Chapter 16

One day a few weeks later, Anna was invited by her parents to attend a family function. Anna convinced her mother to allow her friends Cleo and Rikki come with her. It was school time and Ben was buried under a large workload, so the rest of the Charles family wouldn't' be able to make the function. There was only one snag; her parents had recently moved to the Bahamas, this is why Cleo and Rikki would be accompanying Anna. The other mermaids would have come with, but they too were under a workload or could not get any leave. When it was time to leave, the three women packed their waterproof bags with food for the three days it would take to reach the Bahamas. They packed a few changes of clothes; this was for the week of residence at their destination. A bottle of fresh water packed each, along with their wallets and cell phones. These would be used to call their families when they arrived or if they needed aid. The trio hugged and kissed their husbands goodbye and then their children.

"We'll be back before you know it," they reassured them. "We love you all," They then made their way to

They placed their bags onto the edge of the moon pool and dived in to transform. Afterwards they slipped their bags over their shoulders and set off into the ocean.

OoOoO

They slowed from turbo-speed as the sun began to set to find a place to stay the night. The glowing light of the setting sun across the water sparkled as the mermaids enjoyed their swim immensely. They decided to stop over in Western Samoa. They snuck up on the beach and slept under some trees on the shore. The next morning they ate early, having a small portion of their food. They did not want questions asked when they were on a tight schedule. They soon were back in the water, continuing with their journey. The following night they stopped over in Tahiti. The next day, after an hour of swimming, to Rikki's dismay the sun disappeared behind a blanket of clouds. Now overcast, the water became much colder and the lack of sun made it harder to see. For Rikki this made the swim less enjoyable. Another hour passed and the occasional spit of rain would break the surface of the water. By the time they were approaching the islands of Galapagos, it was raining heavily and the wind blew strongly. They dragged themselves up onto the beach – an effort for a mermaid. Cleo tried her best to control the winds but when she got hold of one, another would continue blowing coming from a different direction. She weakened the winds but could not get them to die down completely. Since it was raining, the mermaids could not dry themselves off naturally. They all teamed up. Cleo stopped the water from hitting them all, and Anna and Rikki evaporated the water on their skins. They made their way up the beach protected by Anna and Cleo from the rain. Rikki spotted a small cave to shelter in. They ate a portion of their food and spent the night there. The next morning the storm was still raging. The wind blew and large waves pummelled the rocks.

"Maybe we shouldn't continue today..." Cleo said eyeing the rough seas.

"Don't be a wimp Cleo," Rikki said. "We'll be fine. Right Anna?" she turned to their companion.

"Well, actually, I would agree with Cleo...it does look quite dangerous..."

Rikki rolled her eyes.

"Hey, hey let me finish," Anna said quickly. "But, as I was saying, we are already running late by a day," she continued, "And, my parents absolutely hate it when people are not prompt."

"So..." Rikki began with a confused tone. "Are we going or not?"

"So, though it may be dangerous, we should go. I really do not feel like a lecture as soon as we arrive in front of everyone." Anna said. "They are the worst lectures." She added. "We'll take it slow, steady and stop at islands on the way."

"Alrighty then," Rikki smiled. "What are we waiting for?" Rikki and Anna sprinted as fast as they could down to the beach through the rain. It would not have been fun to transform halfway down the beach. Cleo sighed and walked out of the cave after them. She used her power on the rain droplets so they did not hit her.

The heavy rain interrupting the water flow and the darkness of the water because of the lack of sun made it increasingly harder to see. They made their way through the Panama Canal, swimming at the very bottom to avoid detection. Once through the Canal, they were again in open waters – the Caribbean Sea. They knew that the first few lands they passed would not be their destination. They swam in the depths of the ocean, navigating between Cuba and Haiti at turbo-speed. For some reason they always knew which direction to go...except in the middle of the storm. The mermaids had no idea where they were, it seemed that the storm had shut off their automatic directory. A small barren island was their first break. They tried to get their bearings. Unfortunately, a fog has risen and they could not see anything three feet in front of them. They rested there and decided to wait 'till the fog lifted. Four hours later, it still hung heavily in the air. Cleo was supposed to be directing them; she had studied the maps before their journey.

