"Great Neptune!" I scream, flailing about like a fish out of water when sirens begin. "Turn it off!"

Caspian flips around the device in his hands hitting every button and trigger until the sirens die out. "It's five in the morning." Caspian kneads his eyes with a fist, springing down the stairs like yesterday.

Amy catches us mid flight, shooing us back up the steps. "Have you showered yet?" Caspian shrugs before I even have a chance to cock my brow, Amy nudging us up the revolting material once again.

We're led into another square inside our bedroom that houses a rectangle, square, and circle. "This is the bathroom and that," she points to the rectangle. "Is a shower."

With the flip of two handles a stream of water falls from a cone shape in the ceiling. I jump in the stream much to Amy's amusement and Caspian's disapproval as she ushers me to exit and remove my fin covering.

"You take this cloth and rub the soap on it. The soap is that blue square. Now, rub the cloth on your body to get clean! Isn't that easy!" Amy demonstrates using her arm and another toothy grin.

Caspian waits for the tail-less mermaid to leave before dropping the pants to his ankles. The water is warm but lacks the salty feel of the ocean. It's unnatural really. My fingers slide against the glass and tile of the shower, soaking up its feel.

A knock on the door gets us out of the spray of water even faster, rushing us to throw on different pants and shirts, brushing our teeth in a hurry as well. I open the door for Jacob, his hair no longer standing up but a sloppy mess over his eyes. My new fin twitches on it's own as I scamper out the door past him.

"Are you two ready? We need to go." He growls haggardly at us.

"We're ready." Caspian answers for me, pushing at my shoulders to get me to exit the now crowded bathroom.

><> • <><

"I'm not ready!" I squeak towards Caspian as schools of humans pass us by. His rough hands work their way to my lower back, scooting me along with him.

A boy my height comes up to us, hitting his hand against Jacob's, clasping them together, and beating their shoulders against the other's.

"I'm Max!" The boy simpers at Caspian and I with a short wave of the hand. His hair falls in the same manner as mine, the dark brown color matching Caspian's stubble to a tee. The boy's features are soft and welcoming. No wonder Jacob has him as a friend. Max adjusts his V-neck by tugging at it, shuffling me off to class with him while Jacob takes Cas.

"I'm Aries!"

"Jacob told me about you two." My heart skips a beat at the mention of Jacob speaking about me. "So, are you going to the party tonight?" He quizzes when we enter the classroom.

"Um...sure!" I manage to sit well enough and turn in my seat when the instructor comes forth. My idle chit chat with Max coming to an end quicker than I anticipated.

Paper? I lift up the sheet and wiggle it. It's a lot more lightweight than sand. Twirling the pencil in between my fingers and knuckles. The sand colored desk reflects my features enough for me to fix my hair and catch a curious Max staring. He catches my eyes in the desk's reflection causing him to hastily turn away.

Sirens such as this morning's go off and Max helps to pack my bag. "You have incredibly short school days!" I giggle, daydreaming about what I will do with the rest of my free time.

"We still have six classes and lunch left." Well my bubble just burst.

"Is lunch good?" I ask.

He gives me a pitiful look before replying with: "You can have some of the food I packed."

"What did you pack?!" What can I say, food excites me! "Fish?!"

"I'm allergic to fish."

"That is a shame." He cracks into a smile at my completely serious statement as we continue down the halls.

He counts the items on his fingers. "I have carrots, ranch, apple slices, caramel, and a turkey sandwich."

"What is that?" I reply, twirling with a skip in the middle of the hall.

"Caramel?"

"Everything."

Max flashes me an atypical look, holding open the class door for me. Three more classes before I discover what a turkey is. And caramel. And carrots...

><> • <><

"Turkey is a bird that people eat at Thanksgiving." Jacob explains as I stare at the mystery stuff.

"Carrots are a vegetable, sort of like half baked soft corals." Caspian clarifies though the last part is only spoken loud enough for me to hear.

I bite into the apple slice, allowing Max to dip it in caramel for me. The sweetness invades my mouth, a moan escaping me and Max once again giving me odd looks. "It's really good." I smile at him with a mouthful.

><> • <><

"Don't wear that." Caspian scans me up and down, shaking his head at my outfit.

"Tell me again why you aren't going?"

"It's the perfect opportunity for you to get along with Jacob. This is your deal not mine."

"How about..." I hold up a pair that thankfully passes the Caspian test. Jacob knocks before gesturing for me to hurry, dragging me into a cave thingy.

"It's a car." He answers before I have the chance to ask. His hair has found it's way upwards once again, poking my neck when he reaches across my chest to a strap. Jacob pulls the strap across me and into a contraption that holds it in place like tiny fingers.

The interior is amazing. The chair is some weird but great feeling fabric that swishes under my fingers like the kelp gardens. "What is-"

"Suede."

He places a thingy in a whatty to start up the car. "What did you-"

"I put the keys in the ignition."

The car glides against the...the....the road! And passes more cars in different colors and shapes. "Are parties fun?"

"Am I going to need to watch you?" He laughs for the first time around me, my face rivaling the volcanic cut in the sea witch's cave.

"Probably. I don't handle my rum and wine very well." I slouch into my seat but spring up when an after thought hits me. "Don't tell Caspian! He doesn't know I've drank before!"

"I promise I won't." We pull into another house with lights flashing and music blaring. Jacob helps me undo my restraint, half lifting me out of the car and into the booming house. Schools of humans dance about and drink, emptying their stomachs onto couches and what not. "Are you scared?" Jacob turns to me with a sincere expression that has me melting in his arms.

"A little." I shout over the music. "Where is Max?"

"Through there." He points past different squares and a fridge, leading me by the hand to where Max lay sprawled out on a sofa.

"Beer?" He offers.

"What is that? Is it like wine or rum?"

"It's alcohol." Jacob answers for him.

My throat burns as I take a swig from the bottle, hacking and coughing up the foul golden beverage. Excusing myself from the two, I go into the kitchen to grab a wet cloth, accidentally knocking into a young boy. A fist collides with my cheek along with a horrendous popping sound. The obviously drunk male comes at me full speed ahead for another blow.

A crowd has began to gather as I lie shrieking on the floor, not quite ready for the impact of the fifth blow. His punches are sloppy, hitting my neck, chest, and nose instead of one consecutive area. I flinch as the bulbous fist comes flying but doesn't quite land. My eyes open to Jacob throwing a punch here and there at the kraken, only getting hit once and that was from a table to the knee. I crawl away to a couch as he finishes him, punching him in the gut twice until he staggers over to the floor spitting up blood.

It doesn't float away in a mist. It just sits in a bubbly pool of inky ick for someone to clean up. Weird. "Are you alright?" Jacob examines my split lip. "What did you do?"

"I bumped into him on my way to get a wet cloth to wipe the beer from my mouth." Because it doesn't just absorb and blend into the sea like it used to.

"How much trouble am I in with Caspian?"

"A whole bunch, but not as much as I am." I mutter.

I can't tell if my heart is racing because of the adrenaline of a fight, the frightening feeling of being beaten up, the nightmare that is soon to come when Caspian sees me, or the fact that Jacob is basically carrying me with my arm over his shoulder and his hand around my waist. Or maybe it's because I don't feel any closer to winning his heart than I did yesterday.

No wonder Ariel ended up in a jar.