We raced out. I followed Chris and that lady... I don't even know her name!

Gina

Not exactly sure how that happened, probably my brain going. Ding! You heard her name a whole bunch of years ago, let me just dust off the file!

We ran all the way to the cafés where a young girl with redish hair was grabbing her neck. She was writhing on the floor. "Someone please help her!" A brown haired woman called. Someone took out an... iPhone?! That was a question for a later time. Literally one minute later she was on a stretcher on the way to the hospital. I turned to Chris, horrified. He wore the same expression. "What happened?" I asked. An officer turned to me. "Poisoning," he sighed. He looked worried. "What's wrong?" Chris asked.

"That girl was my partners daughter. I hope he gets a few days off," the officer said, then continued on his way.

"A normal criminal thing?" I asked. Chris's face said no. "This is quite uncommon," Gina said, flustered. "I must speak with the king...immediately!" She scurried off to the waterfall/entrance. Chris's face seemed to look disoriented. "Anyway... We have business to take care of, you need to pick a house," he said turning to me, his joyfulness coming back, but not quite yet. I smiled.

"You can have an apartment in here, a house out there, or an apartment out there," he explained. "Well, what about you?" I asked. "I have a house out there," he said. I pondered that. "What about your parents?" I asked. He looked down at his feet and did his signature move, scratching the back of his head. "I don't have any," he confessed. I looked up at him. "What happened?" I asked. "They died ten years ago, and let's just say it wasn't safe for a sea whisp to be on land then," he said, sorrow in his eyes. The people killed them. Up there, I don't think they believe legends, I think they live them.

He pulled out an... iPhone? My eyes widened, how could it not be broken? Chris laughed at my bewilderment.

"Yes, we have iPhones, from the surface actually, but when we get them we modify them for water, also so we don't have to pay phone bills," he smiled. "What do you call them? Like shell phones, or coral callers," he looked at me strangely. "We call them cell phones or iPhones. We live under the sea, not in the little mermaid movie,"

My face turned red. Wait... "You have movies?"

He rolled his eyes and walked to the waterfall, a small smile playing his lips.

*****

"All right, we're going to be in the same neighborhood, but in the other sides. I'm on glacier blvd, but because of our strange roads, you're on orca ave," I nodded that I understood. My tail swished up and down, it's green scales shimmering with light blues. We pulled up to this house, it reminded me of the houses in the flinstones, my favorite childhood show, my mother used to watch it with me everyday. The only difference was that it was the algae growing on the sides and coral dotting the house with color. Different fish grazed on the plants, all they're colors making a rainbow. It looked like a reef exploded on the house, not that that was a bad thing.

There was only one thing... "Why are there reefs in Alaska?" I questioned. "Wow, you ask me everything. Well, sea whisps," he pointed to himself. "And also, something about our ocean "aura" makes it habitable for them," he explained. "Is it furnished?"

"Yup, go inside, get settled. Here's my address if you need something," he gave me a small paper and I swam inside. I swam in reading the paper. 112 NE glacier blvd Star cliff city, Cold Caribbean.

Looking up, my eyes danced at the color. There was coral, and algae and colors everywhere! There was a living room and kitchen in an open floor plan. The bedroom was massive and on a second floor. Don't ask me why there are stairs. The master suite was beautiful. Also, it had one of those waterfall thingies for the door. Swimming in, I summoned my legs. It was marble everywhere!

The bedrooms color was turquoise, beige, white and brown. And the theme was shells and sea stars. The kitchen also had a waterfall and inside, where it was dry, were granite countertops and a great layout. There were hangout areas both underwater and out. Both of them were equipped with furniture and entertainment.

On the kitchen counter I noticed a picture frame. Inside, was a picture of my mom. I was in third grade, my little self standing next to her.

Right there. We were outside, a few trees behind us, in our favorite picnic spot, the place which became "where my mom died". In the background though, a tree, it had a face. I felt like I had all the air sucked out of me. Chris said it wasn't safe for a sea whisp to be on land. Maybe not the people. Maybe land itself. Like my mom.

They died the same way.

Rushing to the door I looked at his address again. The streets were so confusing, how would I find my way? But my tail thought otherwise. Zipping through the currents, I whizzed street by street.

It felt as if... As if I'd been here before.

Swimming into his house I found a note. "Went to surface disguised as tourist, needed some human stuff, be back soon. -Chris"

The color drained from my face.