The hands of the ancient clock moved slowly as time seemed to stretch on for an eternity. This definitely wasn't one of Professor Ramnis' days for a lecture for it seemed booring but finally she was freed as the bell rang dismissing the class.

The sounds of chairs scrapping across the wooden floor eechoed in her eyes as other students couldn't wait to bolt from the class. She had been amongst them when the professor called out to her as well as two of the other girls. At least she was not being singled out.

Soon though, the room was virtually empty and the girls were faced with the young professor who pressed his glasses further up his long nose before speaking.

"Girls, I read the recent drivel that you tried to pass off as papers though they lack the heart and essence of the subject matter. However, since your work usually isn't of such a poor quality I have decided to allow you to rewrite your papers on nature and what you experienced during the nature hike we had last week. Go back out there, live it, feel it. Go alone or with each other, I don't care though I'm not the one going through the course.

"I realize that most people find botany a bit, well bland. They get bored when I lecture about the history of this plant or that, how it was discovered or the history behind it. A lot of people think that this is unimportant but when you break it down it effects us every day. From coffee to cigarettes to medicines all steeped in history, all discovered in their own rights and often with a rich story behind those discoveries.

"That is all, girls, I expect any make up papers after the weekend, if I don't have them by Monday I'll have no choice but to enter in your submitted papers to the grades."

Alynia sighed, even though she knew that the paper she had turned in was lackluster at best, she hadn't expected the teacher to reassign the project. Alynia knew she should be thankful at the opportunity to have a better grade, but honestly she just wanted the project to be over with. Alynia walked next to the other girl that had been called up to his desk as the exited the school building onto the slightly windy but delightfully sunny campus. "You want to head back through the jungle together? So we can find the 'heart and essence' for our papers?" Alynia asked the other girl adding the last part with a giggle. "My names Alynia by the way. " she introduced with a smile. Alynia's smile quickly turned into a blush as a particularly strong wind rolled between her legs lifting up her skirt revealing not a pair of the school issued underwear but a bold pair of red panties.

"What I'd really like to do is just blow the lame assignment off but no luck there ... another wasted weekend," the girl sighed then pushed back her red bangs that needed a trim. She smiled at the gust of wind and the reaction it caused her then moved to supply her name as she held out a hand.

"Kimberly Adams though you can call me Kim. Yeah, I guess. Today's no good though I got to do volley ball practice this afternoon, tomorrow sometime after 3 works best for me, I got early practices on the morning and of course nothing on Sunday though the problem with that would be little time left over to write a paper unless it's early Sunday morning giving me the afternoon and night to work on it. Stupid botany ..."

It didn't seem as if she cared for the course much but needed the credit it provided her. I guess that it wasn't going to be an easy A like she originally thought.

"Sounds good to me!" Alynia stated amused at how hectic Kim's schedule sounded. Alynia tucked her sleek long black hair behind one of her ears to prevent it from getting in her face. "Tommorrow at 4 then. she declared clicking her heels together. "I have karate until 3 anyway. Let's meet In front of the locker rooms?" Alynia was new to the schools small martial arts team, she wasn't very talented yet but she joined in the hopes of doing something she's never done before. Alynia laughed as she listened to Kim complain about botany. Alynia agreed completely. "I don't understand what's so great about the study of plants anyway. All they do is sit there.. And eventually get turned into coffee or medicine or whatever." Alynia added but just like Kim she desperately needed to pass the class for the credit.

"Tomorrow at 4, sounds good to me." She nodded in agreement with her, she didn't really see the point in plants but since she needed 20 credits per year ...

When she next saw Kim it was the following day in front of the locker room as they had agreed on. She wore a pair of hiking boots, khaki shorts and a sleeveless white shirt. Her long hair had been tied back into a pony tail and she wore a yellow head band. She also had a backpack though instead of wearing it it was slung over a single shoulder.

"Welcome to the wonderful life of botony," she said sarcastically. "I got drinks and sandwiches if we get hungry. I was thinking of hitting the east side of the island, one of the girls told me there was once a ghost ship near there though I haven't heard anything said of it recently so it was probably someone lying about it."

