Forest of Imagination

Truth Mirrors, Inner Mirrors

Mirrors reflect you. The outer you. But what if someone invented a special mirror? One that reflects the inner you?

That was, apparently, what Jeffrey Nunez was working on, along with countless others that are too unimportant to mention.

The mirror talk? It all started when I woke up pretty early that day. But not earlier than everybody else, apparently. "Mel! I didn't expect you to wake up so early! I was just...um...practicing," Katie said, obviously lying. She's a horrible liar.

"Yeah, really," I rolled my eyes. "We were supposed to -"

"I know the procedures!" Katie interrupted. "Totally. But gosh, just take a look - do I look good to you?"

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," I reminded her. But I took a look in the golden-framed mirror anyway. We decided to use the same cave as a residence lodge, and I didn't really care that it was wet. The pearl ring was still in my jean shorts' pocket, and now we'd just uncovered a new treasure: this mirror.

"I can't help wondering if I need to take dance lessons, Mel. Your mood swings are too much for my slow dance," Katie replied sarcastically. I ignored her and studied Katie's reflection. She wasn't ugly, no way Jose, but she wasn't pretty, either. Even though I would kill for her blue eyes, her slightly pointy nose looked as if it didn't belong on her face. Her freckles were pretty, though, and subtle, so you couldn't see them unless you were at most two inches away. Or looking closely into a mirror worth thousands upon thousands of money, or in a mermaid's words, sand dollars. Speaking of sand dollars, I wonder if we could find some around here....

"Ryan, wake up!" I whisper-shout quietly into his ear, after examining Katie's figure (okay, that came out wrong). After a few more shouts, Ryan sat up, looking alarmed.

"Fire?" he asked.

"Nope, I was just wondering if, in Hawker Estuary, sand dollars are currency," I said, stifling a laugh.

"No. Welsh marine stones. Can I PLEASE go back to sleep now?" Ryan complained childishly.

"Good. Do you have any sand dollars then?" I asked, ignoring his last question. Ryan groaned.

"Two. Both are dead."

"Can I have them?" I pleaded, a smile growing inside. I tried desperately to hide the growing joy.

"Yep. Lights out," Ryan said, and with that, he rolled over and closed his beautiful g - hazel eyes.

Melody!

To tell the truth, having a pure-bred mermaid with us on the hunt, without a legs costume, was pretty challenging. I was really glad that another half-mermaid - ahem, half-merman - was joining us, even though it was super-duper rare for TWO half-mermaids (or one half-mermaid, one half-merman) to meet each other.

I tried not to think about falling in love with each other.

No. NOT HAPPENING.

Just at the same moment I was thinking about Ryan and NOT falling in love with him, he chose that second to wake up.

"Finally," I sighed with exasperation, though inside I was disappointed I wouldn't get to see his awesome eyelashes that just complements the rest of his - MELODY! STOP! You are not going to be lovesick!

"I need to sleep too, Turtle," Ryan said. My insides twisted with nervousness, but I managed a (not so good) comeback.

"I don't swim slow!" I replied, bringing my left hand to my chest and gasping in an exaggeratedly insulted way.

"That's what you think," Ryan said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, Mr. Ego, do you have any ideas worth my attention or are you asking for a half-werewolf to bite you?" I asked, crossing my arms sternly.

"I am NOT egotistic," Ryan replied in defense.

"Okay. Katie!" I called, snapping my fingers. Ryan shrank back in mock fear.

Katie didn't come over. Instead, she called back, "I found something!" I crept closer to her, while Ryan stayed behind cautiously. I peeked over her shoulder meekly, and saw...*drumroll please*... a vial of blood.

"Ew!" I exclaimed, jumping back.

"What? What is it?" Ryan asked, looking around as frantically as he had when I'd attempted to wake him up.

"It's only blood, sweetie," Katie said in a sickly sweet way. "Delilah's blood. Somehow it found its way here."

"There's a note," I observed, still shivering from fear.

"Right. Mel, you read it. I'm tired." Katie literally flopped down on the floor.

Quick Harmony's POV

Everything's hazy. I could see Indiana Jones' face blinking on

Melody's POV

I gaped at the message. Then I reread it. I reread it again.

"No, not true," I murmured, holding the note up to the dim light of the cove. "No way, Jose." Ryan was looking at me strangely, while Katie was definitely all freaked out. No way, though, just NO WAY! No. No. No.

"What?" Ryan asked. Blood. Tides. Water. Tsunami. Everything made sense now! But even so, no way. This WAS NOT TRUE. NO NO NO NO. Although it would be kind of cool, it was obvious the author of the note was bonkers. Nuts. Completely crazy! Insane! Probably even drunk, but THAT was a touchy subject.

The reason it was a touchy subject, though, made sense....

MELODY! First you're lovesick, and now you're believing this fake piece of JUNK?!

Okay subconscious, when did you start making sense?

The beginning of time.

Stop bragging. We gotta focus on this.

You already know it's not true. Or is it? What if it is? That would be so cool!

No, it wouldn't be! My heart is literally sinking into my feet right now.

No it isn't. Or else you'd be dead.

Shut up.

"Everything," I replied vaguely. "Everything." Tides, blood, tsunamis, tides, blood, tsunamis, tides, blood, tsunamis....

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A/N: Sorry this was a short chappy. Did you enjoy the super short Harmony's POV?

By the way, this chappy is dedicated to @saimabluedolphin because of her sweet comments!

--Cam