In the real world, the mirror once again began to glow as it unleashed a torrent of water forming a dome as Garret emerged from it. The water went back to the mirror, and Garret found himself once again in the real world. His heart was still pounding.

"Phew. That was too close for comfort," Garret

said to himself. "If King Triton saw me, he would have blasted me into ashes."

He then walked out of the room to the attic and shut the door behind him being as quiet as he could. He then made his way to the ladder and slowly opened the door looking around. The hallway was as dark as he saw it when he left.

"It must still be night," he thought to himself. "Better stay quiet, so I don't wake up anybody."

Then very slowly and carefully, he lowered the ladder. It quietly creaked as it came down until it finally touched down on the ground. He then climbed down and put away the ladder.

He tiptoed down the hallway towards his room. As he did, he passed by Lucy's room. He looked inside making sure that Lucy was still asleep. Sure enough, she was sleeping peacefully in her bed unaware of his presence.

He then tiptoed past until he finally came to the door of his room. He was just about to open his door when he heard a groaning sound which was coming down the hall.

Garret froze and looked down the hall. Then sensing that it was one of his parents waking up, he quickly opened the door to his room and darted inside shutting it just as fast but quietly behind him. He then hurried to his bed diving into the covers pulling them over his head pretending to be asleep.

His heart was pounding in his chest, and he didn't dare breathe in case someone came into his room.

A few tense minutes had passed. Then Garret slowly peered out from the covers. He could see that his door remained shut and from the cracks of it, it remained dark.

"Whew. I'm safe," Garret thought. "Geez. You'd think that with all these times, I'd be caught by now. Well, since that I'm back, I might as well try to get some sleep. I've got another day of school to get through."

He then wiggled around a bit making himself comfortable; then he fell fast asleep."

"Garret! It's time to get up for school!"

Garret opened a sleepy eye to the sound of his mother's voice. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he knew that it wouldn't be right especially on a school day, so sleepily sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then he let out a big yawn while stretching his limbs.

"Alright. Time for another day of school," he mumbled.

He got out of bed and slowly went over to his closet and got his outfit for the day which was a t-shirt with a pair of jeans. Then he slowly walked towards the bathroom so that he could take a shower. As he walked, his sister Lucy came out just finishing brushing her teeth. She was surprised to see Garret in his current state.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked.

"I'm just... sleepy," Garret yawned.

"That's not like you," Lucy said. "Usually you're up immediately."

"I just had a rough night is all," said Garret. "Don't worry, Sis, I'm fine. I'll wake up in the shower. Good morning by the way."

And with that, Garret walked into the bathroom shutting and locking the door behind him. Lucy was at first a bit curious as to why her older brother was so tired, but she then she decided not to worry.

"He's probably just more tired than usual," she said.

She then went about her way.

Garret was now in the shower letting the water's warm temperature warm up his body.

"Man, this is heaven," he sighed with content. "You know, it's the little things in life that make them all the more enjoyable. I wonder if Ariel and the other merpeople ever take any baths or showers?" He then shook his head. "Nah. Probably not considering that they're already in the water, there would be no point in having baths or showers. It's a shame though. They don't know what they're missing."

He showered for about ten more minutes or so until he finally got out. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and made sure that he was fit as a fiddle.

After that, Garret went down to the table where his sister Lucy was at the table eating some cereal and his mother Charlotte was sitting on the opposite end of the table looking through her emails on her phone. Garret walked into the kitchen, went to the cupboard getting a few loaves of bread, and popped the pieces of bread into the toaster.

The toaster then popped, and Garret took his freshly made toast and slathered some butter on it and munched on it as he sat on the table.

Charlotte then looked up. "Oh, good morning, Garret," she said.

"Morning, Mom," replied Garret.

"You seem to be looking better today," said Charlotte.

"Not really. You should've seen Bro when he was getting up," snickered Lucy. "He looked like a zombie bit him."

Garret paid no attention to his sister's comment. "I was feeling a bit groggy this morning," he said. "But I'm OK. Awake and ready for school."

"That's good," smiled Charlotte. "Glad to hear it. Now, make sure you eat and are ready for school. We'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Got it, Mom," said Garret and Lucy.

"By the way, Garret," said Charlotte. "What about your problem the other day? Did you find the answer you were looking for to fix it?"

Garret then smiled at his mom. "Yes. I did," he replied. "And thank you for helping me with that the other day, Mom. I appreciated your advice."

Charlotte then smiled warmly. "Anytime, son. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask your father or me."

"I will," Garret said smiling back.

Lucy couldn't help but overhear the conversation and was a bit curious. "What are you and Garret talking about, Mom?" she asked.

"It's nothing you need to be concerned with, Lucy," Charlotte said. "You'll understand when you're a little older, dear. In the meantime, let's go kids. I gotta get both of you to school."

And as soon as they finished with breakfast, Garret, Charlotte, and Lucy were on their way en route to their respective places for the day.

Garret was soon dropped off of school and he was sitting in his seat waiting for class to begin. As he waited, he had his nose buried deep in a book. He was reading the book about mermaids that he picked up in the library the other day.

