Dragon: Myth of the Bermuda Triangle

Chapter Three: Storm

        I hit the Ocean and immediately transform back into a boy. Once again, I poke my head out of the water.

The Carnival Ecstasy is leaving. It's not sailing to my island after all. I just overreacted, but that's because of the horrible stories Mom and Dad told me. I already miss the girl. I've never felt a connection so tight before aside from the Ocean. My heart hurts. I do not want to go back to my island. Instead, I want to spend the rest of my life with the girl. She's the only human I accept.

I rub my eyes and make haste to duck back underwater. A rumble of thunder shakes the Ocean, but I swim after the Ecstasy. No storm is going to get in my way!

It does not take me long to reach the ship, and my eyes catch her spinning propellers. They're dangerous, so I'm going to avoid them.

All right, I've made up my mind! I'm going to follow the Ecstasy back to wherever she's going and marry the girl. She does not have to know that I am a beast. This is love at first sight. We are meant to be together.

There's another rumble of thunder, but it's much louder. It startles me. The current picks up, and it jerks me right toward the propellers. The Ocean is pitch black, but a flash of lighting causes it to shimmer. Thunder continues to boom; each clap is worse than the last. My head spins. The current keeps pushing me to the propellers. As a boy, I cannot avoid them, so I quickly change my form.

I wrap my wings and scaly arms around my body and curl into a ball. Another whirlpool surrounds me. It pulls me away from the propellers. I'm close to the surface, but a huge wave crashes down on my protection bubble and breaks it. I have to get back to my island, but I can't. I should have never left it in the first place.

A second wave slams me and tosses me into a sunken boat. I hit it with so much force that it snaps in two. Two skeletons leap out of the bow and invade the open Ocean, as well as a life preserver. Suddenly, I change back into a boy. What? Why? This is not good. This is not good at all! No human can withstand a storm like this.

Fighting the current, I grab the life preserver and hold on for dear life. Please, gods of the Water Clan, I'm only twelve years old!

The world starts to spin. I'm caught right in a monstrous whirlpool. I have every right to be traumatized. I close my eyes and wait for the spinning to stop, but it doesn't. It gets worse. The whirlpool sucks me down, but only thirty seconds later, it spits me out of the Ocean into the storm-polluted atmosphere. Apparently, it does not like a human boy for breakfast.

I hug the life preserver close and splash into the Ocean. Because of the disastrous conditions, I can't see anything, only a large figure that blends in with the dark sky.

There's a voice, but I have no idea where it's coming from. "Man overboard! Pull him aboard!"

Smash!

A thirty-foot tall wave crashes right on top of me. It rips my pants, vest, and shirt, and my world goes completely black.

***

Voices. There're more voices. They mumble, grumble, and chuckle. What are they? What's happened? How am I still alive?

My mind returns to the real world, but I do not feel good. I'm so tired. I think I've swallowed half the Ocean with the storm.

A hand pulls hair off my face. Just feeling it, I snap awake. Everything's a blur, but a figure is clearly looming over me. Gradually, my vision clears, and I gasp. It's her! The girl I met on the mini golf course! But how?