Makenna and Peter continued to wade, listening to a flock of seagulls and pelicans, who soared over them and communicated with one another. They headed for Bird Island, a small island across from Seabrook Island.

Children pointed at the birds and waved.

Peter sighed. "This is nice," he said to Makenna.

She smiled and nodded.

On North Beach's main beach, the horses returned from Seabrook Island's end and gracefully trotted down the sand. Two horses threw their heads, but their riders calmed them.

Where Makenna and Peter were, still waist-deep in the water, Makenna's blue eyes shifted to the sun, and she gasped. Her eyes widened, and she quickly lost her smile. The sun was setting! Oh snap, Makenna forgot all about the Sunset Delay spell! Glancing at Peter, she said in a slightly panicked voice, "The sun is setting."

"Yeah," Peter dreamily said. He edged closer to her and studied the setting sun. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"I have to return to the beach!" Makenna yelped.

"What?" Peter asked. "Uh, okay." He and Makenna started to hurry through the ocean toward the sandbar; however, the current picked up and pushed them, slowing them down.

Makenna tripped and fell into the ocean, but she quickly stood. "Oh no!" she yelled at Peter. "The current! It's too strong!"

"Hey, it's okay. We'll make it. See?" Peter spoke, beyond confused.

Makenna next glanced at Tracey, who stood at the sandbar's edge. "Tracey! Tracey!" she yelled.

Tracey heard her. Immediately, he woke up and asked, "What? What happened to me?" The mark of the Octopus Man vanished.

"Tracey!" Makenna shouted. She pointed at the sun, and Tracey peered out at her.

His golden-brown eyes landed on the setting sun, and he also gasped. "Sunset! Not good! Not good at all!"

"Tracey!" Makenna shouted again. Her hair was pulled out of the high ponytail and plopped down over her shoulders. Makenna yelped and moved faster.

"Uh, so, Makenna," Peter confusingly said, "to distract you, why don't we change the subject? Like, um, are you excited about the dance? There's supposed to be a lot of fun activities during it."

Makenna didn't have time to carry on a conversation. "I have to go home!" she told Peter.

"With Ninja Boy?" he asked, gagging.

"Yes, with Ninja Boy!" Makenna yelled.

"Why don't you let me take you home?" Peter asked.

"No, thank you!"

From the edge of the sandbar, Tracey called to Makenna: "Hurry, Makenna! You can make it!"

Makenna felt her wings trying to pop out of her back and screamed. Finally, she and Peter returned to the sandbar, and Makenna scurried out of the ocean.

She hurried to Tracey, and he told her, "Come on, Makenna, let's hurry!"

Everybody on the sandbar, including the children in the ocean, stared at them.

Makenna tried apologizing to Peter, but Tracey yelled, "Go, Makenna!" and pushed her back.

Makenna's necklace pendant glowed; sparkles escaped it and circled her feet. Over her bare feet, her blue ballet slippers reappeared.

Makenna and Tracey moved as fast as they could, although Tracey still tripped.

Makenna grabbed his arm and helped him.

They soon jumped onto North Beach's main beach and headed toward Seabrook Island's end. They were sure it was empty there. However, the Octopus Man had found them.

Tentacle-like ropes shot out from the channel between Seabrook and Kiawah Island. They wrapped around Tracey's ankles and knocked him on his front.

Makenna turned and shouted, "Tracey!" when she saw the ropes. "The Octopus Man! He's found us!" She hurried toward Tracey. "Let him go! Tracey!" Throwing her bouquet onto the sand, she dove forward and grabbed Tracey's hand, starting to pull.

"Makenna, please!" Tracey begged.

"I've got you, Tracey!" she said, grabbing his other hand. "Don't let go!" Her short, silky, light blue dress with transparent, off-the-shoulder sleeves replaced her blue and white top and denim skirt. The only thing Makenna was missing now were her wings.

The Octopus Man jerked Tracey's ankles and Makenna simultaneously, and they yelled together. Before the two fairies knew it, the Octopus Man's pull tossed them into the channel.

Underwater, Makenna continued to pull Tracey. She refused to let the Octopus Man take him. A pinch of pain came from her back, and Makenna yelled when she felt her tiny, sky-blue wings pop out of it. She was officially a fairy again. However, Makenna wasn't focused on cheering right now, even though she knew she had her wings back. She focused on rescuing Tracey and getting him and herself out of there.

Closing her eyes, Makenna flapped her wings as hard as she could and tugged Merlin's apprentice, but the watery ropes tugged him back and toward the ocean. A tug-of-war game began between Makenna and the Octopus Man.

