Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Twenty Four~

Swimming felt like heaven in the Florida heat. The sun made each wave sparkle playfully. The water wrapped around me like a cool blanket as I bobbed. I floated on my back and let the two sources of cold and hot battle and make me comfortable. It wasn't like I had anything to do the rest of the day anyway. I didn't want to go to work the next day. Heidi had told me more than what I bargained for when I had signed up for the job but then again it was better being on the inside. If Jim really did catch a mermaid or merman I would know and no one else. That merperson would be set free before news could spread.

I gasped and shot up in the water as my head bumped into something behind me. I whirled around, prepared for someone to try and drowned me. Instead I found a dolphin. I laughed lightly with my hand hold my fast beating heart in my chest.

"Hi dolphin," my voice was shaky.

"I hope you don't mind that I brought some friends," a smile broke across my face as I heard the familiar tone of Meri's voice. "And his name is Delfin. You humans have your pets and we have ours."

Never had I been so glad to see anyone in my life as I took in her appearance, her silver hair tinted pink in the now setting sun light. Her smile was bright like perfect pearls as she smiled at me.

"I'm so glad you're here," I said, wrapping her in a hug and hoped she could hold my weight in the water.

"Well, I'm glad to be and I'm glad that you were actually out," she laughed. "And it's a good thing that I got here."

"What? Why?"

"Look how far out the current has pulled you. You really shouldn't be that spaced out if you can't breathe under the water like me."

"Oh."

"But now that I'm here we can go ahead and have some fun. Are your parents' home?"

"No."

"Good. No one is going to look out and see you swim with a dolphin and a mermaid."

"Sounds perfect."

"It is," Meri said brightly.

Swimming with a mermaid and a dolphin is exactly what I did. I held onto the Delfin as he sped through the ocean, racing Meri. She was faster than I thought. I wished I could swim like that and if I could I would have never lost a single race at a swim meet. We swam until night fell and Meri had Delfin drop me off at my dock before she plopped herself up next to me, tail and all. I once again looked at her features and couldn't help but think about how she looked nothing like Finn.

"Meri?"

"Yes, Audrey?" Her words were formal, almost like she was taking on business rather than talking to a friend. The voice of a queen.

"Since you and Finn are related, how come you don't look like it?" Her laughter was soft and sounded like music.

"Merpeople never really have the same appearance like most human families. We all kind of have our own special looks, colors, and talents I guess you could call them."

"Talents?"

"Like I swim extremely fast, faster than everyone in all of Atlantica. And Finn. He would make an excellent king but I think he was meant to be on land, which is just my opinion, and my sister Nahla is deadly," she took a deep breathe. "Before you ask what I mean by deadly I will just explain. She has poisonous, sharp, barbs in a few places on her fins and when she wants to she could just rake them across you and kill you. Also, her bite is venomous just like her soul."

"Is Nahla the oldest?"

"Yeah, she's the worst," I heard the teenage sibling rivalry coat her voice. I knew the feeling. I wasn't sure I would stab Tyler with a venomous barb but I wouldn't put it past him to do it to me.