The New England Aquarium

It was slow, waking into this world of shadow and still water. It was a world without sunlight; only the unnatural yellow glow of some artificial light-source which made her eyes burn. It was a world without current; the water wasn't motionless, exactly, but she could feel that the water rushing by her as the same as the water which had recently gone by. It was a cycle, not a current. It never changed.
It was a world without the smooth, comfortable sand, without the sea-softened rocks and the gentle touch of living coral. It was a world of hard, clear walls, a world without other animals.
A lonely world.
A tank.
Nerin had been told of tanks. Since she was a very small mermaid, swimming in the currents of the Atlantic, guided by her mother and father; the King and Queen of Atlantis; she had been taught that humans used tanks to catch and contain her kind, to hold them until it was time to slice them open and peer at their insides. Humans; land-walkers, split-tails. The demons of her world.
And they had finally caught her.
Slowly, Nerin came more and more into wakefulness. She stirred, peering through the murky, unnatural water, searching for the tiny figure of the brother she had almost given her life to protect. Hopefully, he had managed to escape...
But she doubted it.

Kai had trouble breathing as he slipped into consciousness, his lungs were burned with dryness from the land's air the fake oxygen in the stale tank air wasn't helping either. Everything about the water filtering through his gills seemed artificial, something he had never experienced before, there was plenty of oxygen so he wasn't having trouble breathing but the taste in his mouth was overly salty and metallic almost. Where was he?

His eyes opened and he shot up from the grainy sand of the tank's floor, it clung to his rough skin as he twisted around frantically looking at his surroundings, this wasn't the ocean everything was so, unnatural. Where was the Kelp? The other fish? His sister? Kai swam forward in a panic and hit an icy cold invisible barrier. He started hyperventilating and brushed his hands against the smooth surface, there was nothing like this in the ocean except for the bits he'd use to make necklaces, sea glass, but this was a huge sheet of it, its existence should be impossible. He swam in the opposite direction to find another one. He was trapped, scared and confused he thought of the only person that could save him. "Nerin." he whimpered into the cycling water, they were never apart, she would never leave him alone in a place like this, Nerin would come to his rescue.

Nerin spun around in the water, searching for the voice that had called his name. It was difficult to spot him through the murky chemicals in the water, but she found him.
One whisk of her tail nearly slammed her into the opposite wall. She barely swerved in time, diving towards the bottom of the tank and wrapping her arms around Kai.
"Hush," She whispered, wrapping her long tail around her brother, cradling him, "It's alright. I'm here. We're alright."
She forced herself not to tremble. She needed to be strong for Kai.
She glanced around, scanning the place where they had been put. This tank, surrounded by machines and gray walls, felt like hell to her.
Surely, someone would be here? There had to be a scientist somewhere.

“…the study into chemical dispersants that will clear up the oil without damaging the coastal wildlife is still an on-going project, with the New England Aquarium at the forefront of the relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. So, uh, please donate generously and thank you for listening!” Adam Walsh flashed a smile filled with hopeful sunshine at the half-hearted semi-circle of people gathered around him.

He wasn’t all that sure why he was giving speeches but he had a lot more of them than the other marine biologists and scientists in the place. Adam supposed that he was the youngest and was charismatic enough despite the faint aura of social awkwardness he emanated. Also, the place was aimed at kids—going for a ‘cool older brother’ vibe instead of a ‘fusty old teacher’ one seemed natural, though of course, Adam didn’t fit into that role for a fair few reasons.

The biggest issue being the ‘cool’ part.

Adam couldn’t help but wonder whether the hideous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had affected the mermish—thoughts of them were never far from his mind since their discovery not so long ago.

Thinking of them spurred him on to move out towards the restricted back areas of the aquarium, where the public facility of fun and family gave way to the private facility—a marine research institute, devoted to its cause. This part was screened from the public and lost a little of its commercial atmosphere; the cheesy tinned music, the bubbly murals on the wall were gone. Adam almost unconsciously headed towards the tank where the mermaids had last been, their small injuries seen to and yet to wake—he was astounded to find them gone from where they had lain at the bottom of the tank.

It didn’t take him long to spot them as he stumbled forwards, touching a hand to the glass momentarily. The two were coiled together and Adam knew they would be weak and nobody yet know for certain what they ate.

