Sweet Foam

Sweet Foam

Chapter one: The discovery

Allyson O’Doole swam out to the sandbar, hoping to avoid her brother and his friends. The day was cool for California and overcast, with the hint of rain. Allyson (or Ally, as she preferred) turned her eyes to the shore, making sure that the group of guys was still occupied by the beach babes who were currently playing volleyball, badly she added, and thus had to lean over to grab the ball every two minutes. Let’s say the view was very distracting.

Ally smirked and continued on, reaching the sandbar in about two minutes. She stood up and shook her long black hair out of her face. She stood 5 feet and seven inches, taller then any girl in her family. Her skin was porcelain white and burned badly in the sun, making it almost impossible to go outside without sun block. Her one-piece swimsuit was a dark blue, and high-cut, showing off her powerful, long legs, which made for about two-thirds of her height. She ran her hands over her stomach, thinking how it was almost lunch time and grinning at the thought of the picnic basket her Nana had made.

Ally and her older brother, Derrick, lived with their Nana, their dad’s mom in the Pacific coastal town, Sandbar Beach, about an hour and a half south of San Francisco. It was a quiet place, where everyone knew everyone. And everyone’s business. Sometimes it could be annoying, but Ally usually paid it no mind and went on her way. Ally and Derrick had lived with Nana for ten years, since their parents had been forced to leave them with her as they traveled too much for running a normal family. They came back every six months to catch up, moan about the fact they were away too often and leave presents for missed birthdays and Christmas. They would also have a big feast, in honor of Thanksgiving. Ally hadn’t liked that her parents were gone all the time, but now that she was twenty-one, she saw that that was how it was. So she went with it.

The waves hit her around her knees, and she glanced down, making sure there were no jellyfish swarms coming in on the tide. A patch of sea foam floated past, almost the exact color of her light green eyes. This was an oddity that had set her apart since grade school and had earned her the name “Sea Foam” as a child. She was now only called that by her closest friends, but never as a taunt. She looked back up to gaze at the aquamarine horizon. The water was warm, well, warm enough for the Pacific. Ally was in heaven. No one to bother her, just herself and the waves and the -

“Hey Ally!” The shout came back to her from the shore. It was her brother. “Time for lunch.” And with that, he turned back to join his friends on the blankets set up on the dunes.

Ally sighed as she started to head back, looking once more behind her to stare at her haven. She was about to dive back in, when a flash of gold scales on the surface caught her eye. She turned quickly, but didn’t see anything.

“Ally! Come on!” Derrick was sounding impatient. Ally frowned and swam back to shore, still pondering the source of the flash of scales.


Morgan dove back under the waves, cursing his curiosity. The mortal had been just about to leave when he had seen her turn sharply back towards him. He had watched, carefully as she scanned the waters near him, then with a frown of discontent, turned toward shore and the other mortals.

‘Humans,’ he snorted to himself as he headed for home. They were impossibly weak and blind. But he had to admit, the girl had been quite intriguing. Her eyes had been sharp and piercing, and even from that distance, he could see the determination as she searched for him. He had been a fool to flash his tail as she was leaving. She had seen the glitter of his scales and had almost discovered him. Foolish! That mustn’t happen again. It was his duty as part of the royal family to make sure the existence of mer-people never got out. To lose that trust by letting some stupid mortal see him? Not worth it.

Morgan dove deeper and headed to a small grotto where he hid when he wanted to be alone. He sped through the water to see the underwater cave that led to a land cave under the sea. It was his own special place. No one knew where he went and he planned to keep it that way. He swam into the tunnel, flicking his tail, making him go faster, impatient to get to his destination. His burst of speed, thanks to the tail flick, sent him to where the tunnel opened up and swam into the small lagoon cradled in the underwater grotto. He burst to the surface, breathing the stale air that inhabited the cave. He started to wheeze, the lack of fresh air, burning his lungs and he dove back under, gulping the oxygen in the water. He shook his head to clear it and reached into a small, hollow niche that held the air purifier. It was a small globe, which shone with an inner magick light.

