The Great Barrier

Chapter

: Owen and Ophelia’s Army

Owen Owen may have been a weather forecaster, but he never would have predicted such a strong current. Nova and her people were masters of the ocean, and thanks to that, she gave Ophelia and Owen a speed boost to get back to Miss Roger’s Academy. Knowing that Atlantis had innumerable paint brushes, Owen and Ophelia formulated a plan. With the help of the students at the boarding school, they had hoped to recruit the school to paint the whole Great Barrier Reef back to health! All they would need was to convince Mr. Daly, and the Reef would be saved! Nova stopped the current once at the foot of the school, and following an embrace, Nova waved the duo goodbye and good luck. Having pulled themselves onto the pontoon, Owen and Ophelia took off their scuba suits and hastily sped towards Mr. Daly’s office. “We’re really going to fix it, Mr. Davis!” Ophelia excitedly remarked. “Please, my name’s Owen,” he replied in-between breaths with a smile. Ophelia was struggling to keep up while Owen struggled to hold all the brushes. Finally, they had reached Mr. Daly’s office. Owen charged into the doors with his shoulder, almost slamming them against the wall. “... oh, that won’t be necessary, Mr. Daly, we’ll take care of things from here.” General Richards was at the school! The slam of the door caught Richards’ attention, and he turned around with a grin on his face. “Oh, hello Owen, hello Ophelia. Fancy seeing you here. It’s good to see that Ophelia is feeling better,” he said satisfactorily before releasing an evil laugh. “Why are you here, General Richards?” Owen asked, with fear and nervousness. “Well, Owen, to be honest, we saw mermaids,” General Richards replied. “These mermaids escaped from our base many years ago, and it is our task to take them back to where they belong. Oh, are those mermaid brushes in your hands, Owen? We’ll be taking those, thank you.” General Richards smiled with a large, concerning, scary grin, and a look in his eyes that showed no life. Owen turned towards Ophelia. She was scared, but she barely showed it. She was brave, strong, and determined. “Ophelia”, he said, “follow my lead.” She nodded in approval, not breaking eye contact with General Richards.