Meanwhile, in the Shark Kingdom…
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Chapter 15: Much Discovering is Done
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As the underwater party swam along after the shark-guard, patches of a bluish seaweed-like plant became more and more frequent. It started out as just s little bit every now and then, but it soon became plentiful in large groups every yard or so. Porom looked extremely unhappy about this; when Sefi asked why, Porom explained that it was the shark's bane; the plant that would cure Kivey.
Unfortunately, the faint path that they followed was narrow, and kept away from the plant, not allowing anyone to stray from the path to collect any of it.
In one patch, not too far away, one shark swam around in circles, looping and spinning after a small fish that continued to elude it. As they approached, the guard called,
"Ah! Little-Wild-One! I was wondering where you'd gotten to," the shark guard called.
The shark stopped chasing the fish, looked up and answered, "Oh, hello, Bane." She immediately went back to the fish, which was trying to make an escape.
"Jaggra, hold still: I've got something far more filling than a pathetic little fish," The guard, Bane, assured the other shark.
So that's princess Jaggra, Sefi thought, looking the shark over. Jaggra was a bit smaller than Bane, but she was colored similarly with a dark blue top and a white underside. Her eyes were a dark purple, several shades darker than Sefi's hair, which was unusual for a shark (most sharks have black eyes).
Jaggra kept circling after the fish for a minute, completely ignoring what Bane had just said. Then she looked up and saw who was behind the guard and she smiled evilly.
"I know you two," She cooed to Palom and Porom. "I took a snap at you earlier today, didn't I?"
"Ya sure did," Palom agreed. "Got away before I could get you though," He added.
"Oh no," Jaggra said slyly, shaking her head and turning to the side, showing a pale starburst scar on the side of her head. "You got me good, my prince," She informed him. Palom smirked; it was nice handiwork, in his opinion.
"They wish to see you mother," Bane said mockingly.
Jaggra laughed. "What fools! They must be crazy!" She said. "They'll never live through the day!"
"Shush!" Trivia demanded, moving forward abruptly, taking everyone by surprise. "We demand to see Telu right now!"
Jaggra looked startled; no one, much less a dolphin, had ever spoken to her like that. The princess shied away from Trivia, who wore an air of confidence and superiority about her like a cloak. Trivia stared Jaggra dead in the eye, almost challenging her to retort her, but Jaggra said nothing; she simply returned the gaze, her great, sharp jaw hanging open in either awe or disbelief.
Jaggra's intimidated, just like Trivia said, Sefi realized, feeling a twinge of pride and accomplishment that she thought was out of place.
"Let's go then," Jaggra said, finally breaking the silence, and leading everyone away, toward a slight dip in the ground that led to a cluster 15 ships. Many of the ships should have been smashed to pieces when they were impaled by or crashed into the tall, spirally rocks that sunk them, but there they were; and each one was inhabited by sharks. The first one in front of the group was the biggest and grandest of them all: the Shark Castle, where they would at last meet the evil queen Telu.
I sure do hope that we come out intact, Sefi thought desperately. No sister of mine is going to become a queen without me to witness it, She told herself. I'm going to get out of here for Angel; she's darn useless without me, She vowed to herself. Angel would need her soon, so she had to come back to the surface alive.
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Upstairs, however, everyone had big problems of their own. They mainly revolved around the note that Rosa had found in Porom's closet: firstly, they still didn't know who this Telu person was (no one had remembered to ask Leviathan if he knew her), and secondly, most importantly, where was the elder now?
And, though they all checked every inch of the tower, the courtyard, and even sent Angel, Rosa and Rydia down the beach (in both directions), they couldn't find a single trace of the elder anywhere.
"I can't take much more of this," Angel stated as she and the two queens were returning to the tower from scouring the beach for clues. "The elder has vanished and my sister and two best friends have shark problems. I'm going to have a nervous breakdown if we don't get an answer of some kind soon," She informed, rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to ward off a headache.
"Leviathan will help your sister and friends," Rydia assured the princess.
"What if he gets there too late?" Angel inquired, trying to jam her thumbs deeper into her temples (her headache was getting steadily worse).
"20 miles isn't far for Leviathan," Rydia said. "He'll be there in no time."
"He'd better be there in time," Angel said crossly, remembering that Leviathan thought that someone would use the breath plant before the day was done. Was he trying to tell me something? She wondered. Should I take it and go after the others... It would be pointless: Leviathan's on his way there now; I won't be able to do anything except tire myself out, She decided.
