The Waves Are Ours |Virgato|

Chapter 18: Moving Along

A/N: I learned how to make gifs the other day :D

Joel was practically running down the beach towards the shore one afternoon a few days later. He'd been like that the past few days. It was no longer a struggle for him to even put his feet in the water. Chris was proud that Joel was getting a lot better at swimming. It made him feel as though he'd properly achieved something with his time on land.

Richard had band practice today so he couldn't drive them, so they'd caught the bus instead. Erick and Richard don't come down with them all the time anymore, so they'd started just catching the bus to the cove when they didn't.

Yet as he dove in after him, Chris couldn't help but feel nervous again since the encounter with the palace guards. He hoped that Joel's appearance would deep them away again for a little while. He lived in fear that they'd told his father about Joel or the fact that he was on land. No, he probably would have whipped up an entire storm for that.

The cool thing was, though, that since that day, the two of them had been swapping magic tricks. Joel may not have learned to swim, but he had learned to use his powers, perhaps even better than Chris could. He could make excellent whirlpools and bubbles. Though Erick hadn't appreciated the trick where he'd ended up soaked in water when Joel had misfired.

Chris swam out after Joel, who was moving much faster today. It had been raining a lot the past few days, so the small waves that were washing into the cove were a lot stronger than usual, yet it didn't seem to be slowing him.

He didn't even really need to be taught to swim. Chris was there to keep an eye on him while he practiced so that he could build up the strength in his tail. Chris was hoping that someday soon, Joel might even be able to have a go at swimming in the actual ocean than just this small isolated cove.

Right now, though, Chris was just content to swim around the small area. He loved the taste of the sea salt on his lips. It was much better than the chemical taste of the chlorine that they added to the pool water. He had so much room to move and there was a certain relief that came with gaining back his tail after walking around on human legs all this time. He knew he wasn't ready to go back yet, but he knew this was the closest thing to home right now, and even if it was short lived, he intended to enjoy it.

That was when Chris heard a distinct yell from under the water. He turned and spun his head towards the noise, noticing Joel's silvery tail was thrashing about in the water up ahead.

Panic struck him. He knew merpeople couldn't drown, but thrashing about was never a good sign. It could mean sharks or worse yet, fisherman's nets. He flicked his tail quickly, powering through the water to help. He could hear Joel's yells and screams as he drew closer. Yet by the time he reached him, he noticed the tangled mess Joel was in.

He was covered in a spikey mess of seaweed that had wrapped its way right around his arms and tail. He must have swam right through it. Working quickly, Chris attempted to pull the seaweed off of Joel. He tried his best to hold back the fits of laughter as Joel emerged from underneath. That was all?

Though his laughter stopped as he saw the genuine fear in Joel's eyes. There were tears in his eyes as well. Chris took a small wad of seaweed in his hands and showed it to Joel, hoping he'd know what it was. Joel's face fell even further.

"I lost it over a bit of seaweed?!" Joel groaned, looking at the greenish slimy substance in Christopher's hands.

"Yeah..." Chris confirmed. "I must admit that seaweed did look pretty terrifying under the water if you didn't know what it was."

"Really?"

"Really," Chris assured, "Hey, I've been spooked by the odd bit of seaweed in my time too. Just nothing as dramatic as that."