Stone Skipper

Chapter one: Meet the She-Devil. Oh and me too.

Fairies are born from the laughter of a human child. The little winged creatures (wretched things if you ask me) go about their daily lives, never once questioning where they came from.

Or, more specifically, who.

They form their own little mini families in the forest, leaving behind the human baby that gave them life.

I never understood how they managed to just accept the fact that they were born with wings and one talent as opposed to horns and a tail. But I suppose everyone is different in their mind. I happened to be very different up there.

You see, merpeople are born similarly to fairies: at the will of a human child. Little girls and boys rush to the rivers and oceans and find the most beautiful stones they can spot. A hopeful mermaid soul may lie in one of these stones. Of course the humans aren't aware of it at the time.

When a stone is picked each child bets who can get their stone to skip more times. The first child throws her stone. It skips 3 times. Just enough to crack the shell and release the mermaid into the water to find the rest of her people.

The second child throws her stone. It makes on pathetic plop! before sinking to the bottom. This is the most common cause of mermaid deaths. When the stone never skims the surface, creating a hole for the soul to slip through.

It is very rare that that same stone is ever picked up and thrown again. Rare, but not impossible.

I am living proof.

There had been two human girls. They both had the most striking green eyes and freckles that spread like constellations of the bridges of their nose. They both had crazy orange hair that glowed like fire in the reflection on the water. They were both smiling and laughing.

I was sure many fairies had come from those girls, and by the ripples in the water above me, I could tell that some mermaids had come from them as well.

Their voices were muffled in the depths, and I struggled to stand out. To get my chance at being who I was meant to be. To get my chance at living.

All of the sudden, my world went dark, and I began to drift upward. This is it. I'm gonna make it. I thought. The girl opened her hand and looked at me.

"Jessica, it's so pretty you should keep it" Jessica did not listen to the other girl. She just looked at me with such determination in her emerald green eyes.

"Hello! Earth to Jessica" The other girl shouted. Jessica still did not reply. " You have chocolate on your face!" The other girl yelled.

"They're just freckles."Jessica said, finally acknowledging the other girl. Then in one swift motion, I was airborne.

The world went by me at an incredible pace. I was so excited. I was going to skip one, two, three times and finally break out of this shell and be free.

I have to say, my dreams sank faster than I did.

Well, I thought, this is it. I'm done for. The world has chosen me to move on to another life. (Ok, so I'm dramatizing this a little bit, but hey, I was dying at the time)

Then the water began to shift. The ripples were coming in big bursts, pushing against me. I was being moved to my burial ground already.

Then it stopped. And everything went stone still. (Get it? I was a stone? Ha!) The water went back to its normal, steady flow around me. Around me. Something was blocking the current.

Suddenly, I was going up again. The girl's hand pulled me to the air and I cheated fate.

That is, until she dropped me again.

"Shoot it-" I heard, before slamming into rock bottom. I sank to the ground and cracked. My vision became sharp and all of the sudden I could hear better. I could swim. I was free.

I shot of into the current, in search of my fellow  merpeople.

So you see, I was a very rare case. Because of this, no family here was willing to take me in. It was like they feared I would perish on the spot if they weren't delicate with me.

So I ended up being taken in by the she-devil herself. Allow me to formally introduce you to my adoptive mother, the queen of the mermaids.

Malencia, ruler of the merpeople, was a beautiful mermaid. Her tail-length golden hair was streaked with silver. A simple pearl crown sat atop her head. She had bright blue eyes that faded to match the mood of the sea and a heart shaped face with high cheekbones. ( I swear she's had work done) Her skin was so pale it was almost white in contrast to her dark blue tail.

She was thin, but had an essence that made even the most robust mermen feel like the tiniest of starfish in her presence.

She made me feel like that starfish.

Every. Single. Day.