• 1-The Key is found

    Does she know? No not yet. You haven’t told her? She’ll figure it out. She’s getting it today. So soon? You need to tell her. I can’t. If you don’t she shall find out alone.



    I felt the rain splash against my face and hair. Long ago I had tossed my rain jacket aside. My mom was going to kill me. But she was going to kill me anyway since the school probably phoned her about me. My salty tears mixed with the freshwater rain. I held fast to my backpack because inside it held The Key. I wasn’t sure why, but I walked slowly anyway.

    I took it out and ran up the stairs. “Aqua!” mom called. My answer was the door being slammed. Mom wouldn’t disturb me for an hour (that was how long it took her to make her lecture). That should give me enough time to figure this thing out.

    I put The Key on my dresser. It was a beautiful fish tank full of tropical fish, baby rays and seahorses. I could name every fish in the tank except one. 3 angelfish, 2 clownfish and the one colourful shimmering fish I couldn’t name. There were 5 rays; 2 common rays, 2 thornback rays and 1 sting ray. There were also 4 beautiful seahorses.

    I got all these earlier at the fish store while I was supposed to be in school.

    My mom had gotten mad at me this morning and called me clumsy and rotten for no reason I could see. I started to school crying. Halfway there there’s an aquarium. Once I reached there I realized I couldn’t face Natalie Flemming after what she had said to me yesterday;

    “Wearing blue again are we Aqua?” asked Natalie, grabbing me by my sweatshirt and turning me round. “Why don’t go get lost in the ocean? You’ll be more wanted there?”

    So I decided to stay at the aquarium. Somewhere around noon I took out my lunch and started to eat. The old woman at the counter stood up. I thought she was going to tell me to stop eating; instead she took the tank from under the desk and gave it to me. Then she whispered;

    “Here is The Key. Keep it safe.”

    That’s when I started to run.



    So I sat in my room and stared at the tank or ‘The Key’.



    The key to what?

    2 - Freedom at last



    Have you told yet? No, not yet. She already got it. When? Yesterday, she’s leaving tomorrow. Already? You have to tell her. I can’t. Then she’ll find out on her own.





    Of course I got into trouble for skipping school. I couldn’t have any friends over, but that was okay because it wasn’t like I had any anyway.

    But I convinced mom to let me keep The Key. She tried to convince me not to bring it to school, but I did anyway.

    I guess it gave me confidence because when Natalie started to give me her ‘Go Drown In A Lake’ speech, I confronted her;

    “You better shut up before you get a fist in your face and find yourself sleeping with the fishes!”

    I know it was weak, but it did get her to shut up.

    That night for the first night in a long time, I slept peacefully.

    The next was Saturday. Saturday is our beach day.

    Mom protested against me bringing the key. But not that hard. Mom seemed skittish that morning. But it wasn’t like she had a meeting or something.

    We got in the car and I put The Key on the seat next to me. I prepared to ask the question I’d been meaning to ask my mother my whole life.

    “Who is my father?”

    “You’ll see him soon,” she answered solemnly, “very soon.”

    While I pondered over her answer we arrived at the beach.

    I grabbed The Key and ran onto the beach. I ran across the hot sand and onto the dock. I smelled the salty air like I do every Saturday.

    The Key tumbled from my hands into the sea water. Without thinking I dove in after it.

    My eyes stinging I saw The Key sinking down into the dark abyss below.

    I swam after it.

    Everything went black.


    3 - Down under, and I don’t mean Australia.

    So you told her I presume? No, I-I just couldn’t. You should have. Yes, I know… Now it will come as a surprise. Do you have to take her away from me? You’ve had your 14 years.





    I woke up in the most beautiful room I had ever seen! I was in a large canopy bed in a… DRESS?? I looked down at my self; I was in pretty shimmering purple dress. I was beautiful. Yuck.

    I quickly scanned the room for my hoodie and jeans; they were nowhere to be found. Well that should have been no surprise, they must be all wet.

    Then I sprung back to reality, where was I? Had I been kidnapped? What if I never saw my mom again?

    As tears started to well up in my eyes, a woman walked into the room. I stifled a scream. She had a tail! Not a tail coming out of her rear end, a fish tail!

    “What’s wrong?” She said looking offended, “Never seen a piscis before?”

    I’m not stupid. Piscis is Latin for fish. Then it hit me. Her tail was spotted like a clown fish!

    “You were part of the key!” I concluded proudly.

    She grimaced, “Yes, what an unattractive name they gave us too, ‘The Key’. Our job was to bring you here. Oh and speaking of here, I’m here to show you around.”

    The house was HUGE! We walked (well she glided, I walked) for longer than I walked climbing Mont Forticus!

    In the cafeteria, which was five times as big as the one at school, we ate seaweed, lobster, clam and other shellfish. But no ‘piscis’ of course.

