The sound of boats zooming over him and the Kraken woke Tracey. "Hm?" he asked, opening his eyes. Bright sunlight engulfed the ocean floor, making it glow. A shoal of silver fish darted by Tracey's head. He sat and stretched his arms. It took a moment for him to understand why he hadn't drowned, but then he remembered his wings.
Excitement exploded inside Tracey as he swam to the surface and poked his head out. There was the island. It was really close now. Tracey could make out the forms of buildings, and the figure of a white ship moored in the island's harbor—the cruise ship.
"Whoa," Tracey silently spoke while he floated in the blue water. "I never knew Emilee and Jesse's island could get this populated in such a short amount of time. Wow!" He prepared to dive underwater again and tell the Kraken when his eyes caught an orange buoy that gently bobbed up and down. "Is that a buoy? Cool!" Through ninja speed, Tracey appeared beside the buoy and grabbed it. He couldn't help but chuckle. Oh, the things he could do as a merfairy!
Flapping his wings, Tracey hopped out of the water and landed on the buoy. To the ocean, he called, "Gene! Check this out! Gene!" Tracey grabbed the solar panels on the buoy and leaned over the ocean.
After a few minutes, Gene poked his head out of the water and faced Merlin's apprentice. "What are you doing, Tracey?" he hissed. "You're going to get seen!"
"You worry too much." Tracey's eyes moved to the deep blue, cloudless sky and caught an airplane descending. It was coming in for a landing at St. David's Island.
The sight of the plane made Tracey smile. "An airplane! People are already visiting Emilee and Jesse's island! I have to greet them!"
"Whoa, what?" Gene yelped. "What are you talking about, Tracey?" but Tracey was already gone.
He shot into the sky and zoomed toward the plane.
Down below, Gene groaned and admitted, "That kid is going to get himself in serious trouble."
Tracey reached the airplane in two minutes. It was a large JetBlue aircraft steadily descending toward L.F. Wade International Airport. "This is amazing," whispered the fairy. Quickly flying to the plane, he soon soared parallel with it—behind the front wings and clear of its engines.
Tracey waved at one of the windows and shouted over the rushing, yet refreshing wind, "Hi! Aluna! Welcome to Emilee and Jesse's Island, located halfway to Bermuda!" He acted out a twirl and edged closer to the window. Green and purple fairy dust streamed out behind him, mixing with the blue hue of the sky.
In the plane's cabin, a little girl named June and her parents sat. June, who had a window seat, was plugged into her mother's iPad. She soon lowered it to give her eyes a break and rubbed them. That was when she saw Tracey.
Eyes widening, June's jaw dropped.
Tracey grinned. He spun in a circle and danced in midair. His new wings shimmered.
In the cabin, June snatched her father's arm, who read beside her, and yelled, "Daddy! Daddy! A fairy! There's a fairy flying outside the plane!"
"A fairy?" asked her dad, lowering his book. "Oh, honestly, June! There are no such things as—"
"Look!" June pointed at the window, where Tracey still flew outside. "See for yourself that I'm right!"
Her father let out a low sigh and looked with her. The second he saw Tracey, his eyes widened, too. "Well, chuck me out of the plane! It is a fairy! What in the name of—?"
"I told you," spoke his daughter.
"A fairy?" asked a few people in the cabin, including June's mother. "Where?"
June answered, "Just outside the plane!"
Her dad and mom unbuckled and piled to the window to get a better look at Tracey.
He stopped flapping his wings and held his arms and hands close to them. He zipped under the plane's belly and appeared beside a window on the other side.
Groups of people had unbuckled and crowded the aisle. Some had their cameras out, but they kept losing them because of all the movement.
The people's weight caused the plane to tip a bit to the left, and Tracey tipped with it.
It wasn't long until one of the flight attendants pushed through the crowd, shouting, "Hey! Hey! Hey!" in a confused voice. "What's all the hubbub about? Why are you guys out of your seats?"
A woman quickly answered, "There's a fairy flying just outside the plane!" She stumbled to the attendant. "A real fairy!"
Just like before, Tracey waved and announced, "Welcome to Emilee and Jesse's Island! They haven't had visitors in I don't know how long!"
"What's he saying?" one of the humans inside the cabin inquired.
Tracey switched to an upright flying position and cupped his hands. A large green and purple, fizzy light appeared in them. Smiling, he tossed it into the air. The spell created a display of fireworks in the sky.
June gestured at them, yelling, "Look! He's welcoming us!" She climbed onto a man's back, and her eyes caught the fins on the backs of Tracey's legs. "He has fins on the backs of his legs! Do you think he's a merfairy?"
The flight attendants soon pushed everybody back into their seats and forced them to buckle up again. All eyes, though, remained on the windows on the left side of the plane.
It wasn't long until it leveled out and continued toward the airport. The ground was getting closer by the second, but Tracey refused to leave the plane's side. A whirling sound was soon heard behind him, and he twisted his head.
