Chapter 29
The Second Task - Part 1:
Into the Red River
KIARA
"You said you'd already worked out that egg!" said Sian indignantly.
"Keep your voice down!" I said crossly. "I just need to - sort of fine-tune it, all right?"
Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to be practicing the opposite of the Summoning Charm that day - the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Winds had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone of us if we went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Nikita's aim was so poor that she kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Winds for instance.
"Just forget the egg for a minute, all right?" I hissed, as Professor Winds went whizzing resignedly past us, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Triphorm and Grumpy ..."
Charms was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone else was having far too much fun to pay us any attention. I had been recounting my adventures of the night I uncovered the egg's clue in whispered instalments for the last half an hour.
"Triphorm said Grumpy's searched her office as well?" Chris whispered, his eyes alight with interest, as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and brushed the top of Perry's head). "What ... d'you reckon Grumpy's here to keep an eye on Triphorm as well as Kula?"
"Well, I dunno if that's what Crighton asked her to do, but she's definitely doing it," I said, waving my wand without paying much attention, so that my cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Grumpy said Crighton lets Triphorm stay here because she's giving her a second chance or something ..."
"What?" said Chrissie, her eyes widening, her cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier and dropping heavily onto Winds' desk. "Kiara ... maybe Grumpy thinks Triphorm put your name in the Goblet of Fire!"
"Oh, Chrissie," said Sian, shaking her head sceptically, "we thought Triphorm was trying to kill Kiara before, and it turned out that she was saving Kiara's life, remember?
She Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box we were supposed to be aiming at. I looked at Sian, thinking ... it was true that Triphorm had saved my life once, but the odd thing was, Triphorm definitely loathed me, just as she loathed my mother when they had been at school together (and not to mention, after they had left Dragon Mort). Triphorm loved taking points from me, and had certainly never missed an opportunity to give me punishments, or even to suggest that I should be suspended from the school.
"I don't care what Grumpy says," Sian went on, "the Headmistress is not stupid. She was right to trust Mina and Professor Meers, even though loads of people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why shouldn't she be right about Triphorm, even if Triphorm is a bit - "
" - evil," said Chris promptly. "Come on, Sian, why are all these Dark wizard catchers searching her office, then?"
"Why has Mrs Clutch been pretending to be ill?" said Sian, ignoring Chris. "It's a bit funny, isn't it, that she can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but she can get up here in the middle of the night when she wants to?"
"You don't like Clutch because of that elf, Blinky," said Chrissie, sending a cushion soaring into the window.
"You just want to think Triphorm's up to something," said Sian, sending her cushion zooming straight into the box.
"I just want to know what Triphorm did with her first chance, if she's on her second one," I said grimly, and my cushion, to my very great surprise, flew straight across the room, and landed neatly on top of Sian's.
0000
Obedient to Grandmother Sarabi's and my parents' wishes of hearing anything odd happening at Dragon Mort, I sent them both letters - one by barn owl, and the other by Harold - to them that night, both letters explaining all about Mrs Clutch breaking into Triphorm's office, and Grumpy and Triphorm's conversation. Then I turned my attention in earnest to the most urgent problem facing me; how to survive underwater for a period of time on the twenty-fifth of February, 2008.
Chris and Chrissie both liked the idea of using the Summoning Charm again - I had explained about aqualungs, and Chrissie couldn't see why I shouldn't Summon one from the nearest Muggle town. Chris was going to agree, but Sian was the one who squashed that plan by pointing out that, in the unlikely event that I managed to learn how to operate within the space of around half an hour four example, I was sure to be disqualified for breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy - it was too much to hope that no Muggles would spot an aqualung zooming across the countryside to Dragon Mort.
"Of course, the ideal situation would be for you to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," she said. "If only we'd done human Transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that until sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing ..."
"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head," I said. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Grumpy, she might do it for me ..."
"I don't think she'd let you choose what you wanted to be turned into, though," said Sian seriously. "No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm."
