Enchanted Sea

**KATHERINE'S POV**

We must have been driving for half an hour when Warren sat up a little. I slowed the boat down and allowed him to take a good look around.

“What is it? Are we there?” I questioned when we came to a complete stop.

He looked around a little more before nodding his head, “I think so.” He looked back at me, “let me just take a quick look to double check.”

I nodded my head and Warren did his best to jump off and dive beneath the waves. As I waited for him to come back, I tried to find something that would keep the boat from floating away. Not finding anything, I let out a sigh and sat back down so I could wait.

I moved over to the edge when I saw him come back up, “is this the place?”

He nodded his head and looked down at the water, “yeah. You can hold your breath for a long time, right?”

“Yeah, why?” I asked confusedly.

“Cause it is quiet a swim to the mouth of the cave,” he informed me.

“I should be okay,” I told him, “I just have no way to anchor the boat down. If I don’t, it will just float away.”

He looked like he was thinking for a bit, “do you have a long rope on there somewhere?”

I bit my lip and thought about it for a second before nodding my head. “Yeah, I do strangely enough.” I moved to the bow and got down on my knees before digging in the storage for the rope. “Ah ha!” I exclaimed when I pulled it out and went back over to Warren before handing it over.

“Great,” he pulled it into the water. “Tie this end to the boat and I will be right back.” He instructed before taking the rope down. I quickly tied the rope to a handle on the boat and waited for Warren. I felt the boat get tugged a little before it leveled out. Warren surfaced again, “There. You are all good to go.”

“Where did you tie the rope?”

He laughed a little, “There is a giant rock on the sea floor that is sticking up just far enough that I could wrap the rope around it.” I laughed along with him for a minute before he motioned towards the water with his head. “Now strip out of those clothes and get in the water you goof.”

I shook my head and pulled my shirt off of my body. I could feel Warren’s eyes rake up and down my body as I dropped my shirt to the floor and pushed my shorts off of my hips. Climbing onto the bow, I dove into the water before surfacing and swimming into Warren’s arms.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Yeah I am,” I told him with a smile.

“Good,” he sighed and pecked my lips. “Take a deep breath and don’t let go of my hand. Understood?”

I nodded my head and took a deep breath and dove under the water. Warren came down after me and took a hold of my right hand and guided me further and further into the water. When the sea floor came into view, I saw the rock that Warren had tied the rope too. Not too far from the rock I could see an opening in the ground that seemed to be the underground cave.

Warren led me over to the cave and pulled me in after him. As we swam, I took a look at my surroundings. The walls were covered in crystal that continually glittered in the sunlight from above. Colorful plants that I have never seen before littered the ground and some even grew from the ceiling. And like the plants, the fish came in many distinct colors and shapes.

Ahead of us, I saw an opening appear and it looked as if it was brighter than the cave. That could only mean that there was open air, which was a good thing cause I was running out of breath. Warren must have noticed my struggle to keep my breath, so he pulled me into his arms and swam as fast as he could to the inner surface. When we broke the surface, I took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he had my face in his hands with concern in his eyes.

I nodded my head while taking another deep breath, “yeah I’m fine.” I looked around and my mouth dropped. “Wow. Is this really located underwater?”

Warren nodded his head, “Mmmhmm. Now you can see why no one has ever done this before.” He told me at the same time as pointing up to another hole that could be a cave. “The stones are up in that cave.”

“And a mermaid can’t climb,” I remarked with a smirk on my face. I looked up at the cave. “So all I have to do is climb up there, grab the stones, and we are good?” I questioned while irritating the plan.

He nodded his head, “basically.” We swam over to the cliff just under the cave. He wrapped his arms around my waist. “Now you are looking for a green and pink stone. All you have to do I grab two and come back down.”

“Okay,” I nodded my head before resting my forehead against his.

“Be careful, okay.” He murmured as he looked into my eyes.

“I highly doubt anything is up there,” I told him while laughing a little.

Warren smiled widely and shrugged his shoulders, “you never know.” He pecked my lips and helped me onto the cliff. “Now up you get up goof,” he said as he patted my ass a little.

I shook my head and laughed at him as I began my climb. “You are such a pervert,” I yelled back down to him.

“You know you love it,” he laughed as he continued to watch me climb.

I laughed out loud and continued my climb up the cliff. I was about half way up when my right floor slipped off the wall and I fell off completely. “Aah!!” I yelled out right before I got a grasp on a ledge.

“Katherine!” Warren yelled up to me with concern laced in his voice, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” I told him before beginning to climb again.

