Yahya rushed between the adults and jumped out of the yacht, landing on the water with a splash. He made his way through the sea and stood on the shore. He studied the view in front of him. He took a few slow steps then started to gradually run faster and faster into the woods.

While running, he started remembering all the things he did to Yousef before.

"Oh look who came, the losers."

That was what he sneered a few months ago. Back then, he reckoned he was cooler without Badr and Yousef. He thought that he could live his life happier without them.

Then he recalled the day he fought with his 'friends'.

"How dare you, dude?!" Awad was shouting at him. "You were just using us for popularity!"

"I wasn't. What I said to Alie is NONE OF YOUR BUSINE —"

He didn't even let Yahya finish. "You betrayed me, man!"

"No, I didn't!  What are you talking about?"

"Why would you turn us in to Mr. Elijah?! What a nerd!" Awad thundered.

"I...I'm sorry! I was looking out for you and your reputation."

"Yeah right. You have no excuse. You even talked shit behind our back. You're done bro!"

Yahya shut his eyes tight and ran deeper into the enormous Estermage forest. He regretted everything he did since he came to Evenlane, from the moment he snatched Yousef's bag to this very day.

"Hey, are you alright?" Yousef stretched out his right hand to help Yahya.

"A..I..I'm fine," Yahya said awkwardly as he took Yousef's hand to help him get off the ground.

"You're Yahya aren't you?" Yousef recalled.

"Y..yes, thanks."

"I'm Yousef, I think I saw you at the football and the reading club. What happened? What were they doing?"

"No..nothing."

"C'mon, I saw them attacking you."

Yahya sighed and then admitted: "They..just stole my money. The hundred points that were in the locker."

Yousef was so concerned about him back then. Even though Yahya stole his bag before.

Yahya ran even faster and his hoodie was pulled by the wind so it fell on his back. Tears were starting to drip from his eyes.

"That new face you're making...I HATE IT!"

He tried to hold it in. All this time, he tried to run away from the fact that Yousef hurt him badly. It was like fighting a hurricane.

"Traitor!"

The word resounded in his head. Yes, that was the word that tore his heart apart, only because it was...true.

"Traitor! Traitor! TRAITOR!"

Yahya screamed but he couldn't hear himself. Rain started pouring all over him, wetting his clothes and hair. But he kept on running.

"He left us! To spend time with his other friends! He just wanted to become popular! I FORGAVE HIM THE FIRST TIME!"

Yahya really wanted to be happy. He wanted to be happy that Badr forgave him and gave him another chance. He realized he couldn't forgive himself because he didn't prevent Murad from shooting Badr. The worst thing was, he predicted Murad's plan correctly. But he still couldn't stop Murad.

'Of course I couldn't,' he thought. 'I'm just a failure...I'm nothing but a traitor.'

Yousef's words just kept on echoing in his head.

"HE STOLE THE BAG WITH MY CREST AND I FORGAVE HIM! I'M NOT GOING TO FORGIVE HIM A SECOND TIME! HE'S NOT WORTHY OF MY TRUST! HE'S NOTHING BUT A TRAITOR!"

Yahya yelled at the top of his lungs as his shoes splattered water across the now wet grass. He dashed through the puddles of rain that had formed in the mud.

Yahya's legs ached from running. He slowed down and finally stopped. He breathed heavily and stared at the sky. The more he thought about it, the more his heart would suffer from the pain he hid. His sobs were silent at first but were quickly taken over by his flood of emotions and he broke down entirely.

He leaned against the bark of a tree and slowly slipped until his body hit the ground with a thud.

***

"Okay guys, we need to start moving the ship now because it's raining!" Mohamad ordered.

"Okay do we go inside?" asked Jack, who was drenched in water.

"Yeah, go in," Mohamad replied. Donia lightly pushed the kids indoors one by one. The club members gathered inside as the yacht started moving away from Estermage Island.

Malak scanned the chatter-filled room. A few minutes passed and she perceived that someone was missing.

'Hmm...' Malak thought to herself. 'Noor is here...Badr and Yousef are over there...Bilal? No, he's sitting there. Then who? Yasmin? She's talking to her parents!'

Malak scanned the room carefully. 'Jack is right over there! We are supposed to be eight students...not seven! Oh my gosh, who's missing?'

Then she spotted Wael conversing with Louis. 'Wait!' she noticed. 'He's usually talking to Yahya! Wait...where is Yahya?'

Malak gasped. "Guys! Yahya's not here!"

"What?" Wael faced the young girl. "I think he's sleeping inside."

"I'll go check," Donia stood up. Minutes later, she returned, worried. "No, he's not inside! Where did he go?"

Wael stood up immediately and opened the door to search for Yahya outside. Malak followed him hastily.

"Wait Yahya's not here?" Yasmin looked around. "I didn't notice!"

"Do you think he's still in the island?" Mohamad suggested.

"No, I saw him on the yacht right before the rain started!" Badr replied. "He can't be still in Estermage!"

Yousef shifted uneasily in his seat. Was Yahya really not on the ship? Did he hear Yousef's rant earlier?