And so, whilst thinking that I would soon have had enough of the library to last me a lifetime, I buried myself once more among the dusty volumes, looking for any spell that might enable a human to survive without oxygen. However, though Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I searched through our lunchtimes, evenings and whole weekends - though I asked Professor Darbus for a note of permission to use the Restricted Section, and even asked the irritable, vulture-looking librarian, Mr Pincer, for help - we found nothing whatsoever that would enable me to spend however long a period of time underwater and live to tell the tale.
Familiar flutterings of panic were starting to disturb me by this point, and I was finding it difficult to concentrate in lessons again. the river, which until this point I had always taken for granted as just another feature of the grounds, drew my eyes whenever I was near a classroom window, a great, iron-grey mass of chilly water, whose dark and icy depths were starting to seem as distant as the moon.
Just as it had done before I faced the Horntail, time was slipping by as though somebody had bewitched the clocks to go extra-fast. There was a week to go before February the twenty-fifth (there was still time) ... there were five days to go (I was bound to find something soon) ... three days to go (please let me find something ... please ...)
With two days left, I started to go off food again. The only good thing about breakfast Saturday morning was the return of the barn owl I had sent to my parents, along with Harold, who I had sent to my grandmothers. I pulled off the parchment, unrolled it and read the most shortest letter Grandmother Sarabi had sent me.
My dearest Kiara,
I do not know what Mrs Clutch was doing there, nor do I know what the conversation between Grumpy and Triphorm was about, but both of these things do not concern you, so can you please try and stay out of this one, for once? Oh, and as much as I disapprove of you being out of bed after curfew, I'm glad you've got that clue figured out, and I'm glad that you didn't get in trouble for being out of bed after hours. And don't worry about the whole "breathing underwater" thing, for I'm sure you'll figure something out. You always do.
I've got to go now, sweety. Sarafina sends you her love, as always. We still want to hear about anything strange happening at the school. Oh, and Sarafina and I both send you luck for the second task.
Love,
Grandmother Sarabi
Feeling disappointed with my grandmothers' reply, I turned my attentions on the barn owl, pulled off the parchment, unrolled it and I saw the shortest letter my parents had ever written me - and certainly not the last.
Send the date of next Dragsmede weekend by return owl.
I turned the parchment over and looked at the back, hoping to see something else, but it was blank.
"Weekend after next," whispered Sian, who had read the note over my shoulder. "Here - take my quill and send this owl back straight away."
I scribbled the dates down on the back of my parents' letter, tied it back onto the barn owl's leg, and watched it take flight again. What had I expected to hear from them? Advice on how to breathe underwater? I had been so intent on telling my parents about Triphorm and Grumpy, that I had completely forgotten to mention the egg's clue.
"Why do they want to know when the next Dragsmede weekend is?" said Chris.
"Dunno," I said dully. The momentary happiness that had flared inside me at the sight of the owls had died. "Come on ... let's go down to Mina's."
When we got down there, we saw that Mina had captured two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold. I don't know whether it was because Mina was trying to make up for the Shudder-Ended Crabs, or because there were only two Crabs left, or she was trying to prove she could do anything that Professor Smutty-Stave could do, but I was secretly glad for the change.
"For our nex' lesson," Mina said, when we had asked her about them. She made us tea and set it down for us, along with her infamous rock cakes. We had had enough experiences with Mina's cooking to know that there was a possibility that a tooth or two could be lost if we took a bite, so we passed. "Though' I migh' continue with 'em, seein' as the Crabs are so few now ..." As Mina spoke, Gnasher the boarhound came bounding over to me, and started to drool all over the knees of my robes. I scratched behind her ears as Mina talked, and I could tell that Mina was disappointed by the lack of poisonous fangs that the unicorns had.
"You OK, Kiara?" she said, looking at me concernedly.
"Yeah," I said.
"Jus' nervous, eh?" said Mina.
"Bit," I said.
"Kiara," said Mina, clapping a massive hand on my shoulder, which made me almost smack my head into the table, "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha' Horntail, but I know now yeh can do anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin' ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?"
I nodded, but even as I did so, an insane urge t confess that I didn't have any idea how to survive at the bottom of the river for however long a period of time came over me. I looked at Mina - after all, perhaps she had to go into the river sometimes, to deal with the creatures in it? She looked after everything else in the grounds, after all -
"Yeh're goin' ter win," Mina growled, patting my shoulder again, so that I actually did bang my head into the table. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win, Kiara."