The book had a lot of facts about them. Some of them were good and some of them were bad. Whatever the book had, Garret was enjoying himself.

Then he heard the sound of laughter. Not the kind that was from hearing a joke or having fun. It was the kind of laughter that was teasing. He glanced over and noticed a couple guys that were laughing at another student. At first, he didn't know what they were laughing about, but then he saw the reason. In the middle of the three guys, there was another boy who was looking down on the ground feeling my embarrassed and miserable. Garret felt bad for the boy, but he kept his mouth shut not saying another word.

"Just ignore them, Garret," he said to himself. "It's got nothing to do with you."

He then continued to read without saying another word. Then he heard someone come up to his desk causing him to glance up.

Before him was the leader of the group of boys. He was a young boy., easy on the eyes, had short blonde hair, and wore clothes that may have been normal, but they also looked expensive too.

"Hey, you. Your name's Garret, right?" he said. "What's a guy like you doing with your nose buried in a book like this?"

"Because I want to read and learn some things," Garret replied his eyes not leaving his book. "Is that a problem?"

Then the guy forcibly pushed the book on his desk making it flat causing Garret to look up at him.

"Yes, it is. It's not right for a guy such as yourself to be reading as you are," the boy went on. "First, you get ideas and think about stuff too much and the next thing you know, you end up as a nerd. And you don't want to end up being a nerd, otherwise, you'll end up attracting... certain characters if you get my drift."

The young man then motioned to the right and Garret saw three other boys a few desks away from him leering and trying to be intimidating. Not intimidated in the slightest, Garret looked back at the young man.

"I appreciate the concern, but I think I'll take my chances thank you," he said. "And just because someone would rather read books than to do whatever you guys think a guy should do, doesn't make them a nerd. I would prefer the term 'educationally mindful.' Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to my book, please."

Garret then moved his book away from the boy's grip and went back to reading. The young boy feeling a bit insulted was about to say something, when the teacher came in.

"Alright, class. Take your seats."

Everyone naturally went back to their seats and Garret put away his book letting out a sigh.

"And here we go with another day at school," he said to himself. "A day with the same old classes and the same old people."

He looked out the window as the teacher began the class letting his mind wander and drift. He then thought about the world of Atlantica and about Ariel and the others.

"I wonder if any merpeople go through the same things that I do?" he wondered to himself. "And I also wonder if they had days like mine where I wish that things could be a bit different?"

He then returned his gaze towards the teacher as the teacher continued his class.

Back in the world below the sea, on the outskirts of Altantica, the sea was calm and peaceful. The seaweed danced in the current, and the fish swam about minding their own business.

It seemed to be another day in the world of Atlantica. But then, two sea creatures came swimming along of which were not from this part of the sea.

One was a small itty bitty little shrimp with big yellow eyes and had a small blue hat on top of its head which was a blue shell.

The other was a slightly bigger than average purple lobster of which was also wearing a blue seashell for a hat.

The lobster swam over on top of a large rock and scowled as he looked around trying to be intimidating.

"I'm taking over this rock, see?" he spoke with a New York accent.

Then he saw a strand of seaweed drifting in the current which made him snatch it in his claw.

"And... I'm taking over this uh... seaweed, see?" the lobster said again.

At that moment, a fishing net came floating down from the surface and landed right on top of the lobster, but the lobster pretended to pay no mind.

"And... I'm taking over this fishing net, see?" he said.

Then the net tug upwards not only closing but also whisked away the lobster up and away and heading towards the surface. Luckily, the lobster's friend the shrimp saw that its friend was in trouble, so he immediately swam after him and helped him get free of the net just in time.

"Boss, we gotta take something over before Crab Louie gets here," the shrimp said. "I mean, after all, he'll wanna move in on our territory. But we won't have no territory for him to move in on. It'll be... embarrassin."

The lobster then glared at the shrimp getting so close that he was nose to nose with him.

"Listen, Da Shrimp, we'll take over somethin', see?" he said. "Or my name isn't The Lobster Mobster."

The two then swam on trying to see if there was anything that they could take over for their boss. Soon enough, they came to a cave. Thinking that it was empty and it would be a good place for them to take, they swam right in. But little did they know, someone was already in that cave.

As they swam inside, they saw that inside, there was a hammock that was held up by an anchor and a rock, a large crystal which was lighting up the whole place, and a giant clam.

Then as they ventured further inside, they gasped for a large shadow crept across the walls in front of them.

Thinking that it was some large sea creature, the two immediately dove behind the clam hiding from whatever was coming.

But to their surprise, the creature that made the shadow wasn't a large creature. It was a young merboy carrying a small gray sack which had seashells inside.

He was about Ariel or Garret's age, was skinny, lean, had a green tail, blue eyes, white skin, and had short blonde hair with a long strand at the back that curled a bit upwards.

"Wh-who are you?" asked The Lobster Mobster nervously.

"I live in this crabhole. The name's Urchin," the merboy barked gruffly. "What are you mobsters doing in my house?"

"Us? Why, uh, we're here to um, see your parents, yeah," The Lobster Mobster quickly lied.

