The Island

Chapter 1 - Luna Island

"Girls, you took your time getting here," I heard from a voice that I hated.

"Lorelei," Marinel forced a smile as her head bobbed above the water beside me.

I followed her lead and swam behind her to the edge of the rock pool, twisting my body that my shoulders were leaning on the edge of the rocks.

"Where were you both? I almost had to go to the Three." Lorelei raised her thin eyebrow, daring us to lie.

I shrugged as I pushed myself off of the edge of the rocks, "We were out swimming, no need to let them know for something so meaningless." I knew all too well that we had swam too far away from the island. She knew where we were, there was no use lying.

"Where? You weren't anywhere near the rest of us," she pursed her lips, fishing for more information. "Did you two swim out of the grid?

"Why would you assume that?" Marinel asked. That girl was smart, twisting the conversation back on Lorelei.

"Yes, why would you assume that?" I raised my eyebrow like she had done. "Unless you were..." I didn't finish my sentence, she knew what I meant.

There was no way that Lorelei would have been able to see us, unless she had followed us and broken the rules herself.

Her gaze zeroed in on me, both of us staring each other down, refusing to be the first to blink.

I didn't like her. My eyes were beginning to dry out, not used to being out of the water for long, but hers were worse. I could see just how red and irritated Lorelei's eyes were.

Any moment now she would blink.

"Oh, would you look at that, it's our turn to watch over the south side," Marinel motioned behind her drawing Lorelei's gaze away from me.

"Oh no... we should go..." I smiled and quickly ducked my head under water. Pushing my tail to get as far away from Lorelei as fast as I could.

I could feel the water move behind me as Marinel followed.

We swam through the reef towards the section of water that we were in charge of guarding.

The stupid ground people were always trying to get as close to our island as they could, I never understood why.

Why would you want to go somewhere that nobody had been before? It was dangerous and stupid but they wouldn't give up no matter what we did to try to stop them.

As trainee Watchers, our job was to do just that, watch over Luna Island and stop them from getting close to us.

Once we reached the edge of the barrier, we looked around for the mermaid that were currently watching the section. I spotted her in the distance and used my tail to splash water into the air until she saw that Marinel and I were here to take over.

She waved back at us before swimming away to wherever it was that Watchers went after their shift.

I sighed longingly, I couldn't wait until I graduated school and training. I wanted to be able to have my own section to watch over without having to have another trainee watcher with me.

Don't get me wrong, Marinel was my friend and I got along with her, she wasn't the issue.

My whole life had been spent being closely monitored and surrounded by other mermaids, making sure I was trustable and wouldn't break the rules. I just wanted space, something that you couldn't have being a part of our people.

We were confined to a small section of such a large ocean, the immediate area that surrounded our island. It was the only place that The Three deemed safe and anyone that ventured too far out was banished, no second chances. Part of me yearned for that independence and that responsibility while another part of me was terrified.

"Ugh, there's never anything to do," Marinel sighed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked around for any boats or ground people, as usual there was nothing.

"Ok, let's play a game," she clapped her hands above her head, sinking down slowly before pushing herself back up, spitting out water.

"First one to the rocks and back?" I suggested and I nodded behind her to the rocks that were vanishing as the tide came in.

"You're on!" She shouted as she let herself sink under water.

I did the same and came to her side, both of using our fingers to count down from 3.

As soon as we folded our third finger we sped as fast as we could towards the rocks with Marinel in the lead.

She had been holding herself back earlier today and had let me win the little sneak.

I pushed my tail as hard as I could, being too competitive for my own good. I took the lead by only a few inches as we approached the rocks. I didn't want to slow down to turn around and head back like I knew she would. Instead, I used my tail to slap against a large rock and propel me forward until I was clear in the lead.

I slowed down once I was near the shell we hard marked earlier as our starting line.

With a cheeky little grin on my face I turned around to see where Marinel was, surprised that she wasn't right behind me ready to go again.

I couldn't see her.

I twisted my body in all different directions, my eyes wide with worry when I couldn't see her.

Swimming up out of the water I began calling her name.

"Marinel! Where did you go?" I looked around again trying to spot her head or tail somewhere. "Marinel you need to stop-"

I was pulled down under, a strong grip dragging me down.

I flapped my tail against the grip but it was to no avail. I was being dragged deeper and deeper.

Marinel.

I held my hand out towards her and tensed up my fingers, focusing my energy on the water.

My hand was slowly forming into a fist as the water around me began to go against the force of Marinel's tail and instead push us both back up.

She eventually gave up and let go, swimming back up me with a wide toothed grin and she reached the surface.

"That's not fair! I didn't use magic!" she splashed me with her tail as I lifted my head above the water.

"Hey! You dragged me under and scared me. That's not exactly fair either." I splashed her back and poked my tongue out as she turned her head to avoid it, her brown hair flicking droplets at me instead.

"Want to go again?" She asked.

"Best of three?"

"Too easy, best of... 7?" Marinel suggested.

We had plenty of time to waste, not like there was every anybody to deter from our island, "Deal."