The Treaty

I was starting to regret choosing to go to Mardy Middle and High School. Besides the dreary teachers and lack of spirit for sports besides swimming, I was already singled out. I liked swimming, yah, sure. There wasn’t a thirteen year old like me who didn’t. But to be forced to have it, as an elective was a bit, oh, I don’t know, too much. Especially in the winter, not that the cold bothered me. At first the school seemed great, the pictures, the application, the students. In fact, it was remarkable. Just not my type.
“So” Coach Ken, drawing out the ‘o’ like it was a piece of trash, “ You’ve never been on a swim team before.” His eyes flashed a warning not to retort and he curled his lips like a snarl.
       “No” I answered defiantly, twisting my bracelet around. Why was it
such a big deal?
       “Very well. You’ll be on the C Team,” he ordered, checking off my
name on his blue and green plaid notebook etched with doodles. I picked up my white towel and slumped towards the C team. At least I had Kate on the C Team with me.
       “What’s the big deal?” I whispered to Kate when Ken’s back was turned.
       “This school practically worships swimming, every one here, besides
you, has been swimming their whole lives” Kate believed.
       “I should have gone to Karlston,” I murmured thinking of a less
popular but swimming-free high school. Once Ken was done he ordered
the A team to go to Pool A, the B team to go to Pool B, and the C team
to go to, you guessed it, Pool C.
       “Forgot to mention, the heater broke ” Ken shared as swimmers jumped in and shrieks rang out.
       “Ah!” Kate shrieked as I pushed her in and she paddled up laughing.
       “No pushing Eva! Next time your sitting out!” Ken informed as he
ignored all of the other swimmers shoving their friends into the water. Fine by me, I thought and smiled, I don’t like swimming anyway.
       “Is it cold?” I inquired Kate sarcastically.
       “Not at all” she grinned back shivering. I backed up for a running start. Once I got to the edge, I cannon balled in, making a splash that
trumped all of the other swimmers.
 I shot straight down. The water was clear and fresh, and the noise of
splashing bounced off the walls. I opened my eyes and let out a stream
of bubbles. The water wasn’t cold, not at all. It wasn’t like ice or
freezing, in fact, it was quite warm. I knew it would be this way
though. It was one of the reasons I didn’t swim a lot. Another
surprise almost made me choke. I was still getting used to the whole
breathing underwater thing for me, which is why I swam straight up the
minute I could focus.
       It happened every time I was in water. No matter what temperature it
was, it was warm to me. No matter how deep I was, my ears never rang.
And no matter how long I was under, I could still breathe. Not only
that, but I was like superman. I was strong, fast, and had extremely
great senses. I was a girl super man. Super women. My answer to why these happened would be simple, magic and fantasy. Other people’s answers might be a different word, freak. Which is why I kept it to myself, I told no one about what I could do. Which is also why I didn’t go in the pool much, I didn’t want to give anybody hints on my abilities.
       That is also the reason why I went an eighth of my speed during laps
making me the worst swimmer on the worst team, and why I purposely
lost in sharks and minnows underwater. The only reason I had even
considered going to Mardy School was simple, I could board on a
scholar ship. Not the board and share a room scholarship. But the
board and have your own room. Mardy was a rich school.

       None of the other schools allowed boarders, not even Karlston. I was
tired in living in the orphanage home. I was, as many orphans are,
found in an unusual place and abandoned at the orphanage. Getting away
from the orphanage was like a dream-come-true, like winning a lottery
ticket. Maybe not that great but it was still terrific.
       The orphanage was full of kids, there was never a peaceful moment.
Although I didn’t get into trouble and I minded my own business, I was
always bullied. Weather it was my amazing grades and great skill, kids
were always drawn to pick on me. Only Olivia, one of the caretakers,
paid any special attention to me.
       “The coach wants me to drop by after practice tomorrow for private
coaching” Ariel bragged from across the room. I pulled my white shorts
over my swimsuit and hurried to pull over my Tee. I changed and set my
bracelet next to my clothes.
       “ He asked me as well” Cindy gloated. As it turns out, most of the
swimmers from the A-team were asked to stay after practice tomorrow,
shocker (Sarcastic).
       “Why did you even choose her?” I heard and whipped my head towards my locker. It sounded like Coach Ken. But he was almost five rooms away. My super-human hearing took action and I canceled out all of the other noise besides him and whom he was talking to.
       “Curiosity. Besides, she has an amazing academic record. She also has
the sign” I listened and tried to recognize the voice but found no
matches.
       “This school wasn’t built for academic purposes and you know it.
Besides, tons of people have Sea-blue eyes, it doesn’t mean they
should get in” Ken argued and I realized they were talking about me.
       “It was my decision and my decision alone, you do not have the place
the argue with me. I must go” I heard and Ken sighed, exasperated . I ran out of the locker room to see who the mystery man was but found no one but Ken. They must have been talking over the phone.
       “Do you need anything?” Ken snapped as I looked around and I quickly walked back to the locker room to retrieve my clothes, bag and
bracelet.

       The good thing about there being two different Mardy schools, one
boys and one girls, is that you didn’t have to worry about boy and
girl drama. The all-girl Mardy School I went to had a more relaxed and
girly environment, and not as much competition. The food was sea-ish,
which I preferred, and the school color was, yes, blue and green. I
received about twenty or thirty dollars every week from the orphanage,
like an allowance, that I got because Olivia forced the other
caretakers to see sense.
Christmas break was unexpected. Over the two-week break, I was one of the only three boarder students who didn’t leave Mardy. Time was
passed at the beach or watching a movie, other than that, it was quite
depressing. The only surprising thing that happened was maybe four
days before school started again. Some of the boarding students were
arriving so Madeline and I went for a swim in the A-pool. Madeline’s
parents were three states away so she was one of the three who stayed
with me. The last person was Erica.
“You aren’t allowed to eat in the pool,” Ken informed as we set our
lunches and towels on the bench.
“We won’t, it’s going to be for after” Madeline smiled and Ken let a
grin slip. I didn’t talk to Ken much; we didn’t exactly get a long. Once Ken had gone into his office, we dived into the pool and we each
swam to one end.
“I’ll race you!” Madeline exclaimed cheerfully.
“You’ll win,” I answered but we raced anyway. I went slower than usual
because Madeline was slow and I wanted her to win. The heater was back
and running but I didn’t notice much of a difference. We raced for
what seemed like minutes but was hours and the sun flew
across the sky.
“Lets go” Madeline said after about what seemed like four hours and I agreed.
“Race you to the step” I proclaimed and took off without waiting for a
reply. The sound of her splashing behind me told me she was racing. I
swam at a slow pace and was surprised to find that she hadn’t beaten
me when I got to the steps. In fact, I couldn’t even see her.
It hit me like a ice and I immediately went into
lifeguard mode. I ducked underneath the water and looked around,
there. She was drifting at the bottom of the pool, why hadn’t I
noticed? Why had she drowned? I swam as fast as I could across the pool and was by her in seconds. In another couple of seconds I had pulled her up onto the concrete above the water and was performing CPR.
“Move!” I heard and was pushed out of the way and into the water by Ken. But Madeline was already coughing and blinking her eyes open.
“Go change and wait by my office” Ken ordered, surprised, as he helped
Madeline up. I got out of the pool and changed slowly, thinking. Could
Ken of seen me swimming? Oh no, oh no. I had been going as fast as I
could then, I was like a torpedo. I was sitting by the door of Ken’s
office twenty minutes later, thinking up an excuse.
“Inside, now” Ken demanded as he walked up and I followed him inside.
He pointed towards a plastic chair and I sat down in it, waiting. He
looked at me curiously.
“What are you hiding?” he asked directly, that question sort of took
me off guard.
“Excuse me?”
“When you swam towards Madeline out there, you were going faster than
anyone on the A team. So, what are you hiding?”
“Nothing. You must have been hallucinating in your panic” I answered
and looked at him eye to eye, “Do you feel okay?”
“How much time did it take you to come up with that one?” Ken
demanded, total seriousness.
“ It’s the truth. I swam as fast as I could, the speed I swim all the
time. I helped Madeline up and performed CPR” I lied; I had an amazing
poker face.
“Where’d you learn CPR? I thought you never spent a lot of time in the
pool” he questioned and my answer was a bit shaky.
“I watch a lot of action movies.” That was a definite lie. This was the first
time I had ever gone close to performing CPR, but I wasn’t going to
say that. After a couple of seconds of intense staring, Ken smiled.
Uh-oh.
“Very well, you are excused” he proclaimed and I speed-walked out.
Immediately after leaving, I went to the nurse to check on Madeline.
“What happened?” I questioned as I bumped into her walking through the door.
“I drowned, you were there”
“No. I mean why did you drown?”
“I was tired. I should of told you before but I was exhausted”
Madeline explained. Yes, you should of, I thought. Now, I had Ken to
worry about and how he was going to find the truth when school
started.

The rest of break was spent nowhere near the pool. A lot of the
students were arriving so I helped my friends unpack and gossip about
what people did. Madeline and I were the high light for a day after
she told everyone about how she drowned. Imagine that, you have to get
injured to be popular. I went to the mall with some friends to buy
clothes from the allowance I had saved up on the last day.
The sound of my alarm clock Monday morning was like a prison call.
After so many days of waking up at twelve and having duvet-days, I
wasn’t prepared Monday morning.
 I was preoccupied for the rest of the day from students who needed
help on their homework; I was like a walking textbook to them. Being
in honors classes had its good moments, and bad.
I also wasn’t prepared for Ken last period, or his temperature test.
Guess what we had to do? Sit in buckets that each had a different
temperature and all had the same color. So I couldn’t ask my friends
which color bucket was hotter or colder. Ken explained that the
teachers were doing a survey, yah right. Not only that, but we did it
separately so I didn’t see the buckets until it was my turn. All water
temperatures were the same to me, warm. Ken was way smarter than I had
realized. I was stuck in the middle of the line so I had some time to
think. I never accidentally showed Ken that I could go in any
temperature water and have it remain warm. Like a puzzle, I started to
get the big picture. All of the kids who went after class were
excellent swimmers and had some special qualities. Besides that, they
all had Sea-blue eyes. In fact as I looked around, most of the
students had Sea-blue eyes. On the application form there were questions such as Height, Weight, and Eye color. But why eye color?
Could this be a school for specific people? Like those books about
Mermaids? But Mermaids were fantasy. Then again, so was what I could
do. As I let the idea of Mermaids sink in, everything started to make
sense. We were at a school completely focused on swimming, weren’t we?
Yet the idea of Mermaids still seemed foreign. I just had to confirm a
few questions I still had unanswered. After telling the swimmers in
front and behind me I would be back, I walked towards the back of the
line in search for Ariel. She was only a couple of students behind me
so I didn’t have to look far.
“Hi Ariel” I smiled cheerfully.
“Hey” she greeted and I saw distaste flicker in her eyes. She thought
she was better than me. Ha, think again.
“I heard you go to the practice that’s after our swimming practice, right?”
“Yah so?” she answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the
world. Wow, she was good.
“I was just wondering what you do?” I inquired and panic seized her
Sea-blue eyes.
“It’s confidential” she jabbered quickly and turned to one of her
friends as if to say the conversation was over. I walked back to my
spot thinking deeply. I was correct. So, some kids with Sea-blue eyes
had special abilities. And some how, there might be Mermaids and
Mermen at this very school!
“Next!” I heard and looked around, it was my turn. I followed a
swimming assistance into a room behind the office. Ken was there.
Smiling.

“ So, is this bucket cold?” Ken asked as I put my feet into a
knee-high bucket of clear water.
“Yes?” I guessed and he led me to another bucket.
“What about this one?”
“Warm” I hesitated and he led me to another bucket. At the end of the
test, I felt horrible. I had failed a test that was meant to be
unfailable.
“See me after practice” he mused and I groaned. Great, I was going to
be with the A-team kids. I didn’t want this attention, why am I always
singled out? I stayed with Angelica; she was on the practice after
school, and talked to her for a while, explaining that I was new. She
wouldn’t tell me what everyone did during the practice after regular
swimming practice. She called it the AA team. So, I was quite
surprised when Ken walked out and pressed something on a remote
control, activating an invisible barrier.
“Start your warm-up. I’m going to be talking to our new student” Ken
yelled and immediately swimmers jumped into the water.
“I knew you were a Mer,” Ken observed as he sat me down on the bench.
“ A what?”
“ A Mer. don’t tell me you’ve never heard of mermaids and mermen?” he asked.
“Well, yah I’ve heard of them in stories and fairy tales. But-“ I stuttered.
“Okay, Mer people are real. Understand?” Ken necessitated. No. You
can’t just go up to someone and tell him or her Mer people are real.
That’s like saying your house is alive. I mean, I had a hunch, but
that’s exactly what it was, a hunch.
“Then where do they live?” I justified stubbornly, waiting for the
Camden Cameras to pop out.
“ Every where that’s not close to human interaction. There actually is
a Sea King and village. In fact, there is a ton of villages. The
government has been keeping peace with them because they’re, well,
powerful” Ken informed proudly.
“But haven’t scuba divers ever seen them?” I pondered.
“The Mers are very intelligent. They have a superb memory. Anyway,
they have adapted to camouflage, or they have the power to turn
invisible. That’s why nobody sees them. So, they’ve taken that trait
and they’ve turned it into a machine. That invisible barrier that I
just turned on acts like a dome that encircles the whole pool area.
Looking from the outsiders, all you see is a video of the pool when no
one is there. It’s quite amazing I would say” Ken glowered.
“ So they do that to their homes?” I asked.
“Yes. Only Mers and Mearops can see through invisible barriers or Mer
invisibility.”
“Mearops?”
“You’ll learn about it later.”
“What if a scuba diver swam into a Mer village unknowingly?”
“Most of the time they can’t because the government makes sure it’s
protected” Ken said matter-of-factly.
“ So, what is this Team AA for?” I remarked, but I knew the answer.
“A quarter of Mer babies born each year are extremely fragile so they
have to live above water until teen stage. So, we match up certain
parents to certain Mer children”
“Don’t Mer people have like tails? Wouldn’t there kids have tails
too?” I noted confused.
“Mer people can morph without difficulty up to the age of about
twenty-five. Then it becomes a pain for Mers to stay above water for a
long time. Mer babies have a survival instinct to morph automatically once they fully above water, then thee only way they can morph back into their tail is after they mature and learn” Ken informed.
“So, why do you have to go around guessing who’s Mer and who isn’t?” I
questioned.
Ken frowned and sighed, “Usually we have the MAW, Mer Above the Water, control who note which Mer baby went to which state or which parent. Then there was 11/9
“One of the employees of MAW left a light on before leaving and it set
off an explosion. All of the data was completely erased so we had no
idea where any Mer children were” Ken sighed and added, “So we
referred to this school.”
“A light? Underwater?”
“As I said, Mer people are very intelligent.”
“Weren’t there other places that had the input of Mer children’s
parents and states?”
“The Mer king felt there was no need.”
“Mer King?” I asked.
“King of the Mer. Some people call him Poseidon, Trident, and Neptune.
But, his name is Kai”
“Kai?” I replied stunned. What is this? How is this?
“Yes. The reason he’s putting so much effort into this project is
because his daughter was one of the Lost Mer Babies”
“How do they distinguish whose Mer baby is who’s?”
“ Once you master your abilities then we can run a DNA test”
“Why can’t the DNA test work right now?”
“Because you have been too immersed in human thoughts and practices
and you’ve never gone to the Mer-world.”
       “So to get, ummmm, un-immersed, we’re going to go to the Mer world?”
       “That and you would have to be adequate on your powers. Parents
sometimes leave a small trinket for the child to have as their only
possession, and when a Mer baby is identified MAW could use that as
evidence of whom your parents are. Only the parents know about it because its confidential. But, the trinket is usually lost in the child’s early years.”
       “Okay” I settled slowly, the idea starting to sink in.
“I always knew you were one of the Lost Babies” Ken remarked. Bias
much? He hates me if I’m a bad swimmer but loves me if I’m not.
“No you didn’t,” I raged, my face turning into a scowl. Ken’s grin
vanished and was replaced by a frown.
“What do you mean?”
“You were talking to that man on the phone on our first practice. You
were asking him why I was even accepted into Mardy,” I argued.
“How did you-?” He asked.
“I heard you,” I interrupted.
“I was at least four rooms away”
“Super human hearing” I mimicked Ariel’s way of demonstrating ‘No duh.’ A failed attempt.
“You have already used your powers?”
“Isn’t that supposed to have happened to everyone already?”
“No, only the temperature, reluctance to water pressure and swimming
fast ability should have happened. When we advance we would work on breathing underwater, superhuman senses, water manipulation, ice manipulation, hydro-thermokinesis, and telethapy. What else can you do?” he questioned. Great. I had singled myself out again.
“I can breath underwater and I have great senses” I admitted and Ken
almost gasped.
“These students have been practicing breathing underwater for two
months and only one of them can breathe underwater easily” Ken said
surprised and asked, “How fast can you swim?”
“I don’t know” I mumbled, “I never really thought about it.”
“Show Me,” he ordered. We walked, well he ran, towards the B Pool since the AA team was warming up in the A Pool and I jumped in.
“Swim a lap” he prodded and almost ten seconds later I was back.
“Incredible. Are you tired at all?”
“Of course. I feel like I just swam one lap” I joked but Ken didn’t smile.
“Breathe underwater,” he emitted.
“For how long?”
“Until I splash the surface” he stressed and I ducked down underneath.
The breathing underwater thing was normal for me now after going in
the pool five days a week for a couple of months. I didn’t move, I
simply floated in one place. With time on my hands, I registered the
fact that I was a Mer. I didn’t have to bother on holding back anymore
but the thought seemed foreign. I was strangely peaceful. With the water around me, protecting me, i felt that i knew about the Mer all along but just didn’t pay any attention to it. Finally I heard splashing and swam to
the top, breathing evenly.
“Twenty minutes. How long have you been able to do this?” he asked curiously.
“A little bit before the beginning of the year” I answered.
“Okay, tomorrow I want you to go to the A-team. Go fast but not too
fast, we don’t want any humans getting ideas” Ken said, as if the word
Human was alien.
“Why doesn’t the government just tell the people?” I proposed.
“Can you imagine the chaos? Besides, the Mer want to stay hidden”
“Are you a Mer?” I questioned.
“Yes” Ken said defiantly and waited for a retort but I didn’t say
anything. This was still all so new to me.
“We’re going to go into controlling water next week, but for now just
come after practice with the AA team and do what they do. Don’t be
afraid to hold back” he stated and turned to leave.
       “What about homework? I won’t have time to do it if I join the AA
team” I yelled after him.
       “You’ll be glad to find that the AA team has its advantages. Come on”
he answered and I followed him to the A pool.

       “Why are you here?” Ariel smirked as I jumped in.
       “Why do you care?” I retorted and surprise leaped into her eyes. I
had never argued with Ariel before. Oh yah, I wasn’t going to hold
back anymore. Ten minutes later I was breathless and hot standing in
front of Ken.
       “You’re done?” Ken questioned as everyone else was still swimming laps.
       “Yes”
       “I assigned you one hundred laps ten minutes ago and you are done?”
Ken stammered. I nodded, breathless but excited. Whoa, what a rush!
Never before had I let myself swim that fast. Never before had I
almost knocked into walls in my haste. I wanted to show Ariel exactly
how fast I could go and I couldn’t wait to see the surprise on her
face when she looked up and saw that I was done. Score for Team Eva!
       “Ummm, very well. You can have the rest of the practice off since
that was supposed to be our last drill. See you tomorrow” Ken quaked
slowly, trying to digest how fast I swam.
       “Okay” I said and walked towards the girl’s locker room. Changing
quickly, I forgot my homework in my tan locker.
       “Dana!” I heard Ken yell as I was passing the pool office.
       “Yes?”
       “You need to sign this confidentiality form” He said and held out a
pen. I quickly signed it and left, gliding towards the gate. Ariel was just finishing her last lap and the look on her face when she saw me was priceless.

       “Where’s your homework?” Mrs. Coulter asserted in third period math.
My desk was littered with papers thrown away from their position in
find of my math sheet.
       “I must have forgotten it at swim” I answered sheepily. I had never
turned in anything late. I know, what a geek.
       “Very well” Mrs. Coulter said and an idea popped up in my head.
       “I also joined the AA team yesterday” I muttered and she looked at me
curiously.
       “In the middle of the semester?”
       “Yes” I said more confidently. Some students turned their heads to
gape at me. A swimmer transferring from the C team to the AA team?
Could it be? You bet.
       “Okay, talk to me at break” she declared and continued onto the next student.

       “So you’re the star swimmer, Ken’s been raving about you since
breakfast” Mrs. Coulter smiled her sea-blue eyed smile.
       “Are all teachers here Mer?” I asked out of topic. All of the
teachers had sea-blue eyes, it only seemed logical.
       “Of course. Now AA team members don’t have to do their homework as long as they have a B or above. I don’t think that will be of any trouble to you” Mrs. Coulter said and ordered, “But, by sharks, don’t say it in front of the whole class. They’ll report it to the office because they’ll believe it’s unfair.” Wow, Mer lingo.
       “By sharks?”
       “It’s a term. In human language it’s like saying By God” Mrs. Coulter
informed and sat back down at her desk, confirming our talk was over.

       By lunch half of the school knew. When I asked who told whom it was a lot of ‘this person overheard this person talking to this person who
told that person who told her.’ When I tried to talk to Kate she
gave me the cold shoulder. It was obvious that me not
telling her I was a great swimmer but keeping it secret was really
bothersome to her. So, I left her alone for a while to cool off. My first mistake as a Mer. Well, maybe my second if you include the math homework.
       So, by swimming practice everyone was whispering as I jumped into the A pool and started swimming laps. Ariel was in front of me but I
didn’t make any move to pass her. If I did, then she would accelerate
until she caught up to me and we would both accelerate to see who
would get in the front. I don’t think Ken wanted all of the humans to
see other swimmers swimming one-hundred miles an hour. That might raise suspicion a tiny bit.  So, I held it all back until the AA team.

       It was a surprise when Ken made me swim in the B pool. Instead of swimming 100 laps, he made me swim 200 in the same amount of time as the others had. I was about the fourth to finish and I had to sit out for a while because my hands were shaking so bad. When my hands were steady, I continually swam laps as fast as I could without stopping. Ken made a brown-haired girl named Rebecca count how many I was swimming. I stopped continuosly swimming after about twenty minutes of and got some water. My vision swam and a ringing started to pierce my ears so I sat down by the edge of the pool next to Rebecca until it stopped.
       “How can you swim so fast?” she asked me, turning her head away as if in embarrassment.
       “ I don’t know. It’s just natural. Like walking. I learned though
that you need to have every muscle in your bodywork together. Whenever
mine work together, something clicks inside me and I, well, it’s just
amazing. Like riding a bike before even getting on one. Now, having
practiced it for so long, the ‘clicking’ is natural for me” I
explained. It was a mouthful but I think Rebecca understood
because she progressed to the fourth best swimmer by the end of the
week.

