Hello again!

Much thanks to my one faithful reader, MaryandMerlin! I totally shoulda done what you thought I did, lol... I, however, have other things in mind! (Moo-ha-haaaa!)

This is the point where a disclaimer may come in handy: I do not own Ingo, or the characters, places, etc. in that book. All I own is Marie.

I'm exetremely excited to continue with Marie's adventures, so I won't make this too long...

Thanks, you make my life, and that's all for now!

Mucho love-o,

Live :D

Two

I'm cleaning out my closet when I make my next major breakthrough.

"Ouch!" I've leaned on the corner of a little box with very sharp corners. Frowning, I pick up the box. It's very small, only a couple of inches across, made out of wood and painted dark blue. There is a golden latch on one side. sitting back on my heals, I open the latch, then lift the lid.

Inside is a heart shaped seashell on a silver string.

I gasp and gently take out the necklace. I can't believe that I've actually found it- I thought it was lost ages ago! Grinning like a lunatic, I slip the string over my head and look in the mirror on the wall over my bed, marveling at my lucky find and at the way the shell looks on me, almost like the colors were chosen specificly for me- the blues and greens match my eyes, the oranges my hair, and the pinks make my skin look somehow less pale. It's beautiful

The only question left is what kind of a shell it is, and how I got it... and, since the library is closed on Sundays and we don't have a computar, there is only one place to go to look for that information- the beach.

I hurry downstairs (completely forgetting about my closet). "Hi, Mum, I'm going to the beach, be back in time for dinner, bye." I race outside before she can argue.

There is a song stuck in my head. I don't know where it came from, only that it's there. I start humming it to myself as I walk... then mouthing the words... then whispering them... then singing.

"I wish I was away in Ingo

Far across the briny sea

Sailing over the deepest oceans..."

I trail off as I reach the beach. There is no one else there- it is, after all, a small town and a cloudy day.

I kick off my sandels and take off my sundress (don't worry, I put on a swimsuit before I left), tossing them both into the sand. I keep on the necklace, deciding that I'll just have to be careful about losing it in the ocean. I want to have it with me to compare it to any othr shells I may find.

I shiver as I wade into the water. Goosebomps rise on my arms and legs immediatly. "It's way too early in the year to be doing this," I mutter, but I continue into the waves intill the water's up to my chin. Then, I dive under.

You'd think that my experience with the sea when I was little would have traumitized me a little, but what actually happened is quite the oppisite. I love the ocean more than anything else. Where ever I am, if I can't see the water, smell the salt or hear the waves, I get really jumpy.

I blink my eyes underwater untill the salt no longer stings them and scan the bottom for shells. Nothing but a clamshell. I go up for air and try again. And again. And again. This goes on for maybe a whole hour, unsuccessfuly, of course. Soon, I'm fed up with the whole thing. Deciding it's a waste of time and I should just wait for study hall tomorrow when I will have access to a computar, I take a deep breath and try one last dive.

I rake my fingers through the sand as I swim (maybe something interesting is buried...?). After a little while of finding nothing in or under the sand but a hermit crab who was not happy to see me, I begin to run out of breath. I look up from the ocean floor to find myself staring into the face of a boy. Surprised, I push off from the bottom and arrive in the air choking and sputtering and wondering what kind of a stupid kid would swim up to me and randomly sit there inches away from my head waiting for me to look up and have a heart attack. I cross my arms over my chest and wait for the kid to come up so I can slap him.

He doesn't.

Either I just ran into Guiness Book of World Records holder for "Longest time spent underwater with no air," the boy drowned, or I was imagining things. Silently praying that there is no passed-out kid on the one day that I am on the beach and no one else is, I put my face in the water and look around. The boy is gone. I start to wonder if I should be releived or not, but don't have time because I see a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I whirl around to find nothing but empty water. At this point, my imagination is working double-time to come up with explinations for what's going on, and coming up with all manner of sea monsters and the ghosts of people who sunk on ships. I try to tell myself that I'm being silly, but I can't shake off the feeling that I'm being watched. So I hurry to shore and stand on the beach, shivering and wondering what just happened.

I'm about to turn around and go home when I once agian get the unsettling feeling that I'm being watched. Slowly, almost afraid of what I may see, I turn and look at the jetty.

Sitting on the last rock is a boy, his face turned in my direction and his dark eyes focused on me. I just stare at him, and I swear I see him grin.

When I get home, Matt has gotten back from Owen's house and Mum is argueing with Dad over the phone. "Yes, I know we were only supposed to be fostering her, but Richard-"

Something tells me they're argueing about me. I sigh and go upstairs to take a shower.