Tracey grinned when he saw the plane's wheels lowering. "The plane's landing! Awesome!" Tracey had never landed with an airplane before, but there was always a first for everything. Besides, those humans were landing on an island he knew.
Tracey prepared himself. He straightened his body and held his arms out to his sides for balance. Both his and the plane's nose pointed at the ground. Fairy dust danced behind him and put on a sparkle show for the aircraft's passengers. Tracey glanced at the airplane and back toward where they were headed: the L.F. Wade International Airport runway.
Within another minute, the aircraft lifted its nose as it soared over the runway, and Tracey mimicked. Then, a gentle bump was heard. The airplane's wheels touched the ground and sprinted forward like it was a criminal trying to escape prison.
Tracey plopped down on the wing and lifted his fist. "Yeah!" He did it! He landed with an airplane! What an adventure!
As the plane steadily slowed, Tracey gently fell onto the wing and pulled his knees close. His wings stood as straight as a rider on horseback behind him.
"Is he still there?" a woman in the cabin soon asked.
"He is!" a man announced. He also had a window seat, but it was beside the plane's left wing. "He's sitting on the wing!" added the man. "No wait! He just got up!"
Tracey hopped to his feet and headed toward the window the man was glancing out of.
"He's coming this way!" the man bellowed.
Tracey flew to the window and hovered before it.
"He's right in front of me!" shouted the man.
"The fairy is?" shrieked another passenger who looked a little jealous.
"Yes!" The man slapped his palms against the wall on either side of the window, and Tracey mimicked him from outside. He didn't know why he was suddenly so intrigued by humans, especially after what happened the year before with Peter.
The passengers eagerly listened for the man to say something else. The plane had slowed to a crawl and was heading toward the terminal, behind another line of planes.
The man, who was face-to-face with Tracey, studied him and next said, "He's young. He looks to be around eighteen. His eyes are golden brown, and there seems to be a cut under his right eye."
"Is he handsome?" a teenage girl randomly asked from the back of the plane.
All around, eyes landed on her.
The girl's mother cleared her throat. "Um, Susan."
Her daughter glanced up at her. "I just think it's safe to know if our unexpected visitor is handsome." As quick as a flash, she focused back on the man. "Well, is he?"
All the man could do was stare.
Tracey's wings were exhausted from trying to keep up with the plane, and he wanted to rest them. He landed on the edge of the plane's wing, and his foot instantly slipped. Tracey yelped as he banged his face on the wing's side and crashed into an empty baggage trailer heading for another airplane that had pulled up to its gate.
The driver soon brought the trailer to a screeching halt and twisted his head to look at the cart Tracey had fallen into. "Hey! Just what do you think you're doing? You're not allowed out here!"
Tracey gripped the cart's edge and pushed himself to a sitting position. "Sorry, sir! I just slipped!" As a result of banging his face against the edge of the plane's wing, the cut under his eye started to bleed again. Blood dripped down his cheek. There definitely would be a scar there now.
The driver of the baggage trailer shouted for Tracey to get off. The sound of his voice made him jump, and he quickly obeyed.
Tracey flapped his wings and lifted into the air. As he zoomed away, he told himself, "Boy, was he rude! Humans. Nobody will ever understand them."
Things only got worse from there.
Tracey accidentally stumbled onto the runway again, where the planes took off. An airplane shot by him at incredible speed, and the wind it gave off shoved him into a field of grass. It was as if a cannonball had exploded.
When Tracey landed, he rolled a few times before coming to a stop. Now covered in dirt, he leaped to his feet and wobbled a bit. He attempted to flap his wings, but another plane taking off threw him back. It was like he was caught in a storm in the ocean when waves constantly crashed onto someone.
Petrified, Tracey shut his eyes and shouted, "Help!" He tried to fly again, but a third plane zoomed by him and tossed him like a rag doll onto the runway's edge. "Please!" he screamed. To protect his wings and prevent them from breaking, he made a tough decision to perform the Sunset Delay spell.
Tracey waited until things calmed down a bit, and planes took a break from taking off. Resting on his butt in the runway, he waved his hands and chokingly announced, "Hidden in the shadow! Across the vast meadow! Blending in the ghetto! Hiding the wings shadow!" His entire body, including his wings, glowed the second he spoke the spell. In a matter of seconds, his Merfairy wings went poof and disappeared from his back.
Once the magic left, Tracey was once again a wingless fairy. His apprentice attire, the green, tunic-like, ninja-style shirt, had come back as well as everything else. The Sunset Delay spell, though, didn't help him from still being tossed all over the place whenever a plane took off. Tracey was trapped on the runway of the L.F. Wade International Airport.
He sprinted toward the terminal, but was forced to slap his hands over his ears when a huge FedEx airplane took off. The gush it gave off was the biggest Tracey had ever experienced, and it hurt.
