Chapter 3

Cleo's POV

I was so ready to leave Australia and get my mind off Lewis. We had decided to go to the Animal Flower Cave first.

I met up with Rikki and Bella on the beach so we could just dive in and be off. In the distance I saw Will and Zane running towards us.

"Why are they here?" I asked, simply curious.

"JUST GO! And meet at Mako!" Bella said quickly and the last part quietly.

I dove in along with Rikki and Bella and we started swimming towards the island. But we weren't fast enough. Zane had run off to the docks and Will had dove in after us. By now, Bella had motioned for us to follow her and we did. We went in random directions at the top speed. We had gotten them off our trail. I surfaced for a breath to see Rikki eating some sea plant. I looked at her in disgust.

"Remember the 'mermaids on a sea diet' thing? I'm testing it! After this I won't eat for six hours then eat some random food like this again!" Rikki said with a mouth full of random crap.

I heard a feint rumble in the distance and screamed "Follow me!"

That was probably Zane's boat and I didn't want to take any chances so I started swimming. I remembered the approximate map and where I needed to go from Mako to the Animal Flower Cave. I spotted Mako in the distance but I knew it was too risky to swim there. Instead, I figured out where to go and started swimming in the right direction until there was some land we needed to cross. I looked behind me to just see Bella and Rikki. I got on the land and was careful to hide from the view of others. Rikki dried us all off and we started walking.

Our goal was the shortest route possible but we had planned a few stops on land. Our first stop, the outlying islands of Australia. Next would be Papua New Guinea, then New Britain Islands, followed by Solomon Islands, then Nauru, then Ocean Island, then to Bairiki, then to Howland Island, then to Jarvis Island, then Hawaii, then Guadalupe Island, then San Martin, then the part of Mexico by the Gulf Of California, then Isla Angel de la Guarda, then Tiburon Island, then Mexico, then into Texas, then Matagorda Island, then into Louisiana coast, then the tip of Mississippi, then Florida, then Bimini Islands, then North Cat Cay, then the Bahamas, then to Cuba, then to Haiti, then Dominican Republic, then Puerto Rico, then the British Virgin Islands, then Anguilla, then St Kitts and Nevis, the Montserrat, then Guadeloupe, then Dominica, then Martinique, then St. Lucia, then St Vincent and the Grenadines, then FINALLY Barbados.

The route seems so impossible, especially because some distances were seriously long while other were as close as Mako and the beach. But this would be a good challenge if we wanted to know more about the mermaid world, seeing how far we could go like this. At this rate, the mermaid diet thing was accurate enough, Rikki seemed normal. But this trip? It would take months! And why did Bella choose this one first? There had to be on closer to Australia! This route would take forever! Was I even up for it? This was the biggest commitment I had made, ever.

When I had left home, I had said a 'goodbye, I'll miss you, love you!" to my dad because it was for the next few months but it seemed like it could still be for one hour. I only smiled at Sam but waved at Kim which she just snorted at. I was glad they had no idea about this trip but sad at the same time. It was sort of betraying them and I had no idea what they would do, call the police? Dad would be worried sick. Bella had just told her parents that she would be moving out and staying at Will's, which they accepted. Rikki had just left but it wasn't like her dad would make a big deal out of it. So I only had to worry.

After maybe two hours of going at top speed, we had reached Papua New Guinea (unrealistic but bear with me). It was 3 PM and I was just tired.

"So what's our goal for today?' Bella piped up.

"As far as we can. You lead the way and we'll just follow" Rikki answered. I nodded, agreeing with Rikki.

Bella started speeding off and we followed her. We got to New Britain Islands but we didn't waste any time and just went off. After, we got to Solomon Islands, then Nauru, then Ocean Island, then to Bairiki, then to Howland Island and then at 11 PM, Jarvis Island. Bella was about to dive in when I screamed, "WAIT! It's 11 PM! Don't you think we should just rest here?" They nodded and we took out our sleeping bags and they fell asleep. (They have bags so when they're human it comes with their clothes because it's all connected so they have other stuff too.) I couldn't sleep so I just looked at the beauty of the island. Apparently, it was an uninhabited coral island owned by the USA. I looked around to see the remains of other civilisations. I could spend forever here just searching the island! I finally dozed off into a deep sleep.

I woke up to see Rikki setting out some food she'd obviously got from the ocean. She put it down, took some and stuck it in her mouth like it was regular. She coughed it back up seconds later. "What's wrong?" I heard Bella ask. Then I heard Rikki change to a mermaid. She stuck some more in her mouth and smiled as she chewed and swallowed. I guess Bella did too because she looked pretty fucking hungry. I had a feeling that this would not be a good day.