Arnie gave up the struggle and closed his eyes. He felt his chest beginning to burn from holding his breath and didn't think he would be able to last much longer. The strong, insistent hands were pulling him down deeper into the ocean of pink. He opened his eyes again and looked up. He could see several fish swimming overhead. He noticed that a few of them had what looked like fishing hooks and feather flies sticking out from their mouths.

He closed his eyes again and continued holding his breath. He felt the direction change suddenly and his eyes snapped open. The pulling hands had stopped moving down and began moving him to the right. The surprise of the move caught him off guard he involuntarily exhaled deeply, losing the air in his lungs as it bubbled from his mouth and headed up towards the surface.

He knew he was seconds away from taking a breath and he knew that the final breath would be his last. He was deep in this pink water and there was no surface in sight.

He tried to hold off the inevitable but there was no air in his body and it's natural instinct was to inhale.

His stomach lurched as he felt an extra strong pull and then felt himself falling. The water had vanished. He landed with a light thud just as his body took over and he breathed in. Beautiful, cold air filled his lungs. He took several rapid deep breaths and felt dizzy. If he hadn't been lying on the ground already he would have fallen.

It was several moments before he was able to see properly and the dizziness had worn off. He looked around him. He was lying on what appeared to be moist, pink, sand. He saw Isabelle a short distance away and Flimgog was standing next to him looking wet but otherwise unharmed.

"Are you ok?" He called over to Isabelle.

"Just about!" She called back. "That air came just on time though." She sounded out of breath.

Arnie looked up and saw they were in a dome that seemed to be made of glass. The pink water was all around them and the many varied species of fish were swimming leisurely around. He noticed now that they all seemed to have hooks and feathers sticking from their mouths. But they didn't seem concerned by it.

Then he noticed that they had company standing over to one side of the dome, looking at them with great interest. Arnied looked back at the creatures. He blinked several times in quick succession and then looked again. Several of the creatures began to approach him. The one in front was a two pence coin. The face on the coin was alive - the face of Queen Elizabeth. It had two thin pink arms and two thin pink legs.

Arnie looked at the other coins approaching just behind this one. There was a ten pence, a few small five pences and several one pences. There were also foreign coins, but of those he only recognised the American dime.

The two pence and his entourage had arrived in front of Arnie and Isabelle appeared at his side, with Flimgog now standing at his other side. The two pence piece was several times larger than a regular two pence coin and was about half the height of Flimgog. The Queen's mouth on the coin opened as it spoke.

"Who are you that disturbs our land?" It asked. Despite the image of the Queen's face the voice was male. It had a hoarse, deep texture to it and it was loud.

"We are seeking the Queen of Sockland and were directed over the mountains." Flimgog spoke, sounding at ease.

"And why are you here in our waters? We are not in the mountains and we have no queen in our midst." The voice sounded a stern and serious as he admoished them.

"We apologise for trespassing upon your lands... or seas if you wish." Flimgog knew how to sound like a diplomat. "It was not our intention. We followed the map we were given and came to the mountains we were to go beyond. We scaled the mountain and began making our way around when we were confronted by a hole that had opened in the side of the mountain. We could not pass because wherever we moved to the hole was there. Within that hole was a slide.

"We hoped, wished and thought that the slide would take us to the other side of the mountain and on to the realm of the Queen. Instead, we have ended up in your waters. It was our misake and no intention of trespass was meant." He bowed slightly as he finished talking.

The two pence piece withdrew and conferred quietly with his peers. Arnie couldn't hear what they were saying.

The two pence piece returned to where they were standing and addressed them all.

"We have decided to believe your tale and we will help you to get through the waters to land once more. Will you show me your map?"

Flimgog looked round at Arnie and nodded. Arnie stepped forward and knelt down taking out the map as he went. He unfolded it and showed it to the coin. Arnie had not quite gotten used to the Queen Elizabeth face doing the talking on the face of this coin. He was less surprised that these small creatures had the strength to drag his weight to the depths of their sea. He was almost used to small creatures with big strength.

The coin studied the map for several long moments before speaking again. He now sounded a lot friendlier than he had originally. "I can see you have been sent through our land on your quest for this Queen."

