spat. "Pirates of the Black Pawkeet don't die so easy. Jacques will be here." He glanced over at Isca and was pained.

      I knew the Usul was thinking of Caylis's vision. How could he help her in the position he was in?

      That's what WE were for!

      "We knew you'd come back for this tablet," the Drenched said, revealing the slab of stone. "So we set a trap.

      "But you can't have this." They caressed the tablet. "This is ours. We're its keepers. Do you wish to know its story? Very well." They laughed maliciously. "Long ago, before the kingdom of Altador had all its twelve founders, the Darkest Faerie came to Marak of The Wave. Even then, before she turned completely to the delicious side of evil, she had a playful - some would say mean - heart. At that time Maraqua was having trouble, yet again, with the land dwellers; and since Marak was now guardian of the sea it was his duty to sort things out. So the Darkest Faerie, in disguise of friendship, made for him a magical tablet that 'promised hope'. It depicted a new Maraqua after a great struggle. But what Marak didn't know was that inside the stone was a spell that would continue the rise and fall of Maraqua: as long as the Tablet existed, Maraqua would be cursed to fall to war, rise up, then fall again.

      "Marak gave the Tablet to the first king of Maraqua. Through the years, as a token of gratitude, the Tablet came into the hands of land dwellers. We sank their ship, and ever since then we have guarded the Tablet."

      Isca stared in horror.

      "That's cruel!" Garin growled.

      "Yes, wasn't it?" The Drenched loved the idea. "That is why the Darkest Faerie is revered by us. If it wasn't for Jerdana's Orb, which wouldn't let us touch the Darkest Faerie trapped in stone, we would have freed her a long time ago - as soon as she reached the ocean floor.”

      "I'm not standing any more of this," Caylis murmured. She sprang out of the water and shot magic at the two Drenched.

      While the witches had gone on with their story, I had secretly untied Garin. Now the Usul stood up.

      "Garin! Catch!" Jacques threw the Maractite dagger to his friend.

      "All right! Back in its rightful owner's hands," Garin said, the blue blade flashing. He immediately set Isca free with the sword.

      "The Tablet..." Isca murmured. "It's been the cause of all our troubles... Even Caylis's and mine! We were born because of it!"

      Garin shook his head. "You were born because you were supposed to be. Nothing wrong with that."

      Caylis was suddenly thrown into Jacques, thanks to the two witches. Jacques fell unconscious against the rocks. And as he sank, Isca's necklace floated off.

      "Jacques!" Garin yelled.

      Caylis dived, brought Jacques up, and put the seaweed necklace back on.

      That's when the third Drenched showed herself. While Caylis was helping the Kyrii, the sea witch pinned Caylis's arms to her side.

      "Ah, we are one again," the other two Drenched hissed.

      While the one kept Caylis down, the other two charged for Isca, Garin, and me. I was knocked over the head with a goblet, but I dodged just in time and only got a bruise; however, I pretended to be unconscious so I'd be left unguarded.

      Soon Garin was apprehended.

      "How do you feel, little Isca, knowing that you were born because of the Tablet the Darkest Faerie created?" the Drenched asked. The stone was picked up. "Wouldn't it be ironic if you lost your life by it?" The Tablet was raised to strike the sea Aisha.

      "No!" Garin yelled.

      Caylis screamed out an unearthly cry.

      My mind went racing. Saving just Isca wouldn't get us out of this. Something had to be done to not only get the Drenched off our backs, but destroy the Tablet.

      There was an article in the Neopian Times that talked about an evil spell the Darkest Faerie put upon Altador, as Jerdana sealed her for the second time. A noble Neopian managed to break the spell, however, by blowing up the Darkest Faerie's statue in the Hall of Heroes.

      So if the Tablet was broken...? But could it be that easy? Maybe something of equal darkness had to destroy it. The Drenched might not be as powerful as the Darkest Faerie, but they were just as dark - and one of them was holding the Tablet as this second.

      I leaped into action, and before the witch could be warned, grabbed Isca; the two of us tumbling to the cave floor just two inches from the Tablet that smashed to pieces against the hard, rough cave floor.

      All three water faeries screamed.

      Black-purple smoke trailed away from the broken Tablet, and I felt the ocean shake and ripple.

      Isca stared at the picture of the twins in the stone, the one who dreamed of hope was cracked in two: Caylis's vision.

      Garin pushed away from his captor. "Time to go!"

      "Huh? Wha...?" Jacques finally came to.

      "No time for questions," Garin said.

      Isca, Caylis, Jacques, and I followed the Usul out of the Drenched's grotto.

      With a swipe of his Maractite blade, Garin collapsed the opening to the cave. "They won't get out of THAT for a while. Come on!"

      ***

      It was the middle of the night when the five of us broke surface.

      "Sorry about the Tablet, Isca," Garin said.

      Isca shook her head. She turned to me. "No, Jake here knew what he was doing. It needed to be destroyed."

      "I guess you misinterpreted your dream," Jacques said to Caylis.

      Caylis smiled for the second time. "I'd like to think I didn't, because that means my nightmares CAN be changed; they just need a little more effort to handle." She looked my way.

      "Well," Garin said to me, "it turns out that you weren't so bad after all - for a tag-along."

      "And you're not such a bad pirate," I said.

      "Hey! Don't spread that around, I've got a reputation to hold up." Garin winked.

      "It's too bad you didn't get anything from all this," Jacques said to me.

      I grinned. "Oh, it's all right."

      Isca and Caylis returned to the sea. Garin and Jacques went their way. I now stood on the beach, alone.

      I took the treasure out that I had snatched from the Drenched's horde. It was a gold Seti encrusted with jewels. Dead script, like that of the Lost Desert, covered the base.

      I put it up to the light of Kreludor. It sparkled. Then it shone like the sun!

      "Ahh!"

      After its brightness passed, I opened my eyes.

      "Whoa..."

      A stream of light illuminated the ocean as it shone a pathway over the sea, in the direction of the Lost Desert.

To be continued...

Come back next time for a journey into the hot desert sun! What will Jake the Explorer stumble into next on his exciting adventures?