I just couldn't bring myself to wipe the happy, confident smile off Mina's face. I forced Mina a smile, before I became very interested in my tea, not daring to look at anyone in case Chris, Sian or Chrissie confessed to Mina that I had lied to her during the remainder of our visit. Fortunately for me, however, they did no such thing, for which I was very grateful to them for.
0000
By the evening before the second task, I felt as though I was trapped in a nightmare. I was fully aware that even if, by some miracle, I managed to find a suitable spell, I'd have a real job mastering it overnight. How could I have been so stupid to let this happen? I kept thinking to myself: Why hadn't I got to work on the egg's clue sooner? Not only that, but why had I ever let my mind wander in classes - for what if a teacher had once mentioned how to breathe underwater, and I had stupidly not been paying any attention!
Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I sat in the library as the sun set outside, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells, hidden from each other by the massive pile of books on the desk in front of us. My heat gave a huge leap every time I saw the word "water" on a page, but more often than not it was mere "Take two pints of water, half a pound of shredded mandrake and a newt ..."
"I don't reckon it can be done," said Chris' voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the river."
"There must be something," Sian muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."
"They have," said Chrissie. "Kiara, just go down to the river tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to speak to this creature person who they guard to give back whatever He's nicked and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, girl."
"There's a way of doing it!" said Sian crossly. "There just has to be!"
She was taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before this point.
"I know what I should have done," I said, resting, face down, on Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts. "I should've learnt to be an Animagus like my parents."
"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish anytime you wanted!" said Chris.
"Or a frog," Chrissie said, as I yawned. I was absolutely exhausted.
"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Sian vaguely, now squinting down the index of Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions. "Professor Darbus told us, remember ... you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office ... what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it ..."
"Sian, I was joking," Chris said wearily. "I know Kiara hasn't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning ..."
"Oh, this is no use," Sian said, snapping Weird Dilemmas shut. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind," said Tanya Fang's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I looked up. Tanya and Geri had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you two doing here?" Chrissie asked.
"Looking for you, if you must know," said Geri. "Darbus wants to see you, Chrissie. And you alone."
"Why?" she said, looking surprised.
"Dunno ... she was looking a bit grim, though," said Tanya.
"We're supposed to take you down to her office," said Geri.
Chrissie stared at Chris, Sian and I, who were at a loss as to what to say to her. I felt my stomach drop. Was Professor Darbus going to tell Chrissie off? Perhaps she'd noticed how much she, Chris and Sian were helping me, when I ought to have been working out how to do the task alone? But if that were true, then why were Chris and Sian not getting punished along with her?
"I'll see you back in the common room," Chrissie told Chris, Sian and I, as she got up, looking anxious. As she left with Tanya and Geri, I saw Sian watching Chrissie go, with an expression that didn't just show anxiety, but also expressed how much she longed to pull Chrissie back and never let her go. But I knew that Sian wouldn't do that; as much as she loved her sister, she respected Professor Darbus too much.
"Come on, let's keep looking," said Sian, flipping through pages in books once more.
By eight o'clock, Mr Pincer had extinguished all the lamps and came to chivvy Chris, Sian and I out of the library. Struggling under the weight of as many books as we could carry, Chris, Sian and I returned to the Lion-Heart common room, pulled a table into the corner and continued to search. There was nothing in Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks ... nothing in A Guide to Medieval Sorcery ... not one mention of underwater exploits in An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms, or in Dreadful Denizens of the Deep, or Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to do With Them Now You've Wised Up.
Lucifer crawled into my lap and curled up, purring deeply. the common room emptied slowly around us. People kept wishing me luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices like Mina's, all of them apparently convinced that I was about to pull off another performance like the one I had managed in the first task. I couldn't answer them, so I just nodded, feeling as though there was a golf-ball stuck in my throat. By ten to midnight, Chris, Sian and I were alone in the room with Lucifer. Chris, Sian and I had searched through all the remaining books, and Sian kept glancing at the portrait hole every five minutes or so, because Chrissie had not come back.
