Alexander pov~

I paced my room and stared out the window whenever I came to stand next to it. The king had stuck me in my room, and had posted multiple guards outside my door. I glared at the courtyard, which I could see from my window, and tugged at my hair. I leaned back on my bed and let out a long sigh, blowing some bubbles in the water. I rolled over and pressed my face into my pillow, thrashing my tail.

Time was ticking and soon it would be 2, the time when I should go see Laurens. I'm not sure why I wanted to see Laurens again so badly, but I knew that I needed to get out of the castle. I can't even trust Maria, she agreed with the king on the fact that I shouldn't be allowed out for a little while. I sat up and glared at the walls, curling my lip. I leaned against the sea stone wall and snarled at the jellyfish that was currently floating around my ceiling. I turned around and punched the wall, growling. I hate being cooped up. I absolutely despise the feeling that there are places I can't go, because I'm stuck in one certain spot. I like confined spaces when I purposefully go in there and know how to get out.

I hissed and punched the wall again. I refuse to punch or bang on the door, don't want to seem weak or desperate. But I needed to get my anger out somehow, and I didn't want to take it out on the jellyfish, so the wall was what I'd resorted to attacking.

I snarled again and flipped over so I was floating on my back, glaring at the ceiling. The water supported my back and it almost felt like I was lying on something that was more solid than a room-full of salt water. I swam over to the window and glared out, frowning at the ever-darkening ocean water. I couldn't ask Maria for help, she'd sided with the king. Who could I contact?

I looked at the messenger fish that I kept in a tank by my bed, and pulled out a strip of parchment and a quill. Quills were pretty rare, not many bird feathers get this far down. Sometimes we go up to the surface to collect feathers that seabirds leave behind, but that's a pretty uncommon excursion. I put the quill on the light green parchment and thought back to Laurens' odd white parchment. I couldn't tell what it was made of, but it was certainly not seaweed. I shoved the thoughts aside to focus on writing and scribbled on the paper, the sound of quill against parchment filling the otherwise silent room.

Once I was satisfied with what I'd written, I rolled it up and grabbed one of my fish, tying the message to it and telling it where to go, then I released it out the window and watched the little creature swim along with the currents, heading out of the palace. I was thankful that people sent messages all the time, so my little fish wasn't suspicious as it swam above the guards' heads and down the hill.

I started pacing again, fiddling with whatever was most accessible, which just happened to be my fingers. I focused on one hand, twisting the fingers on it into all sorts of crazy positions until they started to ache, then I moved my attention to the other hand. This is actually pretty entertaining, so I kept it up until it honestly hurt. I paused for a moment and stared at my hands. Pale, with the trademark claws of my kind and a few bruise-like patches on my fingers where I'd pressed with my quill. They didn't hurt when I poked them, but were a deep purpley blue shade, which isn't natural. Once my hands were no longer complaining about the pain, I went back to twisting my fingers simply because it was a distraction, and I needed a distraction. I'm not sure why I needed a distraction, but I liked having my mind focused on the many ways I could bend my fingers, instead of whatever else could occupy it.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and I jolted, looking up from my fingers and at the thick coral door, on the other side of which was a person who wanted to see me. I blinked a few times, but disentangled my fingers and headed to the door tentatively. Then I remembered it was locked from the outside and leaned against the wall, sighing. The door was pushed open and I smiled at the females who stood there. A short girl with a yellow tail, a wide grin and brown hair tied up with a yellow scrunchie and a taller girl with kind dark eyes, a light blue tail and long dark, also tied up, but in a blue scrunchie. Peggy and Eliza

I grinned at them and welcomed the two girls in, hastily shoving my writing into a pile, placing my quill back in the little box I kept it in. I looked around the room and decided that the piles of books and loose parchment would just have to be overlooked. Peggy chuckled at my attempts to clean up and I shot her a playful glare. They sat down on the bed next to me and we all stared out the window, lost in thought. Actually, Peggy had brought snacks and looked fully emotionally and mentally invested in them, but Eliza seemed pretty pensive.

"Where's Angel?" I asked after a moment.

Peggy looked up from her snacks and smirked. "Wait for it."

I frowned, confused, but then heard a yelp that was distinctly Angelica's. I heard rushed voices then a little bit of silence. There was the sound of people swimming away hastily and Eliza sat up, grinning as she opened the door to reveal an empty hall. I blinked at her in surprise, but was pushed out of the room by a giggling Peggy. I froze for a second, then focused again and swam down the hall, knowing just where to hide and where to sprint. I made it out of the palace and laughed, swimming up to the currents and following them across the ocean. I put on an extra burst of speed as I looked at the sky and noticed that it was almost 3. I finally made it to the shore and swam through the dense patches of algae, breaking the surface and looking at the beach. I saw a figure walking away from the waves and realized it was Laurens. I panicked for an instant, then gathered air into my lungs.

"Laurens! Wait!" I called out, swimming closer and reaching out a hand.

He turned around and smiled, hazel eyes glowing in the moonlight. I grinned as the human made his way back to the water and stepped in, wading over to me. I swam a little further out, because it's insanely uncomfortable to have my tail scraping the stones and sand, and Laurens followed suit. I stopped, noticing we'd reached a place where his feet were still balanced but I was also suspended in water. He hugged me and my eyes widened. I hugged him back hesitantly, and smiled, relaxing into the embrace.

"So. How's your day been?"