Sprite (Annabelle's Story Part One) (3 page)

The merman frantically raced back toward me after he landed hard against the sand. His apprehension toward the situation pulsed from his body as he grabbed back onto the net.

Then as if things weren’t crazy enough, a whole pod of dolphins formed and created a circle around the Trackers. In a fast pace, they swam a circle formation. While doing so, they banged their tails against the sandbar. I’d seen it once before on a show about animals, but in real-life it was even more amazing. By slapping their tails, massive amount of sand was kicked up, creating a barrier. The three Trackers were trapped inside.

The Guardian didn’t waste any time. Taking advantage of the situation, he yanked my net and me away from the ring of sand. It was back to the races.

Half turning around, he slipped a shell through the netting. “Try to cut through the ropes,” he demanded.

With a shaking hand, I reached out and took it. I wouldn’t waste an opportunity to better my situation. Being inside of this net provided little chance to escape.

As he pulled me, I sawed away at the rope in short, choppy strokes. To cut through something wet was definitely easier, and in no time, I had created a hole big enough to climb through.

Without a word, he reached back and stripped the net from my body. As soon as I was out, he turned to swim again. Just like that.

This was my chance to flee. I quickly searched in all directions to figure out an exit plan. The surface of the water looked dark and uninviting. Tears built again behind my eyes. And then, I stopped. My life that I once knew had changed in an instant. This Guardian was the only one who could help me figure out what was going on. Based on the circumstances, I’d hedge my bets with someone called a “Guardian” than those who were referred to as “Trackers.”

My mom always said that my guardian angel worked overtime because I was an adventure seeker. So, why couldn’t my guardian angel be a merman who was known as a Guardian? It was insane. And I knew it. My hand rubbed over my forehead as my head slowly shook.

Realizing I wasn’t by his side, the Guardian took a few strokes back toward me. “Come on!”

It was do or die time. I had to make a move one-way or the other. A lot of times when I wasn’t sure what to do, I’d count down from three. When I hit three, the rule was to make an instant decision.

I closed my eyes and let my mind count down.

Three, two, one… Guardian.

Trusting my instincts I took my first free stride toward him and prayed I hadn’t made a mistake. My muscles ached from being in a fetal position for so long, but I continued in the direction where I hoped answers waited.

I immediately felt awkward. I started to kick my legs one at a time. Left, right, left, right. My progress was slow and the merman…

um… Adrian

… got further and further ahead.

Then I copied the kick from the butterfly, my favorite stroke. Fortunately, this dolphin kick worked better, and as I watched Adrian, he did a variation of the same movement. His kick just looked more graceful.

“Slow down!” I called. “I can’t keep up.”

I can’t believe I admitted this, but I almost wished to be back in the net. When Adrian pulled me through the water, I actually moved faster.

His paced slowed. “Almost there, Annabelle. Just a little further.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I just do. Now, come on.”

Wrong answer. “Look, if you don’t answer me, I’m not going any further.”

“I’ll explain later. Right now we need to keep moving.”

This wasn’t acceptable. “No, tell me now.”

“It’s not the time. I need to make sure you’re safe. I promise you that all your questions will be answered.”

I didn’t like this. Not one bit. The last few minutes still danced in my head. Being chased. The struggle over me. His concern of my well-being. But if I was going to try to trust Adrian… try as the operative word… I needed to give him a chance.

I scrubbed my hands over my face. Adrian intently stared at me as I pulled them away. “Fine. Where are we going?”

“To Tritonis. We’ll be safe there, and we can figure out our next steps.”

He came to a stop, pointing. “Right in front of us is a jet stream⎯basically a strong current that runs through the water. Just roll into it and it’ll sweep you up. It’s easy. Follow my lead, okay?”

“I guess so.”

“All right, good. Oh and another thing. We’re going to be in there for a while. So feel free to get some sleep if you want. I’ll keep watch.”

Adrian must’ve enjoyed the startled look on my face because he chuckled before he turned towards the jet stream. He swam a little bit forward and then, demonstrating fire safety, he rolled to his right in a full revolution, and then another, before he disappeared into the current.