That night at dinner, tension practically crackles in the air. Mum and Matt keep on looking at eachother and at me, speaking some sort of silent language. Trying to break the akward silence, I say cheerfully, "So, how'd everybody's day go?"

"Marie, honey, there's something I need to talk to you about," Mum says abruptly.

"Oh. Um, okay. That doesn't really answer my question, but sure, go ahead."

"Marie-" Mum starts.

"Can I be excused? I have, er, homework." Matt interupts. Mum and I both stare at him. He's barely eaten a thing. That is very unusual for him.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mum asks.

"Yeah. I've just got homework."

"On a Sunday?"

"Er... Yeah."

"Alright, then."

Matt jumps up and hurries away. I can't take it anymore. This is all way too weird. My whole day- no, my whole life has been way too weird.

"What's going on? Why's everyone acting so strange?" I ask. Then, suddenly, it dawns on me. "Is this about that arguement you were having with Dad earlier? About how you weren't supposed to keep me? You're going to give me back now, aren't you? Send me off to Child Services, or whatever?"

Mum winces, like, Well, when you put it like that, it sounds wrong! "Now, Marie, it isn't really like that. There's just a chance-"

I don't want to hear it. I'm suddenly so mad at her. She kept me this long, why not just four more years, untill I'm eighteen and can move out? Is she really going to do this to me now? "Of course not. Of course it isn't. I'm going-" Going where? Where can I go? If it weren't Sunday, it would be the library, but of course it's closed. And, sadly, I don't really have any freinds. So I guess that leaves... "-to the beach."

I slam the door behind me.

Splash. Another rock hits the water. I watch the ripples fan out over the calm sea before throwing the next. Splash.

I'm standing on the last rock in the jetty, trying to forget about everything. Guess how that's working out for me. Not well. Well, if I can't forget about it, I might as well rage about it.

"I cannot believe this. You don't say, 'Oh, what a cute little girl, I'll foster her,' take the girl home, keep her for ten years, then decide to give her back when she thinks she's got a family. It's just not right," I mutter angrily, throwing another rock.

"Not- right- not- right..." I throw rocks with each word. Eventually, I run out of rocks in my little pile, so I just sit there, looking out over the vast sea. My anger runs out, too, leaving me realizing how real this is, how Matt is no longer my brother and Mum isn't my Mum and Dad isn't my Dad. I'm all alone now. My bottom lip starts to quiver and my throat closes up. I try to blink back the stinging tears, but it's too late, and blinking just makes them fall. I bury my head in my arms.

I feel someone touch my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

I jump about ten feet in the air. "Wha- Ah!" I almost fall off the rock, but a boy catches my arm. It's the same boy from before- the one that freaked me out. "Hey! You're the Guiness Book of World Records kid who drowned but apparently not and-" I pause to catch my breath and cross my arms over my chest. "You know, you really shouldn't give people heart attacks. It's kind of rude. And anyway, one of these days someone's gonna punch you, or something."

I sound like a raving lunatic, even to myself. Luckily, the boy just laughs. It's the sort of annoying laugh that is contagious. I mean, you could fall down the stairs and be lying flat on your back and he'd be laughing at you and you'd start laughing, too. I manage to just smile, however. I'm in too bad a mood to laugh. Instead, I force my lips to quite smiling and just glare at him. He's still grinning and looking at me, thus making me have an exetremely hard time keeping a straight face. I look down to hide my grin.

And I nearly fall off the rock agian.

"Oh my God, you're a-"

"Do not say mermaid."

"A... you're a, um... a not...not a... a non-mermaid...?"

He laughs agian. "Try 'Mer.'"

"A Mer," I breath. My bad mood kind of diminishes. It happens when you are in total and absolute shock. Suddenly, I grin. "Wow, that explains so much!"

I'm thinking of the way he disappeared earlier, and how he didn't come up for breath.

He smiles- not a grin, a small, almost sad smile. "I thought it might." the way he says it makes my think that he's not thinking about earlier today- or earlier this week, or month, or even year.

Then, his gaze settles on my necklace.

I gasp when I see that he has one, too.

Whoah! Extreme cliffhanger! hehe, I promise to update soon as not to be mean.

Guess who the random Mer person is! Is it:

A) Faro,

B) Faro,

or...

C) Faro

Hmmmm... I wonder...

:) Review Please!

Mucho Love-o,

Live :D

P.S. Can you tell I stink at Spanish? I've got no clue what 'love' is de Espanol. Or if 'Much' is really 'mucho'. Or even how to make an accent thingy above the 'e' in 'Espanol.' (That is where the accent thingy belongs, right? Or is it the 'o'...? I'm such a fail... :))

P.P.S. Sorry for mistakes. I'm not good at spelling.

P.P.P.S. 2,283 words! Whooooooooooop!