Pass the Pen

The ocean breeze flipped the page of Piper’s novel. With a grumble, she smoothed the page back and found her place. She skimmed another paragraph then shut the book with a sigh. Why was she even here? She should be at camp in Montana, but instead—

A scream came from the guys bodyboarding a few yards down the beach. Piper had noticed them earlier. Three guys, all tanned and . . . wait. She tossed the book on her towel and stood, a hand shading her eyes. One of the bodyboarders had vanished.

His board still bobbed in the water, the wave carrying it forward. The others were paddling frantically toward shore, but instead of looking back or into the water, they kept glancing at the sky. What in the world? Piper followed the direction of their gazes, squinting at the brilliant blue sky.

A few clouds dotted the endless expanse, but there was nothing remarkable . . .

Piper’s jaw dropped as the lowest hanging cloud moved.

Not horizontally.

Vertically.

It continued lowering toward the water, creeping after the remaining bodyboarders. Piper ran toward them, gaze darting for someone who could help.

Mothers picked up children and ran, frantic with raw fear.

Piper felt the sand shift underneath her feet as she sprinted closer to the bodyboarders. Her fingers clutched her phone, but her mind couldn’t seem to work. Who could she call?

Just then, a man with a graying beard came up behind her and grabbed her arm. Gasping, Piper whirled around.

“Run,” the man hissed, eyes wide. “It’s coming for us. For all of us.”

Picking up her feet, she raced away from the water, heart pounding. Piper would give anything to be in that camp in Montana right now.

Racing toward the hotel where her family was staying, Piper reached the fence. She hurried toward the gate, and hopefully, safety. She struggled with the latch and as it released she was shoved to the side by frantic people. She fell into the landscaping, and was scratched and stabbed on her way through the bushes.

Lying there, trying to regain her breath, Piper saw the low cloud gliding over the beach. It hovered over a girl wearing headphones. Piper watched, feeling every molecule of air moving in and out of her lungs. Piper blinked, and the girl was no longer there, just headphones on a towel.

Piper felt so helpless, nothing seemed to make sense. Moving clouds?

Involuntarily she got up, her cuts stinging as the sand seeped into them. But she ignored it. The sea of people ran from the beach, and Piper followed numbly.

Gradually, the crowd turned to see the cloud turning dark grey and moving up to its home in the sky, like it was giving up. The cloud got bigger, covering the crystal expanse, and finally enlarged into a storm cloud.

Drip.

It started raining until it poured, and everyone still stood there, unmoving.

Before Piper could blink, something emerged from the cloud. It looked like a little ball of glowing blue light, but as it got closer, Piper could see it looked like a tiny blue human with very round wings.

“Sorry for any disturbance,” the tiny human said. “I just came to seek help for my people. I am Princess Cordelia, leader over the ocean sprites.”

“What do you need help with?” Piper asked, confused.

“We are in a war with the mermaids and we are at a disadvantage because we are smaller. We want to reclaim The Great Caves.”

Anger swept through Piper. “If you need help, why didn’t you just ask? Why are you showing up on the beach and kidnapping people?”

“Kidnapping?” Princess Cordelia shook her head, her blue-scaled skin shimmering in the sun. Her rounded wings—more like fish fins than butterfly wings—fluttered in the ocean breeze. “No, no, not kidnapping. Recruiting!” She smiled, and Piper could see her teeth were needle-sharp, like the teeth of a barracuda.

“Recruiting them for what, exactly?”

More ocean sprites of blue and green appeared out of the clouds, falling alongside the raindrops.

“To be turned into sea dragons, of course.”

“Why would you want us to be sea dragons?” said Piper. “Will you turn us back to humans?”

“If you want us to,” the princess said.

“Oooookay, I will if you turn me back.”

The Princess nodded, and out of her wand, there was a cookie shaped like a dragon. Piper licked it, and she felt her feet start flying. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she felt like she was dreaming.

“What color?” the princess asked.

“Pink,” she answered.

“Okay, off you go.”

I hope she’ll turn me back, Piper thought.

The sprites and dragons organized on the beach, Princess Cordelia at the front. The swim to the caves didn't take long, and soon the princess’s army was surrounding the cave entrance.

She used her wand to create light, "There is an army of sea dragons prepared to attack," she announced.

From the cave came a large number of merchildren. There were gasps, tears, screams, and laughter as they fled.

"Well, that was unexpected," said the princess with a small shrug. "All sea dragons may return to the beach."

As Piper sat on her beach towel nibbling a human-shaped cookie, she decided a book on the beach wasn't so bad after all.

THE END

The Space Between Waves

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.