“Who are you?” snarled Ali. The woman laughed.
“Kaysey The Great, but why waste time with introductions? Give me the Book,” Ali pretended to rummage in her backpack then pulled back empty handed.
“Woops, I must have left it at home. Or maybe I was never going to give it to you in the first place,” She glared across the gap between us and Kaysey. Kaysey showed her teeth.
“Fine,” she snarled. She waved her arm in an arc, and a wall of water exploded from nowhere, forming six bubbles, one around each of us, all floating with our heads above water. I concentrated hard on the water, having discovered that I could stay dry if I wanted to last week. Ali thrashed in her bubble. Kaysey smirked.
“Give me the Book, or your friends drown,” she threatened. Ali glared at her. We dropped under the water. I screwed up my face in concentration, holding the water away from my friends’ faces, giving them a pocket of air to breathe. I heard Prim’s voice in my head, panicking.
“No! No! No! It can’t end like this!!” I concentrated harder, widening the air bubbles, and aimed a thought at Prim.
“Shhhh, Prim. I won’t let you drown. Mermaid, remember? Just breathe,” Prim finally took a breath, gratefully gulping the air in her bubble. Cass’s voice cut in.
“Wait. We’re underwater… how are you communicating?” I saw her amber eyes widen.
“We’re reading each other’s thoughts!” yelped Sami’s voice.
“Cool!” I thought. I spotted Ali, still above the water, staring at us in horror.
“Ali!” I called, through my thoughts. Ali jumped.
“It’s okay! We won’t drown, I worked out how to stay dry if I want to. We’re fine. Don’t give her that book!” Ali’s blue gaze pierced through the water and she gave a tiny nod.
“Seriously, how re we reading each other’s thoughts?” wondered Cass.
“I’m telepathic,” grumbled Natalie’s voice, sounding bored.
“Nat? Really?” gasped Sami.
“Mm-hmm,” Natalie yawned, and rolled her eyes.
“I didn’t get enough coffee this morning,” she complained. Kaysey screeched something, indistinct through the water, and we were suddenly hurled backwards. in a spray of droplets. Sami managed to catch us all with a well-placed blast of warm air, before we landed in crumpled heaps, coughing, winded.
Hope you like it! Part 3 is on the way....
Thanks, Sami