Fins

Chapter 6

AN: So in light of me being so late with the last update, not only is this about a day early than I was planning on posting the story, it's also nearly two MS Word pages longer than normal!  This is my personal favorite chapter so far and I hope you will think so too! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to vote as well! Thanks to all the readers out there, you rock!

Previously on Fins: Echo meets Nori, her instructor to help with the transition she will have to go through on her voyage in the next few days that leads to the surface world.  After days of practice and getting used to palace life and her new friend, Echo winds up on a trip with the prince, Nori, her brother Tycho and another guard.  Along the way, they pass beautiful scenery, and almost come into a problem with Wave Runner off in the distance.  Fortunately, Echo is able to send a messenger to her friend to stop his approach and all is well.  But Echo inexplicably finds herself nervous when she lays eyes on the rippling edge of the surface above, what future awaits her on the other side of the ocean's protective waves?

Chapter 6

The moment my head broke the surface, I was assaulted by a multitude of noises completely foreign to me. The air blowing onto my skin startled me to dive beneath the waves that lapped at the shore of the tiny island just next to us. My gills flared as I plunged back beneath the surface and the safety it provided, my heart pounding mercilessly. I may have wanted to go above the surface before, but now that the time had come I was petrified with fear.

Before I could swim down farther, someone grabbed my arm and hauled me up again, ignoring my frantic thrashing. Back in the air, my gills burned as they struggled to understand the mass amount of oxygen available to them. Still holding onto me, the figure that had hauled me up tried to reassure me, talking about something that my frantic mind couldn't make out. They began moving forwards, still talking to me, perhaps a little more frantically than before. My body was thrown up onto the shore, a thousand tiny grains pressing into me and sticking to my skin that was shaking from the shock of such a drastic change to my surroundings. I heard angry voices above me before someone clasped their hands around my gills, closing them off from the air.

Should you fail to make the transition, you will die... Fail tis task and you fail the Royal Family. We do not take failure lightly. The prince's words came back to me and I forced myself to relax as much as I could, my body trying to survive in this strange new world. With determination, I focused on my gills, willing them to close as I had been instructed, and then focused on my tail, willing it to split in two. I opened my eyes and looked down to see the scales almost melting off, leaving tow bare limbs beneath my waist. Out of instinct, I took a deep breath, allowing oxygen to flow into my newly adapted lungs.

I coughed and sputtered, drawing in ragged breaths to calm down my shaking body.

A light weight fell onto my lower half and I looked down startled as I found my new limbs had been covered by a large rectangle of some soft, blue material.

"You are now in your land form. It is customary to wear clothing to cover up your body while above the waters." The strange sound of a physical voice startled me but I was surprised to find that I could understand them perfectly.

"Can you understand me, Echo? It may take a bit to switch over to this verbal language but it is important that you learn as fast as possible. Can you respond with a yes or no?"

After taking a few practice breaths and adjusting to the strange swirl of air entering me through my mouth and nostrils, I looked up to find that the stranger who had been talking to me was Nori