OPENING or: ch 2
Joshua came up to the large hole that I had for a window in my room.
“Alex, wake up!” Joshua was whispering with his hands leaning on the bottom of the window hole.
My bed coverings were floating off with the ocean current as usual and all the way to the other side of the room. “I’m cold anyway. What do you want?” He shrugged. “I was just wondering if you’d like to go take a long swim today. It’s your sixteenth birthday today, if you couldn’t guess, and I want to give you your special birthday gift. Can I come in?”
“Joshua, of course you can come in, I’m awake and remember! It’s your birthday too just as much as it is mine!” I pushed his nose with my left pointer finger. “Oh yes, I know.”
I failed to mention earlier - Joshua was born on the same day I was, exactly sixteen years ago. His parents are both passed on now, but mention of them makes him ill will and very sickly. Joshua always forgets then what happened to them. There are rumors from people who claim to have been their friends. Some say they were trapped in a cave and died from starvation. Some say the pirates captured them and at them as an appetizer. Not very pretty sights but I can’t see any of those happening. All of our caves have at least two entry and exit ways.
I want to always see him happy, so I don’t mention his parents. Their names were Martha and Mac, if I can remember that right. The merman who works at the food store is Mack, but spelled differently. Joshua doesn’t get along with him very well. There’s always been some sort of rift between them.
I don’t have to do shopping or anything because living in the castle, I have two wonderful maidens who do that for all of the castle needs. Especially my needs since I’m the heir to the throne. I am spoiled, but who doesn’t want to be?
“What do you want for your birthday?” I asked Joshua. “What do you want miss?” He asked ignoring my question.
“No I’m not going to say. Why do you want to go out of Crystal Waters to find me something for my birthday Joshua?” He thinks I’m a nosey mermaid but really I’m not.
“What does it matter, Alex? Let’s go and I’ll tell you my secret!” I replied asking what the secret is. I know he was put up by someone to take me from the city. This is so they can plan something for my birthday. What else could he be doing this for?
“It’s nothing, Alex. I’ll wait for you outside the front gates of town. Don’t make me wait forever!”
Making him wait forever is like telling a sponge or puffer fish that they are fat when they hold water. You just don’t want to do that. I grabbed my back bag. It has straps like a human has the backpack looking things. It stays behind me and I still have two free arms to move and swim with.
It is brownish black in color, with one bright brown button on it to keep it shut.
I headed toward the front of town. Being the nosey mermaid that I am…Ok! Ok! So I’m nosey! I peeked around the corner and saw Joshua talking secretly to father. “Yes sir! I’ll be sure to wait a long time before we come back.” Father smiled and said, “Thank you. That will give us plenty of time to get everything set and ready.” I knew. I was right. He’s just taking me out so they can plan for a royal party.
Every year we have a party because by this time next year, I might be queen. I can tell them I want to be queen after I’m sixteen and then my parents retire from power and I start ruling. However, it is still their choice if they want to continue until they decide to stop or to go ahead and let me rule.
They’re all pretending to look up to me; by giving me birthday parties every year. I never do enjoy them. I’m excited to get one, but it’s the same thing every single year. Everyone wants me to be their friend in Crystal Waters it seems. Enough rattling on Alexandra! Now I’m telling myself stuff in my diary? I love to write.
Okay. I’ll go interrupt them now. I swam around. “Hello father! What are you two up to now?”
“Hello princess. There’s just too much to do when you are King of Crystal Waters!” I snickered. “That’s funny father! You’re always busy on my birthday.” I said sarcastically. He gave me a fake look as if to trick me into thinking he forgot my birthday.
“I am every other day Alexandra. I must retire now to work. Sorry I cannot spend the whole day with you.
Your mother could have the baby anytime so she cannot be bothered for a while. She needs her rest while she can get it.” Father kissed me on the cheek and I gave him a hug. After he started to swim off, I turned toward Joshua. He was already in the process of kissing me on the cheek but I turned quickly so we ended up kissing on the lips. Ewe! His eyes always seem to appear larger when he is embarrassed or not expecting things to happen that do happen.
“Happy birthday to you Joshua!” I said afterwards. We hugged each other. “Happy birthday to you Alex!” He replied. “Are you ready to go and find your present?” Joshua asked. “Let’s go Joshua!” He grabbed my hand to pull me with him out the front gates.
“Be careful Princess Alexandra!” shouted the guardsmen near the front gates. “I will!” I shouted back while swimming fast like Joshua. I was moving away from ‘home’. I am laughing because I am so excited. There might not be anything that he finds for me, but then again he might have something for me hidden out here.