Morgan and his brothers and sister were all qualified magick workers, from years of training due to their elevated status. Only the royal family and those granted with enough talent were allowed to work magick. It was forbidden otherwise, to keep the attack of dark sorcerers at bay.

Morgan lifted it out of the water and set it on the special shelf carved for its placement. He whispered in a sing-song voice and immediately, the light shone brighter and the air cleared. Morgan smiled and stopped his song, giving an unintelligible command, meant to keep it purifying the air until he gave the command to stop. Morgan lifted himself out of the water and sat on the edge of the rock floor that jutted into the small lagoon that led outside. He shook his head and dark blond hair fell into his eyes. He brushed it aside to reveal ice-blue eyes that gave no emotion and froze you to the spot if you let them. His body, strong and muscled from swimming, was a dark tan from the swimming in the lower equator waters. His tale, of gold scales, was strong and powerful, sending him forward fifteen yards with one good flick. His arms were also strong, looking as if they could crush a person within them. Morgan’s face was also full of strong angles. With a straight nose and finely sculpted features, it was easy to see why he was sought after by many of the females of the courts. Morgan was two hundred fifty years old in mermaid years, which equaled about twenty-five years in mortal time. He was young yet, but it was not uncommon for young mermen to go looking for a mate at this point in their lives.

Morgan sighed and lay down on the hard surface of rock. He closed his eyes and dreamed of the perfect mate. He had once thought Malise would be…No! That was not to be thought of. Malise was part of the past, where she should be. Vanished, where her evil deeds could do no more harm, to anyone. He squeezed his eyes more and turned to his side, wincing as the rock scraped him. He briefly thought of softening the rock, but the hardness served a purpose. It was his punishment. He drifted off, dark images running through his brain, but one playful thought drifted as he lost consciousness. It was the memory of a tall mortal, who played alone on the sandbar as the water splashed her legs and she smiled as if nothing could touch her….


On the beach

Allyson wondered away from the bonfire, preferring to be alone when at the beach. She thought back again to the flash of gold. She dismissed it as some fish beneath the surface, but her traitorous mind kept circling back to the idea of …something else. Allyson laughed to herself. What could possibly have scales of gold that swam close to shore? The thing had to have been as big, if not more, as she. There was nothing she could think of that fit that description.

She gazed towards the setting sun, almost totally covered by the everlasting sea. Only a sliver of gold/orange light was visible as the sun said goodbye to another day. Allyson watched in peace as the last sliver finally slipped under the horizon, leaving promise of another day. She glanced towards the fire. Nana would not be expecting them until tomorrow. It wasn’t unusual for the teens to sleep on the beach with sleeping bags. Allyson wouldn’t be missed if she wandered a bit more.

She headed to a small cave that was her secret. It was long and scary and as a child, she had stayed close to the entrance, but having conquered her fear, Allyson had spent the last five years exploring it, going a little bit farther each time. She believed she had almost reached the end. Now was a perfect time to make that last stretch. She started towards the fire, grabbed her backpack and headed to the car. She pulled out the extra emergency first aid kit, along with her flashlight and spare blanket. She packed them neatly in the bag and found some energy bars with a water bottle or two, just in case. She went to the front seat, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, when her eyes spied the small bag of books she had brought in case she needed some literary entertainment. She grabbed the bag, stuffing it in as she walked and closed the bag, heading south, away from the party and towards her cave.

The dark seemed to press on her as she walked inside, and she turned on her light, illuminating the hard rock walls and sandy floor that seemed to go on forever. She started heading to the back, pulling her sweatshirt tightly around her as if to keep out the sudden chill in the air. Her tennis shoes seemed to pick up more sand as she went further down and the moisture in the air rose dramatically. Her jeans over her swimsuit seemed to suck up the moisture and the weight became almost unbearable. Allyson was puzzled. It had never been like this before. It was almost as if the cave were…alive. Waiting for something that had not happened yet. She strained her eyes to see ahead, but only the inky blackness appeared.

