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.”