I peeled the skin off the mango with my pocket knife. The cool water splashed against my legs as Daz trailed his fingertips over my exposed skin.
"I don't like seeing you like this." Daz said, taking the knife out of my hands as I had started to carve out parts of the fruit and flick it into the sea. "Let's do something to cheer you up?"
"Like what? Get my Dad to change his mind?" I asked angrily and threw the mango into the water below me. It went in with a splash and sunk to the bottom.
"Alright, don't ruin that pretty face by pouting." Daz smirked. "I'm taking you somewhere."
I let him haul me to my feet and drag me across the hot sand and towards the tress. "I've never shown anyone this place, so you better be grateful." Daz said as we weaved in and out of trees and walked into a cave.
I nodded glumly. I felt bad for being in a bad mood around Daz when he has been trying so hard to cheer me all up morning, but it wasn't my fault, it was my Dad's.
"Okay, wait here." Daz instructed as he began to pull out the small rocks that were stacked over something. He pulled away the seaweed rugs and pushed a wooden chest out into the middle of the cave. I sat down and pulled my hair to one side and nervously played with it.
"What's in there?"
"Secrets, which you can't tell anyone else about." Daz smiled, brushing away the dirt that covered the chest. "Open it then, Atlas."
I undid the clasp that held it together and looked back up to Daz. "It won't hurt you, you'll love it."
I trusted Daz so I opened the lid and a smile graced my lips as my eyes sparkled with delight.
"How..." I breathed staring at the array of human objects.
I picked up a book with a soft brown cover. I opened it to see most of the pages had disintegrated and the ones that were left; the ink had smudged and ran all over the page, making it impossible to make out even a letter. Next I picked up a red stone that looked rather pretty. It was like all the others so common around here so I put it down and pulled out a doll.
"A human would have played with this?" I asked astonished. It did not look like the dolls the children played with here, nor did it look like any of the dolls I played with as a child. Its blue eyes looked almost like real eyes but when I touched them they felt hard, like glass. Its face looked painted on and its dress had faded in colour and torn at the seams.
"They would have. Humans are strange, watch this." Daz said picking up the doll and lying on its back.
Its eyes closed making me jump. Daz laughed and made it sit up again. The doll's eyes opened.
"I-I don't like that." I said scooting away from the doll and looking into the box again.
I gasped and pulled out a beautiful hairbrush. It was heavy and silver, little diamonds were sparkling around the edge and in the centre, an outline of a human with a funny dress on was standing on one leg. The dress went straight out at her waist and her other leg was in the air. What a funny position.
"I found that with this." Daz said handing me a piece of paper with a picture of 3 humans on.
"Why do they not have colour?" I asked staring at the black and white image of a man, woman and little girl.
"Because of this," Daz said rummaging in the box and carefully pulling out a weird box. "I found the hairbrush, picture and this thing that is called a camera in a watertight case. Everything in there was preserved perfectly; here let me take one of you." Daz said lifting the box thing to his face.
"Take one? What do you mean, I don't have anything."
A bright flash made me jump and cover my face. Daz laughed a pulled a piece of paper out of the camera. He waited looking at it and smiled.
"I look a picture of you." He passed me the paper and sure enough, I could see myself!
"Wow!" I laughed, "Do it again!"
"It would look better if we took it outside then you would look a little clearer." Daz said as I looked at the dark photo of myself. I followed him outside and Daz made me sit on a rock where the tress made a nice background and the sun shone down on me.
"Alright, smile." He grinned.
I smiled and waited for the flash thing to go off. Daz took the picture and came to sit by me to look at it.
"It's so cool!" I laughed looking at the picture of me smiling. "So much faster than having your picture painted."
"It is very fast; humans have the most interesting things." Daz commented smiling at the picture of me.
"Can I take one of you?" I asked.
Daz thought for a moment before nodding and explained how the 'camera' worked. I took a few steps back and told him to smile like he said to me when he was taking my picture. Daz looked at the camera, a hint of a smile on his lips as he showed off his good looks and body of a God. I pressed the button Daz told me to and watched as the picture came out of the bottom of the camera so I could grab it.
Daz looked so handsome and strong in the picture, and so mysterious too. But that's what most Merpeople looked like to humans, very alluring. That's why old stories Mum used to tell me about sailors who drowned because they saw mermaids on the rocks. He said in the human world stories were told there, stories of how the Merpeople used to sing for the men who would crash their ships into the rocks or jump overboard to swim to the mermaids. Daddy confirmed it and said a group of bad Merpeople who were outcasts used to do it to steal the sailor's things and that's why humans who believe in Merpeople think they're bad. That's how Daz looked to me in the picture, so alluring and beautiful. This dark stormy eyes and jet black hair complimented his tan skin.
"Come on then, let me see it." Daz called as I hurried over and handed him the picture.
"I like yours better." He smiled, putting the one of him behind my picture.
"But I like yours better." I said taking the picture from the back and putting it at the front.
"How about I keep yours and you keep mine?"
"Okay, but what about one of the both of us?" I asked stretching the camera out in front of us.
"Let me take it, I have longer arms." Daz said taking the camera from me and pulling me into his side.
We took some pictures smiling before Daz pulled me into his lap and took 2 more kissing my cheek. He tickled me making me squirm and laugh – those pictures came out blurry. We took more using the human things as props and had so much fun. The camera stopped working after a while and wouldn't take any more pictures. Daz said it was because the paper like material inside had run out so there was nothing for the picture to be printed onto. We went back into the cave and found a diary in perfect condition. Daz said it belonged to the mother of the family who owned the camera. He had read some of her dairy and it said they were on a boat that travelled around to different countries for a holiday.
Daz let me take it home so I could read it and also split the pictures of us with me so we both had half each. Daz also gave the hairbrush that belonged to the little girl and said I'd get more use out of it that he would.
