Pearl and Pale: The Mermaids

Chapter 20

Chapter 20
Pale's POV

Walking seemed like a second nature to me.
Just as swimming had become.
Sure I was a bit of a challenge at first, but now, as I walked along the streets of the town and my house was in view, I could walk like being a mermaid has never become a part of my life before.
I walked up the driveway of my house.
I missed my house. A light blue, two story colonial with three windows in the front.
I rang the doorbell. I breathed in, my stomach was full of butterflies.
"Just a minute David," I voice that I recognized was my mom said from the inside of the house.
She opened up the door and gasped when she saw me.
"Pale..." My mom said.
I looked inside the house. A man was sitting at our dinner table.
"Who is he?" I asked.
My mom lead me down the stairs.
"Pale...how?" My mom asked.
"A four hour leg potion," I said.
"Okay," my mom said.
"So who's that inside?" I asked.
"Pale, I'm dating him," my mom said. "After Matthew disappeared, I knew you would be leaving me too forever, and I didn't want to be alone, so I tried to keep you, but I knew I couldn't, so after you left I began to date again, and David, well, we are dating."
"Mom! That's great!" I exclaimed.
"Pale, why are you here? I know those potions are bad for your health," mom said.
"I know, but I need to ask you a favor. Can you stop putting up those missing child posters?" I asked.
My mom frowned.
"Pale, Ally put those up, I tried to convince her to take them down but she won't let me, she's very stubborn," my mom said.
"She prefers the word persistent," I said. "Well, how am I going to convince her to take the posters down?"
"I don't know. Tell her the truth?"
"I'll try and stall, if she doesn't buy any of my ideas, I guess I'll have to tell her the truth."
"Okay," my mom said as she patted my cheek and kissed my head. "Goodbye Pale."
I could tell she was crying a little. "Goodbye mom. But remember, have your wedding by the sea."
She laughed as I jogged down the driveway and made my way to Ally's house.
Her house was only a couple minutes away from mine.
Thank god I still remembered the way. I would be in trouble if I didn't.
As I got closer to her house, the butterflies in the my stomach increased.
What was I going to tell her? "Oh hey I'm a mermaid princess now living off the coast of Bermuda."
At this point, I feel like I don't know Ally anymore. I feel like she is just a stranger, I feel like she will do anything to me at this point.
This mission has become very unpredictable.
I took a deep breath in and knocked on the door.
The door opened and there was Ally, her mouth was hanging open. Like it would fall of her face any moment.
"Hi," I said waving my hand.
"Pale? Is that you?" She asked with a little excitement.
"Yep, it's me," I said.
"OMG I've missed you so much," Ally said wrapping her arms around me.
"So where have you been? We have so much to catch up on!" Ally said.
Her short black hair swayed in the wind and her amber eyes sparkled with excitement.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," I said sadly. "About where I've been."
"Well where have you been?" Ally asked. "I know your not moving cuz your mom is here and I know your not at an orphanage and I know your not living with relatives because they all live in this town."
Well there goes all three of my ideas. But she is my best friend, she deserves to hear the truth.
"Ally, I know this sounds crazy and I really don't want to tell you this but...I'm a mermaid," I said.
Ally frowned.
"Pale, I really don't like this game," Ally said. "You better tell me the truth."
"I know it sounds weird but it's true and I'll show it to you. I'm a princess and Matthews not human and my dad wasn't lost at sea all these years he was home at sea. All the pieces of the puzzle will fall together in the right order if you just let me explain myself," I said.
Ally didn't respond for a little while.
"Okay," I said sadly. "Just take down the-"
"Fine," she finally said.
"Really?!" I said as I whipped around.
"Only because my parents are out of the house and I'm bored."
"Okay then!" I yelled.
I didn't know why I was so excited. I guess maybe your friend not calling you a liar really takes some weight off your shoulder.
I dragged her through the quiet streets of Bermuda, and finally we got to the beach.
