I wrote this Forgive My Fins short story for the Fall 2018 YA Scavenger Hunt. It stars Princess Lily’s best human friend, Shannen, as she’s about to dive deeper (*wink-wink*) into the mermaid world for the first time.
I hope you enjoy it!
FIRST SWIM
“Are you sure?” Shannen traced her fingers over the ornate shell hanging around her neck. At her feet, the surf lapped the sand in gentle, foamy waves.
“Absolutely,” Lily insisted, backing into the water. “Come on.”
Shannen trusted her best friend. Really, she did.
But this? She was having trouble wrapping her mind around it.
She took half a step forward. “Explain it again.”
The surf tickled her toes.
“It’s magic. There’s nothing to explain.”
Shannen had to give her that.
When you learn your best friend is a mermaid—a mermaid princess no less—you kind of start taking a lot of things on faith. Things like a magical shell that can grant a human the ability to breathe underwater.
But that faith didn’t stop Shannen’s heart from beating faster. Or her hands from trembling so much she had to clench them at her sides.
Lily gestured toward the sky. “The sun is setting in a few hours. If we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the show.”
From what Lily had told her, the bioluminescent show was one of the seven wonders of the underwater world. Like New Year’s Eve fireworks times a thousand—that you could swim in! The last thing Shannen wanted to do was miss it. She wasn’t going to let a little fear get in her way.
“Okay,” Shannen said, more to herself than to her friend. “Okay.”
She took another step into the water. Then another. And another, until she was waist deep in the Atlantic ocean.
“Any advice?” she asked with a shaky voice.
Lily smiled in that goofy-angelic way she had. “Just breathe normally.”
Normally. Yeah right.
But Shannen was determined to overcome her fear. To defeat the crippling terror that a lifetime as an air-breathing human had instilled in her.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she closed her eyes and dove into an incoming wave.
Surrounded by water, it was like all of her fears washed away. Maybe it was the magical shell. Or maybe it was just the calming nature of water. Whatever the reason, Shannen felt an overwhelming sense of peace in the salty silence.
Of course, she hadn’t taken a breath yet. Her lungs were resolutely holding on to their last dose of air.
Lily appeared at her side, transformed into her mermaid form. The green and gold tailfin fluttering out behind her like the best Halloween costume ever.
“Trust,” Lily said, her long blond hair swirling in the current.
Shannen nodded once, feeling her own dark hair swishing against her skin, and then nodded again.
On the third nod, she opened her mouth. Her remaining air bubbled out. She clutched the magical shell as she drew in what she seriously hoped wasn’t her last breath.
What a weird sensation. It was hard to suck water into her lungs, but when she didn’t immediately start choking or drowning, she smiled.
Lily beamed. “Told you.”
Shannen breathed out and in again.
“This is easy,” she said, adjusting her voice the way Lily had said she would need to.
“You’re a pro.” Lily twisted around, presenting Shanne with her back. She looked over her shoulder. “Ready?”
With an enthusiastic nod, Shannen wrapped her arms around her best friend’s waist. An instant later, they were racing through the water like a dolphin at full speed.
Shannen was ready for the light show of a lifetime—and for her first taste of underwater life. She already had a feeling it wouldn’t be her last.
Writing this short story reminded me how much I love hanging out in the mermaid world. So much so that I’m planning to write a whole new series set in the Forgive My Fins universe. Stay tuned for details….
If you need more mermaid in your life while you’re waiting, check out Pretty in Pearls, a novella about Lily’s best mermaid friend, Periwinkle Wentletrap, and the pearl trader who steals her heart.
Would you trust your best friend if they gave you a magical shell that let you breathe underwater?
Comments