~*~

CHAPTER 3

KatLynne sighed and stretched. She struggled to pull off her knee-high boots, she wanted to bury her tired feet deep into the warm sand. Xavier crawled around to loosen KatLynne's laces. She looked at the young master. He looked completely different to his twin, Jana. He had bleached his hair and it was spiked randomly. He wore the same red band across his eyes as his older brothers Zeke and Craig. He'd been making the most of his free time, catching the sun on his face and arms. He wore a ragged pair of denims and a washed-out 'Red Dwarf' t-shirt. KatLynne knew Xav missed his sci-fi. Back home, he was hooked.
He pulled her second boot off and looked up. He smiled at the girl looking concernedly at Kryten's cracking picture. Her purple halter top was *so* close to breaking the rules on uniform. Kat could always get her way. She wore a black pleated mini-skirt. To Xav, Kat was irresistible.
"You're doing it again." Xavier smiled.
"What?" KatLynne tried to look innocent.
"You keep looking at me!"
"Well, what do you expect? I thought coming on this trip would bring us together but I've hardly seen you!"
"O, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you."
KatLynne leaned forward, her eyes closed, expecting a kiss. Instead she felt cold, wet sand sludging down her back as Xavier ran playfully away. Kat chased after him, growling and lunged at him. There was a struggle before she got him to the floor. They rolled over a few times and they stopped, out of breath but smiling. Xav leaned down and kissed her.
All of a sudden, Zeke's voice broke the silence. "Xavier! KatLynne! What are you doing?! Xavier, there's mountains of stuff to be done before Jana leaves the boat this afternoon! KatLynne, consorting with a senior, a member of The Family no less! I could have you reported to Nereeze and it'd be scrubbing duties for a *week*! You *know* how seriously she'd take this!" Zeke was frowning. Kat and Xav brushed the sand of their clothes.
"And *you* know," Xav smiled, "That you have never *once* reported me or Kat for anything!"
Kat hurriedly picked up her boots and scurried past Zeke who's infectious smile took over control of his face. Zeke and Xav hugged and started to walk towards the boat.
"The scouts have been sent out." Zeke said. "We should be off this Goddam' ship by nightfall."
"Good." Xav sighed.
"Xav, have you seen Craig lately?"
"No. He's gone again, I don't know whether or not he's on the ship he went missing a few days ago. I think I saw him with a girl - I couldn't tell who - about a week ago."
"O. Didn't take him long to forget Marie then!"
"No, but she was a nasty piece of work. I didn't trust her."
"Nor me." Zeke laughed humourlessly, "They would have been married by now."
"Mmm, but for Alexei."

~*~

CHAPTER 4

A tall girl with dark brown hair sat, curled up on the kitchen unit in the corner of a dark kitchen. She was waiting for Miss' food to cook through and had grasped this moment to bury herself into a book. As she read she played absently with a string of purple beads around her neck. She was wearing a loose purple shirt and a knee length skirt. Her uniform didn't suit her, she looked out of place. Her name was Katie. Katie allowed herself to giggle. If Cook had caught her with her shoes on the counter there'd have been hell to pay. But Cook wasn't there, Katie was the head of the kitchen now! Katie sniggered again as she realised Cook would probably be dead by now.
Katie had resisted temptation many times to spit in Miss' food. But what difference would it make? Jana would only send it back, screwing her pretty nose up at the product of Katie's day of work. That's why Katie was so angry. Her family had been years in the service of The Family. She resented being forced into a lifestyle she hated.
Cher and Cassia walked in. Cher was smiling, bad sign.
"O look," said Katie dryly, not looking up from her book. "It's the twins."
Cassia lunged forward but Cher stopped her. Katie slid off the unit and faced the sisters squarely. "What's happening?"
"Cass is getting restless-"
"Cass is always restless."
"Cass is getting restless. I told her the plan would be in action soon."
"Yeah." Katie replied, "And so it will."
"Well what do we do till then?" Cassia seemed agitated.
"We wait." Katie pushed past them. "Now, if you don't mind, my souffle is ready."

