The Coral Crown

Chapter nine

Haley and Marissa were sound asleep on their new beds. Marissa was happy that she had a bed again, and Haley liked her blankets. I knew that she could use them to cover up her and Marissa if they got cold. They could both climb into Marissa's bed and use Haley's blankets during the cold winter. For my own bed, I pulled over a big flt rock and just lay on that for a few hours at a time. The girls complained about me not having a proper bed and offered me theirs, but I knew I could make due. And they needed the sleep more than I did.

The next morning, I went out to get some fish for breakfast. While I was looking, I came across a crab and decided that we needed more than fish to eat. So I put the crab in a shoulder bag I had found under the docks and kept catching fish. When I hd two fish for each of us, and the crab, I headed back to the cave to let the girls know I was going up to the beach to cook them. I went up to the beach and started a fire like I had the ngiht before. I stuck stick through the fish and the crab and hung them over the fire to cook.

When I brought the girls dinner, they were standing in front of my bed with the two biggest grins I had ever seen.

"What did you guys do?" I asked wuth suspicion in my tone.

They stepped out of the way of my bed and when I saw it, it was covered with sponges, seaweed, and algae. I gasped and smiled at them.

"Do you like it?" Haley asked, sounding worried.

"Of course I like it!" I said to her.

They both ran to me and I pulled them over to our beds. Mine was in the middle of theirs, Haley's wa in the corner of the cave, and Marissa's was against the wall. They insisted on me being by them, so we had mine in the middle. I was still closest to the door, should I need to protect them.

We sat on our beds and ate our fish. Then we plit the crab between us. I realized that the girls were still little and I wanted to get them something for dessert. So I let them come with me to the docks to pick what they wanted from the endless ammount of food that was thrown into the ocean.

"Look over there!" Haley screamed.

We saw an un-opened bag of marshmallows that must have washed into the ocean after a campfire on the beach. Marshmallows were Haley and Marissa's favorite. I saw the bad was floating and I didn't want someone to see it get pulled under by a hand. I told the girls to go find Morgan and Andrea. Marissa saw the look on my face and just nodded, took Haley by the hand, and swam off to the other mermaids. I swam under the dock and poked my head out. I listened to hear footsteps, but didn't. So I swam out from under the docks and went for the bag, my head still above the water.

"Hello?" I heard a boy call out at me.

I spun around and saw that he was about my age and he didn't look like he'd seen my tail.

"Hi," I said, trying to act normal.

"What are you doing out here?" he saked me.

"Just going for a swim," I answered back.

He didn't look like he believed me but I didn't care. As long as he didn't see my tail, he could believe what ever he wanted about me. By that time, I had hidden the bag of marshmallows in my shoulder bag that I was now tying around my waist, so he didn't see it. Just then, Haley and Marissa came back, along with Morgan and Andrea. They all poked their heads out from under, and when he saw them, he gasped. I immediately grabbed Marissa and Haley and dove. I knew Morgan and Andrea were right behind us. I also knew one other thing.

i knew he had seen out tails.