I want to thank Gry24 for the review and idea personally!
I liked it so much that I couldn't help but not use the idea!
Enjoy the chapter!
The next day, Garret's routine went the same as usual. He went to school, got through all of his classes, and even got through the rest without much difficulty. He also made good time to study and even helped out Ms. Gesnar while checking out a few books, some of which were more books about mythological creatures to help him with his investigation.
After he got off school and came home, he went to his room and did his homework. Then, he spent time reading through his books, skimming through page after page for any additional information besides what he found online.
He soon decided to take a break and was now spending his time listening to some music with his headphones. He wasn't picky when it came to a specific genre of music, mostly listening to songs depending on his mood.
Whenever he was angry, Garret would listen to rock or metal, upbeat and pop songs when he was in a good mood, and whenever he was in a sad mood, piano or classical music would do it for him. Right now, he was in a thinking mood and was listening to jazz music, waiting until it got late to go to Atlantica.
While he was lying in bed vibing, there was a knock on the door. As he took off his headphones, he then heard Lucy's voice.
"Hey, Bro. If you're not busy, could you help me with something real quick?"
Garret went to the door and answered it, finding his sister standing in the doorway. "What's up, Lucy?" he asked.
Lucy then held up a small book filled with numbers and formulas. "I need some help with my math homework," she explained. "Normally, I would ask Mom or Dad, but Mom's making dinner, and Dad's going to be a bit late coming home."
"Sure, no problem," was Garret's reply.
Garret then went with Lucy to the kitchen and started helping her with homework at the table. Now, Garret was in the ninth grade while Lucy was in fourth, so whenever Lucy got stuck on something she didn't understand, Garret would help her. Today, it was fractions and multiples.
"So, you times that by two, and that equals this number," Garret explained. "And if you divide that by 5, you'll get this number. That make sense?"
"Yeah. I think I get it," said Lucy. "Thanks, Bro. Guess you can be a bit helpful sometimes."
"Whatever. Keep talking," Garret spoke while rolling his eyes.
Charlotte then came in. "I appreciate your helping your sister with her homework, Garret," she said.
"It's no big, Mom," said Garret. "What are brothers for?"
Then, Garret remembered the ghostly mermaid that he had seen before. Even though he found some information from studying and research, he still wondered if what he saw was real. He then walked into the kitchen, where he saw his mother just finishing some dishes.
"Mom, can I ask you something?" he asked. "Do you... believe in ghosts?"
Charlotte looked back. "Why would you ask me that?" she wondered.
"Well... it's just a small assignment for school," Garret spoke, trying not to stutter while quickly thinking of an excuse. "I've heard many people don't believe in them, and some do, but I'm just curious about what you think."
"I can't say I've seen one before, but I think ghosts might exist," said Charlotte. "To me, they're lost souls trying to crossover to the afterlife but cannot do so. However, back when I was a little girl, I would always want to see one."
"Really? I didn't know that."
"Yeah, well, I always was a curious little girl back then," the woman chuckled. "Then again, we all were like that once. Was that all that you needed?"
"Yes, that was all," Garret said while shaking his head. "Thanks for your input, Mom. I'm going to go back to my room now."
Garret then walked away and headed for his room when he glanced at his little sister watching TV. He saw a cartoon stallion galloping with other horses across the grasslands on the screen. It was a bright shade of buckskin with black legs and a dark brown mane.
"I remember watching that movie a while back," he thought. "I've always liked how they handled the plot and the horse in that movie. It also makes me wonder what it would be like to ride one."
And with that, Garret went back to his room to wait for the time to go back to Atlantica.
Outside of Atlantica, everything in the ocean was quiet and peaceful.
The anemones were blooming, and the sun shone brightly from the surface above. All the sea creatures were swimming about, enjoying the tranquility or basking in the sun's glow.
However, that tranquility wouldn't last very long, for something came shooting past like a torpedo.
That something was Ariel.
She was swimming along the current going as fast as her fins could pump. She shot past anemones, causing them to retract from startlement, she rocketed over clams, making them clamp shut from surprise, and she zoomed past flowers on the coral reefs making them fly everywhere.