Finally, she saw her mark, which indicated where she had stopped. She took out a piece of red chalk and marked an ‘X’, indicating that she had reached this point and had gone further. She picked up the bundle of bright fabric, tied in a rope that served as a marker. It was sturdy and visible, very important in this environment. She trudged on, her hopes dampened by the wetness, but she pushed ahead.

All of a sudden, the path stopped. She crept closer to discover a small drop to a ledge, where the path continued on. It looked to lead further underground, towards the water. Ally hesitated. It was one thing to go to the end, it was another if she was going to get into trouble. She moved slowly to the edge. It wasn’t that far down and she could easily climb up again if she wanted to turn back. Ally made her decision. She eased herself over and onto the path below. It dipped down and around a corner where a strange blue light was faintly seen.

Ally cautiously and slowly tiptoed down and peeked around the corner. What she saw had her mouth dropping open and her eyes staring at the wondrous sight.


In the cave
Morgan stirred gradually, then tensed as the rock dug into his back. He was still tired, having had dreams that were sporadic, none of them making sense. But the one constant was the tall mortal girl he’d seen on the sandbar. He groaned. It shouldn’t be happening. Why was he obsessing over a stupid human? She was nothing special! He sat up, holding his head in his hands as he listed the reasons why she shouldn’t matter.

‘She’s weak, she’s mortal, she has legs, she is stupid, she has no powers, she..has the most focused eyes..Wait! That wasn’t supposed to be there.’

Flopping back into the water, Morgan wearily swam out of the cave and made his way home. Unfortunately forgetting about the magick air purifying ball.

At the palace

Morgan sneaked past the guards and silently slipped through the bubble door to his room. He collapsed on his seaweed mattress, stuffed with the finest and softest kelp and drew the watersilk covers over his tail. His head lay on the watersatin pillows, shaped like circles, and he sighed with relief as an easy sleep shut his eyes and his mind begin to fade to black.

“Morgan!”

He snapped upright with a jerk as the loud voice echoed into his ear. He wasn’t sure if the bells he heard were in his head or from the tower. He grimaced and glared at the small mermaid who was frowning at him at the side of his bed.

Her dark brown hair was set in curls and she wore a silver coronet on her head. Her silky top was a wrap around her chest, making it clear that she was growing into a young lady. Her deep blue eyes were marked with mischief and some impatience. The delicate features of her face were now in a semi-frown, and her posture relaxed as she gazed over the bed.

“Sleeping off your patrol duties?” she asked with a small taunt in her voice. Morgan threw back the covers and swam to the wardrobe located across the room. The girl watched him as he hunted for his circlet and placed it on his head, pushing fingers through the unruly hair first. He set it on, and then bent over, obviously looking for something else. The girl, impatient with the waiting, spun around the room, pretending as if she were dancing before a huge court, and all the people of the courts were watching. Especially the young men. She was floating through the water, swirling gracefully, capturing the attention of everyone. She closed her eyes and smiled, her spinning carrying her around the room. This was wonderful! Look how beautiful, she could hear them say, how graceful. She spun, attempting another flawless twirl of the dancing wrap, when-oh!

A hand snatched her wrist and forced her to open her eyes. Morgan stared at her, this time the impatient one.

“Are you quite finished stirring up the water in my room?” he asked, almost sullenly. She nodded. He growled and said, “Let’s go.”

The girl glared at his back and swam past him in a huff, upset that her dancing had not been appreciated. Morgan rolled his eyes and watched as she lead the way to the dining hall. His little sister, Nerina, was growing up too fast. She was becoming even more of a brat then she had been. At this rate, by the time suitors would call for her hand, she would be more stuck-up and demanding then ever. Morgan didn’t understand that.

‘Women,’ he thought grumpily to himself. ‘They are never satisfied and impossible to know.’

