Chapter 3

Elmi woke up. She was lying in an uncomfortable bed frame, being rocked. There was something on her. Elmi opened her eyes and saw Della, curled up on her lap. This was strange… Della, Kaylin, and Annabel all asleep in her room. But, maybe it wasn’t her room. She peeked off the side of the bed frame and all around her was a wide stretch of blue. Suddenly, all of yesterday came back to her, she was on the ocean.

“Annabel! Annabel!” Elmi whisper-yelled to the second oldest cub. Annabel sat up and yawned, her morning smile turned into a frown as she realized where she was.  “Elmi…” Annabel said quietly to her older sister, a desperate look on her face. “What will we do now?” They both sat quietly, thinking.

Della stirred and Elmi smoothed her hair to make her fall back asleep, but it was no use. She was a little light sleeper. What happened? Where are we? Did I miss something? Though Della. She was so disappointed when she looked around. She was just where she was in her ‘nightmare.’

“No, no, no!” Della said, starting to cry. “It’s just a dream…” she whispered. Elmi hugged her. “It’s not a dream, but don’t worry. It’s not that bad.” “Not, that bad?” Della asked.

“Well, there’s a worse place to be!” Elmi said comfortingly. “Like what?” Sniffed Della. “Heh, I would rather not talk about it, but we could have got hurt. We could have been pulled down into the whirlpool. We could have-” She saw Della’s sad face and stopped. Darn, I’m really not helping. Della hugged her tighter, and Elmi hugged Della tighter.

They heard a snort and saw Kaylin sit up. Her hair is normally messy, but her bed-head is worse than you can possibly imagine. “Good morning, Kaylin,” Elmi said calmly.

Kaylin took one look and the ocean and screamed, “GOOD MORNING?”

“Yes…” Elmi said, feeling a bit intimidated by her own younger sister.

“How… HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN- THIS IS NOT A GOOD MORNING!” Kaylin screamed. She looked over at her sisters. “HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?”

“How can you be so… not-calm?” Elmi asked. “We could be in a waay worse situation.

“Heh, way worse?” Kaylin said sarcastically. “We are floating in a boat on the ocean and are going to die of hunger and thirst!”

“Do you not know?” Annabel asked. “We-Kenol- are the right most island of the three fishing islands.”

“Yes, but how does that prove anything?” Kaylin asked. Her anger and worry were turning more into sadness.

Wow, she really doesn’t know? Annabel wondered. “Well, we live on the left most side of our island. That means, wherever we’re floating to, it’ll be close to Fuzz. (The middle fishing island) That’ll only take two days at most.”

“But… what if we go off the current?” Kaylin asked.

“That’s impossible. The barrier can only be broken by super strong speed boats,” Annabel said simply. The barrier is a strong current that leads any floating boats to Fuzz. It just so happens that Fuzz is by far the largest island and Kenol is the smallest. Arkk (which is the left most island of the fishing islands) is somewhere in the middle.

“Well, Annabel…” Elmi said quietly. “There is a chance the current will loop us too far and bring us to Arkk.” Annabel shivered, and so did Kaylin.

“How come you guys always act like Arkk is so bad?” Della asked.

“‘Cause it is, Della. It was made from a volcano. It's kinda like Hawaii but way worse. rumor has it, that black magic made the volcano launch up from the ocean,” Elmi responded. “Plus, a lot of the people there are… well, evil.”

Chapter 2

After a few minutes of quiet rowing, Annabel broke the silence. “Well this is fun isn’t it?” She asked.

“Yeah, like every other Thursday,” Elmi said. It sounded nice to be chatting. “But, we haven’t got to the fun part yet!” Della said. Her voice was so tiny and light compared to the rest. Elmi voice was deeper because she was fourteen.

“The fun part?” Kaylin asked. “The fun part is the whole thing... isn’t it?”

“No, no!” Della said happily. “The best part is when we go so fast! Vroo!”

“You like riding on the big waves?” Elmi asked excitedly. “Yes!” Della said, sounding even more excited. When they get deep into the water, there are big waves that speed them up. The ocean was odd near the Fishing Islands. (Arkk, Fuzz, and Kenol) The waves didn’t just flow towards land, they went in all directions. Bear thinks it is because of the uneven ocean floor, but no one knows for sure.

“Okay, here we go!” Elmi said, paddling faster to hit to hit a wave. “Wee!” Della laughed as the wave gave them a big speed up. There was another one coming up. It looked long, bigger than a usual flow.

“Paddles in, guys!” Elmi shouted. “This is going to be a big one!”

Annabel stared at the water rush. It was really long, but not tall like a wave. WAIT! She thought, panicking. That isn’t one rush, it’s two coming together! They made a sort of whirlpool that would suck in anything that got close.

