Rogue Waves

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I knew it was Celeste by the girl in the pictures. She just stared looking at everyone of us until Aunt Rosa walked in "Oh Celeste, finally you get to meet your cousin Lyla!" She said walking towards me, I smiled Celeste looked in my direction and walked towards me.

"Your Lyla?" She said, I nodded "Well, it's nice to finally meet you Lyla. What's brings you to Australia?"

I looked towards Aunt Rosa "Well Lyla and her friends are mermaids, but they grew up in the sea. Their 16th moon birthday came and they were chosen to become Gilded. And they need to do something to get it. For now while they are here, you need to say they are your cousins who's parents are sailors" Aunt Rosa said for me.

I nodded again, Celeste threw her hair to one side of her shoulder. Streaks of blue cam pouring in as she did so, Celeste looked at Echo and Nixie then everybody else.

"So are we going home or not?"

I looked up at Celeste and smiled.

****

We walked to Aunt Rosa's land house, sturdy and big it looked out to the ocean. Whereas my home was in the ocean, this home and my old home were very much alike, large looking out to something exciting. But we didn't have stairs, my mom called them common and for land people.

"Well this is it, my land home. Wait until you get inside" Aunt Rosa told us.

We followed her in, the smell of fish flooded the room. It smelt like home and I needed that right now to remind me of Cato, he was only an ocean away. We followed Aunt Rosa around, "Well here's the kitchen, mostly fish, lobsters and sometimes clams. Il cook up some food for you girls, as you must be starving, travelling so far and no food?"

We nodded, sardines and tuna, food I really need. "We have been so hungry, plus people here use money?" Addison says.

Once we all sit down, I sit next to Celeste who sits on a swirly char "So do I have an uncle?" I asked.

Celeste and Aunt Rosa exchanged looks but Celeste kept her mouth shut "Once you did Lyla" She began "He died before Celeste was even born, it's just been the two of us"

"So what territory was he from? Bermuda, English Channel, Ondailnia?" Melody asked.

Aunt rosa glanced down "No, he wasn't. He was a human, which make Celeste half mermaid"

I raised my eyebrows and so did Nixie and Echo but Celeste just shrugged "I'm still a pure mermaid, and a Aqua for life. Still got powers and still got a tail, can survive on a mermaid and human diet and I know everything about the mermaid life. But Lyla, do I have an uncle?" Celeste asked.

I shrugged, "I don't actually know, my father I never really met him. Once A merman reaches the age of 21 they have to protect the outskirts of Bermuda, that's where we're from. It's what will happen to my brother Cato, but some powerful mermen don't get to go. But we learn to get on with life as finding mermen is very rare now" I say.

Celeste looked fascinated by the information I had just told her "That's amazing, the furthest I have ever been is to the Great Barrier Reef and that's it. Mom doesn't let me to far, she worries"

"Because I'm a mother" Aunt Rosa spoke up "But seeing as you girls look very tired you are happy to stay here the night,we have two spare bedrooms but somebody could share with Celeste"

We all nodded, our legs ached. We hardly got tired in the sea, we could swim for hours, day and night without stopping. But now I saw why humans had so many seats, their feet must ache too.

"Celeste, can you show the girls around the house please? While I cook some fish for us all" Aunt Rosa told her. Celeste smiled and sat down her school stuff and began walking again, we followed her one by one "So girls, you may think this is some land peoples but it's much more. It's like a mermaid hideout for the ones that come on to land" We stopped again at a bookcase, many of them were humans but Celeste pulled Mermaid Myths and the bookcases slid apart.

"Wow" Melody said.

Addison and Maya nodded, but Celeste showed us around "What we're gonna enter into now is kind of a small paradise" She said, we walked through the cream tunnels and came to a stop a large underground area appeared, it was all cream and filled with mermaid stuff that I had stored at home. In the corner was a small narrow archway, "Now this is the best part!" We followed her again down some steps and then came to a small pool "The pool leads a tunnel out to the ocean, it's how we escape sometimes"

"It's like a little old grotto, how long has this been down here?" I asked.

"Quite some time, before this house was a safe house for the failed mermaids of any kinds. Especially gilded, but they stopped coming here, so mom turned this place into a house"

I nodded we walked back up the steps and into the grotto. And saw the fourth piece of the tablet.