Despite the fact that it was possible the more senior scientists would absolutely kill him for it, Adam was too curious to trot along and fetch help. Besides, perhaps their… guests of sorts… needed something? Adam walked along the side of the tank, knowing that the two merpeople could see him, and hurried up the metal ladder running up the side until he reached the smooth surface of the water. He bit his lip, feeling nervous—wondering if they would even be able to communicate.

“Um, hello?”

Brilliant. Very inspired. From one species to another. Adam felt kind of stupid after he said it.

Nerissa was distraught. The merman swam around and around in the massive ocean - near the bay. From what the fish and the sea life around the area had told him, Nerin and Kai had been here. The blue haired merman bit his lip, gills flaring just a tad with irritation. He couldn't protect them. What kind of merman was he?!

Narrowing his eyes, he swam in another fierce circle, strong tail lashing out at the currents.

Nerin.... he thought determinedly. I'll find you Nerin. I promise.

Taking a deep breath, he broke surface, looking around, as he eyed the mostly empty beach. Suddenly, he spotted a dark gray van, as two humans dressed in white lab coats began approaching the ocean. Nerissa hissed softly, before he dove back under the water and swam towards the beach. What was he doing? Had he gone so distraught for his mermaid that he was willing to communicate with humans just for the sake of finding her?

Well....yes. He exhaled softly, before pulling himself up onto the shore. On the water - he was so vulnerable. Using his gift of communication, he called out to them. They turned, eyes widening in surprise and shock.

Nerissa was feeling less positive about what he was doing now. He floated closer, until the lower portion of his tail scrape the rocky bottom. What did one say to humans when looking for a mermaid? Have you seen someone that looks like me...except female....and you know, has this color hair and is about ya-long and weighs about ya-much?

[[Ever~ Tell me if I need to change anything. :3]]

"And one. And two. And three. And four. And turn, turn. Girls, keep your toes pointed!"

Nausicaa paused the music, coming to stand in front of the pointe ballet class she was currently teaching. Facing towards the mirror, she motioned for the seven girls in the class to pay attention. "When you come out of your fouette's, you need to keep your toe pointed in passe. No slacking, or it will look messy. Here... watch." The young dance teacher prepped for her fouettes, did a simple set of four, and finished with two pirouettes before coming clean in fourth, her hands in fourth position. Bringing her right foot to passe once more, she spoke again. "I want all of you to stand in passe - not on pointe - and let me see you point your toes."

She turned herself so she could see the girls face to face, and as each one of them did it, she let them return to a relaxed position. "See, that wasn't so hard..." she said, turning to look at the clock. "And, look at the time. Alright, next class, we'll be working on starting the routine. Make sure you guys are here!" With a smile, she opened the door, waving to the girls as they left the dance floor and walked into the waiting area. Mackenzie, a fellow dance teacher and friend, popped her head around the door and caught sight of Nausicaa as the other teacher began walking towards her bags that were sitting by the stereo system.

"Nausicaa!" she called out, and the golden-haired girl turned to face the blonde. Laughing at her friend, she turned back around, sitting on the studio floor to take her pointe shoes off.

Mackenzie trotted into the room, taking a seat next to the girl and doing the exact opposite. Once she had her dance shoes on - a pair of tap shoes, to be more precise - she side hugged her best friend. "I hope class went well" she said, glancing at the girl next to her as she buckled the shoe.

"It did. They just need to point their toes more. I mean, they're in Pointe class. You think it'd be obvious." Laughing, she put her shoes in her bag, before heading to he changing rooms and changing out of her leotard and warm ups into a pair of yoga pants and a tshirt with the studio's logo on it. Walking back out, bag and water in hand, she waved to Mackenzie as she left the studio. "I'll see you back at the apartment," she began, before adding in, "and I hope your class goes well."

Getting into her car, Nausicaa started the engine and made her way to the place she visited almost twice or more a week - the New England Aquarium. She was giddy, as she had heard about a commotion along the beaches - apparently, a mermaid had washed ashore, and the aquarium was taking care of it. There were a lot of people that believed it was a publicity stunt, but Nausicaa was not one of them. She'd never be one of them.

She pushed the speed limit just slightly, her mind racing at the idea. Pulling into the parking lot, she killed the engine and hopped from the car, a brisk pace becoming her stride to the front doors of the aquarium. Once inside, she already had her frequent visitor card out - she got discounts on everything at the aquarium, simply because she was there so often. Many of the staff even knew her by name.

