Makenna followed the scent of food, which led her toward the pier's railing. She smiled as she drew closer and sped up.
"Come, Makenna," spoke the ocean. "Come to the Bermuda Triangle. It's an underwater wonderland."
"I'm coming," Makenna spoke in her trancelike voice. "I just want to be with the Octopus Man the rest of my life."
"He waits for you in the Triangle," the ocean said. "Come down to the beach. Come a little closer to the water."
Makenna turned away from the pier's edge and jogged toward its entrance instead.
Raven and Jessica saw that, and Jessica asked, "Now, where is she going?"
"Well, there is only one way to find out," Raeven answered. "Let's move, Jessica. We've got to stop her from diving into the ocean."
"Don't worry, Raeven." Jessica held up another can of sardines that she had swiped from the same fisherman. "When Makenna sees these sardines, she'll immediately return. After we catch her, we'll hide her somewhere where she can relax until the spell is lifted."
Raeven shrugged and said, "There's always the circus."
Jessica glared at him.
Raeven shrugged again. He covered himself with his wings and said nothing more.
Makenna watched as the end of the pier drew closer. The closer she came to the water, a siren-like grin overtook her face; however, just before she leaped onto the beach, crash! Makenna crashed into somebody. The force of the collision knocked her back, and her head nearly hit the bait shop at the end of the pier.
Makenna had crashed into a young man who looked to be about eighteen years old, Tracey's age.
He, too, fell.
Before everybody on the pier knew it, the teens rested on the ground and groaned.
Raeven and Jessica, having seen the crash, gasped together. Jessica hurried toward her friend.
Other heads turned in Makenna's and the young man's direction.
Makenna soon sat up, as did he, and rubbed her head. In an angry voice, she retorted, "Watch where you're going!" and opened her eyes.
At the sight of the young man, she gasped and turned red. He was very, very handsome. He was maybe about as good-looking as Tracey, and yep, he definitely looked to be around Tracey's age. What was even more interesting was that he was dressed in a medieval-like attire. It wasn't a costume, though.
The young man had long, dirty blonde hair—two sideburns hung before his ears—that reached over the top of his spine and bright, blue eyes. He was definitely medieval style. He even wore a shield on his back.
Leaping to his feet, the young man approached Makenna and grasped her arm. It was there that he spoke in a voice neither too deep nor too high. Makenna also learned that he had a very distinct Scottish accent, so distinct that it was a bit hard to understand him.
"I'm so sorry, lassie." The young man pulled bewildered Makenna up. "I didn't watch where I was going. Here, let me clean your dress for ya." With his gloved hand, he rapidly rubbed down her now-wrinkled dress.
Makenna watched as he did that.
Jessica soon stopped behind Makenna, and her eyes widened at the sight of the young man. "Dude," she snapped, "what are you doing to my best friend?"
"Oh," stuttered the young man, pulling away from Makenna. "I was just—ya know, we crashed into each other, and I wanted to ensure she was okay. I was just brushing the sand off her dress."
Jessica waved her hand and sternly announced, "Get away from her."
"Yes, ma'am." The young man stepped away from Makenna and prepared to leave. However, before he did, he held his hand out to her and introduced himself. "My name is Ash. Nice to meet ya. Do you have a name?" Suddenly, he chuckled. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, ya have a name. I mean—I mean—um, can you tell me, please?"
"Ash," Makenna said after him, "do you want to come to the Bermuda Triangle with me? You have a very distinct accent. I love it. An accent like that would definitely make the Bermuda Triangle happy. So, what do you say? Will you come to the Bermuda Triangle with me?"
Ash gave her a funny look. "The Bermuda Triangle? Well, miss, that depends. What do ya want to go there for?"
With him surrounding her, Makenna slowly started to drift out of her trance. She couldn't help but feel like a magical aura surrounded this Ash character.
Makenna grasped Ash's hand and shook it. "Oh, it's wonderful to meet you, Mr. Ash! Tell me, where do you come from? Scotland? I mean, you have a Scottish accent. I haven't seen you around. And what's with this getup of yours? Please tell me." She released Ash's hand and studied his attire.
Ash frowned, then slowly smiled and nodded. He seemed a little nervous around girls, but he warmed up quickly to Makenna. "I'm from far away, miss," he explained. "Yes, I was born in Scotland, but I don't live there right now. Instead, I live on an island across the ocean."