"That's it," I said to Chris and Sian, as I threw the last book aside. "It's over." I banged my head onto the desk as I thought, You can't do it. You'll just have to go down to the river in the morning and tell the judges ...
I imagined myself explaining to the judges that I couldn't do the task. I pictured Baxter's look of round-eyed surprised, Kula's satisfied, yellow-toothed smile. I could almost hear Ferdinand Desjardin saying, "I knew it ... she is too young, she is only a little girl." I saw Malty flashing her PRIDE-LANDER STINKS badge at the front of the crowd, and Mina's crestfallen, disbelieving face ...
As I looked up at my friends' faces, I saw that they were both wearing expressions of pity and exhaustion. I was just about to say that we should go to bed, when there came a loud crack in the middle of the room. Chris, Sian and I looked around, and by the fire was Dokey, her eyes wide and staring straight at me.
"Oh, Kiara Pride-Lander, miss!" Dokey squeaked, hurrying towards me. "Thank goodness Dokey managed to catch Kiara Pride-Lander before she went to bed, miss! For Dokey heard something that Kiara Pride-Lander and her friends must know, miss!"
"Tell us what, Dokey?" said Sian, her voice alert, her face tense.
Dokey kept looking at me and said, "Well, Kiara Pride-Lander, miss, Dokey has just overheard Professor Darbus and Professor Grumpy talking about the second task, miss!"
"It's too late, Dokey," I said helplessly. "I'm not doing the task, I don't know how - "
"Kiara Pride-Lander will do the task!" squeaked the elf. "Dokey knows, miss! Kiara Pride-Lander must go into the river and find her Door-son ..."
"Find my what?"
" - and take her Door-son back from the creature that the merpeople are guarding!"
Before I could ask what Dokey meant, Sian shrieked, "They've got Chrissie!"
"What?" Chris and I said together, both of us in shock, but Dokey just nodded her head solemnly, her bat-like ears flapping.
"Indeed they do, miss," Dokey said, now speaking to Sian, "and Professor Grumpy said that you have something that will help Kiara Pride-Lander breathe underwater, miss!"
Chris and I both looked at Sian, and we saw the confused look on her face as she thought. Then, quite suddenly, a stroke of brilliance must have hit her, for she gasped aloud in delight, her face rid of weariness, before she jumped up and ran up the stairs, before either myself or Chris could say anything.
"I must go now, Kiara Pride-Lander, miss!" Dokey said, grinning toothily, though at that point I had no idea why. "Good luck with the second task, miss!" And with another loud crack, she was gone, just as Sian came hurrying back down the stairs, a small box clenched tightly in her hand.
"I totally forgot about these," said Sian breathlessly, before Chris or I could ask for an explanation. "I was talking to Kopa about them a while back, and I guess Professor Grumpy must have overheard us as we were walking past, because I didn't notice her. These," Sian then said, holding up the box, "are Chewy Breathers."
"Chewy Breathers?" I said.
Sian nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. It's perfectly simple. All you have to do is to chew one as you're getting in the water, and then, once you've chewed it enough, you blow it like you're blowing a piece of bubble-gum, which will then form around your head and will allow you to breathe underwater for as long as you wish. When you come back up to the surface, however, the bubble will withdraw back inside your mouth, and you will be able to eat the sweet. Here," she said, chucking me the box, "you'll need these for yourself and Chrissie tomorrow. Now, come on," she said, stretching, "we all need to sleep. You particularly, Kiara. After all ..." her voice now turned serious, as was her face, which was turned towards me, "you have my sister to find."
0000
I was woken up by Sian the next morning, shaking me awake. I had only gotten a few hours sleep, because I was so nervous about what was going to happen that day. After I had dressed and got the Chewy Breathers, along with my wand and the piece of chalk from the egg, which Sian had reminded me to get, we made our way down to breakfast. I was feeling slightly more confident as I entered the Great Hall that morning than I had done on the morning of the first task, but that was only because I had a little bit more of an idea of what I was doing. I grinned weakly at the cheers from the Lion-Hearts, and most of the Raven-Wings and Badger-Stripes, whilst ignoring the jeers and insults from the Snake-Eyes. I managed to eat something (although my throat wasn't working that well), until Professor Darbus came down from the staff table and told me that the Champions were making their way down to the river. I stood up to follow her, and as I did so, Sian pulled me down and hissed, "Please come back with my sister, Kiara" before she let me go. I gulped nervously, then followed Professor Darbus down to the river.
