Stanley Pines, Our Hero (TEOC series #1)

The Reality

I opened my eyes to a pounding headache and no clue where I was. I seemed to be lying on my back, but when I went to sit up, I realized that I was floating in what appeared to be an underwater cavern. How I was still dry and breathing was a complete mystery.

More sounds of people stirring nearby caused me to look around. Ford and Bella were floating in the cave with me, slowly regaining consciousness.

I moved the best I could into an upright position. There were a few murky rays of light filtering around an enormous shark's eye shell, which seemed to be blocking the only exit. I didn't see any signs of guards or anything in the cave, so no way to tell whose prisoners we were.

"Stan?" I turned to see that the other two were fully awake now. Bella rubbed her eyes, looking around. "Where the hell are we?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Underwater's all I know 'bout this place."

Ford was patting down his jacket. "Whoever is keeping us here searched us; my three guns and taser are gone."

"Aw, shoot - my gun's gone too," Bella said, feeling her inner pockets.

Feeling considerably concerned by the fact that my brother carried a taser, I quickly patter down my own pockets and realized that my brass knuckles and the one gun I carried on me were missing. Now we were trapped with no weapons.

"Did anyone happen to get a glimpse of our attacker or anything?" I asked them.

Bella shook her head. "I tried, but the water pulled me under really fast." She shuddered.

Ford was intently scanning our surroundings, clearly analyzing everything he saw.

"Only one exit, and it's blocked," he muttered under his breath. "No one anywhere nearby. Definitely magical captors, due to the fact we can breathe; not too far underwater, judging by the pressure. They clearly want something from us, since we're still alive, though unarmed, so not necessarily friendly intentions. We're free to move around within the cave, however, so we must - "

"Poindexter," I interrupted. "Do you mind if you shut up?"

The shark's eye shell blocking the entrance was suddenly rolled to the side. The three of us spun around quickly.

I assumed the creature who floated through the opening was our captor. Though what type of creature he was was another question.

He was a man as far as the torso and head went; or at least he resembled a man. His bare chest and arms were a dark blue, with a wicked looking spear strapped across his back. He had shoulder-length hair and a necklace of seashells that he wore like a choker. There were also what looked like living lobster claws coming out of his head like horns, spinning and snapping at the air.

And then there was the rest of his body. From his waist, it started out as a pair of blue horse legs, but near the end it blended smoothly into a long fish tail, with gleaming forget-me-not scales.

Bella stared wide-eyed beside me. "What the fu - "

I quickly slapped my hand over her mouth. This guy didn't look like the type you wanted to offend.

Sixer looked ready for a fight; he glared at the fish horse dude and cracked his knuckles. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what do you want with us?"

The fish guy frowned at Ford's underlying threat. "Watch yourself, human; if you attack, we will retaliate with twice the force."

I didn't doubt that, especially when I realized that there were two other creatures like this guy hovering behind him: one a soft coral pink with long hair and the other dark green with a mohawk.