i really should be doing my homework bc i have a midterm this week but i just had my first day of work/orientation at chipotle and i'm not sure if i hate it or not so i'm just not gonna let myself cry and instead focus on this series for a while :-)

/ / /

Swimming home, you felt pressure in the water --- and not the usual kind. Something was wrong. You knew that even before you flipped your fins on over to your parents, who were standing just outside of the gates of the golden palace you called home. 

Wade, an old classmate of yours that had just started out as a guard for you and your family, swam over to you, his trident in his grip. "You're in deep trouble for swimming off again."

"Tell me something new," you said, rolling your eyes. 

His light purple eyes shined as he laughed. "Uh... you have officially stressed everyone out to the maximum."

"I said something new, Wade." You liked Wade. He was one of the few people your age that wanted to have fun, even though he took his position seriously. That was one of the differences between the two of you. He wanted to be a royal guard. You didn't want to be the princess or the queen. 

"But seriously, you shouldn't leave like that," he said. 

"Why? They never notice until they realize I'm not there to practice my harp playing or practice waving to the adoring crowds of merfolk," you said. "I hate practicing for these things. Why don't they teach me something useful, like how to take care of emergencies?"

"I think what they're trying to teach you now is patience," Wade said. He poked you in the head. "What you're lacking now is the patience to learn that. You can't seem to get it through your thick skull." 

"Hey," you said, pushing his hand away. "Lay off." 

He laughed. "What were you doing on the surface again, anyway?"

"I was with Barley," you said. 

"Oh, the elf kid," he said, nodding. 

"He isn't a kid," you said defensively, even though there really wasn't a reason to. No one seemed like the idea of Barley or think anything good about him. "He's our age. He's really fun to hang out with. He teaches me all about bands. Like Cry Blood. Have you ever heard of a name like that? So cool, right?" 

He gave you a look of concern. "Cry... Blood? Um... I guess that sounds cool."

You rolled your eyes and let out a sigh. "I guess you wouldn't get it."

"We're getting older now," Wade said, "and I know you hate it when I tell you this. But I'm your guard and your friend, and so I think I have a right to tell you this. You have to stop avoiding what has to happen. You're not a kid anymore. You can't hang out with elves or pretend that you don't have a kingdom to run. He's probably going to make you take the title of queen before next year. And once that happens, you won't be able to leave the kingdom anymore."

You knew Wade was right. It was only a matter of time before you were imprisoned here forever. That's the only word you could think of for it: imprisoned. You would never see Barley again, even if you were pretty sure he was the only one you wanted to see every day of your life...

Two people you definitely didn't want to see were waiting from you at the entrance of the palace. Wade brought you to your parents, bowed respectfully, and then took his place in line with the rest of the guards that followed the king around every second of the day. Your father's arms were crossed, and when your mother saw you, she had a mix of relief and stress on her face. She pulled you in for a tight hug and then squeezed your shoulders. 

"What is with you running off all of the time?" she asked. "You're supposed to be preparing for your coronation!" 

"She's spending her time back up on the surface, that's what she's doing," your father said angrily. "Get your head out of the clouds and back to the water where you belong!" 

You fought the urge to roll your eyes. Not like you had time for that anyway, because it was only a matter of time before they each had one of your arms in their grasps. Suddenly you weren't swimming on your own, but being pulled at their pace. Like always. Their pace. Where you had to be ready for a life of leadership at a certain age. Where you weren't allowed to have a moment of childlike happiness without being scolded for acting like a fool. 

That really was what attracted you to the surface. Spending time with Barley, sitting in the sun,  breathing in the air, being able to laugh... it felt like love. This was cold, this was forced, this was hard. 

"I get it," you said, pulling your hands from their grips. They stopped and looked at you. You tightened your hands into fists and kept them straight at your sides. "I can swim on my own you know!" 

"Listen close to me---" your father started. 

But he didn't get to finish, because at the same moment the water went dark. Completely dark. Your parents looked around with a look of just knowing, and then you heard the screeches that sent cold into your veins. 

"They're here," your father said, as if he had been expecting them this entire time. 

"Who's here?" The guards of the sea surrounded you and your parents. Your court of seahorses abandoned you quickly. You watched them disappear and kept your lips locked around your fear. 

"The merfolk of the Trenches," your father said, his voice void of anything except for pain. 

"The what?" You'd heard of the Trenches. It was the deepest part of the ocean that people in Barley's world called the Hadalpelagic  Zone, or so Ian had told you once when you asked about his homework on the beach one day. It was where the sunlight could never touch. Strange creatures lived down there, but you assumed they were all the same squids and starfish that you learned about in school. "Since when are there merfolk down there?"

"Since the beginning of time," your father said, "although it was a history everyone wanted to forget."

Coming out from all directions were merfolk that looked like they had never seen a bit of sunlight in their lives. They didn't look like you. Their skin, soft but thin, was as white as the shells on the beach. Sharp teeth poked from their thin clear lips, stretched thin with wide and sinister smiles. Their eyes glowed pure white. In their webbed hands were weapons of rope.

And from the front line swam out a single merman. Your father recognized him right away, even though you couldn't place him. "Kai," he said. He sounded afraid, and that worried you. He didn't look to the guards as he spoke. "Get her out of here," your father said calmly. And as if he needed a reason to explain his desire for your safety, he said: "She is the future of the kingdom."

"She will die, your majesty," Kai said, voice rough. "She'll die just as you will."

