The boys reacted to her question by swimming in circles and trying to find the ship, which clearly wasn't there. Femi felt her chest tighten again, and her face went as pale as possibly could have gone.
"Alex" She snapped "Where's Erk's b-boat??"
Alex glanced at her, and at seeing the stern, panicked look on her face, avoided it as much as he could. He rubbed the back of his wet head and sighed in defeat.
"Uh... I dunno'." He stated, sounding just as shocked.
"Wh-what do you mean 'you don't know'?" She repeated bitterly "Do y-you mean to tell me th-that you left the boat w-without informing Mr. Erk of your plans??"
Alex finally looked at her, and suddenly felt like he was ten years younger, and back in the classroom with his teacher. He didn't like how she was able to belittle him so easily. He rolled his eyes, and splashed the water angrily.
"Yeah, that's what I mean, ok?" He growled back "But h-hey, let's not forget who just saved your shiverin' little ass."
Jonathan looked down at his soaking chest and began padding it with his palms, as in search for something. Femi and Alex, however, remained focussed upon the stern dispute that was arriving.
Femi laughed "S-Saved? Saved??"
She let go of her brother, and swam out into an area of her own. She looked around with a pure look of sarcasm plastered upon her face, and she held her hands out to signal to the sea around them.
"You c-call this 's-saved'??" She scoffed angrily "I'm h-half drunk, freezing, with a splitting, bruised head, and y-you think you saved me??"
Jonathan found whatever he was looking for and brought out the red bag with a proud smile. Carter smiled at the sight of it, and clapped him on the shoulders.
Jonathan held it up in front of him "Hey, it's not a complete loss! L-Look!"
Femi and Alex paused from their bickering for a moment to look across at Jonathan. The sight of water literally pouring out from the bottom of the red bag seemed to bring Femi's hopes and optimism down to the lowest level - along with her frown.
"Fabulous! Maybe we c-can pay the fishes to point us the right d-direction!" Femi yelled sarcastically.
Quite clearly, she wasn't moved by the safety of the red bag. Femi splashed the water irritably and stroked her wet hands back over her head. Alex glared at her for a moment, and then tore his eyes away, and started looking around. Jonathan blinked and looked over at Carter for an explanation, but he simply rolled his eyes, implying the typicality of his sister.
He swam over to Femi and wrapped a sympathetic arm around her shoulders "It's alright, old mum. We'll think of s-something..."
"... We'll swim." Alex suddenly announced.
Jonathan, Carter and Femi snapped their shocked eyes onto Alex immediately. Femi started giggling again, and shook her head to herself.
"Oh, this is just f-fabulous. Yes, let's just start swimming, and hope that it's the r-right direction" She paused and snorted "But if it c-comes to morning, and we still can't see any land, perhaps then w-we should just swim all the way back again and try a different o-one, hmm? Yes, that sounds perfectly a-analytical."
Alex rolled his eyes "What else d'you suggest we do? Stay h-here and wait for someone to see us?"
"Who?" Carter asked.
"My point exactly" Alex replied, and turned to face Femi, rather angrily "There is n-no one. We're out here in the middle of the darkest of nights, and no one is gonna' find us" He began swimming towards her, and Femi nervously eased back, away from Carter "If we don't swim, then we'll probably be found the next mornin' w-with the fishes nibblin' on our asses."
Femi splashed Alex, as a way to get him to stop coming towards her. He flinched away, but simply splashed her right back. Femi growled angrily and forced a small wave of water over him, and he sent it straight back to her. Jonathan and Carter floated peacefully in the water and watched the two of them commence in a large water fight. They both sighed with a shake of their heads, and at the same time, grunted:
"She's
your sister."
"He's your nephew."
All of a sudden, Jonathan flinched in the water, and cocked his head down to look into the water. He began looking all around him in a slight panic, and Carter raised an odd eyebrow at him.
"You alright, old chap?" He asked warily, as though he was crazy.
Jonathan looked up at him with his brow creased, and his eyes wide "I think s-something just touched me."
Carter blinked and raised an awkward eyebrow "Well it wasn't me, mate."
