Mermaids

Two-Timing

I WOKE UP AND IMMEDIATELY SAT UP. It was dark out side, and the water was a little cold, colder than normal. Wait, I was in water. Wasn’t I living with Holly?

I sighed when I realized what had happened. I was the magic-keeper. I now lived in the castle. Holly had left me. We’d had a fight. 

And there was a girl here. Minako! I shot into an upright position. What had I done? I brought a human down here. Shoot. I was going to be in so much trouble if anyone found out! I had to get her back to Japan. I debated going right then. I had to, I might be sent to prison if the king or his troupe found out! And then I might be executed. I hadn’t read any books on this magical nonsense that I had to deal with now, but bringing a normal human into this had to be the first no-no. 

I swam as quietly and swiftly as I could into her room. The currents were stronger in the halls, and I found myself swimming with them. Huh. I couldn’t swim against them like I could’ve the day before. I shrugged it off, then turned into her room. 

She was upright, but her slanted eyes were closed. Her dark hair whirled around her head, looking slightly creepy. Why didn’t she lay down?

I swam up to her and shook her awake. “Minako!” I whisper-shouted at her. “You have to go back to your home!” 

Her eyes opened fast, and she looked shocked. She rubbed her neck as if it hurt to sleep like that. I snorted. No doubt about it. 

“Why don’t you sleep horizontally?” I asked. She was pretty stupid, really. 

“Horizontally?” Her lips widened in an O, as if she was in shock. She probably didn’t know what that meant. 

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her arm. “We have to leave, now. The castle guards will swap their shifts soon, so they’ll be distracted.”

She shook her head. “No, thanks! This is fun!” She turned a back flip and giggled. 

Ugh! I grabbed her arm again and dragged her out, not waiting for a response. I was an idiot. How could I have brought her down here? Moronic, Ryan, moronic. 

While swimming out, I realized the amount of questions she posed. She rattled on nonstop, and I had to shush her a few times. Why wasn’t she surprised I was a merman? How did she swim as fast as me, without a tail, and faster than me with one? I was only a merman my entire life. 

Was she a mermaid before I came, somehow? I shook my head, that couldn’t be it. She would’ve transformed when she touched water. Why did she swim at nighttimes when she could get killed? 

And most importantly, why couldn’t she stop talking? 

“And I told the squid, no! No way could he spray ink in my face, have you ever said that to anything?  I think I said it again to a starfish. Nasty creatures, really.” She giggled and continued talking. 

My face was set in a cold glare the whole trip back. I must have been distracted, because I realized a few hours later that we were going in the wrong direction.