A Mermaid’s Shadow

Prologue: The Sun

She glides effortlessly along the warm current, facing the sun from 100 fins under the sea. Its rays dance off the scales of her shining white fins as she watches its broken image wistfully through the salty water. A school of glittering fish momentarily blocks her view of the fiery orb as they dart by, whispering greetings in the language of their kind.

            “Hello princess.”

            “Greetings princess.”

            “Good morning my lady.”

            “Good morning kind fish,” she bubbles, water rushing from the gills in her long, pale neck as the fish swim deeper into the blue of the ocean in perfect synchronization. Returning her attention to the bringer of light above the surface of the ocean, she notices that something else blocks her view of the shining sun.

            ‘That is definitely not a school of fish,’ she thinks, a slight frown marring her smooth brow and full mouth.

            This “something else” resembles a long shadow creeping along the top of the water, making its way across the water in a stiff fashion that hardly gives the impression of the movement of something living.

            ‘What could that be?’ she wonders, pulling a strand of long white hair from her eyes and throws it back to float carelessly behind her. ‘It certainly could not be a whale; they are not nearly so…stiff. Hmm…’ Her ocean blue eyes shut in thought as she let the current pull her along, strong fins idly flapping every now and then out of habit to keep her moving along. When she finally opens her eyes, the shadow is gone and the sun shines down on the water, which refracts its brilliance into thousands upon thousands of rays of welcoming light.

            “Huh? Where’d it go?!” she cries, disappointed that she’d lost sight of the enigma. Righting herself, she swims with her belly facing the ocean floor as she cranes her neck to search the shimmering surface of the water. Spying the mysterious shadow in the distance, she reaches her webbed hands in front of her to give her an extra push as she thrusts her fins behind her in a gigantic effort to catch the quickly disappearing shadow. She shoots through the water, her powerful white fins straining with the effort to go ever faster. As she gains on the shadow, her hands lie forgotten by her sides, her only thought is to catch the puzzling shadow. Some unknown feeling in the pit of her stomach draws her to it, like a shark to blood. The Power crackles through her body as exhaustion begins to take over.

            ‘No! I have to catch it!’ she thinks desperately, flexing her fingers in readiness. Bringing a delicately webbed hand in front of her face, she prepares to use her Power to boost her energy, knowing it will leave her completely exhausted and drained, mentally and physically. She doesn’t care. That inner urge, that almost overwhelming desire in her stomach, will not relent, driving her forward, requiring her to use any resource she had to continue her pursuit.

            “Jocelyn!”

            Her body immediately stops moving, bubbles whirling in a fury around her, her momentum carrying her petite frame a few fins forward. Gills working double time and fins twitching in apprehension, Jocelyn slowly turns her head in the direction of the call. Her white hair floats gently around her angelic face and a bubble or two escapes from her full, pink lips that are currently parted in surprise.

            “Jocelyn, dear, what in Herula’s name are you doing?” a different voice croaks. Jocelyn’s darting blue eyes finally light upon two figures hiding in a shadow of the reef 200 fins below.

            An exasperated sigh escapes her lips as she gives a graceful kick of her fins and glides effortlessly in their direction, her gills still working hard to acquire the oxygen her body so desperately needs after that long chase. One of the figures swims from under the shadow of the reef carefully, looks slowly around and darts up to grab her by the arm before hastily dragging below to the safety of the reef. Jocelyn glares into his sea-green eyes and yanks her arm from his grasp, feeling the red marks from his tight grip growing.

            “What in the ocean was that for?” she hisses at her older brother, rubbing the growing red marks on her delicate arm, shooting darts at him with her blue eyes that are turning cloudy with anger. In turn, he flaps his golden fins at her, his blond tresses floating about his face, masking most of his handsome features, but not hiding the anger that contorts them.

            “Jocelyn, you know what that was for you idiot,” he says, swimming closer to get into her face. She only glares back defiantly, ramming her arms stiffly into her sides. “You could’ve been caught. You know how dangerous it is to swim alone! You almost used your Power as well. How stupid can you get?!” He clasps her shoulders tightly and shakes her, trying to drive some sense into her adventurous, 17-year-old brain.

            “Oran I’m not a baby anymore!”

            “I know your not, Joss, but you still have to follow all the rules. Even more so now that you’re not a baby anymore,” he says while pulling her into a hug, his fear abating. He had gotten so scared when he noticed she was not with Nanna Mayleen that morning. She is his baby sister, his first reason for becoming king and winning the war. If he won the war, then she would be safe. But for now, all he can do is protect her until he can become king and win the war. The best way he sees to protect her is to keep her with the school of merpeople in hiding, which has proved to be the best method of safety.

            Jocelyn pulls away from his frantic embrace and watches the change in his green eyes from fear to relief. The anger in her heart melts with the realization that his temper was only brought about by fear: fear for her safety. With this realization, guilt forms a rock in the pit of her stomach and she embraces her brother around the waist in a desperate hug of apology. His eyes widen for a moment in surprise, and then he gathers her to him with his strong, long arms in a hug of reassurance.

            “I’m sorry big brother. I know it was wrong. But I couldn’t help myself. Did you see the sun this morning, smiling at the sea? It was so beautiful,” she murmurs excitedly into his broad chest. A laugh, growing from somewhere deep within him, bursts from his lips as he rubs his little sister’s hair before releasing her from his strong grasp. He gazes into her sapphire eyes and feels a momentary twinge of worry, knowing that the call for adventure has not left her. But the moment passes as he knows that she will not do anything risky for a while, her thirst for the unknown temporarily sated.

            “It is beautiful, child, yes. But not safe,” the other figure says, swimming slowly towards the siblings. Her blue fins lack the luster of the younger two merchildren. White hair, that was not always white, swirls around her wrinkled face. She would have looked impossibly old except for the two shining black orbs in her face. They are alight with a fiery intelligence and wisdom that Jocelyn always loved about her Nana Mayleen. A smile cracks the wizened face as she glances between the two young merpeople.

            “Let’s go back to the cavern, dears,” she whispers before gracefully turning away to head back to the cavern. Tightening her seaweed cloak about her shoulders, she gives one last look over her shoulder at the prince and princess following in her wake.

            ‘I hope that they will live to see better times than these,’ she thinks sadly as their tiny procession makes their way back to their safe house in the depths of the ocean.

            Hey guys! New story. This is for all my reviewers. You know who you are!!! I love you guys! I know I promised not to work on two at a time…but I had an idea and I had to write it down. What do you think? Potential? Or should I just drop it? Ok, happy reading. Please r/r.

                                                                                                                           ~Lisa~