Ari and Zac

Chapter 7: Royalty

Chapter 7: Royalty

Ari squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as her head began to swim. She felt the dizziness overtake her, and she dug her fingernails into her palm.

What was she doing? What on Earth had she been thinking?

The decision had been made, though, and it was too late to turn back now. She would have to go through with it and hope for the best.

Even if it just might put her in an early grave.

"Ari? Ari, are you OK?"

A hand closed around her upper arm, as the familiar voice cut through her thoughts. Ari blinked her eyes back open and gave a curt nod to the strawberry blonde girl who stood beside her in a bright pink strapless sundress. Lucy peered into Ari's face with a look that Ari couldn't quite interpret—somewhere half-way between concern and irritation.

Ari shook her arm free and raised her phone to reply by text.

Ari: I'm fine. Just a headache.

Lucy didn't bother to take her own phone out of her purse. She merely glanced at the words on Ari's screen and then answered her out loud. "Maybe we should go back. You heard what the paramedics said before."

Ari could tell from her sister's voice that she didn't really mean it. Lucy was dead-set on going to this party tonight. And anyway, neither of them put much credence in the warning from the EMT who treated Ari after the incident in the aquarium. That guy clearly had no idea what he was doing. Probably never dealt with a selective mutism case before. He'd been five seconds away from sending Ari to the hospital for a head CT and God only knows what other brain scans, before Lucy showed up to speak on her behalf.

Thank goodness the word about the accident went to Lucy first, before their mom and dad. Of course, their parents would find out eventually. Her father owned the aquarium after all. Ari didn't even want to think about the consequences of her rash decision.

She never should have done it. Smashing that scuba tank like that? Looking back now, Ari couldn't imagine what had gotten into her. Her parents would make her give up her mermaid job for sure now. Plus, someone could have gotten hurt. Seriously hurt.

As it turned out, the burst of out-rushing air hadn't been nearly as violent as she'd feared. She'd brought the rock down with all her might and felt the valve give way, but nothing much happened after that. It sounded big, at least. The deafening BOOM had rocked her backward, more than the turbulent cascade of foamy water rushing toward the surface.

She'd stood there and watched the damaged scuba tank for a few seconds after that, concealed from public view behind the rocks, waiting for something more dramatic to happen. She knew the sound alone wouldn't create enough of a distraction for the boy to get away. Not unless she sprang into action and played up the accident for maximum effect. She'd closed her eyes and let her chest fall forward, her hair obscuring her face, in a classic dead man's float. The current created by the air leak had lifted her gently to the surface, the swarming bubbles pressing upward against her chest. To onlookers, it must have looked like something knocked her out. She kept her body completely limp, and she could tell by listening that it must have worked. She could still hear the echoing sound of a child's scream.

By the time she opened her eyes, the boy on the other side of the glass was long gone...and so were the two men pursuing him.

She'd been fully conscious the whole time, of course, but the paramedics were called to the scene nevertheless. They'd all stood around for what felt like hours, trying to get her to answer some simple questions.