Stop worrying yourself; that's half the reason for your headache. Your job right now is to find out what happened to the elder, She told herself. Slowly, and somewhat reluctantly, she began to relax. Her headache seemed to stay the way it was though; she tried to vibe-search, and got only a sharper pain in her head. She cast a quick heal spell on herself to take the bite off of it.
Mom's got the vibe-work under control, She reminded herself, glancing at Rosa (who'd been very quiet that whole walk). Her eyes were glassy with concentration, and they seemed to stare at something beyond the ground.
I wonder what she's seeing…
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Beneath the water, only 10 miles out now, Leviathan sped towards the sunken fleet, hoping to end this whole water problem. With a twinge, he noted that the water was beginning to change blood red. He hoped that it wasn't a bad omen.
I should be little more than halfway there by now, He guessed. It won't be long now. Good thing for those kids they sent down: if I know those sharks (and I do), they'll probably give the poor trio problems they won't be able to handle.
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The inside of the sunken Shark Castle was very dark and cold. The shark guards who loitered about didn't seem to mind it, but it sent shivers through their guests.
I can't run off, Sefi told herself, battling the urge to swim away into the warm sunlight. I've got to do this, I've got to do this, I've got to do this…
"Calm down," Porom advised her, sensing how nervous Sefi was. "We'll be fine."
"I know, but this place gives me the creeps. I want to get out of here now!" Sefi admitted.
"Then let's make this visit snappy, alright?" Porom suggested.
"How about 'quick' instead of 'snappy', huh?" Sefi requested, shivering again with the thought of killer jaws clamping down on her.
A cluster of smaller sharks was milling around nearby, whispering amongst itself. Some of them suddenly glanced up at the strangers and went right back to their conversation, sniggering all the way. Sefi tried not to let it get to her, but it was difficult (what teenager can ignore people laughing at her?). She was finally letting it go when one of the sharks from the cluster appeared in front of her.
"Hey there. Whatcha doin'?" He asked in a rather mocking voice.
"Nothing," Sefi replied, remembering that he would leave her alone if she showed that he wasn't bothering her (even if he really was).
"So why are you here? You can hang out somewhere else," He pointed out.
"But I want to hang out here. You can't stop me," Sefi said.
"And if we want you (and your friends) to leave?" The shark asked, putting a growl into his voice.
"We're not leaving until we've seen your crazy queen," Palom informed him, touching the shark's nose with his finger and giving him a light zap. The shark snorted and swam back to his friends.
"And that's the end of that," Palom stated proudly, winking at his companions, only to get slapped by Trivia.
"That was not a very good idea," She informed him crossly.
"Hey!" Bane yelled at them from somewhere up ahead. "Do you want to see the queen or get your heads bitten off?"
"Not like you won't get your heads bitten off either way," Jaggra added.
"Don't lose your tails; we're coming," Trivia barked back. She gave all the sharks around a warning look and caught up with her guides with the humans right behind her.
After 10 minutes of wandering the lower decks of the gigantic ship there came a pair of rotting wooden doors. Bane and Jaggra halted in front of them and turned to the party behind them.
"I'll go and tell my mother that you're here," The princess said, nudging the left door open with her nose and squirming inside the small space she'd made for herself.
After that, all that could be heard was whispering in the form of snarls and growls. It had gone on like this for about five minutes when a rumble began to build up in the distance. The ship creaked and rocked as the rumble got louder and louder (and therefore, closer and closer). The whispering in the other room quieted as the rumble slowly came to attention. Bane's eyes began flashing about suspiciously.
The rumble slowly grew to a roar and still it grew louder and louder. Somewhere, a shark screamed, and someone else shouted, "The Lord of the Seas is coming! It's Leviathan!"
"Rydia," Sefi guessed, smirking in spite of the situation.
Without a warning, a great blue serpent appeared though one of the windows, and swam straight up to the deck. Everyone heard Jaggra scream loudly as the beast continued to swim straight up to the deck. Once he was past the window (several minutes later), the screams from the deck and the other floors continued, but died down a little bit.
"WHERE IS TELU?" A voice thundered from above. The ship shook once more, nearly falling apart this time. There came no answer to the question: just utter silence.
