Mermaid's Journey

Chaper 3; Harpoon

The next morning was a cold one. The ocean currents felt as if they were trying to freeze the ocean. Joe was having a peaceful sleep, surprising since he was seen by a human and was terrified most of the night afterwards.
"JOEYTHIUS!!!!"
Joe shot up scared out of his mind. "Huh!? What!? Where!?" He asked panicking.
His father opened his door a frustrated look on his face. "You Care To Explain Yourself!?" He barked.
"Pardon? I don't know what you're talking about dad." Joe replied, getting out of bed, still in his close from yesterday.
His father snarled. "You Know What I'm Talking About! You Snick Out! And To The Surface!" He boomed, banging his tail on the floor.
Joe froze. Did one of the guards see him? Or was it just a random, loyal citizen? Either way, Joe was in trouble now. "It's fine. I wasn't there for long. A-and I want seen. I-I promise!" He tried to explain.
"No! You Are Grounded! And No Way Are You Leaving This Palace!" His father was scarily serious. He growled and slammed the door shut as he left.
Joe stayed frozen for a minute. He was doomed to stay here forever if he didn't get out now. Snapping back to reality, he looked out the window and found a fair few extra guards standing in formation. He wouldn't be able to get out again. Through that way at least.
Moving to the bookshelf, Joe moved it aside to reveal a secret passageway out of the palace. Crimson made this when she was his age. She hated getting grounded, so she created the passageway to escape and go out with her friends.
Swimming down the passageway with a touch, the prince realised how poorly kept it was. Crimson and him hadn't used it in years thanks to their uncle. The tunnel was through the walls with only a few sharp drops and sharp turns. The end would become dirt as the exit was the entrance to a secret cave near the base of the palace. It only took a few minutes to get out and for Joe to swim back to the surface.
He had to know if that guy was really going to tear off his tail, or rip his fins, or skin him. If the guy was going to, why not jump him in secret instead of yelling out? Joe had to know.
A half hour later and Joe finally got back to the surface unseen buy his kingdom. Breaking the waters surface, he saw almost nothing. The only things around were two boats. One with two people fishing an some sort of lake, the other; quite large like a home. "Wonder where that guy is?" Joe asked himself, fixing the small satchel of food around his waist. He decided to go towards the larger boat, thinking it was a good possibility. He dove down under the large wooden boat, clinging to the side to hear if anyone was there.
"Ah~ such a nice day to catch a merman." A man said, making the prince gasp and bob back under the water. His splash caused the man to look over the side to see only ripples, but nothing more.
Joe has started to speedily swim to the lake, far away from the insane man who's after him. As he got to the small beach bit that separated the lake from the ocean, the two one the boat looking the other way. Going back into the water, Joe soon found a small hole where he could swim through.
Starting in, something sharp, something that was agonising, shot through the top of his tail. Joe screamed in utter agony, holding the painful wound. Turning back, his eyes fixed on the large boat that had now gotten really close.
His adrenaline made the pain go away for a short enough time for him to get into the hole, and into the lake.
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