“And you said there would be nothing to ‘be careful’ about,” he mocked me.

“Oh shut up,” I muttered.

I climbed the rest of the way up and heaved myself up onto the ledge just outside of the cave. Looking down I saw Warren looking back up at me. He smiled sweetly at me and I smiled back before getting to my feet and heading into the cave.

I took a deep breath before wandering farther into the depths of this cave. When I finally made it to the end, my mouth dropped in shock and an amused smiled spread across my face. All along the walls must have been a million stones. They all glittered in the light that came from above. Instead of looking for the stones that I needed right away, I wanted to see the sky. I bit my lip as I climbed up and out of the hole.

The smile on my face brightened when I took a look around me.

I was standing on a small island. There was crisp, white sand and palm trees that gave just the right amount of shade. I spun in a couple of circles and allowed the sun to soak into my skin.

“I will have to keep this place in mind if I ever need to get away from my parents again,” I muttered to myself. I took another deep breath before deciding it was time that I climbed back down the hole.

Going back into the cavern, I started to look around for the stones that would change our lives.

After about 20 minutes, I let out a huff. {I am seriously going to kill Warren after this.} I thought to myself as I shifted some more stones around. All I had to do was find the pink and green bi-colored stones, get two and leave. Simple enough, right?

Well it’s not.

There were stones of every color in the rainbow up here: red, yellow, blue, etc. there were also more bi-colored and multi-colored ones. I have never seen so many little rocks in my entire life.

“God damn it! Where are those stupid…” My muttering was cut short when I finally saw them.



They were lodged into the ceiling, right into the stone around the hole that I had previously crawled through. “Are you kidding me?” I said in aggravation.

As I climbed up, I noticed writing etched just below the circle:

‘Sacrifice must be made in order to fill hearts greatest desire’

I had no idea what that could mean, but as I pulled two of the gems out if suddenly clicked. In order for Warren and me to get what we wanted, a sacrifice on either his part or mine would have to be made. {Great, just great.}

I let out a sigh and made my way back to the edge of the cave. When I looked down I saw Warren lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. He must have noticed me staring at him because he smiled.

“Did you find them?” He called up to me while moving closer to the wall.

“Yeah, finally.” I yelled back, “you might want to move a little cause I am coming down the easy way.”

He must have caught on to what I was getting at because his eyes widened and he moved so he was flush against the rock. Taking a couple of steps back I took a running start before diving into the water below. I swam up to the surface and shook my hair out of my face.

“Hey!” Warren yelled out from behind me with laughter in his tone. “Was it necessary to hit me in the face with your hair?” He asked as I turned to look at him.

“Sorry,” I apologized before motioning to the exit. “What do you say we get out of here?” He nodded before floating over to me and wrapped his arms around me. “It will probably be faster if you just swim with me in your arms, than dragging me behind you,” I suggested.

“Yeah probably,” he agreed.

I took a deep breath before Warren pulled me under the water and started to swim as fast as he could. When he got to the rope he stopped and let me go so he could untie it. I swam up on my own, before climbing into the boat and waiting for Warren.

“Here,” he said as he surfaced and passed the rope over to me. He hopped up onto the front of the boat, “Can I see them?” I nodded and handed the stones, which had still been clenched in my hand, over to him. He turned them over in his had a little and smiled. “Why did it take you so long to find them?” He asked looking into my eyes as I sat in the chair.

I scoffed and laughed, “There were so many different stones up there that they weren’t exactly easy to find.” I told him as I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, at least now we can figure this out.” He smiled brightly, “we can get what we wished for.” I bit my lip and Warren must have noticed the uncertainty in my eyes. “What is it?” He asked as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“It’s not that easy,” I informed him with a sigh.

“What do you mean? I thought all we had to do was get the stones, make a wish and then we can be together?” He looked even more confused as he looked down at the stones in his hand.

“There is more to it,” he looked up at me, “there was writing next to where I found them. It basically said that a sacrifice has to be made for the spell to work,” I explained to him.

“What kind of sacrifice?”

Warren looked back at the stones before handing them to me. “Let’s not dwell on it right now. Let’s just get you home, and we will talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

I smiled and accepted them, “okay.”

I put on my clothes and slid the gems into a pocket on my bag before turning the boat on and driving home. Warren was in the same place that he was on the ride out, and I could tell that he was thinking about what to do. I knew this, because that is all I could think about.

The whole ride back, all I could think about was what would we have to sacrifice? And would we be able to go through with it?