The Tale of Zaharos

Chapter 2: Centre of supernatural activity

  Zaharos! Such a wonderful place! I've missed this town; the crystal water of the river, the white sand of the beach, the little forest of pine trees, people being friendly to their neighbours and the little sweet shop with its little secrets.
A white-orange cat was moving down the road alongside the river, heading to the beach below. While it passed in front of the sweet shop, it looked longingly at the sweets. It tried to look at the other side of the road where a huge and not really welcoming building lay. This not-really-welcoming-building was supposed to welcome seven year old students as it was the only school in Zaharos. No wonder kids don't like school! The cat was pacing faster now and at the last metres to the beach, it broke into a run.

Excited, it moved closer to the sea and away from the tourists. It didn't want to draw attention to itself. The cat, or at least what the tourists thought was a cat (because it looked exactly like a cat), searched the ocean in utter agitation. A figure emerged from the water. The cat spotted it at once and looked satisfied (which is very hard to imagine as cats don't tend to have expressions of satisfaction on their faces).

"Hello Mariana!" said the figure looking directly at the cat.

"And here I thought I was acting like a normal cat for once," said the not-exactly-cat turning into a girl. She was tall and her skin was strangely white, while her long blonde hair looked very much like the fur on the cat. Her blue eyes were exactly like the cat's and it might have been a trick of the light but her eyes seemed to be changing colours. As a whole, her image was reminiscent of the cat that was standing in her place just a minute ago. The figure in front of her was another girl who was wearing a very strange swimsuit.

"You NEVER act like a normal cat, Mariana!" she laughed heartily.

"What's been going on, Sidonia?" asked the not-exactly-cat that has just turned into a girl, who's name turned out to be Mariana.

Sidonia fidgeted with her swimsuit. Her wet brown hair seemed to be drying up unduly rapidly. Her bright green eyes glared at Mariana as she answered "Polymorphics were talking with our chief. They said some funny stories. Something about a boy being scared out of his wits because he heard a cat talking with human voice. Mum didn't find it too funny, she was very angry when she found out that I have been near the shore."

Before continuing with the story I would like to just pop up and ruin the tale. Don't get too annoyed, please. Only joking, go mad and shout out loud "This narrator is the worst!"

I want to hear it so badly!! By the way, it just occurred to me that I have to mention something. I totally forgot! It's really of no importance, trivial really, but as a 'good' narrator I have to mention that Mariana is a meta-polymorphic (polymorphic for short) and Sidonia is a mermaid. Now what's a meta-polymorphic? Meta-polymorphics are magical creatures that can change between their twelve forms at will. They can be distinguished from normal animals easily because their eyes keep changing colours.  Polymorphics have to learn animal languages the way non-native French speakers might choose to learn French, so they rarely manage to learn all twelve. Also mermaids like Sidonia can switch between beautiful mermaid tails into a pair of ugly human legs. So... back to the story now!

Mariana avoided Sidonia's eyes.

"Why did you speak with human voice? You know Meow fairly well!" asked Sidonia with a smile.

"Just thought of having some fun, you should've seen the boy's face!" answered Mariana pretending to be scared of something.

Sidonia laughed but then she looked troubled again.

"Mum got mad. They don't approve of you as it is and discovering that you endangered the secret of our existence, didn't help matters at all."

"So their lot is spying on me and then go gossiping with the mermaids behind my back!" said Mariana angrily.
"Think of the bright side; you don't have to go to school! Our 'lovable' headmistress is trying to find the best way to torture us, not realising that having her singing for ten minutes is enough torture for a lifetime! I bet my voice, she is organising exams on every musical instrument we have ever learned to play. Also this year we have the 'end of year exams' on everything we have learnt in Maths, Music and Languages since primary." said Sidonia hoping to lift Mariana's spirit.