Gina flew far out in the Atlantic. She wouldn't have gotten there if it weren't for the waves helping her. As they took her, Gina frightfully peered down at the ocean for a sign. Within another hour and a half, she saw something.
In the fairly calm ocean floated Ronda's raft. On the raft, in the bright sunshine, lay a figure. Gina immediately knew who it was, and so did the waves because they released her. "Tracey!" she yelled, flying toward the raft and landing on its mast. The sail wasn't up.
From where she was perched, Gina glanced down at the wood and squawked. She looked into the face of Tracey. Just seeing him caused her to sigh in relief.
It wasn't long until Tracey squirmed and lifted his hand to block the rays of the sun.
Gina carried on with her squawking. "Wake up, Tracey! It's me! It's Gina!"
"Gina?" he feebly asked, and Gina nodded. Still not fully awake, Tracey lowered his hand and rested it on his forehead. With a grunt, he turned and put his face on the raft's wet wood.
Gina squawked again.
There, Tracey snapped awake. He gasped and jumped to his knees. "Gina!" His golden brown eyes landed on her. "What happened? Where are Emilee and Jesse? Where's their island?" He didn't remember anything after eating breakfast. His mind was a total blank. He didn't even remember his attack on Emilee and Jesse and Emilee's capture.
"Emilee and Jesse?" Gina hopped off the mast and soared down to her friend. "Who are Emilee and Jesse?"
"I've got to find them," Tracey calmly spoke. "I can't tell you right now, Gina. Right now, you need to help me search for their island."
"But, Tracey, we're in the Atlantic. There could be tons of islands."
"Trust me. I'll know Emilee and Jesse's island when I see it. Now, get cracking and help me."
"Well, excuse me." There was definitely something going on with Tracey. He never bossed Gina around, but because she was his friend and wanted him to get off the ocean, she helped him search for an island.
Tracey stood on his shaky legs and looked in every direction for land. The attack on Emilee and Jesse had him so wiped out that he had to hold onto the mast to support himself.
Gina plopped onto his head and looked in the same direction as him. They searched for a good forty-five minutes, but didn't see anything. "Don't you see?" Gina asked, as the sun's rays toasted her and Tracey. "We're in the middle of nowhere. None of this would've happened if you just stayed on Coutarine Island! You are so off course. By the rate you're going, you will never make it to Bermuda or that so-called island this Emilee and Jesse live on."
Just as she said that, though, Tracey saw something. "There it is!" He pointed at the horizon.
"What?" Gina asked.
"Just look!"
Gina did. Her friend was right! Beyond the raft's bow, sitting far on the horizon, was an island. Right now, it appeared as just a small shadow, but it was still an island.
"I told you I could find their island!" Tracey bragged. He opened the compartment that had once held his food and pulled out his spyglass. Tracey put it to his eye and focused on the figure. "Yep, that is definitely their island. It's probably going to take us about a day to reach it, though. I hope they don't mind."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Gina squawked, hopping up and down on his head. "Let's pull up the sail and get moving! We need to hurry, too! Poseidon's minions could show up at any time!"
Understanding, Tracey silently got to work and pulled up the raft's sail. However, there wasn't much wind that day, so it didn't move as fast as he wanted. If he had his paddle, he could move faster, but he lost it. Gina stayed on his head the entire time.
When Tracey realized how slow he moved, he groaned, "Oh boy," but still headed toward Emilee and Jesse's island.
Before long, the white figure of a cruise ship that had a navy blue hull appeared as if by magic and came toward him. It was known as the Veendam. It sliced through the water at an easy pace, heading toward the island Tracey had seen.
Aboard the ship, on its top deck, stood a group of humans wearing summer clothes, hats, and glasses. A few humans pointed at the island, and a few others tried to get a picture of it, but it was still too far away.
A young girl soon pushed through the crowd with her parents and little sister and said, "Hey! There it is!" She, too, pointed at the island.