       “Today we are starting two new things . The first is that starting today, we’ll have homework” Ken announced and groans echoed across the room. I was not going to voice my opinion, or else i would be officially named ‘teachers pet.’ The AA team was restless today because today was Black Friday and everyone couldn’t wait to go shopping. I had especially saved at least three months of allowance for this day.
       “Each Swimmer will get two textbooks. One textbook will be on daily
Mer life and their history, called Mer History. You’ll be surprised to
learn the similarities and differences between the Mer world and the
Human world. Just like humans have cities and countries, so do the
Mer. Just like those countries have allies and enemies, so do the Mer.
The second textbook will be on mastering Mer abilities, called Mer
Abilities ” Ken explained and more groans were heard. Every one groaned, i smiled. I couldn’t wait to pick up a book on Mer folk and Mer
abilities.
       “We’ll pass them out and they’ll only be read by you. Don’t lend or
show them to anyone, and definitely don’t lose them. Both of the
book’s covers will read ‘Swimming Techniques’ but their inside will be
different. Stop by the office to pick one up. We’ll have a quiz on the
first chapter of Mer History next Friday.
       “The second thing I believe will excite you. We are going to start
learning how to bend and control water,” Ken informed and cheers rang
out. He lectured everyone on safety for at least an hour before
bringing us outside to demonstrate. He bent his knees into a solid
stance and stared at the pool for a second or two before about a liter
of water floated into the air. Although many people gasped, I wasn’t
surprised. I was in fact, at ease, like i had seen or done it before.
       “This power is easy to use when you’re bending about a cup of water,
but extremely hard with larger ones. One must practice and practice to
get it right. You must focus your mind and will the water to move.
Many people prefer using body gestures, such as moving their hands.
You have twenty minutes to try, when you have it, yell for me,” Ken
announced and the whole AA team ran to different points of the pool. I
joined Rebecca by the shallow end and sat by the water. Ken lingered
by me waiting to see if my other advanced abilities helped me in
moving water. He was soon being called though by other students who
had gotten some water to flow up into the air. Soon everyone could
move at least half a cup of water into the air for a couple of
seconds, except for me.

       “Don’t worry about it Eva, you’ll get it” Rebecca said as we rode to
the mall. My almost three hundred dollars tucked in my pocket. Kate
still wasn’t talking to me so instead of riding with her I was with
Rebecca.
       “I know, but I was the only one who couldn’t do it” I moaned ashamed.
Why was I so good at my other abilities but so weak with this one?
       “You shouldn’t worry about it right now. Lets just have fun
shopping,” she prodded and I had to smile. We did have fun actually. I
bought a ton of new clothes and we only got back at midnight.
The next day was entirely devoted to resting and reading. I slept in
until twelve and then spent three hours finishing the book ‘Mer
History.’ It was . . . . interesting. Something that really caught my
eye was these Mers called Mearops. They were this race of Mers who
continuously rebelled against the King for power. The Mearops had tattoos running along his or her arms and legs, black eyes, and purple skin. A Mearop could turn so invisible, that not even Mers would see it. Mearops are said to have other abilities as well, but none of them have been recorded. They fought Mers but never kidnapped them. No one knew where they lived and if captured, the Mearop would rather die than tell anyone about where they lived so it was impossible to find. The good thing is that the Mers made glasses, called Merops, which would allow the Mers to see the Mearops. The similarities between the Merops and Mearops were confusing so I consistently reminded myself Merops sounded like More Ups and Mearops sounded like Mair Ups.
Once I finished reading, I practiced until four o’ clock trying to
bend a glass of water but to no avail. By four-thirty, I decided to go
to Ken for advice.

“Focus, don’t get distracted” Ken ordered as my brows knit.
“I can’t,” I finally admitted. This was the fourth try, not counting
the tries during practice.
“What you have is called a Blockage, only three out of about two
hundred people have it. Something’s blocking your ability to bend
water, that’s why you can’t do it. The only thing that can get rid of
a Blockage is a powerful emotion or life threatening time” Ken
continued, a frown on his face, “This is unexpected after your
advanced abilities.”
“So I can get rid of the Blockage,” I asked.
“By a strong emotion or life-threatening time” he indicated, “I can’t
do anymore for you.”

“A Blockage? I’m so sorry Eva” Rebecca offered after I told her.
“It’s okay, I just have to feel a strong emotion to get rid of it,” I
said cheerfully. Rebecca didn’t answer so I left. On my way to my
room, I overheard Kate. I looked around but didn’t see her so I used
my hearing to find where she was. The floor above me.
“We’re all going to the beach next Saturday, are you sure you can’t
come?” I heard Ariel tell Kate.
“I’ll try. But the homework load is just getting heavier. I’ll
definitely spread the word though,” Kate answered and I heard her walk
away. She was walking down the stairs, towards me.
“Hey” I greeted but she merely strolled by me.
“Look, I’m sorry for not telling you!” I apologized once she passed
but her shoulders merely shrugged. Instead of pursuing her, I walked
back to my room and immersed myself into the book ‘Mer Abilities.’

My memory had always been amazing. Pristine and not even tangible in
fact. So I of course remembered every sorry face and sad eyes the
following week as all of the other swimmer’s excelled while I couldn’t
even bend a cup. My status dropped tremendously and instead of working
on bending water anymore, I experimented with my senses. By the end of
the school week, I could hear and smell from a mile away at will. My
eyesight could zoom in and out with clear focus like a camera and see
through things, and I had started to adapt a sixth sense. Whenever I
started feeling tingly, I would know something bad would happen. I
first experienced it when I walked into history class Tuesday morning.
A shiver along my spine just before the history teacher announced we
would have a surprise quiz. I told Ken what I was doing and he
supported me all the way. Ariel made it clear to everyone though that
I was weak and couldn’t even lift a drop of water. Any powerful
emotions I had didn’t even trigger because of that.

By Saturday morning, I was ready for the Beach party. News of it had
circulated around the school so much it was like everyone was going.
Most of the teachers, in fact, were going as well with some excuse that they were chaperoning. The place was Moonlight Beach. I planned on going with Rebecca and had prepared myself for any filthy comments
Ariel would throw at me.
It was very exciting. All of the teachers wore these ridiculous
sunglasses they joked with the students about and a potluck was in
session. Ken, of course, was the lifeguard and some other teachers
were guarding the food from Sea Gulls. A herd of thirty year olds in striped pink and green glasses waving paper plates around a table of food smeared in sun screen. I spent a couple of minutes only sitting in the sea, adjusting to the fact that I was actually supposed to live in it. I felt strangely happy at the fact, like it was meant to be. Well, no duh, it was meant to be. I was a Mer now. As I sat by the beach and just listened, I seemed to hear whispering. I tried to locate the sound but found it impossible, even with my better than average ears. “Danger is coming” it repeated, barely audible. I stopped listening and walked to the food table for a hot dog. What danger could there be?

“We’re going to boogie board Eva, do you want to come?” Rebecca asked
me as I finished my scrumptious hot dog.
“Yah” I agreed and threw away my plate. I grabbed a banana yellow boogie board and waded into the ocean with Rebecca and a couple of other girls.
“Where’s Kate?” I asked them.
“She went with Ariel down the beach to look at some shells. Don’t
worry about her” One of them answered and yelled, “I’m getting this
wave.” I dived under the wave and continued on with some other girls.
I wanted a large wave; one that I felt would wash away my troubles.
Once I was alone, I promised myself to get the next wave and would
have if I hadn’t seen something in the water. What was that? I focused
my eyes on the spot where I had seen something move. I made my eyes
see through the murk and gasped. A Mearop, with gigantic night eyes, was staring back at me.

“Ahhhhhhh!” I screamed and tried to peddle away, catching the next wave The Mearop gasped and swam towards the surface.
“I’m invisible, how can you see me?” it/he/she said and tried to grab at me
but I was already tearing across the water on my wave. It swam, Mearop
speed, into the wave and alongside me but I tried to swat it away.
It’s nails dug into my arm and a searing pain drove me into
unconscious.

“Wow that one is so pretty.” Kate’s voice.
“I know, we should start a collection.” That was Ariel. My vision
cleared and I could see Kate, Ariel, and Ariel’s friends looking for
rocks and seashells from a birds view.
“My favorite is the blue one” Kate said and a flashing in the water
caught my eye. It caught Ariel’s eye too.
“There’s something in the water” Ariel said and walked towards the
waves. She bent down and picked up a shard of a mirror.
“How did this get-“ she said but immediately screamed. A purple clawed
arm shot out of the water and snatched Ariel’s wrist.
“Your coming with me” a Mearop said rising from the water, dripping
with slime. Four Mearops rose from the murky water behind him as well
and grabbed the remainder of Ariel’s friends and Kate.
“This one is not a Mer,” A Mearop pointed out pushing Kate to the
ground. Why wasn’t anybody running to save them?
“Leave her, let’s go” a Mearop, the leader, ordered and shoved Ariel
and other members of the AA team into the water, “Hope you’ve learned
how to breath under water.” I woke up.

“She’s breathing!” Ken yelled in my ear. Of course I was breathing I
can breath underwater, he knew that. Oh, Ken was acting so the humans
wouldn’t get any ideas.
“How did she fall of her boogie board? It looked like she was
struggling against something out there,” a swimmer put forth and I
opened my eyes. A crowd of faces leaned over me and I numbly felt my
left hand bleeding. I struggled to sit up but Ken, surprised, held me
down.
“Don’t get up. Just rest for a minute,” Ken ordered.
“No,” I argued and against his resistance stood up. The ground swayed
for a couple of seconds before I could see straight and all of the
kids around me was not what I wanted to see. I clutched Ken’s forearm
and pulled him out of the crowd.
“Mearop” I whispered, breathing heavily.
“I know, I saw,” he answered and I looked at him. Of course! The funky
glasses he and all of the other teachers were wearing were Merops.
They had been prepared.
“The question is, Eva, how did you see it? And how are you awake so soon?” Ken asked. I looked at him and widened my eyes.
“Mearops” I said.
“No, Dana. There was only one Mearop. Now answer my question” Ken urged but I shook my head and twisted away from him.
“Mearops” I said and pointed towards Kate, Ariel, and Ariel’s friends.
No Mearops were in sight but I knew better.
“Come with me now!” I ordered and started running dizzily towards them.
“Eva! You’re in no condition to run!” Ken yelled after me and tried to
catch up. Some other teachers followed in pursuit, but most thought nothing of it . I was already a fourth of my way there. My head was growing clearer and i accelerated. Something flashed in the sun by the water.
“Dana I order you to stop!” Ken yelled but I just sped up. Ariel
was walking towards the water. I was halfway there.
“What are you doing?” One of the students asked as I passed him but I
ignored his question. Now people were looking as i tried to wave my hands, get Ariel’s attention. Ariel picked up the shard of the mirror and a
purple hand shot out and grabbed hers. Ariel screamed. The teachers
gasped. I continued running. I was already three-fourths there. The
Mearop rose up from the water and four others followed pursuit. By the
time he had fully stood, I was on top of him. He never expected it. I
tackled him and gripped his sides, yelling for Ariel to get away.
The Mearop was stronger, much stronger and pushed me off. Kate, Ariel,
and Ariel’s friends were already running away while Ken and the
teachers were just at the three-fourths mark.
“Hold them off. I want at least one Mer out of this ambush. Wait, it’s
you!” the Mearop ordered the other four and locked eyes with mine. A
shiver ran down my spine and he grinned wickedly.
“You are more powerful that I expected” he seethed and grabbed my arm.
I yelped as he dug his nails into my flesh and was dragged into the
ocean. Salt water burned my scrapes and held back a scream. He held me
tight and dived into the ocean, me as his prisoner.

Once I ordered my eyes to see through the sea’s blackness, my view was just fine. The Mearop was traveling at a fast and steady pace, confident
and deadly. I grabbed his arm and raked my nails across it, he let out
a howl of pain and let go. I was free, for now. I was about to swim
for it when he was on top of me again and grinding his nails into my
flesh.
Without warning, Ken was there and intercepted us. He powerfully
pushed me away from the Mearop and faced it, ready to fight. I gasped
in shock, as I looked at his lower half. He had a tail!
“Do not touch the girl!” Ken yelled at him but the Mearop simply smiled back.
“I already did” He answered and waved his nails in front of Kens face.
A stricken expression replaced Ken’s angry face and that’s when the
Mearop attacked. I was about to dive in and help when the Mearop’s
friends swam in and grabbed me. Two held onto me while the other two
helped the Mearop fighting Ken. Fury bubbled up inside me. Three
against one? If they didn’t fight fair then I guess I wasn’t going to
either. I felt like the whole sea was at my command. I bended, yes
bended, the water to push the two Mearops grabbing me away. They flew
back at least one hundred yards behind me. Then, I dived into the
Mearop V.S. Ken fight. Concentrating, I literally froze the water
around the three Mearops until it looked like they were in an ice
cube, leaving Ken untouched. He looked terrible, all scraped and
unconscious. I grabbed him by the arms and struggled to swim him to
the surface. I was about to bend a wave to carry us to the ocean when
five jets of water swam towards us at an impossible human rate. They
were five teachers, two history, one science, and two English.
“What, did the Math department decide not to join?” I joked and they
swam up to me.
“This is not a time to be joking Eva!” one of the history teachers
fumed. All of them except for the English teachers, Mr. Smith and Mrs.
Carlstorm swam to me. While the English teachers scanned the area for
any threats, the two history teachers, Mrs. Darnly and Mrs. Mathews,
supported Ken and the science teacher, Mr. Joanides, supported me.
“They’re just frozen. Completely frozen” Mr. Smith swam to the surface
and told everyone.
“I didn’t know Ken was so experienced“ Mrs. Darnly commented and then
swam quickly to Ken. Wow, Mrs. Darnly had a tail too. As I looked
around, all of the teachers had tails, all of different shades and
proportions. Why was i so surprised, i had known they were Mer.
“He has a scratch. I’m surprised he still fought the Mearops instead
of swimming away” Mr. Mathews commented. My vision blurred and I
rubbed my eyes with my free arm.
“ Dana, what’s that?” Mr. Joanides asked looking at my scraped arm.
“I got scratched from the Mearops” I answered tiredly. All of the
teachers turned towards me as if they just realized I was there.
“Then how are you still awake? Mearops put poison on their nails that
weakens their enemy. Ken got scratched and that’s why he passed out”
Mrs. Carlstorm swam towards me and inspected my bleeding arm.
“Do you have any other scratches?” she asked.
“I don’t know” I mumbled, my brain felt heavy and numb.
“Lets take her to the Nurse. Can you swim Eva? Ken told me you were a
good swimmer” Mr. Smith asked me calmly.
“I’ll try” I answered and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus. When
I opened them, I was able to support myself swimming and looked around
for the Beach.
“Where’s the Beach?” Mrs. Carlstorm asked.
“Ken was good at this” Mrs. Darnly sighed and I shut my eyes again,
trying to locate the sound of the Beach Party. I heard laughing
northwest and looked that way.
“North West” Mr. Smith and I informed simultaneously.
“How’d you know?” Mr. Smith asked me as some of the teachers started
swimming North West.
“I heard the Beach Party,” I answered and Mr. Smith nodded.
“I’ll stay behind you, try to get to the Beach as fast as you can” Mr.
Joanide’s said so I started at a slow pace and started to gain speed.
Soon I was swimming so fast I felt like I was flying. As I raced
across the water I tried to focus on the area around me and get a
sense of where I was. Once I spotted the Beach, I slowed to a fast
human pace so that the humans on the Beach wouldn’t get suspicious. I
couldn’t focus on anything anymore and just barely made out the purple
shape swimming towards me.
‘Not again!’ I thought and got ready to fight. Instead of swimming at
me though, it stopped and looked at me questioningly.
“Eva, are you okay?” it said, it’s voice a replica of Mr. Joanides.
“Get away from me!” I yelled but it didn’t move but instead looked at
me worried. It’s face blurred until it was Mr. Joanides face and I
tried to get a sense of reality.
“Don’t touch me!” I growled as it swam towards me, seemingly
dangerous. My eyes started to droop but I fought against the urge to
pass out. My urge won, however, and the last thing I saw was Mr.
Joanides/ Mearop swimming at me.

White walls, white covers, white lamp. White, at least no black, the color of death. I blinked a couple of times to focus. I was in the Hospital wing. The last time I had been here was to visit Madeline; the only difference was that I was in the bed instead of her. The first thing to grab my attention was the bandages expertly wrapped around my left arm, rights bicep, and right calf. Voices started up and progressively grew louder. I closed my eyes just as the unexpected guests entered the room.
“Rumors are just flying around the school. The humans believed us when
we told them about how it was a prank. Kate was harder to reassure, she had seen a Mearop. There’s still questioning though about Eva, hopefully we won’t get any more questions about her” I heard the nurse say. I remembered my first encounter with the nurse. She was exactly as a nurse should look like. Blue eyes, genuine smile, and blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. I think her name is Sarah.
“I’m glad she’s an orphan up here or else her parents would really cause a problem ,” another voice said and I held back a grimace. Principle Josie was actually glad I didn’t have parents. But you do Eva, a voice in the back of my head said, in the Mer world.
“It’s all very confusing,” Principle Josie continued, “Ken woke up a
couple of days ago, you know, the day after the Mearop ambush.
Naturally too since his body has set up defenses against Mearop poison
after getting scratched so many times. He’s tried to tell us as much
as he can but he’s only gotten so far. The last thing he remembers is
when two Maerops joined their leader and started fighting him, you
know, three on one. He says he passed out after that.”
“What did he tell you about the girl?”
“You mean Eva? He said she was acting weird when he carried her out of
that wave. And that she seemed to know what was going to happen to
Ariel and her friends. She was very brave, you know, surprising that
Mearop by tackling him. Ken told me he was proud” Principle Josie
informed.
“I know, but are the rumors true? Had she seen the Mearop though she
had no Merop Glasses on?” Sarah asked curiously.
I heard Josie sigh and the ruffle of hair as she ran her fingers
through it before saying, “Yes, it’s true. Ken told me she was
struggling against it when she was boogie boarding that wave.” It went
quiet for a while and all I could here was the clanking of medical
instruments. The curtain surrounding my bed ruffled and I quite
literally felt Ken walk in.
“Ken, you should get some sleep. She’s not going to be waking up for
at least another week” Sarah sighed, as if she had told him this for
the tenth time.
“I know, I know. It’s just all so confusing. I’m all mixed up and she
has all the answers,” Ken insisted and I felt him stare at me.
“She’s awake” Ken continued, “I feel it.”
“She’s been asleep this whole time” Josie defended but Ken walked to
my bed and sat by my feet. I opened my eyes and everyone in the room
besides Ken let out a gasp.

“How long have you been awake?” Josie demanded, embarrassed about her outburst.
“A little before you came in” I answered and sat up, the bed sinking
to adjust to my new position.
“You heard everything?” Sarah asked surprised.
“Yes, and don’t worry Ken, I know what happened” I smiled. Ken, with
circles under his eyes, sighed as if finishing a complicated
game.
“But, this is impossible. You should still be too weak to wake. I need
to run DNA tests immediately” Sarah raved, pacing around the room.
“Sarah, calm. Let us let Eva tell us what happened” Josie ordered and
Sarah sat down in a chair, tapping her foot.
“We could do both. Why don’t you take a blood sample while I tell them
what happened?” I asked Sarah and she nodded, preparing her tools. So,
I started from the beginning. I started with I boogie boarding with my
friends until I was alone. I winced from the shots Sarah took and they
furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, making me retaliate what
happened repeatedly. I left out the part about when I had heard the
voice warning me about danger, it was most likely my 6th sense or
imagination.
“This is very confusing” Ken murmured once I was done.
“Yes, but what about Mr. Joanides. How could he have been a Mearop?” I
asked confused.
“He wasn’t. He told me that when he saw you stop he tried to swim next
to you to help you to the shore. He said you acted strange. You must
have been hallucinating” Sarah explained and more details fell into
place.
“So you froze the ice?” Josie asked perplexed.
“Yes”
“Was it hard?” she asked and I shook my head.
“Once I pushed the two Mearops holding me away, I felt so powerful.
Like I could do anything. That’s why everything I did was so easy” I
explained and Ken widened his eyes.
“Of course! Your blockage must have been blocking a large sum of
energy. When you felt angry, when I had to fight three Mearops on one,
it must have gotten rid of the Blockage and all of that power would
have filled you” Ken explained.
“Then how come she can do it now?” Josie asked.
“The ice thing? Did she do it now?” Ken inquired and Josie looked at me.
“Well, can you?” Josie asked and bended a ball of water in front of
me. I bended it from her easily and tried to freeze it just as I had
done before. Willing the ice to freeze, I concentrated on it until I
heard a crack. The water turned into a hard blob of ice and I smiled
happily, grabbing it from the air. My shoulders sagged and i set it on my nightstand, that used a lot of energy.
“Enough! She shouldn’t be using any energy right now. Just let her
rest” Sarah ordered, her voice strong and clear. Sarah was powerful
when it came to her patients.
“ Very well, good job” Ken commented, “But how did you see those Mearops?”

“I don’t know” I stuttered, I just saw it. Is that such a bad thing?” I asked.
“No, but it is extremely strange” Ken answered rubbing his head in
hands, “Why does all of this have to be so confusing!”
“Guys, you need to come and see this” Sarah ordered, “I’ve got the
results. Eva, stay in your bed. I’ll print one out for you.” I sighed
and crossed my arms, leaning back against the pillow.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before. Although her DNA is still
Mer, she has a gene that’s different from all the others. I believe it
allows her to adapt to some situations rapidly as well as give her
power beyond Human or Mer definition. I can clearly see that this
‘Adaptive Gene’ immediately made an antidote against the Mearop
poison. If I can take that antidote and make a replica, I could
possibly make a usable antidote other Mers can use. And you see this,
the green one. That is a rapidly reproducing white blood cell. Like a
white blood cell hyped up on Caffeine. It’s continuingly making other
white blood cells that are adapting to fight off the Mearop poison.
It’s extraordinary!” Sarah exclaimed.
“So I’m like a mutant? A mutant mermaid? i should be called M squared ” I asked and all eyes turned towards me.
“No, sweetie. You are just special” Josie said and turned towards Ken
for support.
“Yes, you’re just special. Nothing less” Ken supported.
“What do you mean? About the replica?” Josie asked changing the
subject, her eyes clouded with ideas.
“I mean I can make an antidote against the Mearop poison with
extensive research. We need to get this information back to the Mer as
quickly as possible. Eva, I’ll need a liter of your blood” Sarah
ordered turning to me.
“What? My blood?” I demanded, looking at Principle Josie, “Is this allowed?”
“No, but I’m willing to bend the rules. Are you?” Principle Josie
answered and I nodded my head, how was i supposed to argue with that? Say i was too selfish to give to a good cause? After a liter of blood was taken, I was given orange juice and a cookie, than Sarah
made me sleep.

“So, my story is if human’s ask me, is; some students, I’m not
supposed to mention names, played a prank and dragged me underwater.
Unexpected jelly fish came and shocked us?” I repeated to Mr.
Joanides.
“Yes. We’re letting you off today so that you’ll have the weekend
before school starts. Tell us immediately if you feel weird in any
way” Mr. Joanides confirmed.
“Have the Mer scientists have any breakthroughs yet?” I asked curiously.
“No, they are intrigued by your cell structure however yet disappointed.”
“Disappointed?”
“Well, your cells have a defense mechanism that once they are removed
from your body, they will die 48 hours later. It’s extremely
frustrating for the scientists because they have to continually
replicate the cells” Mr. Joanides explained.
“Cell Suicide” I murmured and followed Mr. Joanides towards my room.
It was the Friday after the Maerop ambush. Although i had felt superb, Sarah had forced me to stay in the hospital for a few extra days.
“ Here you are” Mr. Joanides said and opened my door for me. My room,
tidy, lay in front of me in school perfection.
“I see you cleaned up in here for me” I commented.
“Our maids only spent a couple of minutes in here. Your room is
considerably clean compared to the other swimmers” Mr. Joanides said
and left, leaving me to myself. I jumped on my green bed and lay on the
covers. It was good to be back.

