His Mermaid Princess: A Huma fanfiction

Chapter 2

Uma pov

The ocean stretched out endlessly before me, a vast expanse of shimmering blues and greens. Sunlight streamed down in gentle beams, illuminating schools of fish as they darted playfully between rocks and coral. I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes catching sight of Flounder, the small fish struggling to keep up with me as usual. His fins flapped furiously, but his pace could never match mine.

“Flounder, hurry up!” I called out, waving him over. There was something about his nervous energy that always made me laugh, and today was no different. He was always so cautious, always so wary, but that wasn’t my style. I wasn’t the type to hesitate.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Flounder puffed, finally reaching my side. “You know I can’t swim that fast.”

I rolled my eyes, barely suppressing a grin as I pointed toward the dark outline of a sunken ship in the distance. “There it is. Isn’t it fantastic?”

Flounder stared at the wreck, his eyes wide with obvious fear. “Yeah… sure… it’s great. Now let’s get outta here.” He started to swim backward, as if the very sight of the ship was enough to send him running—or, well, swimming.

Before he could escape, I grabbed his tail, pulling him back toward me. “You’re not getting cold fins now, are you?”

His fins trembled slightly, but he plastered on a brave face, following me toward the ship. I could hear the nervous tremor in his voice as he spoke. “Who, me? No way. It’s just, err… it looks kind of damp in there. And I think I might be coming down with something. Yeah, I’ve got this cough…”

He gave a weak, unconvincing cough, and I rolled my eyes again. Typical Flounder.

“All right,” I said with a shrug. “I’m going inside. You can just stay here and watch for sharks.”

I swam toward the ship, gliding through the water effortlessly as I slipped into a broken porthole. I could hear Flounder behind me, his voice rising in panic.

“Okay, yeah—you go ahead. I’ll stay and… wait, what? Sharks? Uma!” He tried to squeeze in after me but got stuck halfway through. “Uma… I can’t… I mean—Uma, help!”

I laughed, shaking my head as I turned to help him wriggle through the porthole. “Oh, Flounder. Don’t be such a guppy.”

As he finally squeezed through, a massive shadow passed behind us. My heart skipped a beat, and I could feel Flounder stiffen beside me.

“Uma… do you really think there might be sharks around here?” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

I glanced over my shoulder, catching sight of the enormous shark slipping through the water like a ghost. Its sharp teeth glinted menacingly as it swam by, but it hadn’t noticed us yet.

“Shh,” I hissed, trying to keep the tension out of my voice. “Just keep moving.”

Flounder trembled beside me but followed my lead as we swam deeper into the wreck. The inside of the ship was dark and eerie, the wooden beams rotted and broken from years of being submerged underwater. I could see remnants of human life scattered around—broken dishes, rusted tools, and piles of debris.

And then, there it was, sitting atop a heap of junk—something shiny, something metal. My heart raced with excitement as I swam closer.

“Oh my gosh!” I gasped, reaching out to pick up the object. It was a silver fork, old but still glinting in the dim light filtering through the broken hull. “Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?”

Flounder swam up beside me, his eyes wide. “Wow, cool! But… what is it?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, twirling the fork between my fingers. “But I bet Scuttle will.” I slipped the fork into my bag, my mind already racing with the possibilities of what it could be.

But then, a sound. A deep, rumbling vibration that sent a shiver down my spine.

“What was that?” Flounder asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I ignored him, my eyes catching sight of another object—a rusted pipe half-buried in the debris. I swam toward it, curious.

“I wonder what this one is,” I murmured, reaching for it.

“Uma,” Flounder said again, his voice more urgent this time.

“Flounder, will you relax?” I said, exasperated. “Nothing is going to happen.”

But the moment the words left my mouth, the shark appeared. Its massive jaws clamped down on the broken window behind Flounder, shattering the glass in a terrifying display of power.

“AHHH! RUN! WE’RE GONNA DIE!” Flounder screamed, his voice high-pitched and frantic as he bolted toward the upper deck. The shark’s head smashed through the floorboards as it chased after us, its teeth snapping inches away from our tails.

My bag got caught on a loose plank, and I quickly doubled back to free it, ignoring the surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins. The shark lunged, and I barely managed to dodge its teeth.

Flounder, meanwhile, was trying to squeeze through another porthole—and, of course, he got stuck again. “Oh no!” he wailed.

“Hold still!” I shouted, pushing him through just as the shark barreled toward us. I wriggled out behind him, my heart pounding in my chest as we sped toward the surface.

But the shark wasn’t done. It smashed through the wall of the ship, its jaws snapping wildly as it chased us around the wreck. Flounder screamed again, and for a moment, I thought the shark had him—but no, it missed. It crashed into a crossbeam instead, dazed as it sank toward the ocean floor.

I swam down quickly to retrieve my bag, which had landed nearby. The shark, in a last desperate attempt to catch us, charged one final time—but its head got stuck in the ring of an anchor.

Flounder turned around, puffing out his chest as he blew a raspberry at the trapped predator. “You big bully!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Flounder, you really are a guppy.”

“I am not!” he protested, but the fear in his eyes told a different story.

As we swam toward the safety of the surface, I shook my head, a grin still tugging at my lips. Adventure, danger, and a good scare—it was just another day in the life of Uma.