Jaggra burst out of the room and knocked the three humans to the floor. Bane went for Trivia, but she dodged him, and he went flying into the wall and made hole where he landed. When he stopped and recovered from his crash he was outside the ship and Trivia was coming at him. Bane dodged her and swam back into the ship through the hole he'd made with the enraged dolphin close behind him.
Meanwhile, Jaggra had Sefi and Palom pinned to the floor, and Porom had her hand stuck in a hole in the floor. Though the white mage struggled to get free, she couldn't get out. Palom couldn't reach his knife, Sefi couldn't reach her sword, and Porom didn't even have a weapon.
"Whatever it is that Lord Leviathan wants, it must have something to do with you," She reasoned. "And he's not going to hurt us because of what you did." She suddenly snatched Sefi's arm in her mouth and dragged the girl out of the new hole in the wall. Faintly they could hear the twin mages scream Sefi's name but, aside from that, all that they could hear was water rushing past them.
Sefi had been scared when Jaggra took her away, but she now noticed that the shark just had enough pressure on her arm so that she couldn't get away and so that she could be dragged along. Sefi's arm was still intact and the bone wasn't even broken. She bled a little, but that was really the extent of the damage. And, what was even better, Sefi could reach her sword.
However, before Sefi could reach her blade, Jaggra began swimming upward, toward the deck. When they came over the railing and into view, the first thing that they saw was the great serpent. The sight of the great blue snake left both princesses speechless for several seconds. But Jaggra shook herself quickly and hollered, "Hey, Leviathan! Look over here!"
All attention turned to the shark and the purple haired girl with her. "If you want questions answered," Jaggra said, "Then I'd suggest asking her." She smacked Sefi's back with her tail and sent her flying forward uncontrollably. Sefi hit something hard and big. When she looked up she found herself staring into a pair of kind, wise looking brown eyes set into a broad, sky-blue face.
"Are you Sefi of Baron?" Leviathan asked her in a gentle but urgent voice. Sefi nodded shakily, surprised, but not really surprised, that the summons knew who she was.
"Good," Leviathan said. "I need to speak with you."
Before Leviathan could go on, a streak of white and dark blue rammed into Sefi's side and knocked her away from the serpent. When Sefi came to she expected to be facing Jaggra, but the shark in front of her was a new acquaintance. This shark was a little bit longer than Jaggra. Her head and back were a lighter shade of blue than normal, but her beady eyes were so black that it was like staring at two coals.
The shark roared and charged at Sefi again, but sailed off into empty space when Sefi dodged. The shark spun around, lowered her head, and charged at Sefi again. Sefi whipped out her sword and braced herself for the oncoming attack.
"Mother! Look out!" Jaggra cried. Sefi looked back at the princess, shocked.
"Mother?" She nearly screamed. Before she had time to say more her attacker was on her, and Sefi barely had her block up in time. The shark bit into the thick steel sword, and pulled away sputtering.
The shark, queen Telu, roared again and came at Sefi as fast as her tail could propel her. Sefi brought the blade of her sword down on Telu's right fin and the queen screeched. But rather than fix her bleeding fin, she charged again and yielded another gash on her left side. After that, Jaggra joined the game, determined to help her mother win the day.
The two sharks began working in sync, forcing Sefi to look over her shoulder for attacks from the rear and getting attacked from the front. A sudden burst of crackling yellow light burst up from the deck and forked out two different ways. One ray hit Jaggra and the other hit Telu.
Mother and daughter tried to shake it off, but found their movement slowed. Sefi took that opportunity to look and see who her savior was: it was Palom, with Porom and Trivia next to him.
"Not long now!" Palom called up to her cheerfully.
Sefi breathlessly nodded her thanks and returned to her battle. It was going much better, now that the sharks were paralyzed; at some points they couldn't move at all. However, Telu's paralysis began to wear off and she got faster. And Sefi was tiring fast now; Telu was gaining odds.
Sefi continued to fight with all that she could muster, but she was losing badly now. If Telu got to her arms or her shoulders, she wouldn't stand a chance. She had to do something really big really fast.
While Telu backed up to make another charge, Sefi began twirling her sword back and forth in her hand, going a little bit faster each time. Telu charged, completely relived of her paralysis. Sefi continued to twirl her sword until Telu was right in front of her and then she thrust her sword forward as hard as she could, planting her sword deep inside the queen's chest. She pulled the blade back out as quickly as she'd pushed it in and forced herself up in as much of a jump as she could do underwater. As she fell back down quickly, she aimed her sword down and landed with it sunk deep into the shark's back.
