Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

Chapter 8 - Truth

lizzie's pov:

As the three swam to the library, they started gaining the attention of the people around the outskirts of the main city. Lizzie could imagine how odd it must have looked for the two heirs of the throne to be swimming with the youngest Rivendellian prince.

A few children waved excitedly, and Lizzie smiled back. She'd missed this place.

"The library is just in the town." Lizzie told Scott. "Not too far from here."

"Aquatic Anecdotes?" Scott grinned at Jimmy, who rolled his eyes.

Scott, apparently, was getting more comfortable swimming on his own, as he'd moved from his old position to just holding Jimmy's webbed hand.

"When we get there, we'll be going to the restricted section, right at the back." Lizzie told them. "If anyone asks why, it's for a school project on the.. I don't know, the folklore of each kingdom."

"Sounds plausible." Scott nodded. "I think we've genuinely done a project like that before."

"Good, people will believe that." Jimmy said. "Question: how do we explain Scott?"

"He's in our group." Lizzie invented. The houses underneath them had become more frequent as they swam closer to the city.

"This place is huge." Scott said, looking ahead. "Rivendell isn't half the size as your kingdom."

"Benefits of the ocean." Jimmy said, looking proud. "It's a pretty big place."

"Which also means that the buildings are very big." Lizzie added. "I mean, you've seen how tall I am, and I'm not even an adult yet."

"You mean you're gonna grow even more?" Scott said, seemingly unable to decide if that was good or bad.

"Yes." Lizzie said. "Joel isn't too pleased." She chuckled.

Scott looked like he'd decided that it was good. "What about Jimmy?" He grinned.

"Hey, I'd like to remind you that I am already taller than you." Jimmy protested.

"We're not sure, actually." Lizzie said. "Probably though."

"Hey, I think we're here." Jimmy said, stopping and looking down.

Below them was a large shipwreck, a dark teal colour and open at the top.

"This is your library?" Scott exclaimed. "What the heck, this is so cool!"

"Yeah, believe it or not, it's called 'Shipwreck Stories'." Jimmy said, suppressing a grin.

"Really?" Scott said.

Lizzie couldn't help but snort.

"Oh my Aeor, I hate you." Scott let go of Jimmy's hand and folded his arms.

"I'm sorry, but it was way too good to pass up." Jimmy laughed, taking Scott's hands again.

Scott's pout melted into a reluctant smile. "I'm never trusting you again." He said.

"Mhm, sure." Jimmy said.

The looks they were giving each other were definitely more-than-friendly, and Lizzie wanted to get to the bottom of that.

"Okay, Scott, you come with me and I'll show you where everything is." She grabbed his arm. "Jimmy, you start looking, okay?"

Both of them looked like they wanted to argue but saw the look on her face and thought better.

"Alright." Jimmy shrugged and swam into the library.

Lizzie waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Scott.

"Okay I cannot figure this out." She said. "Are you guys dating or married or something? You're looking at each other like I look at chocolate."

Scott went bright red. "No!" His voice was higher than it should have been. "I mean- uhm. I kinda.. like Jimmy?"

"That much I could tell." Lizzie said. "But are you not dating?"

"We're not." Scott said, clasping his hands together. "But I, ah. Well, I wouldn't be upset if we were." He admitted.

Lizzie smiled. "Well, if it ever happens, treat my brother well. Now, if I'm not mistaken, we have a library to search."

scott's pov:

A/N: omg mid chapter pov swap?? it's more likely than you think

Scott admittedly had no idea what he was looking for. He assumed it would be obvious which book they should find, but when half of the restricted section was covered in a layer of algae that you had to wipe off before you could see the name of the book, it was slightly more difficult.

It also didn't help that Jimmy could, apparently, turn into a 6''5 sea creature. That was mildly distracting, to say the least. He wasn't sure how Joel had reacted when he first saw Lizzie, but he knew he wanted to see it. (It was also quite sweet that Jimmy's cod hat grew with him).

After about ten minutes of looking, Jimmy called to them, "Hey, I think I found something?"

Lizzie and Scott swam over to him. He was holding a book titled 'Oc a Fol or e', or at least that's what Scott could make out through the algae. Lizzie brushed the green goo away— which looked harder than it should have, since her hand was as big as the book— and the title became 'Ocean Folklore'.

"I mean, I doubt it could be any more obvious." Lizzie chuckled. "That's the book."

Jimmy opened it and the three began to read it.

Thousands of years ago, a monstrous creature dominated the oceans. The creature had a body of a codfish and the body of a salamander, four small webbed feet and a long tail.

After centuries of loneliness, the creature called upon the ocean gods and laid a clutch of eggs on a rocky island. Soon after, the creature began to wither away and die, leaving the eggs unprotected.

In time, all but two of the eggs were destroyed, leaving one large pristine egg and one small damaged egg.

From the large egg hatched a four-legged amphibious being, with gills and colourful fins.

The amphibious being seized the remaining damaged egg and disappeared into the murky depths of the cold ocean, never to be seen again.

Scott looked up at Lizzie and Jimmy, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion as him.

"Wait." Jimmy looked up at Lizzie. "Wait, Liz, do you think-"

"Yeah." Lizzie said, sounding slightly dazed. "Those eggs. I think they were us."

"But that would mean-" Scott's eyes widened.

"We're centuries old." Jimmy said slowly. "And we haven't aged more than 16 years."

"More importantly, it means we're not the heirs to the throne of the Ocean Empire." Lizzie said. "And our parents.. aren't our parents."

"What.. what are we?" Jimmy said, moving apparently instinctively towards his older sister.

"I don't know."

ofc i'm milking the angst they missed out on