He drifted towards the dining hall, not caring if he was late. His thoughts were tumbling and unorganized. He wanted to sort them before going in. He glided along the halls and occasionally glanced up to greet a guest or servant before continuing on. He reached the doors of the hall, visibly relaxed and mentally mostly stable. He could hear the loud chatter and disagreements through the door.

‘Wonderful,’ he thought bitterly. ‘Another family dinner to muddle through.’ And with that, dragged one side of the door open and slipped through, letting the door shut gently behind him.


In the tunnel/cave

Allyson’s face lit up as she gazed into a small, but deep pool of water. The water was so clear she could see the bottom. It looked to go on forever. It was obvious the water was from the ocean, having made its way into the rock’s open places. Maybe there were other underground pools, like this one. The sides and bottom were littered with a glowing crystal that didn’t seem to need light. Thus the origin of the blue glow. The other side was only a jump away, in the part where Allyson stood. It widened as it stretched along the room. The path continued on the other side, and branched off into several tunnels. It seemed almost . . . made.

‘That was a strange word,’ Allyson thought to herself. Yet it was true. The paths were smooth, not rough, and there seemed to be definite signs of past habitation. Drawings on the wall glittered back at her. Ally took this in awe. It was as if she had entered another world down here. Ally glanced at her watch. It was only 10:45 p.m. She had seen many people watch her as she headed for the cave, so she wasn’t worried that they would miss her. Derrick might not know about the cave, but he certainly knew there was someplace she went to have peace. He would let her alone until tomorrow morning when it was time to go.

Ally gazed around some more, before jumping the two foot-wide length. She bit her lip though, when she reached the dividing paths. There were about five of them, all looking ominous with no light coming from their depths. She looked between them for about five minutes, before deciding to go down the path in the middle. It was the most worn, as if many people or things had been using it before this place had been abandoned. She turned on her flashlight and cautiously started down. The walls were smooth and paintings were covering them from floor to ceiling.

‘It’s just like in those caves in Europe, from the cave-dwellers!’ Ally exclaimed to herself. ‘These are so beautiful.’

The pictures were very clear, but they looked nothing like the ones in the caves of Europe. Ally stopped and examined one. It was a picture of a human bending down to give what looked like a blob to a …merman? Ally glanced around at the other pictures, startled to see that all of them involved humans and mer-people in some aspect. Had this been a meeting place where the two races had gathered in harmony? Ally couldn’t get over the fact that there actually had once been mer-people. She thought they were a myth, either dolphins or manatees that sailors had mistaken for people. She thought back to the sandbar episode.

“If that wasn’t a fish, then could it have been a mermaid?” Ally pondered this aloud. It was quite the far-fetched idea. She didn’t even know if they still existed. All the evidence she had was the pictures on the walls.

‘Stop jumping to conclusions, Ally!’ She scolded herself.

She continued on down the tunnel, her thoughts divided between the pictures and where she was going. The path led her down and down until it seemed she couldn’t breathe, for lack of fresh air. The walls were also closing in. Ally wasn’t claustrophobic, but she was certainly getting nervous with the accommodations. Ally took five more steps before she saw the path ended rather abruptly. This time the passage was blocked with rocks and seaweed, long dried up and sand packed in the cracks.

Ally crept closer. The blockage of the tunnel intrigued her. Why would someone go through all this trouble of setting up this place, just to block it off? Confused, Ally hesitated before walking up to the side of the pile. She started to rip the strands and wipe the sand off, when she realized, just how big of a job this was going to be. She stepped back, wiping her hands off on her jeans. With a determined look on her face, Ally stared at the blocked path, before nodding and turning around. Going back the way she came took considerably longer then she thought, so by the time she made it out into the open and onto the beach, it was just reaching four in the morning. She stumbled, wearily to the burned-out bonfire and extracted her sleeping bag from the pile of sleeping bag covers tossed about. She unfurled it and unzipped it. Dragging it to the blanket set out for her, she laid it down, crawled in, and immediately went to sleep, dreaming up plans for the unblocking of the tunnel.