Fin

Chapter 9: Green Slime

Marinley

"Fin! Fin!" I heard Eliyah calling, the panic in his voice evident.

I shot up from my bed and swam to his room of the cave. He was swimming back and forth, running his hands through his hair. He must be really upset then.

He was holding a kelp leaf in his hand and I knew that the message he had received had to be bad for him to be this upset.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked, looking over him.

"We need to go! It's my Reintos. My Faray is sick. Something is wrong with the water we have to help them!"

A better translation for you-Reintos (ree-en-toes)=parents, Faray (far-aye)=father, and Monay (moe-nay)=mother.

While my parents were dead-his were very much alive.

He left them to be with me so I wouldn't be alone. They helped raise me a little, but it was apparent that they were kind of afraid of me since I do spend most of my time with sharks-a Mermaid's natural predator.

But if Rinoti is sick we have to go.

He was always kind to me growing up.

"Okay, let's go then!"

I grabbed my Venta bag and he took my hand and started swimming, way too fast for me to keep up on my own but thankfully he was pulling me along with him. I'm one of the fastest Mers on this side of the world but Eliyah had me beat.

He always did.

He won every race we had as kids unless I cheated.

I wasn't far behind him once he had let me go but I wasn't expecting what I saw when I finally made it to the pod. Seven Mers were all lied out, pale and almost green looking. I recognized Rinoti right away, Pinala right beside her Lumin holding his hand.

"Oh my Nalea! You've come home!" Pinala cried, throwing herself at Eliyah and hugging him tight.

"What happened? Why is Faray sick?"

Pinala sighed, looking at her Lumin with a frown on her face. You could see how much she was hurting and afraid of losing him. I personally love Rinoti. He may have been afraid of me but he was still kind to me.

The only other Mer who was.

But something you should know about Mers is we are highly devoted to our partners.

Once we choose a mate, we mate for life. Which is an average of about 100 years give or take. Once you're mated, no other Mer will take you. Even if your Lumin is dead. You can get with a human, but no Mer will take a mated Mer. Mating is a sacred thing. It's not be taken lightly in the Mer world.

So I can understand her concern-she may lose her Lumin-and no Mer wants that to happen.

"We were all swimming in Terra Lagoon like we always do on a very nice day. And something just wasn't right with the water. We left as soon as possible, but your Faray is sick. And we don't know how to save him."

Eliyah looked like he was about to cry. I had to fix this and I would. Not just for Rinoti but for Eliyah too. He's very close with his Faray so I can only imagine what he's feeling right now.

I swam up to Rinoti, who smiled slightly when he saw me.

Again I shouldn't say that both of his parents dislike me-it's mostly just Eliyah's Monay that doesn't like me.

Rinoti has always been kind to me, so of course I would do anything I could to save him.

"You've grown up so much." He mumbled, but I still heard it.