    We walked along and Andamaias, that was her name, introduced me to the other parts of The Key, Her sister, Winnafay. The two angelfish, Ninfromy and Millybount, and the rainbow fish, Blesstra.

    We walked on and Andamaias introduced me to some of the maids. Then headed toward a humongous door, it was all blue with carvings of seahorses and fish-people all over it.

    We walked through it and into the outdoors, I was still wondering where I was, but I didn’t think I got kidnapped by a couple of piscis.

    When we got outside I stopped short. I realized I had been inside a beautiful castle! It had millions of windows at the top and carvings all over it. I also realized something else.

    I was underwater.

    [I wasn’t breathing.


    4 - Dad?

    Here she is now.







    I must have fainted or something, because next thing I new I was standing in front of a gigantic piscis! He turned to a woman beside him and said “Here she is now.”

    I gasped and realized that the woman was my mom! Her eyes were sad and her mouth was covered by an oxygen mask.

    “Honey,” she sort of bubbled, “Honey its okay. Everything is okay.”

    This was no time for my mom to start babying me. I needed to now what was going on. Now.

    “Welcome, my daughter,” roared the huge piscis… or my dad?

    “Honey,” bubbled mom, “Meet your father.”

    I nearly fainted again. A piscis? My dad? What was mom doing here? “Would someone explain to me what is going on?”

    “Well,” said mom, getting teary, “me and your father agreed I could take you for your first 14 years and then he would take you”

    I couldn’t get anything straight. My dad was a piscis; my mom shipped me off when I was 14… “Anything else I need to know?”

    “Well actually,” my ‘dad’ began, “You need to go into the cave only a princess can get into, take something only the princess could take. It’s very easy all you need to do is answer one itty bitty question.”

    WHAT? I’m a princess? “Excuse me,” I said politely, “I am NOT a princess.”

    My dad looked confused, “I’m the king you’re the princess. But the hard part was going to be getting you there.”

    “Going to be?” I sighed. I had a bigger headache than when I was in math class.

    “Well until our magician made a potion that would teleport you to the mouth of the cave.”

    “Cave?” I gulped, I was scared and confused!

    “Yes,” my dad said, “a wonderful huge cave!” He took something like perfume out of his pocket and sprayed it on my face.

    I fainted.

    Again.

    5
    Finishing the ‘Quest’

    There she goes. Our little girl.





    I woke up in front of a big spooky cave. I dusted my self off for a few minutes. Then I realized I was still wearing the stupid dress. I wanted to rip it off.

    I took a huge breath and walked into the cave, the dumb dress getting stuck on rocks every few seconds. It got ripped along the edge a few times. At least it looked a little ragged.

    I kept walking, tugging on my dress every few seconds; I saw lots of carvings along the walls. Carvings of floods, whirlpools and sharks. As I walked further I saw skeletons floating above the ground, glowing.

    A misty voice drifted into the room, “Aqua… Aqua… I have two questions to ask you…”

    Dad said there was only one! When I got back…

    As the misty voice continued I could feel wind swirling round my face, “Princess Aqua, if you could change anything right now, what would it be?”

    I almost laughed, “This stupid dress I’m wearing would be jeans and hoodie.”

    I felt a large gust of wind at the back of my neck, “Very good, now, what is the most beautiful thing in the world.”

    I smiled.

    There was a huge flash of light as I whispered;

    “Rainwater”


    7
    The best of both worlds

    You had better go take care of her. Goodbye.


    I woke up on the beach, my mom leaning over me. “Honey, you’re awake!” She screamed.

    “Was I dreaming?” I asked confused, had I fainted or something? Was it all a dream?

    “I don’t know,” said mom, “You tell me.” She smiled at me.

    I smiled back. It was no dream. I knew that. All I needed to know was what had happened. Mom read my mind.

    “From now on it’s a week with me, a week with dad.” She smiled, “Like divorced parents, except me and your dad still love each other very much. We just can’t live together.” Tears welled up in her eyes but she blinked them away. “I love you, mom.” I screamed and threw myself into her arms.

    * * *

    Next week I went to dads and as soon as I touched the water I grew a tail! A fish tail of course, that was okay, I didn’t really go swimming much anyway.

    I soon as I saw my dad, I confronted him about the two question thing.

    “The voice was just curious!” He laughed, “Now that you broke the spell, it can say whatever it wants and share its untold knowledge with everyone!”

    I sighed. Dad promised he would never stick me in a dress without my permission ever again.

    Well I guess that’s the end… But I also guess I should tell you what happened to me. I married a piscis guard (the ritual of getting married there automatically made him be able to go back and forth between water and earth) we bought a little cottage by the sea that has one room that is an aquarium (ceiling, walls and floor!) and I’ve just finished writing the story of the most treasured and important event of my life.