Maxwell ran for his life he screamed and called out for Marietta but then he noticed that she wasn’t beside him he looked back and saw Marietta calling out. The leopard sat back on its haunches and started batting its tail on the floor. Next it revealed the most luxurious wings like the ones of a majestic eagle. Maxwell started running back. was it going to attack?  But at that moment Marietta climbed onto the leopard’s back. Its wings spread, the leopard-eagle creature started flapping it wings. He ran to catch up and jumped. His sister grabbed his hand had and hauled him up. They flew around on her back for what seemed like hours. They saw the island from above and flew, dangerously close, to the top of the vile volcano that seamed to be filled with melted hot caramel instead of lava!

Finally, they landed. It was a sunset that looked like an oil-pastel painting that had been propped up in front of them. As Marietta flopped against Maxwell she wondered, would they ever find their parents? Were they even on this island?

The next few days consisted of Marietta and the leopard-eagle, which they later named Felicity, racing across the beach.  Maxwell whittled sticks, made fires and collected materials to bring on the journey they were about to make. The days were filled with lots of laughter and joy.

Splash! They fell into the sea. Marietta and Maxwell swam to the shore out of breath. It was cold, salty and there was seaweed everywhere. The island was warm, in an uncomfortable way. Maxwell could smell three things: the salt in the sea, the scent of an unknown fruit quite possibly poisonous and the smell of seaweed on wet rocks at the seaside as they slumped down on the sand.

Marietta stared round from where she was sitting. In front of her was a jungle with a battered old sign labelling it the Forest of Fears. To the left of them there was a massive tree, ten times as tall as the other palm trees around it and five times as wide as an average sized family sized car. In the distance she could hear the rushing of a river. On the right there was a signpost, tall and clear, made of rusting metal. It was marked ‘The Send Me Signpost’ with seven arrows pointing in different directions: one straight forward labelled The Forest of Fears, one to their right saying The Tree of Tantrums and one pointing to the distant sound identifying it as the River of Remedies. Another sign was pointing into the forest diagonally left calling, whatever it was, The Wishing Well of Wealth and finally, one pointing diagonally up over the canopy of trees to a distant volcano labelled The Vile Volcano.

Half an hour later the two children found themselves finishing making their beds out of banana leaves, taking out the everlasting lunch box and building the frame of a fire pulled out their mother’s old-fashioned magnifying glass. This was the only thing she had left for them, ready to cast the sun’s light through it. Marietta passed the magnifying glass to Maxwell as he was better at using it. He held it up to the sun, angled it towards the pile of logs and set it alight. They both settled down. The sun was setting and as they were both really tired they said their good nights. Just as Marietta lay down, there was a rustle…then another one. ROAR! a cheetah, golden and slick, jumped out. Teeth bared. Ready to bite!