Chapter 1

It was the party of the year, the best pool party in the world, and I couldn't go swimming. It was the worst feeling ever, it's not that I didn't want to swim, because I would have loved to. But I couldn't. It was times like these that I was glad I wasn't the only one, because I used my period as an excuse last time, but this was only a week later and Diana would notice. Diana was one of the most popular girls in school, aside from me and my best friends, of course. Her parents left every year on vacation on the first weekend of June on a cruise for a week, so she always threw a huge pool party in her backyard, inviting everyone worthy of swimming in her crystal clear pool.

I wasn't one of Diana's best friends, but we hung out with each other for the sake that we both were the leaders of the two popular groups in the school and we both had enough force to drive the other person down. So we invited each other to all our parties and hung out in large groups, for the publics eyes to see. She was the head cheerleader, the usual clique you see in an everyday high school, while my group was a different story, we attracted attention for a totally different reason. We were untouchable, we were different and we were exotic. Everyone thought of us as too good for them, and we let them think that, as long as they don't shone us.

I always knew I was different, and I think my mom did too. She said when she first saw me and my sisters together, her and her friends knew we must not have been from anywhere natural, if our appearences didn't do it, our names would. My three birth sisters, and now best friends were Whinny, Amber and Frosty. We were an unstopable team. Whinny's birth name was Whirlynda Windsarah Venalouise. She had light blonde hair, the cleanest looking blonde I've ever seen, and grey eyes, the color of a tornado. Amber's birthname was Amberella Firesarah Venalouise, she has tons of wavy red hair, freckles splattered all over her nose, and eyes that can only be described as the color of the sun. Frosty was my third friend, the last of the sisters to be adopted, my moms friend had been reconsidering adoption, but my mom convinced her not to back out. Frosty's name was Frostilyn Icesarah Venalouise, she has white hair, long and smooth, the color of ice. Her eyes are the color of frozen ponds in the winter.

My name is Iviseal Earthsarah Venalouise, but everyone calls me Ivy. My hair is the color of fresh-watered soil, a dark, rich brown. My eyes are forest green, and my skin is the only of the four that is ever tan. It is a natural, tan color, earthy and smooth, it never fades. When we were little, my mom had her and three friends adopt us together so they would all have sisters. This way, we could know some of our family when we were older. Frosty lives with my mom's richest friend, she gets anything she wants and more. Amber lives with my mom's most recently moved in friend, who is always ready to try new things, and Whinny lives with my mom's closest, oldest friend from childhood. We are all neighbors now.

I was spinning on a bar chair, drinking water in my new bikini with my group. We sat away from the water, and out of splashing range, just incase. It took the water 5 minutes to absorb, so as far as range and time, I felt comfortable. I was in a white bikini, to show off my tan, it had two flowers on one side, a pinkish purple, they had yellow centers and green leaves coming off them. I swished the water in my hand and felt it splash onto my skin, which instantly started to tinkle as a warning sign. I held pulled some leaves close to me and made them absorb the water.

Each of us had an ability, which we thought was to help keep our survival a secret. Amber could control heat, anything hot, the sun, fire, anything. It was useful for evaporating off water in seconds. Frosty could control ice. Anything cold, the snow and ice. She could freeze water the instant it touched her. Whinny could control wind, a nice breeze could blow water off you like a hairdryer, if it was hot enough. I controled earth, I could make plants or dirt sweep by and collect the water off me.

I leaned back and felt the usual tingle in my belly button when I wear my ring. It was a dangly one, with shiny, thin strands of silver chain. Frosty had one too, hers, ironically, was blue and had white pearls on it. Just then, Zach, the head-quarterback of the football team, pulled himself up from the water and strode towards me. He was soaked and I twisted the potted plant around my arm as I gave it a hug, it pulled the water drops off me as soon as they touched.

"You are so hot, you make the water evaporate from me girl!" he chuckled to himself.
"It's not my fault you can't take the heat." I blinked up at him.
He grinned, "Never said I couldn't."
I looked over to see Diana looking daggers in my direction, "I think girlfriend over there is a little bit jealous."
"Ahh... silly Diana, doesn't she realize that I can't touch the untouchable?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I already knew the nickname guys around the school had made for us, the untouchables. Not a single guy has asked us out because no one thinks that they are good enough for us. I think it's because we are intimidating, I am waiting for the one cocky guy that thinks he is all that to break that little nickname.
"Oh, you just want to hear it said out loud." He gazed down at me, he reached out and traced a finger over my stomach, "Nice belly button ring, it looks good on you. Of course, a paper bag would look good on you, so that's not saying much." He flounced off toward Diana and gave her a big bear hug.

As soon as he was gone, the plant detatched itself and stood upright again. I flitted my eyes back in Zach's direction, he was pretty cute, tall and lean, deep blue eyes and dark hair. He had a great back, I noted, seeing it from my view. I dragged my eyes across the pool, looking at everyone there. Trent was cute, Matt had a nice body, and Nick was just gorgeous, there was also Jake and Brian. Oh yes, Jake was very cute. He had a naturally tanned body like me, dark hair and dark eyes, and to make it even better, he had a six-pack.

Jake caught me staring and smiled, I batted my eyes and curved up the side of my lip in a smirk. I winked and turned back to the bar tender and ordered a mixed fruit drink of some sort. I felt to hands on my shoulders, to wet hands. I twisted up dirt from the ground and it soaked off the water. "Hey, what are you doin' here all by yourself, otter?"
I laughed and turned to face him, he sat down on the chair next to me, "You know it's seal not otter."
"But otter sounds so much cuter, just like you." He scooted closer.
"Well I think Iviseal sounds pretty. It sounds exotic." I slid a hand down my leg and saw him try not to stare.
"Well I, for one, love trying new things." He snaked a hand around my shoulders and drew me closer.
I smiled up at him, "Are you always so hard to resist?"

"You want to find out?" He leaned closer, pulling me to him.
I leaned closer and put my arms on his chest, lining him up with the water, his legs were already dangling off the side of his chair. "I can't if your under water." I smiled as confusion spread over his face.
"I'm not under-" Then I pushed him in.
He flew straight back at the angle I lined him up to, into the water and underneath it. I laughed as his head bobbed back up and already knew what was coming before he did it. He reached out of the water and took hold of the bar stool I was sitting on, sliding it toward him. He reached out at my legs and pulled me under. I always had some kind of plant on me just incase something like this happened, this way, I could go swimming for as long as I want to, if I really want to. But most of the time, it drained me to have my power going for a long time, I would rather just swim free, so I only made some exceptions on when to be dragged into the water. Jake was one of them. Today I had on a leavy bracelet.

Jake smiled and went under, even though I didn't have the fins, I could still breath and open my eyes under water. I sucked in a breath for show and dove under with him, he opened his eyes and watched me as I swam backwords looking at him. He followed and we reached the deep end.

"Wow I'm in deep." I noted, casting a glace at Jake.
"So am I." I looked to see Jake looking at me, the expression on his face so passionate that I had to look away. That look caught me by suprise and I hadn't realized that I had stopped using my powers until the tingling in my legs was only seconds away from turning. I shot a panicked look at Jake and looked around me, nobody was over in this corner, I saw to the edge and motioned for Jake to corner me there.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his expression truley concerned.
My legs started to change, in minutes, I would have mermaid fins.