It was a beautiful day at the reef. The sky was clear, almost no waves in the sea below, and nothing interesting going on. It was sort of strange, there were no visitors today. But Red was fine with that. The reef was comfortable, and no visitors meant nobody leaves. Red yawned and straightened her back, showing her taller than an average pearl height. She saw Lime waving to her and smiled. Red didn't see the nacre anywhere, so she jumped off her stand and skipped over to Lime.
"Hey Lime, how have you been?" Red hugged her friend. There were lots of nice pearls at the reef, but Lime stood out to her for some reason. Maybe it was Lime's love of acting, maybe it was something else, but it didn't matter. Red felt a deep pit in her stomach, feeling like something bad was going to happen as she chatted with Lime. Red ignored the feeling, blaming it on the guards. She was glad that Lime's stand was far from the guards. Red didn't like them, they were too flirty. But Lime seemed to talk to them a lot. Then again, Lime really liked socializing. As Red giggled with Lime, the power flickered. Red's feelings of unease were growing bigger.
"Hey, y'know anything about what powers the reef?" Red looked at Lime.
Lime shook her head. "All I know is that there is some tower that powers it. It must have been nothing, besides! We got lots to catch up on, nacre hasn't let us wander around for more than a week!" Lime had a different tone... almost like she was bored of Red. Red brushed it off and chatted with her and other pearls.
A Few Hours Later...
Red was walking back to her podium when the lights flickered twice before completely going out. There were cries of panic from all around. Red was confused, and turned to her neighbor, Purple Pearl. Red asked, "You've been here the longest. Has this ever happened?" Purple shook his head, mouthing, "No." As the cries of panic continued, nacre burst through the door, the train on her dress flowing behind her as several pearls followed. "Not to worry, pearls! Minor inconvenience with the power source!" She said in a brisk and commanding voice. The nacre was known as a gem with excellent leadership skills in the empire. Red relaxed. As she walked towards the entrance, she called, "I'll be back in an instant, do not panic or leave your stands!" Nacre swung open the door. Outside stood a quartz. The quartz didn't look like one of the guards. Red realized the guards were nowhere to be seen. The nacre looked down at the quartz. "Perfect, Jasper, could you go and find out wh-" Nacre never finished her sentence.