Her parents rested their arms on the deck's railing and smiled. Everybody around them seemed to enjoy looking at the strip of land the Veendam headed toward.
It wasn't long until the girl's mother said, "Amazing! That's Bermuda! That's where we're going to get off!"
"I am so psyched!" shouted her daughter, who started to spin playfully.
Three older women, who stood beside her and her family, beamed at the sight of her dancing. A grandmotherly woman had puffy white hair; one of the middle-aged women had short brown hair, and the third had medium-length light brown hair.
Tracey didn't see the ship. He tied the sail's rope to the raft's throttle so he could pick up the spyglass again and study the island. He groaned for the second time. "Ugh. It's going to take us forever to get there at this rate."
Gina nodded in agreement.
Tracey lowered the spyglass. "Jeepers. We might as well hitch a ride on a cruise ship."
Gina rotated on his head and glanced behind him to see if any other islands were closer. She froze at what she saw instead. "Um, Tracey. Tracey."
Tracey waved her away. "Shoo, girl. I'm trying to think of a solution here."
"Are you going to be able to think after we get crushed?" Gina sounded petrified.
"Crushed?" Tracey questioned. "What are you talking about?" However, he soon heard something approach Ronda's raft. Nervous, Tracey glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes widened when he saw the Veendam sailing close to him and Gina. Since it was so tall and close, the friends couldn't even see its roof.
Yelping, Tracey lost his calmness and yelled at Gina, "Jump! Jump!" As fast as a bullet, he grabbed her and his spyglass and dove off Ronda's raft. A few seconds later, the Veendam crushed it with its bow, and wood pieces flew everywhere.
Underwater, Tracey and Gina caught the current, which shoved them near the ship's stern. Tracey was lucky because he could hold his breath for a long time now due to his growing water powers, but Gina couldn't. He saved her, though, by performing a spell that would allow her to breathe underwater for a half hour.
As soon as he did, Gina gasped and thanked Tracey. She wrapped her wings around his neck and closed her brown eyes. The two were trapped under the cruise ship.
Tracey attached his spyglass to his belt and grabbed one of the ship's stabilizer fins, so he and Gina wouldn't be sliced to pieces by its propellers.
On the Veendam's top deck, the intercom turned on, and the passengers heard their captain: "Good morning, passengers, almost afternoon. This is your captain speaking. I have some exciting news! Just off starboard bow, you will see a little island. It's a bit difficult to make out because it's far away, but it's there. That island is where the Veendam is going. That is Bermuda."
As soon as he said that, groups of passengers hurried out onto the decks to see the island.
The three women from before pushed their way through the crowd and found their own little spot on the ship's starboard railing.
The two middle-aged women chuckled and started to chit-chat about Bermuda, while the grandmother-like one gripped the railing and glanced down at the Atlantic. She sighed when a gush of sea breeze rushed through her hair. Her smile, though, vanished when she spotted wood floating on the ocean beside the ship.
The short-haired, middle-aged woman soon noticed her staring and asked, "What's wrong, Lillie? What do you see?"
"Alexa, did we hit something?" Lillie asked, without looking back.
Alexa and the final woman joined her, and all three examined the wood.
After a bit, Alexa admitted, "I don't know. That is a bit strange, though, isn't it?"
Tracey and Gina couldn't stay underwater forever. They had to find a way to escape the Veendam's hull without getting sliced and onto the ship so they could ride it to Emilee and Jesse's island. Tracey didn't know whether a cruise ship visiting it was a good thing. It wasn't long until he released the stabilizer fin. The ocean instantly caught him and pulled him and Gina toward the ship's propellers.
Tracey used his magic to order the water to change its course, and it did. A ring of water, as well as green and purple fairy dust, danced around his legs and pulled them away from the propellers. It spat them out of the ocean, and Tracey held his arms out as he and Gina flew toward one of the Veendam's lifeboats.
While the tourists headed for the bow's edge, the three women remained in place.