"Across the—?" Makenna started. "Cool." She blushed harder. "Coincidence, sir, but one of my best friends does, too. Except, he's not here right now. If you're from across the ocean, then how did you get here?"
Before Ash could speak, Raeven interrupted his and Makenna's conversation. "Oh! If it isn't Ash! Long time no see, kid!"
"Huh?" Jessica and Makenna asked, looking at Raeven.
He opened his wings and hopped off Jessica's shoulder. He soared toward Ash and seemed to crack a grin.
Jessica joined Makenna with the new can of sardines, and they watched the scene together.
Peering forward, Ash's mesmerizing, blue eyes landed on Raeven, and he smiled again. "Raeven! It's been a while! How ya doing?" He extended his arm, and Raeven landed on his gauntlet.
He lifted his claw and saluted Ash, explaining, "I'm doing well. I haven't seen you in forever, it seems. You've grown into quite the young man."
Jessica and Makenna had no idea what was happening. Their eyes twitched, and they stared. How did Raeven know Ash, and how did Ash know Raeven?
The bat sensed their confusion and faced them, explaining, "Jessica and Makenna," gesturing at Ash, "this is Ash. He's, um, a friend who um... Well, we met not so long ago."
Makenna placed her hands on her hips and sarcastically said, "Right. And where did y'all meet? Scotland?" She didn't let the two answer because her eyes landed on a dagger hanging from Ash's belt, and she suspiciously asked him, "What are you doing carrying around a dagger, sir? Are you trying to kill somebody here?"
"Oh, no!" Ash quickly replied, pushing Raeven off his arm. "I would never kill somebody, miss. I carry this dagger around because I never know when I may need to use it, whether I'm fighting against a monster or something. I came here because I'm looking for somebody. Do you know a girl named Makenna Delling?"
Both Makenna's and Jessica's eyes widened. They exchanged glances and quickly shook their heads.
"No," Jessica stated. "There's no one named Makenna Delling here, sir. With that said, would you mind going on your merry way?"
However, Raeven pointed at Makenna and said, "But she's Makenna Delling!"
"Raeven!" Jessica snapped. She lunged forward and grabbed him. Jessica pulled him out of the sky and covered his muzzle.
Ash pretended that he didn't hear. He slowly nodded and said, "I see." His eyes landed on Makenna. "I'll look elsewhere. Thank you, ladies. Nice to see ya again, Raeven." Ash turned to walk away, but ended up crashing into another fisherman carrying a supply of rods, bait, and buckets.
Jessica, Makenna, and Raeven's eyes widened.
The fisherman's supplies flew everywhere. He landed on his back, while Ash landed on his front.
Ash soon looked up, and he gulped when he saw that the fisherman was steaming mad.
"Watch where you're going, sonny!" he snapped.
"I'm so sorry!" Ash quickly stated. "Here, let me help ya up!"
Makenna groaned and hid behind her hands.
Ash leaped to his feet, reaching for the fisherman, but ended up hitting a woman with his arm instead.
She stumbled and screamed as she hit the pier's railing and fell over it.
Makenna peeked out of her hands, gasping when she saw the woman falling. However, she grabbed the bottom of the railing and held on for dear life. She dangled over a cluster of rocks.
Beachcombers down on the beach noticed her and pointed.
"Help!" screamed the woman. "Help!"
The fisherman Ash had knocked down leaped up. He hurried for the dangling woman. When he passed Ash, he shoved his shoulder and knocked him to the ground again.
A crowd gathered around the location where the woman dangled, and another woman asked somebody to call 911.
Makenna and Jessica glanced at clumsy Ash and glared.
He struggled to his feet again, and his blue eyes landed on the crowd, telling the dangling, slipping woman to stay calm and that help was on the way.
Ash nodded and reached behind him. He drew a staff from it and pointed it at the woman. The staff was blue and had claws at the end. Embedded in the claws, held tightly, was a red sphere.
Ash held the staff over his head and pronounced a spell: "From day to night! From Earth to flight! I give thee, my staff of light, a rescue that will blow everyone's sight!" The orb in his staff glowed, and the bright light blinded everyone around it.