Thank you, uncle Kain, for showing me how to do that this morning, She thought, wondering why her arms were neither broken or as limp as overboiled noodles (as she'd predicted that morning).
Though Telu was hurt very badly, she still breathed roughly, like sandpaper rubbing across steel. Trivia appeared beside Sefi and said, "Do you mind if I do the honors?"
Sefi shook her head. "Go on," She whispered. Trivia grinned at the princess.
"Just don't make me watch," Sefi requested. She shut her eyes just before the sound of sharp dolphin teeth ripping through flesh, Telu's final screeches of pain and terror, and Jaggra's distraught and horrified wails met her ears.
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Back in the tower, while everyone was trying to think of what to do next, Cecil, Rosa and Angel all went ridged and wide-eyed with a new vibe. Their trances lasted for only a minute before returned to their realities, blinking and rather pale from what they'd seen.
"What's up? What did you see?" Kain asked, worried about what they could have seen to yield this reaction.
"Funny you should ask," Cecil said, rubbing his eyes. "Sefi just used that sword moved you showed her this morning to kill a shark."
Needless to say that Kain's jaw was earthbound.
"Leviathan was there too," Rosa added. "The kids should be home soon," She said, sounding very relived.
There was a long pause as everyone soaked up the news. "Are you sure it was Sefi?" Rydia asked from across the room.
"Yeah, it was Sef alright," Angel said, nodding shakily. "I can't really believe it either,"
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Underwater, things were coming together quickly. Jaggra swam away from the ships and everyone was too busy to go after her. Once she was out of the way, Leviathan questioned the sharks about King Conch. Without anything to say to the serpent, the sharks all pushed Bane (of all fish in the sea!) out in front of Leviathan, and he led the crowd to the last ship in the fleet, where he unlocked the door to the captain's quarters and the biggest dolphin that any of them had seen rushed out and beat the guard with his tail.
"King Conch," Leviathan addressed the dolphin when he didn't stop beating Bane, "You'll have all the time in the world left for that later. I must speak with you now."
The dolphin looked up at Leviathan and bowed deeply. "My lord! I am sorry about my absence, but I was kidnapped by that maniac over there," Conch explained, pointing his fin at Bane (who was nursing a bleeding nose and broken fin).
"It is quite alright, my old friend," Leviathan assured him. "Just come along and leave this lot to think about what they've done," He directed and turned to leave with the two dolphins and the three humans with him.
"Wait!" Porom cried, bringing everyone's attention to rest on her. "What about the color-changing-water?" She asked Leviathan. A thoughtful look crossed Leviathan's face and he said,
"Yes… What about that?" as he turned back to face the sharks. They all let their eyes wander about, even though there was nothing to look at. Silence.
"Answer me!" Leviathan demanded. The crowd parted to reveal Bane once more. The shark growled angrily and said,
"It was all Telu's idea! She made the poison herself and she set it off! She wanted to make the dolphins look really bad and we sharks could be more favored by you. So she had me kidnap the king so your special tribute would go unpaid, and then she set off the poison to make the punishment," He explained, not willing to say no to Leviathan.
"How did she know there was no poison?" Leviathan asked.
"I don't know. She just said that the poison was just a ruse and that she'd have to make one herself. And she's dead, so I guess we'll never know," Bane explained.
"Will it stop on its own?" Leviathan asked.
"It'll stop tomorrow; she said that she could only make each batch last for one or two days," Bane said. "The water will return to it's proper color and the fish will stop dying; just give it one more night, you'll see," he promised.
"Very well," Leviathan mumbled. "I hope that this has taught you all a lesson. Seeking power by evil means will get you nothing but a demotion. If you ever do something like this again, there will not be a shark left alive here; and that is not a ruse," He told the cowering crowd, and turned back to his company. "Let us leave this place," He said, and led them away.
On their way out they passed the open fields of shark's bane, and Sefi swam out to get some. With the plant in hand, she returned to the group.
"Now we are really ready to leave," She said.
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There was much celebrating in the Dolphin Kingdom that day. Upon entering the city, the humans and dolphins parted ways: Trivia, Conch and Leviathan went straight to the coral castle; Palom, Porom and Sefi went to Silver's house to deliver the shark's bane.