"Why, hello there Nausicaa. Back again, are you?" It was the voice of an older man that greeted Nausicaa from behind the desk at the ticket counter.

"Hello, William" she said, smiling. "Yes, I am. But you figured that, already. One ticket, please." Passing her card to him, he scanned it, and she laid the money out on the counter. Printing off a ticket, she accepted it with a smile, before making her way into the aquarium itself.

Kai let out a sigh of relief when his sister cradled him, it was comforting to be in her arms and for a moment he didn't care where they were. He didn't even notice the human crawling up the side of the tank. The warm feeling of being safe made the lighter stripes of his tail glow slightly illuminating any darkness. The glow bounced off the walls of the tank giving it an even more eerie appearance. "I'm sorry I swam so close to the kelp." he apologized practically in tears this was all his fault and now they were going to be dissected.

As he clung to her there was a noise from above, his head shot up to look, someone was near the surface of the water looking down at them, it sounded like he tried to communicate with them but it was muffled by the water. Kai looked to Nerin fearful be for glancing back up, only now his curiousity was sparked and he couldn't help but want to go up and see the monster from bedtime stories. He loosened his grip on Nerin and began to swim up to the surface, he didn't break the surface though he only eyed the man curiously from bellow, Kai was scared, but fascinated by the split-tails, he had never dreamed of seeing one this close.

"Kai!" Nerin gasped, flicking her tail sharply and following him up, "Stay under the water, Kai. I'll see what this human wants."
And then, with another flick of her tail, she broke through the surface, shaking water out of her hair. She turned her brilliant eyes on him, angry, glaring. Vicious.
Hateful.
"What do you want, human?" She hissed, lashing her tail. She kept one hand on Kai's shoulder, keeping him under the water. Breathing above the water made her throat and chest burn with the sharpness of the air, "If you think you're going to slice us up for your sick experiments..." She trailed off, having no threat to offer. Yes, an empty threat.
But one she would find a way to carry out, nonetheless.

The next thing Nerissa knew, something hit his side, sharp and strong. Where had it come from? Had the humans done it? He knew he shouldn't have trusted them...

He stared at the feathered dart, before his vision started swimming, his thoughts becoming sluggish. "Ne....rin....." he gasped, before nearly blacking out. There hadn't been enough tranquilizer in the dart to put him out, but it was enough to render him unable to move. He gasped, floundering for air in the thin oxygen the humans breathed.

The next thing he knew, he was being moved onto a slab of wood and carried up the beach. He could hear excited voices around him. Something along the lines of...

"We should call the aquarium! They'll be so excited!"

"Think about it! Three mermaids!"

Nerissa couldn't find the energy to be mad. He wasn't a mermaid. He was proud merman. Trying to glare while gasping for breath and being unable to move was probably something he would not try again. Then, what the humans said settled in. If he was the third then.....what a stroke of luck. He had stumbled upon humans that could get him to Nerin.

As long as he could find Nerin....he would be pleased.

Adam watched as the smaller of the two merpeople rushed up but stayed just beneath the water, just beyond its reflective veil, keeping the child just about hidden from view—aside from the brilliant luminosity of its tail, a fantastic mixture of nature and fantasy, except this wasn’t fantasy at all. This was real. Adam gazed down with curiosity equalling that of the mermish boy, captivated as a child, and nearly fell from the ladder at the mermaid’s abrupt surfacing and sharp words.

His fingers gripped the cold metal of the ladder hard as she suddenly spoke to him with unrivalled venom in her voice—her words and language spoke only of hate. The realisation that she was speaking English—or that he could at least understand her, whatever she was speaking—was yet another shock.

For a moment Adam was speechless, gazing back at her and the loathing in her gaze, for a moment not even certain what she was talking about. His mottled green eyes met hers and even as he felt a little nervous at her anger—that really wasn’t the good start he had hoped for—he was still in wonderment at coming across such a creature. His thoughts unhelpfully rushed back to his high school days and his close friend Nausicaa, who had always told him mermaids were real, that she had seen one—

“You washed up on a beach not far from here,” he replied; Adam was soft-spoken but tried to bite the nerves out of his voice. “You were unconscious. It seemed right to make sure you were OK at least…” Wasn’t she excited at the prospect of their two species meeting at last? Then again, he supposed there must be a reason why they had never seen mermaids before. He attempted a smile—Adam rarely stopped smiling in any case and it seemed that simple facial expressions were universal… well, if her glare was anything to go by.