This is the one day of the year Joshua and I go outside of Crystal Waters’ walls, travel the whole day, and come back at night.
“Don’t wear yourself out!” they shouted again. I did not reply. I kept swimming. What they meant to say, “Don’t wear yourself out before you get back. We’ll be celebrating your birthdays when you both get back and we’ll get drunk, acting like we always do.” In my mind, at least, they say that every year.
“Where are we going?” Joshua seems to have a flat out plan with how fast he is going. Maybe it’s farther North than what we have ever been? He knows I have always wanted to go to King Evarts’ Palace, but it is too far for one day of traveling. His place is about three days away. I think my mom and I connect mentally, as if I know when something bad happens, because every time I am in pain, she is too. I feel like she is in pain right now. Maybe I have a sister now, or will soon? Only time will tell.
“Joshua, slow down!” He continued and I was getting extremely tired. “I can’t slow down, Alex! We’re going somewhere special!”
“And where would that special place be that we have to swim and wear our selves out to get to?” He turned and looked at me, but kept swimming.
“Where, Joshua? Are you ignoring me?” He laughed and snickered. “You’ll see when we get there.” I started to cough. “Joshua, I need to rest. I am out of energy. I do not run out of energy very often. You know that!” He didn’t stop.
I had to stop and I just let him pull me by my arm. “Okay, here we can rest. Sit down here.” He pointed to a rock place at the other end of the mountain passageway to the ocean beyond. The mountain ravine we always go through to get to anything else in the water. It is too high to swim over, and it’s a safe passage through the two mountains to the wide water lands. It takes about ten minutes, which is about eight miles from Crystal Waters’s gates to the other side of the mountain.
It’s only about six minutes when you’re being forced and pulled by Joshua. All he ever does is practice swimming faster. He’s good at that too. I bet he’s fast enough to swim away from a pirate’s boat if they attack I never want to get him to challenge a boat to find out for sure. I just assume he can.
“Tell me Joshua.” He had a pale face from swimming so much without stopping. This is why mermaids and mermen do not travel too much around the ocean. He was looking at me like, gave me the ‘I’m tired of swimming’ kind of look. “I told you not to swim so fast, buddy.” He was still breathing hard, leaning against Mt. Fear. We were sitting on the last mountain ledge before we reach the ocean plains.
“Okay, Alex. Sorry. We have a few more miles to swim to get where I want to take you.”
“Where is that, Joshua?” He was looking upset like something was going wrong. “I wanted to take you to the…uh…the…”
A big boom noise echoed through out the mountain walls. Small rocks fell toward the cold dark water below us in the shadows. “What was that?” I exclaimed. “Let’s go left and find out. It sounded like a bomb or cannon. Let us go look. We might have enough time to take you to the other place.” We looked around the corner, out of the water, I saw the sun reflecting down on the ocean ceiling, but after that, I could tell there were things above us. I saw two boats and about eight birds floating around on the water.
“Let’s go Joshua. I want to see the sky face to face. I left without thinking of the dangers or trouble that could be waiting for us.
“Alexandra! Wait!” He sounded worried so I went back. We met a couple of feet from the rocks we were relaxing. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
“I just wanted to ask you something.” I looked his face over, “Well?” He looked up at me. “Well, have you ever heard any pirate stories about a Captain Joe Mills or about a ship called the Eagle Eye?” I asked myself that question repeatedly. “Not that I can recall, why?”
“Well, I heard some of the elder talk and sa
y that there was a Captain Joe Mills that has been searching around Crystal Waters or something of that nature.”
“Are you sure they meant Joe, the pirate? Or did they mention a pirate?” I asked. “Well, that’s the thing. They did not say he was a pirate. However, pirates are the only human beings that have roamed around here that anyone has confirmed in history.
They mentioned a ship called Eagle’s Eye and I know my father used to tell me stories about it being a pirate ship long ago.”
Did he say long ago? Long ago was before our time. I did not think there were any pirates anymore. “Joshua, are there still pirates today on the sea?” I was a little worried but excited at the same time. “I don’t think they’d be on land, if there are still pirates. My sister Samantha was talking to her friend Elisha and she said there was a captain of that ship named Joe Mills. She also said he was sixteen years old right now. Her exact words were, ‘Elisha, did you hear? The Eagle’s Eye has a new Captain. A Joe Mills they said. He is supposed to be only seventeen years old, or sixteen. That’s the same age as our future queen.’ That is all that I heard Samantha say.
