Green Skies

Chapter 26

"Alright Neptune," said the girl. "Just wear this underwater and don't take it off no matter what. Use it to transform into a Quandrin!"

"That's all?" She asked. The girl nodded. "Well thank you Cassie. Your help means a lot to us." She smiled.

Cassie went red and laughed nervously. "Oh no, it's no big deaaaal." She handed me a necklace with a glittering stone on the end.

"What's this?" I asked, putting it on.

"It's Astris." She replied.

"Oh I think I've heard of this." Neptune said, peering at the rough stone. "You hold it and the Astris transforms you into what you desire most to be."

"Exactly!" Cassie said excitedly, swishing water at us with the tip of her tail.

"Wait, are we gonna become fish people?"

She glared at me. "That's a very rude term but yeah. They're called Quandrin." She turned to my sister. "So anyways, be careful of other Quandrin, they're very rude and snotty. I'd show you around but I have a job I need to get back to. I'll see you later!" She dove back underwater, her red and white speckled tail splashing water directly at me.

"Are we just supposed to get in the water?" I asked. Neptune nodded. "But our clothes will get wet."

"We can dry them off." She replied. "We have magic, remember?" She danced a black flame in her hand. I had never seen her magic before and it was mesmerizing.

--

I took off my shirt beforehand, Neptune kept hers on.

We slipped into the water which was really cold compared to the warm pre-summer air. I held the rough stone between my fingers and my legs were replaced with a fish-like tail. It was different shades of green. Neptune's legs were replaced as well and the tail appeared with shades of black, purple, and blue. She slipped off her shirt which I shielded my vision from.

"Hey look."

"No. You don't have a top on."

"But I do." I peeked and she had scales covering her chest the same color as the tail.

"Woah," I said, mouth agape. She threw her shirt onto the entrance in the sun and looked up to Kollia.

"We'll be back soon." She grabbed my hand and pulled me.

"Wait! We can't breathe!" I said and was yanked under.

I held my breath underwater and closed my eyes, expecting them to sting from the water. When I felt faint of air I went to gasp for air but breathed in too soon. But water didn't fill my lungs. Something moved on my neck. I touched it. There were gills that allowed me to breathe. I slowly opened my eyes and looked down below. "Wow." I said.

There was a whole world inside the mountain. The rock walls all had small holes in them in rows. Housing most likely. Down below towards a rocky base were bigger holes consisting of shops. At the very bottom of the cave was a big ravine. In the ravine was a glowing blue sphere, blowing bubbles to the surface. Rocks had been placed lazily around it to cover it up. I didn't see a single blue bean anywhere.

"They're out on the coast," Neptune explained. "See that bit of light over there?" She pointed to a small bit of light next to the blue sphere. "That's to get to the coast, so they have full access to the ocean." We swam down to reach the ground of the mountain, Fry being dragged behind. He didn't need Astris, he was fine as evidence of the weeee sound he made.

Someone with a blue and green tail swam and ran into us, a bunch of books flying from their arms.

"Oh my storms! I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. Hey you're not from here! My name's Jessica. Nice to meet you!" She held out her hand. I took it and she shook it roughly.

"My name's Ryver and this is my sister Neptune. We're trying to find our way around here."

"Well lucky for you I'm free! I'm headed to drop these books off at my house and then I can show you around, how's that?"

"That sounds wonderful." Neptune replied.

"Great! Follow me!"