She asked me whether I was all right, and if I knew what I was doing. I said yes to both, before Professor Darbus went on to say that the merpeople were keeping an eye on the river, and would send word to tell the staff if anything bad had happened whilst we Champions were down there. She then left me by the judges table and went to join the crowd.
The judges filled the table quickly, with Perdy Fang taking Mrs Clutch's place. Georgia Diggs, Ferdinand Desjardin and Outsider were soon standing next to me. the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were ranged along the opposite bank of the river which we were stood, rising on stands that were packed to breaking point and reflected on the river below; the babble of the excited and slowly growing crowd started to reach our ears by this point, and we had to wait until the stands were filled before we could dive in.
As the stands were filling the last few people, Lynn Baxter was moving among we Champions, spacing us along the bank at intervals of ten feet. I was on the very end of the line, next to Outsider, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his wand ready. Once I was in position I took off my shoes and socks and then drew out the box of Chewy Breathers, and took one of the small, round sweet out, before I put the rest back in the box, put the box back in my pocket with the chalk, and then I drew my wand.
When I stood back up, Baxter moved me a few feet further away from Outsider and whispered, "All right, Kiara? Know what you're going to do?"
"Yeah," I said, looking at her calmly.
Baxter gave my shoulder a quick squeeze, and returned to the judges table; she pointed her wand at her throat as she had done at the Quidditch Friendly, said "Sonorous!" and her voice boomed out across the dark water towards the stands.
"Well, all our Champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. the merpeople are guarding creatures - four of the same creatures that lie in caves, which are holding the things that have been taken from them. They will have a Guide who will give them instructions on how to find the precious thing that our Champions lost. The hour will begin when the first Champion enters their cave, because all of the other caves will light up, which we will know about by sparks shooting out of the water. On the count of three, then. One ... two ... three!"
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other Champions were doing, I put the Chewy Breather in my mouth and started chewing as fast as I could, as I took out the chalk and jumped into the water and went underneath its surface.
The water was icy cold, and I had trouble chewing underwater, but I stopped struggling as a big green bubble emerged from my mouth and covered my head. I took a few deep and refreshing breaths, relieved that I could breathe some oxygen, before I moved through the water, slightly dragged down by my robes, but I moved, nonetheless.
Silence pressed upon my ears as I soared over a strange, dark, foggy landscape. I could see everything in front of me quite clearly, so that as I spread through the water new scenes seemed to loom suddenly out of the oncoming darkness: forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. I swam deeper and deeper, out towards the middle of the river, my eyes wide, staring through the eerily grey-lit water around me to the shadows beyond (through the green bubble around my head), where the water became opaque.
Small fish flickered past me like silver darts. Once or twice I thought I saw something larger moving ahead of me, but when I got nearer, I discovered it to be nothing more than a large, blackened log, or a dense clump of weed. There were no sign of any of the other Champions, merpeople, Chrissie (obviously) - nor, thankfully, the giant squid.
Light green weed stretched ahead of me as far as I could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of very overgrown grass. I stared unblinkingly ahead of me, trying to discern shapes through the gloom ... and then, without warning, something grabbed hold of my ankle.
I twisted my body around and saw a Grindylow, a small, horned water demon, poking out of the weeds, its long fingers clutched tightly around my leg, its pointed fangs bared - I pointed my wand at the Grindylow -
"Relashio!" I shouted, except that no sound escaped outside the bubble ... I heard my own voice echo inside the bubble, and my wand, instead of sending sparks at the Grindylow, pelted it with what seemed to be a jet of boiling water, for where it struck it, angry red patches appeared on its green skin. I pulled my ankle out of the Grindyloa's grip and swam as fast as I could, occasionally sending more jets of hot water over my shoulder at random; every now and then I felt one of the Grindylows snatch at my feet again, and I kicked out, hard; finally, I felt my feet connect with a hardened skull, and looking back, I saw the dazed Grindylow floating away, cross-eyed, while its fellows shook their fists at me, and sank back into the weed.
