"What can we do?" Liam shakily asked as he started to mess with his fingers. He was nervous; everyone was. Madelyn's words had sent shivers down everyone's spines, the tiniest storm could capsize the ship and kill everyone on it. I put my hand on top of my head and started to think. I wasn't the intelligent one but we needed more than one person thinking about solutions. I took deep breaths as I thought and all of us were trying to stay calm. If we started to freak out then everyone else would catch onto something being wrong. I kept breathing to try to calm my heartbeat; it felt like my heart was jumping up my throat. I shook my head and looked out at the ocean, it wasn't as calm as before, it most definitely wasn't as calm as before. The waves were coming pretty close to the deck. I guess the adults didn't notice the wave height difference because they'd been downstairs, or maybe they did notice and that's what they were talking quietly about. Either way we were all brainstorming ideas.
"Carter can't your mom control the weather?" I turned to Nathan and Carter.
"Yeah but only the storms she created," Carter answered quickly, "Remember the hurricane 3 years ago?"
I remembered. Their mom tried to stop it and accidentally made a bigger storm that destroyed half of the forest on the island. I looked around at everyone and most of the group was looking at me like I was an idiot for forgetting that.
"Ugh," I quietly sighed as I walked away to another part of the deck, I sat where nobody else was. I sat with my legs on either side of a fence post with my legs dangling over the side of the boat. I rested my head on a middle safety beam and closed my eyes. It calmed me as I felt the slight breeze hit my face and the rocking on the boat was soothing. My heart was still beating in my throat, but everything was quiet in my head, for once in a long while I was actually able to be relaxed from my own thoughts. It didnt last long because I opened my eyes to Carter, who was sitting next to me now, talking to me.
"Are you okay?"
"Nope, not Pokay at all," I retorted as I looked back out to the ocean, I hadn't moved my body from the fence post.
"We're going to find out how to get through this, we always do," Carter soothingly explained. I think he had picked up on my anxiety; it was pretty obvious I wasn't acting my happy self.
"I know we will, but not knowing how to get through it is what's stressing me out," I looked at him when I spoke and then back at the ocean.
"Well it's not a reason to be stressed, we will get through this, we always do."
"And what if we don't Carter? What if we don't make it through this?"
"Then we punch our ticket to see God a little earlier than expected, it's in his hands. Carla you weren't ever made to carry the stress of the survival of 30 people." Carter had a point, a big one that slapped me in the face pretty hard.
I looked at him and nodded in agreement, "Thank you. How do you always know what to say to remind me that my stress and anxiety doesn't help anyone?"
Carter shrugged, "It's a gift, probably because I know you so well."
"Probably," I repeated. I noticed the ship was rocking harder than before because the waves were almost hitting my feet. "I don't think we have much more time before this storm comes."
Carter looked out at the ocean, "Me neither."
I had a last minute idea: a stupid, half thought about idea, but an idea nonetheless. I chose not to say anything because I didn't want to look stupid again, we'd have to put everyone, and I mean everyone, downstairs. My idea was a plan z, if nothing else worked and nobody had ideas left then I'd say something.
Carter and I stood up and walked back over to our friends. Madelyn looked at me, "We're going to need you to do something crazy."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like move the ocean." Madelyn proudly stated, "You can control molecules and atoms and stuff, well water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. You would move the waves away from the boat."
"You're putting all your faith into someone who let a psycho stab her with sword?" I confusingly asked as I looked at the ocean, "I've never been able to modify water."
"You've never tried, that's not the same as you've never been able to," Nathan said. He was standing off to the side, watching the conversation go down with his arms crossed.
"I'm not Moses, I can't split the sea," I argued.
"We're not asking you to split it, we're asking you to move it," Madelyn argued back, she seemed kinda panicked which was probably why this idea was so crazy.
"Why don't we have Carter run on water and send wind gusts to the storm that make it go another direction?" That idea had just come to my head.
"We talked about that, and I'll try but we need you to try too," Carter calmly said.
"I'll try using energy blasts to displace the storm winds that are creating waves," Kathy proudly explained.
"Liam is manning the sails and I'm steering," Nathan explained.
"I'll try to help Kathy by using concussion blasts," Madelyn nodded and walked over to me. She lightly put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me, "We are all doing something a little crazy, but we're all gonna to try."
I nodded, "I'll try, but if it doesn't work.."
"Carla we all believe in you, we're going to do this together like we always do," Carter comfortingly interrupted.
"I wasn't going to say something negative, I was going to say I have a plan b if this doesn't work," I proceeded to tell them my plan b and they nodded along as I spoke.
"With nobody on deck we could end up in the middle of the ocean," Kathy hypothesized.
"But we would be safe, we could keep traveling in one direction and we'd end up somewhere, maybe not where we were headed but maybe where we're meant to be," I explained, "It was just a last resort type of idea."
"Its a good Plan B." Liam said.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
I smiled, "So how long do we have?"
"A few hours," Madelyn said as she pointed at the dark clouds along the left horizon of the boat, "Maybe less."
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I need to be taught what all these ropes do," Liam laughed.