"Well, here we are," I said.
"I thought you were just kidding about the beach," Ally said.
"No I wasn't," I said.
"Okay then," Ally said like she wasn't impressed.
I looked out at the sea and saw Pearl in the distance. She wasn't watching me, she was sleeping. All this watching must have worn her out.
She slept like an otter. One arm over a piece of driftwood and the rest of herself floating in the water.
I took a deep breath in and jumped into the water.
The coolness surrounded me.
I was home.
My legs starting morphing into a tail and I swam to the surface.
"See," I said, swishing my tail in the water.
All I could see was Ally, her mouth wide open like it would fall off her face, again.
She kneeled down, so she was almost eye level with me.
"Pale, how did this happen?" She asked.
"See, my dad wasn't lost at sea, he was a merman and Matthew is now a merman and I'm a mermaid and I'm royalty-"
I pointed to the crown on my head.
"I'm a princess that is soon to be queen."
I heaved myself on to the dock.
"Why can't you just get legs?" Ally asked.
"It doesn't work that way, the only reason I have legs right now is because I drank something. And it only gives me 4 hours with legs and then I can't have them anymore."
"So this is the last time I'm seeing you?" She asked.
"Last time with legs, we can still see each other, on boats, on docks, we just can't go to that really big mall across the bridge," I said laughing a bit when I got to the mall part.
"You still have like 3 and a half hours left, do you want to go to the mall with me?" Ally asked.
"Yeah that would be awesome!" I exclaimed.
Ally helped me get my tail on the dock and dry me off with her shirt.
When I came back I was dry.
As we walked to the bus stop Ally asked me a lot of questions about my life as a mermaid.
"So you a mermaid?"
"Yeah."
"I'm a little freaked out," she said.
I stopped for a moment on the woodsey trail that lead to the bus stop.
"Of course your freaked out!" I said. "Your best friends lower half is a fish!"
Ally doubled over laughing. "Your still really funny," she said.
"Don't you think in two years when your queen we won't get to see each other anymore?" She said.
"I'm not sure," I said.
"I mean, it's so much work," she said.
"I'm sure it's not so hard," I said.
"How often do you see your dad?" She asked.
"Oh," I said.
I didn't see him a lot. I guess I didn't realize that because Pearl has been keeping me occupied.
"If your a princess, there has to be a big kingdom," Ally said.
"Oh yeah, there is," I said. "There is a huge castle and then a city and then a village at the end."
"That sounds awesome," Ally said.
I nodded. "It is."
I looked down the street. I could see the bus stop up ahead.
"You need someone to keep you company, and I know it's not your brother."
"Yeah, I have another mermaid friend, she really my only one. Pearl Sands, she was born underwater, she's pretty cool, same age as us," I said.
"Maybe I could meet her one day," Ally said.
"Yeah, that would be cool."
We sat down on the bench at the bus stop just as the bus pulled up to the station.
We climbed on and Ally paid for the both of us.
"How much more time do we have?" I asked when we sat down.
Pretty much every seat was filled with bustling people, each on there electronics and stuff like that. We were lucky to find an empty seat.
"About 3 hours," Ally replied.
"Awesome," I said.
It will only take us and hour and a half to get to the mall.
"This is sad really," Ally said. "Our last time on land together before you, you know, go to your world."
We made sure to talk really quietly. We didn't want anyone to over hear, even if everyone was glued to there phones.
When we got on the bridge I grabbed the seat and looked out the window.
"Are you okay?" Ally asked.
"Yeah, I'm just not used to water so below me," I said shaking a bit.
"Wow, a month underwater really changes you," Ally said.
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?"
"That crack?" I said.
I guess my underwater hearing was showing.
I heard something go crack.
"I think it's right under us," I said nervously.
If it's right under us...it will.
"Ahhhhh!" We both screamed.
Everybody else screamed to.
"Everyone stay clam," the bus driver said.
But no one stayed calm. Our bus was falling off a bridge. With no way out.