Chapter Text
"Whoa," Victor and Nova exclaimed. Nova looked at Victor and then quickly stepped out of his embrace. Victor smiled awkwardly. The water tornado was massive and loomed over them both. "What is that?" Nova inquired, pointing at the tornado.
The water tornado shook violently, then spat out three teenagers who were arguing (of course). A girl with bright pink hair pushed a boy whose teal hair was sticking up like he had been shocked. "I told you the coordinates were wrong!" she yelled, while a second girl, with purple braids, rolled her eyes and muttered, "Sirens. Always blaming the mermaids. So typical."
Victor cleared his throat loudly, but they continued to argue, the pink-haired girl now waving a soggy scroll like it was a sword. Nova cleared her throat even louder. Still nothing. The boy lunged for the scroll, slipped on a puddle of goo, and fell face-first with a squelch.
The pink-haired girl finally stopped her rant, staring at Victor and Nova as if they were particularly disappointing roadkill. "And who," she scoffed, "are you supposed to be? Some kind of cheap prince and princess?" Her friend groaned into the mud.
Victor was about to speak, but Nova jumped in first. "We just saw you get thrown out of a water tornado," she snapped. "Maybe you should drop the attitude before I—"
The pink-haired girl opened her mouth to respond, her nose scrunching up in disgust, but the girl with purple braids pushed her aside with an annoyed sigh. "Samara, enough," she whispered, brushing a wet braid out of her face before turning to Nova and Victor with a sorry look. "Just ignore her. We just got thrown out of a dimensional whirlpool, and she's cranky because her hair got messed up."
Victor snorted as he looked at Samara's frizzy pink hair (which honestly looked like it had been messed up by a crazy octopus), but the girl with purple hair shot him a sharp glare. "I'm Isla. That’s Eli," she said, pointing at the boy who was still face down in the mud, groaning like he was in pain. "And yes, just so you know, we are lost. Thanks for noticing."
Eli finally got up from the ground, shaking off the goo from his teal hair like a wet dog. "Lost is putting it lightly," he grumbled, squinting at the horizon where the water tornado had turned into a suspiciously calm puddle. "We were trying to get to Atlantis. This is definitely not Atlantis."
Samara crossed her arms. "Oh, so now you’re saying it’s not my fault?" she snapped, but Isla elbowed her hard, nodding towards Nova and Victor, who both looked really confused.
Victor blinked at the three of them, their bright hair clashing with the dull colors of the cracked ground. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling very aware of how Nova was looking at him like he was about to say something dumb(which was probably true). "Um," he began, then cleared his throat when his voice squeaked. "What are you?”
Samara scoffed, tossing a wet pink braid over her shoulder. "What, can’t your little royal eyes handle some color?" she mocked, but Isla shot her a warning look before turning back to Victor.
Isla sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose like she was explaining something super obvious to little kids. "Naiad. Water spirit. Springs, rivers, that kind of stuff," she explained. Eli wiped more gunk off his face and shrugged. "Merfolk. Saltwater kind," he added. Samara just rolled her eyes, popping her gum. "And I’m the reason sailors don’t return home," she said, showing teeth that suddenly seemed too sharp for a human mouth.
Isla sighed again, rubbing her temples like just thinking about it hurt her. "Atlantis was one city," she said quietly. "Now it’s three: the Coral Court for merfolk, the Abyssal Spires for sirens, and the Spring Palace for naiads."
Eli snorted. "And the only thing we all agree on is that the other districts smell like rotten kelp." He scrunched up his nose, looking at Samara’s sharp glare. "No offense."
Samara brushed a bit of sludge off her sleeve with a look of disgust. "Yeah, well, the Coral Court reeks of dead fish and regret," she retorted to Eli.
Nova rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Victor to prevent him from saying something foolish (again). "You do realize we just saw you emerge from a magic puddle, right? Maybe you should dial down the superiority complex," she snapped, crossing her arms.
Samara narrowed her eyes. "Superiority complex?" she scoffed. "You’re the ones standing here as if you own the place while we just got chewed up and spit out by a—"
Victor grabbed Nova’s wrist, pulling her back before she could hit Samara. "Easy," he whispered. Eli groaned, rubbing his temples. "Great. Two seconds in and we’re already starting fights with the locals."