a longer chapter again to make up for the shorter one a few days ago. i hope you guys like this series <3

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The strangest part of being on land was that it wasn't at all what you pictured. Of course, you couldn't get up and explore anything without a pair of legs, so that limited your exploring to just the bathroom, until Ian and Barley went out and bought an inflatable kiddie pool which was moved and refilled in different areas of the house. Not that you wanted to go on an adventure necessarily. You were paralyzed by the fear of what was happening back home and how you would inevitably have to face all of it soon. 

Still, your days were filled with laying back in your pool of water, either in the sun or in the cool, air conditioned air of the Lightfoot home. You and Barley went through books and books (and seriously, he had a lot about the history of merfolk) but you found nothing about the merpeople of the Trenches.

"They don't exist," you said, closing another book that went over the establishment of your kingdom. You wondered how Barley got it. Your heart ached to remember it so full and beautiful and alive. "They don't exist in any of your books." 

"They probably only exist in yours," Barley admitted. "I don't think there's ever been a story where an elf or a goblin or a pixie met a merman or mermaid from the Trenches. The only merpeople to ever travel to the surface and meet us have been you. And everyone gets this information from stories, so... whatever information we need is probably in the books at home."

"We don't have books at home," you said, slinking further into the water. "We have our stories scratched on our marble walls of the palace, where all of the crowns of the ancient sea kings and queens remain." You covered your face with your hands, balled up in closed fists that shook. "But I don't remember a thing written on them."

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself," he said. 

You dropped your hands, splashing in the water as you sat up quickly. "I am the princess of that kingdom and I don't know anything about it! I wasted all of my time sitting on the shore dreaming that I could go away and now... and now look at the trouble we're in! I don't know anything about who I'm about to have to go up against. I'm such a screw-up."

"No you are not!" Barley's eyebrows pulled together and he scoffed with anger. "Don't call yourself a screw-up. Whatever lies ahead of you is lying ahead of us. You aren't fighting this on your own. I may not be your guard, but I am your best friend. Which is further proof that spending time on shore didn't make you a screw-up! If you didn't do that, we would've never met. And then you wouldn't have me on your side." He smiled, and you felt yourself relax. 

"I guess you're right," you said, folding your hands together and resting them on top of your fin. You bit your lip and sighed, the pressure heavy on your shoulders---

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Barley said, and he sounded so sincere and believable that you smiled too. "Look, we have a few more books. Let's get through them and see what we can find." 

"Okay," you said. You scooted to the edge of the pool and leaned over it as Barley opened up a book. It told at first the location where the author had met the mermaid that told him the story, and then it described the story and included his own illustrations of it.

The story told of a mermaid that met a sailor upon the shore. They swapped their own stories from their homes and fell in love. You tried not to picture you and Barley as the mermaid and the sailor, but it was difficult when he was reading the story to you, his shoulder pressed against yours. When the mermaid wanted to spend the remainder of her life with him, she stole a book of enchantments from a sea witch and placed a spell on herself that could allow her to have legs. 

"Mermaids are capable of casting whatever magic they may possess," Barley read aloud, "which is part of why they are so dangerous." 

You furrowed your eyebrows. "I can cast magic?" 

The elf shrugged. "I don't know. Have you ever tried?"

You shook your head. "No one in my family does that."

"Well, we have to try it," Barley decided. "And there's only one way to test it."

A few minutes later, you sat in the yard with your fin curled beneath you in the pool. In your hands was a wizard staff. "Are you sure about this, Ian?" 

"I'm sure," he said, but he was biting his nails as he watched. "Barley said it was a good idea, so."

"It is a good idea," Barley said encouragingly. "Cast a spell! We'll start small, just like we did for Ian. All you have to attempt is a levitation spell!" 

"On what?"

"On..." Barley looked around for a moment, then he gaped in realization. He held up a finger and with his other hand, he dug into his pocket for a moment. He pulled out the pearl you had given him only a day before. "On this."