Samantha never gossips. She always tells the truth.” If Joshua and Samantha are saying the truth, that means whoever is on the ship we heard a sound from, more than likely, has a Captain Joe Mills. “Why don’t we go find out?” I asked him immediately.
“Why do you want to find out Alex?” he questioned. He had a good reason for asking that question, but I replied with, “Well, why don’t we go find out Joshua?” I love confusing him like that. I grabbed his right arm and we swam, slower than last time, toward the ocean on the left mountain range. After a few miles, we came across big shadows that are on the ocean surface. We were fairly far below them under the ocean.
“Alex?” Huh? I made a noise and looked toward him. He was behind me. “Don’t get any big ideas, okay? I know you have never been to the surface in your last fifteen years or so. Don’t get too concerned.”
“What do you mean, ‘in your last fifteen years or so’? Don’t you mean my whole life?” He started to realize he had said something wrong. “That’s what …I…meant.”
“Okay, then. Let us go up closer. Listen in on them or something.” He nodded yes and we swam within ten feet of the bottom of the ship. “It’s much bigger than it used to be.” Joshua was getting a hysterical laugh started. “What?” I asked. “It’s just the way you were looking at it. It is the same size as it was before. You’re just really close to it now.” Then I smiled raising one eyebrow. “I knew that Joshua!” I gazed back up at the ship’s bottom. It looked dark, creepy and eerie around every piece of wood and material that it was made of. We could hear the wood creaking where the ship was slowly moving through water.
All of a sudden, another boom sounded. It was in the sky. A stream of light went up in the sky, it burst into several little lights, and glowing stars.
I know however, they were not stars. They were fireworks. The magician never told me about that one thing. Either Rachael did not know what fireworks were, never heard of them, or they are evil. Father does not know that I have talked to the magician because he believes all creatures who tell the future of any sort are bad and so are the creatures who communicate with them. I swam closer and touched the boat lightly with one finger. The surface or outside coat of the ship was hard, pointed, very tough, and water resistant. “Joshua, stay here.” I headed up the side of the boat. I felt a very weird chill like feeling go through my body. I touched the boat again and some type of light glowed from the palm of my hand. “Joshua?” “It’s nothing. It is nothing at all Alex. Let’s just get this over with.” He was nervous about something, and he had to be hiding something from me. “What is it?” The light remained glowing like a heartbeat around my five fingers and around my fingertips. “It’s just…there’s a connection between you and pirates…you know?” I did not know. “I don’t know, Joshua. Do you think so?” He did not want to tell me. “I know so. Go on. See if that one dream of yours comes true.” I have had so many dreams that involved pirates. “Which one are you talking about? There’s so many that were like this.” “The one dream you woke up screaming from. You said that you swam up to the surface and everything was hazy, and when the water came out of your eyes, that you saw a human. It was a teenage boy, your age.
You said he had pirate clothes on. He saw you from afar, and jumped in the water. You screamed and woke up from the dream. That’s the dream I’m referring to.”
“Oh, yes. I remember that one now that you mention it. I never found out who that boy was. What are you going to do?” I questioned. “I’m going to wait at the beach. I am taking the long way around to look at the ship from the other side. I will not go too far in any direction. Do not worry about me. You’ll be okay, right?”
“Yes.”
Joshua swam under the ship and I saw him become smaller a little bit at a time until he disappeared from my sight. Knowing him, I will be waiting for him at the beach. I looked up and touched the boat again. I do not remember the ship glowing in the dream. There was a chain coming from the anchor that had rested between some rocks on the sea floor. The ship was not over too deep of the water like the mountain is. The sea level is closer to ocean ceiling. I followed the chain until I was right under the ocean ceiling. I heard people talking. Human people were talking in English and I understood what they were saying. “Joe, you’re not the captain yet, and you’ll do what I say. Just because your parents are not here to tell ye what to do, does not mean that I cannot. Now do what I tell you, hear?” “I’m seventeen. That means I am an adult. I am more of a pirate than you’ll ever be!” He said a pirate. That means pirates do still exist and they are not merely stories. Joe. A pirate named Joe. That could be Joe Mills Joshua told me about. Alternatively, another explorer went by the name Joe. It must be Mills. I reached my left hand up to feel the ocean ceiling for the first time. “Can I breathe above the water? I think I can.” I looked around. The sky was darkening. “AH!” someone shouted from the ship. A big splash hit the water. I swam quickly to hide behind the anchor. It was that Joe character. He was not very good at swimming…okay, maybe he is. The anchor was humongous. I had my hands on the top, peeking at the boy. He was holding a lot of air in his mouth. If he keeps that up, he will faint. He went back up to take a few breaths. The man who was yelling at him earlier handed him a dagger.
