SERENITY

CHAPTER 9

**Simon.

I shrink my shoulders to go through the hole, without touching its sides. My tail, that I cripled it before, accidentally is enough for me. When we were looking for escape, I had gone to a rock and looked at some shells stuck on it. I was trying to find a possible way to use them, but I did not notice an eel that was hidden in a crevice. When I got closer it attacked me, fortunately not successfully, and as I avoided it I hit my tail on the rock. It hurts too much, but I don't show it and luckily no one noticed. Carlos is too impassible to care more, so all good. I pass with ease, and swim quickly to hide to the seaweed next to me, then watch the others go through the hole one by one and come to my side. First Ricky, then Cynthia, then Cornelia, Apollo, and finally Carlos. Once all 6 of us get together again, we hug tightly to celebrate.

-I can't believe we're finally back!, says Ricky, almost crying with joy.

-It was a great and crazy adventure! It may not have lasted long, but the things that happened were unprecedented and fantastic literally! Feet! Who would have thought that we could get out of the water, let alone get feet!, Cornelia almost shouts.

-Shhhh! We are still very close to the guards and walls. Let's get out of here as fast as we can, and be careful if there are any snitches around!, says Apollo.

Carefully and in complete silence, we move from rock to rock in the darkness. Fortunately, we do not encounter any obstacles along the way. A few minutes later, we are completely out of the sight of the mermaid-guards and heading towards the city. As soon as we see the first lights, I smile. I look at the others, who have the same smile as me. Our route stops at the park where it started. We sit for a while without talking. After a while, Cornelia starts to speak.

-Well guys, I think that's it for today, it's time to go home. We will discuss everything tomorrow. See you at 8, before class, at the coral house we had when we were little. There we can discuss freely, without fear of being listened to.

The coral house, so much memories. There we had our first (and last) kiss with Cornelia when we were 11. Not anything serious, we were just curious to see what it's like to kiss someone on the mouth. Apparently, no one else in the group knows this. We knew they will make fun at us if we told them about it, we vowed, then and forever, that none of us would ever say anything. Also, there we had gone with my first girlfriend, Ariadne, on our first date. I know it doesn't sound very nice as a place, but the coral house has the most beautiful view in all of Serenity. Its balcony's view is the whole "Valley of the Renaissance", which is decorated with something like blue swords nailed to the seabed. On them they have red corals, which look very similar to a rare species of coral, which grows only nearby and is considered blessed by a god Forky, whom some mermaids recognize as their father, as in some old scrolls of the sacred texts of the goddess, it is written as her great love. Also, these swords adorn white pearls which, depending on the sunlight and the time of day, create colorful rays resulting in a magnificent spectacle. I have noticed that these swords are decorated with the same materials, but each is arranged in a different order. No one knows where they may have come from. Ricky's grandmother has told us that it is part of some ceremony of these ''people''. She has also told us that throughout her life, the one and only time they closed the ''valley of rebirth'' outside the walls, another sword was added. These are some very strange things, but we wouldn't precloude being true after what we saw. How nice it was back when we were still young and had no problems with the classes in college, legs and mermaid-guards. Something is happening in this whole story and I hope to find out soon. All the things we saw today, which are presented to us as mythology, the guards, the walls, the security that as it goes and grows, even within the city, slowly begins to connect. One thing is certain, that the future will tell, in the end nothing remains hidden forever.