Femi wiped a hand over his mouth as he heaved the contents of his stomach over the boat for the third time. He was getting weaker by the second, and the salty smell of the water wasn't helping.
Priya rubbed his back repeatedly as he coughed out, while Ace tried to take their attention away from his sea sickness by telling them stories as he stirred on.
"...and the Royal town, Nevada, is where we're headed to now. Because it's in the centre of our country, this river separates them from the rest of Meissa. But–"
"So I'll have to cross it again when I know my family?" Femi interrupted, already feeling nauseous again. He smiled appreciatively at Priya, and leaned forward towards Ace who nodded his head and shrugged.
"Apart from whoever has royal blood amongst us, we'll have to cross. But there's another way to pass."
"Which is?" Chiara asked, running her fingers through the water.
"I'll let you know once we get there. I'm not allowed to tell you yet."
"Why?"
"Too many questions, dude." Tihan said and cocked a brow, "Here's a question for you: why are you the only one getting affected by the water?"
Femi narrowed his eyes, and swallowed down a wave of nausea. The guy had been asking unnecessary, invasive questions since the journey started and the voices confirmed that Tihan was getting suspicious.
Even at that second, they busied themselves with giving him ideas on appropriate replies but he blocked them out and decided on unawareness instead.
"What do you mean?"
"Our rivers are enchanted with healing powers, meaning that as long as you're a crisiant they should not affect you, no matter how horrible of an experience you've previously had with water." Tihan folded his arms, and frowned as he waited for an answer.
"Come on, Han. You know Meissa is losing her powers, maybe the river is not so healing anymore."
Femi turned to spit into the water, and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down into it. A shaggy, tired looking reflection stared back at him, before quickly changing into one of him wearing a cruel smile and a black suit. So much for trying to stay calm.
He shook his head and hit the water with the back of his palm, turning back to reply Tihan's question about his abilities–while Mareike said something about cool enchanted rivers–when things quickly escalated. Something suddenly grabbed his hand and latched onto it, dragging him out of the boat and into the water.
Femi shrieked once when the freezing temperature of the water seeped into his clothes and jolted his senses, but when he saw what drew him in, the screams started.
Two brown frog-looking creatures dotted with white patches of skin broke out of the water, but one was perched nearer to the boat while the other watched from a distance.
"Oluwa mi o! What's that? Jesus!" He exclaimed, shifting backwards as much as he could while the animal gripped his hand tightly and stared at him with large green eyes that seemed to be dancing with joy.
"That's a frog. Come on, let's pull you out," Ace replied with a smile and held out a hand as he and Eryk pulled him out of the water, while the girls and Tihan sat at the other side of the boat to prevent it from tipping over.
"Ah! Frog that carried me into the water? What kind is it?" Femi questioned immediately he landed on solid wood, dripping wet as he stared at the frog still clutching his hand.
White hair now covered its brown sides, while a tail sprung out of its behind as it freed itself from Femi and began to crawl around in the boat.
"It's called a malfrog. A cross-breed between a mammal, I'm not sure which kind, and a frog. They become mammals when they're out of water, and usually hate crisiants so I'm a bit surprised that this one likes you."
"Likes me?" Femi asked, still wary of the animal as it crawled beside him and lay down. "Nearly drowned me, you mean."
"That's usually how they act, pulling things they admire with brute force and raw strength. Sorry about that." Ace smiled apologetically, taking over the oars again.
"Umm, why is the other fr–malfrog still staring at us?" Priya asked and pointed at the second of the pair still above water and looking at them.
Tihan squinted his eyes at the creature and waved, grinning when it raised a limb in response.
"That's the male counterpart of his companion, and it's just checking to be sure she'll be alright. He'll be able to sense any danger from there, and if he does, we won't live to see what happens next. So don't hurt her, Femi," He warned, glancing down at the duo.
"Companion? You mean, like a pet?" Femi questioned, and sighed when Tihan briskly nodded. He stretched a hand to touch the fur of the malfrog, and smiled when she purred softly in the throes of sleep.
The voices had said nothing since they came out of the water, but he could still feel their presence. Maybe having a pet malfrog wasn't so bad. He looked back into the water, and watched as the male did a somersault (could frogs do that?) and disappeared into the water.
"Will he follow us?" He didn't need more than one dependent animal in his care. He had enough humans in his care already, as it was, and speaking of humans; he needed to speak with Granny Lola soon before she began to worry.
Ace shook his head, and handed the oars to Eryk and Chiara before walking over to where Femi was still seated.
"No. He's entrusted her to you, so she's now your responsibility. You have to take care of her now."
"Yay. More responsibility. No pressure at all," Femi replied sarcastically.
"It's kind of cute, though. She must really like you to leave her family behind. She has family right?" Mareike asked, stroking the animal's back absently.
"Yes, she does." Tihan cleared his throat, and looked forward as the island came into view.
