The tired elastic falls away from my wrist. With a yelp, I scramble to catch the beads before they can slip through my fingers. Instead, they plummet into the water.
No!
“Miss, stay in your seat!” the guide orders. “Once we dock, someone will help you with your lost items.”
I sink back onto the bench. If only that were possible. The beads are probably already lost to the bottom of the springs. Ishake my head, imagining a glittering freshwater pearl adorning the home of a fish.
I guess some things aren’t meant to last forever.
Reeds sway heavy and black against the glass bottom of the boat. It’s dark and moody. The shadows contrast the sunny cloudless skies.
Then, something yellow, like eyes, seem to stare from deep in the shadows. I can’t help but move forward to try to get a better look.
“Again, miss, stay in your seat!”
But how can I when something—someone—is blinking at me? Despite the warnings, I continue to peer into the water. There’s nothing for a moment.
Then, scales of green and blue gleam like stars under the surface of the water. I let out a gasp that makes the woman next to me jump.
It’s not—
It couldn’t have been.
I trace the “G” carved into my notebook as I shout, “Did anyone see that?”
My abdomen folds in half over the safety rail as I bend to get a better look.
“Miss, please be patient!” the tour guide warns.
“There was something down there!” I explain, but the boat continues to move through the scenery until the water below is crystal clear. There’s not so much as a fish in sight, and begrudgingly, I take my seat.
“Manatee season isn’t ’til fall… but I suppose we could have early arrivals,” the driver says with a shrug. I know I only saw it for a second, but manatees aren’t covered in scales. Unless I’m mistaken, aren’t they a little less … leggy?
I clamp my mouth shut. I’ve been here for… what? A few hours? I’m already letting my imagination get the best of me—again. When I was a camper here, girls in my cabin would play mermaids or princesses. Not me, I made up afish personto be my best friend.
I just didn’t think at 22 years old it would be so easy to fall back into this. My shoulders slump forward as I disembark the tour boat. The apology I sheepishly offer the guide doesn’t do much to temper the deserved glare I’ve earned for breaking half of their safety protocols.
It’s not ’til I’m on the dock, gazing back into the water, that I think of Gale again, imagining what it would be like if he was somewhere out there, waiting for me.
But that’s a fantasy I won’t get lost in—not this time.
Chapter 4
Gil
Ican’t take my eyes off her.
Marina, the first friend I ever made in the mortal realm. We met the day I swam up through the portals on a dare. The whole time, I was worried I’d encounter hunters with giant fishhooks, or whatever other scary stories are whispered to keep the guppies from straying too far from home. But I didn’t find anything other than a lonely girl with a snack to share.
We were eight when I asked her to marry me. I didn’t know what it meant, only that you give the person you like the most in the world something shiny, and if they say yes, you spend the rest of your lives together. All I wanted was more than a measly summer each year, and she felt the same way. Forever doesn’t seem like too much to promise when you’re young, especially when the promise is to the human girl who took my hand in hers and didn’t flinch when she felt the webbing.
She’s the girl who I swam around these springs with every summer.
The girl I promised I’d never stop looking for.
And now, she’sback.
I’ve barely caught my breath from the marathon of grabbing fallen beads as they landed in the water. Then, it was a sprint to the edge of the marsh where my disguise was hidden—a pair of board shorts that don’t fit, a tacky t-shirt, and the little enchanted necklace that makes me blend into a crowd.
