Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Five~

Finn. His name was Finn.

I watched him swim closer; he watched me back.

"You're really a-"

"Yes," he chuckled. My heart skipped. This was crazy. The colors of his tail played in the light reflecting off the water. It went from dark blue at the tips and changed until it was ocean green at the base, it reminded me of the colors of the sky right before the sun was about to completely disappear.

I leaned forward to get a better look.

"Don't do that." I snapped back into my sitting position.

"What? Why?"

"The last time you leaned over you fell in the water and nearly drowned," Finn pointed out. My stomach flipped and I became slightly nauseous at the casual use of the word drowning. In my house, after my accident, it was considered a cuss word by everyone when they were around me. He didn't know that though.

"I can swim," I put my nose in the air. "I just don't like to."

Finn smirked. "Okay, I believe you." I still had a hard time looking at him without feeling like I was high. He looked too perfect. Maybe it was because he was something other than human that made him so intriguingly attractive or maybe I was just desperate for something other than a guy like Seth to find me interesting. "Are you going to get in the water with me one day?"

My stomach flip flopped at him implying that there would be more days than just this. I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing my bangs out of my face as the wind kicked up.

"I don't know," It was better to be honest. "Maybe one day."

We talked. Mostly he asked questions about me. I was the first human he had ever directly spoken to and he was clearly the first merperson I had ever seen. He asked me about my family and what I liked to do for fun.

"I have two brothers," I said when he asked me about my siblings. I was lying on my stomach with my face in my hands. Finn floated in the water below me. I watched his shark toothed necklace bob up and down in the waves. "Connor and Tyler."

"Lucky, I have five sisters and a younger brother," he smiled at me.

"Five sisters," I practically yelled. "And a brother? It must be hectic at your house."

"I wouldn't really call it a house, like you're use to; but, yes, it's a complicated family thing." I gave him a questioning look but I didn't push him to explain.

"What are their names?"

"Oldest to youngest," Finn took in a huge, exaggerated breath of air. I giggled. " Nahla, Cordelia, Serena, Harmony, Meri, and my brother's name is Caspian."

"And where do you fit between your siblings in age?"

"I'm second behind Nahla. My late teens I guess you would call it." Finn looked at me shyly and ran his hand through his hair nervously, shaking water out of it in the process.

"Do they come up out of your little under the water city?" I was curious but I could tell he was getting a little more guarded as he spoke. My thoughts were confirmed when he bit his lip and thought before he responded.

"My people don't encourage it. Being seen is a risk. There are other... reasons that would be permitted. But showing, well look at me and I think you'll somewhat understand."

"I can't believe this," seemed to be the only thing I was able to say. I stared off, lost in thought. I really wasn't crazy. Finn just floated in the water in front of me.