"Well, Femi, this clears one thing. You do have crisiant blood. Sorry I doubted you, man." He rubbed the back of his neck, and glanced at him.
"No hard feelings. I'm almost sure she came to convince you. And to answer your question, I've actually had a bad experience with water. Nearly drowned as a child," He explained, the incident a fading blur in his mind.
"No wonder you screamed like a banshee when you hit the water." Chiara joked, and when they all turned to look at her, she clammed up and began to paddle furiously.
"Yeah," Femi laughed awkwardly and shook out the water from his hair and ears.
When they got within fifty feet of the shore, Eryk and Chiara switched places with Ace and Tihan.
"Better they see familiar faces first," Ace explained, as they took over paddling.
The boat was silent after that, save for the water slapping wood and the distant noise from Nevada. More of the strange air-borne creatures that helped them land before circled the sky, screeching loudly as they moved once in a rapid circle and then flew away further into the city.
"Rest assured the Palace knows of our arrival," Ace said as they reached the shore, and came face to face with four men dressed in suits standing in front of a gold gate. On its centre, a large purple flag with a wide asterisk surrounded by sparkling crystals in the middle was stamped.
When Femi joined the others to climb out, the she-malfrog woke up and jumped into his pocket, while Ace and Tihan stepped forward to address the men.
"I am Ace Larique and he is Tihan Akiko. The Royal Palace of Nevada gave us a mission to return the six children of Meissa before the Phoenix glaber, and here we are. Three days early," Ace finished with a smug look as the men nodded and began to click on their iPads.
"Stretch out your hands." One of the men stepped forward, and placed a small circular device on each of their four palms. When it beeped once, he nodded, removed the devices and gave them a small rectangular device similar to a tablet.
Femi and the others watched as Ace and Tihan held the devices to their skin and it embedded itself into their right arms, beeping once as it turned on immediately.
"Woah. What's that?" Femi beamed in excitement, moving forward to reach them but the first man stretched out a hand.
"You can go in now," the man turned to Ace and Tihan, frowning at them till they shrugged and entered the gate.
"Stop. You need to be searched first." The man said, while the other men motioned for the rest to form a line and follow.
"Oh okay. Cool," He replied and stretched out his hands, "I have a malfrog in my pocket, so there's that."
The man raised an eyebrow at him, but gave no indication of trouble so Femi shrugged and bounced his toes as they put the same round device on his palms, nodding when it beeped once.
When he was cleared, he walked through the gate and it felt like stepping into another world entirely. He instantly shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, accidentally brushing the malfrog, shivering as a harsh wind swept past him.
A long pavement tiled with white stones and decorated with pots of trimmed shrubs and flowers stretched all the way from where he stood to a neatly tarred road where the guys stood, rapidly clicking the devices on their arms.
Some of the birds were perched on the gate (where an identical version of the flag at the other side was pasted) looking down at him–beside tiny cameras moving from side to side rapidly–while others circled the sky.
He walked over to Ace who looked up at him and clapped his shoulder, while Tihan continued to frown at his arm screen.
"So what's next? By the way, I didn't get one of those things. What are they anyway?"
"They're Crisipads, like iPads for crisiant use. There's a long history behind it, but short story: they control and regulate the use of our abilities. When Tihan and I left, we surrendered these so we couldn't use our powers in your world but now, we can."
Ace knelt down and touched the sand, grinning when a whole assortment of tools came up in seconds. He touched them and got up, moving back as they watched it form into the identical boat they used to get to the island.
"You can make things?" Mareike asked, as she walked towards them, Priya and Chiara in tow.
"Yes, I can. Just about anything," Ace announced proudly and motioned for the others as the search finished, while Femi applauded as the malfrog left his pocket and moved to sit on his shoulder.
"Tihan, what can you–"
A small gust of wind suddenly flew past them, bringing with it the smell of smoke and burning wood. When they turned, Ace's boat was in smithereens while Tihan was grinning with his hand outstretched.
"I can turn up the heat and light up things, just about anything." He looked at Chiara, and continued, "I'm sure that's what you were about to ask."
"That's a bit unfair," Mareike said softly, but Ace shook his head and began to walk forward.
"That's Han for you. Meanwhile, our ride to the Palace is here." He pointed to a blue limousine, parked on the road a few feet away.
"Why is this place empty?" Priya asked, smoothing down her dress as she faxed around rapidly.
"It's the travel guard quarters. Nothing happens here, just a bunch of guards guarding the island shore and living in a lush location," Tihan explained and briskly walked over to the vehicle, opening it for the rest of them.
"You're opening the door, how awfully nice. Where's the chauffeur?" Chiara questioned with folded arms as she walked up to him and paused.
Tihan smirked at her, and motioned inside.
"You'll see."
*****
Word count: 2,051 words
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Another chapter is out. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.