"You speak of the Queen as though you do not submit to her rule?" Flimgog asked it as a question.

"We know of the one who rules the land. Her flight takes her not to our watery realm and so we recognise a friend but not a ruler." He said.

Arnie couldn't help but ask. "And where do you come from? How did you come to be in Sockland?"

The coin stood and looked at Arnie for what felt, to him, like an age. The bronze eyes upon that face were oddly piercing.

"We are the coins cast into wishing wells. The coins dropped into puddles. The coins lost at sea. Mainly we are from wells and fountains where wishes are made. People drop coins into the depths never to be seen again.

"We are friends with the fish you see around and above you. Those are the fish that got away."

Arnie spoke again. "The fish that got away?" he asked.

"Those fish that break free from the fisherman's rod. The ones that break off at the last moment. The one's they lost. The bane of fisherman many and the population of our water."

Arnie thought about the fish he had seen. There were a lot of different species. He didn't answer the coin.

"We must take you through the water again, that way." He pointed behind him.

"Periodically we have domes where you we will have to stop for air. While we do not breath and so have no problem in the water, we do like dry land as well and so we make the domes our homes. With our strength we can swim quickly between each dome. Your map is magical and so is protected from the water."

Arnie just noticed now that they were each soaking wet. He looked around the dome more closely, it was huge and he couldn't see the farthest ends. The coin caught him looking. "Over there is our housing, where we sleep and socialise. Here we are standing our 'reception' area where we meet guests and where we arrive when coming from the water."

Arnie nodded and the coin continued talking. "When you reach land, you will dry quickly. The weather is warm there."

He turned and walked off in the direction he had pointed earlier. Arnie and the others followed. It didn't take long until the two pence coin stopped. "Here is the doorway to the sea." he said, pointing at a section of the dome that looked no different from any other part.

"Arnold, I will take you. You." He said, pointing at Isabelle. "Will be taken by Ten here." he pointed at the ten pence coin. And to Flimgog he said, "Can you ride with Arnold?" Flimgog nodded his agreement and jumped on to Arnie's shoulders, getting a grip.

"Pick me up Arnold, and you pick up Ten" he said to Isabelle. "When we get into the water we will take control."

Once Arnie and Isabelle had picked up their respective coins he spoke again. "Now walk forward at that section of wall." He pointed at a portion of the dome in front of them. "And take a deep breath before breaking through."

They did as they were told, side by side. Arnie hesitated only slightly before walking into the solid looking substance and then he collided with it. Instead of the impact he was half execting, he found himself immersed once more in the cool, pink water. He felt his arm tugged and they were off, moving fast through the liquid. He caught a glimpse of Isabelle at his side. He saw several fish cruising around. Then his eyes began to sting with the speed they were moving and so he closed them.

Just as he felt his chest begin to burn and his desire for a breath become overbearing, he felt the sensation of falling through cold, crisp air again and a soft landing. When he opened his eyes, they were in another dome, lying on the pink sand.

They repeated this procedure five times, each time they arrived just on time.

"Now, the final stretch." Two, as Arnie now called him, was talking again. "If you look up you will see the orange glow of light. The surface is not too far up from here. We have entered the shallows of our sea. We will pull you to the surface now and there we will leave you. It is a short way to land from there."

"Ok." was all Arnie managed.

"You can all swim?"

Isabelle and Arnie bothe nodded. Flimgog was still situated on Arnie's shoulder, holding on comfortably.

"Then let's go. Get to land and I can guide you no more."

They all left through the exit to the dome and were pulled rapidly up towards the orange glow. As they broke the surface, Arnie was shocked at the normality of the sky above. Light blue, with fluffy white clouds and a bright, orange sun. If not for the pink ocean it would look completely normal. Up ahead Arnie saw a sort of beach, the sand was the same pink as the sea bed. It didn't look far from where they were now. The two pence coin had broken the surface with them, as had the ten pence. "Go well Arnold, Isabelle and Flimgog. Go well wherever your path and journey may take you." And they were gone, back beneath the surface before they could reply.

"Let's make for that land." Flimgog said. Arnie merely nodded and looked at Isabelle.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Aye, ready as I'll ever be." she replied.

And they each struck out towards the pink sand of the land ahead.

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