"Emily, I am so sorry," my mom cried. She was sinking more and more into the earth. It was pulling at her. "The ocean, it will help. Do not leave it." She was at the bottom of the hole. My nine year old arm could almost reach her. "Mom! Grab my hand!" I screamed. "I'm sorry, Emily," and she was gone.

I awoke with a start. I was in a small, dingy. An older man was at the motor. I looked down to find myself covered in seaweed. "You crazy," he said in in an accent. He had darkish skin and creased eyes. I recognized him. "You work at Patuk's shop," I said. "What is your name? I see you often," he asked. "Emily Clark," I said. "My name is Ethan,"

I wasn't really sure what I was expecting. I glanced at my surroundings. We were heading back to the beach where I had left my stuff. I noticed him looking at me funny. I squinted. "What did you see?" I asked.

"I saw a young girl drowning,"

I held up the seaweed.

"She got tangled and couldn't swim,"

"That seaweed was very deep," I argued.

"Then what did you see?" He inquired. My brow furrowed. I hopped of the dingy and waded a few feet to the beach. "Thank you!" I called to him. He just nodded his head. And as if it were a vile creature, threw the seaweed out of his boat. I realized it had been a whole day, he must have waited till I was awake to take me back. Another reason saying that he saw something.

I walked into my house to see my brother watching tv. "Hey," he said. "Yeah..." I murmured as a drank a glass of milk. He walked into the kitchen. "Were you swimming? Your soaking wet!" He exclaimed. Yes, I needed to be reassured. "Oh, yea, I hadn't noticed," I put the milk away and put my sweater and hat on the rack. "Go take a hot shower and dry up, you're going to get sick," he ordered. "I have better things to do than get sick," I said, rolling my eyes. He have me look that all but said, 'really?'

I grabbed a towel.

After my shower I decided to go to the library. I got my bike and rode over.

"Hello, dear,"

"Hello, ms. Ryan," I answered to the librarian. "Anything specific today?" She asked as her blue eyes shone against her white short hair. "Yeah... Um, mermaids?" I asked, trying to not sound suspicious. "Mermaids! Yes we have on those."

She led me to a table and plopped two books in front of me. I looked through them. From sirens to mermen, nothing. Nothing explains how the seaweed just... Attacked. And not once did I ever read about mermaids in north Alaska's frigid water.

I sighed loudly, which alerted Ms. Ryan. "Everything okay?" She asked while peering behind a stack of books in her arms. "Well I mean, there's never been any reports of mermaids in... I don't know... Alaska? Have there?" I asked. She put the stack down. She quickly sat down. "Do not say I told you. It is very bad luck to speak of them," she whispered. "Them?" I asked. "Shhhh! Yes, them. Mostly known as, water spirits," she said. "Why is it bad luck to speak of them?" I asked. "They are not like humans, at all! Worse than sirens! They're not even mermaids! They are creatures with the ability to control the sea! They make the aquatic plant life do as they wish! Some can even bend the water as they wish!Now, animals, they don't always do as they say, but they have a strong connection. But the water spirits don't always have tails. They may have legs if they wish, and they may breathe air. In fact, they live off of oxygen! If the water is not oxygenated, they cannot breathe. That applies to air. And that is the problem, they can disguise as humans. The Alaskan native people have another name for them. They call them... Blue vampires," she explained. "How do you know all this?" I inquired.

"Well, in the legends, they were not legends! They were actually quite a problem. The natives were constantly being attacked! They could not make a living, for they were fisherman. So the water spirits were harvested. And their scales were rigid sharp, and could be used as remarkable weapons. After the water spirits figured out they were being targeted, they left the natives alone," she said. So that's why Ethan treated the seaweed as if it were vile poison. "Thank you so much!" I said to Ms. Ryan. "Oh, no problem," she called out as I raced to the door.

I arrived at Patuk's Alaskan Trinkets. I saw a tourist family inside, listening to Ethan talk. They were taking the stores history tour. I slipped inside, trying to stay unnoticed. I listened in, as he waved his hand over to a shining spear, it's tip a mix of colors, much like a scale. "This, so the legend says, is weapon made from a mermaid's scale. An old fisherman was fishing of the coast, when he saw her, a real mermaid. She lured him close to the edge of the boat, then took one of her scales and cut the lines of a net with hundreds of fish inside that was supposed to feed the village. Now, the fisherman was enraged! So he yanked the scale out of her hand, killed her with it, and left her body to sink back to where she belonged, the deep depths of the sea. That fisherman kept the scale and made it into a spear. It is now a symbol in our town, it resembles our town. It's sharp point gives hope to a better lifestyle. Point hope. This item is not for sale, but feel free to look around," As the family walked away, I went to Ethan.

"That's the scale of a water spirit. Maybe you know them as Blue Vampires," I said. He reached for the spear. "Don't worry, I'm not one of them. You waited till I was awake to take me to shore, you wanted to make sure I wasn't one. Well, I'm not, so you can relax," I said. His arm returned to his side. I mean, really, if I could control the ocean, I really don't think I would be drowning.

"You believe the stories?" I inquired. "I don't just believe them, they are real. I've seen them," he argued. "And so have you,"

He knew, he saw me. He was watching the whole time. "Why didn't you stop me?" I exclaimed. He knew how dangerous she was! "I thought she wouldn't harm you. I thought she would only harm fisherman and warriors," he argued back. "Ethan, I was drowning by seaweed. It pulled me down. It shot up from the depths! You thought they left people alone!" I almost screamed. His eyes widened. "You should care to not go by the sea, they are awakening," he said. He ran off to the back of the shop.

I walked outside to a raging storm. I grabbed my bike and pedaled as fast as I could. My dad, he was fishing today.

I finally reached home. Jacob was getting his bike. "Oh my god, I was about to go and find you," he gasped. My eyes widened. "Why, what's wrong?" I panted.

"It's dad. He was supposed to be back 2 hours ago,"