Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Rachel looked down at her green, scaly mermaid tail and her long, flowing red hair, and for a second, she couldn’t help but wonder why she looked like a mermaid. Holding her hand as she swam under the sea was Benji. She looked down at his legs, which were no longer legs, but a green, scaly tail as well, and the water flowing through his beautiful mane of hair made it look irresistible as he gazed into her eyes. The warm water reminded her of the tropics. She could feel the sun beating down on her through the crystal blue water as she gazed back into Benji’s eyes.

He leaned in and kissed her, passionately, as if it were their first kiss. She felt tingley through her tail and hands and she could feel the little hairs on her arms stand up. As they kissed, Rachel could feel something being slipped into her hands. It was cold and metal with sharp edges.

She looked down to see Benji had handed her a shiny, gold key.

She looked at him, confused.

“What’s this?”

“It’s the Gold Key, let’s use it,” Benji said.

“Where? How?” Rachel asked, looking around the sea floor as if a treasure chest would magically appear.

“C’mon, Rach, you’ve done this before, don’t you remember?”

“Um, I think you’re mistaken, I’ve never seen this key before in my life!” Rachel assured him.

“This key is to the Golden Chest. You remember, the one that came out of the old ship.”

Rachel stopped and thought for a moment and then a smile came across her face. Suddenly, she remembered it. Benji had found the key they’d been looking for for ages. The key held the answers to what lie inside the ancient Golden Chest.

“Let’s go!” Rachel said in excitement, as she grabbed Benji’s hand and started swimming up towards the rays of the sun. “We don’t have much time!” Rachel said, swimming faster.

“I know, we have to move quickly!”

The two swam quickly up towards the shore, passing other schools of fish, swimming around them. As they reached the top of the water, Rachel leaned in and kissed Benji one more time.

“I love you,” Benji said, in between kisses.

“I love you, more,” Rachel said back, smiling. “Promise you’ll never leave me?”

“I promise!” Benji said.

“Say it again,” Rachel begged.

“I promise! We will be together forever. Now, let’s go find that treasure,” Benji said with excitement.

“OK!” Rachel said.

As they emerged from the water, their mermaid bodies quickly turned back into human bodies, with legs and feet. They no longer had their tails and now they could breath oxygen. As if this were completely normal, it didn’t faze either of them as they skipped together towards the Golden Chest.

The sun quickly went behind the clouds and the sky grew dark—darker than Rachel had ever seen before. It was almost black, like midnight on Halloween. There was a bright orange streak where the sun had gone behind the clouds that cast an ominous shadow over the land. Rachel became scared and slunk into Benji’s arms.

“Don’t worry, Rachel. We will be OK, we just have to get to the chest,” Benji assured her.

“No, I’m scared. What’s happening?” Rachel asked.

“There’s no time for questions. Hurry!” Benji pleaded. “There’s the chest, I see it, over there!” He pointed towards the rocks next to the ocean.

The two ran quickly towards the rocks where the Golden Chest lay on its side. As they approached it, the two looked around to see if anyone was there or if anyone was watching them. They knew they had to move quickly so they didn’t get caught.

“Hurry, get the key out!” Benji said to Rachel.

Rachel fumbled around and reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the shiny golden key. Her hands were shaking as she lifted it towards the key hole.

“I hope this works!” Rachel said.

As she put the shiny key into the hole, a loud crash of thunder boomed above her, making her jump backwards.

“Try again!” Benji yelled. “C’mon, Rachel!”

She quickly got back onto her feet and put the key back into the hole. She turned the key to the right, and a beam of light came out of the cracks of the chest. As she and Benji worked together to pry the lid off a huge wave came and crashed over them, getting them soaking wet. The waves kept coming, faster and faster, and Rachel felt drenched.

Rachel woke with a start, and felt as if she were falling from a high cliff. She sat up, out of breath, looking around her as if it had all really just happened. She touched her legs to see if they were real or if she still had a tail. She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten to this place as she looked around to find herself washed up in a dark, damp cave. Panicked, she looked around for Benji. She couldn’t find him anywhere, but heard someone breathing loudly around the bend.

She leapt to her feet and peered around the bend of the eerie cave she’d woken up in.

“Benji!” she cried, her voice echoing. “Are you here?”

Silence filled the air. The breathing she’d heard just moments before grew louder and louder, as if following her. She started to whimper and tear up thinking that she may be alone in this cave with nobody to protect her.

“Benji, please! I need you!” Rachel cried.

Rachel looked around to see stalagmites and stalagtites surrounding the ceiling and floor of the cave. She had to dodge them in the tight areas. Then, suddenly, she saw him, lying on the floor with blood coming out of his neck.

Benji.

She ran over towards him, slinking her body down next to his and lying across his body hysterically crying.

“No! Benji! No!”