Love in Dangerous Waters

Chapter 16 - Stealing the Magic

The swim to the castle didn't seem that far, but since the tail was new, it sucked. I kept running into things when I was swimming really fast, but the water felt so nice to glide past me, it felt like I really belonged here. Reaching down and running my hand over the sand and breathing the salty water, it felt right… it felt like I belonged.

Well apparently, I did now. But it wasn't the time to daydream.

The castle's structure was so magnificent up close, the swirly details and geometric sculptures that were engraved into the gold was nothing short of the word. It must've taken either lots of time or lots of people to build this, and probably both. But as I approached it more and more, is started to see more caves, and other merpeople out and about. At first nobody was paying attention to me, but soon they all stopped and stared, making me feel very uncomfortable and alert. They knew something was up. Merpeople weren't stupid, but even the littler merpeople stopped playing their games to acknowledge my existence. Something some people on Earth never did.

"Who is that?" I heard a woman's voice whisper to the right of me.

"I've never seen her before." A man's voice stated behind me.

"Do you see her tail?" I heard a child's voice exclaim. "So pretty, it looks like the King's!"

"Kids, get back inside the cave." I heard an older woman's voice order sternly.

 I wasn't bad, why was I being treated like an… outsider? I guess it was because I was. I looked around some, making other people jerk their heads and continue their conversations like nothing happened, but I still felt uncomfortable by their behavior. And that sent some guards out and approached me, their swords at their sides, but still in reach.

"Halt." The one in the middle ordered, and I stopped swimming forward and floated calmly in the still water. "No one has seen you around here before, where are you from?"

"I'm from around here." I lied, keeping a straight face. "My name is… Lily." I told them, using the name Lucy told me to use.

"Never heard of you." The guard on the right stated. "We should keep you until the King and Queen get back from their Earth visit."

"But I'm not doing anything wrong." I protested as they reached for me, but I jerked away before they could touch me. "I'm a citizen of Antastica, I was just swimming through here."

"And where are you going?" The guard on the left questioned, leaning in close and examining my eyes. "She has the right color eyes."

"They could be contacts." The right guard suggested.

"No, these are my real eyes, and I was heading to see my friend-"

"Hey, Lily!" I heard a random voice from somewhere, and then an arm was slung around me, bringing me close to the body. "I've been looking for you."

"You know this girl?" The guard asked the boy, and I shoved myself away from him.

"Of course, she's my friend." He said through clenched teeth, and I knew I had to play along or I was screwed.

"Oh, yes. Friends." I smiled, and he put his arm back around me, and I let him keep it there. The guards stared at us with our fake smiles, but shrugged it off.

"Alright, mermaid. But if you try and pull anything fishy and we'll be on your case." He warned, swimming back to the castle with his buddies. I sighed in relief, throwing his arm off of me, and saw that the other merpeople went back to their business like nothing was wrong.

"Who are you?" I asked the figure, who was a merperson because he had a bright green tail that was shaped like everyone else's.

"Name's Kaito. And that's not a very nice way to treat someone who saved your life." He laughed, but I didn't find it funny.