Mathias

The first time Mathias looks up and catches a glimpse of someone through the trees, he thinks nothing of it. Though he and Lucy don't live right on the boardwalk, it's not unusual for people to travel near their home and he continues to look through the trees for a moment, partly expecting to see someone he knows. But no one emerges onto the path near their shared hut and so he returns to the work on his lap.

For the first time, the island has given him something that he's never used before. The first year he received the tools and since then he's been lucky enough to be given diving equipment. At first, he'd been faintly disappointed with the gift, but now, with the wood working tools and a small, misshaped block of wood in his hands, he's finding he doesn't mind it quite so much. It's a task, something for him to learn, a new skill he's never had before and for that reason alone, he's enjoying his new tools. Even if the wood in his hand looks less and less like a horse with each passing moment.

Sam is playing nearby and he looks up every few minutes to check on her. The horse is supposed to be for her, but he's beginning to think that he's going to end up with a few more practice pieces before he can give anything to her. Glancing up, he watches her push the nose of a plastic elephant into the dirt, then looks into the trees again when he sees movement.

There, just beyond Sam, is one of the men from the base of the hill. Mathias stands in an instant. His wood working tools all tumble to the ground, the block of wood forgotten even as it bounces off his foot and into the dirt. The man has an arrow nocked, aimed at Sam and without thought, Mathias crosses the small clearing to stand between them. Sam looks up at him, smiles, then goes back to her toys as if she doesn't see the man standing there in the jungle.

When Mathias looks down at her, there's a fine green fuzz growing on her clothes and his gaze shifts back to the man in the trees. They don't need to speak, Mathias knows what he's thinking and he wants to make it very clear that nothing will happen to Sam. Even if she carries the vine all over this island, no one is going to shoot her.

He takes a step toward the man, but the second he pushes the branches aside, the man is gone. In the small space where Mathias would have sworn he was standing, there's nothing. Not even an indent in the dirt where his feet would have been.

"Sam, did you see--" But the question falters when he turns to look at her. The green fuzz growing on her clothing is gone, too.

"What?" she asks. "Lucy? Lucy's inside with the dogs."