Ariel kept swimming along until she came to the Royal Palace, entering the dressing room belonging to her and her sisters. Alana, Aquata, and Arista were sitting in front of their mirror, priming themselves.
When she swam into the room, she swam rapidly around them in circles from above, kicking up bubbles, surprising the three.
"It's a beautiful day!" Ariel spoke with energy. "Who wants to go for a swim?
"Um, no, thank you, Ariel," said Aquata as she fixed her ponytail. "Besides, you're swimming way too fast for my liking."
"Same here," agreed Arista. "If I had to keep up with you, I'd ruin my hairdo. Just like the last time."
"Hm. So that's what did it," Ariel hummed.
"Here's an idea, Ariel. Why don't you ask Garret for a swim?" suggested Alana. "I'm sure that he'll be more than willing."
"Great idea!" grinned Ariel. "I'll go find him!"
And with a rapid pump of her fins, Ariel took off again, heading outside the city.
Not too far away, Flounder happened to be swimming by, looking forward to seeing his friends. But Ariel had already seen him, and before the little guppy could react, Ariel had grabbed him by the fin as she continued along.
Sebastian also happened to be close by, looking for Ariel in particular, and when she was close enough to him, he grabbed Ariel by the fin.
"Ariel! It's almost time to - !"
But due to being so little, and given how fast Ariel was going, he got dragged along too.
"Welcome aboard!" smiled Ariel.
"I didn't come along for de ride!" Sebastian cried. "Where are we even going?!"
"We're going to find Garret!" replied Ariel. "And then we're going to go for a swim together!"
"But aren't we doing that already?!" Flounder also cried.
But Ariel kept swimming while Flounder and Sebastian held on for dear life.
It was now late at night in the house, around 9 p.m. Garret had been waiting until everyone was asleep and was now getting ready to reenter the mirror.
First, he stuffed his bed with a couple of pillows to make it seem like he was still in bed. Then, he peered out of his room and looked around, ensuring no one was around. Finally, he silently exited his room and started tip-toeing toward the attic door in the hall.
He reached out for the chain and was just about to pull it down to open it when suddenly he heard the slow creak of an opening door.
Garret jumped and quickly looked back, only for his eyes to go wide with horror.
Lucy was walking out of her room and heading in his direction.
"Shoot! What the heck is Lucy doing up?!"
Garret silently cursed to himself, thinking he'd been caught, but then he noticed his sister was a bit unbalanced as she walked. He also could hear her mumbling groggily under her breath.
It didn't take him long to realize that she was sleepwalking, and when she was close enough, he silently sidestepped out of the way, letting her walk past him and go into the bathroom.
Garret stayed motionless, not daring to move and waiting until he heard the toilet flushing, followed by running water. Lucy walked out and sleepily went back to her room.
As soon as he heard the door to her room shut, Garret let out a relieved breath. He quickly pulled down the chain, brought down the ladder, and climbed up to the attic closing the door.
"Man, that was too close for comfort," Garret whispered. "I thought for sure she saw me."
Garret entered the room, and as soon as he shut the door, the mirror's gem began to glow as the singing sound came from it.
"You know, if you weren't a crazy magical mirror, I would think you're happy to see me," said Garret. "Anyway, glad to see you're working again." He then shook his head. "Listen to me. I'm talking to an inanimate object."
He waved his hand over the teal gem, and the mirror's surface turned into water. Then, while taking off his shirt, the water rope shot out and swirled around his body, and without waiting for it to carry him away, Garret jumped in, entering the mirror.
After a few seconds of cold water hitting his body, Garret swam through the portal in his merman form as it closed behind him.
He looked around, finding himself in an open area of water with not a soul to be found.
"That's odd. There isn't anything here," Garret said aloud. "The mirror must have sent me outside Atlantica again, but in a different location."
Then, as he looked around, his eyes fell upon something. Over by a cave-like formation beside a cliff, he saw an old merman with a blue tail tending to what seemed to be giant seahorses. One was white, the second brown, and the third was a shade of red with brown patches.
Feeling curious while wanting a closer look, Garret swam over.
The merman looked up. "Who's there?"
"Oh, hello," greeted Garret. "Sorry if I startled you, sir."
