Chapter 13: The Sea of Currents

"There it is. The Sea of Currents. It consists of the most powerful currents in all of the seven seas," Caden pointed out as the currents came into sight. They were a massive line of constantly moving waves, and they were intimidating. It looked like there was no end to them.

"The currents are calmest at midnight," Alex explained. "So, we've missed the ideal time to pass through, but they're roughest at noon. At least we're not hitting them then."

"But it's closer to noon than to midnight," Shona pointed out.

"We'll have to go through it no matter what, so let's just get through it now," I said.

"The current stretches all the way from the top to the bottom, but stay towards the sea bed. There's less of an impact there," Alex advised. "And whatever you do, don't give into the currents. They flow constantly to the right. Swim through them, not with them, or else you'll get caught, so don't stop. It is possible to make it straight ahead without getting taken when you're closer to the bottom with them not being as strong. They won't take you unless you let them."

I started in first to get the others moving and they followed shortly behind me.

At first I thought it wasn't so bad. There was a current that pulled you to the right, yes, but it seemed like people exaggerated its strength. However, as soon as I got more than a few meters in I felt more on an impact, and I was sure there was more to come. If I were standing and this was a giant gust of wind, I would have been knocked off my feet, which is what it almost felt like. It was getting hard to control my own tail. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be in the center. Now that would be impossible.

I looked behind me and saw that they seemed to be struggling to stay on course some too. Alex and Caden weren't doing so bad. Shona was struggling a little more as we got deeper in, but she was doing better than me. That was the perk of being a mermaid your whole life, I guess.

"How wide is this?" I asked.

It was Caden who responded. "I don't think we're close to half way yet."

Alex swam a bit closer to me in case I would need help. Luckily, I didn't need any. I could manage, but barely.

Caden grabbed Shona's hand and she smiled appreciatively. Only I knew what she was actually feeling. Her heart probably gave a little flutter, just like whenever Elliot and I came into contact before we were together and even still today.

After a little longer we must have hit the halfway mark because I didn't know how harder it could get to stay straight. It was hard to see in front of me with the current rushing past every second. It almost felt like it was going to take my body away from me. At some points it felt like I had no control anyway.

All I could see was the blur of the ocean whirling past and I couldn't hear anything other than it either until I heard Shona say something.

I turned my head a little to listen better. "But did you see that?" she asked Caden. "Something moved down there I swear."

"It couldn't have been anything," he told her. "Nothing lives in here. If you saw anything it was probably just a piece of a plant caught in the current."

My heart stood on edge when I heard Shona say she had seen something, but I felt much better hearing Caden say that there was no creatures in here.

Alex turned to ask Caden about something, probably about the distance, but I didn't pay attention. I had seen something too.

Out of the corner of my eye about maybe fifty meters to my left I saw something float—something swim past.

I calmed myself down. I was just scaring myself. Caden had just told Shona that nothing lived in here.

I looked over at Alex. He was still talking to Caden and Shona so I doubt he saw anything. Heck, I probably didn't even see anything.

I glanced to my left again just to convince myself there was nothing there. I guess that was the worst idea ever because I saw whatever it was again. It went past too fast because of the current so I could only make out a gray blob. Then, there was another one. And a third.

I slowly turned towards Shona. "Was what you saw gray?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, glad that she didn't imagine it.

I looked to the left again only to see more go past. "Were there multiple ones?"

"No," she looked confused, which then turned into terror.

I pointed to my left. Another one swam by. It stopped this time, treaded the current, and turned towards us.

"What is that?" Alex asked Caden.

"I don't know," he slowly replied. The creature then suddenly began to swim towards us followed by more of them.

"Swim!" I ordered, but I don't think I needed to as we all tried to take off with full speed.

"They're currenters!" Caden called out to us. "They're able to ride and navigate the currents with ease!"

"I thought you said nothing lived in the currents!" I called back to him.

"Well," he started. "I've heard about them, but they're just a legend."

"The Sorceress is a legend. The scepter is a legend. You believed them, but you forget to tell us about a potentially deadly sea creature?!" I asked.

"Well don't blame me. I shouldn't have to be the one telling you everything, but I guess you don't know half the things you need to know for this trip because you're just a dumb princess from the land," Caden shot back.

"Guys, there is no time for arguing when we're getting chased!" Alex told us, but I had enough of princes trying to boss me around.

It was hard to get away with the current fighting against us and the currenters were quickly approaching with their ability to fight the currents. I knew there was no way we could outswim them, but there had to be another way. I look around at the vast current.

"Guys, stop swimming!" I ordered them.

"Are you insane!?" Caden asked. "If we stop we get taken by the current."

"Yeah, but we-" I started but Shona's scream cut me off. I managed to look behind me to find that one of the currenters had whipped a tentacle at her, but luckily missed. I had no idea that these creatures had dangerous tentacles!

Caden took it upon himself to protect Shona and barely missed another one. I never got a good look at the creatures, but I knew that they were dangerous.

"Whatever you plan to do, Mel, I trust you," Alex told me.

"Stop swimming," I started, out of breath from fighting the currents. "And let it take you to the right."

"But that will throw us way off course," Caden tried to protest, but it was of no use. Shona had stopped swimming and went with the current while she was still holding on to Caden taking him with her. I stopped and so did Alex.

It was a strange feeling, getting taken by the current. It made the little amount of control you had facing it a gift. I still felt like I wanted to fight the current, but there was no need to. After all, it was taking me where I needed to go.

I was aware of what Caden was trying to tell me, though. I wasn't exactly sure how long the current stretched, but I had seen that it looked like there was no end to it and it felt like it too. The long ride in the current became painful as it left me alone with my thoughts.

Perhaps Caden was right. With how long this could be, it would through us way off course. Of course, I wouldn't know how far it could knock us off course because I was just a stupid princess from the land above.

But maybe I didn't make the wrong choice for once. Not far ahead of us the waters looked different. I heard Alex say that it was the end of the current.

Getting thrown out of the current was much worse than swimming against it. As soon as I hit the edge, the current gave one last push despite the fact that it had slowed down and I sped out with no control. Even after I was out I couldn't regain control. I thought it had the same effect on the others, but I caught a glimpse of them steadying themselves.

It wasn't long before I had stopped, although I didn't realize I had. I heard Alex call out my name and then felt something very hard in front of me.