Sea Bride- Children of the Waves by LaVerne Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

rocks. The building
material had a textured look, almost like stucco. There were even windows just
like in buildings on land, but she would bet the translucent coverings on the
windows wasn’t glass as she knew it. The tallest looked about ten stories high
and the lowest maybe three. She saw quite a few teenagers swimming around or
traveling on the sea floor in some sort of boat-like vehicle, but it skimmed the
bottom, churning up sand as it passed by. Everywhere she looked, there was
life, and people. People who lived in the sea, all with legs.
    “We are children of the waves,”
Xavior explained in her mind. “Sea people, if you prefer.” He swam right down
the middle of two towers, standing about a hundred feet from the bottom. The
image of a man, twice the size of a normal human, was carved into the side of
the towers. It might have been Poseidon, without a fish tail. He stood naked
but for a wrap around his waist, on two legs like a man who walked on the land,
but he held a trident in his hand. “This is our capitol city. It is called
King’s City, seat of the sea throne.”
    There were a couple of adult
men swimming near the entrance, and both wore colorful swim shorts. Thank
goodness, what she wore didn’t seem so out of place. At least she had a top on.
She wondered what the women wore. When the men glanced up and saw Xavior, they
stopped talking, placed closed fists over their hearts, bowing their heads to
him as they swam by. “Is that the way you all normally greet each other?” she
asked.
    “Sometimes. If you don’t mind,
I’m going to take you to my place first. From there, I’ll contact my companion
who’s still on the ship and find out if they remained on schedule. Afterward, I
will show you around.”
    They continued to swim past
tall buildings, spread out on both sides of them. There were no streets but
clear paths. “Oh God, Des! She’s going to be frantic. Will I be able to call
her and let her know I’m all right? Although, I’m not sure she’ll believe me if
I tell her what happened and where I am.”
    “We don’t have phone service
down here. But from the pal—uh, my home, I can contact Aaron, my friend
who’s still on board, and have him get a message to Des for you, so she’ll know
you’re okay and will catch up with her at the ship’s next stop.”
    “But what will you say?”
    “I’m sorry but I’m not going to
be able to tell her the truth.”
    “That’s what I figured.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ll think of
something, so she won’t be alarmed.”
    They swam through an archway
into what looked like an underwater garden. Colorful flowers crowded either
side of the walkway they swam over, and equally colorful fish swam among the
flowers that swayed with the water’s ebb. She’d never seen anything like it.
Some of the fish had long thin faces and ate from the center of the flowers,
like hummingbirds.
    Beyond the garden was a
building that looked different from the others. For one, it seemed to be one of
the largest buildings she’d seen and perhaps one of the tallest. They came to a
set of double doors twice the height of Xavior and they opened at their
approach. It took Cori a moment to realize two men stood on the other side of
the door and had opened it. They greeted Xavior the same way the others had
greeted him. The other thing she noticed was all she’d seen were adult men and
teenage boys. Where are the women and
young girls? “Do you not have females?” she asked.
    The sound of his laughter
echoed in her head. “Yes, we have female sea people. They are out and about
also. I saw a few on our way here, but you might not have noticed them. Look,
there are a few now.”
    She swung her head in the
direction he faced and sure enough, there were two women heading straight for
them. One seemed in her mid-twenties, and the other a teenage girl anywhere
from thirteen to sixteen. Both were stunning, and at least wore strips of
matching clothes, instead of going