We were now sat in the shade as Daz brushed my hair with my new and very beautiful hairbrush. I had my eyes closed and was relaxing as I ate little slices of mango.
"I could take you to see real humans if you wanted to."
"What?" I span around to look at him. "Real humans?"
"Yeah, I sometimes go this place where there's music and mermen and mermaids as well as humans who all interact. The humans know about us there."
"What place is that?"
"It's called the Underground. My chief goes there to make deals with the humans or other tribe leaders, but other than that, it's a lot of fun. I could take you, if you like?"
"Y-You would take me to see humans?"
"Yes Atlas," He laughed. "Real humans."
"When?" I breathed.
"Tonight, meet me at seven?"
I nodded frantically. "I'll sneak out and meet you." I beamed, lunging forward and hugged him tightly.
"What's this for?" Daz whispered nuzzling my hair and kissing my shoulder.
"To say thank you for the human things and taking me to see the humans tonight. I'm glad I met you." I whispered, laying my head on his shoulder.
"I'm very glad I met you too." Daz replied.
I sat back and his lips quickly found mine. My arms were around his neck and his hands on my waist as his tongue swept across my lip. I shifted in his lap and he squeezed my waist before his hands found their way to my ass. I felt something press up against me and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. I felt myself grow hotter and tried to keep my hormones in check so I didn't have an embarrassing accident in his lap. Daz rolled us over so I was beneath him and began to suck and kiss on my neck, gently nipping every so often that made me gasp and let out little moans.
Daz stopped and kissed me softly on the lips, his eyes a bright purple. "I've marked my territory for tonight, can't have anyone else looking at my boy."
"Your boy?" I asked softly peaking at him from under my lashes.
"If you want to be?"
I rubbed my lips together to tried and hide the smile that was working its way onto my face. "Okay then."
---
I sat in front of my mirror and breathed deeply to calm my nerves. I continued to brush through my silky smooth locks with my new hairbrush I adored. It made me think of Daz every time I used it. I smiled at that thought, we were finally together, I thought happily as I set the brush down. I applied my lip balm and ran some oil through my hair before washing my hands in my bathroom and making sure I had everything packed in my bag.
Daz told me we'd swim to the party and change there. I had packed a pair of white shorts with gold detailing on them. I loved how the sparkly thread sparkled under every light and practically glowed. With it I had a dark navy silky shirt that I tucked into the shorts as it felt smooth and cool against my skin. For footwear, I had opted for a simple pair of flats that were the same colour as the shirt.
I haven't been to a party before – except with all the family or boring ones at the palace I had to attend, so I didn't really know how to dress. My friend Lily told me she's take me to one as soon as she got back from travelling with her parents, but I was wishing I'd had that experience sooner as then at least I'd have some idea.
Deciding not to think any more into the subject, I picked up my bag and made my way out of my room. Since sneaking out had become a regular thing I was pretty skilled in the art, but that didn't mean my heart beat any less slowly each time I did it. I made it outside and ran along to the beach. The moon was high in the sky and it looked beautiful reflecting against the water. I took off my shorts and waded in before letting my tail take form instead of my legs, and swam off into the quiet and still water.
"Daz," I called out and waved.
"Hey Atlas, you look gorgeous." He smiled pulling me into his arms and kissing me.
I blushed and looked down trying to hide my smile. "Thank you."
"You look nervous," Daz said taking my hand as we swam. "I'll be with you the whole time; I won't let anyone touch you."
"I've never been to somewhere like this before. I-I just don't know what to expect."
"Don't think about it too much. I'll tell you what to do." Daz said kissing my cheek.
We surfaced in the shallows of the water and even with the party being in the centre of this island, you could hear the music.
"We will get dressed over there." He pointed to the rocks further along the beach and led me over there. I hugged the towel around myself and slid my fingers through my hair. It was almost dry now, only very slightly damp - a perk of being a merman. Merial told me it's to do with camouflage. If we need to act or blend in with the humans then we can get out of the water and our hair and bodies will be dry almost instantly.
Daz led me into a little cave that sheltered us from the bitter wind and began changing from the small bag he brought. My eyes roamed his amazing body, stopping at his...um, package? He was blessed – let's just say that.
"Just going to stare at me all day, babe?" He teased, sending me a wink. I went bright red and covered my face with the towel.
"Aww," He laughed, hugging me from behind. "I didn't mean it, I don't mind you looking."
"I-I need to g-get dressed." I whispered, wriggling out of his hold and pulling my clothes out of my bag. I let the towel drop and pulled on my shorts, but not before Daz landed a hard smack onto my bum!
"Daz!" I squeaked. I only got a laugh in response as he also started to get dressed.
I did my shorts up and tucked the shirt into my shorts then slipped on my flats. I turned around to look at Daz and he looked so hot! He was wearing black, skin tight trousers that hugged his muscular legs and thighs but every time he moved the material looked like snakeskin. He didn't have a shirt on but his muscles looked even bigger and stronger in the nights light.
"Why, don't you look beautiful." Daz said stepping forward and running his fingers across my cheek. "As pretty as an angel."
I giggled and whispered 'thank you', stepping forward to close the small gap between us. I stood up on my toes to kiss him but Daz had other ideas as he lifted me into the air and pressed me against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist and his lips descended on mine. His tongue wasn't hesitant as it pushed through my lips and played with my own. His hands were firmly planted on my ass as his lips moved to my neck.
"If we don't stop, we'll never actually get to the party." Daz murmured, lowering me to the floor. "You look amazing."
"Do you think so? Am I wearing the right clothes?" I asked peering up at him.
"I wouldn't want you to dress any other way. You are a prince after all." He smiled brushing a hand through my hair.
I nodded. "Can we go see a human now?"