Choices Affect Everyone COMPLETE

Chapter 2

Muriel screams and shoots her tail outwards, intending to slap whoever is there.

"Muriel! It's me!" a merman says, swimming up, hands in the air. His tail is yellow with blue spots all over, and his fin is also blue.

She settles back down. "Hey, Flounder."

He frowns a little. "Can you please call me Percy?"

She smirks. "I like Flounder better. I woulda love to see the widdle Flounder just f'oating about as a widdle itty bitty baby."

Percy's face turns red. "Why did I ever tell you about that?"

Muriel begins to laugh. "I dunno, I asked... Are you ever going to tell me what happened to your parents? And how did you come to live in the castle, not as a servant?"

Percy is quiet for a moment. He looks at her before looking away. "Maybe later... It was my... mother who gave me that name. Your father overheard it as he used to call me by it. Then you heard him and asked."

"I was curious. You always react, and it's funny! If it's too hard to hear because of your parents, I can stop," she says, her voice getting softer.

He rubs his forehead. "I don't want you to stop because of that reason, just because I asked you to."

Muriel smirks." Oh, then no."

Percy exhales a long sigh and decides to drop it, knowing she won't stop. "And so I repeat, who's hair is that?"

Muriel's eyes dart around nervously. "Well... Can you keep a secret?"

"Maybe."

"Then, no." She folds her arms across her chest.

"Muriel, do I need to tell your father that you have some man's hair?"

Muriel freezes, her eyes wide. "No!"

His eyes grow large. "It is a man's hair?!"

She jerks forward and covers his mouth. She glances at the entrance before him. "You can't tell him anything. Please."

He pushes her hand away. "What happened?"

Muriel wrings her hands together. "So... you know how my tail isn't bright colours and can be mistaken for fish and my hair, seaweed?"

Percy nods worry growing in his eyes.

She lets out a long breath and gives another glance towards the entrance. "I-I was accidentally caught by humans."

Percy's eyes bugle.

Muriel quickly covers his mouth before anything could escape his lips. "I met the human's prince. He was the first to move when they saw me. He was very kind, gentle and attentive. He insisted that I shouldn't be thrown into the water but lowered in to avoid me getting hurt further. His hair was curly and... yeah, I decided to take a lock... He didn't stop me, so, yeah."

"Humans are afraid of us, so obviously they would have treated you kindly! It was out of fear!"

"I was tangled in the net and defenseless. The guy didn't even use a knife to get me out. One thing hurt and little, and he right away stopped. But yeah, most of them were scared. He was kinda cute-"

Percy rubs his forehead. "Muriel, please tell me you're not crushing on a human that you've met once."

Muriel shrugs. "It's just a light crush; it'll disappear within a week... Well maybe longer because he also was really sweet-"

"Muriel, get a hold of yourself!" Percy says, shaking her. "He's a human! You can't fall in love with a human!"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Calm your seahorses. I'm not in love with him; it's just a crush. It will go as fast as it came, and yeah, everything will be all right, right?" She looks at him.