~*~

CHAPTER 5

Sabine sat on her own in her room. Her legs were curled up to her chin and she clutched a photo. It was dog-eared and on it was a photo of her 7th birthday. In it, a girl with straight strawberry-blonde hair all down her back was standing next to a girl the same age. The other had long ringlets of golden-brown hair. They wore matching floral dresses and stood next to a large cake, smiling. Sabine slid the photo lovingly back into a purple notebook and got up to put it back into her drawer. She caught her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. She wore a black oxford shirt under a purple and yellow tartan sleeveless pullover. Her pleated skirt was chequered green and yellow. She wore yellow knee-high socks and red pumps. Her light ginger hair was streaked with dark red and blonde and scraped into one ponytail on the left side of her head.
Her eyes were decorated with thin crosses and she had a blue lightening bolt down one cheek. She dried her eyes carefully. She picked a piece of light pink notepaper from her immaculately arranged desk. Her room was small but very neat. Sabine liked to keep it neat with all her odds and ends exactly where she could find them without a fuss. Since leaving her parents and living on a large boat run by teenagers was a situation forced upon her, it was nice to have control over the one small room she owned. She really hoped there were some adults in New Zealand.
She sat down in a yellow painted wooden chair. Courtney liked to write, she could spin off a story in 15 minutes and it would be perfectly formed, carefully planned and very imaginative. Now she had to write a letter to the person she loved most in the world and the words flowed about as easily as custard flows uphill!
After an hour she read over the products of her labour.


"Dear Jana,
Please forgive my foolishness. I know it is just as difficult for you but hope you can see that I didn't intend to say such things. To me you are like a sister and I would like very much to meet you and convey my feelings in person. This letter is extremely disjointed and clumsy, I am sorry!
Deepest Apologies,
Sabine Franke."


She was placing the note into an envelope when a tall figure burst into the room noisily. She wore a black skirt with a silver belt. She wore a purple tank top and a silver celtic cross around her neck. Her long, poker straight hair was decorated with purple braids and piled on top of her head in a long pony tail. She looked a little like her idol, Buffy. As she spoke loudly she dragged off her black-heeled-boots making Sabine's room look like a bombsite.
"Ugh. I'm run off my feet out there. They're running around like headless blimmin' chickens! It's all Courtney find this! Courtney why isn't this clean? Courtney go tell so-and-so to do such-and-such. So I thought, where's the quietest room on this ship, Sabe's room!! I tell you one day I'll-"
She stopped as she noticed Sabine's tear-streaked face. "SABE! What's the matter?" She hugged Sabine whou gratefully hugged her back.
"O no. Don't tell me. Jana's been flying off the handle again."
"It - was - my fault." Sabine sobbed. "We were having an argument and I said I'd have rathered wait at home with Mum and Dad and get the virus than be on this stinking boat."
"O, baby." Courtney soothed. "We all feel like that sometimes, you *know* we do, even Jana. Look, lets go find Emilia, she can tell you when it's safe to go near the little drama-queen."
Courtney made a funny face to raise a smile out of Sabine. She grabbed Sabine's hand and started to walk out of the room.
"Um, Courtney," Sabine giggled, "Your shoes."
"Ugh." Courtney sighed as she sat down to pull her boots on.

