Adrian’s head was spinning. He couldn’t get the image of the girl out ofhishead.
He wished he knewhername.
“What. The.Hell,” Moona moaned. She slapped her fins against her sides. “This is bad. This isreallybad.”
“It’s no big deal, Moona,” Adrian said, irritated with her. Why had he brought her along? She wasannoyinghim.
If it weren’t for Moona you’d have been pulled onto that boat and be in a lab by now,he reminded himself. He’d been stuck frozen in that girl’s stare. A fisherman could’ve run a harpoon through his middle and he doubt he would’vefeltit.
She was… wow.Incredible.
“Hello! Adrian!” Moona poked him again. “This is serious! A human saw you! This is a big deal!” Moonahissed.
Adrian tried to shake it off. “Humans have seen merpeople before. That’s why they have storiesaboutthem.”
“Yes, but they have phonies now!Technology. If they get a video of you on one of their phonies and post it to the Intraweb, you’redonefor!”
“It’s called a phone, Moona, not phonies. I’m not even going to correct you on what you call the Internet. And also, humans make up a lot of things now. Everything in their world is fake. They would never believe it,anyway.”
His fatherwouldfind out, however… someway, somehow. And what would happen after… total tidal wavecatastrophe.
“Calm down, Moona. You heard Adrian. Nothing happened,” Celer replied coolly. “Now let’s get back to the palace, so Adrian can go check out thosebabes.”
Celer, apparently, was obsessed withbabes.
Moona let it drop and said nothing more. They swam back to Aquatica in silence. Over and over, Adrian kept replaying what had happened in his head. Though it’d only been a moment, staring into the girl’s eyes had seemed like alifetime.
Though it wasn’t satisfying, and it wasn’t enough. If he didn’t have obligations today, he’d swim after the girl, and use his magic to go on land for a few hours and look for her, before the sea forced him back into thewater.
It wasn’t meant to be,though.
His destiny lied in Aquatica, with his merpeople. He belonged under the sea, notonland.
Adrian desperately wished that wouldchange.
ChapterTwo
Isamaria
Isamaria really hatedhersummerjob.
She didn’t need the money— her dad gave her everything she needed. Sure, she would’ve preferred to earn her own income, but at a job that she chose for herself… not one her father picked outforher.
Isamaria hated her summer job because it came tied with promises andobligations.
Being a guide on her uncle’s dolphin tour boat wasn’t exactly a bad gig. She enjoyed looking out for ocean creatures, and it had been what had gotten her into the Marine Biology program at Florida State. They wanted people with experience, and Isamaria, having grown up around whales, manatees, and coral reefs, was their perfectapplicant.
And besides… she was out on the water. There was nothing Isamaria loved more than being in or on the sea. She’d spent more time in the ocean than on land, that was for sure. She was practically a fishherself.
But— and it was a big but— her dad hadtoldher this was what she was going to do this summer to make money, and she wasn’t given a choice. He didn’t even ask her about it. That’s why Isamariahatedit.
Her dad seemed to forget that she wasn’t in the Navy, too. He couldn’t always dictate what she wantedtodo.
Except when he could. He still paid her college tuition. So she did as she was told, and that meant every Saturday for five hours, she was here. It was only made slightly more bearable that she had a second job, an internship at the local aquarium— something she actually enjoyeddoing.
She usually did the same thing on her uncle’s boat. Did two tours, gave the same old speech, and tried to put up with the prying questions of the snowbirds from the Midwest, whom she really couldn’tstand.
However, this time wasdifferent.