"No, no. S-Something." Jonathan stuttered.
"Whatta' you mean? S-Something?" Carter repeated.
"Yeah, s-something" Jonathan repeated with a shaky nod "Just slid straight p-past me."
Carter paused for a moment, but soon shook his hand, and laughed carelessly "Probably just a little fish that fancies a bit of your underpants, Johnny."
"H-heh, heh..." Jonathan chuckled nervously and kept a wary eye on alert "Yeah... just a little f-fish."
"You're so impossible! How dare you b-blame this on me!" Femi gasped at Alex, and splashed him again.
"If you hadn't tried to be such a h-hero and get all that money back by drinkin', you wouldn't have had to go back to your room in the first place!" Alex snarled, and splashed her back.
Femi gasped from the cold water, and shook her head "I beg your p-pardon, but you clearly aren't remembering the t-true reason as to why I left to my bedroom. If you hadn't have been s-so rude, then I"--
"AHH!" Carter quivered loudly.
Femi and Alex looked away from each other, and over at Carter. Now he was looking down into the water, as if searching for something, and his hands were stroking upon the water quite quickly.
"S-Something just knocked my leg!" He exclaimed.
"S-See? I told you! I'm not just going crazy!" Jonathan agreed anxiously.
Alex narrowed his eyes "Wait, told him what? What brushed past you?"
Jonathan and Carter shook their heads "We don't know!"
Femi felt a shiver of fear creep up her back, and she clenched her toes anxiously. The thoughts of something being beneath her, where she couldn't see, made her uncomfortable to the point that it was unbearable. They were now trespassers in the Kingdom of the sea creatures... and any one of them could be nearby. Femi tried not to think of all the possibilities.
Alex looked around warily and swam closer to Femi "Everyone s-stay together... try not to move too much."
Femi's eyes widened apprehensively at Alex "Wh-what? Wh-why shouldn't we move too much?"
"The explosion might've attracted a f-few little guests..." Alex uttered, and gaze thoughtfully into the water around him.
Femi gulped "Guests? A-Alex, what kind of"-
But before Femi could ask the question, a large, grey fin glided past her in the water, from behind, and she felt something hard knock against her waist. Her body froze over in complete fear, and her breath caught in her throat. It was a shark. Carter and Jonathan literally clung to each other for their dear lives as they watched the man eater swim by, and Femi had already begun sinking into the water, as she had stopped moving entirely. Alex grabbed her under the arms and held her up at his level.
"It's ok... just s-stay calm." He whispered, but Femi could sense a strong emotion of worry in his own voice.
Femi parted her trembling lips, but all that escaped was a petrified little squeak. The fin turned and moved around behind Carter and Jonathan, who watched it with their pale eyes. It came around them once again, and began heading straight for Femi and Alex. Closer, and closer it came. Femi's heart was beating so fast that it was probably visible through her chest. Her ears were ringing wildly, and her eyes stinging. Alex gripped her arms anxiously and they both watched the fin get closer and closer. The face of the shark was heading straight for them - that huge jaw of jagged, merciless teeth...
"In a minute, when I say so, jump to the side." Alex whispered.
Femi's eyes widened and she squeaked again. Alex gripped her arms sternly, and moved his lips to her ear, so that she could feel his breath down the back of her neck.
"Trust me..." He whispered, and then suddenly pushed her away from him "Go!"
Femi gasped and combined his pushing force with her own jump, and flew out of the way of the shark, just as Alex did. Femi spun around to see where the shark was, and spotted it swimming straight past Alex. Alex was now grasping a piece of sharp, black wood that had obviously come from one of the two boats, and was holding it above his shoulder.
"Alex, look out!" Femi cried, as the shark's fin met him.
Alex released a determined growl and stabbed the sharp end of the wood down upon the shark's back, and Alex let it glide off through the water with it. The fin swished from side to side for a moment as she shark obviously reacted to the pain, and it then finally submerged into the black water, and out of sight, travelling away from them. It had really worked.
"He won't be comin' back any time s-soon." Alex heaved a sigh, and sniffed.
