Falling In The Deep Blue

~19~ Respect

Trystan's P.o.v.

The creature that was a few feet below me looked like a mermaid.
But not just any mermaid, no, it looked like Eleazar's little sister Meriel.

From what I could see through the layer of water, she was communicating with the shark.

The animal was floating in the water completely still now, its head only a few inches away from Meriel.

What was she doing? Was she talking to him? Was that even a thing? Merpeople being able to talk to animals?

And if so, why would the mermaid help me? What was she even doing here?

A few minutes went by, in which I carefully observed the situation that was unraveling below me.

Meriel and the shark were still close to each other, with the shark's mouth so close to her tiny frame, that I was worried it was gonna swallow her whole for a second.

But no, after a while, with a powerful movement of its body, the shark just turned around and disappeared into the distance.

Sitting up on my surfboard, I stared after its shadow.

I couldn't believe it. How was that even possible? First, a shark turns up out of nowhere, attacks me and is about to eat me and then Eleazar's sister just randomly swims by, decides that I'm worth saving even though I'm a 'bad human' and talks to the shark, causing it to leave me alone.

A splash in the water made my head turn.

It was Meriel. Her blonde hair was sticking to her neck and shoulders, just like yesterday.

But her expression wasn't full of shock and disbelief this time.

Her big blue eyes, which looked so much like Eleazar's, stared at me, a blank expression on her face.

I had no idea what to say.

"Thank you..?"

That was a good start, even though it sounded like a question.

Meriel squinted her eyes, then they wanderd down my body to my injured leg.

Somehow, it still didn't hurt as badly as it should, but maybe that was only because I was still in shock.

"You're hurt." was all she said, before swimming closer to my leg, taking a closer look at the cut.

"It's not that bad." I said, while she used both of her hands to measure the length of the cut.

"And why would you care? What are you even doing here?"

Meriel looked up at me, her eyes found mine.

"I don't know if you're little human brain realized it yet, but I live here."

I raised my eyebrows. This girl was just as sassy as Eleazar. Only was she mean, whereas he was simply cute.

I felt a lump building in my throat at the thought of him.

"And I..I went for a swim, because I needed to clear my head and then I smelled blood. Human blood. And then I came here." Meriel went on.

"Seems like you're not so different from your brother after all, saving humans and all.." I replied, a light smile on my face.

The smile was meant as an invitation. An invitation to smile back, open up to me and my species and forgive her brother.

But Meriel didn't smile back.

"Just because I didn't let you die, doesn't mean that I like you." she hissed.