A while later, Malak and Wael returned with bad news.

"We checked everywhere!" Wael told everyone. "Where could he be?"

"Daddy said he might still be in Estermage island!" Yasmin informed them.

Louis quickly asked: "Does he have a phone?"

"No, I don't think he does," Bilal answered anxiously.

Wael breathed heavily.

"It's all my fault! I should've noticed earlier!" Malak cried.

"No, it's not your fault," Yousef stood up. He knew it was his own fault for not forgiving him.

"It's okay, we'll find him! I have good night vision!" Badr declared.

"But Badr, your shoulder!" Malak opposed. "You can't go in the rain like this!"

"Okay, let's all go except Badr," Donia recommended with a serious face.

"Unfair!" Badr whined. "I'm going, I don't care!"

He grabbed Yousef's wrist and marched outside the room. "What a stubborn boy," she sighed to herself.

Badr and Yousef stared at the sea underneath. They nodded to each other and were about to jump when they heard Wael from behind them.

"I already told the sailor to turn back," Wael haulted Badr and Yousef from jumping in the sea.

"But that would take too long!" Badr explained.

"It's okay! It's just a couple of minutes!" the sailor shouted.

Wael faced Badr and Yousef. "It's alright. Yahya will be fine...I think. Did he...tell you what he wanted to say?"

"Mhm," Badr nodded and Yousef looked over his shoulder to see Estermage Island.

'I hope we get there soon...' he anticipated. Now he really regretted what he had declared earlier.

A few seconds of fear passed over the group, but at last, the yacht stopped by the coast of the island. The search began.

Mohamad was shouting orders at everyone. "Louis, search with Yasameen and Noor in the houses! Donia, go with Yasmin and search near the shore! Wael, Bilal, Jack, go to the left and search there on the way to the cave! Badr and Yousef, you can search with Malak in the forest. I can count on her because she found you last time. Murad, come with me and search near the cliff!"

Everyone set off to scour in their assigned places. Badr, Yousef and Malak swiftly paced around the forest, hunting everywhere for any sight of Yahya.

"YAHYA!" Badr echoed loudly. He hoped his loud voice would be of help.

"YAHYA! YAHYA! WHERE ARE YOU?" Malak yelled.

They couldn't really see because of the thick fog that was forming around them, but nevertheless, they still loomed around under the rain. Malak's throat was cracking. It was too dark and what if they couldn't find him?

Yousef started stomping on the ground angrily. This was all his fault. His head was filled with horror scenarios.

The rain was pouring even more now and Badr was starting to think that this search was going nowhere. Just after repeating his name again, Badr finally spotted a figure that he deemed was Yahya. He moved closer towards Yousef, who was mentally cursing everything.

"Yousef," Badr pointed. "I think he's there."

Yousef nodded and left to check. Malak decided to follow him, but Badr stopped her.

"What?" Malak's expression showed a sign of worry and confusion.

"Leave it to him...they're kind of...mad at each other."

"Oh alright. Let's check if there are any herbs here then," Malak suggested while walking forward. Badr's hand on her shoulder made her blush, when she recollected again what Noor had assumed.

"That's cool, let's see," Badr trailed behind her.

While the duo were examining herbs around the wet bushes, Yousef approached Yahya quietly from behind. He heard muffled cries coming from the hooded boy and instantly felt horrible.

"Y...Yahya..." Yousef kneeled down next to Yahya. "Please, don't cry..."

When Yahya encountered Yousef, his eyes were puffy because of how much he cried. Yousef's heart raced faster in pain and agony as he remembered how he insulted Yahya harshly.

"I..." Yousef began. "I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings this much. I'm sorry...I didn't think you cared about me. I'm really sorry I was harsh and mean. I'm...the worst friend anyone could have."

Yousef's fingers circled around muddy ground in regret. Yahya wiped his nose and sniffed as he sat up straight.

"N...no, don't say that," he said in a low voice. "I'm the one who is a bad friend. I'm a traitor...just like you said."

Yousef's eyes watered a little and he swallowed: "No...I didn't...mean it like that. Please...just ignore what I said. I was wrong. Traitors don't cry. They don't feel bad about what they did. You're different...you care. You apologized so kindly before and I was really rude. I-I forgive you, Yahya."

Tears formed in Yahya's eyes. "Yousef...a-are you sure? I really don't deserve it..."

"No, you do. You deserve friends."

"Thank you," Yahya's lips thinned as he smiled softly. "Do...I really?"

"You do," Yousef wiped his nose. "You deserve friends."

Yousef lightly wrapped his arms around Yahya's shoulders as tears fell down his cheeks. Yahya placed his hands on Yousef's back and patted him gently.

"Thank you so much...really, thank you..." Yahya whispered.

"Don't thank me, it's embarrassing," Yousef pulled away from Yahya.

Yahya chuckled quietly and smiled again. Yousef smiled back at him.

"There's only one way to fix this. Promise me that you will hang out with us," Yousef proposed.

Yahya hesitated. "If you insist."

"Don't be shy to talk to us," Yousef told him. "Promise me that we'll be good friends from now on."