“Elmi!” Annabel started.She was so scared and surprised that she hardly had any breath left to yell. “There’s something wro-” She did not even have time to finish her wispy shout before they got violently spun by the current.

They dug their fingernails into the wood, but it was not enough to fight the screaming wind around them. The boat dipped into the ocean, salty water spilling in. Kaylin rushed to start dumping the water out, but her hands were so shaky they couldn’t pick up more than a few drops. “Della! Help!” Kaylin shouted over the wind.

“I can’t,” Della said, her voice so quiet in the wind. The boat was spinning so fast, plunging deeper into the building whirlpool. Della couldn’t force herself to lift off the side. Soon, Kaylin was thrown against the boat too, when she couldn’t resist the pull.

Drop your paddles! Annabel thought quickly. But, there was no time to try to yell across the wind. She simply dropped her paddle into the raging water and punched the paddles out of Kaylin and Elmi’s hands.

They gave her a stern look but were suddenly forced down to the floor of the boat.  The paddles had gotten under the boat, and launched it up, out of the whirlpool. Annabel smiled the best she could, being in the situation where she almost got sucked down to the bottom of the ocean and no one would find their bodies. Eugh!

“Annabel!” Elmi and Kaylin shouted in unison. “Did you not realize we were in a situation where we almost got sucked down to the bottom of the ocean and no one would find our bodies? EUGH!” Kaylin yelled. “Though…” Elmi said, sounding a bit flustered. “Whatever you did… It worked.”

Afloat

“Be back before supper, my little cubs!” Bear, to his four adopted children. “Yes, Bear!” the Cubs giggled as they ran down to the water, dragging a big wood boat behind them.

Bear only calls them his cubs because he will not call them his children. (They are humans)Four years ago, Bear found them eating berries behind his house, after running away from their orphanage. Della was so little, Elmi was carrying her in a towel.

Now, Della is five and quarter. Yes, she is really proud of that and she will tell anyone that listened. It took a while for Bear to teach Della that telling everyone on the street her age is a bad idea.

Della was just trying to help out with the boat when she accidentally flipped it over and trapped Kaylin under the boat. “Della!” Kaylin yelled from under the boat. “Oh, now we’re going to be more than a minute delayed,” Anabel said. Della is the youngest, Kaylin is the second youngest, Annabel is the second oldest, and Elmi is the oldest.

“Stop jumping around in there!” Elma yelled at Kaylin, her neat, blonde ponytail falling loose. “Sure, but don't say ‘in there’ to me. It makes me feel like a chicken in a cage,” Kaylin said. Elmi and Annabel were working on lifting up the boat, while Della sat behind a beach rock, stubbornly thinking that the others would be better without her. Anyways, she thought. I don't even know how to row a boat. I will just be sinking their boat. She slumped her snack backpack off her shoulder sadly.

“Errrrrr! Finally!” Kaylin pushed at the wooden boat with her legs and managed to sneak under it before Elmi and Annabel dropped it with exhaustion.

“Wow, that boat is really too heavy. I'm surprised that it floats as well as it does,” Annabel said, examining the boat. “Well, don't tell Bear that. He thinks he carved it to perfection,” Elmi whispered. “Okay, well. Everybody ready?”

“Yes…” Kaylin said slowly like she was missing something. “ Wait, no. Where’s Della?” Elmi gasped. How could she forget about Della… and where was Della?

They all knew that when Della gets mad or embarrassed, she runs away. “Oh, I hope she didn't go far, knocking over the boat isn't that bad,” Elmi said, worriedly. “Ahem?” Kaylin asked. “I was under that.” Did she just forget I was trapped under that big hunk of wood? Kaylin thought, brushing the sand off her messy blonde hair. They all had blonde hair except for Bear and Anabel. Anabel’s hair is black, and Bear’s hair is dark brown.

Elmi ran over to Della’s favourite hiding spot. A little dome made of beach stones and seaweed. To her relief, she found Della there. She was sitting, puffy and pouty. “What's the deal here?” Elmi asked.

“Kaylin was yelling at me again. Plus, I can't even row a boat. What would it help to have me in the boat?” Della pouted. The old thing is rickety enough as it is… Elmi thought guiltily.

“No, no! Della, who will we have to carry our lunches? With us carrying the boat, our hands are full! We need you, sister!” Elmi said enthusiastically.

“Sister?” Della asked. “You never call me that.”

“Well, aren't we?” Elmi smiled.

“I guess. Yes,” Della said happily, getting up. Della held Elmi’s hand, and they walked back to the beach. Altogether, the four cubs set the boat in the sand and pushed it out into the water.

Chicken: A new story is going to be out next week! :)