He wrinkled his nose at her suggestion. To him, at least, the very thought of cutting a mermaid up—gutting them like the fish they so resembled—seemed like a degradation to nature, a terrible crime. Adam was the kind that couldn’t even eat a lobster for the heartbreak it caused him.

“We’re not going to slice you up,” he murmured as an afterthought, convinced that none of the other scientists in the facility would want such a thing.

Nerin kept her eyes viciously narrowed. She didn't trust him. She lashed her tail again, bringing her entire torso up out of the water, rather than just her head.
"Don't lie to me, human," She hissed, "That's what you humans do. You drag the creatures from our sea and you gut them and eat them by the thousands, without any sort of concern as to how many of them are still left in the sea itself."
She flicked her tail, driving herself so close to Adam that their faces nearly touched.
"Humans are demons," She hissed, "Of course you're going to slice us up and serve us for your evening meal."

Despite the fact that Adam had devoted practically his entire life to marine conservation—including the issue of overfishing that the mermaid was talking about—he didn’t correct her insistence that he spent his days joyfully feasting on sea-creatures with an utter lack of regard for their diminishing numbers… or even mention it. He was never the self-righteous kind. The curve in his lips faded but didn’t leave even as his brows wriggled in slight puzzlement.

Humans are demons.

“That’s a bit of a generalisation…” he said weakly as she moved dizzyingly close to him in what most would interpret as an openly threatening way. Adam wasn’t the kind for confrontation in the least, and it showed. He was guessing now—probably quite rightly—that human activity had impacted negatively on the lives of the merfolk and though he had always worked to reverse the damage mankind had caused, he felt regret for it. He couldn’t help but wonder how it had affected the mermaid he was practically nose-to-nose with.

His gaze dropped slightly to one side and he leaned away a little, hands loose around the topmost rungs of the ladder. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

“I don’t lie, and I don’t have any inclination to eat you. I promise.” His smile hesitantly strengthened as he looked back to her. “Speaking of food, what is it you two eat, and would you like me to see if I can find some?”

Well, that conversation certainly took a turn for the banal, but he would have hated for them to be hungry. His gaze flicked to the mermish boy who was being protectively shielded by the one he was speaking to. He was disheartened but refused to be put off by the rocky beginning—and refused to be made defensive or angry by her less-than-pleasant introduction. Disarming beam not budging, he waited for a response, if there was one.

Nerin's tail brought her back a couple of feet. She gazed pensively at him. She seemed... confused by the kindness and genuine care in his voice.
"Excuse me," She hissed, then dove back under the water. She swerved over to her brother, reaching out and hugging him gently.
"Are you hungry, Kai?" She whispered, "The human wants to know... if you're hungry."
She wouldn't have bothered with this, if it were just her in the tank. If she were the only one threatened, she would have starved, forced the human to figure it out for himself.
But...
Kai was here. She couldn't let Kai starve.

When his forced him to stay under he didn't object but wriggled out of her grip to swim circles around the tank pressing up against glass and staring at the strange metal machines with glowing buttons. Everything about this land was so different! Were the ugly looking shimmering machines their coral? And what was their equivilant of fish? He wants to ask the human so many questions but Nerin would never let him talk to the monster.

Kai eagerly swam into her hug when she returned from the surface unharmed, maybe the human weren't trying to hurt them and he could go up with her this time but she didn't offer it. "I guess I'm a little bit hungry," Kai answered quickly. By the way his sisters tail had been thrashing about he could tell she was angry at the man and he didn't want to get any of his sister's wrath sent in his direction.

Kai looked back up at the man more curiously again, "What's the human saying? Can I talk to him?" Kai's chriousity was running wild, he was dying to see a human face to face, see if all the horror stories were really true and ask the land-walker questions if he's peaceful.

Nerin hesitated. She didn't want Kai to go anywhere near the demon...
But they were stuck in this together. Eventually, he would have to have contact with them. She'd rather it be when she was there to protect him.
"Alright," She whispered, "But stay close to me. And if he does anything threatening, dive as fast as you can."
Her arms still wrapped around her little brother, the mermaid flicked her tail, driving them both up to the surface. She drew in a breath with her false-longs, hissing at the sharp pain of breathing something so thin and harsh. Air. She hated it.
Slowly, cradling her brother, she turned once more to glare at the human scientist.