~*~

CHAPTER 6
Zeke was reading the days itinery(sp) which his girlfriend Nereeze had put together. It wasn't adding up. It wasn't Nereeze's fault, she'd spent a week thinking of nothing else, working every night till the early hours writing plans, scribbling them out, starting again, creating a mound of paper in their bedroom. She'd thought of *every* possible occurence and there wasn't a second unaccounted for. Zeke ran his finger along Nereeze's gorgeous handwriting. There was something wrong. According to the plan, the scouts should have been back to the ship, the information collected and any problems worked over. But in reality, the scouts hadn't got the message to leave yet! Why? Also, the kitchen staff were supposed to have finished all the provisions for the day and started packing all the equipment ready for moving it to the large house Zeke's father was supposed to have arranged. Nothing had happened in the kitchens for two hours, except for Jana's breakfast which had arrived on perfect time and in perfect condition. More worrying to Zeke was the fact that two of the general servants had disappeared, the two most notorius, Cher and Cassia. Even *more* worrying to Zeke was the fact that his own brother, Craig hadn't been seen for days, and neither had Joanie. This spelt trouble.
Zeke stood up and paced around the large bed. He read over the itinery(sp) again. It should have all worked. There must have been a communication glitch somewhere. But where? Something had to tie together Esau the messenger Zeke had sent to Nereeze, Cher and Cassia and the kitchen staff. But Esau was the best worker in the whole operation, he loved his job and he was completely devoted to The Family. And Katie, she was in charge of the kitchen staff and she would never do anything to hinder the family, she was so obedient, her family had been in the business for years. Something was definetely wrong.
Just as Zeke was thinking this, one of his problems was thrown through the door by a furious Nereeze. Craig. His curly hair was messed up and he was wearing the same black jeans and red t-shirt he'd been wearing when Zeke saw him a week ago. He fell on the floor and Nereeze's boot followed him. Craig got up as if nothing had happened and walked over to wear Zeke's sandwich was sitting, uneaten on the desk. He picked it up and took a bite. "Alright, Zeke." he spoke in a completely calm and innocent voice.
Nereeze was standing angrily at the door her chest rising and falling deeply as she tried to catch her breath. "I found him swanning around in Jana's quaters. He was covered in sand! He won't tell me where he's been. WHERE'S HE BEEN ZEKE?!"
Zeke's voice was calm and controlled. He was happy to see his brother, he didn't mind really where he'd been. "Calm down Nereeze." He walked over and gave her a hug. He walked over to his brother and gave him a playful clip around the head. "Where've you been smelly? When was the last time you had a bath, hmm?"
Craig looked up at Zeke and his face was the picture of innocence. He wasn't smiling, he looked like a guilty puppy who'd just chewed up an old slipper.
"Don't pull that cute face on me Craig." Zeke's voice was slightly more angry now. "We've got enough to worry about without people running off all over the place."
"I'm sorry." Craig spoke quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you, I was just so excited about seeing New Zealand."
"Tell Nereeze that!"
"Sorry Nereeze." Craig got to his feet. "I'll try *twice* as hard to be good next time!"
"Go get a shower." Nereeze voice was thick with disgust.
Craig walked out of the room, a slight smile on his porky face. Zeke hugged Nereeze. "I'm sorry about him. He's just a kid really, even if he is nearly my age. He just wants to have a bit of fun. At least he's back."
Nereeze nodded.
"So," Zeke grinned, "How about we take a little break for a bit and catch up on all that lost time?"
"No!" Nereeze said firmly. "We've got to sort out the plans, they're in a *complete* mess."

~*~

Katie paced around the kitchen staring at the ceiling with an exasperated look on her face. She just could *not* believe what those *stupid* girls had done this time. As always, they'd got impatient, jumped ahead and made a *massive* mistake.
"Look girls. I know you two aren't too blessed in between the eyes but I need a little more input from you. Why did you do this? Where did you get him? Why haven't I strangled you both yet? These are the kind of pieces of information which would be helpful."
Cher and Cassia exchanged glances. Cher was the first to speak up. "Now Katie. We needed to do it. We've got to start taking some action."
"Not this kind of action we don't. I told you two to act the obedient servants, didn't I?"
"Yeh," Cass spoke, "But he was going to send the scouts out. He was actively working for *them*."
"Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you Cass? Not everyone is supporting us. We have to be subtle. We can't go throwing our weight around when there are still a few people who haven't been persuaded. Do you know what the word subtle means? DO YOU?!?!?" Katie's face was right up close to the sisters' now and she did *not* look happy. Cass shook, her eyes wide. Both sisters nodded in reply to Katie's angry question.
"Well it's obvious we have our wires crossed because you seem to have forgotten! Subtle does NOT mean running things *your* way. Subtle does NOT mean knocking this kid out and subtle definetely does NOT mean bringing him here to my kitchen! What were you *thinking*?!?!?" Katie didn't get an answer. "Go."
The sister's left quietly. Katie kneeled down next to Esau. He was still breathing easily, that was a good sign. He'd got a nasty bump to the head but that would be alright. Katie shook him gently. "Esau, Esau." her voice was soft and caring.
Esau woke slowly, he looked disorientated. "Where am I?"
"You had a bit of a bump. I found you in the corridor, you're in the kitchen. Were you running somewhere?"
"Yeh, I think so. I had a message for Nereeze."
"That's ok. She's got the message. I think the best thing for you know is to rest. Here," she eased him into a chair next to the large oven. "Wait, I'll be back in a minute."
Katie ran off to find Zeke and do her caring and considerate act.

