Leather brown holdall in tow, Lara stepped out of the chartered plane and made contact with the hot tarmacked runway. Hatteras island appeared to be the next logical step as everything she had tried back in England had either failed or created additional barriers to her search. There had been no sign of Himiko or any supernatural occurrences during the transit from London to North Carolina and then on to the sleepy Hatteras island. Although the lack of events should have comforted Lara, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about how normal the journey had been. Billy Mitchell Airport, the only airport on the island, wasn't much more than a small detached building and two port-a-loos next to a beach. It was tranquil and felt worlds away from mainland USA.

Admittedly, travelling to Hatteras was a gamble. The little information Lara could gather from journals and old documents indicated that it was sensible route of enquiry to solving Himiko's connection, however it was loosely based on the hope that spiritual worlds were not connected by geographical boundaries. With some time to kill before she could check in to her guesthouse in Hatteras Village, Lara decided to take shelter from the early afternoon sun in a local coffee shop. Where she was staying was a short drive from Frisco, her current location, so taking some time out to organise her thoughts over an iced coffee appeared to be the most suitable course of action.

There were only a few people in the immediate area; most of whom, as far as Lara could tell, were pilots who had travelled for day trip with 'Mamaras Coffee House' appearing to be the pitstop for most. Inside was humid with the steam from the espresso machine and huddles of starched shirted men fanning themselves with newspapers and flight documents. After ordering a drink, Lara joined in with the piles of paper on the tables by taking out all she found so far on the lost tribe of Croatian. Hatteras had a history that went beyond the settlements of the English invaders, to a time when it was called Croatian. Although it has been suggested that the Croatian tribe were generally on good terms with the English settlers in the nearby Roanoke Colony; they sadly became extinct as a population.

"Or that's what they assume", Lara mused as she read through her notes. Within one of the books she found in her library back in the manor, it mentioned how five survivors fled to an island off the coast of Croatian and created a settlement. The map depicted bore no resemblance to a modern-day map and when Lara checked GPS records, the island was not recorded. It was also a little too close to the Bermuda Triangle for Lara's liking. After the Dragon's Triangle, it was unnerving to find something so similar. It was as though history was repeating itself.

"And I can't lose anyone else", Lara closed her book. She had decided from the start that she had to do this alone. Not only would people be unwilling to take a chance on her after Yamatai, but she didn't want them to. Going alone meant that she was protecting the people she had left in her life. Which at this stage, Lara could easily count on one hand. Taking out a few loose papers, Lara began to lay them on the table in front of her when a muffled chain of beeps rang from her bag. Pushing aside spare t shirts, she grasped for the vibrating phone and looked at the screen.

"Hello little bird".

"Jonah! Hi, are you okay? What's up", Lara began to stuff her loose notes back into the notepad as though Jonah could see what she was up to. She still wasn't quite comfortable about having a phone again after the previous one ended up on the wall of a dingy London hotel.

"I just wanted to check in on you. You have been quiet for so long. Sam got it in her head the crazy notion that you have gone back to the island".

"What? No, no don't think that either of you," Lara grimaced at the ironic situation she was currently a part of, "I'm just taking a break, a little holiday".

"Is that where you are now?"

"Yes…" Lara looked out of the window to the beach with only a few people aimlessly wandering, "On a beach in...Florida".

"Florida?"

"Yes, Florida. What's wrong with that?"

"I just never took you as a Disney person that's all", Jonah said skeptically.

"Well, people are surprising sometimes aren't they? Anyway I'm actually more on the Miami side".

"Lara".

"What?"

"Stop lying, I can tell. You might fool everyone else. But I know when you are telling the truth. Why else would I have tried to convince everyone to follow your lead on the island?"

"Jonah, please…" Lara rubbed her forehead as she leant back.

"Come on little bird, tell me".

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Lara, we've both seen and done some shit over the past year, I trust you."

"But I don't think you'd want to know…"

Jonah stayed silent, knowing that whatever was going to come next wouldn't be much of a surprise.

"I…" Lara started before having a small cough, "I am, erm, I am in America. Off the coast of North Carolina actually."

"And for what reason?" Jonah questioned.

"You know how I told you that Sam was part of some kind of ritual with Himiko?"

"Yes."

"And you believed me then?"

"Yes."

"Well I think Himiko came back with me."

Jonah felt the colour drain from his face, "What do you mean, she came back with you? How?"

"I don't know", Lara said, "But I have seen her. Again. In the manor and strange things have been happening. Like after the press conference. I blacked out and there has been blood on the walls and floor…"

"Lara, have you seen someone?"

"About Himiko? No. I've been researching for weeks, this island is the first proper lead I have had."

"I mean psychiatric help. It's okay to ask for help...wait what island?"

"I told you, I am off the coast of North Carolina," Lara covered her eyes with her free hand and rubbed her temples, "and I certainly don't need any more help. I have had enough of strangers poking into my life."

"Look, I'm working on a boat in Spain at the moment, near Sevilla, come here and you can do your research and when I come in to dock every ten days or so we can hang out and go through things? How about that?" Jonah knew the only way to work around Lara, was to include whatever it was that she needed to do.

"I can't Jonah, I'm here now and I'm on the trail. Trust me, Himiko has a hold over me and I need to sever that cord." Literally, Lara thought as she tugged on the pendant.

The pair paused in their discussion. Neither of them knew what to say next.

"Okay." Jonah said. Although he tried to sound confident, his speech was tinged with reluctance.

"Thank you," Lara sighed. "Just do me one favour and call Sam and tell her I'm okay; but don't tell her I'm here".

