Unexpected (Editing)

Chapter VIII

"Krella knows..she knows, she knows about the baby..." Amy stressed as she swam in after a long days work at 4 am with the rest of us.

The fall solstice had tired us out beyond anything ever before, and Caspian was asleep as soon as we stumbled into the cage, not even bothering to complain or fight against Krella.

"Amy, talk to me." I scooched over to her and grabbed her hand. "It's gonna be okay."

She raised her head and sniffed, blinking back tears, putting one of her hands over my own. "How can you possibly say that?" her voice was quiet and sorrowful.

"What happened, Amy? Maybe I can help." I squeezed her hand and looked at her. "Please, talk to me. I... I'm sorry about what I said. I was just stressed and... I don't know. I'm really sorry?"

Amy finally met my eyes and sighed. "It's okay, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's just, well, your parents..."

I finally voiced the thought that had been growing ever since my first night under the sea. "The castle... the crown. They're royal, aren't they?"

Amy looked at me sadly, almost pitifully.

I took a deep breath and looked down. "And what Kaila said... everyone knows my name. That would make me..." I glanced up at Amy.

She nodded. "Look, I'm sorry, but can we not talk about this? You wanted to know what happened..." she closed her eyes and took a shaky breath.

"It's okay. You can trust me." I said and put my other arm around her.

Amy leaned into me and sighed. "There was this guy. He was pretty hot, right. And... I went in behind the bar to make a drink. He leaned against the counter and was being all hot. Ugh, I hate when they do that! Don't you hate that?" She looked at me, smiling slightly.

I laughed a little. "Yeah."

"Anyway," she continued. "I was making his drink and he said, why don't you have that one? I did and God, was it strong, but I was exhausted and had had a long day. We started talking and he drank, and I-I drank too. I thought for sure Krella was going to bust me for drinking but she just saw the guy I was talking to and swam away. But I was too drunk to care." Amy slumped her shoulders and let out another sigh. "He said he knew a place where we could be alone. I followed him. Turns out Krella has these little caves, half-air, with beds and candles in behind the bar. You know, real romantic like."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I guess," she laughed weakly and dried her eyes. "I guess, you can have sex underwater. Oh no!" she waved her hands limply in fake humour then broke down crying.

"Hey, its okay. Just talk to me. We can get through this." I said.

She sniffed. "We went up there and both transformed back into humans and you know... and then, the next day... I just had this feeling."

I sighed. "It's okay. We'll get you out of here before that baby is born. We've got eight months to figure this out." I squeezed her shoulder and held my best friend, as she cried herself to sleep.

The following morning Krella brought a man into our cage room who was smiling and humming to himself.

He saw our cage and looked at Krella, who smiled sweetly at his half suspecting, half worried look.

"My payment has gone up." she smiled sweetly. "One hundred thousand pearls sound good to you?"

The man nodded happily and swam towards the cage, looking at Amy.

"Jason here has come to find out whether its a boy or a girl dear." Krella laughed as Amy's face grew terrified.

"It'll be hard, and we can't be sure ma'am." Jason addressed Krella in a respective, almost royal, tone. "As I take it, she's only three weeks or so pregnant. There is really no sure answer at this point." His black tail was pressed up against the bars as he scrutinized Amy.