~*~

CHAPTER 8

Zeke opened the door quietly and ushered the small group into the dark room with a finger on his lips. The three figures stood around the bed.
"He's alright." Zeke said, "He's just had a bit of a bump. He'll only be out of action until tommorrow, Wednesday at the latest." After a pause he said, "I'll leave you to it." and went out to get on with the mounds of unfinished work.
Esau's room was very small and bare. It basically held his bed, a small chest with his clothes inside and a little wooden box in the corner. The box was painted with rainbow stripes and held his momentos of home, photo albums, letters, things like that. On his wall he had a poster of Jimi Hendrix and in the corner of the room at the end of his bed, a green guitar leaned against the wall.
The first person Esau saw was the girl. She was quite short and very thin. She had long wavy hair to her elbows. It was a dark red colour, almost burgundy and was peppered with braids and single ringlets, here and there. She looked a little like a fantasy princess, her skin was pale and freckly. She wore natural looking makeup and had the peace sign painted on her left cheek. She wore a pair of faded denim flares with various added motifs, pockets, patches and pin-badges. These almost covered her red Doc Marten boots with yellow laces. She wore a white, cotton shirt which reached her mid thighs. It had flared sleeves which looked like angel wings when she lifted her arms. There was blue embroidery all down the front of the dress and round the cuffs and collar. She looked quite beautiful. Fitz. Her real name was Hana Fitzgerald, but everyone called her Fitz. Esau smiled at his best friends. Fitz leant over and gave Esau a hug.
Standing nervously behind Fitz was the guy they called Ringo. He was a drummer. His real name was Simon Thomas. He was tall and not very thin, though not fat. He had dark hair to his shoulders which was messy and shaggy. He wore a pair of brown cords and a pair of grubby Adidas retro trainers. He wore a grubby white t-shirt and a grey open shirt over the top. He wore an ank necklace. Ringo shyly peeked his head over Fitz's shoulder. "Hi mate." he said, raising a hand. Esau smiled again. Ringo was never good at offering comfort or sympathy. That didn't mean he was nasty or insensitive! No, far from it. He was just very shy, even with his best friends.
The last boy had only just got off his shift, so he was still wearing his uniform. He wore the same hawaian shirt and baggy black jeans that Esau had worn. Like Esau, he had fair hair, but whereas Esau's reached his shoulders, this boys was only a about four inches shorter than Fitz's. His name was Marty, and no-one had ever thought of changing it. He walked confidently up to Esau. He grabbed him by the hand, shook it and dragged him into a 'manly-hug', slapping his back. The others relaxed, and sat cross-legged on the floor.
Marty grinned. "So, old Seesaw strikes again, eh?! How'd you do it this time?"
Esau was accident-prone.
"It wasn't my fault this time Marty." Esau protested.
Fitz raised one eyebrow, "O yeh?"
"Yeh." Esau looked worried. "I don't know why but I've got this feeling it wasn't my fault. I can't really depend on this but I think the Terrible Two had something to do with it."
"What, Cher and Cassia?" Ringo spoke up.
"Yeh. I know they picked me up but I don't see why they were there when I fell and they've never seemed the good samaritan type."
The group looked at each other. This was obviously going a little deeper than just Esau. It seemed this was something to do with all the chaos that had been flying around the ship today.

