The Dark Detective:Part Seven

     Elena was convinced that their boat would still be there, despite the tide having come in and out for several days. Dark had a less optimistic view, considering how everything else that could have gone wrong had gone wrong over the last couple of days, and was in something of a mood by the time they – Dark, Elena, Soren and Belle – had managed to climb to the top of the ravine, following Elena’s rainbow flames up the rocky cavern wall.

     It was therefore something of a surprise when the group returned to the spot Dark and Elena had washed up at, and found their small boat overturned and half buried in the sand. Sebastian jumped out of Dark’s arm and ran towards the boat, and stopped to give it a kick. Why he did this was anybody’s guess, as the group had long since learnt to mostly ignore the Meepit and his strange antics.

     Together they dug out the sand around the boat and flipped it over, dusting it off as best they could. The wood was strong and thick, and seemed to have last well against the elements as it lay on the beach.

     “So we’re all clear on the plan – right?”

     Dark bit his lip to refrain from saying something snarky. ‘Plan’ was not the word he would use to describe their attempt to leave this cursed island.

     “At least you aren’t a Ghost, Belle.” He tried to sound cheerful and she raised an eyebrow at him.

     “What?”

     “We thought… well, never mind what we thought. Let’s get on with it.” Soren gave the side of the boat a slap. “Dark and I will push, Elena and Belle inside. Elena, start your magic.”

     With a look of slight queasiness, Elena climbed inside the boat alongside the Xweetok and took her wand out of her pocket. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she pointed it up at the clear blue sky.

     There was perhaps a five minute wait before the sky started to darken with thick grey clouds, and Dark and Soren agreed now was a good a time as any. They pushed the wooden sailboat out into the water as far as they could, then jumped up inside, spraying the girls with salty water.

     The wind was starting to pick up around the boat as the water started to grow choppy, swaying the group from side to side.

     With her wand still pointed at the sky, Elena opened her eyes as fat raindrops began to fall, one landing directly on her small pink nose. In the sky, the grey clouds were darkening almost to black, and the wind began to scream.

     “This is it,” Elena had to yell to be heard over the sound of the water sloshing against the small boat. “Storm’s a-comin’.

     They didn’t have to wait long before the storm hit. In a few short minutes the rain was pelting down on them, thunder rumbled in the sky and the wind screamed. Dark was peering over the side of the boat, keeping an eye out for the mysterious sea monster everyone had been so afraid of. They had theorised that it only attacked during calm waters, and a storm was the only safe passage to and from the island. Dark hoped this was true.

     He felt someone grip the back of his shirt and pull him back.

     “Careful, mate. Don’t let it see you.” Soren was gripping the edge of the boat where he sat, looking slightly queasy. Dark didn’t think it was the storm. “We lost good men trying to get off this cursed island. I don’t want to see it happen again.”

     “But nobody actually saw the creature?”

     “You’re too curious for your own good,” Soren warned, pointing a finger at him. “I saw tentacles thicker than this boat, and not much else. It all happened so quickly, and we were lucky enough to get back to shore.”

     “Some sort of krawken, then.”

     “Likely. Only about twenty times bigger than one I’ve ever seen.”

     “Oh, let’s not talk about it.” Belle’s eyes were wide as she gripped her own side of the boat. “It’s scary enough being out in a small boat in the middle of a raging storm without talking about sea monsters. Can’t we –”

     What they could or couldn’t do, Dark never found out, for at that precise moment their boat hit something hard, and nearly flipped over to one side. Dark was thrown from the boat and into the water face first. He struggled to regain his centre of gravity and for a few scary moments found himself unable to breathe, swim or move. Then the water surged upwards and he broke the surface, spluttering.

     “Dark!” Elena was reaching out for him and he grabbed her paw, and together with Soren and Belle they all pulled him back into the boat.

     “Something in there,” he mumbled, shaking the water out of his ears. “Something in the water.” He was shaking like a leaf. Elena waved her wand over him and he felt his sodden clothes beginning to dry out, as if he were sitting aside a warm campfire. He shuffled closer to her and she put her arms around him as he shivered.

     “Almost there, Dark.” She whispered to him, still clutching her wand. The rain continued to bucket down over them, but she had cast a spell over the boat so that only a few light drops fell on them. “We’re on the way home.”

     ***

     Dark woke later with a start, without realising he had drifted off in Elena’s arms while she continued to cast protective spells over the boat to keep them safe. Whatever had happened in the cave on the island seemed to have juiced up her magic in a way Dark hadn’t thought possible, and it seemed she could do just about anything.

     She even made Sebastian stop trying to throw himself overboard, which was a good feat as any.

     Dark gave a wide yawn as he sat up and stretched, joints creaking.

     “How long was I asleep?” He glanced up at the clear sky, blue with soft white clouds. “Did we make it past the krawken?”

     Soren and Belle sat together at the other end of the small boat, eating pieces of pineapple they had brought in the invisible rucksack.

     “You slept for about twelve hours, Dark. I guess you really needed it. It’s probably about noon, considering where the sun is. Hungry?”

     The Darigan Draik was famished, but needed his questions answered more than he needed food in his belly. He glanced at Elena, who was sleeping so deeply a thin streak of drool dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

     “How long has she been out?”

     “Almost as long as you. She kept the storm up for about three hours, then we hit calm water and started drifting. She used the wind to set us off on a course towards Krawk Island, and passed out shortly after that. Oh, she also changed your Meepit into a Krawk. Not sure why, but she said it was important that she do it before she lost any of the magic she had picked up from the island.”

     Dark glanced beside him at the petpet he hadn’t noticed at the time, and his eyes boggled slightly as he saw the green Krawk sleeping peacefully with his head leaning against the side of the boat.

     “She did it,” he breathed, staring in wonder as the Krawk let out a soft snore. “I can’t believe she finally did it.”

     “Was there something wrong with your Meepit?” Soren asked politely, and Dark simply grinned, shaking his head as he leaned down to cover the Krawk with his own jacket, which had crisped up warmly underneath the sun.

     “What happens now?” He asked instead, smiling as the Krawk snuggled down into his jacket. “We sit adrift until we run out of food? Sounds like fun.”

     “When Elena wakes up she can get the wind to pick up again. Until then, we wait.”

     “Joy.”

     ***

     Seeing the shores of Krawk Island for the first time in Fyora knows how many days, Dark felt like kissing the rotting wooden planks of the dock as their little boat pulled up inside the bay.

     He refrained on account of the look he received from Elena, who had woken up shortly before they arrived.

     Together the four exhausted Neopets climbed out of their rickety boat, Elena with Sebastian in her arms and Dark with a grin on his face.

     Later, much later, after they had said their goodbyes to Soren and Belle, who had gone off in search of their lost crew, Dark and Elena were headed back home towards Shenkuu, where Lis would no doubt be waiting furiously for some sort of explanation as to why they had taken off with her petpet.

     “Dark?” Elena’s voice was soft, almost a lull.

     “Yeah?”

     “I’m never letting you talk me into another adventure ever again, do you hear me?”

     “Sure thing, Elena.”

     The End.