“Did he see me?” Oh! No! As soon as I said that, Joe turned around and looked in my direction. “What is it Joe?” The ugly man asked him. “I thought I heard something.” He continued looking in my direction. “Ah, don’t worry, maybe with a little luck, you’ll get to see a beautiful mermaid. That would be a miracle. You do believe in mermaids, eh Joe?” The man asked sarcastically. “Sure, why not?” Joe also said with a sarcastic voice. Joe jumped into the water without allowing the man to continue the conversation. He had his eyes closed, put the sharp dagger in his mouth as in to swim with both hands, much like a jelly fish does, only sideways. Joe swam up to the surface and the ugly piarate stated, “Why not? You listen to me. Mermaids are real. Look for them! Ay!” Joe looked around at the man as he swam away from the ship. Joe swam downward toward the cave. He didn’t answer the man. Joe did not see me. “What do I do now, Joshua? The boy in my dreams is real, he did scream like in the dream, but I had not awakened yet. If all my dreams are coming together and are real, then why hasn’t he seen me yet?” I talked telepathically to Joshua.
I looked for Joe but still trying to hide. I must have not been paying attention. This reminded me of Crystal and the prince she fell in love with long ago.
“Where’d that Joe go? I must follow him.” With that, I started to move, but something stopped me. My fin had been stuck. Rocks fell on it without my realizing. “Oh great, this always happens. Why weren’t mermaids created to feel pain in their fin?” I was aggravated. If we could feel pain in our fin then we would know when rocks fall and trap us still.
When I reached to move the rocks, two other hands picked up the rocks before me and it scared me so bad. My hands jerked back away toward my chest when the other hands touched mine. As soon as I was free, I ran behind the anchor again on the other side. It was Joe. He…helped me? “Why did…who are…I’m…” He smiled. I think I was afraid more of what he would do with the dagger in his mouth than the fact that a human saw me. He started to let out some air to breathe. He grabbed the silver dagger from his mouth, and cut the anchor ropes. He had a key and unlocked the chain. The chain suddenly as if by magic, pulled back on the ship’s deck. The dagger fell into darkness after he cut the ropes but I seen it land in the sand. The other men must have pulled the chain up.
“Who are you?” I must be stupid. I am not running from him. I hid behind the anchor. He did not go back after his dagger. Joe reached out his hand. I knew what he wanted. He wanted to take me on board the ship I bet.
“I can’t.” I thought and his face started to turn red. “Joe, where’d you run off to? Ha. Ha. Ha. I mean swim to? Joe?” I do not know if humans can hear others underwater. I would say the sound is slurred. I dared myself to continue actions as I did in my dream. I know what! First, let him get some air and not drown to death. That would be a plus. He reached for my arm and pulled me to the surface near the boat edge so that the man could not see us. Joe didn’t pull hard on my arm but I was no longer afraid. I stayed under the water surface. He went up to breath. There were boards sticking out of the boat, for balance I assume, to catch fish, or just balance of the Eagle Eye. Joe said, “Hello there, mate. You can come up here. I won’t hurt you.” He whispered and spoke politely. I shook my head no, side to side. I kept my arms crossed. I am still afraid to go to the surface because of the rules. They’ve been rules since the beginning of Crystal Waters.
“Yes, you can. They will not see you. Trust me.” I looked around and then nodded yes. I looked around again, and grabbed his shirt to pull me up. He helped pull me up by my arms. He did not hurt me.
“Hi.” He said. He looked different above water. Everything looked even clearer than you see things in the clearest waters. “Hi.” He repeated and smiled. I put my arms on his shoulders to keep myself up. The first time I meet a human, it’s a pirate, he doesn’t seem to be mean, but he seems more amazed than to be a ‘I’ll eat you’ type of human.
There was a rumor that pirates ate mermaids and roasted their fins in the kitchen for desert. “What’s your name?” He asked. “Are…you going to tell THEM about me?” I asked. He could tell in my voice that I was nervous. “You mean the crew? Not even a chance. They’d never leave this place if I did that.” He put his left arm around my waist and the other to hold on to the shipboard. “That’s…good. My name is…Ale…um…it is…Princess Alexandra. And you’re Joe Mills aren’t you?”