After the Maerop ambush, I had grown considerably in skill. What
helped was my free time in the hospital wing. I would bend water for
hours, adding more and more water until Sarah would walk in and make
me put it back or ‘else.’ One time she surprised me and all of the water
dropped and soaked the room. She was extremely mad but I just bended
the water off the walls, tile, and furniture and into the sink. Her
expression was priceless. I also read the book Mer History and Mer
abilities in my free time as well. I had basically memorized
everything that was in it by the end of Thursday. So, as I walked
towards the pool area to show Ken what I could do and practice in the
pool, I was surprised to find Ariel already talking to him.
“But I want to learn more! I’ve already basically mastered bending
water, I want to learn how to turn invisible!” Ariel whined but didn’t
notice me.
“I will tell you this one more time. I will only teach you bending
water. You are not yet ready for invisibility. If you want to learn
it, try it your self. Other than that, practice water bending until
you have it perfect” Ken answered calmly, allowing annoyance to creep
into his tone.
“But I have mastered it! You’ve seen me!” Ariel yelled at him,
stomping her foot. This is what i have to put up with.
“I you have mastered it, then you don’t mind challenging me to a
Merkairio do you?” I asked walking up to them. The words seemed to
flow out of my mouth like water, i wish i could take them back.
“Hello Eva, what are you doing here?” Ken asked, although he didn’t
show any surprise.
“I wanted to show you what I could do so far, and maybe you could give me some pointers. I could show you while I fight Ariel in a Merkairio?” I asked and Ken smiled.
“Someone has been reading their books. And Eva, what exactly is a
Merkairio?” Ken quizzed.
“A duel between Mers for power or honor” I answered, my smile dangerous.
       “Do you accept Ariel?” Ken asked, knowing that she would say yes.
       “Of course. Shall we?” Ariel asked and walked to the other side of
the pool. Ken activated the force field and I positioned myself
parallel of Ariel.
       “Ariel, how do you win a Merkairio?” Ken asked Ariel as he threw both of us a belt. Ariel simply shrugged so Ken turned towards me.
       “By stealing their belt and placing it on their side” I answered
before Ken could ask. I fastened my belt to my waist and got ready. I
knew exactly what I was going to do.
       “When I say go, you may start!” Ken yelled and after a seconds pause,
yelled “GO!” Ariel immediately bended the water into little balls in
the air and made them fly at me. I simply took control of the balls of
water and made them fly back at her. While she was preoccupied, I
dived into the water and swam to the bottom, waiting for her to
follow. A second later I heard a dive and looked up, she was racing
towards me. I bended a whirlpool and directed it towards her. She got
sucked into the middle but eventually bended her way out, a scared
look on her face. The water calmed me, and allowed me to think clearly.
“Nuhnuh nuh nuhnuh. nuhnuh nuh nuhnuh” I heard, like someone was holding their tongue and talking. I tore my gaze from Ariel and tried to locate the sound.
“Nuhnuh nuh nuhnuh. nuhnuh nuh nuhnuh” The sound was beuitiful, dazzling and mysterious. I couldn’t locate where it came from and tried to focus on the words yet again, delving deeper into my sense of hearing.
“Teachers are coming. Beware of danger” That was it. Teachers? Beware of what? I couldn’t dwell on the topic much because in a flash Ariel was on top of me. She grabbed my head and hit it against the concrete floor. Blackness.

       Something was happening. I forced my eyes open and looked up to see Ariel. She grabbed my belt, pulling it loose. But I knew she was
going to do that, I also knew she would aim her right leg at me as she
started to swim away. Ten seconds before it happened I knew what
would. Just before she aimed her foot at me, I grabbed it and twisted
it, grabbing my belt out of her hand. She was going to bend water so
that it shoved me into the wall in six seconds. I lunged for her and
tackled her in the water, grabbing her belt. I jumped off the ground
of the water and into the air. In three seconds she was going to
follow me. I stopped and counted to three to make sure I was right.
She tackled me. She grabbed me by the waist and pushed me away a foot,
grabbing both of the belts. In four seconds she was going to use all
of her bending strength to shove me into the wall. I couldn’t prepare
myself.
       The full force of her water bending power was magnificent. I hit the
wall with such force it cracked the tile and anger pursed through me.
In nine seconds she would win. No way. I spun the water circular
around me until I had enough force to propel myself into the air. I
must have looked scary. Me, Eva, on top of a circular tube of flowing
water ten feet above the ground. Ariel was definitely scared. I,
again, felt like the whole sea was at my command. With one flicker of
my am I froze the water around her. I bended the ice to remove both of
the belts and grabbed them. By the time I got to her side to drop the
belts, I was exhilarated. I felt like a god! I was a god! I immediately unfroze her so she wouldn’t catch anything serious and Ken ran up to me.
       “That was amazing!” he exclaimed, his eyes dancing.
       “I know, after I passed out, it’s like I knew her so well I knew what
she was going to do” I informed, surprised.
       “Mer’s have incredible analysis skills, yours is beyond incredible”
Ken answered as Ariel climbed the steps out of the pool, a fake smile
on her face.
       “Good job, I didn’t know you had so much experience,” she said and
left, an uneasy feeling crept into my stomach.
       “I know you think I should get a long with her but she’s really mean
and creepy” I commented, “I mean, I thought she would be nicer to me
since I saved her from those Mearops.”
       “No, I agree with you. She needs to be taught that she’s not as great
as she thinks she is” Ken said surprisingly. Mer teachers are so much
better than human teachers.

       “Today we’re going to be splitting up the AA team. Some people, many of you have noticed, are more experienced then others. The School
Board has decided to add an AAA Team as well as some new coaches. We are not going to judge you in the future for the team your on, and you are able to switch if you advance This is a critical time for all of you. We want every student to go at their own pace” Ken explained to the confused students. Instead of going immediately into our lesson that day, Ken made us wait in the pool in front of some teachers.
       “We will analyze you today. Don’t be afraid to show off or
experiment. We’re only placing you in groups you will be more
comfortable in” Ken explained, basically telling everyone they have a
free day to do what ever they want as long as they do all of their
skills. I was about to jump into the A pool with all of the other
swimmers to show off my skills when I realized that if I was in a
crowd I wouldn’t get noticed as much. Others shared my thought and
jumped into the B pool, since . I followed Rebecca to the B pool but
quickly changed to the C pool when Ariel jumped into the B pool. I
wasn’t going to let her mess up my day.
First, I swam as fast as I could for about five minutes, allowing the
water to connect and flow with my swimming rate. Then, I talked to
Kate underwater for ten minutes, relaxed and confident. After that, i went to the C pool alone to practice my water bending. This was
going to be my day! Nature just loves proving me wrong.

“It was an accident!” Ariel yelled, her poker face as fake as her hair.
“I was just experimenting with Hydro-Thermo kinesis! You told us
yourself we could experiment! I just didn’t see her in the pool!
Besides, you said when I was talking to you about invisibility that I
should try things myself!” Ariel continued sounding frustrated, “I
mean, I wouldn’t do it on purpose!”
“Yes, but boiling water, as it says in your handbook, has to be done
with expert help! It’s easy to lose control when practicing it!
Besides, ‘doing it yourself’ was only for invisibility!” Ken yelled,
bending down next to me, “You were being very careless!”
 “I’m sorry! As I said, I thought I could do it but I guess I couldn’t
okay!” Ariel basically screamed and I struggled to open my eyes
against the pierced shriek.
“What happened?” I struggled, my skin feeling tight.
“Don’t worry, Sarah is coming” Ken said and I felt cold water press
against my skin. I hadn’t realized bending water could be used for
anything besides fighting.
“I was in the pool,” I said, trying to focus but Ken’s face seemed to
get dizzier, “Ariel did something.”
“Don’t worry Eva, Sarah’s coming” Ken said trying to calm me down. I
felt like I was missing something very important. I wasn’t getting the
big picture. Maybe it was the AAA team.
“Did I make the 3A team?” I asked and Ken looked surprised, as if the
AAA team was tiny compared to this. Nope, the AAA team wasn’t it.
Maybe if my brain wasn’t so heavy I could figure it out. Faces crowded
around me from behind Ken and a camera poked out, why would anyone
want to get this on tape?
“I’m sure you did, considering all of the moves you were able to do. I
don’t think someone else did though, considering her carelessness” Ken
answered and glared at Ariel as he said the last sentence. That was
it!
“What! I didn’t make the 3A team because of a tiny accident! I’m like the best here!” Ariel argued but Ken ignored her.
“Oh no, oh no. How bad did I get burned?” I asked, my skin felt numb.
“Third-degree burn, no more and no less. Full body” Ken explained
instead of hiding it from me. I moaned and anger pursed through me.
“Why does this keep happening to me!” I sighed and turned towards
Ariel. This was all her fault!
“What have I done to you? You knew I was in the pool! You were
practicing in the B Pool but then switched to the C Pool when you saw
me switch! Of course it wasn’t an accident, stop pretending it was!” I
yelled at her, struggling to sit up. Ken tried to stop me.
“I saved you from those Mearops and now you repay me with this! You
should be giving me a medal or a ‘Thank you!’” I scream, letting all
of my emotions out. A tingling feeling swept over my body at the last
sentence and I let out a satisfying sigh. With minor difficulty, I
stood up and stared at her, eye to eye.
“Don’t talk to me, don’t touch me, and don’t talk about me! I don’t
want anything to do with you!” I ordered and a frightened expression
seized Ariel’s eyes.
“Eva, your burns” Ken whispered and I looked down at my skin.
Replacing my hot, blistering, burns was fresh new skin. I let out a
surprised squeak before fainting and falling into the pool. Wow, what
a performance.

“It’s extraordinary, she’s extraordinary! Just think of the power she
holds! I’m glad someone video taped the whole thing” I heard Sarah
exclaim and try to focus. Why do I always end up in the hospital wing
now a days?
“Could this affect her negatively in any way?” I hear Josie ask and
open my eyes.
“Well, maybe. I’m running a test analysis right now. Did you already
ship the video replica to the Mer?” Sarah questioned.
“Yes, I had Mrs. Mathews swim to the palace along with another liter
of blood about an hour ago” Ken replied.
“Hey” I grunted and sat up, stretching.
“Good afternoon” Mr. Joanides said, walking into the sunlight from the corner,
“How long have you been awake?”
“I just woke up” I noted and look around at everyone’s staring
faces, “Am I supposed to do something?”
“No, do you remember what happened?” Sarah asked.
“ A little bit before I passed out and everything once I had woken up”
I answered and looked at them, “Well, can I see this video you guys
are talking about?” Silently, Sarah sat down at her computer and
clicked on something. A window popped up and she pressed play, and
then moved out of the way so I could see it. I was bending the water
around me so it would bring me into the air, I remembered that.
“That’s like your signature move now” Ken remarked and I couldn’t help
but smile. Ariel in the corner was moving her hands in motions, trying
to concentrate on a particular spot in the corner. Suddenly, she
screamed and fell back. The water turned into a boiling mass of bubbles and I fell into the middle. I swam to the top and my skin started to turn red, i had passed out. Ken ran into the video frame and stared at
the water for a few seconds, the concentration displayed on his face. The boiling water stopped boiling and turned into a regular body of water. The camera was shaking now and the person holding zoomed in closer. Ken dived in and pulled me out of the water onto the pavement on the other side. The camera was being run over to me and I saw myself unconscious on the ground, red and blistering. Ken yelled for help and started arguing with Ariel. I heard the full conversation of me waking up and Ken yelling at Ariel.
“I thought the water was the same temperature to Mers no matter what
the real temperature is?” I asked.
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean it can’t hurt our body’s. Ariel boiled the
water at about 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so no matter what you’ll still
get burned. Mer’s have adapted to these circumstances by having a
strong epidermis, or skin, but their skin will still burn or freeze at
extreme temperatures. When they grow hot their skin turns red and when
they grow cold their skin turns blue. Did you know that staying in hot
or cold temperatures could permanently change one’s skin color for a
period of time? ” Mr. Joanides explained as the video on Sarah’s
computer showed me guessing what had happened.
“This is no time for ‘fun facts.’ This is the important part” Sarah said, as if
telling us to be quiet. I stood up and started yelling at Ariel, and
then my skin literally turned back into it’s normal color and healed. From red hot, it sizzled, fuzzed out, and then turned back into it’s regular color.
Then, I fainted.
“Why did that happen?” I asked, surprised.
“Your adaptive gene knew the condition you were in a couple of seconds
you entered the water and made White blood cells that multiplied by
the millions to heal your skin. You have healing powers,” Sarah
answered smiling. I groaned.
“Great, now people are going to think I’m more of a freak than I
already am” I groaned, and I meant it. Already the other swimmers
were treating me different because I was a superb swimmer.
“You aren’t a freak. What you have, it’s like growing up extra tall,
or having really good climbing skills. You’re just special” Josie
answered sincerely. I’ve heard that before.

Guess what? No, don’t guess, I wouldn’t know your answer. I made the
AAA team, which teachers started to call the 3A team since AAA was a
mouthful. Guess what else? Wait, don’t answer. Ariel wasn’t on the 3A
team since she was ‘careless.’ She made a big deal about it though;
she had a mental breakdown when Ken called out the names of the people
on the 3A team. It felt amazing.
The AA, now 2A team, is still practicing in the A pool with the 3A
team is going to practice in B and C pool, since we are doing advancd skills we are going to need more room to do them. After Ken had called out the names, he explained that 2A and 3A would be competing against each other. Both in games and in regular practices. He didn’t mention what
the prize for the winning team would be, but I guessed it would be amazing. Ken also let it slip that three new teachers from the Mer
world would arrive Monday and two would teach the 3A team while the
other one would help Ken teach the 2A team. These are the teachers that the voice meant in the water, when i was battling Ariel in the Merkairio. But what danger?
Guess what else? The nurse assigned Mr. Joanides to be somewhat like a
counselor and scientist mix for me. Every Sunday night I had to go to
Mr. Joanides room so that he could record down how I felt, anything
knew I could do, and take a blood sample. As if I didn’t feel singled
out already.

Troy and Zale. Those were the two teachers for the 3A team. The other
one was Jonah but he went to the 2A team.
“Is this for real?” I inquired Rebecca, who was on the 3A team with me
because of my swimming tip.
“I don’t know, I hope I’m not dreaming” Rebecca pleaded as we sat by
the side of the pool, watching Troy and Zale warm up t-shirtless and
with tails. They were as Mer as possible. They had at least a
12-pack, and biceps bigger than Baseballs. They were swimming lazily,
at about half of my speed. Zale had black hair that shadowed Sea –blue
eyes and years of experience. His age seemed to be around 16. Troy had
blonde hair streaked with permanent green and blue eyes open to
playfulness. He looked like was 15. Troy was obviously new to teaching
while Zale had done it his whole life.
They were simply the definition of Mer. When they spoke it was free and easy, like a wave making a rock smooth. They walked like average teachers, but there was a major difference between which state they would rather be in and it showed.
I was surprised at their tails, who wouldn’t be? Zale’s tail matched his
attitude, a mysterious deep blue with hues of forest green. Troy had a
completely light green tail, as if it’s tail was too stubborn to show
off any other color. Other swimmers sat down next to us to watch, but
I grew fidgety. Okay, we get that you have tails and that your fast
swimmers, when are they going to tell us to warm-up?
‘Why don’t you warm up, Troy and I are only taking one lane?’ I heard
and almost fell into the water but didn’t. Mermaids had telethapy;
Zale was probably speaking to me.
‘We are used to being told what to do and when to do it’ I thought as
loud as I could directing it towards Zale. Zale picked up speed and
swam to our end, bending the water around him so that it lifted him up
so he could look at me eye to eye. He was only inches away from my face and his body was at an angle, so it was like he was leaning towards me. My friends shrunk back, as if scared Zale would hurt them. I stayed forward though, unafraid.
‘Tell me, has your class learned telethapy yet?’ he directed towards
me, although he invaded my mind I felt at ease. I could tell by his eyes that he is hard on the outside and needs to be respected. He had expected me to shrink back as well, but i did not want to be labeled as a ‘chicken’ to him.
‘We were supposed to learn it in two months time” I answered
telepathically, feeling apprehensive.
‘Well then why have you already learned it?’
‘I didn’t know I could do it until now’ I explained, poker faced. Zale
leaned towards me and stared me in the eye, now centimeters away from my bold stare. I saw Ken running towards us in confusion, obviously our interaction has caught attention. Zale lifted a hand before Ken could reach our end and Ken slowed to a calm walk.
‘Rid your mind of all thoughts’ Zale said but a voice in the back of
my head warned me not to. Could this be what the water has warned me of? Never the less, I closed my eyes and let go of all thoughts.
“Zale, no!” I heard Ken yell and when I opened my eyes my life flashed
before me. It was like I had to relive all of the bullies and
loneliness. Not that I didn’t relive all of the happy moments as well,
but those were of few. I had to watch again and again how I was never
adapted while others were, even though I was just as good as them. One
particular scene flashed before me and I forced it to a stop.
I was at the beach, alone. I was lucky to live at an orphanage so
close to one, and I was even luckier I was one of the few in the
orphanage who went there. I was young and I was sitting by the sand,
just looking. Large rocks that I used to climb on lay around me,
shielding me from outsiders. As I watched, I saw that I got up and
started playing the game Imagination. Imagination was a game that I
named although many people have already played it unknowingly.
Imagination is where someone pretends to be someone his or her not.
They could be a daring princess fighting a battle, an animal morphing
human who was being chased by trolls, or a lost girl simply looking
for a home. Imagination was a game that could be played anywhere and
with anything. Guess what I was pretending to be on that particular
day? A mermaid. As I waded into the water, I bended it into the air
and shot it at the rock. Me, maybe seven years ago, bending. How could
I have forgotten that? As I continued playing, Mearops emerged from
the water and walked up to me. They were staring at me curiously, and
I stared up at them with confidence. They asked if they could play,
their voice crackling but pure.  I nodded and together we played
Imagination.
Once that scene was over, it continued and I saw more Mearops. What’s
more, I had played with them. I had showed them what I could do. I had
shared my food with them. I had even drawn pictures with them in my
pink worn diary, which i have rejected and have hidden under my bed. I had not wanted to read about what happened in the past. As my life continued, I saw they had been spying on me, watching my every move if I had even gotten close to the ocean. I stopped another scene and watched it, I was in the same spot as before. Except this time I was older, Maybe eleven. The Mearops weren’t playing with me anymore, just watching me. I wasn’t bending; I was simply watching the ocean. At this particular time, I had closed my eyes and my ears seemed to twitch. I held my breath and then seemed to breath in and out at the same time as the tide. Breath in, the
water washed up onto the shore, breath out, the water pulled back. I
don’t know why I had tried that time but it seemed important, so I
watched it for a while longer before letting it go.
That was only two years ago. I understood why I had forgotten about
the Mearops from almost seven years ago, when I was six. I had
probably thought I had imagined them, just like the game I was
playing, Imagination. My life continued and as it caught up to the
present, I tried to resist, apprehensive about what was going to
happen when it caught up to me staring at Zale. I didn’t want it to
show me the future. The future was what I wanted it to be, not what I
saw. But it did not in fact show me the future. Rather, it showed me
some thing much, much different.
It showed me the positive and negative sides to my powers. It did not
specifically tell me, but it was more of a hidden guess. All of the
power I have done displayed itself to me, until finally there was
nothing left but one word. Pure.

“GET BACK! NOW! DON’T TOUCH THEM!” Ken yelled, now closing the distance between us with a few strides. One kid was so focused on what we were doing, he touched me to see if he could wake us from our trance. At the touch, i felt a static shock run through me and the kid flew back hitting his head against the diving board beside us and slumping into the water.
“GET HIM! SOMEONE!” Ken screamed, still running at me. The boy’s touch slowly spread through my body, and a piercing pain arched up my spine like i was being run over by a train. I screamed, my back arched back and Zale’s hand slipped. He shot back towards the other side of the pool, slamming into the opposite wall and sinking towards the bottom of the ocean.
“Stop! Let me help him, I have had more experience in this area than
you!” Troy yelled, his voice thick and sharp. I opened my eyes as Ken ran to my side and steadied me by grabbing me by the shoulders. His hands felt like hot iron and i pushed him away, tears streaming down my face. Anything touching me felt like liquid metal, burning my skin. I pushed myself into the pool, i wouldn’t be touching anything solid there.
“EVA NO!” Ken yelled but i was already in. The pain intensified.

“Don’t talk, Zale will explain what he saw and you can add more if you
want to” Ken ordered as I sat in a large chair wrapped in towels. The pain had lessoned into a sting because Ken had put a type of powder on the towels to numb the effect. As it turns out, the burning sensation was affected by solids AND liquids. So instead of feeling no sense of burning on any part of my body once i had jumped into the pool, i felt it on every single area of skin submerged in water. An hour has passed since then, but i was still shocked.
“Why is she not shaking?” Troy asked Zale, who sat in a chair opposite
of mine. Ken, Troy, Zale, and Jonah sat in the swimming office while
the swimmers outside swam laps. Zale was constantly shaking and his
face was pale but returning to it’s original tan.
“Because, Troy, she has more power than I do” Zale answered with surprising ease and Troy seemed to be taken back. I didn’t want to add more though; I wanted to yell at Zale for making me go through that without warning.
“Why?” I ordered, it was all I could get out.
Zale looked up at me, “You were powerful. It is easy to see because
it’s in your eyes. I needed to know why.”
“So you just did that thing-“
“Merind ritual”
“Whatever, to anyone who is powerful?” I demanded.
       “I am sorry, it was impulsive. You held a mystery and i wanted to find out what it was. I’m sorry” he asked and looked at me for forgiveness. All he met was my cold stare.
       “There will be time for yelling later” Jonah said calmly, his sentence gave more authority than a speech, “Let’s continue.”
       “I didn’t see much. It was all to crowded” Zale admitted.
       “Well, that was a waste” Ken yelled, throwing up his arms, “Did you
at least get anything important?”
       “No, but I know she’s powerful” Zale answered, his voice defiant and stern.
       “Wow! I never knew that before!” Ken yelled sarcastically, “That explains a lot!”
       “I saw something, a lot actually” I commented and they all looked at me.
       “The patient can only see what the person doing the Merind Ritual can see” Troy noted, as if quoting it from a passage, as if saying it would make everyone believe it was true.
       “Well, I’m not a normal patient” I pointed out; everyone had to agree
with me on that.

       “ I drew this when I was eight,” I said holding up a picture of a
Mearop and a journal entry. After telling them about what I had seen,
I had retrieved my pink diary from under my bed read aloud what I had written.
       “The Mearops were very nice to me today. They told me all about their invisible castle where they lived. They said its deep though, so that
the Mers don’t attack them” I read and stopped, handing them the book.
       “They’ve been watching you, your whole life” Ken whispered and looked around, as if searching for his Merop glasses so that he could check
if there were any Mearops in the room.
       “They’ve been studying you. I still don’t believe the part about how
you could bend water when you were only six, that’s outrageous” Jonah
commented but I shook my head.
       “In a way, not entirely” I answered and looked down, could my theory be true?
       “ When I saw my self using my powers, when it came to the present,
there was only one word, Pure. I’ve already told you this but I think
there’s a hidden meaning to it. I think what I’m trying to say is, my
power is pure,” I continued, placing my words carefully.
       “All power is pure” Ken pointed out.
       “No it isn’t” Mr. Joanides walked in with Sarah and Principle Josie
behind him. All faces drew blanks so he continued.
       “A lot of things aren’t pure even if they seem pure, there will
always be something in it that doesn’t make it pure. As a scientist in
the Mer world, I studied the structure of where our power comes from.
It’s in our DNA, but is immersed with other bad thoughts and emotions,
there fore, it’s not pure. The greatest minds and most talented Mers
all have one thing in common, their power is more pure than the
average Mer. They also have another thing in common, they weaken at
the touch of gold” Mr. Joanides explained and the truth hit me like a
wave.

