Chapter 5 The sea realm

NOELLE'S POV

Pressed to the king's chest I can feel all his powerful muscles. It is a nice distraction from the fact that I am about to be drowned.

The water is closing in on us so I close my eyes and wait to feel the water on my face. But nothing seems to happen, I open my eyes and see an air bubble around my head.

Another strange thing is that the king suddenly seems to have a tail instead of legs. ''He must have used his magic,'' I think. We are swimming for a short while when a gigantic air bubble seems to emerge. In the air bubble, there is a city as far as the eye can see.

Caves are made into cozy houses and everywhere I look there is coral in the most beautiful colors. In the bubble, everyone seems to have legs but outside the bubble, I find the most extraordinary creatures. Mermaids, seahorses, and turtles but also men that look like they are half-shark, half-man. They swim over the city for a while when I start to see a large castle in the middle.

The king swims to the highest tower of the castle and puts his upper half including me into the air bubble. He drops me in front of the tower door and seems to be about to leave.

''Wait,'' I shout. '' Where are you going? What is going to happen to me? You can't just leave me here!''

The king just looks at me with a dead look in his eyes and then leaves without saying a word.

I watch the king swim away and I think to myself, ''What an asshole.''

The high tower gives me an excellent view of the city. The view exceeds all my fantasies about what the outside world would look like.

After a while, I feel that I am getting tired from the adventurous day. I hope I can find a place to sleep behind the tower door. I open the door which leads to a big round room. The walls are painted with flowers and on the floor lays a soft pink rug. In the middle of the room is a massive waterbed with silver satin sheets.

On the bed sits a petite woman with brown hair and blue eyes. She has a round and kind face. I immediately decide that I like this woman.

''Hi my name is Maya and I'm here to help you with anything you need. I left some food at the table but I understand if you just want to sleep. I will leave you alone for now but tomorrow morning I will come back to give you a tour and answer any questions you might have,'' she says.

I feel relieved to hear a kind voice after this awful day.

So I say, '' Thank you. ''

When Maya leaves the only thing that I can hear is the sound of streaming water. This makes me even more sleepy so I decide to leave the food and immediately curl into bed. As soon as my head touches the pillow I fall asleep. That night I dream of a big handsome man dancing with me in a cave filled with stars.