Chapter Thirty-Seven

When I woke up, the sun was shining through the top of the Indian Ocean. My makeshift bandages were soaked through with blood, but it was hard to tell if I was still bleeding or if the ocean water was making the seaweed look more soaked than it actually was. I turned over, checking to see if my Elemental Secret was where I put it.

Oh, crap. Please, no. It wasn't there.

I started frantically looking all over for it, hoping to God something didn't take it. I started digging in the silt until I began to cry, for two reasons: I was stressed about my Secret and my arm and leg were hurting again, worse than before, if possible.

I flopped back down, taking deep breaths. My heart rate was very fast. I rolled over to the other side and then sighed in relief. My Elemental Secret was about ten feet away from me on my right side instead of my left. Maybe when I tucked it under my arm I rolled over and then sprawled out. That seems like the sort of thing I would do. The slight current must have carried it away a bit while I was sleeping.

Ignoring the pain in my limbs, I swam after the glowing fireball and grabbed it. It was still warm despite spending a night underwater out of the squid's cave. I formed a sort of tulip-bulb shape of water around my Elemental Secret, knowing the flame wouldn't die out. As soon as I did that, I used water to propel me upwards until I was balanced on a stationary geyser of salt water above the ocean's surface and looked around. Nothing but sea water as far as I could see, but I knew Madagascar was behind me. Suddenly afraid someone would see me, I let the geyser drop back down and take me with it. I splashed back into the ocean with my Secret in my hands and swam for Neria until I saw a familiar sight.

"Irwyn!" I called, waving my free arm that didn't have the water-encapsulated fire under it. He turned at the sound of my voice and then flipped his fins happily once he saw me.

"Hey, Wisty! Did you ever end up finding your Secret Elemental? Wait, that's not right. Anyway, you know what I mean." Irwyn swam over, talking as best as he could with a fish in his mouth.

I smiled. "Yes, I did end up finding it. It's right here." I took my Elemental Secret out from underneath my arm and held it out so he could see it. He looked confused.

"I thought you said it was like fire."

"Oh, it is. I just used my magic to form a water thing around it so it wouldn't be so hot against my skin." I explained. It wasn't hot to the touch, but my hands were wet, so that might have made it a little better. I was afraid that when I got onto land, the eternal flame would burn my skin.

He still looked a bit confused, but he still nodded. "Oh, okay. Well, I need to take this fish back to my family. Would you come with me this time?"

"Sure, why not?" I followed my dolphin friend across the ocean floor while he led me to where he lived, in a pod of dolphins with about twenty dolphin into total. He introduced me and we had a very nice conversation (dolphins are so nice!) but I eventually had to leave. I told Irwyn and his family that I had to go back to Neria.

"Why don't I take you there? It'll be faster than you swimming and I don't think you can teleport with that." Irwyn offered, pointing a fin at the water-surrounded flames I was holding.

"Sure! Thanks, Irwyn. I really appreciate it." He let me get on his back, hold on to one dorsal fin with my right hand, hold my Elemental Secret with my left, and he sped off.

• • •

We arrived in Neria after about an hour and a half of nonstop swimming. Irwyn was really tired and so I gave him a fish I caught. He thanked me and we said goodbye. I took a deep breath, suddenly very nervous someone would see me come out of the water with seaweed wrapped around my arm and leg, carrying a glowing orange water tulip and a silver bag (which looked like one of those change purse things). Nope, not strange at all! A typical day on the island of Neria. That was weird, even for an island that housed mages.

I gathered up all of my courage and stepped onto shore. My heart dropped into my shoes.

Of course I ended up near Main Street. Yes, Main Street was bear a beach.

What's worse, I was wearing nothing but my black and white polka dotted swim suit and no shoes. It was actually night here, because time was weird in Neria, so everyone was fortunately asleep. I slipped on my Converse sneakers, not bothering to change until I was in my dorm at school. I walked down past all the houses and to was standing in front of the doors.

She smiled, looking extremely tired. Was that sadness and distress in her eyes? "Hi, Wisty." She waved.

"Hi. So, are they letting us in?" I asked, confused. Why weren't they in already?

She nodded again. "Yeah, I just got here."

"Oh. Wait, where's Ben?" I asked Luna. When we split off, Ben had gone with Luna to help find her Elemental Secret.

"He went to find some food. Just about every food place is closed right now, and we were both really hungry. Are you?" She asked.

I nodded. Now that she said that, I was extremely hungry. And tired. All I wanted was to eat, and then go to sleep in a nice warm bed instead of silt.

"Whoa! God, Wisty, what the heck happened to you? You look like you ran through a field of cacti or something! And what is this? Seaweed? It's soaked, and so are you!" Luna exclaimed.

I shushed her. "Quiet down, you're going to wake someone up," I hissed. "And I sort of got into a fight with a giant squid to find this." I held up my glowing Elemental Secret. "I had to use seaweed as a bandage, because I got cut up pretty bad. I think it stopped bleeding, but I'm not sure."

Just then, Ben showed up with McDonalds food. "Hi, Luna. Oh-Wisty, you're here! How was your ocean expedition, was it..." He trailed off once he saw my makeshift Band-Aids. "What happened to you?!"

I sighed. I'll explain once we get inside. Let's meet in my dorm, okay?" We opened the door and walked to my dorm in silence. I was wincing against the pain in my legs. When we finally got upstairs, I ran into the bathroom to change into warm, fuzzy pajamas and properly take care of my wounds. After I came out, Diamond had teleported into the room, looking exhausted and a bit disoriented from her trip to the Spirit World.

My friends sat, eating McDonalds food and talking about their journey. I joined them until everyone else showed up at about two in the morning.

Caleb was coughing very hard, and even before he passed out on the floor, I could tell something was wrong.