"Father---" you began. 

He took one moment to glance at you painfully. "I thought we'd have more time." 

You put your hand on his shoulder, but you didn't have time to say anything more as Wade linked his arm with yours and pulled you away quickly. At the same moment, the people of the Trenches closed in quickly, screeching loudly, moving their ropes---

You screamed and reached for your parents, but they were lost in the fighting. You couldn't see them at all as a cloud of sand raised, murking up the water. You were forced to pull your attention completely away when you saw the two merfolk on your heels. Two women, both looking identical to Kai, screeching and darting through the water after you. A majority of the guards chased after them. It took you less than a second to realize that you were being protected like a priority instead of your mother or father.

"What are they doing?!" you cried.

"Kai is the king of the Trenches and he has plotted taking over the ocean for many years," he explain, taking you deep into the forest of seaweed just outside of the palace. His voice dropped quieter. "Your father chose to never tell you because he genuinely believed that we could find him and stop him ourselves. But our bodies were not meant to go that deep. We could never find their kingdom. Now they have come to take away the ocean and keep it for themselves."

"Will they be able to stop them?" you asked. 

"Doubtful," he said, and you believed him. He looked at you as he heard scurrying through the tall plants. "Your highness, you have to find some place to hide. It is up to you to save the kingdom. You're the last chance." 

"I-I can't!" you said. 

"You have to," he said. "You're---" 

"I'm not ready!" you hissed. 

"You have to be!" he said. He took the trident --- the weapon that every guard carried --- and thrust it into your arms. You held it in confusion. The guards never dropped their weapons, ever. He explained it with a tight nod and a simple, "To protect you."

"Wade," you said, "we need to go back and save my parents. They---"

"They know what they're doing," he said. "Everyone is doing their part to keep you alive." 

"What's your part?" you asked. 

"Getting you somewhere they can't find you," he said. He grabbed you by your arm and started forward. "Come on---" 

You were cut off by a rush of black that left you blind. You gasped and felt Wade's grip tighten on your arm. A beat of silence passed by painfully slow. And then a screech pierced your ears. You knew the mermaids had found you, but Wade had already pushed you out of the darkness and back into the dim light of the seaweed forest. You spun, clutching the trident in your hand, and you heard his scream.

"Wade!" you yelled. 

"Go!" he shouted over you, and he tried to say something else, but it was cut off by a strangling sound. 

You wasted no more time. You kicked your fin harder than you ever had before. Your right hand gripped the trident that he had given you and your left hand protected your face as you cut through the thick coverage of seaweed. You felt like you were surrounded. They were going to grab you now and drag you back in. You were going to be killed in the darkness like Wade---

But then you broke through the surface with a gulp of air. The sky was already grey, the water already wild with stormy waves. You spun around in search of the shore. "Barley!" you screamed. You hoped that he had gotten back to the shore before the storm started. You didn't know how long it had been going on. "Barley!" 

You wiped the water from your eyes and blinked hard. Rain poured from the sky, pounding against the surface of the water. And against the sheet of grey that surrounded you, you saw Barley on the shore, waving both of his arms in the air to get your attention. The water sloshed against his knees. "Barley!" 

You dove forward, but you were too afraid to swim with your head under. You needed to see the land. They were going to grab you---

You came up above the surface and gasped out his name, and then a huge wave crashed over you. You were forced back down, body spinning out of your control. You kicked back up dizzily, gulping down more air as soon as you broke through. Your arms ached and you fought to hold onto the extra thirty pounds in the weapon you held as you swam as quickly as you could. 

Getting closer now, you could see the panic on his face and hear him calling your name. The bottom of your fin met the sandy floor and you knew you were close now. He met you halfway, running as quickly as he could through the water to get to you. You started to cry as he stooped down and put his arms around you. You gripped his forearms and looked back behind you as the grey waves sloshed around the useless lower part of your body that could do nothing to help you get to the sand. 

Barley pulled you to dry land and you fell back, using your hands to push you away from the sea. He dropped on one knee. "I'm here! What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?!"

"I need to go," you said, putting your arm around his neck. You were scared of the tide coming in. Would they pull you back? "I need to go, Barley!" 

"Okay," he said quickly. "Okay, we'll go." He shoved his hand in the sand underneath you and picked you up in his arms. He quickly backed away from the water, weighed down by you gripping the solid trident and by the pounding rain that couldn't stop now. You were too upset to let it stop. 

You looked at his face, dripping wet with the rainwater. He didn't ask what was going on. He was only focused on getting you out of here like you asked. Still, you answered the question that you knew was on his mind. "I don't know what happened. They attacked us. I'm the only one that escaped."

"Who attacked you?!" 

You shook your head. "I didn't know them. But they wanted me dead. And my kingdom---" You looked back at the water and your eyes widened. "No..."

Barley spun around, you still in his arms. His eyes widened just as yours did. He tightened his hold on you as he watched the ocean slowly but surely drain itself. It was pulling back. And in the far distance, far, far, far below, you saw the deep crack in the earth. The Trenches. Where everything  --- the water, the creatures, your family, your friends, even your kingdom --- were getting pulled into, right into complete darkness. 

"I'm getting you out of here," Barley said quickly. 

"My family," you whispered. Tears leaked out of your eyes. Confused, you touched them as they fell on your cheeks. They were as salty as the sea that you were leaving behind. 

/ / / 

i'm actually really liking this series a lot so far and i have a lot planned for it!!