The Hope Of The Three (Book 2 of the Hidden Trilogy)

Chapter Ten: The Water was Hungry

Eliana Morane

We crash landed in the middle of an ocean. Well, not quite an ocean, more like a planet that was covered in nothing but water. It's not like meant to crash, Ali somehow managed to forget that our little flying cart had a limited amount of fuel.

The water splashed and flew in millions of different directions as we hit the water. The cart slowly started to sink and panic immediately ensued. My head was pulled underwater and the cold water rushed past my body, my hair floating above me as I rapidly started panicking, and I don't recommend panicking underwater. My arms thrashed in the water as I attempted to get my head to the surface. My lungs started to burning as I yearned for air. As I kept struggling against the water I sunk deeper and deeper. I knew their was noway to stop the inevitable. I was going to die here, in the middle of an unknown water planet somewhere in the universe. I wondered if my friends would miss me. In a couple moments my vision would fully blacken and water would flood my lungs, I would stop struggling against the waters hold on me and I would float peacefully in the water, forever. The water would be my new home. Just as I thought that my nightmare would be my reality, a pair of arms grabbed my wrist and started pulling me to the surface. I could see the bubble that surrounded me racing to the surface and finally, when I thought I could hold my breath no longer my head broke to the surface of the ocean planet. I coughed and desperately gasped for air which I could never seem to get enough of. When my breathing slowed I looked to see Ali floating near by and Umair still holding my arm in case I fell back under. I immediately felt defensive, I didn't need anyone to think that I couldn't handle myself, especially when we were going to find someone who would heal me.

"I didn't need your help, thank you very much," I sputter through the water as I pushed away from Umair, yet the second I let go of him o started to panic again as the water grabbed back into me and tried to pull me under. Both Ali and Umair made A move to grab onto me, Umair got there first. He gripped my shoulders and I regained my composure, trying to wipe the wet hair out of my face.
"Can you not swim?" Umair asked, holding onto me a little tighter as a couple of choppy waves made us sway in the water.
"No I can't swim!" I semi-shouted at him " I'm used to floating in the sky as the sun not floating in water!" I shouted for this was a fairly simplistic idea to grasp. Umair just nodded. He started to swim towards a couple of wood planks floating the water from our flying cart. He attempted to pull me along with him but I struggled. The terror of moving, or swimming anywhere settled deep inside me.
"I got you," Umair  calmly stated looking thoughtfully in my eyes as he started swimming again, this time i tried not to resist and focused on the fact that I could breath and wasn't dead at the bottom of an Oceanus planet. He somehow managed to swim me over to a plank of wood and I grasped onto it, thankful that I was alive. The water was cold and fear still shook me, I was fairly sure my lips were blue and I was visibly trembling.

"So what now?" Umair wondered aloud, gripping into his own plank of floating wood and looking at Ali who was sitting on a board like a surfer.
"Well it's not like we crash landed here for nothing," Ali states, looking at the positioning of the sun above our heads, however, dim it was "I knew the cart was unreliable. My plan was to make as close to here as possible,"
"Right! Because you figure that crash landing in a planet of water was better than crash landing on a planet of pillows!" The Sarcasm dropped from Umair's voice.
"There is no such thing," Ali looked at him confused, as though he didn't understand sarcasm, maybe he didn't.
"Right," Umair nodded his head slowly as he turned to me and rolled his eyes. I didn't find it very funny but his sly and goofy grin got a smile out of me anyways.
"Their's something here that we need," Ali tried to continue.
"I was feeling a little thirsty, how did you know I needed a drink!" Umair's words were smooth and I found myself cracking up. It wasn't even funny, but sometimes the lamest jokes can be the most humorous.
"Like I was saying," Ali started again, furrowing a brow "There's someone here who can give us some information,"
"Information as to where this old woman who can heal me is. We're going to get this information in the middle of the ocean?" Ali was starting to seem a little crazy, there was nothing here, nothing but water and last time I checked, the water didn't hold the secrets of the universe.
"Not in the middle of the ocean, the bottom of the ocean," he said with a slight smirk, leaving his last sentence hanging and me getting frustrated that he wasn't explaining everything. Before I could ask him to clarify his head disappeared under the water.
"Ali!" I screamed, I frantically hit the water, somehow thinking that the water would give him back. I kept screaming his name and pawing at the water, being sure to hold on to my wood board even tighter. I heard a splash from behind me and saw Umair's head disappear, my heart beat quicker and breath became more shallow. If this was a prank it was a pretty sick one. That's when I felt the water swirling beneath my feet, feeling as though it had formed a mini tornado. A current was pulling of my legs, I clung on to the wood bird for dear life, literally. The suction that the water formed became to much and I had to let go, the water swallowed me whole. I could feel the water rushing past me at a speed I thought was unreachable. I couldn't open my eyes or else I would have a highly powerful jet of water aimed right them. Then I felt my feet hit something hard but the speed I was travelling at helped my break through it. The feeling of cool water left me the second I was through the barrier end I felt onto hard stone. My knees buckled and I wish I could say I had the reaction time to catch my fall, unfortunately I didn't. Face, meet rock. Rock, meet face.