Cerulean Found

Chapter 26 - Merrin

I can't help but roll my eyes. It doesn't take a genius to know that mermaids don't exist. He shakes his head in disappointment.

"I told you not to judge until I am done," he says. "I'm not," I lie. "Mila, I can tell you don't believe me," he says. I instantly feel bad for thinking his story is completely crazy. I wish that I could believe him, but it's just so outlandish.

"I'm sorry. Please continue, I want you to," I plead. I really do want to hear the rest. As far-fetched and outrageous as his story is, I have to admit, it is pretty interesting. And I can appreciate good storytelling.

"Okay, fine. So anyways, there is a colony of merpeople who live in the bay. We really don't know much about them but the obvious... that they are supposed to be magical creatures with unique powers all their own. One power we know for certain that they possess is that they have the ability to heal themselves if they ever get hurt. The power seeps into the water from the scales of their tails. When you have a colony as large as what supposedly lives in Cerulean Bay, the water becomes highly concentrated and very magical. That is why it is believed to be a cure for everything. I've heard stories where people say if you were to eat a single scale from a mermaid's tail, you would live forever. This is why people have sought out Menna for ages. They want to reap the benefits of the island. They want what the great Cerulean Bay possesses... health, long life, and for some the hopes of immortality," he finishes and takes another sip of his Coke. "So that's my tale."

"But what about what you have seen? You didn't tell me what you saw," I proclaim. I want to know it all, probably because I want to know everything about Josh, even if it means learning about fairy tales.

"Well, me and my dad are out on the water almost everyday and we've sailed all over the Caribbean. I've seen dolphins, marlins, and sharks and every other type of fish imaginable. But about eight years ago me and my dad were out sailing, off of this island actually. It was just the two of us, son fishing trip. It was before his charter business really took off and he had the freedom to go and come as he wanted. I remember it was sunset, and the sky was glowing a reddish orange. I had never seen the sky look so radiant. It was as though it were on fire. Really amazing sight. We were on Gracie May, dad's old boat.

"Who's Gracie?" I ask. "My mom. Her name is Gracelynn May, but dad always called her Gracie. I never understood why he named the boat after her. I thought it was because he still loved her, but if that was true, I don't know why he sold it several years later? But anyways, back to the story. We were on the boat, with no set place to go. We were completely in charge of our adventure. I remember we had been listening to music and the CD had stopped so my dad went to change it," Josh says.

"I saw something in the water. It was huge. I thought that it was a dolphin or maybe a shark." He pauses for a minute and turns to look out at the harbor, perhaps remembering the very day that he is describing.

"Something wasn't right. It wasn't the right color to be a dolphin or even a shark. And it had scales on its tail. I called my dad over and he saw it too. It didn't look like anything we had ever seen before. The long slender tail shimmered a bluish green and appeared iridescent in the light. We thought it had to be some sort of huge tropical fish, a species we had never encountered before." He turns and gazes into my eyes.

"But then as it swam away from us, we saw what looked like the back of a human head with long blonde hair. My dad yelled at me to turn away and he pushed me down so that we were both flat on the wet floor of the boat. I had no idea what was going on. I tried to ask him, but he covered my mouth and whispered that we needed to stay quiet. After thirty minutes my dad slowly got up and peered over the side of the boat. He then went and checked the other side. When he deemed it safe, he told me I could get up. I had no idea what had just happened or what we had just seen. My dad told me that he didn't know for sure what we had just seen, but if it was what he thought it was, we had to be extremely careful," Josh says.