Free Danny Ch. 3

I didn’t speak. I knew I was risking a one-way field trip to a lab if I did. Manna shook her head.
“No. But imagine the things he could tell us if he did.”
The girl looked at me.
“Can he understand us?”
“Yes. That’s why he attacked the boy who called him a female before.”
“Yeah, Harry’s like that.”
Manna looked at the girl as she gently ran a hand on my smooth, sturdy scales.
“He’s not slimy… Those guys are real immature.”
“No. He’s just a bit wet still.”
I heard the warning bell for the pool. The kids would soon come back from the souvenir shop. The girl stood up.
“I guess I’d better get back to the group before Mr. Lancer realizes I’m gone.”
I froze. I then quickly jabbed Manna in the side.
“Ask her what her name is!” I hissed.
Manna stopped the girl.
“What’s your name?”
“Sam. Sam Manson.”
I admired Sam’s black hair as she walked to her group. I sighed softly, pulling myself back into the water to float in a dreamlike state. She had a soft, but firm touch. I liked that. It made me feel calm and safe. Manna laughed a little.
“Well, well, well. Look’s like someone has a crush.”
“What? No! I’m not thinking about Sam!”
“I never said you were.”
I froze, sinking slightly. Manna giggled.
“Guilty conscious, huh?”
“No…I’m just…okay, enough psyching me out!”
“Alright, I’ll leave you alone for a bit. Remember, the kids are coming back in a bit to see your tricks.”
I sighed, slipping backwards under the water. I looped gently, casting a look around at the surface. I could see that Manna was checking out a few things in her bag as an overweight, out of shape, bald man with a black goatee and what looked like a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. He had a pair of sunglasses put up on his forehead. He started talking to Manna, and curious as my nature was, I swam up to listen in.
“Ah, Miss Dawn! I was just wondering, have you seen a girl with black clothes and black hair?”
“Actually, she just went back to join up with your group.”
“And may I ask why she was behind?”
“She was talking to me about Danny.”
The man looked at me, half-annoyed, half-curious kind of stare. I sent him a half smile before I slipped back under the surface. The man nodded to Manna, then left to come back with the kids a few minutes later. Manna got the kids settled down in the stands before she splashed the surface. I rose up, looking around for Sam. I found her on the left side, in the third row up. She was watching me with curiosity. I looked at Manna, and she gave me a small nod, which was the signal to start. I gave a small, two-fingered salute to the kids just before flipping backwards to dive into the water. I swam down, gently swooping up to get enough speed to shoot out of the water in a sparkling halo of shimmering water droplets. I fell back, sending more water to leap up like a spray of diamonds. I swam in a tight circle to fly back into the air in a corkscrew, watching the kids with an unwavering gaze. Many were watching with mouths agape, some were talking to each other, and some seemed to admire my aquatic display. I decided to wrap it up a bit early today. No sense in doing tricks for people who’d rather chitchat. I landed in the water, tail-first, and let myself sink down before thrashing my tail in the water, making me shoot back up. I flipped once to dive back down with a tidal splash, showering the group with water. I then swam fast to prepare for my last aerial stunt. I jerked up, beating the water to gain more thrust, then…I broke the surface. I flew straight up, getting maybe a good ten, fifteen feet of air, then dove straight back down. Manna started clapping, then tapped the side of the pool. I finished by waving good-bye to the kids with only my tailfin sticking out of the water. The killer whales did it, so I naturally picked up on it. I still didn’t see why people were so impressed by such displays. They started clapping. Well, most of them. I surfaced, panting slightly with the exertion of swimming so hard. Manna knelt down as I swam over to the edge by her. She patted me on the back, saying,
“Good boy. You did really good.”
I smiled, watching Sam leave with the rest of the group. She cast one look back at me before turning the corner. Manna waited with me until everyone else was gone. After they did, she smiled at me.
“Showing off for your friend?”
“No.”
I splashed her, grinning as I dived under the water. It was amusing to get Manna wet when she teased me. She smiled, leaving to go on her break. I drifted down to the corner of my pool to take a nap. I settled down on the cool concrete, resting my chin on my folded arms. Slowly closing my eyes felt sooo good…
Tap tap tap.
I opened my eyes to see a boy with chocolate something smeared all over his face and chin, several spots on his chest, staining his blue and white striped shirt. I scowled. I was just about to fall asleep too…
Tap tap tap.
I growled, closing my eyes again.
Tap tap tap.
Just ignore it. He’ll go away soon enough…
TAP tap tap.
Just a little more…
TAP tap TAP.
I peeked at him, glaring at him out of one eye. He had an adult male and female behind him. Most likely his parents. The father knelt down to listen to the boy’s tale of how the ‘mermaid’ was dead. Stupid human. The mother watched me with distain as the father stood up. I could faintly hear their voices.
“Daddy, make it move!”
The father rapped his knuckles on the glass.
“C’mon, move…”
The mother took a step forward.
“Nasty little brute isn’t it?”
I hated it when people called me an ‘it’. Worse than being called a female… The mom then knocked on the glass, making me lose some more of my rapidly thinning patience.
“Come on, move for my little Johnny!”
“MO-om! It’s not moving!”
It was right then that I lost my temper. I snarled, whipping up with my spines swiftly stiffening up with the anger and rage that triggered my adrenaline to flood my system. My poison barbs extended, then a pain shot through my forearms. I hissed, glaring at the family that now was insulting me. The boy laughed with glee.
“MOMMY! DADDY! IT MOVED! THE MERMAID MOVED!”
