The Worlds Between Us

THE LEGS

CHAPTER FOUR

I blinked. One time. Two times. Three what the fi-

"CHARLES WHERE IS MY TAIL?" I was screaming, I fell asleep with the flecks of gold bouncing off the cream walls encasing Charles's room. I fell asleep in sheets of seafoam green, wrapped around my body, reminding me of home. I fell asleep with my GOLDEN TAIL. Charles had even slid his fingers across the slick of scales before he fell asleep, thinking I was out as I bit back a smile.

So I didn't understand why I was staring down at iridescent white legs.

I seriously could put the Beluga whale to shame with how white I am right now. I thought in disgust.

Charles stirred as if he had zero cares or responsibilities or as if I wasn't missing the one thing that made me who I was. I started sobbing as I ran my webbed fingers along them.

"Huh- oh! So the shady shaman lady was right! Sooo worth the 50 dollars I paid. Hahaha you're so naturally pale. Sure you're not a vampire?" He gave me an easygoing smile. The sun filled the slight gaps between his teeth. Even the sun gravitated towards Charles, as if his radiance could easily rival the star above.

I hated him. I hated every single sunstar drop of his being.

"Fix it." I seethed as I rolled over on the bed to smack him, but he jumped before I could so naturally my body descended towards the wood.

"I'm sure if I just take you back to the ocean, you'll be perfectly fine. But according to the shaman lady, the only way you could turn back is if it's waters close to your underwater kingdom. So...where you from?" He pulled up his white tee, revealing oh my Poseidon.

Of course, of course he was ripped to the sea gods. His abs rippled like the tides in the full moon. Suddenly my tail barely mattered as I stared in awe.

IhatehumansIhatehumans. I could never be attracted to a human. Ariel think of Ariel. Oh godddd was Prince Eric this ripped? Ari-

"Helloooo? You still on planet Earth there?" I hadn't noticed Charles edging closer to me or the fact that he had asked a question. My entire body changed to a bright red.

Charles giggled wildly, his eyes nearly turning invisible. "You're so cute. Adorable little sea prince. God I wanna-" He abruptly stopped, turning a bit red himself.

"The Pacific, I live by a beach... ahh I think the beach is called..." My dad nailed the name of our beach over and over, because I'm a mess and I get lost and maybe he's tired of having to overwork our royal staff.

I thought of the staff and felt the simple smirk I held slip off my face.

My best friend Jules was part of the royal guard, always proudly displaying the black coral that gets permanently woven around your neck when enlisted. It's the highest title anyone in our kingdom could have, getting to personally be around the adored royal family. I remembered the way he shone that day, the rare shade of gold filling his entire torso. A color only appearing in a merperson's happiest moments of their life. I remembered the bubble of tears surrounding me as his violet tail whipped the water to reach me. I remembered the kiss, in front of my parents and three older sisters.

Another reason to get home. To see Jules become golden again.

"Treasure Island Beach, in a human place called California, so we're going to go now right? How far is it?" I was so sure that like merpeople, humans were near everywhere no matter how far the distance was. In my kingdom in the Pacific, we easily connected with the kingdom in the Atlantic.