The Secret of the Stone

The rest of us where rushed down a dark, wet stony staircase which led to another pool at the bottom.

“Get in,” said Aquala as we reached the edge of the pool, but as we hesitated the guards began to push us into the pool.

“We are not like you we can’t breathe underwater,” pleaded Nayr.

“Get in!” Aquala repeated without mercy and the guards begin to toss us into the water one by one. It took five of the guards to pushed Cloud in and he almost landed on Josili and Tem who quickly swam out of his path.

“Cloud can’t swim,” I yelled at the mermen as Cloud struggled to stay afloat. He then began to sink and the rest of us tried the best we could to keep his head above water. One of the mermen jumped into the water and dove down disappearing into its depths.

“Let us out of here! We’re going to drown!” I cried. A few seconds later I could feel the squish of a jellyfish beneath my feet as it lifted us up out of the water. Then the jellyfish began to bubble up until we were trapped in a large transparent bubble and it began to sink. We sunk down deep into the pool as the bubble kept water from getting inside. At the bottom we could see about fifty other jelly balls all filled with various types of creatures, people and merfolk. The bottom of the pool was lit by the glow of the jellyfish. Once our fish settled among the others at the bottom of the pool Aquala who had followed us down tapped on the bubble.

“Let us out of here fish eyes!” said Tem.

“Yeah, let us out!” Josili shouted at him as she beat against the bubble.

“Be careful, you don’t want to bust your bubble,” laughed Aquala. “And don’t try to escape you will never make it to the surface without air.” He then left us and swam back up to the surface.

“Wow, look at this Tem,” said Josili as she observed the other prisoners. Tem walked over to where she stood.

“Too bad the queen let that cat go before I was able to ring a confession out of her.” Tem complained.

“Oh, give me a break,” remarked Cordum as he threw up his hands.

“I didn’t do it!” said Tem.

“Never mind that,” I sighed. “How are we going to get out of this, Cordum?” I asked him.

“How am I suppose to know?” He replied.

“Because you are next in the chain of command,” I reminded him. “Don’t you have a plan?”

“Look if anyone has any bright ideas. Now is a good time to share them,” he declared.

“Even if we were able to get out of here and somehow get to the surface, what about Cloud?” Nayr thought aloud. “He can’t swim.”

“Wait a minute,” said Tem who was still watching the other prisoners. “Look over here, do you see what I see?” The rest of us joined him curious about what he had found. The jellyfish seemed to mimic our movements and drug us closer to the other prisoners. “Do you see him?” In a bubble not too far away was Jailan in his canine form.

“Jailan! Jailan!” Nayr cried. Jailan was the only one inside his jellyfish. When he spotted us, he ran in it like a hamster on a wheel until he was right next to us.

“What are you all doing here?” He asked surprised to see us and somewhat disappointed. Our capture was clearly a sign of failure.

“The same reason you are here,” I replied, “to find the second part of the casing.”

“Well, I see that you found Tem.” Tem saluted him. “I assume you have the first part of the casing.”

“We have it,” said Cordum, “ and fortunately the merpeople did not find it when they searched us.”

“Well, that’s something,” Jailan took a sigh of relief. “Listen to me,” said Jailan in his familiarly harsh tone. “There is something strange going on here. We have got to get out of here and convince Queen Seala to help us find the casing. She has to understand that if my brother finds that casing all will be lost.” Jailan had a way of reminding us just how impossible our situation was. As we thought of the insurmountable odds we faced. No one spoke a word.

“Do you have any ideas on how we can get out of here.” I asked him finally.

“Can’t you use your necklace to get out of here,” he asked me. I was surprised that he knew so much about my necklace, maybe even more than I did.

“Now why didn’t we think of that?” smirked Tem to Josili.

“No, I can’t.” I said sadly. “They took it. And besides that, it’s not working.”

“That’s a shame,” he said. He then looked around our bubble. “By the way, where is Captain Census?”

“The queen took a ‘special’ interest in him,” teased Tem. “He is still in the throne room.”

“Quiet,” said Cordum as a guard passed by. “We have to rescue him too.” He whispered when the guard was out of ear shot.

“Or he will have to rescue us,” added Cloud.

“Keep a look out. We will have to wait for the right opportunity to escape,” said Jailan. I sat down on the back of the squishy jellyfish. The motion was making me dizzy.

“Are they going to feed us in here?” Tem asked Jailan.

“They feed you once a day, but trust me it is nothing to look forward to,” he replied.

We were in the bubble for what seemed like hours. Every once in a while one of the merguards would swim by to make sure we were still secure.

“I have an idea.” said Tem.

“What’s the plan?” I asked him.

“Watch this,” he said as he knocked on the cage signaling to the merman swimming by. “Hey you, come here.” The merman approached us.

“Insolent air breather,” said the merguard, “What do you want?”

“I have to go to the restroom,” said Tem.

“And what do I care,” said the guard.

“Oh, come on,” said Tem. “I’m sure this big guy would appreciate if you let me out.” He said referring to the jellyfish.

“You want me to open the bubble so you can try to escape. Do you? Very well then,” The merman signaled some of the other merguards to assist him and they surrounded the bubble and it began to open as water began to rush inside.

“Everyone hold your breath,” said Cordum. The merguards grabbed us all except Tem.

“Go over there! The guard demanded and you had better hurry up for your friends sakes!” They held us down in the water and we held our breath until we were about to pass out. When they saw that Tem did not leave and we had suffered just enough to prove their point, another guard grabbed him and they took us up to the surface. The jellyfish soon came up under us and enclosed us again in the bubble and it sunk back down to its previous position. We were still gasping for air and coughing up water as the merguards mocked us.