~*~

CHAPTER 9

Joanie wandered towards Jana's bedroom. She didn't look or feel guilty. She loved the family but she wouldn't let it control her like Sabine did. She was just about to open the door without even a knock when Emilia opened it from inside and hurriedly pushed Joanie back through it. Emilia looked smart and stylish in her fitted purple shirt and long black skirt. It made the most of her curves. Her dark brown hair was twisted up and gripped with a bulldog clip. Her eyes were decorated with black eyeliner which led into sixties ticks at the corner of her eyelids. "Where the HELL have you been?"
Joanie was younger than Emilia who was 17. Joanie wore blue jeans with silvery sparkles and stars and a blue striped halter-neck top. Her fair hair was messed up from days of hurried washing in the servants quaters. Joanie smiled at Emilia. "Hello Mum." she teased.
Emilia was fuming, her eyes were dark and angry but she didn't scold Joanie, or even say a word. She opened the door quietly and stood next to it, inviting Joanie in, her eyebrow raised in an 'After you...' expression and she watched to see what Joanie would do. Joanie's grin melted. It was obvious Jana was in a mood and going in now would be a bigger punishment than Emilia's angry words.
"I - I think I have some packing to do before we leave for the city." She turned to leave. Before she could go, Marty ran up from the corridor.
"Both of you, I have a message, it's for everyone on the ship. Zeke's called an urgent meeting, it's in the presentation hall in five minutes. He said drop what you're doing and go."
Emilia put her head in her hands and sighed. "Ok Marty, ok Joanie, go to the meeting. Tell Zeke I'll be there in a minute, I still haven't finished her hair yet, and then there's that ridiculous dress, she'll fight that one to the hills. I'll see you in a minute." She turned to go into the room. As they left, Marty and Joanie heard Emilia's muffled voice, then Jana's angry and loud and the sound of ripping as 'that ridiculous dress' became nothing more than a fancy set of dishcloths.

~*~

CHAPTER 10

Zeke looked around the crowded hall. He saw the four 'hippy' kids sitting together on the floor quite near the stage. Craig and Joanie were sitting together, holding hands on the halls permanently placed hard, plastic chairs. They seemed contented enough. Emilia had rushed in and was sitting near the back, frowning. When Zeke caught her eye she beamed widely. He mouthed a question about Jana to her and she rolled her eyes, Jana wasn't going to be at the meeting. Cher and Cassia made their way over to wear Katie was standing in the corner. They looked at her expectantly. Katie just smiled, said a few words and left them looking confused. They were probably hassling her again, poor girl. Xav and Kat sat together in a big group of friends their own age. They were chatting happily and they were obviously the centre of attention. Zeke noticed a lonely looking girl sitting on her own in the centre of the hall looking worried, he made a mental note to strike up a conversation with her once he had said his piece here. He coughed for silence. Nothing happened. He coughed again, louder and the 50-odd faces below looked up expectantly, a revered silence covered the hall.
"I have some bad news..." Zeke spoke clearly and with authority.
There were a few muffled groans.
"We are running a few hours behind schedule so-"
"You're tellin' us!" someone interrupted.
Zeke flashed a smile and the crowd giggled. "We are running a few hours behind schedule so we can't actually leave the ship until tommorrow."
The crowd let out a disappointed groan and groups turned to each other to start discussing it.
Zeke raised his voice. "PLEASE, DON'T START GETTING RESTLESS! I realise how you feel. It's bl*ody awful I know. We are trying to move proceedings along as fast as possible. But, we don't see any point in waiting on the ship tonight if we don't have to. It's a nice night, it's not cold at all outside, if you want to we can sleep out on the beach tonight. What do you all think?"
The crowd roared. People stamped their feet and whistled. Zeke grinned. For some people it was their first venture onto dry land for months.
"Ok, that's settled then!" Zeke smiled even more. "Collect any bedding, medicines etc. you will need for tonight. We'll have a barbeque and then tonight, we'll sleep on the beach. Tommorrow, we leave for The House."
Zeke walked to the steps of the stage. He was just about to dismount when the hall was silenced by a tremendous CRASH from the back of the hall. Every eye turned to see the double doors wide open and an angry figure standing in the doorway.
The figure wasn't very tall but she was powerful. She wore a long, fitted lilac evening dress. It had no sleeves and was cut just below the neck. She wore lilac gloves to her elbows. Her pretty face was screwed up in the picture of rage. She wore purple lipstick with a gold stripe down the middle and lilac eyeshadow. She wore golden blusher and she had five black dots lining one eyebrow starting in the middle of her brow as a large circle and decreasing in size until they reached the end of her eyebrow. She had beautiful golden brown ringlets which were natural but perfectly formed to the bottom of her shoulder blades. She wore white silk slippers and a crystal tiara. The room was silent for minutes when suddenly, a large booming voice escaped from the delicate mouth. "EMILIA!! WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS MEETING?!?!"
"I tried but-" Emilia's voice was calm.
"NO YOU DID NOT! I COULD HAVE YOU ALL PUT ON A MENIAL'S WAGE FOR THIS, ALL OF YOU. CONSPIRING AGAINST ME, SECRET MEETINGS. I HATE *ALL* OF YOU!"
Zeke seemed to unfreeze and he ran down the steps. He ran towards the girl and people cleared a path for him. He took her arms in his hands and looked into her eyes.
Her voice was quiet and deadly now. "I hate *you* the most Zeke."
Some of the servants had never seen this girl before. They didn't know who she was. They all found out though when Zeke said her name.
"Come on. Let's go talk for a moment, Jana."
The pair walked quietly out of the hall and after a few more minutes of silence, the hall was buzzing with conversation again.

