Chapter Four

Ariel

I push red hair out of my eyes and see the huge structure where the boy probably lives. I swim back to the beach, covered in plants, sand, and pebbles, where I rescued him and laid him down last night. I flop down against a rock and take a deep breath. I wonder if he's okay.

Then I think about Attina and Arista. And Daddy.

My father is a huge, formidable man. Big and muscly, with a blue shining tail that snapped every time he wanted to get our attention. Attina and Arista had learned to respect him, but as he said coldly, "You have yet to learn your place, Ariel, in this family."

Family? More like group of prisoners!

I had to make a plan. I wasn't going back to Atlantica. Ever. As far as I'm concerned, I don't even have a family anymore. All I have to do is...the plan is...

Where can I go?

Atlantica is the only home I have. It's the only shelter I have. I'll be eaten up if I try to survive alone in the Seven Seas by myself. I look at the sand and think of the legs.

The long legs, with toes and knees. The ones that humans walked on.

Walking.

Dancing.

Twirling.

Kicking.

Spinning.

Living.

I wished for legs again. Maybe there was something I could do to become a human...

Hmmm. Now this had never occured to me. Now there was a whole new level of thinking and planning to do.

"Hey!" a voice interrupted my thoughts. I whirled, hair splashing onto my face, and I saw the boy, his gray-blue eyes going wider.

I gasp and dive into the ocean. But I look at him. He's there, craning his neck to get a glance of me.

I lift just my head above the surface, but my tail is like jelly and it gives out from under me. I collapse. In seconds, the boy is in the water.

"Are you okay?" he asks. I notice he's shivering as he sets foot in the water.

I nod quickly. But don't say anything. He looks nice today, I thought. Dressed in some warm, dry clothing. His braided ponytail swinging in the wind behind him.

He stretches out a hand. "Do you need help? Why are you in the water?"

I don't take the hand and reel back. The last thing I need is for Daddy to find out I've been in cahoots with a mortal. A mortal I had rescued yesterday. If Daddy suspects a relationship, I might as well throw myself off Needlepoint Spire into a grotto of pointed rocks.

I look at Jim. His eyes are honest, but radical. He's defenitely the adventurous type.

I sigh and then smile and then waggle my fingers like I've seen pretty human girls do. The boy waves back, too.

"So what's your name?" he asks, squatting down and picking up a handful of sand.

I don't want to tell him, but I do, which surprises me a lot. "Ariel."

The boy looks surprised as he pours the sand back onto the ground and wipes his fingers on his patched dark green pants.

"Ariel. Nice name," he comments as he stands.

I have to tell him something. I shoot forward into the shallower, paler waters. "Are you alright? Last night must have been horrible!"

I cannot believe I just said that.

I watch him to see if his face contorts. But it doesn't. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "It was. But I barely remember anything." Then his mouth parts into a shy smile. "But I remember you. You saved me. From those...from those things."

Those things are my sisters, I think miserably. My sisters from the sea.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I tell him sincerely. "And I'm glad I could help. I can't just sit here and watch someone die."

Wow. I could talk very easily to this boy.

The boy finally thumps his hands against his pants. "I'm Jim, and thanks. For saving me, I mean. I didn't really know what happened, but I do remember you dragging me out of the water, keeping me from drowning. So thanks."

He looks a bit embarrassed, and his cheeks have gone slightly red, but I grin. "You're welcome!" I look at the sun. It's climbed a little higher into the sky. I have to find a new place to hang now.

"So, Jim," I say. "I must be off. I have something to do."

Jim raises his palm in a good bye gesture. "Later, then, Ariel."

He watches, like he expects me to come out of the water and walk home. But I bite my lip.

"Are you swimming?" he asks slowly. "You're always in the water."

I nod, lying. "Yes! Swimming! Diving underwater. Whaddaya call it?"

Jim casts me an odd look. "Scuba diving? But you're not geared up."

I smile. "I'm swimming. My...um...boat is over there, past that tiny island."

Jim cranes his neck, but seems to see nothing. That's good, because the boat I made up is imaginary, and just want to get him off my scent. Jim just shrugs. "Okay. Keep swimming, then, watergirl. Later."

I wrap my arms around my chilled body and take off into the depths of the bluer messier waves in the deeper part of the sea.

I turn back and look, and Jim, his shoulders hunched against the brisk wind that's blowing, has already disappeared into the huge wooden structure on the beach.

It feels nice to call him by a name, and not just "the boy."

Jim.

I let the name play on my tongue.

Jim...