Through My Eyes

Chapter 2 - Panic

A murmur starts up among the other mermaids as they find out which friends are in which group and try to swap armbands. I cross my arms as I float in my place quietly, patiently waiting for the sound to die down along with Guardian Sharia.

She suddenly begins to point out different areas, “I want blue over there, green next to them, then orange, yellow, purple and red.” She waits till we’re all in place, “Now, you have till dark to complete your task.” She begins to hand out a scale to each group. “Identify the scale of the fish you have been given and travel to the area which is known to be abundant with the species. There, a volunteer with your coloured armband shall be waiting for you. You are to work together to help him or her out of whatever staged predicament they are in and bring them back here. The fastest teams will be noted down and your ability to work together will be observed. By no means are you to split up or make one sister do all the work.” She pauses, looking at all of us, “You may start.”

Everyone immediately starts to observe their scale, trying to identify its owner. I observe my group of 3 mildly as they bend over our own, suggesting types of fish, none of them bothering to acknowledge me.

I recognise them well enough though, the infamous triplets, all born from the same mother, only 5 minutes apart – a rarity in the mermaid community. I also recognise them as being the more judgemental of the mermaids I have encountered in my time.

“Do you think it’s a silver fin?” Rochelle queries.

 “Can’t be – the scale is too small. Humpback?” Michelle replies.

“That’s a whale.”  Isabelle says dryly.

“It’s an Atlantic blue fin tuna.” I interrupt.

All three sisters snap their heads towards me, their brown eyes narrowed at me, their pretty little noses scrunched up, their full lips turned down in identical grimaces.

“How do you know?” Michelle asks slowly.

I shrug, “I’ve made a lot of friend’s helping out in the International Waters building. I meet a lot of different sea creatures.”

“Of course you have.” Rochelle snorts. “Strigmatar lover.”

I ignore the jab, swiftly taking the scale from her and start to swim, “Come on.”  I beckon, “They’re this way.”

The triplets follow after me reluctantly as we travel in the direction of the well-known feeding ground of newly migrated tuna.

“You better be right.” Isabelle calls after me, “We can’t afford to make mistakes.”

“Should we really follow her?” I hear Rochelle ask her sisters quietly, “What if she meets up with those Strigmatar friends of hers? You know we could get into serious trouble with them.”

“I don’t ‘meet up’ with any Strigmatar.” I call back to her, not bothering to turn around, “Not anymore.”

I sense the sisters making faces at me behind my back but I continue on without a glance back. I don’t care about what others think. Or at least I don’t show it.

I did have some Strigmatar friend’s when I was younger but that was only because my mother was helping the elders with the whole ‘making stronger connections between our clans’ program’.  

After she disappeared, I didn’t see them as often as I had to look after Brea. The elders continued the program though, encouraging other volunteers to work with the Strigmatar more often but other than my mother, there wasn’t really anyone else ‘game’ enough to follow through.