I slowed down a little, stowed my wand back inside my robes and looked around, listening again. I turned full-circle in the water, the silence pressing harder than ever against my eardrums. I knew I was deeper in the river by that point, but nothing was moving except the rippling weed.
"How are you getting on?"
I thought I was having a heart attack. I whipped around, and saw Old Moany floating hazily in front of me, gazing at me through his thick pearly glasses.
"Moany!" I tries to shout - but, once again, my own voice reverberated around the bubble, and nothing came out of it. Moany actually giggled.
"You want to try over there!" he said, pointing. "I won't come with you ... I don't like them much, they always chase me when I get too close ..."
I nodded my head once to show him I understood, and set off once more, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed, to avoid anymore Grindylows that might have been lurking there.
I swam on for what at least felt like twenty minutes. I was passing over vast expanses of mud, which swirled murkily as I disturbed the water. Then, at long last, I heard a snatch of haunting mersong.
"An hour long you'll have to look,
And recover what he took ..."
I swam faster, and saw a large rock emerge out of the water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were carrying spears and were chasing what looked like the giant squid. I swam on past the rock, following the mersong.
" ... He lies in slumber for now, but don't be late,
Lest what He took will soon be on His plate ..."
A cluster of crude stone dwellings stained with algae loomed suddenly out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, I saw faces ... faces that bore no resemblance at all to the painting of the merman in the Prefects' bathroom ...
The merpeople had greyish skins and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at me as I swam past; one or two of them emerged from their caves to watch me better, their powerful, silver fishtails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.
I sped on, staring around, and soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weeds around some of them, and I even saw a pet Grindylow tied to a stake outside one door. Merpeople were emerging on all sides now, watching me eagerly, pointing at the giant bubble around my head, talking behind their hands to each other. I sped around a corner, and a very strange sight met my eyes.
A whole crowd of merpeople were standing guard in a circle around four large, arched rocks. Each person was hovering, face-forward, face grim, with a spear clutched firmly in both hands. As I drew nearer to the rocks, I saw that each of them had a different colour of paint on: the first, yellow, the second, blue, the third, brown, and the fourth had a red coloured paint on. The last one, I guessed, was mine, and so I swam towards it; before I could cross, however, I found a merperson blocking my path. It took my hands, saw the chalk in my left hand, nodded and stood back, allowing me to proceed. I passed cautiously, and when I reached my rock, I looked at the other three.
It didn't look like any of the other Champions had arrived yet (or if they had, it was very hard to tell, for the rocks all looked the same), and as I made my way to the rock next to me, I saw a movement of silver out of the corner of my eye and, looking around, I saw that the merpeople had all closed in on me, their spears pointed at me, their eyes flashing, incensed. I then, slowly and cautiously, made my way back to my rock, and the merpeople returned back to their original posts, acting like nothing had just happened.
I then turned my attentions to the rock, and that was when the question hit me: how was I going to get in? The cave, of course, was on the other side, but getting in was the hard part. Somehow, I knew hitting it wasn't going to do anything, so I pulled my wand out again and started shouting a few spells at it. Nothing happened. I was wondering if I should just give up, when I remembered the chalk in my hand. Knowing that it was my last shot, yet slightly doubtful if it would work, I drew a large arch with the chalk, and waited to see what would happen.
To my disbelief, the chalk melted into the rock, and the rock inside where the chalk had touched it, dissolved. I started to swim towards it, but I hadn't even moved a couple of feet when some invisible force from inside the cave drew me forwards, sucking me in. As it did so, the bubble around my head was getting smaller, as it was going back inside my mouth. I struggled against the force drawing me into the cave, but the force was too strong, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on a rough stone floor, coughing and spluttering. I was also, surprisingly, suddenly dry. I stood up, brushing myself off, chewing the Chewy Breather sweet and swallowing it. Lime flavour. Yum!
AN: And this ends part 1 of the second task. Part 2 will be posted later on today because I need my sleep.