Silver was pacing the area just outside her home when the humans approached. When she saw them coming, she ran up to them with an expectant look on her face.
"We have it," Sefi confirmed, holding out the plant. Silver's eyes grew as big as tea saucers and she gave a whoop of joy while doing a back-flip.
"Thank you! Oh thank you so much!" She cried, rubbing up against Sefi (the dolphin equivalent of a hug). "And not a second too soon; Kivey still lives. I thought she'd be gone by now," She added, leading the three into her house where the two calves still lay asleep. Sido looked much better now, but Kivey looked worse. She was as pale as sand and her breathing was weak.
"How do we use this stuff?" Palom asked.
"We make her eat it," Silver said, and nuzzled her child. "Kivey, honey, wake up. We've got something that will make you feel better," She whispered. Kivey's eyes fluttered open and she smiled at everyone present.
"You have to eat this, Kivey," Sefi told the calf, holding out the plant to her.
"It'll make me better?" Kivey asked weakly.
"Yes, it will," Sefi said, nodding her head. Kivey sniffed the plant and ate it quickly.
"Now you just wait a while; three hours, I think, will do," Silver told everyone.
Trivia appeared again, smiling broadly. Behind her was another dolphin, who seemed familiar.
"Artiria wants to see you all," Trivia announced. "Oh, by the way, this is my sister, Vayne," She said, pointing to the dolphin with her.
"It's nice to meet you," Vayne said, feeling sad about calling them all idiots earlier.
"Come on, the king and queen are waiting for you!" Trivia said, and led the party to the castle with brief nod to Silver.
In the castle, all the dolphins were abuzz with excitement. King Conch was back! And there was reason to believe that the poison would stop by morning! Everyone was rejoicing; and the humans, who had been avoided and feared that morning, were welcomed and hailed as heroes.
The throne room was just as full as the halls (How many dolphins live here? Palom wondered). The two thrones were full now. Artiria occupied the throne on the left, and Conch, a giant among dolphins, filled the right. Leviathan stood next to Conch, smiling at the humans. Artiria rose from her place and rushed to Sefi.
"I can't tell you how much I owe you for this!" She said, rubbing against the girl.
"Your majesty, are you crying?" Sefi asked.
Artiria straightened herself and took a deep breath. "Not anymore," She said.
"Leviathan told us of how you handled Telu," Conch said, coming to float beside Artiria. "We are most impressed with you," He said.
"Of course, Trivia deserves much of the credit; she did finish off Telu," Artiria pointed out.
"And I caught that eel of a guard… I can't think of his name…" Trivia added.
"His name was Bane," Palom and Porom chorused.
"Thank you," Trivia said.
"Well, whatever his name was, you caught him," Vayne said, beaming at her sister.
"We can't even begin to thank you for all that you've done for us," Conch said to the humans. "If there is ever anything that we can do for you, just come and let us know."
"Thank you for you offer," Palom said.
"Will you stay a while longer? There are celebrations to be had," Artiria pointed out.
"My parents and sister must be very worried about me," Sefi said. "I should return to them… But I would love to stay," She said.
"What did you do with that last bit of breath plant you had?" Palom asked, remembering that Angel had refused the last bit of breath plant and that Sefi had just discarded it on the beach.
"Oh, the king of Eblan is in charge of that; I told him to hold onto it when I found on the ground," Leviathan said.
I knew they had something to do with this! Sefi thought.
"Let Angel have what was left and she can come and have some fun," Palom suggested. "'Cause I want to stay."
Sefi nodded. "Angel would like that," She said. "I'll go for her," She said.
"And I'll take you," Leviathan volunteered. "You'll go faster on my back. Climb on," He said, leaning down for Sefi. She hesitated for a moment before sliding onto the summons' long blue neck (or back; he was so big that it was hard to tell).
"Hold on; we'll go fast," Leviathan warned. And without another word, they were gone.
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Angel and Rosa were on the beach, waiting for everyone to come back. The sun was setting, and it seemed to be taking the worry of the day with it. Everything in Mysidia relaxed for the first time in two days. Angel felt lighter now herself. And Rosa seemed to be feeling better too; they were actually having a conversation. It was the most that Rosa had said all day.
"I wonder where everyone is right now," Angel said, staring at the water.
"They should be back soon. Don't worry yourself," Rosa advised.
"I'm not worrying myself," Angel insisted, "I just can't wait for them to get back!"