Alynia was wearing a black sports bra underneath a small tan travel vest. A pair of tiny black spandex short covered her behind. Alynia had kept her black hair down but similarly to Kim she was wearing a pair of worn out hiking boots. "Oh thanks. I didn't think at all to bring food..." Alynia stated sheepishly as the two girls started walking toward the edge of the forest. "But I did bring this!" Alynia said holding up a small digital camera. "It'll be a lot easier to describe the plants in our papers if we took pictures." Alynia explained. They walked side by side as Alynia listened to Kim explain about the ghost ship. Alynia nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds cool, it won't hurt just to check it out." By now the girls were inside the thick jungle. All they could see was a narrow dirt path surrounded by a sea of exotic foliage. They headed down the path that lead to the easy side of the mountain. Alynia trailed on behind Kim watching carefully where she stepped and stopping occasionally to snap a picture of an interesting or well known plant. It was incredibly humid inside the jungle, it wasn't long before Alynia was beginning to feel a bit weary. She took a moment to wonder of this ghost ship even existed.

The ship probably didn't exist or if it had it could have been sighted out at sea one day no where near the island. It was hot, though thankfully the foliage over head shaded them from too much light bathing the forest floor and to her relief there was an occasional breeze from the east carrying with it the scent of salt and the ocean.

It was great that she brought a camera, Kim had wreaked her's some time ago and hadn't got it fixed just yet not that there had been any place she could take it to be fixed ... Lynn, the girl who had told her of the ghost ship actually, was a gear head though it had never crossed her mind until now to bring it to her.

Little where they aware of that they weren't alone. In the trees Aegir had been sleeping, his skin a spotted brown to match in better with the bark. He awoke at the sound of their passing, a single eye lazily opening as he peered in the direction of the two.

What a treat! And he wasn't even hunting. The day had been too bright for him in most places and when he was hunting in the forest he tended to stick closer to the hiking trails but he wanted to sleep and he knew full well that if he were around there other monsters would be constantly waking him with their hunts, thus he came here to rest not expecting to hunt.

Being a telepath it was an easy matter for him to scan their memories and find out what brought the pair here. So they were looking for that ghost ship ... ah, yes, Lynn, he remembered Lynn quiet well in fact they had a deal going for them.

Should he re-create it? Naw ... he thought of something else as the two moved on he connected with their minds so that they would endlessly walk the same stretch of path but their senses wouldn't realize this as he fooled them with changing scenery. He was so slow moving that the little ruse helped as he opened his other eye, oozing out of the branches as he dimminished all sound of his movement from their minds as well as any visual cues they might have. It was time to play ...

Alynia felt the heat getting to her. She was stopping ever so often to capture another picture of a plant. She was amazed at Kim's stamina for Kim was a few yards ahead of her. "Wait up!" Alynia called with an exasperated smile jogging a bit to catch up with the red headed girl. Her breasts bounced slightly with each step before she caught up with Kim. They walked along the trails a bit further. "My gosh it's like this trail never ends!" Alynia stated with a good natured laugh. "Look at this plant! Alynia suddenly said bringing up a picture of a beautiful, large, hanging purple flower. "I think I'm going to base my paper off of this species of plant." Alynia tilted her head noticing a smudge
of brown in the corner of the photo. The brown was a blur which made Alynia think that whatever it was, it was moving because Alynia was stationary whe taking the photo. Alynia pointed this out to Kim but she shrugged it off saying that it must've been bark from a tree. Alynia shrugged and agreed with Kim but couldn't get the nagging fact out of her head that trees don't move.

No, they don't ...

He was slow in his movements toward the two girls, freezing moments before Kim glance his way to gaze at the hanging plants there but they seemed too distant to make out too well so she went back to examining the photo he could hear the pair discussing the photo and what it was. Distraction time ...

There, nearby, was a slight rustling in the bush that attracted the two's attention. An animal? But there was no animals on the island right? Then one of the red flowers disappeared as if something cut through it like an axe going through a tree in one sudden chop. Needless to say the flower vanished from sight but the rustling continued in the bushes near the flower.

Then a split second later there was a smudge of dark green they could make out moving slowly through the bushes towards a small cave mouth if if could be called that, either girl would have to crawl to fit into it.

