ChapterOne
Adrian
It was a green fin…too large to belong to any fish. Only a few feet below the surface, amermanswam.
He had black hair and blue eyes, with a rugged chin and a devious smile. His warm ivory skin contrasted with the brightness of his tail, which was green in color, and translucent in the sunrays breaking through the water, scales gleaming like gemstones. The end of his tail drifted downwards in the water, wavering back and forth like a proudbanner.
A bag hung around his bare chest, made of tightly-knit netting. He was darting around the remains of a recent shipwreck, a yacht that had sunk in last week’s storm. In his left hand he carried a golden trident, which he used to poke through the shipwreck’sruins.
Next to him, a manatee floated, swimming as quickly as she could keep up. She was young , and very cute, but her whiskers wrinkled in irritation as she watched her friend dive within the mess of theshipwreck.
“Adrian, we shouldn’t be here,” she worried. The manatee swam anxiously back and forth, twiddling her fins at her sides. “It’s tooclose.”
“Moona, you worry too much. The humans aren’t going to see you and faint,” he said with a laugh. The boy was carefree, and careless. He knew as much, but it didn’t bother him. He wasn’tkingyet.
Most knew him as Prince Adrian, son of Poseidon, heir to the sea. To Moona, he was just a pain in her verylargerear.
“I’mokay. I’m amanatee. They know I exist,” Moona grumbled, but Adrian didn’t hear her. Moona swam as close to Adrian as she could, but got stuck in a round doorway. She wiggled and writhed, but she couldn’tgetout.
“Adrian, help!” Moona cried. Adrian rolled his eyes and swam toward Moona. He rammed his shoulder against her backside andpushed.
Moona popped through the doorway and smashed into one of the yacht’s bedrooms. Adrian tumbled after her and smacked his head into aheadboard.
“Ow,” Adrian said, and he rubbed his temple. “Really,Moona?”
“I told you I was going on a diet, I didn’t say it was working,” Moona snapped back. “Stop taking me into places you know Iwon’tfit.”
Already, Adrian wasn’t listening. Something had caught his eye. He moved off the bed and swamdownward.
“Look at this.” From beneath a blanket Adrian pulled out a square, plastic object. He shook it and smiled, playing with thebuttons.
“It’s a video game console.” He grinned. “I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to find one ofthese.”
“It’s not going to work underwater,” Moona said, poking it withhernose.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s still cool.” Adrian put the console in his bag and continued searching the room. He took various objects: a designer shirt, an old journal, a pair ofshoes.
Moona swam up to the surface for more air. When she came back down, she was grumpier thanbefore.
“Adrian, we really have to go,” Moona said. This time, she sounded truly worried. “Your father will send people to look for us if we don’theadback.”
Adrian pocketed the shoes inside his bag. “All right.Let’sgo.”
They swum out of the wreckage and away from the yacht. Adrian was swimming so close to the surface the tips of his tail rose and fell with the waves. Moona did this smacking thing with her lips that gave away heranxiety.
“Rules were made to be broken,” Adrian said teasingly, and he smacked his tail out of the water. It made Moonawince.
“It’s not about that. I don’t care about rules. I care about you,” Moona replied. “If your father was tofindout…”
“Dad isn’t going to find out.” Adrian rolled his eyes. “I’ve been outside the city thousands of times without his permission. What makes you think he’s suddenly going to wiseupnow?”
“It’s not just Poseidon. Humans are scary. Who knows what they’d do if they knew mermaids exist?” Moonaquestioned.
“Humans aren’t that bad,” he said. “They wouldn’thurtus.”
“Oh, yeah? How can youbesure?”
Adrian dodged the question, because he didn’t know theanswer.