"I'll teach you," Kathy happily said.
Carter disappeared in a flash of light and was back in front of me in a few seconds.
"Here," he said with a big smile. He was holding a small bucket full of water, "You might need to figure out water bending before this storm comes."
I picked up the bucket from his hands and set it on the ground, "Thank you." I gave him a hug.
"You might want to learn to run on water," Madelyn sternly said to Carter.
"Oh, yeah! Forgot that I'd have to do that," Carter jumped up and laughed.
"Grab a lifejacket from downstairs and attach a rope to it and the ship. Just in case you lose momentum and fall into the water." Nathan said to Carter.
Carter nodded and ran off.
"I already know how to do my job so I'm all good." Nathan laughed and sat down against the fence behind the steering wheel.
I sat down where I was standing and put the bucket of water an arms length away from me. I started to mess with the molecules the way to make the boat and cross necklaces. Mist started to come off of the bucket and I stopped. I tried again. The water started to pour over the edges of the bucket. I stopped again. I took a deep breath and tried over and over again. Each time I either evaporated the water or made more water. I took a break after an hour and all the teens gathered around the steering wheel for a food break. We talked. Carter told us he figured out how to successfully run on water without falling in it. Nathan said he got a really good nap. Liam was almost finished his lesson of sailing. Madelyn said she got to practice her concussive blasts. Everyone looked at me for my answer.
"No luck yet but I'll figure it out," I said before smiling and then finishing my sliced potato.
Carter seemed relieved that I wasn't being negative about it. I wasn't feeling myself when I was being negative. After I was done eating I went right back to the bucket. Carter stood a few feet away and watched.
"Carla?"
"Yeah?" I asked him without breaking concentration.
"Try to do both," he softly said.
I stopped and looked at him, "What?"
"Evaporate the water and create it at the same time. Use the evaporated water to move the created water."
I put my hand on my forehead then looked at him, "You're so smart."
"I'm not sure if it's going to work, but you can at least try it. And thank you."
"Doctor Professor Carter over here dropping some insightful tips."
Carter laughed. I laughed too.
I tried Carter's method. The water floated slightly and then fell back in the bucket. I nervously laughed and tried again. Over and over I would only get the water a few inches over the bucket before it would fall back in.
"You're doing good," Carter insisted, "Keep trying."
I nodded and then Carter walked downstairs.
"Come on," I said under my breath as I kept trying. The water came up out of the bucket and stayed longer than before. I made it swish around a little and then it fell. I stood up and kicked the bucket over and water went everywhere. Nobody was on the deck anymore: everyone had gone back downstairs. I walked to the front of the ship and sat with my legs over the side. I tried over and over to move the waves or stop them all together. It worked, kind of. I was able to make the waves smaller but I couldn't stop them all together. It was something and if I could make storm waves like normal waves then that was good enough for me. When I felt comfortable enough with my task I stood up and picked up the bucket to take it downstairs. I walked down the creaky steps to the hall of the ship. Everyone was talking to one another but again, I walked to where the kids were. When they saw me they all gave me hugs and Grant insisted on sitting on my lap once I had sat down.
"What have you been up to today?" Penelope joyfully asked.
"I've been playing with water, what have you been up to?" I answered.
"We've been playing hide and seek, Kate always beats us," Penelope laughed.
"Yeah Kate is the best at hide and seek," Will joyfully admitted.
"Carla is actually better than me," Kate laughed, "When we would play against eachother she would create stuff around her and you'd never realize that she was there."
"So you're the best at hide and seek?" Will asked me.
"I guess lol, but I'm to big to play now, I'd be so easy to find." I laughed back.
"Carla!" My mom yelled from the other side of the boat, "Come here!"
I walked over to her and sat down in an empty seat next to her. "Hey mom, what's up."
"We know about the storm," My mom said quietly so nobody else would hear us.
"I figured since we asked Mrs. Jane about it," I quietly said back.
"Well," she turned and looked at Mrs. Jane, Mr. Dave, and my dad, then back at me, "We want to help."
"The more we have helping the better," I explained, "We dont want the kids helping though, it's too dangerous for them."
"Well yeah, they definitely dont need to be up there in a storm." My mom whispered.
"Well if you guys are helping you should make your way upstairs and ask Madelyn what to do, shes better at hypothesizing than I am," I explained. I stood up and gave her a hug, then turned and walked towards the stairs but stopped at the children. "I need you kids to say downstairs, the waves are getting to big for you guys to be upstairs."
"Okay Carla," they all simultaneously said happily.
I walked up the wooden steps and onto the deck of the ship. The menacing looking gray storm clouds were closer way then before. I quickly walked over the Madelyn who was still flipping through her cloud books.
"Madelyn?" I asked.
A huge thunder crack struck the water and made us jump.
"Yeah?" Madelyn quickly answered.
"We're going to be okay, right?"
"I'm not 100% sure anymore," Madelyn shakily answered, "I don't think this is a normal thunderstorm."
"What is it then?"
"I'm pretty sure it's a hurricane, and a big one at that."