Page 2

“Okay,” I said, pushing back from the table and jumping down from the high chair. I gathered the fabric of my light purple dress, which was getting in the way of me walking.

There was a balcony just off the dining room, so I went down a small hallway and found it. It was really interesting, how there was an air bubble protecting the outside of the palace from the water. Even on the balconies, you could breathe but touch the water.

I sat down on the cold stone floor, being sure to tuck my dress so that it wouldn’t wrinkle. That was also impolite. I looked at the fish and imagined they could smile at me.

The door opened and I looked up to find the boy, who was ten and had a kind father who he looked like and had really cool eyes.

“I want to hear about fish,” he said, crouching down next to me. “I like them, too.”

“That one,” I said, pointing to a bright orange and red fish with a row of scales down its spine floating by, “is poisonous. The spikes on his back have venom in them.”

“Good to know,” he said.

I looked at him and he was smiling. His lips were closed, while he did it, but he was smiling. No one ever smiled when I talked about things I’d learned. (Well, except his dad, now.) Even when I remembered something they’d told me.

“Why do you like fish?” I asked, looking up at him. He crouched down next to me, but I still had to look up.

“It’s my job to, I’m pretty sure,” he said.

“You have a job?” He wasten.

He laughed. I made him laugh. “Not yet. But I will.”

“What job?” I tucked my hair behind my ear, a nervous habit I wasn’t sure I’d ever lose.

“Well,” he said, then waved his hand around the balcony, the house, and the sea beyond. “This will be my job.”

“Poseidon,” I realized, a little giddy. If his dad was, he would be too.

“Not quite,” he said. “That’s my older brother. But I still have to know.”

Oh. I tried to keep my smile even though I was wrong.

“Your eyes are the same color as the water.” I said, even though I knew it wasn’t a perfect response. I pointed directly out to the section of the water that was holding on to the last touches of sunlight before the darkness of the sea overtook it.

“And yours are the color of leaves,” he said. My cheeks felt a little hot. My eyes were different from my mom and dad’s. And different normally meant bad.

“What type of leaves?”

“Fall ones. Right when they are turning brown and orange but still have some green,” he said. “Unless you wanted scientific names.”

“I don’t think I’ve learned those yet.” I wanted to now, though. Since he knew.

“You will.” He placed a hand on mine. His skin was really warm. “That is your job.”

I shook my head and looked at the point where the railing met the floor. “My parents say that it's not.”

“It’s still your job even if you don’t rule.”

I didn’t think I knew what that meant. I didn’t like when I didn’t know things, so I just looked back at the fish. I knew not responding to someone was rude, but I didn’t know what to say.

“What about that one?” He was pointing to a fish that was silver, yellow, and red at once.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. It was very pretty, though.

“That one is a female,” he said, then let out a low whistle. The fish started to swim over to us. “The males are gray, and their fins are pink.”

The fish swam up to the magic barrier separating the air and the ocean, hovering right in line with his face. He looked at the fish and then it blew a bubble of air. He laughed, then cocked his head over to me. The fish swam up to me next, blowing a bubble in front of my face this time.