I shot a heated glare at them before swimming away, up to the more secluded part of my tank, much to the little boy’s dismay.
“Daddy! Make it come back!”
“How about I get you a new ice cream sundae?”
“Yay!!!!!”
I rolled my eyes. Spoiled rotten brat… I swam to a semi-shallow part of my pool and sunk down to the floor and promptly fell asleep. No humans would bother me here.
A few hours later…
I woke up to a pitch-dark tank and a growling stomach. I guess I slept a bit too long… I flicked my fins slightly to rise to the surface. Water streamed off of my hair as I looked around. I scratched the outer side of my forearms. They were itching like crazy. I sighed, listening to crickets chirping. The moon wasn’t very bright tonight, but I could still feel a small ridge of soft spines on both of my forearms. I sighed again, heavier this time. I really wasn’t in the mood for examining some new ‘development’ and being hungry. I swam down to the bottom again, intending to sleep ‘till morning. I really didn’t feel like waiting for the sun to get it’s butt in gear and RISE! I closed my eyes and waited for my mind to shut down.
That morning…
I woke up to the sun shining on my face and Manna splashing playfully at the water’s surface. I flicked my tail, getting up.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Hi, Manna.”
I showed Manna my arms.
“Can you explain this to me?”
“You’re a teenager. You get fins on your forearms at a certain age. Your ears will end up more like fins later on. You’ll be at releasing age too. Well, maybe you’ll be released.”
“Okay.”
I sighed.
“I guess I’m growing, huh?”
“Yes. But you’re still my little troublemaker.”
I smiled at her, slapping my tailfin on the water. I then felt an itchy spot just behind my right ear. I scratched, but it seemed to get worse. Manna grabbed my wrist.
“It doesn’t work. The itching is only until you’re done growing.”
“So how long is that?”
“A few days to a week.”
“A WEEK!?!”
“Relax. As long as you don’t scratch it, it won’t be so bad.”
“Fine.”
I resisted the urge to scratch, but it was WAY harder than I thought. Manna sighed.
“C’mon. Someone is here to see you.”
“Who?”
“Well, let’s just say you have a new friend.”
“Who!?!”
“Just follow me.”
I swam next to Manna as she walked along the edge of the pool, leading me to wherever she was leading me. I swam around a bend in the pool to see a very odd sight. A mermaid was floating on the surface, inspecting her tail fin with a slight smile. She had soft blue scales, pale skin, and blue eyes. Her blonde hair was around her elbows, small bunches of it in thin braids. I knew who this was.
“Ashley?”
Ashley jumped, her eyes snapping to me.
“Oh. It’s you. My handsome groom-to-be.”
“That wasn’t decided, and you know it.”
“My daddy says we have to be wed anyways, or our people won’t be united.”
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Manna just looked dumbfounded.
“What? You two know each other?”
I rolled my eyes.
“We live in two different kingdoms, and Ashley’s father and mine wanted us to get married so we could stop the fighting between our people.”
“And it will happen, my little Snookie.”
I shuddered. Why did she have to give me a mushy nickname like that?
“My name’s Danny, and I’d like it if you used it.”
Manna giggled.
“Snookie? And I thought I was the mastermind of girly nicknames…”
“Don’t encourage her!”
Ashley rolled over, swimming towards me. She gently traced her fingertip on my neck. I grabbed her hand.
“Enough. You know we weren’t bound. Besides, you’d be free to pick your own husband.”
“But I want to be with you!”
I growled, diving under the water. Ashley, unfortunately, followed suit and chased me under the cool liquid. She briefly grasped my tail fin to tease me, and also to make me more anxious to escape. I looked at her quick.
“Just leave me alone.”
“You know playing hard-to-get makes me want to be with you more!”
I turned back, yelping and directing myself straight down to avoid plowing headlong into the pool wall. I swooped in a tight loop, flicking my fins to right myself. Ashley had escaped injury solely by tightly gripping my tail and staying with my movements. In a flash, she swam up behind me and hugged me tightly around the middle, pinning my arms down so I couldn’t escape. I squirmed, beating the water with my tail. I only succeeded in turning us in the water in a lazy, half circle. She giggled.
“You slowed down a lot in the past eight years, Snookie.”
“You got more forceful.”
“I try.”
Ashley gave me a small kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll let you go for now, but next time, no mercy.”
She released me, allowing me to swim up to the surface. Manna was watching.
“What was that?”
“Ashley thought it was funny to play tag.”
“Oh.”
I sighed, swimming closer to Manna.
“So…can I leave before Princess comes after me again?”
“Princess?”
I shut my mouth, eyes widening. Manna looked at me suspiciously.
“What do you mean, ‘princess’?”
“Nothing.”
“She’s a princess? And you and her… That means her dad is… And your dad… And that means you are…”
“Just spit it out already.”
I knew she had figured out my biggest secret.
“You’re a PRINCE!?!”
“Yes.”
Manna looked at me.
“You were royalty, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Look, I don’t like being royalty. I hate being cooped up in the castle all the time. That’s one reason why I hate aquariums.”
“Oh, Danny…”
Manna sat down by the edge of the pool.
“It’s okay. Really. I’m fine, Manna.”
She sighed.
“If you want to talk to me, I’m here. Is there anything I can do for you?”
I spied Ashley sneaking up on me.
“You can get me out of this pool and away from Ashley.”
“Okay. The only other pool for her is a bit away from you, but I think you just might be able to jump from one to the other.”
“Okay! That’s great!”
Ashley pounced, but I dove underwater just in time to swim away.