Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek

Title: Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 3

Discovery

I watched Casey walk up to the door and open it, revealing dad and Nora.
"Mom, I need to talk to you." Casey informed Nora, taking her shopping bags in a swift movement and taking them to the kitchen.
"Ok, I'll see you upstairs." Nora said going down to her and dad's room to put her purse away.

Casey's POV
I walked into my room. My mom was already waiting for me.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Mom, I can't stand it anymore. It was hard before, but now its getting unbearable. I need water." I explained. My mom listened patiently.
"I know, I'm sorry about this. Maybe if you went on a little 3 day trip, everything will be fine."
"Yeah that would be great mom, except for the fact that I go to school tomorrow."
"Oh you'll do fine. I can explain to the school we have and important family emergency." My mom smiled. She was really understanding.
"Thanks mom." I hugged her.

Back to Derek's POV
I don't know what they talked about but the next morning, Nora called the school explaining that there was an important family emergency and Casey wouldn't be in school for three days.

Sure enough Casey left for three days and when she came back she seemed to look a lot more refreshed and cheerful. She even cheerfully wore the school uniform she complained about before. There wasn't much to it. I had to wear a suit and tie. When Casey came down the steps, my heart almost stopped. I've seen the girls wearing the uniform, but when I saw her, it was like a whole new way of wearing the boring uniform was invented. The girls school was a white short sleeved button up covered up by a white knitted vest. They also wore a tie. The skirts were short. Casey wore black over the knee socks with black ankle boot heels. Her beautiful hair was pulled back in a beautiful loose half up do.
"Good morning." she greeted everyone cheerfully.
"Morning honey. I see you're feeling better." Nora said smiling handing her a plate of pancakes.
"Yes, thanks mom. It was a great idea." They smiled at each other. An aquatic aura filled the air causing me to want to go for a swim. Seriously? It was the middle of November.

In school, Casey caught up very fast. It was as if she didn't even miss those three days.

During Thanksgiving break, the family decided to go visit the sea. I believe there's a 100% chance that Casey influenced this decision. I was walking by her room when I noticed what she was wearing. Damn, everything she wears brings it to a whole new level. I thought.. She wore white skinny AG Adriano Goldschmied The Premiere Cord jeans with a Belted Glitter Dust Tunic and a Grey Ribbed Square Cardigan Coat by Vivienne Westwood Anglom. I was about to turn and leave so I wouldn't get caught when a strange phenomenon caught my eye. I mean its not everyday you see a pair of Balmain Suede zipped ankle boots flying out of Casey's closet on a wave. Yes I said a wave. Real water. The boots floated to Casey and she quickly put them on. I ran into my room trying to organize my thoughts. Have I gone crazy? Maybe this is punishment for peeking. I shook my head. The whole car ride, I was trying to erase what I saw. I didn't want to try to figure out what it was. It was probably a hallucination.

We rented a lodge on the seaside for three days where we would spend out Thanksgiving. Though it was mid November, it wasn't that cold. We settled in. Marty was drawing pictures of the surroundings. Well as well as a little kid can draw of course. Liz and Ed, who knows. Probably snooping around. Dad and Nora went shopping and then would take a nap. I was watching TV. After about an hour of watching, I realized I knew where everyone was except for one person. Casey. I shrugged it off. If I saw her, I would probably remember the weirdness I saw earlier today.

At around midnight, everyone was fast asleep, but I tossed and turned. I decided to take a walk. I quietly took my jacket and went toward the sea. There was a light breeze. I could hear the waves crashing onto the sand. As I walked closer, I saw a figure walking toward the water. As my eyes adjusted, I recognized Casey. What is she doing? I was about to call when I stopped in my tracks a few feet away from her boots. She walked toward the water. I tried to call out to her, but I couldn't find my voice. I watched. As soon as her feet touched the water, it was like a magical wave hit the earth. Sparkling waves rose up into the air circling around her. One big wave swept to her feet and lifted her off the ground. I stood motionless watching in awe as a blinding light emanated from her. Then it was still. Instead of the Casey I knew, stood a new Casey. Her hair was down and wavy covered in sea shells and star fish. She wore an aqua mermaid styles dress and Aqua blue draped leather platform sandals. She slowly turned toward me and smiled as if she knew I was there all along. She stretched her had toward me and I reached for her. What am I doing? Why is she affecting me like this? I can't stop myself. My feet moved on their own. When I stopped in front of her she pulled out a small pearl and touched my lips with it.

