Hey guys, sorry I updated so late... Well one, I didn't expect to get 55 votes so fast let alone 101 votes!! I asked for 605 and you guys gave me so much more in a short amout of time! Thanks, I'm touched lol.
Dedicated to Savvy because I liked her comment lol
Chapter Fifteen
Charlie's POV
"Are you alright," Aurora pauses, "Shimmer?" She says with humor in her light voice.
Blinking, I forcefully peel my eyes off of Radiance's neck, "Yes, yeah sorry. I uh- wait what?" I continue but I shift over to our private link, slightly furious with her. "Shimmer? Do I look like a Shimmer to you?"
"Aw come on, it's a cute name. It suits you with your sparkly, I mean, shimmering tail." Aurora giggles, struggling to keep a straight face infront of her brother and mate.
"It's so girly!"Â I groan.
"What do you mean girly?"Â Aurora honestly asks, and I shake my head and she shrugs at me.
Radiance whispers over to Emmet, "What's going on?"
"They're speaking through their mental bond." Emmet mumbles and Aurora gasps sharply. Idiot! You stupid creature! I scream at him, way to totally reveal myself to her!
"Oh no, don't be stupid brother! Mental? We aren't mates! We were just..."Â Aurora trails off nervously.
I quickly jump in, "I wanted to see how the whole private thing works... I guess it does!" Radiance didn't look too convinced but she nodded her head stiffly, again her eyes flickering over to my tail.
Emmet laughs loudly, covering up his mistake. "Of course, darling, I was just joking!"
I thought it was rude to stare at a mermaid's tail, I thought bitterly to myself. Radiance has very similar markings on her tail like I have on mine, except I have slightly more towards the base of my tail. The faint, silvery lines travel in a spiral down from her waist to her tail with elegant designs weaving in and out. Mine are almost identical expect I have rows of smaller swirls and lines that design the fins of my tail. I wonder what that means.
How would it be possible that she would have the necklace that Johnny saw the mermaid holding? Perhaps she was the mermaid that kidnapped the child but she doesn't look exactly like her. She looks similar to her except her eyes are slightly a darker green color rather than the mermaid in the painting. Plus her tail is much more red-orange, and the baby was human. Her face is round while the mermaid's face was slightly heart shaped... Then, something hits me. Her tail seems to be uninjured with no sign of a spear injuring it, unless it just healed normally?
"Lets go! Emmet, dear brother, this is a girl only day!"Â Aurora giggles at his horrified expression. I can't help notice Radiance's face become slightly more pale as well. She sighs, letting a fustrated stream of bubbles out of her mouth.
Emmet catches my eye and then places a tender kiss on Radiance's cheek before exiting the room without another word. He did that on purpose! I thought furously to myself, the nerve of him!
Radiance says bitterly, "Where are we headed Princess?"
"Since when have you called me Princess!"Â Aurora gasps, slightly wounded and confused.
"Because you are... I didn't mean to offend."Â Radiance smiles and Aurora smiles back, still frowning with pain still in her purple eyes.
"Lets shop for tail jewels! Char- Shimmer doesn't seem to have any..."Â She grabs my hand and hurries out of her bedroom with Radiance following slowly behind, unwilling to come.
The three of us swim side by side, me next to Radiance. I can feel the tension between us and her strong dislike of me. I can't help wonder why but I don't like her either so I don't care. I desperately want to know about that necklace!
Anger boils inside my stomach increasing with every moment I spend next to her but fades away once we exit the castle. I'm taken aback from the sheer beauty of the underwater kingdowm. Multi- colored tails pass us on both sides in a blur, but always stopping to bow to the princess. I notice the mermaids all gave me certain looks, glancing down at my tail and quickly back up before leaving us some with awe and some with suspicion.
I advert my attention back down the sea floor. Large shells glow brightly ontop of rocky structures that seem to signal a type of shop varying from jewels, food, and even clothes-like materials made from seeweed and other things. Colorful schools of fish also move freely amongst the underwater city, just going about their business.
The entire kingdom is wedged in between two large underwater canyons, impossible to see from above. Large, dome like, rock and marble structures are littered everywhere with holes carved on the side of them acting like, windows! Some are larger and some are smaller, some are decorated with shells and jewels while others are more plain looking. Larger shells are placed ontop a large arch way which signal a shop I believe since some leave with bags filled with items. The homes are the ones without the lit up shells, however the larger ones seem to show off their wealth.
