Under The Sea

Chapter One

Another description,

Forest Atlandria is a mermaid. A princess of the sea. Next in line to the throne when the time comes. As princess she is confined to her kingdom and is not permitted to leave under any circumstances.

Forest however, won't stand for it. She looks for adventure wherever she is and longs for the unpredictable life of the characters in the books she reads; with true love, fairies, villains, and the philosophy of the world.

Her dream nearly comes true when she decides to sneak away from her underwater home and venture onto the uncharted territory of the dry land. She didn't expect to meet a boy.

Aran White is the Alpha of the Moonlight pack. When he first meets Forest he is suspicious of her scent. Aside from smelling like a warm ocean breeze, she smells . . . fishy. The way she acts is different, as if she's visiting from another world entirely. As Forest and Aran's relationship progresses into something stronger, the shadows of Aran's past grow fiercer. A force like no other stands in their way, but they are determined to cut through it.

I hope you enjoy the story!

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I was late. Late again to dinner with my family. Jacin, my best friend argued with me about who's fault it was that we were late. His golden hair flowed behind him, like the strands were trying to keep a hold on his scalp as we swam along. The ocean was blue today, a different shade each day, depending on the angle of the sun, the color of the coral and the reflections of the shells glittering in the sand and seaweed.

"You know for once you could keep track of time, I mean you are the Queen to be." he said snottily.

"So what, aren't I allowed to be late once in a while? I'm only human---well half at least." I said rolling my eyes at him as we swam through the water, our tales flowing behind us.

"Everyday is definitely not once in a while, maybe I should tell your father that you need schooling on how to tell time. As pathetic as that is," he snickered.

"Need I remind you who you are speaking with? The Queen to be as you so wonderfully put it." Jacin and I were past the phase in which he called me your majesty and all that fancy stuff, but I still liked to tease him when his comments got out of hand.

"Whatever, brat." I gasped at the old nickname. When Jacin had first met me, he thought that I was the biggest brat in the sea, which was based on the fact that I was a princess. I was so angry about his misjudgments that I went to serious lengths just to prove him wrong.

I through away all my most expensive jewelry giving it to anyone in need, and even begged my father to stop buying me things. This lasted for about a year until he finally succumbed and admitted that I was not a brat. He knows that nickname annoys me so occasionally it pops back into his vocabulary every now and then.

"I really thought we were over that." I said with a voice as dry as sand paper. He chuckled, "We are never over that."

Finally arriving at the castle, Jacin and I made our way to the dining room. We swam to our seats as fast as we could hoping to go unnoticed, but of course my wishes never came true. In fact everyone at the table was staring at us; my uncle Hastings was glaring, his glare somehow always managed to be situated on his face and directed at anyone who looked at him, my mother winked at me, and my father was definitely dissapointed. A small shrivel of guilt ran through me to see that most of them were already half way through their meals of seaweed and shrimp.

My plate clanked against the metal of the table as I set my plate down, full of food.

The castle glowed and shimmered under the water; made of forgotten glass and gold and bronze, it was a plethora of lost items and bits and pieces of metal. It reached up high above the coral reefs but sat deep enough to leave the humans undisturbed. It's sharp edges and pointy endings made it look like a pile of uncharted metal thrown together by the strong winds of the ocean and gravity.

"Dad, I'm so sorry---I got....carried away at the library" it was true we had been at the library, I had an undying passion for books, "I was so caught up in my reading that I hadn't realized what time it was. I'm sorry, and none of this is Jacin's fault I accept full responsibility." I rushed hoping he would understand. His disapproving look slowly transformed into a warm, caring smile.

"I understand dear, just make sure you aren't late again. I thought something had happened to you." I nodded as my body sagged with relief, phew, I was only glad he hadn't asked what book it was. He would not approve of me reading Jane Austen---a human author. He preferred me to read the texts required by my tutors. But I've read so many of their books already and I yearned for something entirely different.

Something fantastical with romance, and sword fights, pirates and faeries.

What I wanted to do was go onto dry land and find one of their libraries and read all day long, live adventures all day long. A sigh escaped me at the dreamy thought.

I had been on dry land a few times---some of my aunts and uncles chose the human life, except for uncle Hastings---but I had never been to a library or a bookstore there, when we visited we would never stay long.

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After dinner I said goodnight to my family, and Jacin escorted me to my room wishing me a restful night.

My rusted mirror sat atop the glass table I had in my room. I couldn't see much of myself in it, the grimy brown flecks of the rust cut parts of my reflection off. Yet, I sat in front of it most days and treated it like a trophy because I had found it near the shallows of the sea, perhaps discarded for years already and still, it was beautiful to me.

My hazel strands floated around me in the water and the brown in my seaweed eyes blended with the rust on my mirror.

I looked just like my mother. I sighed, someday I would be my mother---Queen.

It wasn't long before the doubt set in, like a cold wind settling into your bones; did I really want to be Queen? Would I even be a good Queen? Who would my King be? I wish I had someone to voice all these thoughts to. I had already told all of this to Jacin, who had offered me a great amount of comfort, but his solid explanation had been that I was bound to be a good leader because it was in my blood.

But I wanted to feel it. I wanted to feel the beauty of having this weight lifted from my shoulders, I wanted to feel myself become arrogant with the title, completely and utterly selfish with it. I didn't want to shy away from it, or discard it like a cracked sea shell, I wanted to hone it and love it.

Except, thinking about what was to come, thinking about the future, was one bumpy ride in itself. I was on this roller coaster and there were times when I felt like I was free falling, completely off the rails, out of my element, other times it was a slow ride, sometimes it even stopped and then it would inch on.

Life wasn't really predictable, nor was it easy.

As I lay on my soft mossy rock, pouting and moaning about the future like the teenager I was, I suddenly felt the need for a friend. Not a best friend that knew what I was thinking and loved me for it anyway, but a friend that knew how I was feeling and could love me for it because they knew what I was going through.

Books. Stories. Tales. Lore. It seemed unfair to me, that the humans saw reading as an enjoyment, a place to escape reality for a few chapters and laugh and cry and scream. Under the sea, reading was required (philosophy, astronomy, sciences, mathematics, histories of our nature) and unfortunately no one enjoyed it. Lucky for me (and I was quite lucky) Jacin, was kind enough to smuggle books straight from the shore where a little town resided with a library full of marvelous stories, folklore and fantasy. It was one of the only genres I read.

Lately books had been my hiding place, they offered a comfort like no other. I made a plan to sneak out and find that book for myself, I couldn't tell anyone, not even Jacin. He would never let me go, insisting that it was too dangerous. How could a quick trip to the library be so dangerous?

I was determined to make one of my many dreams come true. It would happen. I would make sure of it.

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So I'm not sure how that first chapter went but I hope it was entertaining and interesting enough! If you liked it I would be ecstatic to here from you.......and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Thank you so much for reading it is greatly appreciated. Oh and if there were any mistakes, so sorry! And don't forget to comment!