       “I understand now,” I whispered as counter arguments rang out, trying
to rebuttal Mr. Joanides claim.
       “Calm! Calm” Josie yelled and everyone stopped talking, “There is
only one way to prove it.” She slipped her ring off of one of her
right fingers and held it up.
       “This is pure gold, the Mer king gave it to me himself. Eva will try
it on and Sarah will see the effects on her cells when she wears it
and when she doesn’t” Josie explained and handed me the ring, which I
slid on. I didn’t feel much of a change.
       “How is this possible?” Troy asked confused.
       “What is the opposite of good?” I said, raising my voice.
       “Bad” Troy answered.
       “What is the definition of bad?” I asked.
       “To do horrible things,” Jonah said.
       “Such as Greedy things” Mr. Joanides pointed out.
       “Yes, what is the object most people in the world want?” I said.
Everyone was silent.
       “Gold. The Gold counter’s my Pure Power at touch. I figured this out
after Zale did his whatch-ya-ma-call-it ritual to-“
       “ Merind Ritual” Zale informed.
       “I don’t care what it’s called! When Zale did that ritual to me. It
all makes sense,” I said, watching the look on the teacher’s faces
turn from shock to sorrow.
       “Well, there’s only one way to figure out” Sarah informed, holding up a shot.

       I was right. Not that I’m glad I was. Whenever gold touches my skin,
my adaptive gene isolates itself from everything around it so that
greed doesn’t affect it and it stays pure. There fore, I still have
some Mer power, but only a small amount. If it weren’t for my adaptive
gene, I would be in the 2A team and my Power rank would be somewhere
in the middle.
       After Sarah ran the tests and the results showed that I was right,
everyone promised to meet again in the Conference Room after swimming to plan out what to do next. That’s why after swimming I was sitting in a
large black chair in front of Josie, Sarah, all of the swimming
teachers, and some other teachers including Mr. Joanides. After an
hour, I was dismissed while the teachers continued to argue.
       Throughout the whole meeting, I got one good thing. I was going to go with Zale and Ken to the Mer world for a week in one month. The city
was called Maqua and housed the King Mer and his palace. Zale would
come because he is the most responsible, i laughed at that, and advanced out of all of the swim teachers, and Ken because he wants to travel to his homeland for a while before going back above the water. I was going to go because of obvious reasons, the scientist wanted to study me and see how I
react in situations.
       Guess what else I get? I get to be single me out more. Along with
going to Mr. Joanides on Sunday, I had to go to the Pool area to be
taught by Zale every Tuesday, Wendsday, Thursday and Friday for a
private lesson. Yay [I’m being sarcastic.]
       Which is why Tuesday night I was swimming laps in the pool waiting
for Zale to show up.
       “Can you show me your fastest speed?” Zale ordered and I looked up surprised.
       “My fastest speed would be my speed when I have a tail” I answered
wisely and Zale smiled.
       “Many people would not get that question right, good job. Now, why
don’t you show me your fastest speed without a tail” Zale ordered and
I complied. I wanted to show Zale I was extremely fast, I wanted to
show off. As I realized this, a happy feeling swept over me. I was not
the nervous girl who held back anymore. Before starting, I matched the
breathing of the water with my own breathing. Like the tide pushing
forward and pulling back was the ocean’s breath, so I just found the
pool’s breath. Once I had matched my breath to the pools, I jumped off
the wall and swam at my full speed. Making sure my whole body was
working together even more than before, I narrowly missed walls. I
finished breathless but happy.
       “Impossible” Zale exclaimed and looked at me, “Imagine the rate you
could go at with a tail!” I smiled up at him, my breathing deep, and
he continued.
       “ You might have guessed but to go to the Mer world you must have
learned to morph to have a tail. Over the next three weeks, I will be
teaching you how to turn invisible and morph into a tail. These two
things are essential if you are going to go to the Mer world. I will
also help you practice you abilities when you are touching gold” Zale
said and I widened my eyes.
       “Why? When would I want to touch gold?”
       “Never. But considering the possibility that the Mearops could know
of your weakness after spying on you for your whole life, I have
decided to teach you in case of unexpected circumstances” He answered
and jumped into the pool.
       “Now, morphing will become easier for you the more you practice.
First, we’re going to practice when you have gold on” He said and
handed me his golden ring, “Now, try to morph.”

     It took me a full week to be able to morph. Eventually, Zale started
working with me one on one during 3A classes so Troy had to direct the
whole class by himself. By the end of the first week, I could morph
with the touch of gold or without it. Morphing is strange. It’s like
Inertia, you know, Newton’s first law. An object in motion wants to
stay in motion and an object at rest wants to stay at rest unless an
unbalanced force acts against it. Once I had morphed so that I had a
tail, I felt the same amount of comfort I had if I had legs and
vice-versa. The only hard part is the morphing stage.
       I was surprised when I could change the color of my tail when I
wasn’t touching gold. I could make it any color I wanted, Zale was
surprised too, and it would stay that color unless I wanted to change
it. Like Inertia. Morphing was really similar to Inertia.
       “Good job. Tomorrow we’ll start invisibility” Zale informed and
morphed into his human form before leaving.
       “Wait! It’s Friday today so tomorrow’s Saturday! I don’t have
practice tomorrow!” I called after him.
       “Now you do. I expect you to be here at the same time tomorrow” he
yelled back and I groaned. Really? I had plans tomorrow to go to the
movies with my friends. I swam a couple of laps before morphing and I
stopped by the Swimming office on my way out.
       “Is Zale here?” I asked Ken, who was on his laptop.
       “Hey. Yes, he’s in the back, he’ll come back soon” Ken said and
looked at me, “What have you learned so far?”
       “That practicing with the touch of gold is harder than without,” I
answered and he frowned.
       “Keep it quiet, we don’t want anyone knowing your have a weakness. i meant what powers” he ordered and I nodded, pretending to lock my lips and throw out the key. I would hate to have Ariel know about my Gold weakness.
“I can morph easily so that i have tail” i smiled proudly and Zale walked in.
       “Do you need something Eva?” Zale asked walking inside.
       “Yes, I can’t go to practice tomorrow because I’m busy” I said
awkwardly as Zale sat down at his desk.
       “Busy with what? The movies?” he asked.
       “How’d you know?” I demanded. Please don’t tell me he can read minds as well as talk to people in them. I would be so embarrassed. i hadn’t thought many friendly thoughts currently.
       “No, I just know things. You pick up a lot with Mer hearing” he
answered and looked me in the eye, “Do you want to go to the Mer world
or not? Because you have to learn invisibility if you do. We’re going
to need as much practice time as possible.”
       “Yes, but can we do it on Sunday?” I asked and Ken looked up.
       “I can’t” Zale answered and winked at Ken.
       “Why?”
       “All of the teachers are going to a party, I mean conference, by the
beach on Sunday.”

       “I don’t know, I’m not going,” I murmured when Kate asked me what
time we were leaving for the movies. Ever since the Mearop ambush Kate
seemed to forgive me.
       “But you said you would!” Kate argued and I sighed.
       “Trust me, I want to, but Zale is making me practice tomorrow” I said
and the librarian threw us the ‘Be quiet’ sign.
       “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Zale, what are you guys
practicing?” She asked and I was about to say, ‘Well, he’s teaching me
how to morph so that I have a tail.’ Then I reminded myself that Kate
wasn’t Mer so I couldn’t tell her.
       “He’s just helping me with my swimming. You know, diving and
exercises. Besides, there will be a lot of other people who are going
to go to the movies with you. It’s a group thing remember?” I lied so
well it scares me sometimes.
       “Okay” Kate said unsure but didn’t argue. The Mer trip better be worth it.

       “Invisibility is hard, harder than Hydro-Thermo kinesis, which is the
ability to boil water,” Zale explained. That didn’t exactly make me
feel better.
       “You need to blend in with your surroundings. First try it with the
ring” Zale said and threw me his ring, which I caught and slid onto my
finger.
       “Calm yourself and will yourself to turn invisible with as much force
as you can. This might take a couple of tries,” Zale said and I closed
my eyes, focusing on invisibility.
       “Bravo! First try and with the golden ring on, impressive,” Zale said
and I looked down at myself, I could still see me.
       “But I can still see myself, wait, I’m kind of fuzzy” I said surprised.
       “I’m sure you already know that Mers can see anything invisible
besides Mearops and machines used to make things invisible made by
Mearops. So, Mers can see other invisible Mers but the Mer who’s
invisible looks kind of fuzzy, not focused. Way to go though, I
thought it would take more” Zalo said happy, “Maybe if you practice it
for about ten more minutes then you can have the rest of the practice
off.” I dropped my jaw. I had just sacrificed going to the movies with
my friends to go to his ‘Saturday Practice.’ Now he says I can be let
off early.
       “Well, let’s see it” he demanded and I could do nothing but comply.
He was still a teacher. After ten minutes of easy work, he let me
change and I barely had time to catch up with Kate to watch a new
movie with her. As I was passing the office I overheard Zale talking
to Ken.
       “It’s amazing! It’s like she’s practiced invisibility her whole
life!” Zale exclaimed to Ken, I could only smile. Basically I had been
practicing it my whole life. I used to hide from bullies and blend in
so that I wouldn’t get noticed all the time. Who knew it would help me
really turn invisible?

       “That was fun” I smiled as I cleaned up the spilled popcorn.
       “I know, it was worth it to have that popcorn fight” Melissa grinned
next to me, her frizzy red hair hiding her glowing face. What a sight
we were. About ten teenagers cleaning up popcorn in the back of a
movie theater. Not only did we stand out, but we stood out with
style.
       “We should do this next week,” Kate said, standing up after tossing
the last popcorn bit into her bag to throw away. Words of agreement
sounded out around her. Three of the people in our groupie were Mer,
such as Rebecca, but the rest had no clue of what we could do. The
other Mer person in our groupie was Madeline
       “Lets go, it’s getting late” Jasmine said looking at her watch. After
throwing away our germ-covered popcorn, we left the movie store and
walked down the busy street. The sky was darkening by the second and
shadowed the buildings like a painted picture. I suggested we all get
cabs and everyone agreed. Although we were a big group, we were young
and didn’t want to take the chance of getting jumped. So, I went with
Kate and Jasmine, Rebecca went with Hailey and Emma, Gelina went with Madeline and Ariana, and Melissa went with Heather. It would have been much safer walking.

       As more and more of our friends found Taxi’s to drive them to Mardy,
I started to get worried since it finally came down to Jasmine, Kate,
and I. I was going to call Ken to check in since that is the school
rules for leaving campus but didn’t when I remembered he was most
likely at the beach party with all of the other teachers. I sniffed
the air and turned towards the sound of salt. My senses were getting
better by the day.
       “Eva, I’m getting kind of scared,” Jasmine said as we searched for a
yellow cab.
       “Hey, there’s one!” I pointed out at a worn out cab that just turned the
corner. I whistled and the cab drove up next to me.
       “It should be about twenty miles because the schools a little over
two miles away” Kate said and continued, “Just give me $6.50 and I’ll
pay the difference.” A shiver ran down my spine and I remembered my
6th sense, pausing at the door.
       “Eva! Come on, it’s cold!” Kate yelled and I looked in the car where
two untrustworthy men sat. I wasn’t going to ignore my 6th sense
again.
       “No, I don’t have a good feeling about this cab” I started and backed
up, “Get out.”
       “Eva!” Jasmine complained but started to exit the cab. Before she
could though, the taxi driver drove off, the door slamming from the
force, and I heard screaming. Great, just what I need, a kidnapper in
a Taxi. I started sprinting towards the cab as fast as I could but was
too far behind to do anything. I slowed to a fast jog and calmed down.
I forced my muscles to all work together even though I was out of water and felt the ‘click.’ Then, I ordered my ‘Adaptive Gene’ to make me run faster and with more agility, to make me like superman. I looked closer at the Taxi and remembered the green bumper sticker, then turned the corner. If they were going to kidnap my friends they would go to the darkest part of town. I ran like a cheetah. The buildings seemed to blend in to one and I felt like I was running a block a step. I stopped by a corner that I thought, knew, they would turn at and pulled out my phone to call Ken. I had to call again and by then I saw the cab drive my way.
       “Hello?” Ken asked and I heard cheering in the background.
       “Ken! Ken, this is an emergency” I said, not wasting time.
       “Shut up you guys! Something’s wrong with Eva” Ken yelled and I heard the cheering die.
       “You know how we went to the movies? Well, after we decided to get a cab because we were afraid of getting jumped. When a taxi pulled up
they kidnapped Jasmine and Kate!” I whispered quietly, making sure not
to alert the taxi’s attention.
       “What about you?”
       “Sixth sense. Anyway, it looks like the cab is heading down Filigart
Avenue. I’ll keep my phone on so you can track it but I’m going to try
to stop the taxi” I ordered and put the phone open in my pocket.
       “Eva no! You’ll just get into more trouble!” I heard Ken yell though
his voice was muffled do to my jeans. When the taxi was just passing
me, I ran out and jumped on the top, grabbing the sign.
       “What was that!” I heard one of the men say and screams followed.
Yes, definitely the cab.
       “Don’t stop! Keep going!” The same man yelled and stuck his head outof the window. He got one look at me before I kicked him in the head
and he fell out of the cab. That must have hurt.
       With one hand held onto the Taxi sign, I punched the window, full
force, on Jasmine’s side and the whole thing shattered. Jasmine
screamed and the man driving cursed.
       “Jump out! Now!” I yelled at Jasmine and Kate, “It’s me, Eva!”
       “The man has a gun!” Kate repeated, sobbing, “He has a gun!” There
was nothing for me to do. Out of nowhere, I remembered my science
class from a week ago.
       “Water is in everything, the air, vegetables, and even us,” Mr.
Joanides had explained and I had raised my hand.
       “Yes, because we’re 60% water, right?” I had asked.
       Mr. J nodded and said, “Yes, very good Eva.”
       I knew what I had to do. I’m sure you have guessed it too. I closed
my eyes and controlled the water in the man’s body. It was scary. One
wrong move and I could have killed him, and I definitely didn’t want
to be a murderer like him. I forced him to drop the gun and to press
the breaks of the car. He didn’t want to though and it made him look
like he was having a seizure. Jasmine’s and Kate’s screams
intensified. I closed my eyes and tears slid out of my eyes in
exhaustion. I shouldn’t have closed my eyes though. Or else I would
have seen the pole.

       Boom! I opened my eyes just enough to see us smash into the light
pole. The force sent me flying and I skid on the concrete, hitting the
sidewalk.
       ‘Heal!’ I ordered myself, ‘Heal!’ I didn’t heal, I was too weak. I
was however, able to stand up and grab my phone from my pocket. It was
broken, the screen was cracked and the wires hung out of it limply. I
dropped it and stumbled to the Cab. The air bags had blown open and
the man and my friends were unconscious from the blow. Fear washed
over me but I promised myself crying wouldn’t help anyone. Blood ran
down my fore head and I whipped it out of my eye. Then, I removed the
shirt over my tank top cut it into strips in seconds. Now, I was cold
and bleeding, but I wasn’t going to leave my friends in there state. I
didn’t feel any pain because I was so numb.
       I opened the car door and it just fell of it’s hinges so I threw it
to the side. Kate was closest so I pulled her out and laid her on the
ground. I did the same to Jasmine and the man. Even though he was
wicked, and horrible, he still deserved to live. Besides, I needed to
see if he had a first aid kit. I didn’t find one but instead found the
gun where I had dropped it and I threw it on the ground so it wouldn’t
cause any trouble. It went off instead.

       “No, no, no!” I muttered and cursed some unforgivable words. The
bullet hadn’t exactly hit me but had grazed my calf a little too close
for comfort. After a few agonizing seconds, I decided the only way for
me to help it was to find a phone and call for help. I found Jasmine’s
on the car floor. It had a password. That I didn’t know.
       “Why does this keep happening to me!”? I yelled in frustration and
searched frantically for Kate’s but couldn’t find hers. There was only
one person’s left and I had to actually reach into the pocket of the
kidnappers pants to find it. It worked and I found a phone. The
battery was dead.
       By then, as you can understand, I was pretty put out. So, I
congratulate myself for thinking of this, I took the battery out of
Jasmine’s phone and replaced it with the battery of the kidnapper’s
phone. It worked and I tried to smile but it hurt too much. I called
911 and put the phone on speaker so I could wrap my bullet wound.
       “911, what is your emergency?” a voice asked and I would have leaped for joy.
       “A serious car wreck and kidnapping involving three unconscious
people and me. I don’t know where I am,” I answered in a loud and
clear voice. I gasped in shock as I pressed the cloth against my wound
too hard.
       “Stay on the line, we’re on our way,” it replied.
       “Could you call my teacher Ken? I go to a boarding school” I said and
gave her his phone number. Sirens rang in the distance.
       “Oh! And there’s another man who fell out a window when I kicked
him!” I said and I heard the startled expression of the lady on the
phone.
       “Long story,” I said and I saw the blinking of fire trucks. I stood
up, leaving the phone on the ground, and walked into the middle of the
street, waving my arms. I’m saved! And then, I get another dosage of
bad luck. The kidnapper wakes up.

       At first I don’t know about it until I hear the click of the sidearm
being loaded. What can I say? I was too overjoyed at the sight of
help. I turned around to see the man pointing it at me.
       “Don’t move or else I’ll shoot” he said and looked towards the sound
of sirens realizing it was too late to escape. So, he grabbed the
closest thing for ransom. Me. I didn’t process what he was doing until
he had my arms behind my back and the pistol pressed to the side of my
neck. The police and emergency cars circled around us and I smiled
weakly. I had been so close to rescue!
       “Don’t move!” The kidnapper yelled and I felt the pressure of the gun
increase, “I said don’t move!”
       “Drop your gun and put your hands behind your head,” the police
ordered but the kidnapper didn’t obey.
       “What would the sentence be?” the kidnapper asked, startling the cops.
       “What?”
       “What would the sentence of my crime be?” He asked.
       “Life sentence most likely” One of the cops said and I widened my
eyes. I knew what was going to happen next, it was not pretty.
       “I’m old anyway” the kidnapper said and raised the gun to his head.
       “No!” the cops yelled and I tried to smack the gun away from. The
pistol rang, the man went limp, and I stumbled backwards. The cops
surged forwards and one shook his head, it was too late.

       The emergency car was a fuzz. They drugged me immediately but I was somewhat aware of what was going on. Maybe drugs don’t work on me since I’m Mer but eventually I fell asleep.
       I awoke hours later, the doctor was checking on me. He was injecting
shots and wrapping new bandages on.
       “Amazing” I heard him murmur and I coughed to get his attention.
Although my brain was fuzzy I wanted to talk to Ken, or Zale, or
Sarah, or someone that I knew who was Mer. Besides Ariel of course.
       “You should still be asleep” the doctor said astounded and before I
could say anything he walked out. He was back a minute later with Ken,
Josie, Zale, Sarah, Troy, Jonah, and a stranger.
       “What day is this?” I asked.
       “Sunday morning, you should still be asleep” Josie smiled at me
sweetly and all that had happened came rushing back to me.
       “Can you tell us what happened?” the stranger asked and Josie glared at him.
       “Does he know of the Mer?”
       “Yes” Ken answered.
       “Okay” I said and explained everything that had happened. I actually
laughed out loud when I told them of my bad luck but they didn’t crack
a smile. Finally I got to the kidnapper’s suicide and new thoughts
burst into my head.
       “I killed him” I said, shock seizing my blue eyes.
       “He committed suicide,” Josie said, trying to calm me down.
       “If I hadn’t controlled him, we wouldn’t be in this mess” I said,
tears rolling down my eyes.
       “You should let her sleep” Josie turns to the stranger who nods and
walks to the counter.
       “No! Stop! I don’t want to sleep!” I yell and the stranger pauses
from her work.
       “If I hadn’t controlled him, we wouldn’t be in this mess, right?” I repeated.
       “No” Ken said and knelt by me, his eyes calming mine, “ We wouldn’t.”
       “Ken!” Josie said but Ken held up his hand.
       “Instead, we’d have two criminals on the loose with two defenseless
girls for ransom. Once that ransom would be paid, then the criminals
would continue terrorizing the city and continue to kidnap innocent
children. The man committed suicide of his own choice” Ken said, and I
relaxed. He was right.
       “When am I getting out of here?” I asked him and he chuckled.
       “When your wounds heal,” he answered.
       “Give me ten minutes” I promised and closed my eyes, ordering my
‘Adaptive gene’ to kick in and save the day. It took me seven minutes
to heal my wounds, a new personal best considering the damage.
Everyone was surprised as I unwrapped my bandages to reveal fresh
skin. The stranger barely contained a gasp. By the end of the day, I
was back in my room at Mardy.
      The event was on the news so by lunch everyone knew and they didn’t seem afraid to stare. I felt horrible.

       By the end of the three weeks I could do my abilities mediocre with
gold touching me. Zale had also taught me survival skills, such as
removing dirt and germs from water to drink or Sea plants. During our
lessons, he taught me unknowingly that it was better to be patient and
show ease when against an enemy. Kate and Jasmine had returned from
the hospital and were given some false story of hallucinations and
lightening. It was also at the time that I was packed to go to the Mer
world.
       “You can’t bring that much stuff,” Ken comented as he entered my room.
       “Why not?” I argued.
       “Mers travel lightweight. They wear lightweight clothing or else the
water would drag it down and they don’t need to bring spare clothes
because they are in the water. Zale wanted me to give this to you to
tell you that you can only bring as much stuff as fits in their” Ken
said and passed me a what seemed like a belt with two pockets. I
looked at them with awe. It was made of a cloth material and was
lighter than it looked.
       “The right pocket is water proof and the left is not. I wouldn’t
bring anything if I were you so that you could bring back things from
the Mer world” Ken said and I immediately knew that’s what I would do.
Before I could ask when I would have the time to get things or the
money he answered it.
       “The Mer king is supporting you with a credit card. I’ll give it to
you later. We’re leaving for the Beach in an hour” he confirmed and I
nodded. The only thing I brought with me besides what I was wearing
and the belt bag was a bracelet from my memories chest. Olivia, one of
the orphanage’s caretakers, gave it to me and explained that it was
the only thing they found me with besides my blanket. I had only worn
it at the beginning of the year and I decided to wear it now as well
because it gave me a sense of comfort. The nice thing about it was
that it’s was not gold but instead silver strings entwined with rocks.
I slapped it on and walked towards the swimming area, it was getting
close to an hour.

