Niana's Journey

Chapter Three

With the flip of my tail, I sent a trail of bubbles into explosion. I turned around and began to swim around aimlessly. I didn't know where to go! I had no more family now. Sireena was my only family and she owned the house we lived in and I'm not old enough to buy a new one or take over the current one.

As I swam, the water began to get shallow and shallower the longer I swam in one direction and soon the water met with the edge of sand that went above water. I'd remember hearing of this! It's called land! A big smile spread across my face. The stories I'd heard of this were remarkable! Land covered all over the world and even separated into continents, countries, states in some places, and towns where creatures with legs lived! Just like how the ocean separated into zones, reefs, and corals!

I had also heard about the creatures on land. They have the upper half body like the upper half of a mermaid and their bottom half of their body is the same color as their upper body. Instead of a tail though, they have legs which supposably enable them to do a lot more things than sea creatures. The most popular things the creatures are seen doing is walking and dancing.

These creatures are apparently called humans. That must be what King Tritan, Ariel, Ariel's sisters, and the guards were all talking about and that must be what I saw before I escaped the castle and took my sister.

In the midst of my thoughts, I had wondered up to the edge of the water and looked up on the land. There was a lot of those humans and they were mostly running around laughing in small amounts of clothes. Suddenly someone grabbed my shoulder from behind me. I gasped sharply then looked. It was another mermaid. "Whew!"

"Hey," She said. "You need to get away from the edge of the water or shallow water period. In shallow water, you could be spotted! At least hide if your this close."

"Oh, I didn't know we aren't supposed to be spotted." I replied.

"Duh! Were you not just there when King Tritan's reef was evacuated because of humans? That was for safety! And I know you were there. I saw you. Now follow me."

I began to follow the mermaid; she just led me to the deep water.

"Okay. We are safe now." She sighed. "But you know if you would've gotten spotted by one of those humans, you could be in a museum, zoo, Area 51, or on someone's dinner plate right now!"

"Okay, okay! I get it now. I won't do it again without something to hide behind." I promised. Then I began to swim back up to the surface but still in the deep water so no one could see my tail. Soon the other mermaid popped up next to me.

"This is safer." She pointed out. "No one will see our tails."

Soon, several people spotted us. Many guys called us beach beauties and took pictures. I didn't get why. But later my new mermaid friend explained that compared to any other creature on Earth, us mermaids are the most beautiful creatures.

But as soon as the first picture was taken, my new friend grabbed my arm and pulled me back underwater. As she did this, I knew the longer I stayed under the bigger the crowd at the edge of the water would grow. Attention. I was getting so much attention!

"Why?" I yelled at her.

"They were taking pictures! What if something shows up in the pictures?"

"Nothing would have shown up!" Then I thought. She never told me her name. "What's your name anyway? Your bossing me around so much and we aren't even acquainted! I'm Sireena."

"Oh, yeah...names. Mines Molla." She said. "And I'm not bossing you around! I'm clearly teaching you safety tips around the human world!"

"Whatever! Just leave me be! Go away! I can handle myself!" I screamed. Then I screamed again when a human dove into the water next to me. He looked so cute, but also terrified to see that I was still conscious underwater after five minutes.

He didn't even notice my tail! He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me up. By now Molla swam away. I tried to fight for my freedom and won. Seeming he wanted me up to the surface so bad, I just swam up myself. He popped up next to me and the crowd at the edge of the water started taking pictures again and cheering for me.

"What's your name matette?" He asked. "I'm Ben."

The man had an accent. The one all the mermaids from the Great Barrier Reef have. They called it an Australian accent.

"I'm Sireena." I replied in my own Japanese accent.

"This ones a Beautie guys!" Ben called to the crowd. "You should come to shore." He suggested to me. "Everyone would love to see your tail."

"What!?" I asked shocked. "I see why you know I have a tail, but the crowd does too?"

"Here in Australia, we see merfolk from The Great Barrier all the time. The Great Barrier is the biggest mercivilization of all time because Australia is mer-friendly. Everyone know a mermaid when they see one...or merman."

"Oh...wow...okay then," I agreed and swam to the shore. My tail stayed in the water, but the clear water allowed a view of it still. Molla was wrong. Australia is nice. They don't do bad things to merfolk. Soon all the children surrounded me and the adults examined my body structure. Many people asked to touch my tail and I allowed them.

Many also asked about my shirt. "Merfolk wear clothes to dress their upper bodies all the time," I replied. "But sometimes we just like to chill in our shells." I giggled. I was loving this! The attention was odd, but I enjoyed answering everyone's questions just as much as they enjoyed asking them.

But soon enough, it got dark and everyone went home. Many kids asked to come back tomorrow and they wanted to see me.

"So what reef are you at?" Ben asked when they all left.

"I'm not at one." I replied. "The one I was at got terrorized by your people."

"Oh...well. I have a potion that could give you legs and you can come stay with me?" He suggested.

"I'm not giving up my tail!" I said taken aback.

"No! No, no, no, no. A tail you'll have when wet; legs when dry." Ben explained. "Just don't tell anyone!"

"Why? I thought Australia was nice to my kind."

"Okay...by Australia, I mean me. Most people are scared of mermaids or hate the idea of them. But you merfolk are always curious of our people, so I tell the people that you guys are just in costumes for the kids." Ben explained.

"Oh..." I said slightly understanding what he said but I got the main idea.

"So anyway...deal?"

"Ummm...." I had to think. Humans were dangerous. I thought Australians were nice, but this guy already lied to me twice in five minutes and apparently he was the only mer-friendly guy around here. What if he was lying still?

"What if your still lying to me?" I inquired.

"Still?" Ben countered.

"Well...you lied about Australia being totally mer-friendly and said you lie to people by telling them that the other merfolk and I are just in costumes." I explained. "And I just met you and you've lied to me so much, how do I know I can trust you enough to give me this magical potion and take me to your house? For all I know you could just give me knockout gas and kidknapp me."

"Okay...well that makes me sound like a bad guy yes, but that last part about me kidknapping you isn't true." He claimed.

"Whatever," I sighed. "Let me think about it. You say you meet every mermaid that comes through here?"

"Yes! I guide them to the GBR and give them anything they need."

"Then I'll go to the GBR and make sure your okay."

"Fine, fine." Ben agreed. "You go. But I assure you, I'm fine."

"Yeah, okay," I replied sarcastically, then , as I left, I gave him a good splash in the face with the salty water. Laughing, I apologized and left.