I woke with a gasp as a cold sweat dripped down my spine. I sat up abruptly, nearly falling off the couch in the process, but I managed to get my feet under me.

I stood, searching for a clock only to see that an hour had passed. I then moved on to looking around the room for Sam and Corey, but they were nowhere to be found. They must have still been outside using the dowsing rods. If the bad feeling I was having had any merit to it, then they could be in serious trouble.

"Colby!" I shook him and he grumbled about disturbing his slumber, "Colby, get up! Sam and Corey never came back!"

I moved to the other couch, waking Jake in the same manner with rough shakes of his shoulders.

It did not work on either of them. I needed a new plan, something that was sure to get their attention.

"Taco Bell! Colby, Jake, the Taco Bell is here!"

Before I knew it the pair of them were on their feet looking around like feral dogs for their greasy gas-inducing goodness.

"Where is it?" Jake asked, grabbing me by the arms while continuing to look around desperately.

"There isn't any," I replied and the both of them whined as they headed back to the couches and chairs to go to sleep, "But there is something else more important!"

They both perked up at this.

"Wait where are-" I cut Colby off.

"Sam and Corey never came back and I have a really awful feeling about this and I'm worried something horrible will happen if we don't find them, but I'm also scared to go looking by myself."

"Understandable, let's go!" Colby headed off towards the door as Jake and I followed.

We all pulled out shoes and jackets on, checking our flashlight batteries, and headed outside. Sam and Corey were nowhere in sight so I started yelling for them.

At first, my yells for them came sporadically as we walked towards the forest, since we saw the paddock on the castle door lay undisrupted from our earlier activities. Soon, the yells were more frequent, louder, and my hands began to shake. When I heard the running of water, my screams were constant, leaving no time for a reply. My throat burned in the cold night air and my frost bitten hands hung by my sides.

I heard Jake and Colby talking behind me, but I ignored them continuing to yell as we searched.

"Sam! Corey!" I stopped walking and screamed into the dark void of the forest, "Where are you? Corey! Sam!"

I balled my fists and my eyes stung and warm tears spilled down my cheeks, nearly immediately turning cold in the night wind.

"Lia," Colby said, grabbing my shoulder and turning me to face him, "Are you alright?"

"No!" I yelled, "I just know something horrible is going to happen to them and we need to find them ASAP before they really do get hurt."

I cried harder and started to panic as all the scenarios of what could go wrong tonight ran through my mind. It took me a moment to realize that if I couldn't pull myself together I was going to be of no use to anyone.

I sniffled, wiped my tears and shone my flashlight off ahead into the dark, towards the sound of the water.

"Sam!" I waited for a reply and heard nothing, "Corey!" still nothing.

"There!" Jake yelled, pointing off to a light not too far ahead, "That must be them!"

We all ran in the direction of the light and I saw it sitting on the gravelly shore of the brook. I felt my blood run cold as I looked off at the water.

"No!" I screamed and ran towards the water, only to feel someone catch me around the waist when I was about a foot deep in the water and wrestle me back to shore.

"Lia!" Colby held me tighter as I fought him, "Stop it!"

"No! They're-" I stopped myself as the dream I had of drowning, sinking below the frozen depths came rushing back to me, "No! They're in there, Colby! Please, I have to get them!"

I was sobbing as I argued with him and I heard the crunch of footsteps as someone approached from behind us. I fought harder as the sound seemed to distract Colby enough for him to lose some of his grip.

I broke free from his arms, running back into the water only to be dragged back this time by more than just Colby, Corey was helping him and Sam stood, holding their camera and other flashlight on the shore beside Jake.

I felt my legs go weak as the relief set in and the adrenaline began to wear off. l

"You-" I looked between Sam and Corey, "You're okay? I thought you-"

"We're fine, Lia, let's just all go back to the guest house and we can discuss it there okay. I think we've all had a little too much going on tonight. Let's just calm down and warm up, its's freezing out here and you're soaked." Sam approached and kneeled beside me, helping me back to my feet.

I didn't have the words to express my relief and wound up just repeating the same thing, "You're okay..."

"Yeah," Sam reassured me, "We're just fine. Let's go back to the guesthouse."

"You're okay..."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Corey is too."

"You're okay..."

"And so are you."

I felt the tears coming on again and I started mumbling and ranting, about my dream of drowning, about the fear when I couldn't find them, the dread when I saw the flashlight dropped on the shoreline, and the relief when Sam and Corey had materialized almost out of thin air.

"We're okay..." I ended my rant as we entered the guesthouse and a blanket was draped around my shoulders.

"Yeah, everything is going to be okay, now, so long as we stick together."

I was so exhausted as I fell into the reclining chair by the fireplace, that I wasn't even sure who said that. I wasn't sure who it was that put another blanket over me, or who pulled off my dripping wet sneakers, or who left a bottle of water of the table beside me, but I was thankful. Most of all though, I was grateful, we were all here and we were all alive.