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Someone calls my name.
Instinctively, my eyes open. Everything looks so clear. Mom swims toward me, her aqua tail shimmering. Dad is just behind her, his deep blue tail moving quickly as he slices through the water. I glance down at my emerald-green tail. It glimmers so much more than in the bathtub. We all still have our shirts on but have lost all traces of leg coverings.
“Come on!” Mom waves me toward Dad.
I swim, following them. It feels so freeing. So right. And that angers me. I don’t want to enjoy this. Any of it. But my body betrays me. I swim in circles and do flips.
This feels so good. So much better than being in a confining bath. We all swim around, acting like young children. It’s hard not to. We’ve denied our true natures for so long.
The farther we travel, the darker it gets. I can still see—far more than a human could at these depths—things are just dimmer. We head lower. The ocean floor is too far to see. Fish at this depth look more like aliens than marine life. Most of them ignore us. A few give us funny looks but keep their distance. They must sense we belong.
Why do I keep thinking these things? I don’t belong here! My place is on land. I’m merely visiting the place where I spent my early childhood. That’s it. I’ll see how Halen is doing. Check in on some cousins, if they don’t hate me for what my dad did to get us kicked out of Valora. Did Uncle Tiberias convince everyone we’re monsters?
I breathe the water in deeply. It soothes me. Not that I want to be calmed.
The darkness grows, making it hard to see more than a few feet around me. I make my way closer to my parents. The last thing I need is to get separated and lost.
And this makes me wonder how easy it will actually be to get back to land. I’d forgotten about the dark waters. How easy it would be to lose my way. Veer off the trail then end up dinner for some awful creature.
I can still get back on my own. I’ll find a way.
Grr!
“What was that?” I grab Mom’s arm.
“Probably nothing, hon.”
“Nothing just growled at us?”
Dad glances over. “Shh!”
I bite my tongue.
Grrr!
A shiver runs down my spine. The sound is closer, but I can’t see what’s making the noise.
Huge white eyes appear in front of us. The only thing scarier than them are the sharp teeth directly below them. Rows and rows of them. Whatever it is, it’s large enough to swallow Dad whole and then finish its meal with Mom and me.
Dad’s eyes glow yellow, illuminating the water around us. Whatever the monster is, it’s about the size of a manatee. And there’s another one behind it.
I cling to my mom. “What do we do?”
“Follow your father’s lead.”
I’m shaking so bad, I’m not sure I can do that. Not sure I can do anything. I’m going to be fish food. Never going to see Ivy or my room again.
Dad holds up his fists. Bolts of lightning run between them, buzzing. They’re brighter than back home. Louder. The electricity stronger. It massages my skin. Eases my worry.
The enormous creature scoots back.
Relief washes through me. We’re actually going to survive this.
Then the other fish widens its mouth and rushes at us. The rolling wave from its movement pushes me away from my parents. I try to swim toward them but the current is too strong.
The first fish exposes even more teeth and lurches toward my dad.
A combination of fear and indignation pulsates through me. That thing will not hurt him.