"Where abouts are we Cleo?" Rikki asked.

"Ah, well we only got lost after we swam through the Panama Canal and after we passed between Cuba and Haiti."

"So we are lost?" Anna asked starting to panic.

"Ah...maybe?" they scowled at her. "Okay okay, we aren't hopelessly lost. We are in the vicinity of Cuba and if we continued swimming in that direction," she pointed, "I believe we will come to the Bahamas."

"You believe?" Rikki said incredulously. "Won't that get us more lost?"

"Well do either of you actually know the direction we came from for us to go back?"

They both shrugged. "See, we are lost either way."

"But..." Rikki began. Cleo swiftly interrupted her.

"You cannot possibly argue with me, Mrs 'We'll be fine' You are the reason we are here in the first place."

"Hey, hey, hey don't put all this on me." She defended.

"Guys!" Anna yelled. "Stop with the bickering alright? Right now, let us keep moving. We are on a barren island for goodness sake. No water and no food except the stuff we brought. Fog around here is known to last for weeks! Moreover, Cleo, I encouraged Rikki for us to leave. It's not just her fault."

They then mutually decided to swim in the direction Cleo originally thought. They knew they had made a stupid decision and that all of them were to blame. They decided they would rather swim aimlessly than be cooped up on the barren island.

It seemed like the storm was getting worse. White horses came rolling across the water and the clouds were nearly black.

After a few hours of swimming, they were getting desperate. Cleo knew they should have found another island by now, they should already have reached the Bahamas.

'No offence, but there is a fatal flaw here. With the storm so bad and the water impossible to see through, I bet we've missed the islands already.' Rikki mind spoke.

'Shut up!' Cleo replied. The endless swimming was getting to their nerves. It wasn't enjoyable swimming, you couldn't' see anything and the water was cold.

A few more hours later the nerves were worn thin. They should have reached an island of any kind by now.

In actuality, the trio had swum well past the Bahamas and were now swimming in the Bermuda Triangle. Suddenly they were pulled by a strong current sideways. They struggled to swim out of its grip. They could not swim anywhere but up. With three powerful strokes of the tail, they were at the surface breathing in a mouthful of air. They breathed a sigh of relief thinking they had escaped. The storm still was raging above the water, waves continued to crash over their heads. They dived beneath the waves again. As soon as they were under, the current picked them up again. It was so powerful that it felt like magic was controlling it. They swam this way and that trying to escape it but no matter which way the went they would be pulled back into the flurry of water. Struggling was futile. It just exhausted them. They decided to swim with the current. Hopefully it would take them somewhere safe. After half an hour the mermaids noticed the ground coming closer – becoming shallower and shallower.

'Guys, there should be land soon, and boy, I need it," Anna mind spoke.

'Same here," Rikki moaned. They all had a good feeling that they would be on land soon.

OoOoO

Suddenly the current dropped them; they were not being carried anymore. It seemed that in this part of the world, wherever they were, the storm was not present. The battered and exhausted mermaids swam semi-consciously and weakly to shore. Somehow, throughout all the storm they had managed to maintain the possession of their waterproof bags. They pushed themselves up onto the beach, past the waves reach and immediately fell asleep.

A/N: Like? Dislike? Please please review.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Sorry about the very long delay of my trip overseas.

I had a brilliant time. Thanks to those who asked and wished me well.

We went to Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, The Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, The Ueno Zoo (Tokyo) and so many more things! OMG it was awesome but such a culture shock. Coming back to the tiny New Zealand, wow everything is tiny! Rainbows End (our themepark) I swear it was bigger before I left. Lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year. :D