Hart of the Sea

Chapter 1

"Hart! I'm open!" The mermaid with long, dark braids and a pearly iridescent tail shouted at me from across the open rift valley, waving her arms wildly above her head.

"Don't even think about it!" Her twin brother said, swimming in front of her and flaring his fins.

I smirked, tossing up the large conch shell and hitting it with my tailfin, sending it flying through the water over Oriel's head. And right into Calliope's open grasp.

"Yes!" She cried, immediately turning on her fin. She hugged the shell close to her chest as she barreled towards the piece of driftwood serving as a goalstick at the opposite end of the valley.

"Marsh, be ready!" Oriel yelled. "We can't let them score again! We're tied now. One more cockleshell, and they win the whole game!"

Marsh, a stocky mer with auburn hair and a deep green tail, got ready to block Calliope's attempt to score. "Don't worry, Oriel. I got this."

"That's what you said last game, before they won," Oriel growled under his breath.

Calliope stopped a few finstrokes away from the goalstick and tossed the conch shell up into the water, raising a challenging eyebrow at Marsh before lifting her tail and smacking the shell with her wide, powerful fluke. "Try to catch that one, freshie," she sneered, watching as the conch shell hurtled ever closer to scoring a goal.

"Nice hit, Calli!" I called, flashing her a thumbs-up.

Marsh dove for the shell, catching it a scalesbreadth away from passing the goalstick. "For the last time," he huffed, breathless, swimming upright with the conch shell tucked under his arm, "I was named after saltwater marshes, not freshwater."

Calliope rolled her eyes. "Whatever. That was just a lucky catch, anyway," she said haughtily as she crossed her arms, her fins bristling.

"Yes, go Marsh!" Oriel called, rushing over to his teammate. I followed behind him, slowing down as I reached Calliope's side.

"Hey, don't worry about it," I whispered in her ear. "We'll get 'em next time."

She smirked. "Oh, I know. Like I said, that was only a lucky catch. No skill behind it whatsoever. Skill is always on our side," she whispered back, winking at me.

Oriel stared blankly at us, unamused. "Get a room already, you two. But, uh, before you do, hand over our rightfully-earned cockleshells." He held out his hand facing up, proudly puffing out his chest.

I chuckled, reaching into my seaweed satchel and pulling out two cockleshells. "Here you go," I said, only letting one of the small, white shells drop into his palm.

"Hey! We get two for catching an attempted goal!" Oriel protested. "Where's the other one?"

I playfully rolled my eyes, giving him the other shell. "Chill out, geez," I laughed.

"Thank you," he sniffed, dropping the shells into his own satchel before looking over at Marsh. "Hey, um, why don't we head to the open-water market and buy some sea grapes with our winnings?"

Marsh glanced at me and Calliope, clearing his throat. "Yeah, sounds like a plan." With that, they swam off in the direction of the market, leaving us in their wake.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," I said thoughtfully, starting to swim after them. "I could go for some sea grapes right now. How about you?"

She clasped her hands together, looking down at her fluke swishing slowly back and forth over the seafloor. "Look, um, I was hoping we could talk, actually, since this is one of the last days we all have together before we go separate ways for the summer-," she paused abruptly, her head snapping up. "Did you hear that?"