T&H Excerpts

Gosh these are such boring title names... it's Jasper and Sereia

"You need to practice staying out of water so whenever we smuggle you out, you won't have to worry about losing air." He said this matter-of-factly.

I stiffened. "Um, excuse me? Practice staying out of water?! Fifteen minutes of air is more than enough, thank you very much." I ran my fingers through my hair, fingers snagging on the tangles. Jasper wiped an imaginary smudge on the glass right in front of my face. "Hey, " I said, irritation shooting through me. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Trust me," he said, removing the cloth and leaning his forehead on the glass to look in my eyes, "when it's been twenty minutes and we haven't reached the side of the ship, you'll be thinking otherwise."

"I don't care," I said stubbornly. "I hate the air. I refuse to breathe any more of it than I have to." I winced as my fingers caught a knot in my hair.

"Listen," he said. The muddy colored cloth made one last swipe around the glass before he pulled up a chair and sat close.

"I am hoping for fifteen minutes, start to finish. But there are so many factors. We have no idea how long this is going to take!" He spread his hands in the air. " Anything could happen! And in the event that something does happen, I want you to be prepared."

I huffed. "You can't make me."

"Oh, really?" He leaned forward with a glint in his eyes, mouth staut.

He stared at me, brown eyes uncomfortably penetrating my own.

I shifted. "Fine," I muttered.

"Good," he said, then stood up and walked out of the room.

"Wait," I called after him. "Where are you going?"

I rolled my eyes at his back. "Great jellyfish," I said to myself. "That man drives me crazy."

I resumed grooming my hair, twisting the loose strands into a braid.

Footsteps stomped above my head and I froze. "Oh no. Clam!" I swore.

The opening to the tank opened and a hand slipped through the water, beckoning me to swim up.

"You can bet your sand dollars that I am not getting out of this water, so help me Poseidon!" Don't even know if he can hear me, but I was absolutely not going to get out of this tank and practice being above water right this moment.

Evidently he got my message, because his hand withdrew from the water... and slipped his feet in instead.

"No- UGH!" I shot to the surface before he had a chance to slide into the water. I shoved his feet out and took a deep breath before pushing my head into the shockingly warm air.

I shot an annoyed look at him. "I don't appreciate that. Keep your disgusting feet out of my water." He smirked and knelt on the floor, reaching for my waist to pull me up. I gripped his arms, the air making me feel heavy and drowsy.