~*~

CHAPTER 11

Joanie and Sabine kissed cheeks quickly and then Sabine frowned, concerned at her friend. She stepped aside and Courtney hugged Joanie.
"So," Sabine said, lifting her large yellow handbag off the ground. "Where have you been so long? With Craig I suppose."
"Hmm." Joanie shifted her rucksack on her back. "How do you think Jana's gonna take it?"
"Well," Courtney said knowingly, heaving her bulging holdall with both her hands as they walked out towards the beach. "You saw the 'incident' in the hall earlier, you'll have to tread carefully." Courtney switched the holdall between her hands uncomfortably. Unlike Sabine's perfectly chosen selection of essentials, her bag was bulging with junk and the zip was hardly closed.
"Well I don't care." Joanie said confidently, "If Jana wants to go in a strop she can but I'm not going to be guilted by her."
Courtney raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You really believe what's coming out of your mouth?" she tapped Joanie's head, "Hello, hello, brain?! Are you still inside or have you vacated the premises? She'd eat you for dinner."
"No she wouldn't," Joanie giggled, "She never eats anything."

Fitz and Marty carried Esau's bag and sleeping bag as well as their own night-things. Ringo walked two steps behind clutching his small khaki army-bag. He was looking forward to a night on the beach after months of the stuffy boat.
"How come we're carrying this stuff Ese?" Fitz moaned, "You only banged your head, there's nothing wrong with your arms?!"
"Or your legs for that matter," Marty kicked Esau's feet lightly, "Hurry up, I want to get a good place on the beach."
Esau put on a pained face. "I'm sorry, I'll take them if you want." He held out an arm shakily and sniffled a bit.
"O, all right then." Marty's face melted, "We're too soft on you, you know that?!"
Esau nodded and grinned, he swung his guitar case around his legs. "I'm looking forward to playing some tunes on the sand, under the sunset..." Esau smiled serenely.
"Well we'll never get there at this pace!!" Marty grumbled.

Zeke smiled and kissed Nereeze's nose. "Good idea babe."
"What do you mean?" Nereeze frowned.
"The beach party! It's just what we need to boost moral at the moment."
Nereeze smiled and kissed Zeke's bottom lip. "I love you."
"Bleugh!" from behind them a horrified voice came.
They swung around to see Craig making a disgusted face. "Don't you to leave each other for *one* moment?"
"Craig." Zeke's voice was warning.
"Ok, ok" Craig held out his hands, "I'll make it brief. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened earlier and I'll try to be a better family member from now on, blah - dee - blah, all the stuff you wanna hear, ok?"
Nereeze smiled, this was the closest to a real apology she would get.

Emilia and Jana stood on the top of the gangway. Jana squeezed Emilia's hand as she walked down slowly. Nobody laughed as she'd expected, she even got some smiles. Here where everyone was under stress little outbursts were more acceptable. For now, all Jana wanted to do was have some fun.