“Cloud, are you okay?” I asked him as soon as I could speak. He was throwing up water.

“I am okay,” he said between jerks.

“Is everyone else okay?” I asked. I knocked against the bubble angrily.“You jerks! You’ll pay for this.” The merguards continued to laugh at us as they returned to the surface. I continued to beat on the bubble as I slammed against the wall I could see my hand began to glow and the jellyfish flinched.

“It’s no use, Violet,” said Nayr. They’re gone.

“Any more bright ideas, Tem?” Cordum said still trying to catch his breath.

“We have get out of here they will not be satisfied until they kill us.” Tem cried desperately.

“I think I can use my powers.” I said. “But I don’t know how I can use them.”

“Violet,” asked Tem, “do you think that you can help us get these off.” He held up his arms indicating the wrist bands. “Try to concentrate hard.” I sat down on the bubble with my legs crossed and tried to concentrate on the power bracelets as hard as I could. I tried to imagine my powers as an extension of myself to break the electric chains. The Jellyfish began to shake when it felt my misdirected energy flow.

“Violet you’re shaking the whole bubble,” said Cordum. I stopped for fear that the fish may release the bubble again.

“Violet you have to stop thinking about the bubble and escaping. Think only of the task at hand think only of the chains on our wrists,” said Josili.

“You can do it, Violet.” said Tem. “I believe in you.”

“Yeah, but don’t bust the bubble,” Cordum reminded me.

I closed my eyes again and refocused on Tem’s chains. I concentrated as hard as I could. Then I took a deep breath and a relaxed feeling came over me and then I heard a snapping sound. When I opened my eyes again the chain had been broken.

“Violet, Violet you did it.” He hugged me.

“Okay, my turn.” said Josili. Tem snapped the chain easily from Josili’s wrist and the two of them joined hands and flew to the top of the bubble and the bubble began to rise.

“Hey! don’t forget about me!” Jailan yelled after us.

“We’ll come back for you.” I promised. The Jellyfish used its long tentacle and wrapped it around a cleft in a cliff to prevent us from rising.

“Violet, you’re going to have to take care of that cord,” said Tem as he and Josili struggled to push the bubble upwards.” It is taking all of our power to lift the bubble.”

“Okay,” I said unsure of what to do next. I turned my attention to the cord.

“We have company,” warned Nayr. Two mermaids were swimming towards us with their staffs charged. They used the power from their staffs to press down on the bubble.

“Violet Hurry,” Josili yelled.

“If I were you I would let go!” I said to the fish. My concentrated burst of power shocked the jellyfish so hard that it released the rock and like a pebble in a slingshot we flew up to the surface, flinging the two mermaids out of the way as we torpedoed upward. The jellyfish bounced out of the water. The bubble burst and we landed in the water. The jellyfish sank back down to the bottom as we struggled to stay afloat. I tried to grab hold of Cloud to keep him from sinking. Tem lifted Cloud into the air with his powers until he was shot by one of the mermaids. Cloud fell back into the water with a splash. Cordum dove underwater and struggled with two of the mermaids. Two more mermen joined them. Cloud reached the edge of the pool. I pushed him upward avoiding his powerful legs struggling up the side of the pool. As he reached the surface, something pulled me back down into the water.

“Violet!” Cloud yelled after me. One of the mermaids was pulling on my leg. I kicked my legs and tried to swim back up to the surface.

“No! I yelled a bubbly phrase. A purple glow came over me and shocked the mermaid. Cordum arrived and pulled me up by the hand. When we reached the surface Nayr and Cloud pulled us out of the water from the edge and we began to run towards the stairwell. “Wait.” I yelled. “We have to get Jailan.”

“We’ll get him!” said Tem. “Find Census!” He and Josili darted back into the pool.

Cordum, Nayr, Cloud and I headed up the slippery stairs. A group of merpeople followed us, three chased us up the stairs and two went after Tem and Josili. Two more guards met us at the top of the stairs and they shot at us with their staffs. I stood in front and created a shield to protect us from the blasts. Cordum who had managed to get one of their staffs when he fought with the mermaids underwater shot at guards behind us. As he hit them they rolled down the stairs. We saw Jailan run up the stairs with the fairies flying above him.

“Let’s Go!” said Cordum. We ran through the corridor and burst into the throne room. We saw Census perched up high in the air trapped in a round floating bubble. The queen was beside him standing on a ledge.

“Get out of here!” Census warned when he saw us.

“Where not going anywhere without you!” I cried. The only queen laughed.

“You should have escaped when you had the chance,” she said. At that moment the doors of the throne room slammed shut. Nayr and Tem tried to open them but they would not budge. Then two doors opened from the other side of the throne room and about twenty merguards ran out from each side and surrounded us.

“If it’s a fight you want! It’s a fight you are going to get,” cried Josili ready for action.

“Wait!” said Jailan. He then turned to the queen. “Queen Seala, you are fighting the wrong people.” He tried to reason with her.“We are here to help save your kingdom as well as our own it’s imperative that you believe us!” The queen only laughed as his words fell on deaf ears. Just then a figure walked out from behind one of the upper pillars. He was dressed in a cloak and the room grew silent as he approached.

“You were always a fool Jailan,” said the figure.

“Julian!” Jailan growled. “We all stared at the man in horror and disbelief. I was terrified of the revelation because I knew I was not ready to face him as he removed the hood of his cloak. He looked exactly like Jailan in his human form except he was well groomed cocky and pretentious. The coaxcat was there too and she jumped into his arms. He began to pet her as he descended from the columns. He didn’t hide the tourmaline ring that shown in its brilliance on his finger.