Daughter of the Tide

The Mermaid Fanatic

I have the ocean's soul

I want everything and nothing in harmony

I am chaos

—Unknown

~~~

I awoke to find my father and Ryan in the kitchen, both drinking coffee in silence. When I entered, my father perked up a bit and Ryan leaned back in his chair.

"How was your date, sweetheart?" my dad asked as I grabbed a mug from the cabinets.

"It was okay." I exchanged a glance with Ryan that my father noticed.

"Just okay?"

"The mermaids pretty much ruined it all," Ryan muttered under his breath. I glared in his direction. I didn't want to talk about mermaids. My father turned to face me as I poured my coffee and raised his eyebrows.

"What happened?"

"Nothing that I couldn't handle," I stated, moving to sit at the table with them. "I really don't want to talk about it." Ryan gave me a confused look and my father let out a sigh.

"What plans do you two have for today?"

"Well, I was thinking," Ryan stated, "perhaps there's a different way to stop whatever's going to happen. Rina, Polly showed you what she saw of the future but nothing is ever set in stone."

"Ryan..."

"I think we should go talk to Frank. If anyone will know a different way, it would be him."

"If he knew anything, he would've already spoken up," my father replied, shaking his head.

"But what if—"

"Ryan," I interrupted, my voice coming out sternly. "I don't want to talk about anything remotely related to the mermaids. Please. I was thinking we could just hang out today... like we used to?" Ryan and my father both stared at me for a moment and my heart fluttered in my chest. They'd always been prone to respecting when I didn't want to talk about something but I feared that this may be too severe.

"Okay," he stated slowly, eyes slightly narrowed. "Then what... what would you like to do?"

"Maybe we could go get ice cream from Polly's?" I asked. I saw the glance that he and my dad exchanged before he ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, sure. Right now?"

"You can finish your coffee first," I smiled, "I know I want to."

"I suppose I'll use today to keep painting the shop," my father sighed, standing from his seat and moving to rinse his mug out. With that, he found somewhere else to be at that moment, allowing Ryan to set his mug down and look at me intently.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I just want to pretend that none of this is going on," I confessed, "for just one day, can we reverse time and go back to before either of us turned eighteen? Before I learned about my mother and my heritage and this oceanic war?"

Ryan sighed, leaning his head against his hands. "I suppose one day of fooling around won't change anything, will it?"

"No," I replied, "but it would be nice."

"I suppose then," he forced out an exaggerated sigh to try and hide a growing smile, "that we better be on our way to Polly's before she gets busy."