All right. I couldn’t turn back now. I could do this.

It looked simple enough. Before, it was hard to pinpoint the jet stream, but now that I knew it was there I easily saw it. The deep blue sparkled slightly where the current cut across the water.

I started in the same exact spot Adrian had and rolled. I even grunted to ensure my roll was extra fierce.

And whoosh!

I was inside, but with too much momentum. Instead of a controlled entrance, I shot forward within the jet stream and spiraled out of control, flying out on the other side of the stream. Twisting and turning I finally stopped about ten yards outside of it.

When I struggled swimming, I was embarrassed. Now, I was mortified. I only hoped Adrian hadn’t seen me. I don’t know why it mattered. I wasn’t trying to impress him. But still, I didn’t want to not impress him either. Determined, I approached the jet stream again. This time, I rolled at a more even pace, and more importantly, I stayed inside.

Looking up ahead, Adrian strained to slow himself in the stream. Once he saw me, relief washed over his face.

So much for him not seeing me mess up my grand entrance.

The ring of sand the dolphins created was cool, but this was even cooler. As I examined the jet stream, it reminded me of a half-pipe that a surfer rode a board through. Except this one didn’t test my speed and agility to make it through the wave before it collapsed. In this insane, newfound world, the stream maintained the shape of a tunnel.

I couldn’t help it. I reached my hand towards the side of the stream. My fingertips left a trail behind in the wall. I remembered how when I was younger, I’d put my hand out of the car window while my mom drove. I always made this sort of wave motion. I liked the pressure of the wind as it pushed my hand up as I fought to keep it still. Now in the jet stream, I tested my limits, going beyond my fingertips. The water left a familiar sensation.

I played around with the wall for a few more moments, watching the patterns that trailed behind. Unfortunately, I got a little too confident. Without realizing it, my arm shot through the wall, almost pulling the rest of my body with it.

“Annabelle!” Adrian shouted back at me. “You can’t draw attention to us right now. If anyone was outside the jet stream, they’d be able to pinpoint where we are.”

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

“Try to make yourself as straight as possible. You’ll go faster and you can catch up.” His head tuned back to face forward. “That way I can keep a better eye on you.”

“Happy?” I said with a bitter undertone as I pulled up along side him.

This time he smiled. “Very.”

And, wow, what a smile. Immediately I chastised myself for the flutter in my stomach. I was spoken for. Blake was back in Jersey, probably worried sick.

I knew my parents worried too. The thought didn’t dawn on me until now. They must be out of their minds with fear, wondering where I was and if I was safe. By now, we would’ve cut into my birthday cake. My heart ached for them and I mentally sent them a message that I was okay.

I hoped they heard it.

At this point in time, I was convinced anything was possible.

Then before I knew it, the events of the day caught up with me and I drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER FIVE

“Annabelle. Wake up. Annabelle, we’re almost there.”

“Huh?” I said groggily.

Adrian shook me again. “It’s almost time to roll out of here. I want you to be ready.”

I opened my eyes to study my surroundings.

So, this really wasn’t a dream.

I was now awake, in the presence of a merman, breathing underwater, in this unreal jet stream.

“How long was I sleeping?” I asked. For whatever reason, the most logical question at the time.

“Well, it’s over six thousand miles to the sea above Northern Africa, so I’d say… about nine hours.”

“What!? I’ve been asleep for nine hours?”

Chuckling, he responded. “Yes, good thing, too. I think you needed it. There’s a lot ahead of us.”

“Oh, right. All that ‘stuff’ I need to wait to find out.”

He ignored my comment. Instead, Adrian informed me that in a few moments we’d exit the jet stream, and to just do what he did. Before I knew it, he disappeared. Wishing myself not to mess up, I followed suit.

Perfect.

One smooth roll after another. Too bad Adrian had already begun to swim away and didn’t witness my graceful exit.

“Hey! Wait up!” I said, hurrying after.

Without a single word, Adrian looked back to give me another of his killer smiles.

