Chapter one: wipe out (Persephone)

Meckler's landing, Florida

Time: 7 AM

The cold crisp ocean wind of early morning while surfing is amazing. The wind in my hair and face, waves the perfect height for some fun but still calm enough to be relaxing. My brother Theseus's eyes, one deep sea green, the other ghostly silver, were watching over our cousins Quinn and Robin, and myself, as Mom, Dad, and Aunt Susan were working on arrangements for expanding the daycare. Being in charge is hard, but Theseus took it well. Anyway, the water was amazing. It was at the right proportional temperature for the mid-80s temp, the sky was clear, and not a cloud in sight, but something was off. I couldn't quite figure out why. It was almost as if a storm was coming, one that would devastate or remake the world as we know it. Quinn's amber-colored eyes focused on me with a questioning look. "Hey Siren, what's up? You look zoned out?" She spoke. "Oh, sorry, just lost in thought." "Anything in particular?" "No," I replied. Robin was paddling out towards us and shouted, "Are you girls just going to sit floating on your boards looking like picture-perfect models, or are you going to catch some waves?" "Picture-perfect models? Pft, we're talking. We can do that, you know," Quinn's retort was dripping with sarcasm. Robin was just annoyed because Theseus would not play with him. He said, "I'm too busy making sure no one drowns. Go play by yourself or with the girls." It kind of means if you ask me, but of course, someone has to be in charge, and as Theseus is the oldest boy, he makes sure everyone is all right when Dad or Uncle is not around to keep the peace. Uncle had been redesigned to Italy, and Cousin Isaiah went with him. We probably weren't going to see him again for at least another year. I was starting to think that both Theseus and Robin were probably already feeling lonely being the only two boys in the house, even Quin and my dogs Python and Ocean are girls. Then it happened, the event that would change my life forever. It was like magic or some supernatural interference, a hurricane, most likely a tropical storm or category 1, but I was more worried about all of us getting back to shore rather than the intensity of the storm. With no warning whatsoever, the forecast had predicted no precipitation, which is unusual for Florida. The wind was throwing the waves every which way, making the stretch of beach that we were on very dangerous as we were tossed around like a toy ducky in a bathtub. The biggest problem was going to be getting back to shore. We were about half a kilometer out from shore, and there was a stretch of rocks that were dangerous even on a good day. Robin was the first to reach shore, which I was thankful for as he was the most inexperienced of the rest of us. Theseus and I had just turned 12 in August, Quin would be turning 12 in 5 days, and Robin had just turned 10 last month. Next was Quin. She was not too long after Robin was back to shore, which was also good. But the problem was Theseus was still pretty far out, and I had just been washed towards the coral reef that was the most dangerous part of the beach that we were on and had to go over it to get back to shore. Unfortunately, the rest of the swim did not go so well. I was hit by an 8" wave and went under, losing hold of my board. As I was floundering, trying to regain my bearings and surface for air, my board came back and struck me in the head. It did not exactly knock me out, but I became very lightheaded. I can remember very little after my board hit me as I was trying to hold my breath and stay conscious, but I do remember Theseus diving down and grabbing me and trying to swim us back to shore. But yet another wave came crashing down, pulling us under. The wave caused Theseus's foot to be trapped in some coral and lose his grip on me as we faded out of consciousness. Out of nowhere, what looked like a two-tailed merman pulled Theseus free and grabbed my hand to pull us away. As I fell into consciousness, the last thing I remember seeing/hearing was the merman saying, "Fear not..." I did not catch what he was saying as at that moment in time, I passed out. When I came to, I found myself in my bed in my shared bedroom with Theseus, who was already awake and halfway through a book he got yesterday. Seeing that I was awake, he asked me what I remembered after the wave hit us. So we both agreed that if asked, we would say that we remember nothing after the wave hit us. Later while we were playing a card game, our mom walked in and, of course, asked, "Do either of you remember anything about what happened?" She said it with a concerned tone. "No, we don't remember anything after the wave hit us." And she seemed satisfied with our answer and told us to shower and come down to dinner when we were ready for lunch and that there was a kind of important conversation about something that she would not tell us about.