Glaring into the dark reddish-tinted haze surrounding her, Áine frowned deeply. How had she gotten herself into this? She most certainly hadn't asked for this! Glancing behind her, she caught sight of the of the small band of 3 kids who were apparently accompanying her. It was hard to make out facial features with the dim lighting, but Áine was pretty sure that there were two boys, the taller of which had a head full of rather wavy dark hair, and what she assumed to be the younger had lighter hair, judging on how much of the dark red it seemed to retain. The other, she figured, looked rather like a girl, earlier, but her figure was now shrouded in what appeared to be a thick smoke, which had begun rising along with the intense heat. Wait, it was getting hotter, wasn't it. Oh, fabulous. She thought, as a quick and steadily increasing glow became visible beneath the thick sheets of smoke. A sudden gust of humid air rushed past, sending shivers down Áine's spine. Feeling the ground below her shift, her eyes frantically darted around, gauging the situation. To her horror, the small stretch of land that her and the other 3 occupied had become an island of its own, still crumbling, and jutting precariously about a sea of molten rock. Just then she felt a sickening jolt, then a weightlessness, before an uneasy darkness consumed her consciousness. 

~~~~~

Ouch... Was the only thing on Áine's mind as she forced her eyes open, only to have them stabbed by an overly-enthusiastic sun. What happened? She wondered warily, and upon remembering, frowned again. She was fairly certain that this was not that underground inferno, and that she wasn't dead yet, the latter of which she almost regretted when she attempted to sit up, only to discover that all of the muscles required for that particular course of action ached like nothing. After getting over the initial shock of having a majority of her muscles get a third-degree burn in a hyperbolic sense, Áine finally looked around, carefully noting her surroundings. To her surprise, she saw the other three kids who had been with her in that other place, lying sprawled out in the grass not far from her. Getting a good look at them for the first time since she met them, she almost automatically began to sum them up, figuring that all of her predictions were accurate so far. She decided that the taller boy looked to be about 14 or 13, the younger being 11 or 12 and the girl seemed to be 12 or 13 with strait light-brown hair and an olive complexion. Cautiously making her way towards them, she checked their pulses, finding them all fine, spare the fact that they were unconscious, most likely due to light head trauma. Just as she concluded her decision the boys began to stir. It took them a few moments to adjust to the light, as well, so they didn't really acknowledge her presence until the other girl began to come around. They seemed like they didn’t know how to act around her, curious, Áine noted. Instead they focused on the 4th companion, who had finally got up at this point. Her shocking bright green eyes widened when she saw Áine, but before she could say anything, they were interrupted by a pair of kids, both about 12 years of age. One was a darker boy with a red baseball cap matting down his curly black hair, and just allowing his black eyes to glint in the sunlight. On the other hand, the one who had spoken had long, pin-strait, glistening light-blonde hair, pulled into a high ponytail and fair skin which made her soft hazel eyes stand out all the more. 

“There you guys are,” she said, and to the surprise of the other four continued, “We’ve been expecting you, although we weren’t certain when, or even if you’d get here.” She became silent at the sideways glare of the boy, who completed that thought with a clearing of the throat, instead opting to introduce themselves.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, but for the time being, I’ll tell you our names,” He explained with a thick Indian accent. “I’m Bavesh, and this is Olivia.” He gestured at the girl who had spoken earlier. Encouaged by the expectant, almost questioning look in his eyes, Áine followed suit, 

"My name's Áine." She began, turning to the others.

"You can call me Jack," the blond-hair boy spoke up.

"And I'm Natalia..." The other girl added.

"Keon." Finished the taller boy.

Bavesh simply nodded, "And would you mind explaining what happened." Glancing at the others, Áine shrugged, she wasn't quite sure what exactly happened herself, but would tell them if no one else wanted to.

Natalia opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then quickly closed it, and Áine noticed Keon averting his eyes. Jack was the only one who seemed willing to talk about it. After explaining the conditions of the underground cavern for a while he finished, saying,

"Long story short, I guess all of us ended up stranded on a little island that seemed ready to topple into a pit of lava at any second, but at the last second, when the ledge finally did lurch downwards, this girl, Áine, sort of had this bright blueish light coming off of her, like she was a lamp, and then.... and then we were here!" He exclaimed, giving Áine the feeling that he liked to talk a lot and acted younger than his age most of the time. Disregarding that flr the moment, she began thinking. Hmmm, a blue light, though? Áine was pretty sure she didn't remember that. She looked up at the other two, only to see them nodding nervously in agreement.

~~~~~

Áine (AH-nee-uh)

Bavesh (Buh-VEH-sh)

Keon (KEE-yaw-n)

~~~~~

Good luck!