Dome of Atlantis

Chapter 16

Pain ruptured in my chest.

I sat up from my soft bed and saw a horrifying creature standing over me with it's claws in my chest. I grabbed it's black claws with both my hands attempted to pull the hand away from me.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. This creature was trying to pull my heart out. It stared at me with empty eye sockets and grinned with razor sharp teeth as it lurched forward towards it's hand to rip my heart out.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and sat straight up from my anemone bed feeling sick.

I blurry figure swam quickly behind a big seashell chair in my room and yelped.

"Who's there?" I demanded.

I waited until a tiny face popped out from behind the chair holding her arm.

A little mermaid looked back at me. She had beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes. She swam a little closer to me. "Are you ok?" she asked me.

I tried to catch my breath once I realized I was not in danger. I smiled at her. "I'm alright, I just had a bad dream. Are you ok? You're holding your arm."

"I didn't mean to scare you. I just cut my arm a little bit on the chair. Proteus and Maxwell sent me to come get you, but I didn't want to wake you."

"You're ok, I need to get up anyway. I was having a nightmare."

The little mermaid looked at me curiously. She spoke again, "We're having our festival, so Maxwell and Proteus didn't want you to miss it. I'm their cousin Maurine. They had me put your new clothes and festival ribbon in the room to your right."

"Festival ribbon?"

"They give each girl a ribbon to give to a merman during the festival for good luck. They already started the festival, so I'll meet you in here when your done getting ready."

I nodded at her and swam to the room she motioned to for me to get ready. I found a beautiful looking red dress of sorts. I kept my trousers on to keep myself modest in this dress if need be. There lay a purple ribbon along with my dress. I wrapped it around my wrist and headed out the room to see Maurine looking excited.

She grabbed my hand once she realized I couldn't swim like the other sea-folk.

A loud roar could be heard in the distance as we were heading towards what I assumed to be the festival grounds.

The place looked like a giant colosseum.

We swam inside and watched as mermen started swimming around the edges of the colosseum waving their hands.

Maurine brought us to sit at the end of the oval looking arena.

Proteus smiled from the side of the colosseum and swam over to us ladies. Maxwell soon joined him.

Maxwell held his hand out to Maurine and she gave him her yellow ribbon. "For good luck cousin," Maurine told Maxwell.

Proteus looked at the two and then over at me.

I looked back at him. "Would you like this ribbon?" I asked pulling the purple ribbon off of my hand.

"Unless you have another merman you would like to give it to. You don't have to if you don't want to," He told me.

"It's fine." I said and handed him the ribbon. "What is it good luck for?"

"Us mermen are going to have a swimming race. The ribbon is for good luck."

"Well then good luck Proteus," I told him.

He smiled and tied the ribbon to his upper arm.

The boys smiled at us and headed over to the starting line. The colosseum had already been crowded.

Shouting could be heard all around until a loud horn blew.

The merman took off swimming at supersonic speeds. They were rushing. Maxwell and Proteus kept up with each other, but one couldn't tell who was going to win between the two.

Proteus finally pulled out at the front and crossed the finish line.

The horn blew once again and Proteus took off my purple ribbon to wave it around.

An announcer came out to announce the next round would be mermaids singing as a group.

Maxwell and Proteus swam back to sit with me and Maurine.

"How do siren's music affect men?" I asked Proteus.

He looked over to me. "We don't quite understand it, but we think it numbs a part in the brain that makes them feel fear or pain. They like it so much that they start to crave the sound and that's what brings them closer."

"Does it affect women?"

"For some reason it doesn't. Maybe it affects different hormones since men and women have different hormones and that's what affects the brain. I'm not a scientist, so I don't' have all the answers. It is interesting though."

I pursed my lips in thought and continued to watch the show go on.

"I'll be right back." Proteus said and left me and his family to listen to the amazing sirens.

Their voice were sung together in perfect harmony.

Proteus was back before we realized the song was over and he handed me and his little cousin each a seashell necklace.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Something for you and Maurine to remember your first festival here," said with a smile and sat back down to watch what was going to happen next.

"Proteus, can I ask a question?"

"Of course," he said.

"I still don't understand why does it have to be three human that get their heart eaten instead of some other race?"

He looked over at me concerned. "I was taught that it was an elf long ago who lost his lover to a merman, so he placed a curse on the island so any women to land on it would be stuck here to die."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

He continued, "Any curse can be broken or make an additional curse. To break the curse, a true loves kiss with a merman will release them and break the curse, or if you fall in love with an elf they'll eat your heart and add to the curse of death and destruction to one's enemy."

I looked closely to his beautiful eyes. "What do you think Proteus. One wants to root for their own race."

He swam close to me to look me closer in the eyes. "Maxwell came home really hurt when Maya died. My brother may be harsh, but he would never do something so cruel. I would never do that to you Vivian," he said and grabbed both of my hands.

My face felt flushed. Does he have a crush on me already? Is it because I'm a human and fascinating? I felt my heart flutter a little when he lifted his hands to both sides of my face.

"Are you ok? You feel a little warm. Are you getting sick?"

"I'm ok," I said feeling extra embarrassed now.

"I don't want you worrying about this. Why don't we just sit and finish watching the festival."

The announcer came back out to the middle of he colosseum. "Next will be the shark fight."