People closed their eyes against it, including Jessica, Makenna, and Raeven. They couldn't believe it! Ash just performed a spell! How, though, unless he was a magical being?
Right after the orb began glowing, Ash removed it and equipped it to his gauntlet that had the dagger in it. He held it before him.
Thanks to his quick thinking, Ash kept his eyes open without them being seared by the bright light the orb emitted.
A trail of red magic soon left it and the staff, and it rushed toward where the woman hung.
As if they had seen it, people ducked under the magic, but they kept their eyes closed against the light.
"What is going on?" Makenna heard a woman yell, but she couldn't look up to see who it was.
The magic slithered off the railing of the pier and circled the dangling woman.
She gasped and rotated her head in every direction. The magic circled her from head to toe. Very slowly, her fingers slipped off the railing.
The woman gasped and again yelled, "Oh, sweet cheese cakes! Help!" She tightly closed her eyes and waited to fall, but unusually, she didn't.
The magic from Ash's staff caught her and broke her fall. The woman now hovered in midair, and she peered down at the rocks and magic in awe.
The magic brought her back up to the pier and set her down on the wood. Right when it did, the magic vanished, and everything became quiet again.
Where Ash stood, he lowered his staff and placed it on his back with his shield.
People finally opened their eyes and immediately hurried to the woman on the ground. She was fine—just a little shook up.
She blinked and stared at Ash, who studied the sky as if he had seen something. However, she was forced to close her eyes when a man threw a blanket over her shoulders, and another man handed her a warm drink.
The woman thanked them for their hospitality and silently sipped her drink.
Where Jessica and Makenna were, Jessica released Raeven, and he hovered beside her.
"What just happened?" Jessica asked. Her eyes landed on the woman. "That boy saved her. Amazing."
"Yeah," Makenna agreed. "How did he save her, though? Ash, you have some explaining to do! Huh?" Makenna turned toward Ash, who continued to stare at the sky. "What are you doing?"
Hearing her, Ash asked, "Hm?" and glanced at her and Jessica. "Oh, sorry, miss. I thought I saw something."
"Like what?" Makenna wanted to know.
Ash didn't have a chance to answer because the angered fisherman, whom he accidentally knocked down, spoke up.
"What's up with this costume of yours, kid? It's not Halloween, you know. If you think that and knocking a woman off the pier is going to help you get the girls, then you're wrong! You teenagers nowadays are sick! I demand an answer!"
Ash curiously asked the man, "Sick? I'm sick, sir? Strange, I don't remember feeling sick when I woke this morning. Well..." He paused. "There was that one moment when Harmony said I looked a little green after I accidentally ate some of her food instead of mine, but no worry. I feel fine."
"Harmony?" asked the fisherman.
Even Jessica and Makenna gave Ash a strange look. "Harmony? Whose Harmony?"
"My horse," Ash explained. "She's a diva, but I love her. Harmony and I make the greatest team, sir. We live happily together on a magical island across the Atlantic."
Makenna's eyes widened, as did Jessica's.
Raeven just smiled.
Ash approached the fisherman with a huge smile and said, "But none of that matters right now because today is a beautiful day! Don't ya think so, sir? I think so. Sardines?" Ash removed four cans of sardines from behind him and offered them to the fisherman. "They make great bait. Oh, hey, do you like horses? I love horses. Oh, would you look at that? Harmony's calling me. Gotta run! I mean, fly!" And just like that, Ash dumped the sardines in the fisherman's hands and passed him.
The fishman glanced at Makenna and Jessica, opening his mouth.
Makenna sensed what he was about to ask and answered, "Don't ask, because I have no idea." She looked forward and noticed that Ash had disappeared. "What in the name of—?" Makenna said. "Where did he go?"
"He's not here anymore?" said Jessica. "But how? He was here just a second ago!"
"Weird," Makenna admitted. "Well, it doesn't matter. Um, we're not going to mention this to anyone, right, Jessica?"
Jessica sighed and reached into the sardine can she held. She pulled one out and offered it to her friend. "Sardine? You need your strength to win this surfing competition, Makenn."
Makenna accepted the sardine and inquired, "Who was that boy? Besides being Scottish, he obviously is a magical being of some sort, but what?" She bit into the sardine and moved her eyes up to the fluffy, white clouds that zoomed across it.
Makenna groaned one last time and lowered her head.