Heart of the Sea

Chapter 1 Cerylia

Cerylia exited through the secret hatch in the floor and placed the lid back in its place, standing up straight and whipping off the sand from her clothes and her hands. She walked upstairs to find her sister and furrowed her brow when she could not find her. She usually found Marina in her room after contacting the Merfolk, but shrugged and walked out of her sisters room heading outside for the shore. They both had a fairly strong attachment to the sea, considering the secrets they kept buried in their minds, and walked towards the rock where her sister sat, starring at the ocean.

It had only been a year since her parents passed away, leaving every secret and responsibility on their shoulders. Their family kept the secrets of the menfolk and used magic to keep their existence hidden from the world; their magic too powerful and sought after to leave unprotected.

Cerylia walked barefoot through the sand, the wind off the ocean pushing her hair back behind her shoulders and made her skirts bellow behind her. She climbed up the rock and sat on her heels watching the sun set with her sister. "Someone almost found them again. Those dumb sirens keep ruining all our work. They just can't stay away from humans." She sighed and rested her hand on the rock on either side of her and leaned onto them. She turned to look at her sister. "I know you want to speak with them but you still can't shield the secrets well enough from curious people."

Marina had yet to contact the merworld and she knew how much her sister had wanted to. The secret was their entire life but her sister had already had too many accidents in the past. Passing sailors mostly but there could be no risk of their world being known. "Maybe it's best you don't know all their secrets. Maybe you could go off and live a normal life. Not have to worry about all of this." She looked back at the ocean and toyed at the seashell necklace around her neck, a portal to the kingdom beneath the sea.

Marina sat in silence and Cerylia sighed standing up and slipping her legs over the edge and turned her head to face her sister, a grin on her face. "Well if you are just going to sit there and pout I'm going for a nighttime swim before dinner. Join me when you feel like having some fun." She let go of the rock and slipped into the water below and smiled swimming through the water happily. They usually went for swims but ever since their parents had died it had been very difficult to find the energy for swimming. They had both loved the water and as children never stayed away. They couldn't help it and it was half the reason they moved so close to the seashore. Their parents had tried to escape the pressures of helping the merfolk and left it to the rest of the family, but when they almost failed and the girls hadn't been able to resist the call of the ocean they gave in and took up the responsibility.

She could still remember the day they had found the little cottage by the shore, hidden away from the rest of the world for a peaceful life. It had been like a dream and she had never been happier. Marina and her had swam for hours each day until they were starving and her mother was certain they would both catch a cold from being in the water all day.

The first time Cerylia met her friend Lyana, she had been 15 and had swam much farther than she usually had. It was a surprise for the both of them, never having actually met another and she had almost forgotten to go up for air. Cerylia stays in contact and Lyana is her main contact to the merworld and her top informant. Her only downside she liked playing with pirates and got too involved with the Sirens.

Cerylia swam up and emerged from the surface, gulping down a breath of air and pushed her hair back from her face turning back and looking at the castle of the Kingdom, the light shining off of each window, making the tall castle looking as though it were made of starlight. She sighed and floated on her back, watching the clouds and the colors in the sky change as the sun continued to set and grinned when Marina swam up next to her and did the same, watching the pinks change to purple, then to orange, then to nothing at all.

She closed her eyes and let the waves rush under her floating body, her hair swirling all around her head, her necklace floating above her. "You know, I miss swimming like this. I think we should do it more often again." She said, opening her eyes to look over at her sister who gave her a gentle smile. Marina had almost been the most gentle of the two; so kind hearted and caring, while Cerylia had too much stubbornness and sass in her. The only way to really know they were related was through their purple in bother of their eyes. Marina's were pure violet, all of their mother; Cerylia with a mix of purple and blue and even mixture of both of her parents. "We should go inside I'm starving."

Cerylia grinned, "Race you!" She yelled quickly turning and began treading water heading back to the sandy beach on which their small cottage sat and giggled when they had tied and tied her hair up sloppily in a bun and walked with her sister up to the cottage, it's soft white walls illuminated by the moonlight. They walked inside and lit a few candles, starting a fire in the small fire pit. "I think we have bread, raw meat we can cook, and some fruit." She turned to her sister and smiled.