"Okay, I promise," Yahya agreed finally. The two boys intertwined their pinkies together.

"Good, now let me teach you how brave knights would make their promises. My dad taught me," Yousef placed his fist on his left chest where the heart was.

"Um okay," Yahya imitated Yousef by placing his right hand on his chest. The two smiled at each other and Yahya giggled immediately.

"How brave," he said sarcastically. "You're so weird, Yousef."

"Hey! Shut...up!" Yousef blushed and Yahya laughed.

Badr and Malak heard Yahya's laugh and agreed to check if the two were done talking. They took a few steps over to Yousef and Yahya.

"Guys? Are you okay?" Malak asked. Yousef and Yahya looked up at her.

"Yeah, we're good," Yousef answered while standing up and brushing the dirt off his pants.

"Yahya, are you okay? Why did you stay here?" Malak questioned Yahya.

"I just thought..." Yahya stood up. "That I wasn't worthy of having friends."

"No, Yahya, don't think that! I'm your friend! And so are Badr and Yousef!"

"Thanks, Malak. You're really considerate."

Malak and Yahya smiled at each other. Badr grinned happily.

"So now we can go back to Albasea, right? We are all happy and we all forgave each other! Let's go!"

The quadruple made their way back to the shoreline. There, they met up with everyone else and Yahya explained that everything was fine.

"Were you crying?" Bilal accompanied him to the yacht.

"No, I wasn't," Yahya answered.

"He's lying," Yousef broke in. "I saw his face, it was wet from crying."

"What?" Yahya defended. "No way! That was just the rain!"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wael warned from behind him. "Your clothes are soaked, you might catch a cold."

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Yahya lied as Wael pushed him inside the yacht.

"Hurry up, go in and dry yourself!"

The group went back to the yacht safely and everything was peaceful. The ship finally set sail to Albasea and the sailor predicted that they will reach there by afternoon or so.

"Okay kids, go to sleep now!" Donia ordered. The students couldn't argue back because it was midnight and they really needed some sleep.

The boys were all crammed up in one of the bedrooms in the luxurious yacht. There was one big comfortable bed with white cotton cushions. Badr and Jack were practically fighting for space in their sleep. Next to Badr was Yahya, who was barely on the bed, but was still fast asleep. Nearby, Bilal was resting on the leather lounge chair still awake.

Yousef couldn't sleep either because there was no space on the bed. He decided to leave so he tiptoed quietly out of the bedroom and stood on the deck. The rain ceased from earlier and Yousef could see that the night sky was clear now. The night blue sky was cloudless which helped Yousef observe the many gradients of dark blue.

Yousef heard the sound of footsteps so he turned around to see who it was.

"Hi Yousef," Malak's voice was low but clear.

"Hey."

"Are you here because you can't sleep?" she guessed.

"Yeah."

The two stood in silence. Yousef gazed back at the sky; the speckled stars formed constellations that he tried to visualize.

"The sky is beautiful..." he whispered.

"Isn't it?" Malak agreed. "It's so mysterious."

"I always dreamed to see the sky up this close."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm so happy that I get to see them now. Back in my house...the stars are far away and just not as important."

Malak chuckled a little. "It's good that you can see them now."

Yousef could finally see what he wished to see for so long. The stars were gathered around more than usual so the night sky shone brightly with their presence.

"It's also good that you made up with Yahya."

"Mhm. I felt very guilty about hurting him but I'm glad that we forgave each other after all."

"Yousef?" Badr's biggest desire, caused Malak to suddenly muse. "Why do you want to go to Moonland?"

Yousef pondered over the question. "I'm not too sure...maybe because the stars are so close there. Think about it," His eyes met Malak's. "It's so high up in the sky...and the stars are probably so close that you could touch them."

"That sounds relaxing...By going on those adventures, I would like to collect the magic water that can heal anything. I want to use it to help people all around the world, especially poor countries that can't afford medical help."

The crescent moon was also enhancing the view of the night. Yousef placed his hands on the balcony of the deck and continued staring at the endless patterns in the sky.

"That's nice. I wish I had an amazing goal like that."

"It...it's not that amazing...but thank you," Malak put her hand on Yousef's right hand and beamed at him.

Yousef blushed a shade of crimson and turned his head to the opposite side of Malak.

Author's note: Yo guys, what's going on? This chapter was an dramatic chapter explaining all about Yahya's emotions. I hope you liked it! Tell us what your favorite part was! <3

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this book! This book is actually about to end, because there will be only around four or five chapters after this one. We have been busy planning the second book which we will be posting later this year. So stay tuned for that if you would like to read about more adventures and fight scenes. (This book is just the beginning to explain about the school, but the real plot and the true villains will be introduced in the second book!)

We want to give a big thanks to qstarfire because without your support, we would've never reached this far. Thank you for all the votes and comments on this book. We both hope you continue reading this series. ❤  (also thanks for believing in Yahya) Of course we will dedicate other chapters for other readers, either in this book or in the next!! ❤

Credits to Jan-Christoph Allermannfor composing this music track.