The merman then looked at Garret's tail. "Ah-ha. So you're the merman everyone's been talking about," he said."The boy who's staying with the king and his daughters. Garret, I believe your name was."
"You've heard of me?" wondered Garret.
"Well, sure. You're the talk of Atlantica, kid," the old merman replied. "Mostly because of your tail and how you mysteriously appeared out of the blue."
Garret then went over to the seahorses and couldn't help but stare at them. "So, are these seahorses?"
"Giant seahorses," corrected the old merman. "The finest trained horses you've ever laid eyes upon. You're free to pet them if you'd like. They won't bite."
Garet then went over to the seahorses, deciding which one to pet. But as soon as he got close, the red seahorse with brown patches went over to him first and nuzzled her snout against him. The boy was caught off guard, but he returned the seahorse's affection by petting her nose.
While he was petting her, something astonishing happened.
While the seahorse let out a happy nicker, its entire body changed colors, her red and brown colors changing into a bright shade of orange with yellow patches.
Garret couldn't help but gasp. "It... it changed colors!"
"It looks like that one's taking a liking to you, kid," smiled the old merman. "She's got a unique ability to change the color of her body based on how she's feeling."
"That's a pretty unique gift," Garret commented as he petted the seahorse. "Do all seahorses have this gift?"
"That I can't be sure of," said the old merman. "I found this beauty as a baby wandering around lost, alone, and terrified. When I took her in and trained her, she adapted pretty quickly, but for some reason, she's been terrified of venturing out into the wild. So much so that whenever I tried to lead her out to it, she would literally turn yellow and swim away in terror."
"Is that so?" said Garret. "I'm sorry to hear that."
He then looked at the seahorse, and the seahorse looked at him.
Suddenly, they were rudely interrupted by a red object shooting past them and landing inside the cave formation, causing the seahorse Garret was petting to get startled, her orange and yellow colors changing to yellow with green spots, and hide behind the others.
"What was that?!" exclaimed Garret.
The answer came in a loud neigh followed by a terrified scream as the red object came frantically swimming out. It turned out to be Sebastian, who swam as fast as his claws could carry him until he came to Ariel and Flounder and hid in Ariel's hair.
"Yo! Ariel! Flounder! Crabby!" called Garret as he swam over to them.
"Garret! So this is where you've been!" said Ariel. "I was looking all over for you."
Before Garret could say anything more, the loud neigh came again, causing everyone to look towards the cave formation.
Inside while tied to a stalagmite, was a giant seahorse that was significantly bigger than the others, colored purple, and had blue eyes that seemed to glow with emotion.
"It's a giant seahorse," murmured Ariel in amazement.
"And it's big," said Garret. "Way bigger than the others."
Ariel and Garret swam over to inspect it while the purple seahorse huffed and snorted, trying to get loose from its bindings. Then, wanting a closer look, Ariel swam closer to the creature.
"Be careful, Ariel," warned Garret. "That seahorse doesn't look too friendly."
But Ariel went a bit closer, and when the seahorse saw her, it snorted and whinnied as it glared at her.
"Easy, boy, easy," soothed Ariel. "I won't hurt you."
The seahorse didn't seem to understand as it snorted and scowled.
"Poor thing. It's terrible to keep a wild creature tied up like this," said Ariel with pity. "You need to be free."
The old merman then came over. "Keep your distance, princess," he warned. "Stormy's too wild to be tamed and too ornery to love. I've tried training him countless times along with other merfolk, but it's just no use."
But Ariel couldn't help but grow fascinated as she stared at Stormy, smiling in amazement and wonder.
"Besides, Ariel, it's almost time for practice, so let's get back home as soon as possible!" ordered Sebastian. "Now come on!"
The red crab swam importantly away while Ariel, Garret, and Flounder followed. As they went on their way, Ariel and Garret couldn't help but look back at the other seahorses. Garret looked towards the color-changing one while Ariel looked at Stormy.
"Someday," Ariel said. "I'm going to ride that wild seahorse."
Garret looked across at the redhead a bit surprised while she swam off to catch up with Sebastian. He then took one last look at the giant seahorses and then swam after them.