       “Come on” Ken yelled and jumped into the ocean. The last time I had
gone into the Sea it had not ended well. But this time I had Zale and Ken
with me.
       I waded into the ocean and forced my eyesight to see through the
blackness. Ken and Zale had put on the Merop glasses and had already
morphed. I morphed quickly and swam to them. Ken handed me two
biodegradable bags and I clipped them onto my belt.
       “That’s going to be our lunch and breakfast” Ken said and I noted the
bags upon his and Zale’s belts.
       “We’re going to go full speed together. Just swim straight forward
and if you feel me squeeze your hand, stop” Zale said and took off, us
speeding alongside him. At first I swam just behind it, making sure
that I stayed on track. But, the more we swam, the faster I went until
I was the one leading. As I swam, I ‘forced’ my ‘Adaptive Gene’ to
make more energy so I wouldn’t get as tired as usual. Finally, Zale
squeezed my hand and I slowed to a stop.
       “Let’s break. It’s been at least three hours and we have another
three to go before setting up camp,” Zale announced breathing heavily. We
swam down to a shiny brown reef and sat down, Zale removed a bag that was clipped to his belt.
       “Oh!” Zale exclaimed, smacking his head, “I forgot to explain water
bubbles to you!”
       “I’ll tell her, you get our food prepared” Ken ordered and Zale
nodded. As it turns out, water bubbles were large bubbles encircling
dry things. It was easy to make them, but hard to understand their
structure.
       “It’s like when people bring water into the air, we can bring air
into the water. Instead, though, we can interact with the air bubbles
and put things we want to keep dry in them. Sometimes when humans drown we make a bubble for them and put it around their
head so that they could breathe. Then, we would take them to the
shore” Ken explained and the idea was barely tangible.
       “Okay” I decided slowly, and the idea seemed more real.
       “Zale did teach you how to get drinkable water, right?” Ken asked and
I nodded. I bended some water in front of me so that it was isolated
from the rest, and then removed all the germs before drinking it.
       “Okay, I packed two PB & J’s for Eva, three Turkeys for Ken, and
three Veggie for me” He said, passing them out. He didn’t do much
passing but let the sandwiches with bubbles around them float towards
us.
       “As we enter the Mer Palace, You’ll see more underwater food and less bubbles. Like they will be shrimp, fish, edible Sea weed, broccoli,
bananas, and other foods” Zale informed and I looked at him surprised.
       “Doesn’t banana’s and broccoli grow above water?”
       “Yes, which is why we have Bubble Farms” Ken said and looked at Zale, “Didn’t you explain this to her?”
       “We were too busy” Zale murmured and bit into his second sandwich.
       “Well, just like Mer’s can make bubbles, we can build machines that
can make huge ones, like miles and miles long. We grow food in these
Bubble Farms. Our food actually grows faster since first sunlight is
intensified when it hits water so the Bubble Farms are surrounded by
intensified sunlight. And second, because plants grow stronger when
there are Mers around them because the power within Mers is emitted
constantly through Rays” Ken explained. I remember reading about how
power sends off rays, like the sun sends sunlight. But, I never knew
it helped plants.
       “Wouldn’t the plants need oxygen? How can the plants get oxygen?” I asked.
       “Yes, plants need oxygen, of course. That is the downside. We have
built pools in the bubble where every citizen over the age of ten must
stay in all day for a week every year. Each citizen is assigned to a
specific farm. Many Mers though, take that week as a vacation,
since they are excused from their work or school. We actually have
received requests for more time in the Farm bubble” He smiled.
       “And?” I asked, waiting for him to continue.
       “We only accept them if the oxygen level is low” Ken answered and
looked at me, “understand?”  I nodded and thought of another question.
       “How fast have we been going?” I asked and Ken chuckled.
       “About 250 miles” he said.
       “So far?” I asked surprised.
       “No, an hour. So far we’ve gone” he paused thinking, “750 miles.”

       After drinking some more water, we swam for six straight hours. I was
slightly tired because I had ‘forced’ my Adaptive Gene to make energy
faster than ever before. That is why I was the one setting up the food
and making camp as Ken and Zale sat down breathing loudly.
       “Wow, I’m out of shape” Ken wheezed.
       “Not really. We’d be adequate if we ever did another Physical Exam”
Zale commented, cheering everyone up a bit. I chose a spot that was three
sided and spacious.
Once I had bended all of the water out of some Kelp and put it in a
bubble, I searched Zales stuff for matches but found none. Would I?
Could I?
       I walked back to the bubble and held my hands, palms towards each
other, on either side of the Kelp in the bubble.
       ‘Fire! I officially order you, adaptive gene, to allow me to bend
fire’ I thought sarcastically and squeezed my eyes, concentrating. A
spark leapt from my hands and I almost leapt for joy. I concentrated
some more.
       By the time Ken and Zale had swam towards our camp, I had started a
fire, placed our dinner above it in a bubble to warm, and blown up
three bubbles to act as pillows.
       “ Guess what!” I exclaimed as they swam towards their stuff.
       “What?” Ken asked, my excitement increases his.
       “I can bend fire,” I answered. Ken’s face turned serious. Zale
dropped his bag and it floated towards the ground. The fire crackled.
       “Fire? But, that’s the opposite of water! How can you bend an
opposite?” Zale said sounding worried.
       “Is it a bad thing?” I asked.
       “No” Ken answered.
       “Well then, let’s eat. I’m hungry.”

       The trip took two days altogether, six hours the first day and six
the following. We were swimming across the Pacific, the Mer king’s
palace was somewhere in the middle. The farther we got, the more often
we saw Mer villages and towns, but Zale didn’t allow us to stop and
eat at any of them but continue our 250 mph speed. Along the way, Zale
and Ken took turns explaining things to me. Ken gave me a credit card
that the Mers used for cash since coins were too heavy and paper money
fell apart. I zipped it into my left pocket. We woke up early the
second day, around four, because Zale wanted us to be at our hotel by
ten. We were actually in the hotel in Maqua by ten-thirty in the
morning, where Ken and I slept for four hours while Zale checked us
in. Then, while Zale and I were sleeping, Ken and I went to the Mer
Shopping center for some clothes and souvenirs.

       “The blue one, the green one is too bright” Ken remarked as I held up
two different shirts. As it turns out, most Mer girls wore shirts that
had their midriff showing so that it was easier for them to move
around. I swam into the dressing room and pulled it on. It seemed to
be made of seaweed but wasn’t, and was very comfortable. Once I had
paid for it using my new credit card, I threw away my old t-shirt and
we swam to the park.
       As I looked around, taking it all in, Ken explained typical Mer life.
The walls were granite, including the ceiling. There were no doors but
each bedroom had a dressing area that was secluded to all eyes. The
boys didn’t wear anything besides a wooden necklace, and instead of
grass at the park there was moss.

       “Since I’ve been here, could the scientist take my DNA Test right
now? You know, since I’ve been ‘immersed’ with the Mer culture?” I
asked and Ken smiled.
       “I don’t think so. Besides, don’t you want to find out when everyone
else finds out in a couple of months?” Ken asked and I looked at him.
       “How many?” I questioned and after a while Ken answered.
       “Three at the most. Once everyone is done with mastering most of
their abilities, they’ll have one week to pack” Ken said and I
realized I was nodding. He was right.
       “Wait, what’s the date?” I asked, realizing something important.
       “December sixteenth” Ken said after a moment and I frowned.
       “Yesterday was my birthday” I smiled and Ken smiled back.
“What do you mean your birthday? You mean when the orphanage received you?”
“Yes” I grinned and looked at him, a sparkle in his eye. The rest of
the day was spent on celebrating.

“Okay, read the letters” The doctor said after releasing a pouch of
black liquid in the room, I couldn’t see a thing. I forced my eyes to
see through the blackness and read aloud the letters. The scientists
were hearty folks. Full of smiles but a little bit too serious.
“Okay, now tell me what the letters are” The scientist ordered after
covering my eyes with a blindfold. I read aloud the words and the
scientist whistled.
“Remarkable” he whispered and continued giving me human impossible
questions. So far they had tested all of my senses except for
eyesight, which I was doing then. Zale had woken us up at seven and
ordered us to get ready; he was so desperate he gave me some coffee.
On our way to the science department, I was tapping, humming, and
swimming forward and back. Imagine already hyped up energy cells
absorbing caffeine. I think he learned his lesson.
The tests continued until they had tested all of my senses. Then, they
did it while I had a golden necklace on and received much lower
results.
By 2:00 P.M. I was irritated and ready for a break, but the scientists
weren’t done. After I had a brief lunch with Zale, Ken was visiting
his family, they removed a liter of blood and did a lot of medical
things to me, such as X-Rays, brain waves, and heart beat. By 7:00
P.M. I was even more irritated and short-tempered. Finally, Ken swam
back from his family and told the scientists I was done for the day.
We ate out, fish and chips, and then caught up with Zale on the way to
the hotel. As we walked, other Mer’s gave us strange looks and some
bowed their heads. Were we really that popular?
Guess what Mer beds are? Water beds. Ha-ha. Since water is the same
temperature to all Mers, beds don’t need blankets. As I sat on my bed
Zale started talking about what has changed since he last left. The
King increased security so that there are fewer crimes over all in the
city and is expanding the boundaries of Maqua so that more buildings
and homes could be added.
“And, we’ll be going to the palace tomorrow. The scientists have
already tested you so I don’t believe they’ll need to anymore. After
the palace you’ll have the rest of the day off to get ready for your
private coach” Zale murmured and I looked up at him curiously.
“Wait? I’m going to the palace tomorrow?” I inquired and Zale nodded.
“Of course. You’re going to meet the King and his family. They’ve
cancelled all of their appointments tomorrow from ten to three to
socialize with you.”
“And the private coach?”
“You didn’t think you’d be let off easily, did you? A coach is going
to train you and by the end of the week, the scientists would compare
the notes they took today to the notes they would take at the end of
the week. Then, they could see how much you can progress” Zale
informed and I sighed. Maybe this week wasn’t going to be as exciting
as I thought it would be.

Zale woke me up at seven and handed me a wrapped package.
“Get dressed, that is what you should wear,” He ordered and I grumbled
as I fumbled with the parcel. I pulled out deep green fancy shirt and
pulled it on over my blue one. My bracelet twinkling as it shook; I
always wore it in the Mer world. It gave me comfort.
“Brush your hair and get some breakfast. I’ll get Ken up. Be back here
in an hour,” Zale ordered and I combed through my hair. After not
brushing it for a couple of days, it took me ten hair pulling minutes
to make it look decent.
I lifted up my belt where I had thrown it and buckled it on.
“I’m going to go look for a restaurant for Breakfast, I’ll be back in
thirty minutes” I yelled and left, with the echoes of ‘Okays’ on my
back.

For breakfast I ate lunch. I’m not a breakfast fan. Crepes and fruit
is good, but sausages, eggs-whichever kind, waffles, and French toast
just don’t agree with me. I like pancakes, but only if they are homemade. So, I had a BLT, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwich on Sour dough bread. I had it on the go so I could walk around while eating it, which proved lucky.
“Can I play?” I asked a group of teen Mers using their bending to pass
a ball around; they were about my age and looked like they were having
fun.
“Yah. You can be with Alila,” she answered and Alila quickly told me
how to play. As it turns out, Bendellian ball is similar to volley
ball except for the players can’t touch the ball. Instead, the players
have to use their bending to move the ball around. The side that the
ball touches the ground on is the losing side. There is no out of
bounds as long as it goes directly over the net. I could tell Alila
was struggling and I smiled, she won’t be struggling for long. We played.
“How did you bend from so far away?” Alila asked, surprised as we
scored another point.
“I’m advanced” I answered and saw Zale swimming towards me, his face red.
“Oh, I have to go. Bye” I called but they weren’t focused on me, they
were focused on Zale.
“How do you know him?” Alila quivered.
“ He’s my teacher,” I answered, by then Zale was in front of me.
“It’s been over an hour, you should have been to the hotel at least
twenty minutes ago!” he said calmly, but his anger seemed to radiate
from him. Alila and her friends dropped to the ground in a bow but
Zale merely looked at them.
“There is no need,” He said and with a dismissive gesture of his hand
and looked at me before adding, “Lets go.” As we swam back to the
hotel Alila whispered to her friend, it was just audible.
“I didn’t know Prince Zale was a teacher.”

       “Calm down! I didn’t think it mattered” Zale ordered and instead of
arguing I paused. Now that I knew he was prince, the heir to the
throne, I didn’t think it would be wise to yell at him.
       “It does and it doesn’t” Ken said and continued as he drew blank
faces, “It’s good to know it if you lived in the Mer world instead of
up in the air. But, it’s not good for the Mer’s at Mardy to know
because he is a teacher. We didn’t want the students to lose focus on
their studies and we didn’t want it to attract attention.”
       “If you didn’t want it to attract attention why let him go?” I asked
impatiently.
       “As a prince, I am supposed to have experience in the air world. This
seemed like the perfect opportunity since I was with other Mers but
also with humans” Zale answered quiet plainly and I did not argue, it was a valid reason.
       “So, are you some mystery man with power” I said turning to Ken, who raised an eyebrow.
       “Well, if you count that my Dad is President of the MAR, then yes,”
Ken answered, shrugging.
       “So your Dad’s responsible for this 9/11?”
       “No, the employee responsible for the fire is responsible for this
mess. I’m just helping figure it out” he said non-chantry, his brows
darkening at the mention of 11/9. I was silent. So, all this time I
had been surrounded by top of the line people and not know it?
       The King was hearty. A big laugh, black hair, and sparkling smile. He
looked like Zale and anger exploded in my heart. He was right. But
that’s what I hated, that he was right. It turns out that Zale had
siblings. Geneva, the King’s wife, had born Assana, Aban, and Vivien.
Assana was twelve, Aban was ten, and Vivien was eight.
       “It is ritual for five children to be born in intervals of two years.
Vivien is eight, Aban is ten, Assana is twelve, the lost Mer from 11/9
should be fourteen, and I am sixteen ” he informed. A wave of shock
hit me like, well, a wave.
       “I turned fourteen three days ago” I whispered and Zale nodded.
       “Ken told me,” he answered and excitement grew in me. Could I really be a royal? But then, why would I have been the only one with a
mutation?
       “What if one of the royal children are twins or triplets?”
       “The MAW, letting no one, not even the royal family know, would take away one of the children and give it to the orphanage. More than five
children of the royal family is unlucky” Zale informed and saw the shock
on my face.
       “That’s horrible,” I gasped.
       “I agree, but it is tradition. My father is actually working to
change it,” He answered.
“How can the Maw take away a twin and have the royal family not know it?”
“ Before the birth of a royal, everyone is evacuated from the castle.
They give the queen a drug so that she cannot remember the pain of
childbirth. It works in their favor too,” he answered and
understanding dawned on me, the king cleared his throat to speak.
       “Greetings Zale, Ken, and Eva. We have been expecting you. I have
heard you have great skill,” Kai, the king, said, his grin lighting up the room.
I can see why everyone likes him.
       “It’s not that great” Assana murmured.
       “Assana!” Geneva scorned open mouthed.
       “Well, I can prove it!” She yelled and looked at me, “I challenge you
to a Merkairo!” Her cold stare penetrated my happiness and reminded me
of someone, Ariel. Ariel was fourteen too, could she be the royal lost Mer
baby?
       “I’m sorry Eva, please ignore my daughters ignorance. She does not
know-“ Kai started.
       “I accept” I interrupted and Assana looked at me mockingly. Yes,
she’s definitely like Ariel.
       “No, I forbid it” Kai snapped and Zale looked at me angrily.
       “Why did you do that?” he asked and I stared at him.
       ‘She needs to be more humble’ I said telepathically, not wanting to
embarrass Kai and Geneva for their parenting. Zale nodded slightly and
I could tell he agreed with me.
       “You can’t forbid a Merkairio father! You told me yourself!” Assana
warned and smiled smugly. She turned away, undisturbed by Kai’s angry
face, and faced me.
       “Well?” she asked, irritated.
       “I already said I accept, what more do you want?” I answered and she looked slightly embarrassed.
I turned to the king, “It means no disrespect to me. Besides, it will
give you the sense of power I hold.” He frowned but showed me to the
Merkairio room.

       “Cool” I said and swam around, getting a feeling for the place. All
the while, I was remembering tips from Zale’s lessons. That made me
remember Assana was Zale’s sister. I was fighting Zale’s sister. That
definitely didn’t calm me down.
       “Beautiful” I admired as I took the belt covered in gold and jewels from Vivien.
       “Yes, I think so too” Vivien smiled, her tiny teeth making her more
adorable then she was. I strapped it on loosely and faced Assana.
       “On the count of three” Ken yelled. We were the only ones there and I
swished my tail eagerly.
       “1 . . . 2 “ Ken counted and before he could say three Assana bended
a blast of water at me. I expected it though and blocked it easily.
She continued blasting water at me but I simply bended it away. It
wasn’t hard seeing the water move at me. Since we were under water it
would have been hard for a human to see the water move, but I seemed
to sense it.
She lashed a whip of water at me but I simply sidestepped it. I was
sizing her up, trying to interpret what she was going to do. Finally,
she stopped as she saw her effects were useless and tried to freeze
the water around me. Before it could freeze I focused on unfreezing
it. My power was much stronger than hers. Out of nowhere I knew what
she was going to do next. Too bad the last time someone tried it on me
I boiled.
“Assana! You haven’t even started Hydro-Thermo kinesis. If you try it,
you’ll boil as well!” I yelled as she concentrated.
“How do you know!” She yelled and I heard Zale and Ken prepare
themselves for an accident.
“Because, I just do!” I answered but she continued. She was going to
try to boil water. She was going to lose control and boil herself. I
would have to save her. No, it was a trap. Once I tried to stop it she
would trap me with ice. I just knew it. I had to do it any way though.
I stared at her and forced the water around her to resist her command.
It wasn’t boiling. But I was right about her attack.
It came out of nowhere. I had miscalculated; I thought she would do it
once she started to make the water around her boil instead of before.
She was desperate. I dropped the water around her and instinct took
over. I couldn’t bend enough water to stop the ice ball swimming
towards me. So, I decided to bend earth.

I was mad. Way mad. After I had bended earth, to my surprise as well,
the ice ball hit the hardened mud and shattered. I looked at Assana
and saw for the first time fear flicker into her eyes. The whole royal
family gasped, Ken smiled.
“Are you sure you want to keep fighting” I asked. Hopefully, she had
enough sense to see it was a hopeless cause. She nodded instead.
“ Very well. Give it your all” I said and moved my hands out, as if I
was holding a large beach ball. She was ignorant. She weakened her
self further by hurling ice and water towards me. She swam at me at
one point but I merely swam out of reach. It was quite entertaining.
I continued to wait for her to give in. I knew that this way was more
effective that out right attacking because the royal family saw me as
patient, gentle and smart, as well as powerful. Then, Assana made
her next mistake. She tried to boil water again.
I sensed it before I knew it and immediately made the water around me
at my control, so that the hot water wouldn’t reach me no matter what.
“Hey, I’m not stopping you. Go ahead” I said sincerely. I seriously
wasn’t. She hadn’t learned the easy way so I guess she’ll have to
learn the hard. Three words popped into my mind then about her. She
was stupid, ignorant, and ambitious. Kai and Zale knew what was going
to happen immediately and got ready to interfere.
“Watch me” she said and closed her eyes concentrating. Another word
about her popped into my mind. She was eager to please. She wanted to
prove herself to her father. I didn’t stop her. She didn’t stop
either. It was solely her fault for what happened next.
She screamed. So loud I heard a high ringing in my ears when she
passed out. The wall of boiling water hit me like a wall of boiling
water. I’ll never be able to describe it, I suggest getting used to
this type of description. I immediately controlled the water so that it wasn’t boiling. The power was immense, like trying to hold a bird. A large hot bird. I was just losing control when Zale took over. The boiling stopped right away.
Assana was on the ground since she had passed out immediately.
“Why didn’t you stop her!” Geneva yelled at me but I was prepared for this.
“Would you help someone who’s trying to attack you with boiling water.
She knew the consequences; I even told her I wouldn’t stop her. It’s
her sole responsibility to what has happened,” I said calmly, trying
to narrow my eyes the way Zale did.
“She’ll recover. It will take extensive care though. Guards! Guards!”
Kai yelled and looked at me, “It is not your fault.” Instead of saying
something smart-alecky like ‘well, duh’ I bent down next to Assana.
“Maybe I can heal her. Like I did to myself” I offered and stared at her, sizing up the situation.
“That’s impossible!” Kai gasped.
“You don’t know the power she holds” Zale murmured and I looked at
them irritated.
“Stop talking” I ordered, “I need to concentrate.” They stopped and i could have heard a pencil float to the floor. I ordered my ‘Adaptive Gene’ to order Assana’s skin to heal. To take away her burns. Nothing happened. Everyone held his or her breath but nothing happened. The guards came but nothing happened.

“We must get her to the hospital” Ken urged and I tried again with all
my power. Nothing happened. The guards carried Assana away.
“Ow!” The guards yelled halfway through the door and dropped Assana.
She floated to the floor.
“What’s wrong!” Kai ordered and rushed to Assana, placing his hand on
her shoulder. He drew it back immediately.
“It stung me” He said bewildered and turned to me, “What have you done
to my daughter!”
“Nothing!” I yelled, holding up my hands defenseless. Oh no, what did I do?
“Don’t touch her!” Ken ordered, making everyone back up.
“What the-“ Zale started and everyone turned towards Assana. Her skin bubbled and fuzzed before turning into fresh new skin. I healed her. I healed her!
“Thank you! Thank you!” Geneva cried and threw her arms around me. I
did it! Assana opened her eyes and looked wildly around.
“What happened?” She ordered and stared at me hatefully.
“You were burned” Zale said.
“Eva healed you!” Geneva said, she looked like she was crying. Assana
stood up and I turned to leave my job here was done. I didn’t sense
her next attack.

“I want my belt!” she yelled and I felt the full force of her power
push me against the wall.
“The Merkairio is not over yet,” she demanded as I floated to the
floor. I groaned and anger surged through me like blood through veins.
No way was she doing this to me. She tried to hit me again but I
barely had time to side step it. I held out my hands and she stopped
moving, wide-eyed. I was controlling the water in body. I walked
towards her, eyes narrowed and un-looped the belt. Then sent it with a
surge of water to her side. Her eyes were the only thing she
controlled and she waved them around frantically.
“I won” I smirked and let her go. She fell to her knees, or middle
part of her tail, gasping, and her hands on the ground. I swam proudly
to Zale and looked at the royal family.
“What’s next?” I asked, they replied with blank stares.

“Was it an offense to the royal family?” I asked as Zale led me to the
royal garden.
“No, but controlling someone else’s body morally is like a law. You should at least apologize” Zale ordered and I looked at him. He wasn’t king yet so I could argue.
“When she apologizes to me then I’ll apologize to her,” I said,
leaving it at that.
       “Don’t ever do it again,” He ordered out of nowhere and I looked at him.
       “Why not?” I asked, leveling my gaze with his. If I were in a
situation that called for it I would do it.
       “It’s terrifying” He admitted and continued, “I could feel my father
shake as you did it. He’s never done that. Assana is now scared
emotionally because she’ll know that you can control her. Especially
if you forced her to walk into a trap or trick, and she has royal
blood so she would be so humiliated and shamed if an enemy could do
what you did. That enemy could control her and make her do bad
decisions for her people.” Zale shuddered and the words sunk in.
       “Your right. But I just can’t apologize to her. Why weren’t you like
this when I explained it to you in the hospital?” I asked and
his face fell.
       “There is a big difference between doing it in real life and
explaining it. I can now understand why Kate and Jasmine were so
terrified after they awoke.”
       “Can’t other people do what I can do?” I asked, by then we were in
the middle of the garden.
       “None. It’s too complicated and the power it takes is immense,” he
answered and I was aware of his awe. Was I really that special? Surely
I couldn’t even beat him.

       Vivien and Aban, the two youngest, were the most playful in the
family. I controlled the water under them so that they bounced around
and were laughing so hard tears streaked down their cheeks. We were all in the lush garden, full of underwater flowers-blue, green, and red. After Zale and I had talked, the rest of the royal family swam up and we were supposed to socialize. Zale was socializing with his father. Me with Vivien and Aban. Geneva was talking to Assana, she was trying to calm Assana’s temper. Ken had left because he wanted to visit some friends. He didn’t show as much as he used to.
       “Again!” Aban yelled and I continued, my hands moving with the
breathe of water. I closed my eyes and dug deeper into the tide,
listening to it’s comforting yet strong embrace. As I let myself dig
deeper, more power rose up inside me until bending the water seemed as
easy as lifting a cup. I was not prepared for what happened next.