This boy was gonna be trouble.

As I swam, I took notice of the sea, impressed by what I actually saw. Meaning, my eyes worked in the dark. We were well beneath the surface, but the water was as bright as day.

The only thing was that the darkness crept in around forty to fifty yards ahead of me. So, I had about forty yards in all directions that I saw perfectly. In the next ten yards, I squinted to identify stuff. Beyond that, it was just darkness. Kind of creepy really. It made me wonder what lurked beyond my dome of light.

For the moment, I was content with what was in it. There were fish of all shapes and sizes. Looking around, a few had rows of teeth in their mouths that I’d happily avoid. One fish really caught my eye. It was the mix of a tiger and a cow. Not the actual animals, but their markings. Spots that resembled the cat covered its black dorsal fin. Its belly was painted with black and white blobs. The rest of the fish was black except for its bright yellow lips. Huge in size, too. I’ve snorkeled and saw some cool reef and fish, but this one struck me.

Adrian realized I’d taken notice of the fish. “It’s a Clown Tigerfish. Or, at least, that’s what the humans call it.”

Humans.

My brow lifted as my mind dissected this word. Before today, “humans” wasn’t a word I used. It wasn’t like, “Hey, Mom, I’m going to hang out with my human friend after school today.”

I didn’t believe in aliens or the supernatural, so mankind wasn’t ever in question. Until today, I didn’t know there was anything besides “humans.” I’d have to change my tune. There obviously was, and he swam right beside me.

I ran my hand across my face, wiping away a stray strand of hair. I had a question, well, questions I needed to ask. His answer to my next one would make everything that much more real. The words left my lips faster than I planned. “You’re a merman, right?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Andddd…

It would’ve been a good time for him to elaborate. But I wasn’t sure which question to ask next. Except, that was a lie. There was something I was afraid to know the answer to. I always thought I was a “human” but here I was breathing underwater.

So what did that make me? I needed to face the reality of this situation.

Not like it wasn’t a monumental turning point in my life or anything…

The huge gulp I took didn’t provide any confidence. Even with all my trepidation, the words poured out. “I’m not a human, am I?”

His response was so matter of fact. “No, not entirely.”

Again, Adrian needed to provide more detailed responses. A lot more.

I took a deep breath. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll just have to wait to find out,” he said and looked away. “Because we’re here.”

I should’ve freaked out on him and demanded he tell me more, but I was too puzzled from the fact that I didn’t know what “here” meant.

Jerking my head in all directions, I didn’t see anything. We were now at the bottom of the ocean, although I didn’t know what particular ocean we were in. All I knew was that we were over six thousand miles from the New Jersey shore. And I only saw dark sand, brown reef, and a few fish. If this was Tritonis, I wasn’t impressed.

Then Adrian reached down and brushed away the sand, revealing a door that matched.

“A trapdoor?” I asked, more to myself.

“Yeah, Tritonis used to be in the Aegean Sea, but there was a big battle between the Guardians and the Trackers, and Tritonis was destroyed. Now we need to protect the location from the Trackers.”

“Um, you’ve said Trackers a few times now. What on earth are they?”

“They’re malevolent, or I guess I could simply say ‘evil,’ and they pride themselves on causing pain and destruction. Not just for us, but for humans too.”

“So that seal was a Tracker?”

“Yeah, there’re a few different kinds of them. Like how there are different ethnicities of humans.”

“Well, I guess I should be thankful you got me away from them.”

“Just doing my job,” he said, then continued. “It was probably a blessing in disguise that the original Tritonis was lost.”

“How so?”

“The sea didn’t possess enough depth and my ancestors knew it was only a matter of time before humans explored deeper into the water.”

“Did anyone ever find Tritonis?”

“Not when my kind lived there. Humans have since found the remains of our city. Most believe that it was an ancient human city that water had since covered over, but some are still convinced we exist. Long story short, humans wouldn’t be able to find us anyway now since there really is nothing to find except this door.”

There was that word again and again: humans. It shook me every time.