Kyma Tide is just an ordinary human girl, besides the fact that she is a blue-eyed albino orphan in the Dominican Republic. That is, until she is kidnapped and wakes up with a tail. Follow her journey of escape and discovery.
This is the first book...
"When you were born, you weren't like us merrows. When we are born, we come out tailed and shift once we are dry for the first time. Then we are stuck on land until we are between six and ten, when we learn to voluntarily shift. But you, you were such a beautiful baby. But you came out with legs, and I knew that you couldn't survive here on the island. Not as well as you would have with other humans. And I couldn't keep you from your father, so I gave you to him. You were meant to visit often, and when you were older, you could decide which world you wished to live in. When your father never brought you, I thought he wanted nothing to do with me and my kind. I couldn't go looking for the truth, I had a responsibility to my people."
Kyma looks down at the floor, thinking hard. Her mother gently places her hand on Kyma's shoulder and says, "You don't have to choose to forgive or accept me now, I understand it is something that will take time. But please stay and we can try to figure out what happened to you. When did you shift into your tail for the first time, and why didn't you know how to shift back?"
"When I was kidnapped, something was done to me that gave me the tail. He did it to my friends too. And he was doing tests, likely to see what came with the tail."
Her mother's voice turns forceful. "Tell me everything."
Kyma tells her about the pain of being dry, communicating with animals, and finally, the effects of being too far from the sea. When she looks up at her mother, she sees tears pouring down her mother's face. She stands up and runs towards the pool. Just before she reaches the water, she turns back to Kyma, who has followed her over.
"Stay here."
She strides up to her waist in the water and stops, reaching down to the bottom of her skirt. After a few moments, she pulls up panels of the skirt and ties it around her waist and over her shoulder, turning it into a tunic-style top. Once the panels are secure, she pushes off the incline and into deeper water, shifting as she dives beneath the surface. Within a couple of minutes, she resurfaces, with Kyma's friends and Alai surfacing behind her. Alai and Queen Lahira transform before moving up the incline and turning back to Kyma's friends. Nami rises into the air amidst a bubble of water, and after a moment of concentration from Alai, Fala does as well.
Her mother turns toward Kyma and beckons before walking down the corridor the guard originally left through. The group follows her down the long stone corridor, slowly moving upward with the incline, bypassing many of the doorways along its walls. They soon reach the exit and emerge into sunlight before turning onto a path that leads up the hill they just emerged from. At the top of the hill is an array of buildings, and Kyma's mother turns to her.
"We have almost all of our important buildings here, except the other medical center in the city and the buildings in the underwater portion of our city."
They step into the first of the pale stone buildings and are met with what for all the world appears to be an empty hospital waiting room. Instead of stopping there, Kyma's mother leads them down a hallway and into another room. This room isn't empty, but it isn't full either. As Kyma looks around, she realises that it is yet another waiting room, but one that isn't for emergencies. It seems to be more like a waiting room at a doctor's office. The people in the room are all sitting there patiently, but Kyma can't figure out what they are waiting for exactly. A couple of them turn to see who has entered the room, and their eyes widen when they see their Queen. They get to their feet, prompting the others to turn to see the commotion, and then get to their feet themselves.
"Queen Lahira!"
"What are you doing here, my Queen?"
Queen Lahira smiles gently at the small crowd of people. "Be calm like the waters of the tide. I am not here to worry you. We have new guests in the Kingdom, and some of them need to see Lair Ceirus."
The crowd of merrows smiles and appeased, settles back into their seats. Kyma feels a touch on her shoulder and turns her head slightly to see her mother moving towards one of the empty groups of chairs. Kyma follows and sits beside her mother, Alai sits in the chair on the other side of Kyma. Nami and Fala float over to them in their bubbles, before the bubbles descend to the empty portion of floor in the space beside their chairs. Kyma looks over at Alai to see her face white and strained. As she watches, a bead of sweat runs down Alai's forehead and down her face.
"Alai?"
Kyma's mother looks over at Alai, as Alai responds through gritted teeth. "Don't. I need to concentrate."
Kyma's mother bends over Kyma to look at Alai. "Alai, let go. I can take her from you. Don't push it."
Alai shakes her head. "No. I can do it."
Her face whitens further and she gasps. In a flash, Fala's bubble drops slightly and she lets out a scream. The bubble is caught by Kyma's mother before it can hit the floor, and Kyma catches the now unconscious Alai before she can pitch forward and onto the floor. She settles Alai back into the chair before turning to her mother.
"What happened?"
Her mother's expression is grim. "She overused her powers and drained her energy. But it happened much faster than it normally would with her. It's as if her levels were already depleted."
Kyma frowns. "She used them to get my friends and me out of the facility."
Her mother nods and leans back in her chair. "Ah." Then she smiles, changing the subject. "Shall you introduce me to your friends?"
Kyma smiles back at her. "Over there is Nami." Nami waves at Queen Lahira. "My other friend is Fala. Her name is actually Farasha, but we nicknamed her Fala so that our names could all have a similar theme."
"What is the theme?"
"Wave."
Her mother laughs, just as a young man walks over to them. "My Queen."
Queen Lahira nods at him. "Lair. We need your help with something."
So, who do you guys think Lair is? How could he help them? Did you guys know the theme with the friends' names/nicknames before I told you? What do you think is going to happen next?
Here is your picture of Kyma.
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