Chapter 20

Rikki found herself wondering what her family and friends were doing back on Mako, they would have to be using the oven they had brought over for emergencies. It was never used unless Rikki and Anna were busy. The water-powered generator supplied power to their village; Lewis had installed this the year before, and the cell phone tower more recently. She knew everyone would be freaking out, especially her husband. If only they had cell phone reception. She figured it was highly likely that they were in the Bermuda Triangle – that would explain the magically strong current. She couldn't be sure of course but it was a good guess. The trio had had a lot of time to think. Though it really had not been very long since they last saw their families, they were becoming lonely – they wondered how soon they would get to see their families again – if at all.

Rikki was actually spot on with her assumptions.

A few days later...

Over the next few days, the women on the island did not do much. It was kind of the same routine day to day, the same activities. Swimming, sandcastles and gathering food – of course with variations. Rikki was getting bored. She got up from their shelter and walked over to where Cleo was staring blankly out to see and Anna had a blob of water that she was aimlessly moulding into shapes.

"I'm going to explore the island." She announced. Anna let the water dissipate.

"What?"

"I want to explore further into the island – the areas we haven't gone close to." Rikki replied. She saw their hesitant expressions. "Oh come on guys! I am bored out of my wits when we aren't swimming. It will give us something different to do."

They still were not convinced. "Do you seriously want to sit on the beach moulding water for hours and creating sandcastles? "

"Well, not really..." Cleo shrugged.

"Come on then!"

"Alright," Anna said as she pulled herself to stand. The walked to the jungle edge, it was times like these when the sun beat down on you that they were grateful that they were wearing sneakers, t-shirts and shorts, they canopy of trees would also provide shade for them.

Rikki looked at her companions before walking into the jungle without hesitation. Cleo sighed and followed Anna and their determined friend.

"What are we actually planning on finding?" She called out.

"I don't know." Rikki called back.

"Do you know where we are going?" Cleo shouted.

"No." Rikki said.

"That is totally reassuring." Cleo muttered. Cleo passed Anna to try walk in line with Rikki.

"So, let me get this straight…" Cleo pushed the branch of a tree so that she could continue walking, as soon as she had passed she released it and it flicked straight into Anna's chest.

"Ow!" she said indignantly, her cry ignored by Cleo.

"…we are just walking through the jungle aimlessly so that we can entertain ourselves."

"Pretty much, yeah. Who knows we could find something," Rikki shrugged.

Cleo pushed a large leaf aside; again it came flicking back into Anna.

"Seriously!" Again, she was ignored.

The mermaids came to a swampish river. Rikki stared at it in thought.

"Do we have to cross that?" Anna asked.

"Yup." Rikki replied.

"How?"

"I'm just thinking about that…"

"Can we not just go around this? Find another place to cross? Avoid it all together?" Cleo asked.

"We want to go straight across the island, we have to cross."

"I thought we were just walking aimlessly." Cleo mumbled.

"How about we use those logs?" Anna suggested. They looked over at the half submerged logs.

"No way, am I using those to cross." Cleo said. "Talk about a way to fall in and get attacked by whatever creatures are in there…I am staying put."

"Cleo, if you're staying put we'll leave you behind." Rikki said matter-of-factly. (She really wouldn't but she wanted Cleo to come along.) "Okay, we could use them but they are half submerged…wait, did that just…move?" All three of them stared at the three large, knobbly logs. One moved again.

"Anna, I don't think those are logs…they're crocodiles!" Rikki said as the one that moved walked slowly, menacingly out of the water. The trio backed away slowly.

"Forget the staying put, run!" Cleo said about to run away from the river.

"No." Rikki said eyeing the crocodile. "We are crossing." She grabbed Cleo's arm.

"We are?" Anna said with a scared voice.

"Yes." Cleo struggled against Rikki's strong grip.

"Let me go!" Nothing was moving Rikki. Cleo panicked, the croc was inching closer and closer, in her state, she used her power and splashed water all over Rikki. Instantly she let go. Cleo moved away from the crocodile. Anna grabbed her before she ran into the jungle.

"Cleo!" Rikki shouted.

"What did you do?" Anna screeched. This jerked Cleo to reality.

"Oops." She said sheepishly.

"Oops?" Rikki yelled. Anna dragged her mermaid friend further away from the croc. She started drying herself off as quickly as possible. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Anna asked. Rikki brought her hand up and created a firewall between themselves and the crocodile. Terrified, it scuttled back into the water.

"Nice one Rikki," Cleo said shakily. "I am sorry…"

"It's okay, but seriously, in your rush to escape you could have made me crocodile food.

"Sorry." Cleo muttered again, embarrassed.

"Guys, part the river with your powers – we can walk across!"

"Okay," they agreed, soon they had passed the first obstacle of the day.

OoOoO

Rikki was still leading the way some time later when Anna decided they needed a rest. She stopped, hands on her knees panting. They had just crossed over a large hill and were now at the bottom.

