Anna was certain her legs would give out. Her muscles burned, her mouth dried out after only a few steps and her green hijab, which had taken on a darker shade from her sweat, was sticking against her forehead and cheeks. Even though they were protected by the green canopy that towered above them, the humidity created by the tropical forest was unbearable. It wasn't even noon yet, and they had already refilled their bottles twice in the little rivers they had passed. She had hated the late night survival training sessions over the past year, but now she was glad she had sat through every single one of them.

While they were paving their way up the mountain, they all realised it was a lot steeper than any of them had expected. Moisty earth made it a slippery walk upwards, and even though they weren't going to be sunburned, the mosquitoes and other insects would make sure they would turn a brighter red.

"Thank Rehua for the quick healing of my ankle," Jack said, trotting a good few steps in front of the girls. "I was really worried yesterday, when it looked all swollen and red. But I guess all it needed was a good night's rest."

Trish looked back over her shoulder at Anna. They were both convinced it was more Anna's ointment that had done the job, but Anna guessed Jack's Māori god of medicine might have helped as well. In any case, a good night's sleep could do a lot in the healing process. Anna had even snickered at Trish's jealous 'out like a candle' comment, even though she was just as envious at the boy's ease at falling asleep.

"Doesn't mean you have to leave us behind, long legs!" Trish called, right before Jack disappeared once more behind a denser bush of palms and ferns. "That boy is unbelievable, walks through a dangerous forest he doesn't know, without a second thought of which dangerous animals could be lurking behind the corner. It's not because the larger predators hunt mostly at night, that there aren't dangers during the day." Trish shook her head, letting her long, blonde ponytail swing around.

Suddenly Jack reappeared, soaking wet from running around like crazy. He had been carrying the purple rock to do some scanning and researching on Lenora 2.0. "I just noticed it stopped shining," he said, showing them the rock. "Did anyone notice when it stopped doing that?"

Trish's eyes turned back to Anna, which she found unsettling. Why were they looking at her?

"I wasn't carrying it, how should I know?"

"You're the expert," Trish responded.

'Expert' was a big word. Their expert was gone now. Anna and Trish should be the 'experts' now, considering they had both taken Professor Janssens's geology class during their masters. For both girls, it had started out as just another elective, but it had soon turned out to be one of their favourite subjects.

"Why? Because I got one point more on that final exam? You're just as qualified."

Anna really didn't like this attention, especially if she didn't know the answer. It made her fidgety and incapable. Her short-comings shouldn't be brought out into the light like this.

"Fine, so we don't know when it stopped, why it did so, and what it actually means. No worries there," Trish mumbled, while she fingered with the strand of hair that had escaped on the side of her khaki cap.

Jack had already stopped listening, his fingers were once again racing along the screen of Lenora 2.0. His eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

Trish took the stone from his hands, and let her bright blue eyes scan the piece of rock. She might have preferred the living above the dead, but she was just as much a believer of communication between all different things on earth than Anna was, whether that was between fauna, flora or geological encounters such as rocks. That shared need to understand how things worked, and how they were linked together had brought all three of them where they were right now. Of course that was also because of their investors, which now, unfortunately, only consisted of one person anymore, Mr. Gallant.

"Oh, oh!" Jack suddenly yelled.

Before he had the chance to explain, Trish snapped her hand on his mouth, turning paler than she usually was. Her eyes had turned bigger, her shoulders were pulled up and she had pressed her lips so tight together that the red of them had disappeared.

Anna wanted to ask what was happening, but she didn't dare to move or make a noise. The absolute fright on Trish's face had frozen her in her place. Silence fell between the three of them, and in that silence, she heard something breathing, so very low that she wasn't sure at first, but together with the crunching of little twigs and the rustling of leaves, it could only be one thing.

An animal.

Anna's heart thumped against her chest when she saw the mountain lion appear in the shadows of the three upper layers of the forest. She lowered her head in her Hijab, hoping she could simply disappear. The animal's eyes glowed gold, and when it pulled apart its lips, revealing two long sharp teeth on each side, Anna made a squeaking sound that had escaped her mouth unwillingly. Tears would soon come, she already felt the corner of her eyes burn.

The giant cat turned towards her and stepped out of the shadow, licking its enormous tongue along its teeth. Its growl made the hairs on Anna's body force itself upwards. She couldn't do anything but squeeze her eyes shut, too scared to do anything.

Imagining those teeth piercing her leg shook her body, making her tremble in place. She crouched down, reaching for her leg.

"Don't sit down, Anna. Keep standing." Trish's soft voice travelled through the nightmarish flashes.

A loud scraping noise made her open her eyes. Trish had let go of Jack, who had disappeared from the scene, and was standing on the other side of the predator. She was holding a large branch in her hands, which she scraped along the uneven surface of the trunk of a large Brazil nut tree. She was pulling its attention to herself, giving Anna the chance to flee. Anna looked at the Swedish girl, not understanding why she would ever bring herself in danger like that. Trish didn't look away from the animal in front of her. Both of them in a staring contest, the cat swishing its tail left and right.

Suddenly, Jack appeared right behind Anna in utter silence, pulling her backwards, step by step. Anna didn't dare take her eyes off the scene in front of her. The animal lowered itself to the ground, readying itself to attack. Unlike Anna had done, Trish grew in size. She pulled back her shoulders and threw her arms in the air, roaring at the animal. She hit the branch against the tree, making more noise. At first, the animal didn't seem to react, but when Jack threw stones from behind Trish – how he managed to get there so fast, she had no idea – the animal seemed to back away. Trish and Jack kept doing what they were doing, until the animal fled. Anna had pushed herself against a tree, cold sweat coated her entire body.

"That was insane," she heard Jack saying, he sounded like an adrenaline junky – too hyped up by that almost death encounter.

"Yes, it was," Trish said, her thoughts somewhere else. "Strange though."

They must've seen Anna cower by the tree, because suddenly they ran towards her, concern filling their eyes. "Are you okay?"

"It didn't hurt you, did it?" Trish gently pulled Anna's Hijab a bit lower so she could see her.

Jack looked away in respect. In other circumstances she would have found it funny, because she had never said he should do that, and she was quite mild when it came to the rules of the hijab. Yet, she never corrected him, she liked how respectful he was.

"I-I'm fine," Anna managed to say, although the words came out squeaky and dry. "I think I just had a minor panic attack." She didn't know why, though. Theoretically, she knew exactly what to do in a situation like this - Trish had made a PowerPoint for her about it - but for a moment, the pain had felt so real.

"Have you had them before?" Trish was still checking for injuries. "I haven't seen you freeze up like that before."

Anna pulled her Hijab tighter against her, even though she was already sweating. It gave her comfort. "No, not that I know of. It was just strange. It was like I knew it would bite my leg."

"It wouldn't go for the leg," Trish countered, shaking her head. "A mountain lion would much rather go for your neck." Trish threw the facts at her face, which didn't make her feel better. "Sorry," Trish whispered with a little side grin.

"It was just fear, it's gone now. We scared it off. Nothing to worry about anymore." Jack smiled at Anna, giving her an encouraging pad on the back.

"Right," Anna nodded. "But I would still like to get out of here though."

Jack pulled her back up. She took a quick drink before they resumed their track.

Anna didn't miss how Trish stayed unusually quiet the entire time.