Swimming? No thanks

Chapter 42

Alyssa's POV

"That's amazing, guys," Max responded after we told them everything that went down with the mermen.

"Yeah, we don't have to keep our family secret anymore, at least in the merpeople communities." Dalton smiled.

"I mean, it's going to take some time for everyone else to settle into the new way of doing things, but we're finally moving in the right direction. We're moving toward peace."

"I'm happy you guys are making positive changes," Cameron told us, pulling me into his side.

"So are we, believe me. We finally find our birth parents and we can't be with them publicly because our species is fighting."

"It's so crazy that only a few months ago, we didn't know about any of this," Diana commented.

"I know. It's this whole world out there that land people don't know exists, and somehow, we've sort of become a part of it."

"At least you guys are only sort of in it. We got thrown into the middle of it." I looked over at Dalton who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, one day we thought we were semi-normal and the next we find out that we're the children of a super powerful mermaid and the merman king."

"It sounds insane to me, and I grew up as a mermaid," Maddy added.

"If we were ever to tell anyone in the outside world about our real parents-"

"They'd think that we need some serious mental help."

"But that's never going to happen because we're here to protect you guys from that." Thomas smiled.

Where are you guys? My dad mind messaged Dalton and I.

We're telling everyone what happened. Is it already that late? I looked at my phone, seeing that it was already 5:10. We were supposed to meet our parents at 5:00 at our dad's house. Dalton and I shared a panicked look.

Sorry. We'll head out now. Be there soon, Dalton told him.

"We were supposed to meet up with our parents ten minutes ago at our dad's house, so we really have to go," I explained to our friends as Dalton and I got up. We ran out to the beach and dove in.

Mom and Dad are going to kill us, Dalton said as we swam.

You don't think I know that? They made it clear last night we were supposed to be there on time today. This is the one day that it is unacceptable to be late. And what do we do? We forget about it and we're going to be thirty minutes late.

Yep, we're dead. We're supposed to lead the merpeople next and we're not even going to be around to take over.

Hey, they'll get someone else to do our jobs. They did it once before.

Is extra speed one of our powers?

Don't think so. Just swim as fast as possible and hope we make it there before 5:30.

Even if we do, we're still dead.

Stop saying that! I mean, we are in huge trouble because we're supposed to be supporting them to get our people, I guess, through this transition, but they wouldn't kill their own children.

I wouldn't put it past them. Have you met our parents?

Good point. Let's swim faster.