"Why can't you ring her? I'm sure she would love to hear from you. She was quite upset when you left the press conference, and because you didn't have a new phone, we couldn't get in contact with you. You weren't even answering our emails. Yeah, she was upset alright".

"I know she would be Jonah, but you understand that I need to work things out right? I promise, once I have sorted all of this out I'll organise something for all of us."

"You do what you need to do Lara, just don't cut yourself off okay?"

"I promise," Lara picked up her bag and headed outside to book herself a taxi, "Goodbye Jonah."

"Goodbye little bird."

Jonah put the phone down and Lara brought the phone away from her ear with a sigh. After booking a taxi she headed off to her guesthouse and began to plan where her journey would take her tomorrow. Her first plan of action, Lara decided, was to head to an archaeological site about five miles from the guesthouse. It was currently abandoned with the graduate students who came here annually, not returning for another few months. Security appeared to be minimal and was in a middle of a wooded area. In addition, the archaeological site was only a starting point for Lara, more interesting elements could probably be found in the surrounding area. As night fell, Lara lay in her room drifting between a sleeping and wakened state. Hoping that for one night, since Yamatai, she could have an uninterrupted period of sleep.

**{}**

"Evidently not," Lara groaned as she sat up in bed feeling the sweat trickle down her back after another wave of dream Oni's had attacked. Her psychologist advised Lara to confront the issue and then visualise putting it a shelf, so she can still see it, but on the shelf it cannot harm her. To Lara, she began to lie in the first place about the events on Yamatai and keeping up with the lies became more stressful than some of the original memories. Putting on a hoodie, she walked to the window to get some fresh air, her brown hair in messy tendrils down her back as they whirled with the sweat. Lara decided she might as well start her day now; it was four am and with the sun only just starting to rise, she had a better chance of trekking undercover into the woodland. Packing up maps, water, rope and everything else she needed for the day, Lara finally attached her knife to the brown leather belt and headed out into the dawn.

Approaching the archaeological site around five forty am, blue tarpaulin covered the excavation site and wove around the skinny trees. Looking for one plot in particular, plot C4, Lara traced on the map where it lay and headed in that direction, being careful to not disturb other sites as they lay very close to each other. Finding plot C4, Lara pulled up one side and slid into the square cut-out in the earth. It was fairly deep excavation plot and Lara's ankles buckled slightly as she fell, not expecting the drop. Recovering herself, she turned on her torch and began searching for a pool of water. According to her notes, plot C4 had an underground spring that was fed from a local aquifer, because of this, the archaeological team were consulting geologists before continuing with their search for artifacts and remnants. The pool was interesting to Lara as her uncatalogued book, the one with the undocumented island the Croatian's fled to, mentioned a cleansing ritual involving a 'natural source of water provided by the gods'.

The pool wasn't large, as Lara nearly stepped in it by accident and was only the size of a regular size sink, but it looked fairly deep. Peering down into the water with her torch, she struggled to see past the floating debris. Cautiously, Lara dipped her hand and then arm into the water, pass the initial layer of scum that remained from past activity on the dig. There were holes around the side, reinforced by rotting wooden structures. Suddenly her hand hit something metallic and she dug deep into the hole to try and excurvate it.

"Come on!" Lara loudly whispered as she struggled to pull the item to the surface.

"Need some help ma'am?" Came a drawl from behind her.

Pausing for a moment before muttering curses under her breath, Lara slowly turned her head towards the source of male voice behind her.

"You do know that this site is closed to the public?"

"Yes," Lara said, her hand still fiddling to release the metallic object. "I'm on a solo trip from the University to gather some samples."

"Ma'am, you haven't moved the tarpaulin and it is a minimum of two people on the site at anyone time." The man lifted the cover and began to descend into the excavation site.

"Is is? I'm sorry, I didn't realise," the object fell into Lara's hand, finally free from it's muddy source. Slipping it into her back trouser pocket, Lara rose from her knelt position. "I'll go, it's okay. Sorry for disturbing you."

"Not so fast Ma'am," said the man, who appeared to be security, but didn't quite fit a typical security fashion with his fairly regular cargo trousers and black polo shirt. "We will need to question you. This is trespassing."

"Do you have any ID and the authority to do that?" Lara questioned, continuing her creeping to a ladder she spotted on the side.

"Are you questioning an official body? Lady, you sound as though you are not from around here, and I don't like your attitude."

"Likewise," Lara retorted, "Show me your ID, or I am leaving."

"Ma'am, I don't think you realise how serious this is."

Taking a chance, Lara jumped up the ladder and pushed past the plastic covering. Running as fast as she could, she dodged between the trees with her hand firmly clenched around her knife; now extracted from it's pouch. Quickly checking behind, she could see that her agility had managed to put some distance between herself and the mystery man. However, she could not feel safe, he was certainly not security, Lara decided, and now she was on at least one person's watch list. Trying to cover the site, and perhaps the island, wasn't as easy anymore.

Taking a left onto the main road, Lara ran down the street and traced her way back to the guesthouse. No one was following her as she slowed down to catch her breath. It was another hot day and her clothes stuck to her body. Reaching into her back pocket, Lara took out the metallic item from the site. It was a small golden spike with a ruby like gem on the top. Lara didn't recall anything from her notes that could identify what it actually was, it didn't look like it could be attached to a chain to form a piece of jewellry, nor was it big enough to be a figurine.

With her head full of thoughts, Lara made her way through the guesthouse and to her room. Turning the key, the door silently opened for Lara to find that no island was immune to her past.