Gills- Chapter Thirteen

                                    

                                          
Hey, this is a pic of Kara, except her hair would be darker, and her eyes would be a proper green. 
                          
http://www.curly-hair-styles-magazine.com/images/curly-hair-cut-11.jpg
                          
Recap:
                          
I gasp. Luke's right. Kara really is different.
                          
Still Annie's POV
                          
Kara is stunning. 
                          
She has tangled black hair, which falls to her waist. She is tall, and is lithe. Her eyes are as green as the ocean, with perfect, pearl-like teeth.
                          
She looks like she belongs in the ocean, not me. 
                          
"Luke!" She cries, rushing up to him, and pulling him into a warm hug. 
                          
"Oh, hey, Kar." Luke grins at her.
                          
"Hi!" Kara notices me, sitting in the corner. She grabs my hand, and pulls me up, giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'm Kara. It's really nice to meet you."
                          
"I'm Annie" I reply, grinning.  
                          
"Luke, Annie, could you show Kara to her room, and help her unpack and get comfortable?" This was Luke's dad.
                          
"Sure," Me and Luke answer at the same time. 
                          
Luke helps carry her suitcases upstairs into the spare room. 
                          
Kara collapses onto the bed, pulling her suitcase with her. 
                          
"So, how was the journey?" I ask.
                          
"It was the pits! Seriously."
                          
Luke and I both groan in sympathy. Kara unzips her suitcase. She sticks her hand in, and rummages for a minute, before she pulls out a jar.
                          
I look closer. It's a jar of pickles. 
                          
My confused gaze meets Luke's amused one. "Oh, yeah," He tells me, grinning. "Kar is totally obsessed with pickles."
                          
Kara strokes the jar lovingly. "It's not an obsession. Pickles are an important part of our world today. They need to be embraced, loved."
                          
She hands the jar to Luke. "Could you put this in the kitchen for me? Thanks."
                          
When he's gone, Kara grabs a folder from in her bag. She slips out some posters, smoothing them out on the bed.
                          
"What is it?"
                          
"This is Persiden, God of the sea. All Xente Do Mar are his children."
                          
"Xente Do Mar?" I ask, trying to copy her pronunciation. I am totally confused.
                          
"People Of The Sea. Mermaids, basically. But without the tails. They look like humans, act like humans, feel like humans. Except they're not."
                          
Uh-oh. Luke's right. She IS obsessed with mermaids, or 'Xente Do Mar', whatever you want to call them. 
                          
But I'm not worried. She doesn't know about me, why would she?
                          
We sit in silence for a while, waiting for Luke to return. Eventually, I speak. "Can you tell if someone is a Xente Do Mar?"
                          
Kara smiles at me. "Sometimes. It's really hard. They have Gills, but they're really hard to see."
                          
Phew. "Anything else?"
                          
"They have beautiful eyes. They're normally grey, with rings inside-" She breaks off as she notices my eyes, which are exactly as she described.
                          
"What a coincidence," She laughs. 
                          
I smile back, relieved. 
                          
"Are you one?" I ask.
                          
"A what?"
                          
"A mermaid. A Xente Do Mar. Whatever."
                          
"Oh, no," She laughs, "It's hereditary. I don't have it."
                          
**********
                          
A few hours later, Kara is upstairs watching TV, and I'm gathering my things. 
                          
"Where are you going?" Luke asks, appearing in the hall.
                          
"Swimming," I reply.
                          
"Okay. Just take these." He chucks his snorkels at me, grinning. 
                          
"Uh, why? I don't need them." 
                          
"For good luck. To remind you of me. Whatever."
                          
"Um, okay, but I'm only going to be a couple of hours."
                          
"See you later."
                          
*
                          
When I get to the water, I wrap the strap of Luke's snorkels round my wrist, not wanting to put them down. 
                          
I stand there for a while, just looking at the water, before I dive in. I skim the sea bed, looking at all the creatures down there.
                          
I may might not like my gift, what with all the trouble it causes me, but I do love fish. They're beautiful. 
                          
Eventually, I surface. 
                          
I breathe in the cold air, my eyes closed, liking the feel of it on my face. 
                          
When I open my eyes, I see a pair of legs, standing on a rock, a few feet away from me.
                          
Slowly, my eyes follow those legs up her body to reveal Kara, standing there with her hands on her hips. 
                          
"Yes," She says, with a hard edge to her voice, "As I was saying. I'm not a Xente Do Mar. But you are."