When a dark spot appeared in the water (which was already fading back to blue), they bother drew nearer to the water. The large serpentine head that emerged caught them quite off guard, but they quickly recognized it as Leviathan; and as he rose in the air, it became clear that he bore a rider.
"Sefi!" Angel and Rosa both cried out together. Angel immediately tore off for the tower to let everyone know that Sefi was back.
"Hey! Everyone! Guess who just got back!" She hollered once she was standing in the doorway. Everyone looked up at her, very surprised (it was the most noise they'd had for a few hours).
"Let me guess, Sefi and the others?" Rydia asked, rising from her chair (wobbling a little bit) and moving to the door.
"Only Sefi," Angel corrected. "Come on," She said to everyone and bolted out again, well aware that her father and uncle were hard on her heels.
When they all got to the shore, Sefi was standing in front of Rosa, dripping wet, and saying what sounded like, "So can she come? Please?"
When Sefi and Rosa heard sand moving nearby and looked up, the first thing that they saw was Cecil racing toward them. The very next thing that either of them knew was that he had Sefi in a bear hug.
"Daddy, I'm getting you wet," Sefi pointed out, trying to breathe through Cecil's grip.
"Are you alright?" He asked, pretty much ignoring Sefi's statement, and not seeming to care that he was getting so wet.
"I'm fine, daddy," She assured him, finally freeing her hands enough to return the hug. Only then did someone grab her from behind, somehow wrestle her from Cecil's hug, and give an even tighter hug from which escape was absolutely out of the question (she was lifted off the ground).
"You're back! You're safe! You're alive!" Angel trumpeted. "We were all so scared! If you ever do that again, I tell you that Cid will be easier on you," She warned.
"Angel, I can't breathe…" Sefi squeaked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Angel apologized, and released her twin.
"Yeah," Kain mused, catching up with everyone. "It'd be a real shame to get Sefi back only to lose her to suffocation five minutes later."
Sefi ran to Kain and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you for showing me that sword move this morning," She said. "It saved my life."
Kain held her back a little bit and looked her over carefully. "It didn't hurt you in any way? I thought that it would break your arms for sure if you tried it now," He explained, perplexed.
Sefi giggled, amazed with herself. "It surprises me too," She informed him.
Then she saw Edge and Rydia come down the path and she remembered her mission.
"Palom and Porom and I saved the reef. The dolphins had invited us to stay for the celebrations, and we thought that Angel might like to come," She explained. "Their queen, Artiria, had said she'd like to meet my sister earlier," She added.
"She was asking me about that when you all arrived," Rosa mentioned.
Angel's eyes lit up. "So can I go? Please?" She asked, remembering what Leviathan had said about the breath plant.
Cecil jumped as Edge materialized at his side, holding out the shriveled scrap of silvery seaweed.
"Let the kid go; she deserves some fun after today," The ninja advised. Cecil took the breath plant from Edge and stared at it for a minute, obviously thinking. Finally he nodded thoughtfully and handed it to Angel.
"Have some fun, sweet," He told her. Angel grinned widely, snatched the plant, and gulped it down without a word.
"Thank you, daddy," She said, hugging him as punctuation. "Ready to go?" She asked Sefi.
"Yep. Let's hit it," Sefi said, pushing her wet hair out of her face and heading back to the water.
"Tell the dolphins that we said hi," Rydia requested.
"Can do," Sefi agreed. "The dolphins are really quite taken with you already," She said cheerily, joining Angel at the water.
Leviathan, still in his serpent form, let out a series of strange raspy, growling sounds.
"He says it's the truth," Rydia translated, sounding mildly amused and proud of her reputation.
"Get going or you'll both be late," Rosa pointed out. "Neither of you want to miss a thing, I don't think."
"Yes ma'am," The girls chorused, and climbed onto Leviathan's outstretched neck.
"To the reef, once more!" Sefi cheered as Leviathan dove beneath the water. Once they submerged, Angel held her breath, unused to breathing underwater. "You can breathe now," Sefi informed her sister. "You ate the breath plant, remember?"
Angel exhaled, and inhaled cautiously. "This feels so strange," She commented.
"I know; it takes some getting used to," Sefi said. "It'll be easier in a few minutes," She assured Angel.
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Yaaaaay!!! It's all good, now isn't it?
One more chapter to go, everyone! Gotta write it! See ya!