Prologue

She doesn't remember much, but she does remember existing amongst the shadows of the darkened sea. She hid from the surface and lived in the deep. Sailors caught small glimpses of them in the sunlight from time to time, before they returned to their old lives on the land with tales of the people who breathe water as if it were air.

Some called them monsters, evil beings that used our beauty to lure the poor and unsuspecting into the ocean to their deaths. She definitely doesn't remember doing anything like that.

They were a shy people. The only ones of them who have been caught on the surface were the brave or extremely curious. Then they returned home with wonderful stories of the strange things that have been seen and heard.

It is possible to live above the ocean, but the fear of being hunted like fish kept them away. Still, a Mermaid could shed her tail if she wanted, like the snake that sheds his skin, and beneath would be fine human legs.

Upon the need to return, re-growing scales and fins, opening gills and bringing back the webbing between their fingers was a possibility. A strange transformation, painful.

There were tales of those who'd become human for the sake of adventure or love, and then have never returned. Supposedly finding the human world to be much better than their own and deciding to build lives for themselves up there. But others said they were caught and brutally killed, or eaten like their fish.

Sciella was one of the few who became human.

When she was young, a war broke out between all the kingdoms of the sea. A sort of, underwater world war. They are like the humans in many ways, one of which can be their greed. More land, more wealth, more power. It destroyed them.

Her father saw it coming. The end of them. He sheltered her from the fighting as best as he could, but he still couldn't protect her.

He began taking her to land, told her to shed my tail and practice walking.

He left her alone for short periods of time, allowing her to explore, see the animals and find food. Those small periods of time got to be longer, and longer. Eventually, he stopped coming back.

He left his daughter on the beach by herself. She didn't know the way home.

Sciella spent the next few weeks at that beach, going under the water, trying to find her father or eat the seaweed for supper. A small family of humans found her and took her in. they didn't understand the language she spoke, and neither did anyone else in the towns nearby. She was still so young, so Sciella picked up on English pretty quick.

She tried to be on her best behaviour, but some things were bound to look strange. Like the time she took all the fish out of her adoptive aunt's fish tank and set them all fee in the ocean.

They blamed her odd behaviour on the fact that she was young and didn't know better. They believed that all she needed was their love, so they kept her with them.

She still returned to the sea, searching for her father, before eventually giving up.

She grew up, went to human schools, dated human men and had human jobs. Soon she began thinking of herself as a human. Only her brother knew, after having caught her on one of her searches for her father.

It was he who helped her to get a job on a vast and beautiful vacation yacht.

To Be Continued…

A.N: This chapter was reposted due to spelling errors.