Adam nodded genially as the mermaid excused herself and shot back beneath the glistening surface of the water. He tilted his head as the two of them embraced—they were close, that much was clear, and possibly related. It warmed his heart to see the caring gestures that they shared: despite the fact that the mermaid clearly despised him, seeing that they were at least capable of affection and warmth was a lovely sight to see.

They were such beautiful creatures—the sons and daughters of the ocean indeed. It was such a shame that they didn’t seem to want to communicate. Adam’s smile took on a shadow of wistfulness, though he wiped it clean off when the two of them resurfaced.

Being on the receiving end of yet another piercing glare did not surprise him in the least.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, expanding his offer seemingly beyond nutrition as a gesture of good faith—though he knew that many things were out of his power. Setting them free, for one. The more senior scientists would have a lot to say about that. And besides… didn’t they share the same curiosity he did, burning a hole through his mind? He would have loved to explore not only their physiology but their lifestyles, their cultures, their beliefs.

Aside from maybe the belief that all humans were demonic beasts of ceaseless destruction.

Kai clung to Nerin's waist at the surface and kept his gills and mouth underwater, his curiosity had melted away when the air began to dry his skin and the fear began to sink in. He was frozen and all of his questions disappeared, all the stories he heard a bedtime swirled through his head and made his heart beat faster. His big green eyes were glued to the human.

He smiled slightly as the human spoke, he could understand! But that would just make it worse when he could understand what they were saying when they went to cut him open. However, This human's words were polite, nonthreatening, he didn't seem to have an evil aura either, Kai rose slightly out of the water feeling a bit more comfortable. He would let his sister talk because he seemed to have lost his voice.

"I, personally, would rather starve than take food from demons." Nerin told the scientist icily, "But for my brother's sake, I will accept your hospitality."
Somehow, she further tightened her grip on Kai.
"I am Nerin," She introduced herself coldly, "Mermaid, as you demons have named us."
She drew a long, sharply painful breath, and waited for his response.
Depending on the response... she might decide to trust him.

Adam was interested to see how shy the other of the merfolk seemed in comparison to the older girl. He blinked at him curiously and then turned back to the other one as she introduced herself. Somehow, he couldn’t stop smiling even as her tone of voice reflected positively Arctic conditions. It wasn’t a matter of choice—it wasn’t amusement, exactly, more something on the border between wonderment and slight disbelief. The situation was surreal!

“And I’m Adam,” he replied warmly, leaning slightly forwards on the ladder again and gazing from one of them to the other. Nerin! Such a pretty, exotic and oddly fitting name for the creature. “Demon, as you merfolk have named us.”

The comment was inoffensive as ever but slightly tongue-in-cheek. He considered offering a handshake—but the young one seemed nervous and he had a feeling that the older would not react kindly to such a thing. He would probably not be getting his arm back after that.

“Is there anything in particular you like to eat?”

He wondered how they would react to land food—cooked food! He didn’t suppose they ate anything that wasn’t raw, though he could be underestimating them.

Nerin hissed quietly, but there was a grudging respect in her eyes. His answer had been a good one. Not too formal, not hostile, not overly polite or placating. He'd been poking fun at her.
Only someone certain of their position would do that.
She glanced down to her brother.
"Well, Kai?" She asked, her voice suddenly soft and very warm, "Is there anything you want? Fish? Squid?"

She was interrupted as the door at the far end of the room crashed open, and a team of scientists wheeled something in. A large, rectangular box, by the look of it. But there was the sloshing sound of water.
Curious in spite of herself, Nerin flicked her tail, moving to the far edge of the tank with her little brother in tow. She gave a low, melodious hum; the sort of sound merfolk made when they were searching for other merfolk.
If there was another of her kind in there... they would hear her. And respond.

Nerissa was slowly coming to. In fact, he was mostly conscious now. Conscious enough to hear the low hum and know exactly where he was. Nerin... he thought briefly, before letting out a responding hum, adding a little variation to it. A sort of low...melodious, almost, mating call. She should know it was him. At least, he hoped.

He waited for the crate to open, as he regained most of the movement in his body.

Obviously, whatever human toxin they had put in his body was weak, if he could overpower it in a matter of minutes.

Adam was at least thankful for the fact that hissing was the worst of Nerin’s comeback. He was just wondering at the clear warmth in her voice as she turned to the boy when they were interrupted—the two of them rushed away to the opposite end of the tank and Adam turned too, one hand still holding the rung, the other falling to one side as he leaned out to see what was being towed in.