For the hundredth time, he was thrown back and crashed down hard on his back in another field of grass. "Help!" Tracey screamed. "Makenna! Makenna, I need you!" He didn't even get to stand before another huge plane decided to take off. That wind gush chucked him forward, and he did a face plant on the grass. The sick game left his arms, neck, and face covered in scrapes and cuts. If humans were really nice, then they wouldn't try to kill a fairy. Tracey didn't understand why every human wanted to hurt him.
After a few more rounds of Throwing the Fairy, Tracey no longer heard the roar of airplanes. Instead, he heard sirens. Removing his hands from his neck and head, he looked up. His eyes caught a police car, as well as an ambulance, rushing toward him. "Ahh!" Tracey screamed. Tears streamed down his cheeks. "I'm going to jail!" No planes were on the runway, as flights had been delayed.
Scared, hungry, and beaten up, Tracey tried to make a run for it, but a Bermuda police officer grabbed him and pulled him to the ground. "Let go of me!" Tracey yelled. "I don't want to go to jail! I've done nothing wrong!"
The police officer said, "Calm down!" and tightened his grip. "We're not going to hurt you! Son, please! You're bleeding!" He grabbed Tracey's scraped-up hand and pulled it behind him.
It wasn't long until another police officer jumped in, and they pulled Tracey toward the ambulance.
"Let go!" he screamed, kicking his feet off the ground. Suddenly, the Octopus Man's trident flashed on his injured arm, and he added, "The ocean! It needs me! I didn't become a merfairy for nothing! I've got to get to the Bermuda Triangle before the Octopus Man destroys everything!"
The officers soon reached the ambulance, and they turned Tracey over to the paramedics, announcing, "He needs help. He's bleeding all over the place. Scrapes and cuts are all on his hands, neck, and face."
"I'm fine!" Tracey yelped. "Don't take me to a hospital! Please don't take me to a hospital! I have very bad memories of those places! Just let me go! The ocean needs me!" He shut his eyes and snatched one of the paramedic's hands. As an attempt to get away, he bit it, and the medic yelped.
He let go to reach for his hand, giving Tracey time to escape. As fast as a ninja, he sprinted across the runway toward the blue water surrounding the airport. He tried to fly, but had forgotten that he had placed the Sunset Delay spell on himself. Because of that, he crashed onto the runway, and two fresh cuts appeared on his arms.
Tracey, though, stood and continued toward the ocean.
"Kid!" he heard the police officers and paramedics calling behind him. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
Tracey didn't answer. He refused to run back. He just wanted to find Emilee and Jesse's lighthouse. If he did, then he would be with people he trusted.
As soon as Tracey reached the ocean, he dove.
The police officers and paramedics held back from diving after him and stared at the ripples.
One of the officers soon admitted, "Boy, he's fast!"
Next, a paramedic said, "We've got to get him out of there."
Tracey swam like a maniac to the bottom of the cove and plopped down on the sand. He pulled strands of seaweed before him to hide and held his breath. No one had followed him into the water. At least, he hoped so. He held his ninja star at the ready, though, just in case.
Tracey's doubts returned when he heard a swishing sound coming toward him. Oh man, I'm dead, he thought. Tracey tightened his grip on his shuriken and silently crept out of the seaweed, heading toward the sound. The salt water stung his cuts and scrapes, and blood oozed into the ocean. Tracey, though, tried his best to ignore the pain.
With his ninja star in hand, he swam butterfly-style in the water. Jagged rocks poked out of the seabed. The rocks were where Tracey heard the swishing. He backed up a little and held his free hand behind him. It hit one of the barnacle-covered rocks, and Tracey glanced back. Then the swishing came again, much closer that time.
Shaking with fear of being caught by the humans he saw on the runway, Tracey jerked his shuriken in every direction. A shadow appeared before him in the water, and his eyes widened. Tracey swam behind a rock and listened. "Makenna, please," he whimpered. "Where are you? Why aren't you here with me?" He looked up when he heard the swishing again. The shadow loomed over the rock he hid behind.
Tracey was just about to release his ninja star when he heard, "Tracey!" Gene's head emerged.
"Gene!" Tracey gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, of course. You didn't think I was going to leave you alone, right? As soon as you chased the plane, I knew something would happen, and I was right." Gene's eyes landed on Tracey's oozing wounds. "Oh man, you're a mess. Who on Earth did you get in a fight with?"
"Never mind that," Tracey shakily spoke. "Just get me away from the humans. Take me to Emilee and Jesse's lighthouse."
"I don't know if I can take you to the lighthouse, but I can take you to Alexandria," Gene said. "She needs to speak with you, anyway. We're going to meet her at the shipwreck of the Kate."
"Shipwreck?"
"Why not? We're near the Bermuda Triangle, and besides, a shipwreck is a decent place to have a conversation with the Atlantic Oracle. Just follow me, and I'll take you to her."
All Tracey could do was nod. Putting up his star, he grabbed one of the Kraken's tentacles, and they took off, away from the humans and toward the shipwreck.