Tracey's own wings soon popped out of his back, and he looked over his shoulder. Then, turning his head, he focused back on Makenna.

She started running out of air. Makenna drooped, her wings stopped flapping, and she began sinking.

Tracey quickly opened his palm and shot a spell out of it. It hit the tentacle-like, watery ropes, and they seemed to screech. They released Tracey, and he quickly swam to Makenna, grabbing her. He tried to swim to the surface, but the Octopus Man created a powerful current that pulled him down instead of up. Tracey found it impossible to swim up.

He and Makenna drew near the tentacle-like ropes again.

Tracey fought against the current, but then, he, too, started running out of air. Like Makenna, he drooped and began to sink. He closed his eyes, and his wings fell limply behind him.

However, just before the Octopus Man carried the two fairies to the Bermuda Triangle, a massive underwater whirlpool appeared and slammed into them. It pushed them toward the surface, and both of them screamed.

Behind the whirlpool, in the water, and before the Octopus Man's tentacle-like ropes, glowing purple, was the figure of another fairy.

Makenna and Tracey were shoved out of the ocean (they barely escaped a large wave picked up by the Octopus Man) and soared through the sky toward Jenkins Point. Both of them choked and coughed water out of their lungs. Before they knew it, within less than a minute, they fell from the sky toward Makenna's front lawn.

Knowing that she would be splattered all over when she hit the ground, Makenna screamed. However, she again thought wrong.

A large, blue bubble appeared behind her, and Makenna dropped into it, asking, "Huh?"

The bubble bounced her. Before long, Makenna sat in it.

Tracey fell into the bubble next. He landed beside Makenna, and she yelped when she and he bounced and front-flipped off it. They landed on their backs, arms extended, and groaned.

The bubble popped, and blue sparkles showered down on them.

Makenna was the first to sit. She coughed and inhaled breaths of air. She never wanted to experience something like that again! The Octopus Man had them! He had them, but suddenly, he didn't have them. Makenna wondered how that was so.

When she managed to control her breathing, she turned her head toward Tracey and called, "Tracey!"

Tracey soon sat. All color drained from his face, and he turned to Makenna. "What was that thing?"

"The Octopus Man," Makenna explained, shivering. "It was the Octopus Man, Tracey."

"Octopus Man?" he yelled. "What Octopus Man, Makenna? What are you hiding from me?"

Makenna hesitated. However, before she answered, she heard the front door of her house opening and gasped when she heard her mother.

"Makenna!"

Makenna and Tracey turned their heads toward the front door.

Tracey's wings popped straight up as if they were frightened.

At the front door of her house, Makenna's mother, father, younger brother, and dog appeared. They all stared at her and Tracey.

"Makenna!" repeated her mother. She sprinted down the front steps, followed closer by Mr. Delling, Caleb, and Tony.

Makenna screamed, "EEE!" at the tops of her lungs. "I am so done for! I didn't even realize we were back home!"

Mrs. Delling soon reached the bottom of the staircase and hurried for her daughter. She stopped before her, and her jaw dropped to the ground when she saw Makenna's fairy form.

"Wait, Mom!" shouted Makenna. She quickly held her hand out to her. "I can explain!"

"Uh," Michelle mumbled. She fell to the ground and landed on her back, fainting.

Makenna and Tracey stared at her and blinked.

Soon, Mr. Delling stopped before Makenna, and his jaw dropped in seeing Makenna's fairy form.

There was dead silence. The cicadas began singing. Then, Makenna faced her father and chuckled nervously.

She held her arms to her sides and apprehensively sang, "Ta daa."

Mr. Delling fainted as well and landed beside his wife.

Makenna dropped her arms and silently studied both her parents. She and Tracey stood, and they hustled over to Caleb and Tony, who stood further away from the fainted parents. Soon standing on either side of them, all four of them stared and observed Mr. and Mrs. Delling.

Finally, Caleb shrugged and glanced at each fairy, asking, "Well, they handled that rather well, aye?" He grinned. "Who wants to go inside and watch some TV? I call dibs on the couch!"

"Oh, I do!" Makenna yelled, clapping her hands.

"All right, then!" laughed Caleb. He turned to the front door of his and Makenna's house. "Race you inside, Makenna!" He hurried for the steps.

Makenna followed him and yelled, "Oh no, you don't! You got the couch last time, Caleb!" She and Caleb sprinted up the front steps and disappeared inside their house. Tracey, Tony, and fainted Mr. and Mrs. Delling were left behind.