Kyma Tide is just an ordinary human girl, besides the fact that she is a blue-eyed albino orphan in the Dominican Republic. That is, until she is kidnapped and wakes up with a tail. Follow her journey of escape and discovery.
This is the first book...
With a laugh, Alai drags Kyma off down the path and towards the grove of trees just past the city borders. She drags Kyma deeper and deeper into the trees, pausing every now and then to grab a handful of fruit. They emerge on the other side of the grove, but Alai keeps going. After a while, Kyma starts to hear the sound of rushing water and frowns. She may have only been there once, but she still knows that they aren't anywhere near the falls. They keep moving towards the sound until a river comes into view, and Kyma stops in confusion. When Alai realizes that Kyma has stopped moving, she turns around.
"What is it, Kyma?"
"How is there a river here? I thought there was only one? The falls are in the opposite direction."
Alai's laugh is bright and silvery. "You're quite right. There is only one river. We are currently downstream from the falls, as the river curves around the city before twisting back around again towards the cliff in that initial direction."
Kyma nods. "Why does it curve like that then?"
"The land dips right there, and the river naturally follows that. There is also a hill in between those curves and that is part of the reason the river curves like that, too."
"Ok. Where exactly are we going?"
Alai laughs again. "To the river, of course!"
Alai starts off again, and Kyma follows her, despite her frown of confusion. When they reach the riverbank, Alai angles to walk beside it, instead of trying to cross it like Kyma was afraid of. As they start to walk downhill, Kyma looks ahead to see the river bend. At the point the river bends, it is much wider, and there are boulders scattered throughout the water. Kyma squints at it, and starts to get the feeling that the boulders are spaced in such a way that they create stepping stones they allow someone to cross the river. Her suspicions are confirmed when Alai swerves toward the bend. She steps onto the first boulder, and then jumps to the next one. She twists back to look at Kyma and Lyss, and frowns when she sees that neither have moved.
"Come on guys! Lyss, you know it's safe, and Kyma, I promise that it is safe."
She turns back to her path and jumps sideways to the next boulder. Kyma walks to the edge of the riverbank and halts, toeing the water with her bare foot. The merrows didn't really bother wearing shoes, the clothing was designed for fast transformations. Lyss speaks from behind her. "Go on, you'll be fine. The boulders are large enough for you to easily regain your balance if needed, and you'll be fine even if you fall in. Despite the water moving swiftly here, you would have plenty of time to avoid hitting the boulders. You could shift too, and swim to the little beach farther ahead. Go on, the path is easier than it looks from the shore. I'll be right behind you."
Kyma nods and carefully steps onto the first boulder before jumping onto the next. She makes her way across the river at a steady pace, despite being much slower than Alai had been. Of course, Alai has probably done this many times before, so she knew exactly where to step. With one final jump, Lyms reaches the opposite riverbank and quickly moves to the side to give Lyss space to get across. Barely a moment after, Lyss has cleared the meter of space between the boulder and the riverbank. Once both girls have moved up the bank onto stable ground, Alai grins at them.
"Not much farther now!"
Lyss looks at her quizzically. "Are we going where I think we're going?"
Alai holds her finger up to her lips. "Shhh! Yes, but I don't want Kyma to know about it yet!"
At that, Kyma frowns in curiosity. At the same time, Lyss nods. "Alright then. Shall we continue?"
Alai doesn't respond, instead she starts to walk, still following the course of the river. Kyma follows, Lyss in her footsteps. As they walk, Kyma frowns, realizing that Lyss has only been walking behind her. She stops, turning to look at Lyss.
"I know your job is to protect me, but you can be my friend too. Besides, there isn't much, of any, of a difference in your surveillance capacity if you walk beside me instead of behind."
Lyss frown, before nodding. "Very well. I can walk beside you. Now shall we continue before Alai loses her patience to the tides?"
Kyma laughs at that phrase before continuing to walk, carefully picking her way down some steep portions of their path. Kyma looks ahead to see an enormous plane of stone on the bank before them. Ala speeds up, and Kyma smiles, guessing that this is their destination. Alai steps onto the bare rock and moves towards the center of the stone. She lies down on it and spreads her arms and legs out into a starfish shape. Even from the edge of the stone, Kyma can see Alai's mouth open in delight, and she giggles. She carefully steps out into the stone and her own mouth gapes open as she feels the warmth of the sun-bathed stone beneath her feet. She frowns for a moment, expecting the rock to burn her feet. But the warmth remains at a comfortable level, so Kyma steps across it to reach Alai, lying down beside her. ________________________________________________________________________________ For those of you who like maps, or need one to understand this island, here's one for you! I've put it at the top as well. Speaking of the map, please, please tell me if you have any suggestions, or think I should add something to it. I know that I'm nowhere near being good at maps, and I can always do this one over again if need be.
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Now on a different note, what do you think they are going to do at that spot by the river? Tell me your thoughts! Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!
