14. Over the Seventh Sea. 

The current we were riding started turning red as we got further away from Pavidale. It stretched out ahead of us for what must have been miles, with no end in sight. Tryt had been right about one thing for sure; we were going twice as fast as we had on our way to Pavidale. 

Deli tinkered with the phone and put the shield up so that we could relax. Still, it was twenty minutes before Soy and I felt comfortable enough to sit back.

“So, what happens when we get to the mountain?” I asked. 

“Truthfully, I don’t know much,” said Deli. 

After a few minutes, she spoke again. 

“There are supposed to be three tests that you must pass before you can find the wells.” 

“What are they?” I asked.
“I meant it when I said that I don’t know much,” she answered. 

The bed had completely settled into the current by then, and the ride was smooth. I saw land pass by to the north or south… or east or west (I had gotten turned around in the cloud), but mostly we flew over sea. Occasionally we would see tiny islands below us. Soy asked if we could fly down and stop at the first three, but Deli refused each time. 

“Tryt’s current won’t last forever. He told us to stay on course and that’s what we’re going to do,” she told Soy. 

“But there might be hidden treasure down there. Pirates love hiding treasure on islands like that!” Soy rebutted. 

I decided not to weigh in, until the third time. 

“Soy, if we find the wells, defeat Ream, save the fairies, and make it out alive, I promise we can come back and explore an island.” 

Soy stopped asking. Any objection to that would mean that he doubted our return, and nobody wanted to do that.

The few clouds that speckled the sky formed and disappeared quickly, like puffs of smoke. Later on, the current took us straight inside a thin white cloud that gave me a nice feeling as we flew through. There was nothing inside though, not like Pavidale. I was beginning to like clouds more and more, until I spotted a dark one.

At first it was just a black spot in the distance. We sat in awe as it grew larger and larger ahead of us. Closer up, I could tell that it was actually dark grey. There was flashing all over it, like a lightning storm was raging inside. Eventually, it was almost all that we could see. I got a queasy feeling in my stomach when I recognized the shape it had taken: a ferocious ocean wave. It was a cloud filled with rile.

“Um, Deli,” I asked. “Can we get off the current now?” 

Deli jumped to the controls and began pushing buttons. I didn’t notice anything change. She started pushing them more frantically. Nothing happened. I tried grabbing the wheel but it was glued to the bed and wouldn’t budge.

“What’s going on Deli?!” Soy screamed as the wall of darkness loomed. It must’ve been the largest storm cloud I had ever seen. 

“I don’t know!” Deli yelled back. “The cloud is pulling us in!” 

“What can we do?!” I cried.

But I never heard an answer. The dark cloud swallowed us whole.