Femi, Jonathan and Carter all tore their heads away from where the shark had last been, and began staring at Alex with wide, amazed eyes. They all looked as white as milk, and Femi was almost trembling. Alex raised an eyebrow at them all and shrugged indifferently.
"Scuba diving in Australia. They teach you all about self defence in the water." He explained innocently.
"A-Alex" Jonathan began seriously "You're my nephew, and b-by god knows I love ya', but I've got to say -- you're a b-bloody lunatic!"
Alex chuckled lightly and scratched above his ear "You're welcome, unc."
Femi's mouth hung agape, and she was hardly blinking through the dazed stare that she was sending Alex. Carter and Jonathan began retelling the story with a little enthusiasm and amusement, but she just kept quiet, and gaped at him. Had he really just done that??
Alex finally noticed Femi staring at him and raised a cocky eyebrow with a smile. He slowly made his way over to her with his chin in the water, and he blew a couple of bubbles of water at her. She flinched, and held her hand up to protect herself.
"Do you still think I haven't saved you?" He asked, teasing her.
Femi eyed him up and down as though he was crazy "You're ins-sane, Mr. O'Connell..."
He smirked "I've been told."
Femi felt herself relax, ever so faintly, and she shook her head slightly "Is there nothing y-you can't do?"
Alex lifted his chin from the water and produced a cheesy smile "Hardly."
Femi snickered, and shook her head again. Her eyes eventually locked with Alex, and the mood changed from fearful and shocked, to gentle, and... warm. They stared at each other for a moment and their expressions softened. What was happening here?
Jonathan laughed loudly "Did you see the look on Femi's f-face!"
"Haha!" Carter cried, breathless "I th-thought she was going to have a heart attack, right there and then!"
Femi tore her entranced eyes away from Alex's handsome ones, and frowned at her brother and Jonathan. They cracked into more laughter upon seeing her reaction, and Femi rolled her eyes, and paddled over to them.
"It's not funny! That shark came straight towards us, d-didn't you see?!" She fought back like an annoyed little kid.
Alex smirked as he watched her swim away from him, and shook his head. He let the three of them jibber as he began looking around at the black nothingness all around them. He gazed back up at the stars and worked out which direction they had come from. He remembered studying them as they began rowing away from Erk's boat, and their layout was engraved into his memory. He knew exactly where they were. A thick board of wood bobbed past Alex's path, half the length of the boat, and the same width as the side of it, and he quickly grabbed it before it drifted away. He looked over at Femi and called her name, and she looked around curiously. She saw the large, wooden float he was holding and raised an eyebrow.
"What's that?" She asked, her voice sounding tired.
"Get on." He told her.
Femi blinked, and looked around at Jonathan and Carter "B-But what about you three?"
Carter winked "You've had it rough, old mum. Drinking, s-swimming and what not... We'll be fine."
"A little l-lady such as yourself shouldn't be expected to swim the r-rest of the way." Jonathan added cheekily.
Femi splashed a bit of water at him, and he poked his tongue out. She rolled her eyes, and swam over to the wooden block where Alex was. She climbed up onto the wood and rolled over, and sat herself up on her side. Water was dripping from her head to her toe, and her head was throbbing fiercely from the cold, the alcohol, and where she had been knocked unconscious. She released an exhausted sigh and gradually lowered herself down until she was flat on the board. As she lay there, with her back to Alex, he observed the creases in her shirt and the pattern of her bra that was showing through the soaked material. What had almost happened to her back there had changed his feelings towards her permanently; he was never going to be so careless in protecting her again. Not only was that, basically, what he was being paid by her to do, but also... but he wanted her to be safe.
He grabbed onto the edge of the wooden board, and Carter and Jonathan followed. The three of them moved onto their stomachs and started kicking their legs and feet in rhythm with each other. Femi curled up slightly and started to shiver a little.
"Thank you." She told them all.
They all smiled lightly, and continued paddling along in the same direction, Hopefully, there would be land approaching... and by Alex's judgement of the stars, there most likely was. Or so he was assuming -- but he wasn't going to tell anyone that.