The Merman's Promise

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE: A Child Is Born

Deep in the ocean, there is a beautiful undersea city called Atlantis. Humans dream of finding Atlantis. But most never do. Atlantis is magical. Inhabited by thousands of merpeople. They protect their city with such passion that the few humans who find the beautiful place never come back to tell the tale. Though it is unfortunate, such is life under the sea. But one human did live. However, this is not her story. It is the story of the merman who saved her.

A child, a merchild, is born on the twelfth day of Septimus-

the Mer equivalent of September-at midnight. The twelfth of Septimus is the most sacred day of the Mer year. His mother went into labour only hours earlier. Much screaming was to be heard as the child was pushed from her tail and into the open ocean.

The child however did not cry as most infants do. He just lay there wide eyed and looking around. His mother gasped in both pain and relief.

"My child! I need my son! I need to see his beautiful face!" she cried. The little boy was placed in his mother's waiting arms. "Just like his father. So beautiful." A tear escaped her eye. She smiled down at him.

"I will name him Sam." and just like that, Sam's mother passed out and hit her head on the floor.

Millions of miles away, and upon the land, it is midnight on the twelfth of September. Doctors and nurses stand gathered around a wailing woman in a hospital bed. Though all of them expect to hear cries joining the mother's when the baby is born, the child is silent. She just lay there wide eyed and looking around.

"My daughter! I must have my daughter!" The mother insisted. As though the doctors and nurses were deaf, they ignored the poor woman's cries and pleas.

"Julie," the mother whispered reaching for her daughter. They took the child away. Tears streaked down the mother's cheeks and she began to hyperventilate. She passed out, fell out of the bed, and everybody heard the THUMP as her head hit the floor.

The two children, human and Mer, grew up together, yet apart. Julie's mother lost a lot of blood and passed away days after Julie was born. She was raised by her father. On Julie's tenth birthday, her father took her to the ocean. Now, she was seventeen and about to embark on the journey that would change her life forever.

Sam's mother was healed quickly by the merpeoples' special powers. She raised the boy alone. His father was killed by a shark when his mother was six months pregnant. On Sam's tenth birthday, his mother took him to the surface. They watched the people on the beach for hours. Now Sam was seventeen and a sinking ship would change his life forever.

Two paths meet for the first time and nothing will ever be the same.