~*~

CHAPTER 12

The moon light shimmered gently on the surface of the softly waving sea. The group was spanned across a small section of the white sand. The only sound was the gentle swirling of water and the occasional snore from a heavy sleeper here and there. The group all slept in little sub-groups of friends, families, lovers. A figure on the cliffs looked down and scratched his head. Why had he come here? Well, Ryan didn't really believe in all that mystic stuff, he probably couldn't even *spell* psychic, it was just meant to be, that was all.

He sat down heavily and put his head in his hands sadly. He'd just had a minor argument with Lex. It wasn't a big thing but Ryan wanted to get out of the warpath for a minute. He may not have been a science whizz or good at maths but he knew when to avoid Lex, and tonight was a prime example. In the morning, it would all be sorted, but for now, Ryan just sat and looked at the new people.

He could tell they weren't dangerous. Lex would have gone down all guns blazing and started a fight but Ryan was sure they couldn't see him and he was enjoying looking at all the new faces and styles, pretending he knew the people, giving them all a name and a story. The pale, curly-haired girl down there, with the older dark-haired girl, she was a girl who'd always wanted to act, she was called Sarah and she was looking forward to an audition she had tommorrow for a part in Zandra's favourite soap. The girl with ginger hair next to Sarah was called Jesikah. She was into martial arts and she could kick someone like Jack to the moon and back in a flurry of somersaults and eastern shouts. But then, thought Ryan, so could most people. There were two girls, looked like sisters, who lay with their backs angrily to each other. They had just come back from a trip to the amazonian rainforest. The younger one, Nia had found a rare breed of bird and was just about to capture it for their father's collection when the older one, Ria had distracted her. They had argued and that was why they were so angry.

Ryan was suddenly distracted by a figure moving down below him. She was easing herself out of the grip of a large boy. She dusted herself down and looked up to where Ryan was. Ryan was startled and tried to lie flat against the cliff, tried to blend in with the shadows but she started to walk up towards him.

Joanie woke suddenly and looked up. She saw the sillhouette of a man. (I saw a little sillhouetto of a man, scaramouch, scaramouch, will you do the fandango? - Soz, couldn't resist, Holly!) He noticed her and tried to hide awkwardly. Joanie grinned. She wiped the sand of her jeans and started to make her way towards him.

"Hello." Joanie said to Ryan

"Umm, hi." Ryan was shy, "I'm Ryan." he looked down, ashamed and twiddled his hands nervously.

Joanie smiled broadly, "I'm Joanie, nice to see you." She held out a hand and Ryan shook it more confident now. They sat down and for a while said nothing. When Ryan got uncomfortable with the silence he produced a little red packet filled with maltesers.

He nudged Joanie and threw one up in the air. He caught it in his teeth before letting it drop into his mouth and crunching it loudly. He offered her the packet. "Can you do that?" he asked.

Joanie giggled, "I'll give it a go." She threw the malteser up but failed miserably. It fell in a patch of grass next to her. "O no," she groaned, "I've lost it."

"O, uh, that's ok." Ryan's voice was husky and sweet. "Have another one." He removed one from it's packet, lay the rest carefully on the ground and held the malteser in Joanie's hand in his hand in turn. "Hold it here." he said, "Lean your head back, and ..." He flicked her hand up, sending the malteser into the air, landing it in her mouth. Joanie chewed it and smiled. Ryan noticed he still had his arms around Joanie. He hastily moved them away and sat, with his legs crossed studying the malteser packet with amazing concentration. Joanie smiled again. She liked Ryan. Ryan felt guilty about leaving Zan at the mall and coming here with this girl.

Joanie recognised the look of guilt on his face and said, as if to relieve his guilt, "I can see you're gonna be a great mate of mine, Ry!"

Ryan smiled and turned to face her. He laughed slightly. "Yeh, tommorrow, I could show you the mall."

The pair sat and talked for a while until just before dawn when they each had to go back to their different tribes. Joanie had a feeling that Ryan was going to play an important part in he life pretty soon.

~*~