Page 18 of Sea's Secret

“Technically, only under the changing moon.”

“You are with a watcher; you will be fine. I need your help to lift it. So if you want to see it, you’ll have to come to the surface with me.”

I was curious about the box within that unique cave. I had never seen a cave like it, one that was both in the water and on land. Something about that felt right: water and land. Excitement raced through me. Everything I have ever wanted is found under the sea, I told myself.

But is it? Maybe it isn't all under the sea. I pushed the thought away.

I swam beside Finn, holding one of the handles, opposite of him. We swam up quite a distance, and then, at last, we broke through the surface, swimming to the edge of the cave. The large space opened up, making the water we were in appear to be a small pool, compared to the large, expansive land area of the cave before us. It was beautiful. Sparkling rocks reflected the sunlight which shone down from the holes in the roof of the cave.

“Wow, this is pretty,” I sang.

“Above the sea, speak with your mouth. It’s fun,” Finn said with his mouth moving, the noise echoing around the cave. I heard it with my ears, instead of inside of me—just as I had heard the crashing waves on the rocks, and my father and the other mer chatter, at the changing tide.

“How?” I asked, still using my melody.

“Open your mouth. Your voice will know what to do.”

I opened my mouth. “It is beautiful here.” I placed a hand over my mouth. My voice sounded different than it did through my melody. It was high, and quiet. Although I had never done it before, it was easy, and just like swimming, it felt right–a part of me.

“You did it! It’s easy, right?”

“Yes, so different,” I said, moving my mouth and listening to my words echo around the cavern.

“Land things are beautiful, too, right?” Finn asked.

“Does this count as land? It’s a cave.”

He laughed, but instead of feeling his joy within my soul, I heard it all around me.

That would take getting used to, even if it was easy.

Finn often told me how pretty land was. He had risen above the waves far too early and far too often. However, it was his job at the moment to do so. I tried not to worry, but sometimes I could not help it. I always thought his curiosity would get him into trouble, someday.

“Now, let's see what's in here, now that it’s in the air,” Finn said, moving the chest to a large rock. We both moved, keeping our tails in the water, but our upper bodies rested upon the rocks. After a few hits with a sharp rock, Finn got the lock to crack open, and it fell into the pool, sinking to the bottom. The noise echoed.

“Ready?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Yes, I’m impressed that you got it open,” I said.

Finn smiled wide. “What do you think is inside?” he asked.

“I have no idea–useless gold and shiny things? That seems to be all that humans care about,” I shrugged.

He opened the lid. I peered over him to see the continents of the chest. There was nothing in there that I’d expected. Finn removed something that appeared to be many bound pages of human writing–a book. I had seen books before after one fresh shipwreck, right over our kingdom. Books always fell apart in the sea. Mer books were stacks of flat slate rock. I had no idea what humans used to create their books, but they were quite fragile and did not do well in water. I was happy to see that one intact and that I had suggested opening the chest up on land. I reached out to touch the strange brown cover of the book. As I touched it, the wetness of my hand made the cover appear darker.

“A human book?” I asked Finn.

He opened it and flipped through it.

I touched his hand to stop him as I saw an image of a mermaid on one of the pages. “Finn, look at this,” I said, pointing at the image.

“That is odd–” Finn said, staring at the image of a mermaid.

Human words seemed very similar to our language, which also surprised me. The next page he turned to was another drawing of a mermaid–Then–

“Finn! What is that?” I asked, pointing to the rather disturbing image of a mermaid, appearing to have lost her tail.

“What–” he said, looking at it closer. “I can read this–” he chuckled.

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