Thank you to all that reviewed. It was really great of you!!

Dedication: To those who haven't forgotten your first taste of magic...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything...*sobs*

Lynn chuckled as she got the interviewer a strong cup of tea. "I know it's quite a bit to take in all at once." she said kindly as the interviewer sat playing with his tape-recorder. "Mermaids are quite rare. It was years before I saw another one."

"Ms. Nette...how...I don't understand. How can mermaids truly exist? They're just stories." said the interviewer, who's name was Danny. Daniel P. Johnson was the name on his badge, but he liked to be called Danny. Said it made it made everything a bit more relaxed. "Just stories in children's books."

Lynn smiled as she set the cup of tea next to him. "Didn't you ever wonder where all the stories came from, Danny?" she said as she sat back down in her office chair. She opened a drawer and pulled out a book. "Here, take a look." Danny pulled the book to him and opened it. There were many, many pictures of mermaids...Some with colorful tails who smiled, some with eel-like tails that hissed at the camera and many who hid from the camera, save for a floating lock of hair or a flash of a colorful fin. He blinked his eyes, rubbed them hard and set the book back on the table, open to a mermaid with a bright red and orange tail, with dark skin and orange hair.

"Ah." said Lynn, picking up the book as Danny sipped shakily from his tea. "My second. My, she was fiery. Almost drowned me when I took her picture." She smiled as she remembered...

Lynn's 11th Grade Marine Biology Field Trip to the Keys

"Alright, class. You've got your scuba gear and your cameras! Be careful down there, and remember the signals!" said her teacher as the class milled about at the dive area, chattering excitedly. Why wouldn't they be excited? They were exploring a coral reef in the Keys instead of sitting in a classroom! Lynn waved at her friends before putting on her mask and disappearing under the surface of the water. The sight that greeted her eyes was astounding.

Colors...colors seemed to explode before her eyes. She snapped several pictures with her waterproof camera, swimming lower and lower. She came face-to-face with many fish and underwater life. She felt an amazement that she had only felt once before...She shook her head to rid it of that sad memory of the mermaid on the bottom of that pool. She kicked her flippers and glided over a section of coral. A flash of orange caught her eye.

'Huh...?' she thought, going over to where she had seen the flash. There was nothing there. She blinked and sighed. The seaweeds must've been playing tricks with her eyes. She turned to swim elsewhere and nearly banged into a face that floated upside-down right behind her.

She stared into bright gold eyes that were watching her curiously. The eyes weren't behind a scuba mask and they were framed by almost unnaturally bright orange hair that floated with the sea currents. Those strange eyes studied her curiously, then pulled back and Lynn caught sight of a bright red and orange tail when it flashed in front of her eyes. The mermaid swam to a few feet away, still watching her.

Lynn raised the camera, hands shaking slightly. The mermaid was a deep tan, with a firey tail and hair. She stared at Lynn, head tilted curiously. This mermaid was quite a bit older than the one that had drowned in the pool. Wisdom shone in her eyes and her tail bore a few scars from battles with other sea-life. Lynn watched her as she floated a few feet away. The mermaid studied Lynn right back.

Lynn took a breath and snapped the mermaid's picture.

She was charged by the mermaid, being slapped upside the head with her strong tail. She was knocked head over rubber fins, spinning about in the watery world. She slammed into the coral reef, head spinning. The mermaid's face flashed in front of her, eyes glaring and furious. Claws raked at her wetsuit, a snarl on the mermaid's lips. Lynn was slapped upside the head again as the mermaid swam away quickly. Stars danced in front of her eyes and she blacked out...

She woke up a few minutes later on the boat, her teacher and fellow students gathered about.

"Wh-What happened?" she asked, dizzy, her camera still clutched in her hand.

"You blacked out, Lynn. Ryan said he saw a real big fish swimming away. Apparently you got too close to a nesting site." said one of the girls.

"Oh..." said Lynn, sitting up and shaking her head to dislodge the water in her ears. She looked at the camera in her hands. Had she seen a mermaid or was it all an underwater hallucination? Well...there would be only one way to know the truth.

Modern Day...

She shook her head and brought herself back to her office. She smiled at Danny who had taken the book back and was looking at a mermaid who had a bright pink tail with what looked like small tentacles coming off of the top of her tail.

"That was interesting. I found that one in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Those tentacles are just like jellyfish stingers. I had to be extremely careful when talking to her. Those stingers are deadly."

Danny turned on the tape-recorder again as Lynn went into a description of that mermaid and a few others from around the world. This was one of the biggest discoveries in the history of the world...National Geographic would pay anything to get their hands on these pictures and the tapes he was recording.

It was more than a little tempting....

Thank you for reading! Now review, please!! ^^