       Unbearable strength surged onto my shoulders and I stopped bending.
The crash of waves rang in my ears although we were miles underwater
and I closed my eyes as pain ebbed my mind. I coughed my eyes open and
bent over, my eyes widening then closing immediately. Images I have
never seen before flashed through my mind. A Mearop boy laughing, of
whom I didn’t recognize. A castle brighter than Kai’s glowed in the
depths of the water below. A door. A baby’s cry. My cry, I just knew
it was mine. There was another cry. Not mine, but the voice sounded
familiar. I heard gasps, the twirl of robes, and many sighs through a
blur of an abundance of colors faintly outlined as furniture. One word
stood out to me from a red carpet, Luna. I held onto that word as more
images ran through me. The pain was unbearable. It’s like all the
power in the world was dumped onto my soldiers and I was suphocating
from the weight. More images flew through my mind and in the pain I
thought of Assana. Could she have drugged me or done something harmful
to me? Images of Assana flew through my mind at the thought. Her as a
toddler, her determination, her cunning, her quick nature. I felt the
admiration and love for Zale she felt, and the pain of him leaving.
That’s what turned him cold, him leaving. And she thought it was my
fault. Strong arms shook my shoulders and I returned to reality.
       I was on the ground. My hands were covering my ears and I was in a
fetal position. Geneva and Kai were leaning over me, Kai shaking me
but Geneva just staring at my hand. I squeezed my eyes, trying to
focus on their faces and removed my hands from my ears. Geneva followed my hand.
       “A doctor is coming, don’t worry” Kai said, his tone full of authority.
       “Kai” Geneva whispered.
       “Geneva, stop. We need to help her, i think she went through what i did” Kai answered and his face came into focus. I ordered my ‘Adaptive Gene’ to help me heal and everyone stopped moving.
       “No, you look at me!” Geneva yelled and placed her hands on either
side of Kai’s head, forcing him to look down. Was that allowed? He
gasped and Zale pushed his way between them, trying to find what was
surprising.
       “ What?” Zale asked, confused.
       “My daughter!” Geneva said and threw her arms around me, shaking as if she were crying.
       “ She has the royal trinket. When the Maw took her we gave her that
bracelet. She’s my daughter, and your sister” Kai explained. Finally,
some good luck. I looked at my bracelet over the shoulder of Geneva,
no, my mom, and tried to register how important it was.
       The realization hit me. I had a family. I had a brother, a little
sister, an evil litter sister, and an older brother. Zale, who had
helped me countless times, was my brother all this time. I had a mom.
I had a father. I was not alone anymore.
       Warmth spread through me to the edge of my fingertips and gingerly
hugged Geneva back. A mother. I could share secrets with her now. I
could talk to her while she made me hot cocoa, or as we baked
together. I had someone to tuck me in at night, someone who loved me
no matter what I did. I looked at Kai. He was shaking, he was crying.
Tears wouldn’t show in water.
       I had a father. Someone to hang out with, or to help pick out
clothes. Assana was shocked, which turned into anger. I had Aban and
Vivien, to whom I could play with all day. I had Zale.
       I was royal. People would treat me differently. Ariel would have to
bow down to me, I smiled.
       I was crying from happiness. I hugged Geneva more tightly and closed my eyes. I pulled Kai towards me and hugged him, I had love.

       “We must celebrate. Our daughter has returned to us” Kai demanded and before leaving looked at me, “I will be back soon, my love.”
       “I demand a blood test. This is preposterous!” Assana yelled, her
screech forcing me to pull away from Geneva.
       “Fine, little sister” I smiled, shock entering her face at the name. I
stared at her and finally sighed, why did I always have to do the
right thing?
       “I’m sorry about taking Zale from you. I didn’t know and I understand
why you blame me. Zale, go hug Assana” I ordered and Zale hugged her
surprised, still comprehending what I had said. I turned to my mother.
Wow, that word felt good.
       “Don’t leave me,” I said and she smiled.
       “Never again” she answered and embraced again.

       I had royal blood. The doctor confirmed it. Assana seemed spacey
around me but I didn’t bother, I was with my mom the whole time
anyway.
       After the blood test, she led me around. Zale, Ken- who had returned shortly after our reunion, and Aban swam with us, Aban hugging me tightly by the hip. Ken had joined as soon as he heard the news.
       “I hoped it would be you,” he had whispered after the blood test. I
was so proud.
       “Stop, I know this door,” I ordered, my voice cracking. It was the
door. The door. The one I had seen in my vision in the Garden. Ken
eyed me curiously as I lead the way in.
       “This is your birth room” Geneva said, her eyes fuzzy. I recalled Ken
telling about how the MAW gives the queen drugs to make her forget her
childbirth on the first day. She was trying to remember. The birth
room was a mix of bright colors, all exquisite and intricately
designed. My vision. I swam towards the rug and searched it. On the
corner it read one word, Luna.

       “What does Luna mean?” I demanded.
       “Moon” Zale said automatically. Ken rushed towards me.
       “You’ve seen this before” Ken guessed. I nodded.
       “Where” Ken ordered and I looked at him surprised.
       “When I passed out in the garden. I saw, visions,” I answered and his
eyes widened.
       “What?”
       “The moon was talking to you. It shows us things that have happened
or will,” Ken informed and the room seamed to tilt.
       “The moons alive?”
       “Of course, or else it couldn’t control the tides. What did you see?”
       I only told him about Assana and how when I thought of her I saw
images of her. He nodded and I looked at him curiously.
       “Has anyone else before done this?” I asked and Ken nodded.
       “One, your father. He was in a coma for weeks.”

       “I will not allow it. I forbid it. It will not happen. She is my
daughter and I have legal responsibility for her so you can’t do it”
Kai ordered as the scientists explained what they wanted. We were in a
conference room an hour after Ken told me I had talked to the moon.
Apparently, Maw and the scientist wanted me to talk to the moon spirit
again and record down my brain function while I was ‘conversing.’
       “We just want her to talk to the moon again so we can record what
happens to her. She was not harmed before, she will not be harmed
again” One brave scientist said and looked quickly away.
       “None of you understand the pain it gives. No. That is my final word”
Kai said, his voice sending waves of authority down everyone’s backs.
       “Lets ask Eva, what if she wants to?” one of the scientist answered
and turned to me.
       “I agree with my father,” I said and the agents from MAW spoke up.
       “Your father and you actually don’t have a choice,” he said, his
namet ag read Ebony.
       “Due to your mutation, you are not legally a Mer. There fore, you are
our responsibility,” he answered and I stared at him, my emotions
running so high I felt like I would explode. ‘Please, give me some
information to win this. I can’t let the moon talk to me again, it is
so painful’ I said to my adaptive gene.
       ‘Okay’ I heard and lost hold of the seat I was on and floated to the
floor. My Adaptive gene had spoken to me! Was it alive? As our
attorney, the best in the land, argued, information flooded my mind
like a fast-forward of school.
       “I have Mer contributions,” I said and everyone looked at me. The
information in my mind turned into words.
       “ According to Pg. 67, Rule 497, Any organism with Mer abilities and
intelligence that is no Mearop or is not at all threatening, can be
legalized as a Mer with rights” I repeated and every one stared at me.
       “I am not threatening in any way, I have Mer abilities and
intelligence, and I am not a Mearop. To add to that, we have blood
proof” I said and our lawyer smiled.
       “Eva, you have not studied law. Obviously you are making this up out
of desperation,” Ebony said but I noted fear in his voice, he knew I
was right.
       “Check it yourself. It’s right there,” I answered and Kai put his arm
around me. I was right and I left the room a fully legalized royal
Mer.

 We had a feast, it lasted two full days. Everyone decided that instead of me going back to Mardy to finish my education, I would live there.
Things have taken a turn. There was much celebrating in the Mer world,
in Maqua especially. Assana and I kept our space and I bonded even
more with my family. Kai told me my real birthday was October 12 so we
changed it. It was my real birthday anyways.
         By the first week a teacher had started to teach me the ways of a princess and I was allowed to practice my abilities only after working with my new teacher. I was constantly accompanied by guards and was so busy i had no time to think except for at night. After the first week, Geneva and I went shopping for my room. Guess what the limit was? It’s a trick question. There was no limit. I got new different shirts for different
occasions, new furniture, and new toys and other items. I loved the
word ‘new.’ By the first two weeks I had a room decorated to my personality and no troubles. Life was good.
       Around the third week, Ken approached me about my intelligence during the argument between MAW and us.
       “I ordered my Adaptive Gene to tell me,” I answered and he looked at
me thoughtfully so I added, “I can tell it what to do.”
       “Then why did you fall out of your chair halfway through?” He asked
and I looked at him sincerely.
       “It answered back. I turns out that I have an intelligent cell that
does as I say living inside of me,” I answered and I realized their
significance when I said it out loud. After the meeting with MAW i had just pushed the thought to the side and ignored it, letting it fester and sleep. He answered after some thought.
       “Don’t tell any body. I’ll inform the king, and the king ONLY, but if the MAW get a hold of that information they’ll use it against you” He ordered.
       “I thought your dad was in charge of MAW,” I pointed out.
       “That doesn’t mean we get a long” He said and left, a frown on his face.

       So, I’m just going to sum up some pointers so I can adjust to this
situation. Because of MAW, I was raised in an orphanage and didn’t
know who I was. Ken’s father and him don’t get along. Ken’s father is
trying to gain control on me so that I can talk to the moon and
experience unbearable pain. When I was talking to the Moon it showed
me confusing images I had never seen before. My little sister hates me
and is out for revenge because she thinks I stole Zale from her. Zale,
who was formally my teacher and actually went into my mind, is my big
brother and heir to the throne. Kai is the only one who also talked to
the moon. I am royalty.
       It felt good to let that out.

       It was only my second week into being a ‘princess’ and I experienced
my first kidnapping. Ken had left to finish his teaching at Mardy but
Zale stayed. I was on the outskirts of town, a likely place, and was
practicing my abilities. Two guards had stationed themselves behind me,
on the look out. I never even heard them go down. They should have
been wearing their Mearop glasses.
       I turned around to lift a chunk of dirt into the air and saw them.
Seven Mearops were coming at me while two more had knocked the guards unconscious. I got ready to fight but a whip flew out of nowhere and hit me. I went down and got back up immediately. The Mearops were
already on top of me though and I felt the cold press of gold against
my wrists. The knew, how could they know!
       A horn went off in the distance. Guards had spotted the Mearops from
a distance and were now swimming towards the group at a fast pace. But
the Mearops were already leaving, and by the time the guards got to
the kidnapping, I was gone.

       “Let go of me!” I screamed and struggled, but it was no use. They
were carrying me securely going over 300 mph and I could only
struggle. After fastening two golden bracelets on my wrists and
ankles, they sped on the sea floor and I knew it was a hopeless case.
I fought any way, I would never give up.
       After at least five hours of nonstop swimming, I could feel them slow
and telepathically communicate. What I would do to hear what
they said! They swam me into a cave and bound me to the chains hanging
from it. I was defenseless.
       One of them started lighting candles and placing them around the
room. I saw that the leading mearop had been the one to whip me, as he was setting it down. We were in a spacious cave divided into sections. One part held all the sleeping bags, another held the kitchen area, and the third
held all of the supplies. I was chained by the sleeping bags. Instead
of struggling I conserved energy for when they would release me to
start swimming again.
       After giving me a plate of fish and a cup of water, they went to
sleep and I tried to loosen my bindings. To no avail, I tried
screaming as loud as I could, maybe someone would hear me.
       Only the Mearops heard me, and one of them got out of their bed and
swam towards me, swimming along side me.
       “Why are you doing this?” I asked and he winced, as if the words stung him.
       “To show you we are not all bad,” he answered, his voice full of wisdom.
       “If you weren’t bad then you wouldn’t be doing this”
       “It’s the only way. Please, obey until we get to the castle or else
they’ll want to scratch you. The king will explain everything.”
       “How do you know of me?” I said, trying to gain information.
       “We knew from the beginning. When you were born the sea roared and rain poured in your honor. You were a sign of bringing together our
two species. We sent in someone to burn the records or your where-a-bouts so that we can study you unharmed,” He explained and I
shuddered. The sea roared? Really? And they were the ones that made
the MAW building explode, why hadn’t someone seen them?
       “You just don’t understand” I said and turned away, “For once I had a
family, a life. All my life I’ve had to put up with friends talking
about their family and I wouldn’t have anything to say since I didn’t
have one. For once I had a place to call home, I had someone who loved
me and cared for me.” I started crying as the truth hit me.
       “Now they’re all gone” I sobbed and turned back to him, “And you’re
calling yourself good?”
       “For years, we have had to battle the Mers and we don’t want to. We
never wanted to. We just want peace and prosperity. The only reason we
rebel the king is because if we don’t he won’t leave us alone. You’re
our only hope” He whispered and looked at the other Mearops.
       “Why me? Why is it always me?” I asked half-heartedly.
       “Because your special and people would listen to you. You
understand,” He answered and sighed, “I didn’t want it to be like
this.”
       “You must remain peaceful or else the other Mearops will scratch you
and I doubt you can hold off against the poison. I must go, the other
Mearops are getting restless” he said and added quickly, “My name is
Pasodean.”
       After he swam back to his bed and went to bed, I let the words sink
in. Did Mearops really want to fight? I understood his reasoning for
fighting but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I went to sleep
confused and with heartache, why can’t I have a normal life?
       ‘Because you aren’t normal’ a tiny voice in the back of my head said.

       We swam for five days, rarely taking breaks. The speed was
unimaginable and the Mearops were surprisingly strong and had a lot of
endurance for the swim. I didn’t try to escape, it was hopeless, but
instead I surveyed the landscape. The plants seemed to get brighter
the farther we went and I decided we were circling South America and
now swimming north.
 By the sixth day we swam deeper and deeper down. Finally I saw a
castle, it was not as I imagined. From the haziness, I could tell
there was an invisibility shield around it and it sparkled and glowed
white and sent off a crimson energy. It was astonishingly beautiful,
and by the time we had entered the invisibility field I gasped. I had
seen this castle before. I had seen it from my vision with the moon.

“She looks fatigued, maybe we should wait for her to rest before
introducing her to our king?” Pasodean said but the Mearops shook
their heads.
“We must take her immediately”
“Very well.”
I was dragged into the castle through a hallway. As they swam, I
realized the significance of what they had said.
They had a king, a government, and an organized system. They weren’t
savages or barbarians, they were intellectual people. As we swam, I
straightened myself up and held my head high. I was a mer; I was going
to meet the Mearop king with dignity.
He wasn’t what I expected at all. He had beautiful purple skin and
black hair. His faced smiled and he moved with the rhythm of the
ocean. It seemed he was even more with the sea than any mer i had seen.
“Greetings, I am sorry about my soldiers treatment to you,” He said
and with a dismissive gesture, the tired guards left.
“I am King Cato of the Mearops, your Eva. We have a lot to discuss.
Are you hungry? I have food prepared” Cato said and led me into
another room with a table filled with food. The golden bracelets were
still fastened to my wrists and when I tried to bend water I couldn’t.
Someone was already controlling the water in the room. The only thing
I could do was sit down.
       “I am sorry for the inconvenience, Eva, we meant no harm. We just
want to unite our two species. I have a simple arrangement. You stay
here as a guest for one, maybe two, months and we let you free. We
just want to show you our ways so that you can understand we mean no
harm,” he explained, leaving the food untouched.
       “Okay” I nodded, breathing out as I said it. He looked surprised. I
mean, I had no choice in the matter. They were going to release me
after a month or two and i would go home. Besides, I wanted to see if he meant it. Uniting the two species would bring Mers and Mearops a step forward.
       “Okay? Really? Just like that?” he asked and added, “You’re more
surprising in person.”
       “What options do I have? Besides, I want to learn what I can here” I
said and he nodded.
       “Very well, after we eat I’ll have my guards show you to your room. If you don’t mind, I will have guards assist you every where you go for”
he paused, “safe measures. I will explain your schedule after I
introduce you to my son.” He smiled, glad that things had gone so
well. He had a family? Oh no. Déjà vu filled me and I waited for the
predictable to happen.

       He clapped and his family swam in. Their son. Their son was in my
vision. I gasped, the son gasped. I fell out of my chair.
       “ I know you. You’re from my dream” he stammered and swam towards me, making sure I was real.
       “You’re from my vision” I stuttered and we both looked closely at
each other. It was definitely he, no mistake.
       “I’m Eva,” I said cautiously.
       “I know” he answered and blushed then added, “I mean, I’ve heard of
you many times. I’m Faro.” His blush made his unique purple skin
lighter around his cheeks. Wow, he was beautiful.
       “How do you know each other?” Caro asked and I explained my vision.
Then, it was Faro’s turn.
       “I’ve had repeated dreams. It’s where I’m swimming to a cove and when I surface your there, waiting for me. Then it ends” Faro explained and I was shocked. How?
       “Very well. This is my son Faro, heir to the throne. I have two
younger twins but they were born just a week ago and are in
hospitalized care. Their names are Morina and Meherio. My wife, Iara,
is still recovering” he explained, “Let’s eat.”

       The feast was delicious. All the while we ate we talked. As it turns
out, Mers can’t see Mearops because they haven’t adapted to seeing
purple invisible skin instead of tan invisible skin. I would learn
about Mearop customs and government from ten in the morning to three
in the afternoon, and then I could do whatever I wanted. It was kind
of weird at first. At first I’m kidnapped and then forced to go to a
school to learn of my kidnappers. But, what option did I have? I had
to go along.
       After an hour, I retired to my room, which is surprisingly my taste, and slept. Maybe things wouldn’t turn out so bad.

       The first day was horrible. It seemed like all of the Mearops were
staring at me as I followed the guards. The rest of the day was spent
on grueling topics on customs. It was all too confusing. Like learning
about a whole new life.
       I ran into Faro as I walked around. At first we stared at each other
awkwardly and then he smiled. Instead of smiling I burst out laughing
and he started laughing with me.
       “It’s just so weird. Talking to someone my father kidnapped and
forced to do school work,” he explained through laugh attacks and I
nodded.
       “ How do you think I feel? Talking to the son of the person who
kidnapped me?” I joked and we stifled our laughing to a smile. I guess
we were laughing out of desperation. We needed something to cheer us
up.
       Faro was amazing. He was my age and had a fit and skilled body. We
raced each other a couple of times and it always turned out as a tie,
since I had the golden wristband on of course. By the end of the day,
we promised to meet again the next day.

       Progress was slow going in classes. I was bored out of my mind on
some days, and just plain bored others. I learned all about the ‘Mearop
Secret Language’, Mearopian, and how it is constantly used. You could
be talking to a Mer in English and all of a sudden they’d switch to
Mearopian. Something I learned that was really important was the Flat
Hand Peace. The person doing it would place their hand, straight up
and down and flat, against their nose. So, it looked like a fin
sticking out from the top of my forehead to my nose. It meant, ‘I have
practiced the Mearop ways, leave me in peace.’ It’s like the Mearop’s
signature move. It is constantly done in greetings and good byes, and when it is between a conversation of someone with power Mearop’s bow to each other while doing it.       
The more I hung out with Faro the more I wanted to hang out with him. He was everything I wanted from a friend and we eventually became
close. By the first week, a new feeling had entered my stomach when I
was around him, love.

       He asked me out on a date. Not a royal date with the king at the
table but an actual boy and girl date at the park. At first I was
surprised because it was like out of nowhere. But then I was happy
because I realized this is what I had wanted him to do all this time. Hopefully, he felt the same about me as I did to him.
       It wasn’t much of a date anyway. We would meet at the park in an hour to talk and eat. I found the best shirt I had in the closet in my room
and put it on. A date! My first one too! I was so giddy I didn’t even
notice the guards behind me.
       He was dressed casually, but I could tell he had spent a long time
choosing his shirt. That was the thing I loved about him, I just knew
him so well.  He bought me ice cream and we licked it under the shade
of a marble rock.
       “So, how’s your mint?” He asked and I smiled, of course he would talk about the ice cream.
       “Minty, and your Chocolate?”
       “Chocolaty” he answered and my grin grew.
       “How did you come up with the idea of ice cream with no human help?” I asked seriously. I mean, the government didn’t help them.
       “We were patient. We took notes and watched them make it. It was
worth it” He said and took a large bite of his chocolate, shivering
from a brain freeze.
       “No kidding” I answered and licked mine. After we finished our ice
cream cones, we lay down on the grass and looked at the sky through
the surface of the water. I took a bold move and rested my head on his
shoulder. He made it even boulder by putting his arm around my
shoulder. A perfect fit. We were meant for each other.
       “Do you believe in Soul Mates?” I asked and I heard him chuckle.
       “Of course, do you want to know why?” He said and I breathed sharply. OMG, it was happening.
He moved his arm away and propped himself up on his elbow, looking
down at me.
       “Because your mine” he answered and bent down to kiss me. A perfect fit.

       I was still thinking of it the next day in class. We were daring last
night, but it paid off. Without physically asking each other, we knew
we were a couple. We were soul mates, as he had said. I didn’t care of
his skin or eye color; I loved him no matter what. What would dad say?
       The thought struck me like a chord. I hadn’t given a thought about my
family since arriving, what would they think? How selfish was i not to think of them while i was here? I was in love with their enemy’s prince? What would Cato say? I found out that evening.

       “I approve” Cato smiled, looking down at Faro and I holding hands.
       “You do?” I asked surprised and he nodded.
       “If it’s what you want, then yes. Besides, it would create a perfect
union between our species” Cato said logically. He was right and I
turned to Faro, who was just as astonished.
       “How are you going to work out the long distance relationship?” He
asked, I hadn’t even thought of that. If I were to go home, how would
I keep in touch with Faro?
       “I’ll put my letters in Cat Cave. It’s about halfway between here and
Maqua. I think you camped there on the second day,” he said and I
immediately remember it.
       “Every Sunday” I promised and he nodded.
       “Very well. Until we get a treaty signed between us, that is what
we’ll do” Cato agreed and looked at us, “ Have a good rest of the
day.” And we did, we had a wonderful rest of the day.

       All to soon, it was time for me to leave. My teacher marked me
adequate in learning the customs and government of the Mearops, and I
had even established a telethapy link with Faro. A telethapy link is
where two Mearops could telepathically talk to each other from great
lengths by performing a ceremony involving a strand of hair and fire. Too bad the Mearopian castle and the Mer castle were too far apart to even use the telethapy link.
I had learned a new power too. I could turn ‘Mearop’ invisible so only
Mearops could see me, not Mers. I had even learned the full vocabulary
of Mearopian and could talk it fluently.

       It was one of the best months I’ve had in a long time. I actually
regretted leaving, but I knew I had to. The guards unbound the month
old gold bands by a lock and key and lead me out of the city.
       “Your home is that way,” one of the guards pointed but I knew that
wouldn’t help me. Even with my adaptive gene, I had a terrible sense
of direction. I was one of those people who got lost in a tour group.
I knew the land though.
       “Thank you” I thanked and started swimming away at my fastest pace, glad to feel the rush. On the first day, I covered the amount of
distance the Mearops did in two. I had to slow down though and stay at
a pace, or else I would tire myself faster.

       I swam close to the sand, looking for Moon light beach, the beach of the party from the months before where my first encounter with Mearops took place. My plan was simple. Swim to Moon light beach and from there go to Mardy Middle School. I would find Ken and have him help me go back to Maqua. I considered the possibility of just swimming around until I found a Mer village, but I knew that would take much longer.
       I was just scared that my shorts might have disappeared when I changed into my tail, but that was unlikely. No one was at the beach, good. Then nobody would get suspicious if they see a girl swimming out of the
ocean.
       I morphed into legs and the pull of the ocean intensified. So far
away from the beach and without a powerful tail, I’d have to use my
water bending to bring me to the sand. At least I had my shorts.

