The Coral Crown

Chapter seven

After we cought fish and I had gone on the beach to cook them, we sat in our cave and ate our dinner.

"Dylan?" Marissa asked with a mouthful of fish, "How did you find out you were a mermaid?"

"Well, I went swimming after school, and when I woke up in the cave, I was with Alexis and all the other mermaids," I said, trying to explain it so they could understand.

"Why don't we stay with the others?" Haley asked me in her cute little seven-year-old voice.

I didn't want to tell them the truth, but Marissa heard me pause and knew I was trying to think of a lie.

"Tell us the truth," she said in her voice that she used when she was angry.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. I left them because I found out that I am a princess that isn't supposed to be real. And Alexis is my mom.

The girls gasped at the word. We had talked about what our real parents would be like, but we never expected mine to be a fish. Marissa always wanted her mother to be sweet and kind, with an understanding heart. Haley just wanted her mom to be a princess. She was only seven. But on the inside, we all knew what kind of person our mothers really were. They were the kinds that left their children behind, not caring what had happened to them after they'd gone.

For a while, we just sat and talked about our new lives as mermaids. What we would do, where we would go, what we would see. We were happy to be out of the foster home and laughed when we thought about our foster dad sneaking up to our room in the middle of the night to find the door un-barricaded for once. He would creep in with a smile on his face, knowing that he would get what he wanted. Then he would get to my bed and pull back the covers, hoping to find me sleeping in my underware, but finding it empty. So he would creep over to Marissa's bed to find it empty too. Then, finally, to Haley's, willing to get his rocks off with a girl of any age, and, finding it empty as well.

"Okay, time for bed you guys." I said.

"Where will we sleep?" Marissa asked me.

Ummmmmmmmm," I said scanning the area for anything that resembled a bed. "We could sleep on land if you wanted, or we could just sleep down here on these sponges."

"Where would be safer?" Marissa asked me as she put an arm around Haley with a worried look on her face.

"Down here, probably," I said to her.

So we slept on the soft, cushy sponges in the bottom of the cave. Tomorrow we would go and find something someone had thrown into the ocean. There had to be something like a mattress. Maybe even a bed frame. But for now, this would have to do. As I drifted to sleep, I thought about Alexis, why she had left me at social services, why she hadn't kept me.

When we woke up, we were refreshed and ready to scavenge for things to make our home more of a home. We went over to the docks. It was crowded when we got there, so I decided to take Haley and Marissa to Morgan. I knew they would be just as mad at Alexis for abandoning me as I was, and I didn't want to release the wrath of Marissa on an un-expecting Alexis.

The docks were just that, docks. Big long docks that went out into the ocean. People often used them to dump un-wanted things. Trash and things like that.

So we left the docks and went to the other mermaids' living space. When we arrived, they were eating clams and crabs for breakfast. I knew they would offer, and I was glad that the girls would get something to eat. When Morgan looked out into the water and saw us, she waved, and we waved back. We were mad at Alexis, not the rest of them. I swam up to the cave and went to Morgan.

"Will you watch these two for me?" I asked uncertainly, hoping she would say yes.

"Sure I will!" She said enthuastically, "What for?"

"I need some things from the docks, and I don't want to risk getting them seen."

Morgan looked worried when I told her I was going to the docks, but she still promised to watch the girls for me. So with that, I told them I would be back soon, and I would bring them each somthing to sleep on and maybe a little extra.

I swam to the docks again and scoured the floor for something soft. I was in luck. I found a mattress that was big enough for Marissa but too small for me. I knew she would be happy that she got her own bed. For Haley, I found a big group of blankets that would be perfect for her to sleep on.

As I was headed back to the girls, I found two little, purple bunny rabbits that I knew the girls would like. I came back to find the girls with Kayla, Morgan, and Andrea. No Maria or Alexis in sight. That Made me smile.

"Dylan, Dylan Dylan!" Haley screamed when she saw me. "Guess what Kayla taught me!"

"What did she teach you Haley?" I asked my little sister.

"She told me that my name means hero!" she squealed.

"And mine means of the sea!" Marissa said asshe swam over to us.

I realized that I hadn't stuck around long enough to find out what my name actually meant, other than that I wasn't supposed to be real, and I was a princess.

"And do you know what mine would be?" I asked her, curious to find out what my name meant.

"It means born of the ocean," she said, proud to know something that I didn't.

I was stunned. I knew that I felt connected to the ocean, but I had never known it was because I was born of the sea. Wanted to change the subject, I pulled the bunnies out from behind my back. The girls squealed and grabbed them from my hands. I smiled, knowing that they were still just like normal little girls.