"Oh no," you said, shaking your head. "Barley, I don't want to break it." 

"You're not going to break it. You're going to simply lift it and be awesome at it." He placed it on the dirt in the garden. "Remember the spell?"

"Yes," you said. 

"Great." He and Ian backed up out of your way until they stood next to where you were kneeling. "So go ahead and try it out."

"Okay," you said. "And I hold it... like this?" You moved your arms. 

"Perfect," Barley said. "You're a natural! Now speak from your heart's fire. And don't break the gift you got me."

You glared at him. "Barley!" 

"I'm kidding," he said, laughing with his hands on his hips. "I have total faith in you. Take a deep breath and say it whenever you're ready."

You hesitated for a moment, so Ian stepped closer and knelt down beside you. He gave you a smile and lifted your elbow only slightly. "It really isn't as hard as it seems. You just need to really believe that you can do a spell always and then you'll do it."

"Thank you." You nodded. 

Ian stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. Barley nudged him with his elbow. "Look at you. You're an expert now." 

Your voice surprisingly wasn't shaky as you exclaimed your spell. And you were surprisingly not at all terrified when a beam of what you could only describe as magic shot out in front of you. It grabbed the pearl and lifted it off the ground as you moved your arms. You blinked in shock and then looked at Ian and Barley, who were each gaping. You could feel the magic surging through you as you held the staff. It felt like you didn't even need it. You put the pearl back down and cast the spell on something bigger. You chose one of the lawn ornaments in the garden. You lifted it without a problem. You laughed happily. Barley cheered you on and Ian gushed about how weird but awesome it was. And finally when Barley told you to try it on Guinevere the Second, you realized just how easy all of it was. 

But it drained you quickly and suddenly, too. You dropped the van a little too hard and slipped into the pool a little, gasping with exhaustion. You sat up and Barley's hands were there on your arms to help you. "I didn't hurt your van, did I?" 

"She's fine," he said quickly. "And dude, you were awesome! I knew you could do it, princess!" 

"You were way better at it than me," Ian said. "Barley's right, that was amazing!" 

"Well, Ian, merfolk magic is stronger than any other magic," Barley said. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small book with a leather cover. You gasped when you read the title Magic and Merfolk. You tore it from his hands and flipped through the pages of it. There were passages of history, tales of merfolk practicing magic, and spells. 

"Why didn't you tell me you had this?" you questioned. 

"I didn't. I ordered it from this secondhand bookstore I like," he said. "And I didn't want to stress you out until you knew that you could do it. I knew that you could do it, but I wanted you to see that you could for yourself, too."

"Barley," you said. You gave the book back to him, but Ian was quick to steal it and flip through the pages, eyes wide and full of wonder. You pulled Barley in for a quick hug with just one arm slung around his shoulders. You pressed your face against the dip of his shoulder and felt his arms go around you. "Thank you."

"I'll always believe that you can do anything, princess," he said, moving away so he could look at you. "I wouldn't ever dream of doubting you."

"I don't know what I would be without you," you said. "I'd be dead at the bottom of the Trenches, that's for sure."

"No, you'd figure out a way to fight your way out of it," he said, a small smile and a light purple blush on his face. "You're really good at that."

"Hey, you can enchant anything that you want," Ian said, turning around.

"What do you mean?" you asked. 

"I mean you don't have to use a wizard staff. You can use whatever you want and channel magic through it. Because it isn't like us where we have to have the magic gifts. All merfolk are given the ability to do whatever they dream they are capable of. The magic is inside of you and it's stronger than anything anyone else can possess. Barley was right." 

"That's probably why you could use the rain and storms to contact me," Barley said. "I always knew that it was you controlling it, I just didn't think it was anything to do with magic." Ian handed him the book and he showed it to you. 

As you read the pages, you thought for a long moment. And then you looked at Barley. And you could tell he was thinking the exact same thing as he got up and bounded for his bedroom, where you had left the trident that Wade had given you.