Return To The Sea

The Secret's Out

As soon she reached her room, Sofia shed off her dress and flung it on the back of her vanity chair. She tossed off her heels and tossed them in the same direction as her dress. Her crown was pulled off her head and tossed off her crown and the white bow in her hair and they landed on her vanity. She collapsed onto her bed crying. She hadn't bothered to turn her lights up, so it was rather dark in her room.

Sofia lifted her head and the golden seashell was in her view. She reached over and picked the shell up by the rope it had. The tears continued to fall as she flipped over, her back against her pillows, the seashell in her hands.

Her door opened and in walked Keith, a saddened look came on his face when he saw his daughter crying.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry," Keith said as he sat on the bed beside her.

"What's wrong with me?" Sofia whimpered out, Keith smiled softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, nothing's wrong with you," Sofia gave her mother a look.

"Mom, I'm the princess of disaster," she cried and buried her face into her pillow.

Keith sighed and started running his fingers through her hair, he grabbed her signature purple bow from her dresser and tied it into her hair.

"Being a teenager i-is hard, and, uh all kids your age feel a-awkward," Keith wasn't sure where he was going with this. Lance was better at this kind of stuff, however, his husband was busy dismissing the guests from the party. During her mother's speech, Sofia had started to wipe the ocean grime away from the shell. What she found underneath surprised her.

"Sofia?" she read. Her name was engraved on the front side of the shell. "What is this? My name's on here," as she opened it, Keith gasped as he got a view of what she had as she sat up. It was the locket his father had made for Sofia as a gift 12 years ago.

"That song. Where have I heard it?" Sofia questioned as she watched merfolk swim around the underwater palace in Altea. "It's Altea. With merpeople and everything," Sofia turned to Keith who had a shocked look on his face. He hadn't expected his daughter to have the locket, he had given it to his father when they decided to keep Sofia away from the sea. Why would she have it? "Mother, you always said it was just an old fish tale."

"Where did you get this?" Keith asked as he grabbed the locket and closed it.

I... I found it," Sofia said with slight hesitation knowing how her mother would react.

"You went over the wall, didn't you?" Keith said demanding an answer from his daughter.

"Actually, I went under it," Sofia said answering Keith's question with a different answer. "I hate that stupid wall," she said letting her feelings out.

"Sofie, you know you're not allowed in the sea," Keith gasped out as he repeated the rule he had set for her.

"But why? And why does that necklace have my name on it?" Sofia asked as she stood up on her bed facing her mother.

"Sofie listen to me," Keith said trying to get his daughter to understand.

"You're hiding something from me," Sofia said as she realized why Keith was avoiding the question.

"Y-You deliberately disobeyed me! I never want you going out there again! Do you hear me? It's dangerous in the sea!" Sofia glared at her mother.

"How would you know? You've never even been in it!" Sofia yelled as new tears sprang to her eyes. Crying, Sofia grabbed the locket from her mother's hand and ran out of her room, just as her father opened the door and walked in.