"Wait up guys," She stood up again. "Guys? Why are you getting taller?"

"Nu-uh, we're not growing…you're sinking!" Cleo replied.

"You're in quick sand!" Rikki exclaimed.

"What!" she shouted and immediately started struggling.

"Stop! You'll only make things worse, you'll sink faster." Cleo said. Anna immediately stopped struggling. She was now up to her waist and had transformed into a mermaid.

"Do something!" she said with a panicked voice.

"Okay, um…" Rikki grabbed a branch, "Take this." Anna reached out, and after a couple of stretching attempts, she grabbed the end. Rikki and Cleo grabbed onto it and pulled in unison. Unfortunately due to the pull of the quicksand combined with Anna's mermaid weight, the two women got sent flying backwards. They scrambled back up and reached out with the branch again. This time it snapped. Luck just wasn't on their side.

"Guys?" Anna said wearily. The muck was creeping to her neck. Cleo began to sob.

"Snap out of it Cleo," Rikki said brashly. She grabbed a different branch. "Try again."

Again their tries ended in vain. The results just caused Cleo to cry harder. Anna – helpless- tried to console her. Anna was now in up to her chin. Rikki looked around frantically. She suddenly looked calm.

"Oh dear Anna, you are up to your chin and will soon be under, unless, unless…"

"Rikki what are you saying?" Anna asked.

"I have an idea. Can I not have a spiel first?"

"No! I'm up to my…" her mouth went under.

"Fine. Cleo, use your mermaid magic to pull her out of the water. You can do that right?"

"Yeah! Why didn't we think of that at first?" Cleo said as she used the liquid in the sand to counteract the pull and Anna ended up breathing in ragged breaths on the edge of the quicksand pool. Rikki dried her off, unfortunately this dried the mud on her as well.

"That. Was. Too. Close." Anna wheezed. Rikki got out her pocketknife and carved into a nearby tree; 'Danger: Quicksand.'

"Are we still going to continue?" Cleo asked.

"Yes." Rikki said categorically.

The trio sat on a large rock near to the quicksand in order to give the pool's victim as deserved rest. They used Rikki's pocketknife to cut open the coconuts from a tree that they had spotted no too far from the pool. Soon they were walking again.

OoOoO

After quite a while of walking through swamps, bogs, between trees and dodging unfriendly animals, Rikki was sure that they should be near the centre of the crescent shaped island by now. As they were walking Rikki noticed a large piece of metal sticking out of the ground.

'Hmm,' she thought and continued walking, as they went there were more and more shards of metal covered in moss and grasses, overgrown.

"Hey guys, look at this," she pulled a piece out of the ground, "There are heaps all around."

"What does this mean?"

"It means that we aren't the first to be stranded here." Rikki said. "These could definitely be useful," she added to herself.

They continued to walk.

OoOoO

Rikki stopped suddenly sending her friends crashing into her.

"What?" Cleo asked. Rikki pointed solemnly. Cleo screamed until Rikki clammed a hand down over her mouth. Anna stared eyes open with shock. There in front of them, was a skeleton.

"Oh, relax, it's just bones," Rikki chastised, "They look like they've been here a long time."

Rikki cautiously stepped over the bones and continued walking. The shards of metal became more and more frequent until they saw the cause. There was a large plane split in two. It had a smashed hull and a large hole in the side. Ivy and an unrecognisable crawling plant had grown all over it and weeds grew around it.

"You think that pile of bones was the pilot?" Anna asked with a shudder. Rikki nodded.

"He never left the island either."

They looked around the plane. There were tins of food littered around the hold. Cleo picked one up.

"Tinned Spaghetti. Best Before…Ew!" All the tins were best before the year 1962. "That is some real old food, no wonder he's a skeleton!" The plane had arrived on the island over sixty years previously. They decided that they'd come back another time to explore a bit more – the sun was setting. They had spent the whole afternoon in the jungle. They picked up a couple of metal shards each and started walking in the direction they came. They purposefully gave the quicksand pool a wide berth and quickly crossed the swampy river. Back at camp, they placed the metal on the roof and walls of their shelter – it would provide more protection from the elements.

"Well today certainly wasn't boring," Rikki laughed.

"Yes. No offence Rikki, but if you want to go back into that scary place, you are welcome, but I am most definitely not going." Cleo said pointedly.

"Fair enough." Rikki said looking as if she were contemplating. "But I am most definitely going back, maybe not tomorrow but soon."

A/N: Hey everyone, a nice long chapter there for you. Thanks for still reading. Thanks to Arocksprpl2 for reviewing my last chapter – only person, ch 19. You made my day. Also to RikkiAndZaneH20 for being the only one to review the previous one, ch 18 (you made my day aswell - but a different day :P lol)

Anyway, please, please , please, please review! It lets me know that you actually are reading and still enjoying my story. Thank you so, so much.

Krystalslazz