Tails of My Life

Tails of My Life Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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It was around four o’clock when the kingdom finally came into view.  It was a ‘grand’ view, at least that’s how my mother always said it.  Picture the castle from that mermaid movie, the one with the fish, yeah that one.  Except ours isn’t made of coral, it’s made of pink marble.  Don’t even ask how hard it was to get all of that marble down to the ocean floor.  I’m just glad that I wasn’t alive then because I’ve heard stories about how ridiculously hard it was to get it down here.

The castle was straight out of a story book.  It had turrets, towers, and wide open windows.  My bedroom was actually in one of the towers, but I could easily open the window and swim right out.  It’s not like the princess in the tower nonsense, I surely didn’t need saving.  That’s another really great thing about living underwater; it’s really easy to sneak out.  You don’t even half to worry about someone hearing you because of the water.

Pierce had his mouth hanging wide open and I grinned.  Brooke turned to me and smiled.  ‘I’m going to go home and get ready since my parents might kill me for not already being ready.  See you guys soon.  Good luck with your parents Marina.’  After she left, I grabbed hold of Pierce and pulled him toward the castle. 

Pierce finally came out of his trance by the time we got near the castle door.  He looked around confusedly for a moment before asking ‘Where did Brooke go?’

I smirked; he really must have been in la-la land.  ‘She left as soon as we got here.  She said bye and went to go get ready.’  He grinned at me and nodded.  ‘Ok, so now that you’re done staring, let’s go inside so we can get ready for your family’s welcome dinner.  I don’t know about you, but my mom’s going to kill me for not already being ready. 

‘Well, since my parents are still on their way here, I don’t think they can get mad at me.’  Pierce thought with a grin.  I grimaced at him, so unfair.

‘Lucky.  Mom is going to have a sea cow when she sees that not only am I not ready, but I am also with you without being all dressed up.’  I thought back with another grimace.  I hated getting dressed up and my mother always made sure to dress me up whenever she could.  I could almost hear my mother griping at me already.  Oh, by the way, I call her mother because she doesn’t wish for me to call her ‘mom.’  She doesn’t think that it’s proper.  So I call her mother.  But I call my father dad because he doesn’t think that something like family needs to be proper.  I know that it’s a weird set-up, but it works pretty well for us.

‘You ready to face them then?’ Pierce thought with another grin.  Why was he so happy? He was about to meet another royal family.  I hate meeting noble people, I always have to act so formal and dress up.  They way he was acting earlier, his mother probably made him do the same too.  So I really didn’t understand how he could be grinning so widely at a time like this.

‘How are you so happy?  This only means that we have to act all formal!  Acting formal is the worst thing about being a princess, well, that and dressing up of course.’  I told him with a deep frown.  At that point I was starting to worry someone would see us.  I couldn’t let my mother know I was right outside the castle talking to the prince of the visiting kingdom when I should have been getting ready to meet their family instead.  It would have just made a huge mess.  I hurriedly pulled Pierce behind a large piece of coral, which served as our form of trees.  It was a pretty good hiding place since it wasn’t too ridiculous.  I knew that I didn’t have to explain myself to Pierce because he smiled slightly and nodded.  ‘But really, why are you so happy?’ I asked him again.

Because we were using mind communication we didn’t have to worry about being overheard.  That’s one really great thing about being underwater; no one can listen to your conversation.  Except my dad that is, he can listen to any conversation.  I’ll be able to do that once I become queen, since I am a descendant of the royal family.  Mother can’t do that because she isn’t a descendant of the royal family.  Mwahaha for all of her stuffiness she still doesn’t have as much power as she wants.

‘Well, because I got to spend time with you, oh and Brooke of course.’  Pierce said with a wide smile.  I couldn’t help but grin back at him, his smile was so contagious.

‘Yeah, I guess that might make it bearable, just maybe.’ I said with a smirk.

‘Oh wow, I’m wounded.  You’re horrible, you know that?  You’re absolutely horrible.’  Pierce said, holding a hand to his heart like it pained him.

‘Aww, you poor dear.’  I said sarcastically. ‘But now we should probably get to the castle.  Mother is already going to be really angry at me.  I don’t want her to be angry with you too.’

‘Yeah, ok.  Let’s go then.’  Pierce said back unenthusiastically.  He slowly swam out from behind the coral with me following behind.  The two of us started swimming toward the castle and we were almost there when its large wooden double doors were thrown open.

‘Marina Coral Naida!  Where have you been?  You should have been getting ready two hours ago!  I don’t know how we’re going to get you ready in time!  You insolent girl!’  My mother yelled, looking me up and down while taking in my appearance.  She hadn’t seen Pierce just yet.

‘I was with Brooke!  Oh, and this guy I met. I really think you’d like him.’  I smirked.  I didn’t get to mess with my mother very often, so when I had the chance I went all out, and this was the perfect opportunity.  I looked at Pierce and knew he was thinking just what I was.

‘You were with a boy when you should have been getting ready?’ At this point she had finally noticed Pierce.  ‘You!  You’re the boy aren’t you?  What’s your name boy?  That way I know who to blame when she isn’t ready in time.’  She said with a nasty sneer, and my smirk grew even larger.  Boy was she going to get the shock of her life.

“Well, my dear queen,’ Pierce started.  He understood where I was going with this, so he said exactly what I would have told him to say.  ‘My name is Pierce Caden Finn, since you asked me so nicely.’

My mother’s jaw dropped, which was very unladylike of her, which is exactly what she would have told me if I had done it.  From the look on her face, I thought she was going to have a heart attack.  Luckily for her, my dad stepped in to fix the situation, not that it actually needed fixing anyway.  Pierce was just joking anyway, but they didn’t have to know that! ‘Welcome to our kingdom Prince Finn! I would like to apologize for our queen.  She wasn’t expecting you so early, and she was very worried about our daughter.’ Yeah, she was real worried about me.  She was only worried about getting me pretty enough in time, evil witch that she is.  ‘But on behalf of our entire kingdom, I wish to welcome you.  Where is the rest of your family?’  Ah father, he is always the diplomat, just as a good king should be.

‘They are still on their way.  I wished to come early to see some of the land around here, and I would still be on the land if it wasn’t for meeting up with Brooke and Marina.  They showed me around the area and brought me here.’  Pierce caught my eye and I willed him to say nothing of the shark, and thank goodness he understood.  ‘I had a great time with them, and I am very grateful that they welcomed me as they did.’ He said, sounding very princely.  I didn’t think that he had it in him.  Of course, he probably thinks the same about me, but I can act like a princess when I really try to.

‘I’m glad that they didn’t.  Thank you Marina, and please remind me to thank your friend later as well.’  My dad said peacefully, all trace of my mother’s fault forgotten.  He didn’t normally speak so formally, he only did that with other nobles, never when it was just us.

By this point, my mother had finally recovered from her shock and was busy glaring at me.  ‘Prince or no prince, it’s time to get you ready.  We need all the time we can get, your disgusting.  One important person has already seen you like this, we don’t want more too.’  She said with a shudder.  Do I really look that bad?  My hair might have been kind of messy, but I thought I looked like normal teenagers do.  ‘Come on Marina.’  Mother said as she swam into the castle.

‘Sorry Pierce I’ve got to go.  I’ll see you in a while.’

‘See you later Marina, have fun getting all dressed up!’  He replied with a grin.  I grimaced.  Getting dressed up was so not fun.  I did remember something as I left though, and quickly mentioned it to him.

‘You have to dress up too, I’m sure father will send clothes and maids to your room!’  Let’s just say that I could feel the glare on my back.

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Kind of short, but it just had to end there. It just seemed right, sorry.