       It took me a couple of minutes to regain my land legs. After swimming for weeks, I had to re-teach myself to stand. The breeze was heavy so I dried fast, and only my hair was wet when I climbed the steps out of Moonlight Beach property. My t-shirt looked weird since it was mer, but i had to make do since i didn’t want to steal a jacket. But sandals were essential, and the first pair i saw i put on.
       Walking the streets was like remembering to read. I was a little out
of it as I walked through crowds towards Mardy. It was a short walk,
only ten minutes, and by then I was in the parking lot, heading
towards the office.
       Everyone was surprised. Principle Josie was going over things with
her assistant and when I walked in she fell over. The assistant
screamed like she had seen a ghost and Mr. Smith, an English teacher,
ran into the office alerted by the scream, scared there was a
hit-and-run.
       “Eva?” He gasped in disbelief and I heard the sound of chairs
scraping the ground as the teachers in the teacher’s room heard my
name. Ken was first and when he stopped all of the teachers collided
with him.
       “Mearops” Ken panted, “Kidnapped?”
       “They let me go,” I answered and Josie, who was just starting to
stand, fell over.
       “They let you go? Why?” Mr. Joanides asked and the surprise on his
face was absolute.
       “There’s a lot about them you don’t know about” I said and looked
directly at Ken, “I need to get back to Maqua and tell the king.”
       “Yes, your highness. Let’s leave now,” Ken answered and a shiver ran
through the crowd. Your highness.
       “I suggest going tomorrow. That’s when all of the students are
leaving anyways, you could go with them. Besides, it looks like you
need rest and a shower” Mrs. Mathews suggested and I looked around
surprised.
       “The Mer students are going to Maqua tomorrow?” I asked and everyone nodded.
       “When are they getting their blood tests?” I said curiously.
       “A week after they arrive” Josie answered, now standing up, grasping the chair so that she wouldn’t fall again.
       “What about the parents they had here?”
       “Standard Procedure. They are informed by the government of the
situation and must accept it” Ken murmured and added, “Let’s send a
messenger today so that the King can prepare.”
       “That will make him angry” I said and from the blank faces continued,
“He will be mad I didn’t come right away.”
       “He will be even angrier if we didn’t send a messenger. I’ll walk you
to your room” Mrs. Coulter said and grabbed my arm, leading me away.
       “Relax” I said and tried to remove myself from her sturdy grip.
       “Eva, this is very surprising. Especially now that we know you’re the
princess” Mrs. Coulter ordered, “Let the other teachers digest this.”
       “How many people know? That I’m the princess I mean,” I asked and
Mrs. Coulter sighed.
       “All of the Mer here. One of the students heard the teachers talking
about it and spread the news. Ariel wouldn’t leave her room for days,”
Mrs. Coulter said and I realized all of the teachers knew of my
ongoing battle with Ariel. Now that she knew I was princess, she
probably felt so embarrassed and felt that I would want revenge.
       In the back of my mind, I really do, but I guess I’ve changed. After
feeling love.
       “Here you are. We changed your room up a bit but other than that it’s
just as it was. We didn’t move your things either” Mrs. Coulter
informed and I looked up at her.
       “Why didn’t you prepare my room for a new student when you knew I
wouldn’t come back?” I asked.
       “We clean up and prepare the rooms for new students at the end of the
year, and we wanted to be prepared for situations like these. I
suggest showering, changing, and eating” Mrs. Coulter said and a
question popped into my head.
       “What do the human students think when all of the Mer students leave
and don’t come back?” I asked.
       “Each person has a different excuse. Tuition fees, family is moving,
exchange student, school transfer, and ideas such as those. Be ready
to leave tomorrow at eight in the pool area. Just follow the crowd,
please don’t try to make a scene ” Mrs. Coulter ordered and I nodded.
She left and I moved my room around so that it felt more homey and then
showered.

       “ I heard she got kidnapped by Mearops and escaped” Tina said the
next day at 7: 42 A.M. All of the Mer members were in a group in the
pool area gossiping and spreading rumors.
       “I heard she ran away, the stress was too much for her” Shelly commented.
       “Really? I overheard Ariel telling her friends MAW had locked her up
because she was too weird, and that’s why she ran away,” Tatiana
explained.
       “I just heard that she walked into the office casually and asked Ken
for help finding Maqua. Ooh, I can’t believe we’re going there today!”
Christi grinned, her voice sounding excited. I was leaning against the
wall in my Mearop invisibility state. No one could see me, but I could
see everyone. As rumors flew past, I smiled to myself.
       I was doing what Mrs. Coulter said, I was keeping low. I wasn’t
making a scene. I wasn’t even visible. I walked gingerly to Ariel to
find her nervously chatting.
       “We’ll protect you from her Ariel” Celeste confirmed but Ariel only smirked.
       “She is so evil, it’s like it radiates off her body. You won’t stand
a chance, Celeste, she wants to hurt me so bad” Ariel lied, or was she
thinking that was the truth? Tired of standing near her, I walked back
to the wall and waited for the teachers to lead everyone to the
busses. Strapped around everyone’s waist was a belt with two pockets,
a replica of the one I had and still have on.
       “Quiet, quiet now!” I heard Troy bark. With Zale still in Maqua, he
looked extremely nervous.
       “I will explain the procedures once we get to the beach, right now I
will do roll call. After that, we’ll get on the busses” Troy ordered
and everyone stopped talking. As he went down the list, I noticed no
one was missing. Well, no duh. They were traveling to Maqua for the
first time. After five minutes, he read my name and a murmur swept
through the crowd.
       “Here” I called and dropped my invisibility. Everyone literally
jumped back; I could here the sound as their feet hit the ground. Troy
widened his eyes and quickly checked off my name, seemingly scared if
he looked at me for too long.
       “Eva!” Rebecca yelled and ran forward for a hug. I hugged her back.
       “Hey” I greeted as more and more of my friends ran towards me.
       “Why didn’t you show yourself earlier?” Isabelle asked.
       “Mrs. Coulter didn’t want me to make a scene,” I answered and they
all laughed.
       “Nice try” Isabelle said and I followed them to the bus. Students
around us were craning to get a good look at their new princess and I
almost laughed aloud.
       “Is it true? That you’re the lost princess?”  Hanna asked and I
nodded. Gasps rang through the bus as we sat down.
       “I’m still the same,” I said and sat down, Rebecca hurriedly sat next
to me before someone else did.
       “ I know, it just gives you more status. Did you here about Ariel?” She asked.
       “Just the main idea. She locked herself in her room for days” I
answered and Ariel nodded. For the five minutes we rode and extra five
it took us to walk to the beach Ariel filled me in on how Ariel
reacted and what they learned in the 2A and 3A teams.
       “That’s amazing,” I said as Ariel told me of how she was the first
one to morph.
       “Thanks, I can also-“ she started but Ken interrupted, his voice
seeming to be micro phoned on the beach.
“ The government has made sure that no pedestrians venture onto this
beach so don’t be nervous to use your abilities. Every three students
will be matched up with a Mer that will guide you to Maqua. The Mers
should be here in a few minutes and they will find who they have been matched up with. They’ve already been given your description. Every person spread out an arms length from each other. Your guide will be holding supplies that you will need to carry and Mearop glasses. Don’t be scared to completely rely on him. Each group will be camping and swimming at different routes and spots.” Ken explained and I spread out from everyone else.
 After two minutes, Mers started emerging from the ocean in human
form. At first it sent a ripple of gasps from the students but then
changed into eerie silence as Mers walked around the students looking
for their groups. They walked oddly, and a few fell as they gained their land legs. After the first couple of groups had left, Ken
walked up to me. “I am to take you with Rebecca and Esther” he said and handed me a bag. Esther was a neutral student who didn’t really get involved in gossip and stayed to herself.
“Okay” I said and Ken left to retrieve Rebecca and Esther. When he had
returned, I had taken note of the things in the bag he gave me and
clipped it to my belt.
“Let’s go” Ken ordered before Rebecca and Esther had looked through
there bags and put on their Merop glasses, “We want to get a good
start.” I helped Esther clip her bag to her belt and jumped into the
ocean. Naturally, my eyes made the water clear and I morphed into my
tail.
“Come on. Hold hands and when I squeeze, squeeze the other person’s
hand your holding and stop” Ken said and grasped my hand, his other
hand belonging to Esther. I took a hold of Rebecca’s hand and we raced
through the water.
As we swam, I ‘ordered’ to my adaptive gene to produce more energy so
that I wouldn’t tire. Ken was in a hurry. That much was obvious, but
why? Were we late? No.
‘There have been more Mearop sightings’ I heard my adaptive gene and
slowed down a bit before speeding up again.
‘Ummm, okay. What’s your name?’ I thought, directly out of topic.
‘Shames’
‘Do you live inside of me’?
‘Of course. I’m an ‘all knowing’ gene. Everyone has one, but they’re
just not activated. Your gene is, and that’s me’ Shames answered.
‘So, what do you mean there have been more Mearop sightings?’ I thought.
‘I mean, more Mer people have spotted Mearops with their Merop
glasses. Everyone is scared and Ken is trying to make everyone hurry
so that we don’t run into one. ’
‘Why doesn’t he make everyone travel together then instead of separately?
       ‘Because it is more confusing in a crowd and easier for a Mearop to attack.’
‘How do you know this?’
‘I can hear him think it’ Shames said.
‘Why do you obey me?’
‘It is what I was born to do. If an ‘all knowing’ gene didn’t obey
it’s human, it would die’ Shames answered and I shuddered. Forced to
obey someone or death, harsh. I didn’t talk to Shames the rest of the
way, nor did I mention it when we set up camp. Ken found a spot
surrounded by other group’s camping and left us to tend to camp while
he checked in on everyone. While I was making the fire, I had time to
think.
So that is why Ken wanted to swim with me, in case I was captured by
Mearops again. That is also why he was so stiff and business like.
By the time Ken returned, we had cooked Dinner and set out beds.
Immediately after hot dogs, Ken made us go straight to sleep.

The next day didn’t start out so great. Instead of waking at seven
like we were supposed to, Ken woke us up at five and we had left by
five-thirty in the morning. Wow, he really wanted to get to Maqua.
That was his mistake.
By break, I was even tired from swimming hard and we only had three
more hours of swimming to go. I took out the sandwiches while everyone
else was purifying their water and we ate hungrily. Since we had left
early, we were way ahead so we took our time. Isabella and Esther swam
off a couple of yards to explore so it was only Ken and I.
“ You could have told us,” I said, looking at Ken.
“Of what?” He asked but I saw that he tensed up.
“I know of the increase in Mearop sightings. If you had told us about
it, maybe Isabelle and Esther would understand your urgency and swim
faster” I accused.
“I didn’t want them to be scared or nervous, that’s the last thing we
need” he replied and I had to accept it for at that moment, Esther
screamed. Without even looking, I swam as fast as I could to where
they were and were besides them in seconds, Ken came a couple of
seconds later. Mearops. They were swimming towards us menacingly.

Ken got ready to fight and pushed us three behind him, but I knew it
was pointless. There were four of them. There were no other Mer to
help us since we were so far ahead.
I pushed past Ken and swam a couple of feet towards them, they stopped
in surprise. Without dropping my gaze, I did the ‘Flat Hand Peace.’
Shock shown in the Mearop’s faces but they didn’t return it, instead
they advanced.
“I am Eva, I have practiced the Mearop ways. Leave us in peace” I said
in Mearopian. They understood and stopped advancing but looked at me
curiously.
“How do we know you are telling the truth?” One asked.
“I know Mearopian. I have met King Cato. I have visited your gleaming
white castle. I have met Faro, the Mearop king. I know of Iara and her
twin daughters, Meherio and Morina. I have just performed the ‘Flat
Hand Peace’” I confirmed and all of the Mearops shrunk back in
surprise and fear.
“Why do you travel with Mers?”
“They are my friends. I am trying to bring our two species together,”
I answered. Specks of other Mer groups entered my peripheral vision.
“Why would the Mer King listen to you?” they asked.
“I am his lost daughter,” I said. They left quickly. Immediately after
our conversation, they sped off and I turned back to my group. Ken was
taken back. His mouth was open in astonishment and his eyes were wide.
Esther and Rebecca had similar expressions and I let out a sigh. That went well.
“Don’t say anything. Esther, Rebecca, join the nearest group and tell
them that Ken has gone ahead with Eva under unique circumstances. Eva,
come, now” He ordered and grabbed my hand. He started swimming before I had time to process what he had said.
‘Swim as fast as you can, I’ll keep up’ Ken said telepathically and I
increased my speed until I was dragging him.
‘I’m sorry if I surprised you’ I thought but he didn’t answer. We were
in the palace of Maqua in an hour. I was breathless but steady and Ken
led me directly towards the King’s room, where he was in a meeting.
We burst into the room unannounced. Gasps were taken and Kai’s gaze
dropped to me. He was besides me in seconds, pulling me into a bear hug.
“I love you, don’t ever leave me again” He whispered in my ear and I
hugged him back.
“This is not a time for feelings, something serious has happened” Ken
ordered and Kai looked up startled.
“I haven’t seen my daughter for weeks and you say this?” Kai said and
towered over him.
“It is not my place but” Ken said and told them about what had happened.
“How?” Kai whispered, that was all he could get out. I told them what
happened, leaving out Faro and our relationship.

“They want peace? I must consult with the council,” Kai said, sounding
less enthusiastic than I thought.
“Would you like me to lead Eva to her room?” Ken asked but Kai shook his head.
“I will need you at the council since you were a witness, I will have
a guard help Eva” Kai said and turned towards me, ”We will meet soon.”
       Everything was happening in a rush. I finally come home to my family after weeks at the Mearop castle and they need to go to a council
meeting? Instead of saying this, I followed the guard to my room quietly and dressed in royal clothes.

       The week passed in a blur. I was in council meetings everyday and
rarely had time to get out of the castle. When I did, I saw glimpses
of the Mer students and at least five guards accompanied me wherever I
went. I grew stronger with my power everyday and started writing
letters to Faro. I left these letters under my bed and decided I would
drop them off in the cave later. Kai passed the law on the five
children for the royal family rule by one vote and Zale was rarely
seen in the castle.
       The council and my father were not agreeing with the Mearop
proposition. They would talk for hours in the council room, summoning
me every now and then to tell them a particular part of my visit
there. I felt anger from all of the people in the council room and
knew that they wanted to destroy the Mearop civilization instead of
make peace with them. So, I gave them as little detail about there
where a bouts as I could, and they became frustrated. By the fourth
day there I had pinpointed where the Mearop castle was myself, in the Bermuda Triangle.
       I hadn’t told the council this, of course. If I had told them they
would have been sending troops in a day. The thing that frustrated
them most was the opposing info. The Mearops wanted to make peace but
they were attacking the Mers. I continually explained that they had to
do this so that Mers would leave them alone and not go looking for
them. Many were unconvinced. My dad was one of them.
       “You don’t understand!” I exclaimed, “They never wanted to battle
against the Mers. They were forced to, or else we would have treated
them as slaves or some other thing terrible. They don’t want to live
in war anymore!”
       “No, this is obviously a trick. They’ll lure us in and then bite us.
It happens all the time,” Kai explained and I let out a sigh.
       “You weren’t there! They are kind and smart, and they aren’t savages
that attack Mers for fun. They have a reason,” I argued and my father
looked down at me.
       “Why don’t they send a messenger than?”
       “Because we would throw him in jail, we wouldn’t let him free. We
have allowed our history to overcome our emotions so that it would
blind us by the path to peace” I said modestly.
       “Who are you to question my authority?” Kai said, getting mad, “You
are only a child. You don’t know half of what I know. I am your king.”
I backed up hurt. Never has he said such things to me. Never has he
called me ignorant.
       “And I am your daughter” I argued, growing angrier, “I have grown up without a family all of my life. I have fought Mearops and killed a
man.” I thought back to the criminal who tried to kidnap Kate and
Jasmine.
       “I can talk to the moon at will and I saw the future. I have been
kidnapped by Mearops and have been shown they are just as innocent as
us. I have felt power you have felt once. I can talk to my sharking gene and order it to do as I say. And now you accuse me of being ignorant?” I asked, my hatred bringing strength. Kai was surprised, but that astonishment turned into anger. I left before he could throw any more words at me and ran into Zale.
       “Don’t talk to me” I ordered and brushed past him. There was only
person I wanted to talk to right now. But he was thousands of miles
away.

       I placed my envelopes on a table in the cave and swam back out. It
had only taken me an hour to swim to the cave. My anger had grown to
strength so that I was the fastest thing in the water. I had
recognized the path and knew the way back to the Mer castle by heart
so I didn’t need a guide’s help, surprisingly. I looked at the sun and frowned. In an hour the Mer students would learn who their parents are at the royal palace. It was a custom for the royal family to be there.
       “Whatever, father doesn’t want me there anyways” I said to myself but sighed. It would be really bad if I didn’t show. But, I only had an
hour, how was I supposed to get there so fast. Unless, Shames knew a
way.
       ‘Shames, could I teleport?’ I thought. After a minute Shames replied.
       ‘You could do anything. But, teleporting is a tiring power, and you
might be too weak to even go to the ceremony for the Mer students’
Shames explained. Before asking him how he knew of the ceremony, I
reminded myself that he could read minds.
       ‘I am willing to take the chance’ I thought and willed myself to
teleport. I thought of my room in the castle so much it felt like I
was there. A ringing entered my ears and steadily grew louder.
Suddenly, I felt like I was being crushed and yelled for help, but my
mouth didn’t work. After a couple of seconds of agony, my view changed
and I was in my room in the castle. Envelope in hand. I fell onto my
bed shaking. It was terrifying but thrilling all in all and after ten
minutes I stood up and swam to the kitchen for some strengthening
herbs.

       On one side of the grand room where my fathers throne sat were
parents, dozens and dozens of parents. On the other side were the
students I had gotten to know. This was it, this was there moment.
       I sat in the order of oldest to youngest. Zale sat on my right,
slightly higher, and Assana sat on my left, slightly lower. I grinned
at each of the students and parents delights as they were reunited. It
was a wonderful time, and Kai promised a feast for everyone afterwards. Halfway through it was Rebbeca’s turn and I grinned back at her as she stepped forward. Her parents looked exactly like her. The nose, the mouth, the hair. It was amazing how much similarity the people related to each other had.
       Ariel was next. I smirked to myself. This was going to be good. Once
she was reunited with her parents she would have to bow down to me,
how wrong I was.

The MAW group looked nervous and I peered at them closely. What were
they so worried about?
       I knew. It all made sense. It was terrifying but thrilling at the
same time. I, unconsciously, read their minds and I was correct. The
moon talking to me, showing me my birth. There had been two babies.
That’s why there were so many gasps and sighs in my vision. And I had
heard another baby’s cry after mine.
       I groaned aloud. I was a twin. My other twin was Ariel.

       Why did I always have to do the right thing?
       “Sapphire Melodin” the man read and a woman stepped out of the crowd.
Her affection wasn’t like the one’s the other children got, it looked
forced. This was a con. The MAW changed Ariel’s real family, the royal
family, and my family, before the ceremony so that there wouldn’t be
five children in the royal family. Now, they were most likely paying
Saphire to act as Ariel’s mother. I had to give it to them, they were
smart. Before I could stop myself, I leaped up.
       “That is a lie!” I yelled, my voice radiating against the halls.
Sapphire’s eyes turned panicky and the MAW group gasped, as did
everyone else in the room. All eyes were on me. Why did I do that? I
just stood there, like a fool, for a couple of seconds when Kai
cleared his throat. What was I talking about, oh yah?
       “Forgive my daughter, she is knew to this ceremony” Kai explained and
I stared at him.
       “I understand now” I continued, ignoring Kai, “Ariel and I are twins.”

       The whole room laughed. Saphire and MAW laughed nervously and I
looked around. Even Ken was laughing.
       “This is no joke!” I yelled and the laughing intensified. Kai swam
towards me and started leading me out of the room. Wasn’t there
someway I could show them? Some way they’d believe me? Shame’s voice echoed in my head.
       ‘You could do anything’ it said and I knew what to do. I had to talk
to the moon.

       “Let go of me!” I ordered, pushing him backwards. The room quieted,
no one dared push a king. But I did, and now he was on the ground
looking up at me, bewilderment and anger entering his eyes. A guard
leaped forward but I lifted a wall of earth on his side and he swam
into it. Before other guards could charge, I made a force field. A
completely real, half dome, force field that went around me. Then, I
sat down and crossed my legs into a meditating pose. Before talking to
the moon, I forced myself to display everything I saw above me. Gasps
were heard as a blurry screen materialized over my head and showed what I was looking at, them. Then, I closed my eyes and blackness covered the
screen.
       I listened; I listened with every fiber of my body for the moon. My
breathing matched it’s and I felt the wave’s current. Power laid
itself on my shoulders and I struggled under the weight.
       You can do anything.
       The weight of power lessoned and I thought of my birth. A scene
entered my head and I relived what I had seen before except with my
clarity and focus.
       Iara was on the bed in the ‘Luna’ room, breathing heavily. I am not
going to go into detail.
       A cry was heard. My cry. One of the doctors lifted me up in awe and
smiled. The second child of the royal family was born. Another cry
intensified and Ariel was held up. There were many gasps and one of
the MAW agents took Ariel in a blanket and tucked her in his robe, the
twirl of robes. An abundant of sighs was let out as everyone looked at
me again.
       “ We must give this child away, no one can know” one of the MAW
agents said and everyone nodded, they were talking about Ariel. .
       “Then let us go and rejoice for the king’s daughter” He continued and
left the room, Ariel hidden in his robe. The scene ended and my
thoughts wandered to the Mearops. Could I show them they were
peaceful?
       I thought of the king and my feast and his words sounded more
powerful than ever before as he explained he wanted peace. I showed
them the other Mearop people, my teacher, and their intelligence. The
power seemed to crush my shoulders even harder and I knew I couldn’t
hold on anymore so I let go.

       I was shivering. My force field was gone and the screen was just
disappearing. I tried to get up but fell immediately. I couldn’t stand. I was so weak.
       Ken was the first one to me. All of the guards stayed back in fear of
my power but Ken swam forward and ordered one of the guards for a
blanket. Nobody dared move. The people from MAW and Saphire were
trying to leave quietly and no one noticed. They were all too shocked.
Ken tried to lift me but immediately drew back at the touch.
       “You’re burning” he whispered and tried again. He brought his hand
back so fast I didn’t comprehend what he was meant until a guard
appeared. Zale was first out of his trance and helped me up. The
blanket mummified my hot touch so that they could help me stand in the
water.
       Kai was second out of his trance.
       “Guards! Arrest the MAW agents!” He ordered and shot out of his seat.
Pain ebbed at my head and I bit my lip, why couldn’t I steady myself?
       ‘Shames, can you help’ I thought.
       ‘Too weak. Holding two powers at once while talking to the moon, an
incredible feat. You will have to heal by yourself while I rest’ he
said and I groaned. I felt like my whole body was on fire.
       “Doctor! Someone get the doctor!” Zale yelled and I saw Kai turn to
me. My eyes were still unaffected by this weakness.
       “Daughter. It’s okay, we are going to help you” Kai swam to me and
drew back when he tried to touch me.
       “Why is she so hot?” Kai asked.
       “Because of so much power” I mumbled, but my skin felt tight.
       “We need to get her ice or else she’ll boil” Zale exaggerated and
felt him press ice that he made from the water against my skin. It
sizzled.
       “Help me while the doctor comes!” Zale ordered. His voice didn’t
sound like him. He sounded more like a king. My shivering calmed until
I was steadier and they stopped ‘icing’ me.
       “I am a princess” I heard Ariel murmur and turned to look at her.
There was no appreciation in her eyes. No thanks. Why couldn’t people
appreciate what I did for them?

