Sea Queen

Chapter Seven

Sapphie swam in, I yawned when she came in and sat up.

"Morning! Come on, get up. We've got to get you looking pretty for the meeting. "

I nodded and dragged myself out of bed.

Sapphie took a hairbrush, and dragged it through my curly brown hair. She then went out of the room for a moment, and came back with something in her arms. A white see-through crop top, with a white under top. She passed it to me.

"Take off your bikini, and try this on." She said. I did as she said, turning around as I changed.

It was really pretty. It fell loosely to a few inches above my belly button, and shimmered in the light. The white under top fell to the same length.

Sapphy began to tug softly at my hair. I left her to it. After she was done, she went and came back with a black box. She opened it, to reveal a beautiful silver, sapphire and jade necklace. It was made up of three parts, one was larger and engraved to look like a shell, made of marbled jade and silver. The two others were two circles of sapphire bordered by silver.

She put it around my neck. Then she went out again and returned with another box.

It was a pretty silver circlet, with pale green and blue jewels dotted around. It was based around shells, with the silver forming intricate patterns around the jewel shells.

She layed it delicately on my head and then clipped it in with silver slides. She then took some make up from the drawer, and spent a while applying it to my face.

She then showed me the mirror. I gasped.

The make up had totally transformed my face, highlighting my cheekbones with blusher and dark blue eyeshadow, and a touch of lip gloss, and the jewellery was really pretty, complementing my fair skin. But it was something else that shocked me.My eyes were no longer a light chocolate colour, but now they were violet, like the previous vessel, the girl at my doorstep. They seemed to glow, they were so bright against my skin.

"Come on. The meeting's taking place in the throne room, where you met the king. In about ten minutes, in fact. Come on!"

She took my hand and we swam through the cave-like corridors. I began to get nervous- what if I didnt make a good impression? All the important people would be there. If I didn't get along with them, I'd be a little stuck.

We came to the hall. On the large stone table, a red tablecloth had been put down, held down by rocks around the edges.

Three men were already there. All three had bubbles around their heads, and one had wings like a dragonfly, unmoving in the water. He was dressed in a white suit, and looked fairly young. But then, all the people down here looked young. The other two wore green suits.

There was also a girl, who looked younger than the rest. She was wearing a beautiful white dress with embroidered purple and blue flowers, and a circlet on her head a bit like mine, but gold and green instead of silver and blue. As she turned, I saw her violet eyes and realised that this must be the other vessel, Avia's vessel. Her eyes were tired and she didn't look very well at all. I suddenly felt sorry for her- it must be horrible to know that you're dying, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

I came in and sat down.

The three men smiled and introduced themselves.

"I'm Nahti, of the Fae." The one with dragonfly wings said. "My Queen will arrive later- she was delayed."

"I am Archil, and this is Lucas, of the Naiads." One of the other men dressed in green said, pointing to his colleague.

"I am Jade, vessel of Acia, and daughter of sea." I said, as Sapphie had taught me to the night before.

"I am Lynna. Vessel of Avia, and daughter of earth." The girl said. Each of her words were long and pained, drawing breath at every pause.

She stared at me, her gaze piercing. She then shook her head in disbelief, and then stared at me again.

"No. It can't be. Not possible." She said, and began to shake.

One of the men shouted for help, because her shaking had become violent and her skin paled even more. She slumped off her chair, and I swam round quickly to help her. I propped her up against me.

"The air is clearing. Union of the three." She whispered, and reached up with her hand to touch my face gently. "Good luck. May the godesses be with you, daughter of earth."

"Shh. Don't wast energy speaking." I said, with no idea what she was talking about. "You'll be ok."

She chuckled slightly.

"The godesses chose well."

And then her last breath left her, like a sigh escaping her lips. A single tear ran down my face. Even though I hasn't known her, I felt sad. Sad for a life that had ended.

A few mer with what looked like a medical kit came it.

"It's too late. She's gone." I muttered.

They paused for a moment, and some left and some stayed. I turned back to her body. The mist was floating out of her lips, swirling and a deep green instead of blue. I now knew what it was, and wished it a silent prayer in finding it's new vessel.

Another white mist mixed with the green one in front of me, and I frowned, wondering what it was. It began floating towards me. Thinking it must be headed behind me, I stayed very still so that it could pass. But it didn't. It went straight up my nose, and I felt the familiar choking feeling.

It hurt, just like before. The mist stopped me from getting any air into my body. I clutched my throat, not believing what was happening.

This time, I didn't black out, but I wish I had. Waves of pure agony went through my body, and I screamed in pain, begging silently for it to stop, but it didn't. Again and again, until I couldn't feel or see anything else. And then I finally blacked out.

When I woke, I couldn't feel my gills flapping or water passing through them. I was lying on my front, with my head to the side. My head throbbed like I had a really really bad headache.

I moaned and sat up. I was inside a wooden rounded room, on a large bed with green covers. I looked up, and saw that the ceiling went on as far as the eye could see. It looked like I was inside a tree!

"Good morning, Jade." A male voice said. I turned around.

A guy who looked about eighteen was stood in front of me. He had a well shaped face, with fairly tanned skin and aluminous blue eyes, like the mer king's. His hair was dark and a few inches long. He was gorgeous. There was no ounce of spare flesh on him.

"I'm Seb. We never got the chance to meet- I'm the mer king's son." He said, smiling.

"How are you on land? Sapphie said I had to do something to give you legs or something."

"My mother was human. So I can switch forms. My father sent me to look after you."

I noted the use of was, and a wave of sympathy washed over me. His mum must be dead.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Huh?"

"You said was. I guessed that she must be..."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm sorry too." He said, looking down sadly. I decided to change the subject because this obviously wasn't a great topic for him.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You're in the Naiads' country. Since now you are also their vessel. And, we are guessing that you are also Ania's vessel, because every so often, while you were asleep, you had... Well, wings. You're the first vessel in over 2000 years, the Naiads are preparing a celebration. "

Wings?! As if my life wasn't crazy enough!