Page 16 of Mermaid on Heels
Ella rolled her eyes. “Says the one who was toounsureto come up in the first place.”
Sessa ignored her and waited for Liriya’s answer.
“Of course.” Liriya smiled, nodding. “But not during the day, people should not see us. We will come at night.” Saying that, she ducked into the water and her sister followed suit.
Liriya led them back to their cave. Once they settled down on the sand, she found herself lost in thoughts, struggling to sleep due to the mixed feelings of giddiness, curiosity, anxiety, and a lot others she couldn’t recognize.
She replayed the sight of Prince Luke in her mind. She wished she had seen his face, to know how he looked, so she would recognize him the next time she saw him—ifshe saw him. She recalled the sound of his voice. Save for her hearing power, the roar of the sea hadn’t dashed her from hearing well. He had such a nice voice, deeper, richer, and more beautiful than those of the young mermen she had encountered.
How soon, how quickly had her miserable life turned upside down? Liriya could not fathom it. For the last three months, she had thought that Faelina stripped away everything from her—from them. But she was wrong. She and her sisters had just discovered their transformation power, and something about it told her that hope was alive. This could only be the start of something big.
Perhaps, there was a Creator in the heavens and Hedidwatch over them.
Liriya remembered how she had imagined humans to be, when she was younger, that they wereallevil pirates with no single good person among them. No matter how many times Mama had told her that every human wasn’t a pirate, she refused to believe it. Today was the day she had accepted Mama’s words. The land above was not theworldof pirates.
Liriya would imagine them having big ships and sailing to capture mermaids…
Despite her amusement at the memory, a shiver ran down Liriya’s spine recalling seeing ships on the surface. Suddenly, a bell rang in her head.
Ship.
The ship, of course…
Liriya rolled on her left to Sessa and noticed her eyeballs moving beneath her closed lids. She was still awake.
“Sessa, are you awake?” she whispered to her.
“No,” Sessa mumbled.
Liriya bit her lip to stop from giggling. “Remember the ship you told us about—”
“I amsleepingLiriya!” Sessa hissed to avoid waking up Ella.
Liriya chuckled silently. “No one talks when they are asleep.”
Sessa’s eyes snapped open at Liriya in annoyance. “What?”
Liriya reminded herself that their little sister was cranky when sleepy, and whispered, “The ship you saw at the bottom of the sea. Could you take us down there tomorrow?”
“And why is that?”
Liriya rolled her eyes. “I was wondering if we might find something in it to wear for the land.”
“I will think about that in the morning,” Sessa mumbled grumpily and rolled to her other side.
* * *
In the morning, Sessa took Liriya and Ella to where she saw the sunken ship. It was at the bottom of the sea. Hesitant at seeing the darkness in the pit, but determinedly remembering the land, Liriya led her sisters downwards to the ship bravely.
Her sisters were glued to her sides as they swam into the depths, looking around in fear of a shark showing up to devour them. However, when they finally reached the ship that was a broken mess and got inside, the zone felt safe.
“So, what do we do?” Ella asked, turning to Liriya.
“I am not sure exactly where to find it… but I am sure wecouldfind it here…” Liriya swam here and there, looking for something, while she explained. “Humans store everything they need inside the ship whilst sailing, so the coverings should be here too. Let us get looking.”
They split to investigate all over the ship. Later a while, as Liriya found a chest filled with gold coins, Sessa called from the bottom level saying she found a huge chest she couldn’t open. Liriya dived towards her immediately, Ella joining her halfway.
The chest was larger than any Liriya had seen and she tried with all her strength to open it. After what felt like a decade, when she finally did, she believed they had found what they were looking for.