"Are there upper and lower classes here within your society?"Â I privately ask Aurora, keeping a straight face, still continuing to swim forward.
She responds swiftly, confused, "What do you mean by classes?"
"Are some richer or poorer and do they assocaite with eachother?"Â I ask again, anxious to know. Anxious to know if I'll be poor again.
"I guess" She shrugs, "Some clans don't associate with others because of Clan Feuds. Royal mermaids don't ever associate with non Royals except my mother, me, and my brother!" She beamed proudly. "However, I do not understand what you by poor either?"
I shake my head, not wanting to explain further or even try to understand their society. It's something that I'll learn over time, I decide. Over time... In other words, I'm really stuck down here. Saddness pulls at my heart again, my mood turning even worse.
After a short swim, Aurora leads us into a shop that has rows and rows of jewels hanging on thread. I glance over to the shopkeeper who is a delicate mermaid with a deep blue colored tail decorated with bright while pearls which matches her mate's colors that also mark her tail. I notice slight wrinkles around her eyes and from her movements that she is an older mermaid. She greets us quitely, bowing to Aurora before returning to making more tail jewels.
The shop is quite large and cave like but the walls are made from smoothed marble. I move slowly around the store, looking at each rock, each pearl, each jewel with wonder. I momentairly forget where I am and what I am and just focused my attention on the jewels.
"Shimmer?" Radiance's stiff voice breaks my thought and I become annoyed all over again. "Aurora wants to start trying things on." I can feel her heated stare on my tail as I swam by her, purposely flicking my tail a little too close to her.
"So, please do tell me more about yourself... Shimmer."Â Radiance asks me with an acusing tone. I pause briefly before facing her again. I pretend to not notice the shop keeper has stopped what she was doing to listen in.
"What would you like to know?" Struggling to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
She smirks at me, "Who are your parents?"
I open my mouth to furiously ask her what kind of joke was that and who does she think she is asking my about my business. However, Aurora interupts me, "Died from the hunt fifty years ago..."
"Oh, so you're fairly young aren't you?"Â Radiance moves closer, looking at me with acusing eyes.
I snap back, "And how old are you?"
"None of your business!" Her voice raises in rage before finally snapping. "You're hiding something! I just know it! How could you possibly have the same marks as me when you aren't even from my clan?" She yells at me, word after word flying out of her mouth at the speed of light. "AND! Emmet is my mate, MINE."
"Radiance! What has gotten into you! She is a guest!"Â Aurora scolds her.
I scoff, "I don't want that ignorant man anyways!" Why is this happening now! Why me?
"How dare you!"Â Radiance shrieks at me, over lapping the sound of Aurora who tries to calm us down.
I almost start to ask her about her necklace and acuse her of kidnapping but Radiance suddenly clamps her mouth shut, eyes widening, and visably shrinks away from me. I hear Aurora mutter something in relief, confused I turn around. My heart drops into my stomach, my blood runs cold, this can't be...
Radiance's voice quietly breaks the silence, "Hello mother. I had not expected you to come for another two days."
"I thought I would arrive early, and Radiance I'm shocked at you. You do not know for certain that this mermaid could be apart of our clan." Her voice is soft and light. Her face is heart shaped with matching emerald colored eyes and a small nose. The same vibrant red hair surrounds her like a red halo, decorated with silver jewels. She moves slowly through the water, as if she struggles to swim.
My eyes snap to her unmarked tail, her deep red tail with flaming orange at the tips of her fins. Opposite of Radiance's tail. She has less silver markings than her daughter and myself but one looks unneatural. Like a spear had hurt her. This is the mermaid Johnny saw, and that is her daughter.
I meet the mother's eyes, and her voice slips into my mind privately. "You will not say one word to my daughter." Her voice turning hard.
The realization slowly grows on me. I'm not the only half mermaid here, and Radiance doesn't even know it!
"I know more about you than yourself, Charlie."
"Who are you?"Â My heart beats wildly against my chest, terrified of her answer.
My god this was hard to write... It's such poop... But It's something I guess. I've been under so much stress with school and work and my horses... ugh I have NO time.
Does it make sense? I seem to have a terrible habit of just throwing things into one chapter.. hopefully it wasn't too long. I'm just trying to get everyone together to the storyline can just continue forward, and start to pick up faster.
Please leave any suggestions down below to what I can do to the story.
I like hearing from my readers!