We walked into the ocean. I closed my eyes and took a breath holding it. She laughed. I opened my eyes and realized I could see clearly. I opened my mouth and I could breathe. At first I thought we were still outside. But when I looked around I saw corals, fish, and sea weed everywhere. We were underwater. I finally found my voice.
"Casey, what is this?"
"This is my world. The world I was born in and the world that I miss." she explained. I stared at her. Her voice had changed. It was musical and alluring. Her movements were smooth as if she was swimming.

In a moments time we reached a gate. A male and female guarded it. The top part of them was human while the bottom was fish. Mermaids? I questioned myself. When they saw Casey, they bowed their heads and opened the gate.
"Welcome back Viridans Ostia." They said in unison. Their voice was also musical, but not as sweet as Casey's. I looked over at Casey confused. She gave me look that said, I will explain later.

When the gate finally opened, we floated in to a beautiful, underwater city. No, it wasn't a city. It was a kingdom. (Note: please refer to the links on my profile for a picture of the kingdom).
"Welcome to my home." she said pointing to the city.
"Home?" I squeaked. She chuckled a musical chuckle.

We walked down a path. The corals and sea weed made it look like gardens were planted everywhere. The rocks were like mountains. I never realized that something like this could exist underwater. As we came closer to the city, we walked through a rocky arch where a mermaid greeted us. Her beautiful face was troubled.
"Adell?" Casey murmured.
"Oh Leola, what can I do?" she breathed. "Nea is sulking again since you left. She won't leave her room."
I looked at Casey. Her face looked serene. She smiled.
"I'll go see her right now." Adell cheered up and looked at me with curiosity.
"Who is this Leola?"
"This is Derek." That's it. That's all she said and we were on our way.

We were walking toward the tallest formation/building in the kingdom.
"Casey?"
"Yes Derek?"
"What is Viri.. Vieri.." I struggled.
"Viridans Ostia." She helped.
"Yea that."
"It is a Latin name that the guards and teachers use to call us. Every mermaid here is a different species. I am the Green Harbour Stinger. Viridans Ostia is the same thing in Latin. They use the Latin because the mer-world used to only communicate in Latin. They are the ancients." I nodded.
"What about Leola?"
"That is the name family members use. It is the name that describes my aura."
"So Adell is a family member?"
"Yes, she is my third cousin."
"Who's Nea?"
"My second cousin." I nodded.

We walked in silence. I looked around and saw that all the mer-people looked young. I remembered that the guards at the gate were pretty young too. But Casey just said they were ancients.
"How old are the guards?"
"900." I gaped. "We don't age. As long as we stay here, we don't age. When we go onto the land we can age. Thus my mom. We age until we reach the age of 20. Then all aging stops." she explained.
"I noticed everyone here has tails. But you have legs."
She looked at me.
"The ones with red tails have never gone onto the land. The ones with orange tails have surfaced. The ones with green tails, live in both areas regularly. I don't have a tail because I choose not to reveal it. We can control what way of transportation we want to use."
"What color is your tail?"

"Aqua." By now we reached the building. It looked like a castle. When we entered it looked like a real castle that you would visit. All of a sudden Casey let go of my hand and bubbles surrounded her. When the bubbles stopped. In front of me was a beautiful mermaid. Though she was topless, her now golden hair covered her chest. Her aqua tail moved slowly. She grabbed me and hauled me on her back swimming through the halls at extreme speed.

We abruptly stopped at a door and Casey pushed it open. The room had a big king sized canopy bed in the center. Casey zoomed in an plopped me down on it. She spun around and opened the curtains there revealing a blonde mermaid sleeping on some sand.
"Nea get up."
There was no answer.
"Nea I swear, if you don't get up now, I will never come back here again." The mermaid jumped up.
"Leola!" she swam to hug her. This stuff was really confusing. Mermaids slept, they had beds, their bedrooms had curtains. I shook my head. I felt stupid. I must be dreaming. The weird this I saw today was causing me to dream stuff. I lay on the bed and fell asleep.

Chapter 4 coming soon. The links to the pictures will now be posted on my profile, because it gets messed up on here when I upload the file.