The Mermaid Beginning

chapter 3

Emily decided to sit with Atticus and explain this to him.

"Darla, why don't you go and color?" Patrick gently took the youngest girl out of the room.

Jessica nodded, she then wondered if she should stay with her mother and brother or not.

"Jessica, you stay." Emily said.

Jessica nodded, doing that, she knew the thing after all.

Emily watched her daughter sit, then looked at Atticus. "Okay... I think I'm ready..." she said softly.

Atticus was hoping that he was going to be punished.

"Now, Atticus, I've been meaning to talk to these dreams with you for sometime," Emily started, knowing about Atticus and his ocean relation. "Have you been taught about the one called Queen Athena in school?"

"Wasn't she QUEEN OF THE Mermaids?" Atticus asked her.

"YES..." Emily nodded. "But she also had a sister who actually lived on land..."

Jessica nodded in agreement to show this wasn't being made up.

"Her sister had the special wish to come true to live as a human without horrible consequences," Emily CONTINUED. "Athena's sister missed her very much, especially after her death..."

"Was she there when it HAPPENED?" Atticus asked.

"Sadly no," Jessica spoke up. "She was still at home for a while, her new human home... She decided to move and was going to also move on with her life and gave up her old things to charity."

"Even if one of those things was one of her favorite dolls who was basically her best friend in early childhood," Emily added. "It's very hard to lose a family member, especially a sibling... She was given a trinket though to remember by and allowed to visit whenever the time would be right..." She then dug into her pocket and took out a necklace with a golden and shining shell ATTACHED to it.

"I-I-Is that it?" Atticus asked, fearing of WANTING TO KNOW the truth. He pointed to the necklace while asking. 

"Yes..." Emily slowly nodded, she then opened it up and showed a shining glow and vision of the legendary Atlantica with merpeople happily swimming about the GOLDEN PALACE of King Triton.

This was shocking to Atticus.

"S-So then that must mean that you were..." He said while looking at his mother.

"Yes, Atticus," Emily whispered. "I was a sister to Queen Athena... You are her nephew and you have merman bloodlines."

"I can't believe this," Atticus said while holding his head. "Wait, then why haven't we ever you know gone to Antlantica for a visit?"

"Because, I was long overdue for my powers to be brought back," Emily explained quietly. "I was pregnant with Jessica when I heard about the death of my sister. I couldn't just leave her and your father... I was indeed sad, but I grew so ATTACHED to the man I married and the family I was going to have, I just decided to stay... I had heard from Sebastian though that Triton had banned music of any kind since Athena loved music more than anything. Your cousin Ariel takes a lot after her."

"Wow, really?" Atticus asked.

"Yes..." Emily allowed Atticus to hold the charm. "I wasn't sure when you would be ready... I even missed Ariel's wedding to a human, Prince Eric..."

Jessica gently hugged her mother, patting her on the back.

"I wish there was someway that we could meet them." Atticus said.

"There is, darling..." EMILY NODDED, she gestured to her necklace.

"You know how Mom tells me not TO PLAY with her necklace or wear it if I have a date?" Jessica added, asking her brother, she had known about this too, but it was never exactly explained why she wasn't allowed to have anything to do with it.

"Wait, are you saying that your necklace is magical?" Atticus asked his mother.

"Yes..." Emily replied softly. "It can take us back in the time BEFORE AND AFTER my sister had perished... I was waiting for the right time to take us all to go there. Now might be good... It will also make us into merpeople in order to be back under water... I hadn't touched the ocean in years since I heard about the birth of my first niece, Attina." 

"She's the oldest one." Jessica informed her brother.

"Cool, wait, do all of Ariel's sister's names BEGIN with A?" Atticus asked.

"It's just a thing with her and Triton." Emily shrugged. 

"I never understood that." Jessica added.

"I think I saw them in one of my dreams." Atticus said as he went to get his drawings.

Emily and Jessica waited for Atticus in the kitchen. Darla was coloring on the various papers as she lay on the living room floor, crossing and uncrossing her legs over and over. Atticus CONTINUED searching for his drawings and then brought them with him to his mother and Jessica.