Alynia's head shot up at the rustling. "What was that?" she wondered outloud. She squinted at the site where the noise had came from. "We should go check it out..." Alynia stated a bit nervously. She didn't think there were any animals on this island. Alynia walked over to the cluster of bushes and pushed the branches out of the way with a single arm. She gasped realizing that she had discovered a small cave entrance. It was rather small but it was big enough for the girls to crawl through if they really wanted. "Check this out." Alynia called out to Kim. Alynia was a bit suspicious, if there weren't any animals on the island then what could've made this hole? "Reckon we should try and get inside?" Alynia asked timidly. Alynia crouched down on all fours to peer into the hole, but all she could see was darkness.

Nearly as soon as the girls approached the rustling sound it froze then as they drew closer they heard it once more briefly.

"Yeah ... what was it ..." Kim asked as she approached though near the cave mouth on the ground was a reddish flower, the same one that they had seen moments before. The stem looked as if it had been cut rather than bitten or plucked.

As she gazed into the cave having thoughts about animals she thought she saw something moving rather quickly at the rear of it in to shadows moving away from them though the chamber fell silent. It didn't appear to be too deep, judging from the size of the hill it was set in the cave itself couldn't be too large right?

It went in ten feet or so then twisted to the left. It wasn't that high or wide, big enough to crawl through.

"It could be dangerous ..." from what if they were no animals Kim did not know though she just said it out of instinct as she gazed inside the shadowy cave. "Ooh ... quick, take a picture!"

"Good idea!" Alynia exclaimed raising up her camera with one hand, snapping a picture. The shutter clicked, but all that appeared on the screen was black. Alynia sighed as she sheepishly turned on the flash and took another picture. It looked like the small cave turned so all the girls could see on the camera were the rough dirt walls. What ever had moved was most likely deep inside the cave by now. "I wonder if whatever went in there cut this flower" Alynia stated while taking a picture of the cut red flower. She picked it up nimbly between her fingers and held it up for Kim to see. "It's a shame, what a pretty flower." Alynia mused twirling it between two of her fingers. Alynia stood up and backed up taking a picture of the entire cave. Alynia's curiosity was spiked and she was honestly a bit frightened.
What was that?

"I'm not sure ... hey don't some ants cut flowers and bring them back to their dens well this isn't an ant hive but ... hey, let me see that picture again."

She gazed at the image and while whatever it was that had race off there had long since been gone the interior of the cave was bright enough here to illuminate anything, which with a quick glance hadn't revealed all that much but Kim point at something near the bend in the cave. "I wonder what that is."

Partially obscured because of the bend there was a tiny object that could have been ... no it couldn't be ... an end table of some sort with a vase one it and very small flowers. Of course the obscurity of it only made it likely it was something else and only now did their minds form shapes and images out of something that occurred naturally.

"Awh, It looks like a little table with flowers" Alynia joked crowding around the digital camera with Kim. "Though it couldn't really be that..." her voice trailed off. "Could it?" She lifted her gaze from the camera briefly and looked behind her almost expecting to see an army of angry ant people. She shook her head stubbornly, ridiculous, what was she thinking? "It's probably just some wierd dirt formation" Alynia declared with a chuckle. Alynia took the camera from Kim and leaned back down to take a picture of the hole again this time trying to angle her camera to focus in on the suspiciously furniture shaped dirt. When she had a successful image she got back up and furrowed her eyebrows. It really did look like an end table. Alynia brushed herself off while thinking hard. "Maybe we should move on." She suggested tugging lightly on Kim's arm. Alynia was actually rather curious in finding out what this hole acually was but at the same time the cave was beginning to give her ominous feelings.

"It can't be ..."

Kim shook her head slightly then gazed back at the mouth of the cave and watched as she took another picture. She looked at it again with her and shook her head slightly as she viewed the image. "It looks like it, probably just some odd shaped dirt on the wall and flowers growing out of the wall or something. Alright, let's move on."

She glanced back as Alynia had but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly this was a bit bizarre from what she knew about the island. If there were no animals here then what? Little men? That was absurd and it was more likely that she believed there were no animals here because she hadn't seen any and just assumed that there were no based on the experiences she had as well as the other girls that she had spoken with.