Alexa took Lillie's shoulder and sweetly told her, "Not to worry, Lillie. That wood is probably just remnants of a crate that fell from a tanker."
"I sure hope so," Lillie spoke, rubbing her palms. Her companions gently nudged her and led her down the deck.
While they walked, the final woman, Coralline, suggested, "Why don't we go back to our room and read on the deck? Today is a wonderful day to lie in the sun."
"You've got that right, Coral," Alexa agreed, gripping each of her companions' shoulders. "I got a great book at the library before we left. I need to tell you girls all about it." All three laughed as they headed toward the deck's staircase.
Under the women, one of the orange covers of a lifeboat shuffled. A hand pulled it up, and Tracey and Gina peeked out and focused on the Veendam's name. Their eyes sparkled, and Tracey admitted, "Wow, I spoke too soon. We've got a sick ride, Gina!"
Gina smiled and bobbed her head.
To avoid being caught, the two ducked under the cover again and lifted the other side, the side that faced the ocean. As they sailed on in the gentle Atlantic, Tracey rubbed his fist on Gina's feathery head and told her, "We're off, my friend, to Emilee and Jesse's Island!"
***
Back in Coutarine Island's coral reef, Makenna gloomily swam through it and tried to take in everything that had happened and Ethelinda's words. She felt her heart shatter in her chest and reached for the horse-head necklace pendant. It wasn't long until she heard clicking before her.
Looking up, Makenna met eyes with two dolphins that smiled and clapped their fins. A game would help them take their minds off The Mincing. They didn't want their home destroyed.
At the sight of Makenna, groups of sea life began to approach her.
Makenna didn't see the animals swimming toward her. She pushed through the dolphins and swam further out in the reef, closer to the line. She didn't cross it, though. Makenna, instead, closed her eyes and plopped down on the reef's bed. As she rested, she hugged her horse-head necklace close to her chest and thought about Seabrook Island, her family, friends, and the calamity. The images of her family and friends were so clear that it almost felt as if they were right beside her.
Makenna didn't mean to, but ended up falling asleep on the reef's bed.
The sea animals, including the dolphins, watched her cautiously.
Makenna dreamed while she slept, but instead of seeing a meadow full of flowers, she saw darkness and the Octopus Man. She heard yelling from a group of figures that stood before the enemy. Within the crowd was her family, Jessica, Ash, and Tracey.
They braced themselves as the Octopus Man started to attack.
The figure of Tracey ran out to Caleb, who stood in the path of one of Poseidon's spells, and grabbed him. Carrying him toward his family, he looked into Makenna's mind camera and yelled, "Makenna, please! You can't give up! You need to believe in yourself. I know you can do this. Your family, friends, and I can't fight the Octopus Man alone. Not only are you a Metamorphic Fairy, but you are pure at heart. You're a princess."
Makenna gasped and woke. She shot to an upright position, and her blue eyes landed on the dolphins, fish, turtles, and stingrays over her. While Makenna stared at them, the puzzle pieces slowly started to come together.
Sun rays from the reef's surface shone down on her, and she carefully studied them. If what Ethelinda said about her being the only Metamorphic Fairy in the world was true, then that did make her an heir to the throne. All that had been made possible by her long-lost family member. Makenna wondered whether she herself would search for someone to protect the Human and Magic Worlds in the future. What if Makenna's long-lost family member knew The Mincing was coming?
The thought skewered her brain, and Makenna gasped again. She released the horse-head pendant and grabbed the seashell pendant from the other necklace.
"I'm a princess," she whispered. A small smile soon crept across her depressed face. "I'm a princess!"
The sea animals jumped when she stood on the reef's floor and excitedly shouted, "I'm a princess!" three more times.
As if they understood, the sea animals nodded. They watched Makenna draw her wand from her belt.
"And it is my duty to protect my two worlds from harm!" Makenna announced. "Look out, Poseidon, because no matter the danger and no matter the injury, in the end, I will defeat you and save Tracey."