       Ariel and Assana got along right away. Go figure. I was in the
hospital for a couple of days after the ceremony, feeling extremely
fragile. Shames hadn’t healed either. He told me that it would be
easier to talk to the moon since he was making cells to help cope with
the energy used.
       Two days after the ceremony, the whole committee swam in and sat in a circle.
       “The doctor said you couldn’t leave to attend any meetings so we
brought the meetings to you” Kai explained, walking in. He kissed my fore head and sat down next to me.
       “We are here to discuss the Mearop and Mer Treaty” One council member articulated, his voice loud and clear.
       “I still don’t like the idea” Kai muttered to me and I bit my lip.
       “Yesterday, we drew up a draft on our peace. So far, we
have decided the boundaries, punishments for illegal involvement,
laws, trade, and social affairs” the member continued and looked at me
expectantly.
       “Very good” I voiced quickly and the man explained each topic, adding a few words to it when another council member suggested something.
       “Could you, in anyway, get this to the Mearop King?” one of the members inquired.
       “After I recover, yes. But I will need to go alone” I answered and
everyone nodded.
       It was a success. I had persuaded the Mer council to make peace with
the Mearops. My first major success. All of my happiness left me when
Kai talked to me.
       “I don’t want you to get involved with the Mearops,” He ordered once
everyone had left.
       “What do you mean?” I asked, hiding my surprise and worry.
       “Don’t make friends with any of them. Keep your space with them.
Don’t even talk to them. I don’t trust the Mearops” He warned and looked
at me sternly. I hope he didn’t ask me to promise, because then I
couldn’t.
       “If you are letting your emotions in the way of peace, you are
ruining our civilization” I proclaimed and he looked at me strangely.
       “Where did you learn that quote?”
       “Off the top of my head” I murmured and before leaving, he kissed me on the top of my head.

 Dear Eva,
               I miss you. The hour you left I realized the true mourning I would feel with you gone. None of the other Mearops understand me. As you said yourself, we’re soul mates. After you left, Cato ordered all of
the Mearops to the castle. They are still assembling. He is going to explain to them the piece he wishes to establish, but he is scared many will rebel. For so many years we have looked towards the Mers in disgust and anger. They were the one’s who caused us to go into hiding. Hopefully, most Mearops will agree with my father on the peace treaty. We cannot risk war. Nothing much has happened besides that. I wish you well.
                                               Love,
                                                       Faro
       I smiled and hugged myself. He signed his name with ‘Love.’ Not
sincerely, but ‘Love.’ After delivering the treaty and grabbing his
answer to my first note, I ‘teleported’ back to my room. It was even
more painful than the last time. Maybe I should swim for future
travels. I wrote a reply to him and angered myself for not dropping it
off with the treaty. Now I’d have to swim back later.

       “I order you to bow down to me” I heard and turned around. Ariel, a
malicious smile on her ugly face, was looking at me.
       “First of all, I’m from the royal family too and I am even older than
you so I have more authority. ” I retorted and her smile turned into a
frown.
       “ Your older than me? But I’m taller! I’m more mature!” She argued
and I grinned smugly at her.
       “I have more power,” I answered.
       “That is no excuse. The right ruler would be the one who is more
wise,” Assana vouched behind her.
       “Have you been to the Mearop castle? Have you saved your two friends from criminals? I saved you from those Mearops! I chose to show
everyone that you are of royal blood. I even saved you from weeks of
healing!” I said and swam a little higher to see Assana.
       “Yes, but I’m at the top of my class. If you were so powerful, why
did you let the Mearops get you?” She retorted. Before saying ‘I
couldn’t, they had gold’ I thought better.
       “There were six of them. Six against one, I don’t think the odds
would be in my favor. Now, you against me, that’s a different option”
I mused coldly and anger swam over her vision like an angry torrent.
       “Well, at least I have studied more than you have! I even have a
boyfriend! I have more experience with the Mer people than you do!
Your different than them, your like a mutant!” She yelled, her face
growing red.
       “I know much more than you do, sister” I said the word ‘sister’ like
it was trash and continued, “I have a boyfriend and I’m as Mer as you!
I just have a gene changed, that’s the only thing!”
       My first mistake. Out of anger, I had told her I had a boyfriend.
Now, she’d ask whom he was and I wouldn’t be able to answer. She was
thick, but not that thick.
       “Really, who?” She sneered and I didn’t break my gaze.
       “No one, it’s a long distance relationship” I said, my second
mistake. Once the words were out of my mouth, I knew she was luring me
in. She would try to make me tell her and than accuse me of lying if I
didn’t.
       “I have to go, I need to finish writing a letter” I noted and swam to
my room before she could answer. Of all the people, why was it Ariel
that now knew of my secret relationship?

       Days turned into weeks. I dropped off my letters at the cave
everyday, and received one everyday. I hid them under my mattress, in between my books, and at the back of drawers.  I could now teleport more easily and started learning how to bend air to my advantage. I first tried this in the Bubble Farms.
       “This is our variety of carrots and turnips” Our guide informed. Father
visited each Bubble Farm every year and this year he decided to take
the family to one. Everyone except for Zale, who was on a Sea trip,
was there. Kai didn’t visit the castle much anymore; he was a visiting
relative in the East. We were in our human forms and as we walked, I
caught glances of other Mers on vacation, trying to have fun and help
the farms simultaneously.
       “This is our Air Restoration,” the guide made known as we looked through a glass of scientists building something, “It is still in progress.”
       “I understand you and your family will be spending the night here?”
the guide asked and Kai nodded. The guide showed us to the middle of
the farm, where a row of beds were.
       “I hope your stay is comfortable” he smiled and seemingly
disappeared into the brush.
       “Eva, I must consult with you” Kai said immediately turning to me.
       “Should I come father?” Ariel asked, obviously mad that our father
needed to talk to me instead of her.
       “No need” he answered and I followed him towards the edge of the farm.
       “Several Mearops approached our castle with the same letter from the
Mearop King” he informed and I turned to him.
       “You let them free, right?” I asked and he nodded.
       “Of course, we are on peace terms. The only thing that would stop the council from the direction they are going is if we capture a Mearop who wasimportant. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we believe we
will finish the peace treaties by the end of the month” he said and I nodded.
       “Thank you” I said and he left. Surprisingly, Ariel hadn’t tried to
eavesdrop on our conversation.

       It was night, almost three in the morning, when alarms blared.
       “Everyone get up, get up now! Evacuate the area,” a Mer in human form stressed running towards us. His running was awkward and slow, but
surprisingly fast for a Mer.
       “What is the meaning of this?” Kai ordered the Mer, who seemed to shrink back.
       “The bubble around the farm was not strengthened enough in the
Northern Corner. A crack formed and if you don’t leave immediately
than we will be washed up in the turmoil. You are strong, king, but
not strong enough for this mess,” he informed and I was taken back. It
took incredible courage to tell that to the King.
       “I trust your opinion” Kai said and started leading everyone to the
exits, clearly taking charge.
       ‘Could I stop this?’ I thought, trying to think of a way.
       ‘Yes’ Shames answered. I hadn’t even asked of his opinion, or maybe I hadn’t asked but unintentionally wanted it.
       “I’m going to help. I will not let thousands of crops die at the
hands of a leak” I offered and ran back before anyone could stop me.
       “NO! I will not lose another daughter!” I heard Kai yelled and his
uneven but quick running caught up to me in seconds. Ariel was by me
too and looked down at me in disgust.
       “Can you believe her, taking off like that? I have the power and
logic to stop this, I will go” Ariel said and ran forward.
       “Ariel! I order you to stop!” Kai yelled, as Ariel was a couple of feet away.
       “I can’t hear you!” Ariel replied. Idiot. If she couldn’t hear him why
would she know that he talked?
       “Let go of me!” I screamed and squirmed but Kai’s hold was tight
after years of built-up muscle.
       “I need to help them!” I said and started to whimper, “I can’t let
them get hurt, and I couldn’t live with myself!”
       “No, you don’t need to help them. You can’t go around saving every
stray or hurt person in your path” he whispered, trying to calm me
down. It had the opposite effect.
 He pulled me towards the exit and the rush of water filled my ears.
What about Ariel? What about the people sacrificing their lives in the
attempt to fix the situation?
“What about Ariel!” I raged and he looked down at me.
“It was her chose. I am sorry Eva. She can take care of herself” he
reassured and I gaped. His own daughter?
“No, she can’t” I roared and then calmed myself down.
‘Shames, give me all of the powers I choose at the thought’ I ordered.
‘Yes Eva’ Shames replied and I felt a deep tugging at my gut.
Strength. Give me strength.
I pried myself from Kai in ease, my muscles gaining power from a new source. His muscles flexed as he tried to fight a losing battle.
“Go, now. I can take care of myself” I ordered and started running. Fly.
I was air-borne. It was much more exhilarating than I had ever hoped
for. I raced towards the sound of water and saw a wave of the ocean
rush at me. Ariel was tumbling along in it. I couldn’t fret about her
though right now. I had to focus.
For my people. For my family. For my species. For the love of those
who would die if I didn’t act. For life. I dug deep within myself.
Struggling to control the power Shames held.
‘Give it to me!’ I ordered him.
‘No, it is too strong for you!’ he argued. He has never said no before.
‘Shames. Under the command of the body you are in and wish to continue
to live in, give me the power’ I said and he stopped struggling. It
was in my grasp.

I could see it in my mind. Gold and shining. So small but so powerful.
Why was it gold when I was weakened by gold? My mind couldn’t dwell on this for I had much to do.
The power was like my talk with the moon. I was struggling against its
weight, but the power it held seemed even stronger than the moon. So,
instead of keeping it tucked in, I let it out. I let it flow, like a waterfall. I opened my eyes to the water churning and filling the bubble around me. No.
My hands moved against the water, against the moon. I felt her
pressure intensify and pushed with my strength.
I could do anything.
That thought gave me power.
I was the princess of the royal family, I could do anything.
I was the peacemaker between two species, I could do anything.
I could talk to the moon at will, I CAN DO ANYTHING.

I pushed the water back. Out of the bubble, through the leak, into the
ocean. I looked down at myself. My veins were glowing gold. I didn’t
give it much thought. I was too focused.
The water defied all of its rules and left the bubble. I moved it back
steadily and carefully so that any Mer people within it could get out
easily. Once all of the water was out, I strengthened the bubble.
Then, in my glee, I made the vegetation grow and made a tunnel travel
from the top of the bubble to the top of the ocean. Then, I replaced
most of the Carbon dioxide with oxygen and closed the tube, it was
thrilling. If only I knew the consequences.

They were running towards me. My family and the Mer. Father was in
front, smiling his toothy grin. I smiled at them too and was ready for
an embrace of love. I was wrong. The minute I touched the ground, one
thought entered my mind.
I would have to pay for the energy I used.
My legs went slack and I passed out.

Darkness. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t lift my eyes, smell, feel, or hear.
‘It will take weeks for you to recover’ I heard Shames say, adding
disapproval to his voice.
‘It was well worth it’ I answered. I went back to sleep.

“Is she awake?” I heard. Kai. Where was I?
“No” someone said. Another voice. Who’s?
“I am” I struggled, my throat felt raspy.
I heard the swish of water and felt my dad swim by me.
       “How are you?” he asked and I weakly smiled.
       “Fine. How long has it been?”
       “A week” he answered and I drew in a breath? A week? What would Faro think since I never answered to him in that time?
       ‘Shames, can you heal me?’ I thought. Shames stirred.
       ‘Yes. But it will be slow going’ he answered.

       Two months. It took me two months to heal. The doctor had told me it would have originally taken three months but I had Shame’s help.
       We had a feast at my recovery. Father said he had a special surprise
for me that would change our lives drastically. The Peace Treaty! They
had probably signed it.
       It wasn’t even close.

       The feast was wonderful. We talked, laughed, and I noticed many sly
smiles around the rooms. What were Mers so happy about?
       Assana wasn’t there; she probably felt that I didn’t deserve such an
honor. But, Ariel was there, and she looked suspicious. I would have
to keep an eye on her.
       The whole mer family was there as well. Zale had returned from his
trip when I was healing and was on my right, Geneva was on my left.
Next to Geneva was Kai, who was next to Aban, who was next to Vivien.
Ariel was on Zales left.
       “ Now, after so many years of struggle, the war between the Mearops
and the Mers are over!” Kai yelled and a box was floated into the
room. I didn’t know a treaty was so big. What was inside the box was revealed, I let out a cry.
       “ The Mearopian Empire has fallen!” Kai yelled and cheering rang out. Faro was in the box, in chains.

       I fell out of my chair. No, this can’t be happening. Not this.
       Zale helped me up, his face a mask. I looked at Faro and tried to
speak to him telepathically.
       ‘I never knew. I just got out of a recovery’ I thought. Faro’s face
was slack, but he had the fierce determination in his eyes that I
loved.
       “I am too weak to use telethapy,” He quivered aloud, no one but me
understood his Mearopian tongue.
       “I never knew. I just got out of recovery” I replied. The crowd was
silent. I was glad I was the only one in the room who knew Mearopian.
       “I understand. What I don’t understand is how your people can be so
foolish. I thought we were in the process of a treaty?” he asked. Kai
looked at me sternly.
       “What is he saying” Kai interjected.
       “He is begging for freedom” I replied and stared at him, my anger
burning, “What happened?”
       “Some travelers found him two days journey from here. He wore a
prince’s emblem so they brought him prisoner here” Kai explained. Two
days journey from here. He was dropping off a letter.
       “What about the treaty?” I ordered. I was shocked at the power in my voice.
       “Such a high-ranking Mearop canceled the treaty. We could bargain
with his life, The Mer Empire could grow so much stronger. He is worth
possibly the where-a-bouts of the Mearop Castle” Kai reckoned , seemingly shrinking back.
       A mistake. I let a flash of knowledge enter my eyes and Kai knew.
       “You know where it is?” he ordered, rising.
       “No” I lied all too quickly.
       “Don’t play games with me Eva. You knew where it was all along didn’t you? And you didn’t say anything because of the treaty!” Kai yelled
and I felt his anger radiate towards me, it forced me to shrink.
       ‘You are better than this’ Shames said in my head.
       “No! I didn’t know!” I lied but Kai’s anger was unstoppable.
       “ How dare you. We could have had there castle weeks ago, but you
selfish little girl” He breathed and stormed towards me. Zale stood up
in between them.
       “Father. Stop” he ordered and Kai was surprised at the outburst, “You
are better than this.” That had the opposite effect.

       Kai slapped Zale. Hard. Zale fell down to the floor and Kai swam to me, leaning over me.
       “For years the Mers have struggled to find the castle’s origin
and you knew all along! We have lived in fear of the Mearops and you sit there with information worth lives” He ranted. My world was falling apart.
       ‘Don’t take that, Eva! Fight back!’ Shame’s encouraged.
       “Get out of my head!” I screamed and Kai was shocked. I bent down and covered my ears. This can’t be happening.
       I had to get away. I couldn’t do this anymore. I teleported to my room.

       I could here the surprised gasps from the feast room. But I wasn’t
focused on that. I was focused on Assana, holding up my cards from
Faro, reading them.
       No.
       She looked up. Surprise and authority swept over her face.
       “I didn’t know that the Mearop prince and you were soul mates” she
sneered and with a flick of my hand, the cards were swept with my
water bending into my hand, I quickly put them in my pocket.
       “I’m not,” I answered, but there was no denying it.
       “Don’t try to get out of this one sweetie” Assana suggested and swam over to my dresser, running her fingers along on it.
       “How did you know?” I asked and Assana chuckled.
       “I was with Ariel when you told her about your ‘boyfriend.’ I did
some research” she revealed and stopped running her fingers along my
dresser to look at me.
       “The ground has changed to my favor,” she noted.
       “I didn’t want to take Zale from you” I pleaded and she stopped.
       “How did you know?”
       “The moon told me. Please, I never wanted this to happen”
       “Well, it’s too late” she proclaimed and swept out of the room, leaving
my pleas behind.

       Zale was in my room first. He shut the door and locked it. I was on
my bed sobbing. The hand mark on Zale’s face showed like a beacon.
       “It’s okay” He murmured and swam towards me, holding me.
       “No, it is not” I replied and looked at him, “Assana’s going to go
tell everyone my secret.”
       “What secret?” he questioned. I might as well tell him, he’ll know anyway.
       “Faro and I are soul mates. We have been soul mates ever since we saw each other. I had seen him when I talked to the moon” I said, it felt
good to let it out. I decided to tell him everything else.
       “I can talk to my gene and order it what to do. I can access any
power that I want,” I explained. Zale was still digesting what I had
said.
       “I am sorry, that is a great burden to carry” he replied. He didn’t
understand, no one ever would.
       “Now father hates me,” I whispered, “I’ve only known him for a little
less than a year and he hates me.”
       “Father has mixed feelings. He is kind of emotional if you ask me. He
doesn’t know what he wants,” Zale explained. As if on cue, the door
was slammed open, broken off it hinges, and father swam towards me,
grabbing me by the wrist.
       “ You are going to come to the interrogation room now!” He screamed, Assana was behind him. He knew, oh no.

       I was chained. Chained, in my own castle. A golden necklace was wrapped around my neck, even worse than chains.
       “Where is it,” a Mer man demanded.
       “ I don’t know” I replied. My father has anger issues.
       “The eel” Kai specified and the man looked at him surprised.
       “She is too young” he stated.
       “Now” Kai ordered. A door was let open and a large jellyfish swam
out. The man directed it towards me with a prod.

       “I do not know!” I screamed. They had pushed my limit. I had been
shocked by the jellyfish countless time and the pain was like a mule
running into my chest.
       “She is strong” the Mer commented, “we can not do anymore shocks or it can result in mental and physical damage.”
       “Leave” Kai ordered. .
       “What?” The mer asked shocked.
       “Go, now” Kai said and the man left. Kai put his head in his hands.
       “Why?” He asked looking up at me.
       “For which question?” I asked and he looked at me angrily.
       “Why do you have to love Faro, the Mearop Prince? Why didn’t you tell us where the Mearops lived!” He yelled, slamming his fists on the
walls.
       “You can not stop love, it is unstoppable. I didn’t want a war so I
didn’t say where the Mearop’s castle was” I answered and he grinned at
me.
       “You are wrong at one thing,” Kai said, an evil smile gripping his face.
       “What?” I asked, puzzled.
       “Love can be stopped by death” He answered and swam out of the room. Oh no, oh no.

       ‘Shames! Help!’ I yelled but Shames didn’t answer. He had shut
himself off from the rest of my body. The golden necklace seemed to dig into my skin.
       “Someone help! Please!” I screamed, trying to release myself from the
chains. I let myself dissolve into a fit of crying. No, I wouldn’t live with myself if Faro died. No!

       Zale came to me first and unlocked my chains. It was too late though.
       “What happened? I saw dad storm to the prison,” Zale asked and I
leaned against him.
       “He’s killed Faro,” I sobbed.
       “Let’s go try to stop him” Zale answered and I looked up at him, “come on.”
       We swam so fast that my ears popped. I ripped off the necklace and
raced into the prison rooms, checking each door. I heard a scream come
from the far one.
       Startled guards lay sprawled on the floor and I burst in.
       Kai leaned over Faro’s back panting; a knife was in Faro’s spine. He was gone.

       “No” I whispered and stormed towards Kai.
       “How dare you!” I screamed.
       “It was the only way,” he answered and I summoned the power at once.
I didn’t feel any weight on my shoulders at all.
       Lifting my hand, I placed it on Kai’s chest. He looked at me
bewildered as lines of gold outlined his veins. I didn’t even know
what I was doing until it was over. Kai let out an agonizing scream.
       “What have you done to me?” he asked.
       “I have taken all of your powers beside breathing underwater, you
permanently have a tail” I answered, my own shock mirroring his. Had I
really just said that? To my father?
       I walked to Faro and pulled out the knife, caressing his white face.
I will save him, or die trying. I put my hand to his check and forced
myself to focus on him. Then, I don’t know how, but I gave the life
force I had to what he needed most. I felt my self-slipping.
       His skin turned back to color and his eyes fluttered open, but I was
not done. I searched every gene in his body until I found his
‘all-knowing’ gene. I tried to open it as much as I could. It wouldn’t
budge. I wasn’t strong enough.

       “Eva, you are killing yourself!” Faro breathed, grasping me by the
arms. I gritted my teeth and didn’t answer. I glanced at my skin and
realized he was right. My skin had gone white.
       “Stop Eva!” Faro ordered and tried to shake out of my grasp. I held
on tightly and tried again, I had to do this. If I did this, he would
be powerful enough to escape and protect his people.
       Like a dimming light switch, the gene was turning on.

       Strong hands gripped my shoulders and lifted me away from Faro. No!
The gene was almost on! At the removal of Faro’s touch, I started to
shake wildly.
       “I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry!” Kai apologized over and over again. He
was, I saw it in his eyes. He had only tried to kill Faro because he
believed it was best for his people. He was blind by the love of his people. But i would not forgive him. I struggled up on my elbows and looked at Faro.
       “You changed me” He said bewildered and seemingly angry, “What did you do!”
       “I gave you more power” I croaked, my throat feeling raspy, “Now
teleport back to the castle.”
       But, he couldn’t leave me. A part of me didn’t want him to leave me.
Instead, he knelt by me and looked at me deeply.
       “I love you, never forget that” he breathed and kissed me. Kai
breathed in sharply. Then, Faro was gone.

       It was the kiss that made me cling to life. It renewed my energy as
Kai helped me stumble out of the prison for help. It gave me strength
as Zale swam in with guards and doctors. Love is the most powerful
thing in the world, it is unstoppable.

       Noises. My name, repeated. Apologies mixed with words, and pressure against my skin.

       ‘You did the right thing. No matter what people tell you, believe
that’ Shames told me telepathically.
       ‘I know’ I answered.

Light. Brighter than the sun. Almost white. I wasn’t breathing. The light was so beuitifull. Could i go see what it was made of?
‘No’ Shames ordered. Leave Shames. I don’t want you here. I want the see the light.
‘No, Eva. Leave. Remember Faro’ Shames trembled. He was fighting what allowed him to live. Resisting my orders was killing him.

The light returned to me many times. Waning as time passed. I was constantly in a struggle. Reality with its harsh love and war, or a golden light that held the answers to life. Shames was always there to help me.

       I struggled to open my eyes. Even that was hard. Sleep was trying to
push me back into its depths, and the fight was a struggle. I wasn’t
in water, I was in air. I was still morphed into a tail, which was in
a large bowl of water. It looked gray. I was just strong enough to
change into legs.
       Cameras edged the corners of the room and I saw their lenses zoom in.
They saw that I was awake. A stream of people walked in, Zale
included.
       “Hey sis” Zale said and kneeled down to hold my hand. I couldn’t
speak. Morphing had drained any strength. I felt needles prodding my
skin and flickered my eyes towards the doctors, they were busy but
their eyes screamed for sleep.
       “Kai resigned” Zale continued and I widened my eyes. A king,
resigning? That’s like a president resigning.
       “Stop, that’s enough. We don’t want her blood pressure to drop or
she’ll weaken” one of the doctors warned. I rolled my eyes and Zale
started to laugh.
       “I’m the new king” Zale informed and I tried to smile but only the
edges of my mouth twitched.
       Zale continued, “And my first act as King is to establish peace
between the Mearops, called the Eva Treaty.”

       It was a day of excitement. Of joy, and ecstasy. Faro steadied me as
we walked towards the front with the rest of our family.
       The treaty had been signed. The date was set.
       July 4 was officially Peace Day. What a coincidence.
       Trumpets blared and drums banged, but it was muffled in the water. I
sat next to Faro and Zale, Faro on my left and Zale on my right.
       Maqua was flooded with both Mearop and Mer for the first time.
       I sat down with Faro.
       Zale gave his speech.

       “I am sorry. I do not know how to express it enough” My father said,
walking through his garden. He now lived a little ways off from the
castle in a cottage. He could do nothing but give Zale advice and
spent most of his time gardening or building.
       “I know. You were just caught up in your anger, and it’s like you
couldn’t let go. Its just that I don’t think I will ever be able to
forgive you” I replied as we swam along. I stopped to peer at a
flower.
       “I know, and I respect that. But, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to
trust the Mearops completely” He whispered, his voice wavering.
       “If you can’t trust the Mearops, then trust me when i say this. The Mearops are good” I proposed and left, leaving father pondering.