“Yep..Captain Joe Mills…my ship is the Eagle’s Eye. You heard of me?” He did not realize at first that I said his name. “No, well, sort of. My friend just told me about the rumors of a pirate named Joe, and then I heard that evil human call you Joe.”
“His name is Thomas Tea. I think he is evil too. It’s nice to meet you.” I replied, “It’s nice to meet you Joe.” “Listen, Alexandra. Are you really a mer --?”
“—Joe, we’re leaving. If you want us to keep you on your ship, hurry on back?” Joe kept looking and gazing in my eyes. “Yes, I am,” Joe quieted down. “Unfortunately I am.”
“Do you like being a princess and a mermaid?” He put his left hand through my hair and felt of my face. “I’m the princess…yes. I hate it, really. Responsibilities and everyone looks up to me. I don’t like that.”
“Are you from this area?” I looked back in his deep dark brown eyes. “Ye…yes.” I was nervous.
“Can you just tell me one thing, Alexandra?”
“What’s that?”
“Is the…ruins of Crystal Waters around here?”
“Why?” I did not hesitate.
“Well, they keep sending me down here to look for it. The ship is too big to go through the mountain valley this way. If I said no, they’d move on and…whoa…Joe slipped under water. He grabbed me to come back up.
“I guess they’ll move on anyway then.”
“Do you have to leave now?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Should I?”
“I find it fascinating just to talk to you. You’re the first human I’ve ever talked to or met.”
“How old are you Alexandra?” He sounded sincere.
“As of today, I’m…sixteen.”
“You don’t look that old. I’m seventeen as of yesterday.”
“That’s unusual. I mean, that we’re the same age and so close.”
“Physically we really are close.”
“We live much longer than the average human. How old do you think I look?”
“My grandfather said that humans always saw mermaids as young women in their twenties. ‘If you become human, my dear, humans will always think you are twenty-some years old even if you are eighty in human years.’ That’s what he always said. I don’t know how he would really know that.”
“I don’t know. It may be true. Come with me.”
“Do you mean on your ship?”
“Yes, why not?”
“I…can’t. I mean, they are all expecting me back tonight. My father would go crazy if I didn’t go back, and my mother is having a baby soon, and by next year I should be the queen.” He put his finger over my mouth.
“Alexandra.”
“Yes?”
“You’re the first non-human I’ve ever seen or met.”
“Well, I’m only half human. Does that count?” He hugged me. I could feel him smiling. I had just noticed he was wearing gloves with his fingers coming out the ends. I did not get this pirate. He seemed different even though we just met. He wanted me to go with him. “Even if I were to, I’m a mermaid. I’d have to stay in the water.”
“You heard rumors of pirates, and you’ve met them. Correct?”
“Well I’ve met you.”
“I’ve heard rumors that mermaids could turn into humans by certain standards.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be human?”
“I’d probably lose myself. I…yes I do. Nevertheless, I cannot. I can’t today.”
“Why’s that?”
“My birthday is today. If the whole city throws a party as they do every year, they cannot get a party going without me
there, and so they cannot get drunk. It’s the one day of the year they get drunk. They would go looking for me. My parents are the queen and king, so they are usually busy and sometimes do not see me for a few days. Then, I could come
with you. Oh I almost forgot!”
“What is it?”
“I was supposed to meet my friend at the beach! He’s probably wondering what happened!”
“Okay. Can I go with you? Just to see a merman. I’d find it very lucky to see a merman and mermaid in the same day.” I replied, “Yes, I don’t suppose it would hurt. You’d have to catch up with your ship.”
“No, they would not go far without me. They would be lost in the ocean forever without me to guide them. I always keep my compass with me anyhow. I don’t leave one on the ship if I go off just incase they decide to leave me, they won’t go far.
Okay. Let’s go to the beach.”
“Alexandra. Is this your first time above the ocean water?”
“Yes it is. It’s like a birthday wish for me.”
“What’s the wish?”
“The wish was to meet a human.”
“Oh. Well, happy birthday.”
“Thank you, Joe.”
“Ah!”
“What?”
“I’m glad I could give you your wish.”
“Thank you, Captain Joe…Mills.”
After that, I hugged him. I do not know why. Something wanted me to hug him for no reason at all. He held onto me, and I swam deep enough that the ship crew would not see me. This way they cannot follow us to the beach. “It won’t take very long. It’s just a mile or so from here.” I told him that above water before we left. I swam fast since I was getting used to it, after this morning’s marathon. However, it is harder pulling someone of my own weight.
