Chapter 17

Three unconscious young women lay on the beach of a tropical island in the Bermuda Triangle. As they had slept, their bodies had dried out and they had returned to their mermaid form. The sun was high in the sky and palm trees swayed in a light breeze. An azure expanse of water lay in front of them. The one with curly blonde hair tied back in a messy ponytail opened her stunning blue eyes. She blinked a few times and sat up looking around, confused. Recognition changed her oblivious face into a worried frown. She stiffly got onto her knees and shook the brunette and redhead who were unconscious beside her.

"Cleo, Anna, wake up!"

The red-head groaned and looked at her.

"What Rikki,"

Rikki looked at her incredulously. "What Rikki? We are on a tropical island, lost in the middle of nowhere!"

"Oh yeah." Anna sat up. "Have any idea where we are?"

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Of course I do." She said sarcastically.

Cleo rolled over moaning. "Lewis, turn the light out. Lewis."

"Cleo." Rikki said.

Cleo's eyes shot open. "Ah! Oh it's just you Rikki." She sat up and looked around her. "Where are we?"

"You really think I know?" Rikki replied annoyed.

"No. Not really...I was just wondering aloud, no need to get annoyed."

There was a minute of silence.

"Do anyone else's legs ache like heck?" Rikki asked rubbing them, she couldn't remain angry at them for that forever. There were mutters of agreement, their muscles feeling the same way. According to Rikki's watch, they had been asleep a full day. They were still weak but rested and they were ravenously hungry.

"Bust out the food?" Rikki asked her stomach rumbling. They nodded. Cleo found her bag covered in sand an arm's length from herself. She dusted it off and opened it.

Anna on the other hand still had it strapped around her. She took it off and looked inside.

"Before we dig in," Rikki began, "We need to divide our food so that it lasts for now, dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. I don't really think we are strong enough yet to go for a long sea voyage."

"Okay," Cleo said. "How about we have one sandwich now?" The other two nodded. The sandwich didn't really make any difference to their hunger.

"Right. That definitely did not satisfy me." Rikki announced. She walked into the water.

"Where's she going?" Anna asked, turning to Cleo. They stood up quickly and went to the water's edge.

'Rikki! What are you doing?' Cleo mind spoke, letting Anna in on the conversation.

'Don't worry mum, I'll be back soon.' Was the reply.

'Rikki!'

'Relax guys, I'm just doing a little something about our food issue. ' That was all they got out of her.

"I swear she hasn't changed." Cleo sighed to Anna. "I wish she'd just tell us."

They went back up the beach and sat in the warm sand. Five minutes later, Rikki had returned with three fish. She was smiling cheekily. She cooked them right there in her hands.

"Roasted fish anyone?"

OoOoO

After satisfying their hunger, Rikki picked herself up.

"Since we are staying the night here, I think we should find some sort of shelter."

"I agree." Cleo paused, "Rikki? When did you become so responsible?"

Anna laughed at the look Rikki gave her friend. She soon stopped when a glare was shot her way. They made their way to where sand met trees.

"Do we really have to go in there?" Cleo asked hesitantly

"Why not?" Rikki replied.

"Well maybe because of the possibility of poisonous spiders, snakes, the possibility of getting lost, the…"

"Yes, we get it, the possibility of a lot of dangers." Anna cut her off.

"I'm not too sure about this…" Cleo mumbled.

"Don't worry, I am." Rikki said confidently

"How is that supposed to give us confidence?" Anna said.

Rikki glared at them. "Anyway Cleo, I'll just fry anything that comes close okay? Now let's go in."

She boldly walked in, Anna behind her with Cleo trailing hesitantly behind, jumping out of her skin at the slightest noise.

They walked for a while until they came across a couple of fallen logs.

"Perfect." Rikki muttered. "Can you to carry these?"

"Rikki, how strong do you think we are?" Cleo said questioningly.

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Strong enough to use mermaid magic to do it." She stated.

It dawned on Cleo and Anna. "Oh. Yes." Cleo said sheepishly.

They carried logs back to the beach and set them on the sand.

"Right." Rikki walked over to a cluster of large rocks and boulders in front of the jungle. She started using her power on two of them. These boulders had a large space between.

"Guys, bring the logs over here." She called. They did as requested. Rikki had melted holes in the rocks deep enough to hold the logs steady. Anna and Cleo used their powers to steer the logs in. Rikki let the molten rock fill around the logs.

"Release some of your water Anna?" The water on the hot rocks produced steam but when it was cooled, the logs were permanently embedded in the rock.

"Wow, how did you think of that?" Cleo asked. Rikki did not answer; she just walked back into the jungle. They then gathered materials for the roof. As the sun was going down, they had a perfect shelter – so good that it didn't really look temporary. Anna and Cleo caught the fish for their dinner, while Rikki went and gathered firewood. They fell asleep with their bellies full, their water bottles drained and lying in the soft sand.

OoOoO

Cleo woke the next morning smiling. They would be going home today. Mermaids had an incredible sense of direction – this was especially strong when one was going home. This meant she would be back with her family soon; she was especially excited about seeing Lewis.

"Good morning," she heard Anna mumbled. She turned to see her yawn.

"Rikki." Cleo shook her friends sleeping shape. Rikki waved her hand as if swatting flies.

"Five more minutes, Mum," she mumbled. Cleo laughed, some things never changed.

"Rikki," she shook her again. "We're leaving today," Rikki's blue eyes shot open in an instant.

"Let's get to it then." She smiled.

They brought out their waterproof bags again. Collectively they had a collection of half-eaten sandwiches, apples, a muesli bar and a couple of biscuits. That would not be enough for their long journey home. After eating breakfast, the trio set out to find a fruit tree. Rikki could not believe their luck. Not too far from the shelter, they had stumbled upon a papaya tree and a collection of coconut trees. They gathered the fruit, placing a number of papayas and one coconut each in each bag. Cleo felt around for a source of fresh water. Again, there was one not too far from the shelter. They couldn't believe how easy it was to get food and water. They filled their water bottles.

They were ready to go.

Anna, Cleo and Rikki dived into the water and swum enthusiastically out to sea. Unexpectedly a horrendously strong current picked them up and forced them closer to shore. This had to be the current that brought them there. They tried again. Even with all their mermaid strength in the water they couldn't break through. Cleo and Anna worked their powers together to try get a break but it wouldn't budge.

'This must be magical' Cleo mind spoke, 'I've never felt water like it except when we were battling Charlotte or each other's water.' She directed the latter comment more towards Anna. Anna nodded.

'Maybe we can break through at another point around the island?' Rikki suggested. They swam for hours trying to get through the unbelievably strong current. At the end of the day, they had swum around the entire crescent shaped island to try to escape. They were utterly exhausted and nowhere they had had break-way. They pulled themselves up on the beach panting. Anna and Rikki dried themselves off before Cleo.

"I think that we'd better get a little bit more comfortable." Rikki said in defeat.

A/N: Please, please, please review, I still really really enjoy reading your reviews. Unfortunately, this coming week, again I'll be out of town. Christmas time is always insanely busy for me, sorry 'bout that. Since its summer in NZ I will be heading up north to our family's beach house. So again, I am terribly sorry about the delay in updates. The next one will probably be at about 7th of January? I'm terribly sorry again, but after I promise ill update more.

Thanks for your patience.

Krystalslazz