Russa: I hope you guys are feeling nice today, because I am already nervous about this... well, go on. Read! Read I say!
Urchin awoke to find himself floating once more. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced about.
The merboy found around his neck a thick iron collar, the chain trailing down to the floor. His hands were fastened behind him with some sort of iron clamps. Urchin craned his neck and looked over his shoulder to see handcuffs around his hands.
A wave of panic overtook the captive merboy, and he swam wildly forwards. Urchin could feel the water rushing past him and thought he might actually get somewhere when his head ran into something hard and unforgiving.
Bonk. Urchin floated in a daze for a moment. He heard laughter coming from the surface, and swam towards it.
A girl was sitting on the top of a rock, which stretched all the way to the bottom of the tank. Urchin let his head break the surface of the water, watching the girl warily. She was laughing hysterically, rolling around on the little pinnacle of rock.
Urchin blew water and glared at her, "What are you laughing at?"
The girl instantly stopped laughing and wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry. You just looked so funny when you ran into the wall." Urchin looked the girl up and down. She seemed about his age, which was around fourteen.
He gasped when it hit him: the girl had human legs! He spun quickly and dove to the bottom of the pool. Urchin stared up at the girl, who was leaning over the side calling, "What did I do?" When the merboy didn't respond, the human girl sat back on her heels, her mouth moving.
Urchin slowly floated upwards, trying to figure out what she was saying. Eventually he came close enough to hear, and gasped again.
It was the song from before! The merboy let his head break the water again and watched as she sang. Her voice was soft and clear.
When she finished, Urchin swam a little closer, "That song… did you…?" The girl clapped her hands joyfully, "You remember!" Urchin shook his head, "Only darkness, a cool hand, and that song. Were you the one singing it?"
The girl nodded silently. Urchin relaxed somewhat, "How did I get in here?"
The girl brought her strange pinkish knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, "Well, me and my father were walking along the beach when we found you washed up on shore. You were way beyond the tideline, and we figured you must have washed up in the storm a couple days ago. My father wrapped you in a fishing net, loaded you onto a truck, and brought you here. I told him you needed water, but he figured you'd be fine. We brought you to this warehouse, where they had this tank stored from when we rescued that wounded seal."
Urchin jangled his handcuffs, "Why am I tied up? And what's your name? Mine's Urchin."
The girl smiled, "My name is Sara. I told my father not to tie you, but he's convinced that you're the result of an experiment gone wrong and so you must be feral."
Urchin started to say something, but stopped when the door to the building opened.
Russa: Review again, but please no flames!