"I don't have any parents," Urchin spoke as he dumped his load from his sack into the clam.

The Lobster Mobster was surprised. "You don't have no parents?" he asked.

"I do fine all by myself," Urchin spoke trying to sound tough.

"You mean you live here all alone?" continued The Lobster Mobster.

Urchin sadly nodded. Now The Lobster Mobster and the Da Shrimp couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Urchin. Da Shrimp felt so sorry for the poor merboy that he took off his hat in respect and tried his best not to cry. The Lobster Mobster felt sorry too, but he was more interested in taking over Urchin's cave for Crab Louie, so he didn't feel sorry for long.

"Then... we're taking over this place, see?" he said getting up in Urchin's face.

Urchin was not intimidated nor was he willing to let these Mobsters take over his cave. He put up his fists ready to fight.

"Oh yeah?! Well, I'd like to see you try it!" he spoke bravely. "Put up your claws!"

Now, The Lobster Mobster may have been an underling for Crab Louie, but he wasn't much of a fighter. He knew that Urchin would surely beat him if they fought, so he decided to try another approach. He was going to try and use Urchin for his purpose.

"Take it easy, kid. Now, now. Take it easy," he spoke trying not to be nervous. "I was just testing, um, you, yeah, to see if you had nerve."

"Nerve?" repeated Urchin.

"Yeah, enough nerve to join my mob," smiled The Lobster Mobster.

Urchin's face immediately brightened. "You mean you want to be friends?" he asked hopefully.

"In the mob, you're more than friends," spoke The Lobster Mobster kindly. "You're like brothers."

"Aw, that's sweet, boss," Da Shrimp smiled.

Then The Lobster Mobster pulled out mug shots of himself and Da Shrimp and Da Shrimp even drew a picture of Urchin in a gangster style get-up as the two began to sing.

Lobster Mobster

It's as if a dream
You'd be part of a team
That would make you somebody
So full of esteem

To get all tanked up
Big plans and big schemes
To make you a big fish

Da Shrimp

The creme de la creams

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp
In the Lobster Mobster's Mob

The two then were surrounded by imaginary treasure chests filled with gold, diamonds, and jewels pulling Urchin with their crazy world.

Lobster Mobster:
You'll have gold

Da Shrimp:
By the gob

They then encounter a crab and a clam. The Lobster Mobster takes the shell of the isopod, and Da Shrimp takes the pearl the clam has. Both creatures were very cross at having their things stolen, but they play it off as they sing pretending they didn't take their valuables.

Lobster Mobster:
You can steal, you can rob
So you's don't need no job

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp:
In the Lobster Mobster's Mob

Suddenly, a big fish with large teeth comes along and clamps the two into its mouth. However, the fish didn't swallow them, and its teeth were like the bars of a prison cell as The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp sit inside without a care in the world as Urchin peers inside.

Lobster Mobster:
So what if you ends up inside of the slammer
You's don't have to listen to nobody's yammer
You'd wear dirty socks and week-old pajamas

Da Shrimp
And the best part of all is you's uses bad grammars

Lobster Mobster
Uses bad grammars

The big fish then spits out the two, and the three were now in a sunken ship. The Lobster Mobster holds a big glob of some unknown substance only to have it land on Da Shrimp's head causing Urchin to laugh.

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp:
In the Lobster Mobster's Mob

Lobster Mobster:
Caviar?

Da Shrimp:
Just a glop

Lobster Mobster:
You's can act like a snob
When you live like a slob

The sunken ship then collapses around them making the audience see black. Then three spotlights shine on them as the three dance on stage. Then the spotlights then shine on The Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp as sirens begin to wail. The two then swim away trying to escape as Urchin continues to dance.

Lobster Mobster and Da Shrimp:
In the Lobster Mobster's Mob
In the Lobster Mobster's Mob

As they hold the last note, the spotlight shines on them as they raise their claws and fins in the air surrendering as the song ends.

Urchin was now very happy to finally have found friends. "So, now I'm in your mob, what do we do?" he asked eagerly.

"We play a game," replied The Lobster Mobster.

"Oh boy! What kind of game?" Urchin asked again eagerly.

"It's a game called... the new guy steals dinner," said The Lobster Mobster with a grin.

Urchin raised a brow now feeling doubtful. "Steal? I don't know..."

"Hey, kid, remember, you're in the mob now," said The Lobster Mobster. "And those in the mob do things for their friends. And we're your friends right?"

"Right?" added Da Shrimp bating his eyes pleadingly.

Now Urchin wasn't a merboy who correctly raised in the ways of right or wrong, but he desperately didn't want to let down his new friends as he did want to thank them, so he decided to do as they asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. One home-cooked meal from someone else's home coming up," he said as he grabbed his sack and swam out of the cave.

The Lobster Mobster was pleased, but Da Shrimp still was a bit worried.

"Uh, boss, we still got to take over something before Crab Louie gets here," he said.

"Yeah, well, we already did, see?" said The Lobster Mobster said smiling an evil smile. "We took over the kid.

If you liked what you read, feel free to Review or PM me!

Dragoman, signing off!