Celeste

25.

Something pinched my side and I shreiked in alarm as the curious crab snipped at me.
"What..?" I ponder the dress I'm wearing and the paint I'm covered in.

The crab goes to pinch again and I swim out of his reach. He scuttles off. "Where on earth..."

I'm in the middle of nowhere. I don't have a scrap of information about anything that happened last night. I feel fine, if confused.

A huge circle of paint surrounds me, half painted in. In the middle is a rock. I frown, brushing down the dress which looks like it's been shredded.

"Celeste!" A shout comes. I squint in the distance to see a mermaid swimming my way.
"Hello?!" I yell.

"Celeste?! Is that you?!" The figure races up to me and catches me in a hug. Sapphire begins to scold me.
"Where on earth were you? The whole city is looking for you, cel. Why are you covered in paint? What happened to the dress? What's with the rock?"

I search my foggy memory and find only fog. "I don't know...?"

Sapphire rolls her eyes. "That's moon sickness for you." She clicks, and Nina comes dashing towards us, whistling and clicking with joy. I pat her gently whilst I am strapped to her side, sapphire the other.

"Let's go, Mitch has been going crazy looking for you."

And we shoot off, past corral patches and sandy coves, under rock formations and through glittering metallic wrecks.

The gates loom ever closer and the guards let us through, hiding smiles.

My house seem busy, lots of people milling about, wringing hands and chattering to eachother.

After being unhooked, sapphire drags me through the crowds to Mitch, who shouts with relief. "She's here! Everyone! She's safe!"  Before engulfing me with a bruising hug. I gasp with shock and attempt to wriggle out of his grip.

"You're not going anywhere. I nearly lost you."

"What are you on about?" I splutter. He puts me at arms length.

"We come back from the turtle ride, and you say a rock is a cow. You then hit yourself in the head with the rock. I bring you back home, figure I'll just leave you till the next day, but then you left, but not before stealing the paint from the caves and a dress from diamond." He breathes.
"It's been a week, cel."

That is news to me. "It's been a week? I can go home?" I ask.

His face darkens. "That's not the point cel. I thought you'd gone crazy and gotten eaten by a shark!" He practically shouts in my face.

"Last I remember you looked at the moon too. Why didn't you go nuts?" I snapped.

His cheeks burn. "I wasn't looking at the moon."

"Then what were you- oh. Me." I whisper the last part.
A chorus of 'awwws' rise around us. I flush.

"So... Uh. This moon sickness thing, heh. What did I do?" I squirm.

"I can answer that." A voice said.
Heads turned to emerald, the one mermaid I had hardly seen. She looked unimpressed.

"There I was, painting, when Celeste crashed in the door, wearing a tattered dress. I asked what was going on and she yelled "the moon!the moon!" Before seizing the paint tins and swimming away."

"Curious, I followed her, and she was painting a huge circle around a rock, singing "the cow goes over the moon" to herself untill she hit the sand and fell asleep."

A still silence settled over everyone, untill I spoke up.
"I don't remember doing that..."

"You wouldn't. Moon sickness is serious, Celeste. Some mermaids beach themselves and die when they look at the full moon. Luckily it was moderate. It could have been much worse. Celeste. Ruby wants to see you.".

I wriggle out of the poor dress, handing it to a disgruntled diamond, who cradles it protectively.

Mitch tries to follow, but one icy glance from emerald stills him. I can feel his eyes burning into my back as I follow emerald into the caves.

She seems to move at a slow pace, tail hardly moving. I wonder why, untill she leans over and whispers "don't be alarmed" , before letting lose a high note, making me jump.

The note hangs in the air, suspended for an eternity. I blink, and then I'm home, toes in the sandy beach. "Emerald?" I tentatively call, but the beach is empty.

The sun feels wonderful and warm, and I can hear waves crash in the back of my mind in my confusion. The sand grinds under my toes as I walk forwards, hardly staggering at all.

I dance across the hot cobblestones, dashing for patches of shade in the summer heat. Then, suddenly, I'm there.

The house fits in well with the street, like a puzzle piece of yellow and black, but I feel a rush of warmth in my heart as the front door opens.
It's my father, tired and bedraggled, but there.

He stops, and the keys drop with a clash onto the ground, forgotten.
I run the rest of the way, and he catches me in his arms, tight and safe. His breath releases in a sigh of relief. I feel his shoulders leak out his tension.

"Where on earth... Where have you been?" He says into my hair.
I open my mouth, and close it again. I can't break promises.

"Pirates marroned me on a spit of land. I survived on coconuts and crabs untill a millitary boat spotted me. Oh, father! I've missed you too!"

He vanishes like smoke in the wind, and I yell with fear as the house, no, the street, even the sky, evaporates with him.

"No!" I yell into the disappearing scene.

"Well, done, Celeste. We weren't sure if you would tell. You've passed the test. You can go home." Ruby says, materialising in front of me with a smile.

I blink at the throne room. "What?"

"Emerald cast a glamor with her voice to see if you would tell your father about mermaids. You surprised me." Ruby says, nodding to an exausted looking emerald, who smiles wearily.

"Get ready, Celeste. You are going home."