His eyebrows rose. It was the kit for transferring sea creatures around the aquarium—a shallow tarpaulin hammock inside of a metal box of water. For a moment he wondered if they were going to take the merfolk away when he realised that no, they were bringing something in.

The fluty, canorous sound that Nerin made—and was echoed from within the box—confirmed it. Adam was fascinated by this platform of communication but he didn’t have long to dwell on it. The big boy scientists were here and doubtless they had plans. Adam would have loved to stay to see what was going on but he decided on one thing at a time; food. If the child was hungry, he’d see what he could do. Nerin had mentioned fish and squid… well, he’d have to see what he could do about that. He certainly wasn’t feeding them any of his sea babies.

Leaving the team of scientists to do their thing, Adam slid down the ladder and walked across the room, walking faster as he reached the door and practically powering out of the place. He was still a little dizzy at what had passed—him! Little old him being one of the first people to interact with the merfolk. He was so preoccupied that his characteristic clumsiness decided to kick in and he practically fell into someone moments later.

Someone familiar.

“Nausicaa!” he said; he shouldn’t have been surprised, really, seeing as news of the merfolk had already leaked, but he was caught short in any case. Just seeing the creatures had made him unbelievably happy, let alone talking to them! He was grinning like a fool. And of course, his mind had gone to Nausicaa almost immediately after their discovery. Which was why, to complete his greeting, he simply blurted—“Mermaids!”

Eloquence wasn’t exactly a vital trait for a scientist, luckily for him.

Kai froze up and inaudibly muttered "squid." The human, Adam, was still making him nervous and his sister's reaction to Adam wasn't helping the his case. His head shot to the side as he heard the entrance of more humans and a crate. He clung to his sister as she shot to that side of the tank, he could feel her sweet hum through his arms around her and recognized the sound instantly, frantically he listened for the sound that came in response.

Kai swam from his sister and pressed his face against the glass and swore he heard the hum in return. No, they couldn't have gotten Narissa, he was too strong, too fast, the humans would never catch his big brother! Maybe he came willingly to save them! He looked back to Nerin nervously as if she could confirm if it was Narissa or not.

Nerin rose half way out of the water, balancing on the edge of the tank wall, and called back desperately. Half of her was distraught that they had caught Nerissa.
Half of her was so unbelievably pleased to have him back that she didn't care if they were in captivity.
As long as they both survived...
Suddenly, one of the human scientists reached out to touch her, and with a hiss of rage, she turned and dove back into the tank, dragging Kai along with her. She settled in the unbelievably coarse sand at the bottom, watching without trust as the humans began to gather up the tarpaulin and lifted Nerissa from the little tank.
Ready to dump him in with them.

Nausicaa had been wandering about the aquarium, lost in the sounds played for those who were visiting, like she was. Her mind was with the fish, swimming so elegantly through the water. She loved each and every one of them, but her true excitement was still brewing inside of her head because of the mermaids. They were in this building! She was in this building! A bright smile plastered itself onto her face as she rounded a corner.

And it was at that exact moment that she was run into. Letting out a startled yelp, she caught herself from falling by grabbing onto the arms of the other person. About to apologize, she looked up at the sound of her name. Adam's excited expression greeted her back, and her smile returned to her face once more.

"Mermaids!" was the first sound from his mouth, and she couldn't help but feel the excitement bubble back up in her chest again. At first, she was at a loss for words - her face simply showed how excited she was. But then, all her questions seemed to bubble up in her throat.

"Exactly how many of them are there? Are they boys or girls? How old are they? Are they nice? What do they sound like? Have you talked with them? Where are they from? How did they get on shore? Can I see them? Will the public be able to see them? Oh Adam! Just tell me what they're like!" Her eyes were huge, full of excitement, and a smile that was already present was growing ever bigger by the second. She squeezed his arms lightly, before she simply pulled him into a hug. "Oh, I knew it!" she said, before she pulled away from the embrace. "I just knew it!"

And her giddiness seemed to fade for just a brief moment as she looked at him with this triumphant grin on her face. "I did know it. You know I knew it. I should get an award or something." But the triumphant look melted almost instantly as she squirmed around, the happiness of the fact that Mermaids were real - and everyone else finally knew it - seeping into her brain.