Awaiting Destiny

by M. Schaefer

  This can’t be… She closed her eyes, and then opened them quickly, thinking it would all disappear…but it didn’t.

  Destiny wasn’t dreaming. She hadn’t drowned. Sunlight filtered through the water and she could see the surface far above her.

  She thought hard, making her head swim. I am way underwater and yet I am still alive. How can that be?

  She calmed herself and took a deep breath, letting her lungs fill with the salty water. She expected to choke and gasp, but it seemed as natural to her as breathing air… just different. She exhaled, watching the tiny bubbles burst from her mouth as they journeyed to the surface.

  A curious, blue angelfish jutted through the bubbles as they left her mouth, brushing a delicate fin against her lips as if it were trying to play with her.

  Funny, she had never thought about fish play before. Horseplay, maybe…perhaps it was just that people rarely got the chance to see the underwater antics of fish.

  Destiny’s presence certainly didn’t seem to be bothering that one! It swooped back down for another run, but this time rushing through her hair, which floated about her like a blond cloud. She wondered where her baseball cap had gotten too. Probably halfway across the world by now. Too bad…it was a great cap.

  She hoped she could find it if she could get loose. Her wrist seemed to be caught under a plank from the broken boat. She couldn’t see her hand, but it throbbed painfully letting her know it was still there-- and not very happy.

  The boat was wedged on a section of coral reef that jutted out like a cliff. Her feet and legs dangled and kicked underneath with no effect. She tried pushing off the cliff wall, but it was so slippery that her feet kept sliding down.

  If she could just lift the boat up a little, she thought she could wriggle her hand loose. She looked around for something to wedge under the boat to help her lift it up. A tough-looking branch of blue coral looked promising but it was well out of reach.

  Sea creatures of all shapes and sizes continued to swim past. They eyed her rather strangely. Only the blue angelfish seemed to stick around, darting timidly into her hair as if it was a tuft of sea grass whenever a bigger fish swam by.

  “Fraidy fish!” Destiny cooed at it as she pursed her lips and blew extra bubbles to tickle its blue belly, practicing her breath. It was nice to have a little company.

  A large school of long, thin fish that looked like pencils slowed when they spotted her. She waved her free hand at them and made her meanest face hoping to scare them away. They didn’t move.

  “Well that’s just fabulous! I can apparently breathe underwater and before I can even enjoy it I’m going to get written to death by a school of pencils! And to think of all the times Mrs. Dilts said writing wouldn’t kill me,” she yelled, dramatically.

  Think! I have to get free!

  She took a calming salt water breath and struggled fiercely. She swung from side to side and pulled with all her might, accomplishing nothing.

  The pencil fish continued to watch her performance curiously. They gracefully beat their tails to remain still in the current. Destiny was thankful that they kept their distance.

  Other amazing and colorful sea creatures swam by paying no attention to her. Destiny felt like a strange exhibit trapped in a beautiful aquarium. She wished she were on the other side of the glass, safe and sound, looking in.

  Suddenly, the fish startled around her and darted away disappearing into tiny caves in the reef and rocks. It was as if all noise and movement on a busy city street had suddenly stopped.

  The hair on the back of her neck felt electrified and she felt very alone. The sea seemed very, very still. A cold chill ran up her spine and she sensed that something terrifying was on its way.

  She willed herself to become still and let her body float freely in the current. She hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t notice her. She fought the urge to close her eyes but knew it would be better to face whatever it was straight on.

  Destiny tried to breathe slowly, worried that the tiny bubbles that sprang from her lips would give away her position. Fighting her frazzled nerves, she turned her back to the reef to face whatever it was that was coming. At least in this position she hoped to get a few good kicks in.

  In the distance, she thought she saw the sunlight reflect off something silvery in the water. A second later, she saw a flicker of light again, only this time closer. She strained to make it out, as it steadily grew closer. Then the flicker turned into the huge and terrifying form of a shark bursting toward her like a torpedo. Her eyes grew round with terror, her mouth dropped open and she ceased to breathe or move. She stared in fascinated horror at a beast so huge it looked like a car with its hood open, careening straight for her. A car with enormous, razor sharp teeth!

  The makings of a blood-curdling scream started to build in her throat. She didn’t have the chance to let it erupt before the great beast was upon her. She closed her eyes and helplessly raised her free hand, palm forward as if to ward it off and turned her head away. She had no desire to see those wicked teeth any closer.

  Sorry Daddy.

  Just then, the beautiful aqua stone in Destiny’s amulet necklace started to glow, softly at first, but then in a blinding flood of light that burst from the stone. It engulfed the shark in a blue glow and instantly froze it in mid-bite.

  Destiny clenched her teeth and waited what seemed like an eternity for the crunch. Nothing happened. She looked back, wondering about the delay, and stared right into the huge, gaping mouth of the frozen shark. The brilliant blue stream of light from the stone in her necklace reflected off the rows of jagged teeth so that she was able to get a good look at them. They were huge, bigger than her thumbs. Beyond the teeth was a mouth so big it looked as if it had enough room to host a tea party. The tale of Jonah and the whale almost seemed plausible at the moment.

  Okay brain. Think! Humongous, frozen shark and glowing necklace. Nothing came to her. There must be some logical explanation…don’t fail me now!

  She furrowed her brow as if the very act should inspire an intelligent line of thought.

  Humongous, frozen, SCARY shark, glowing necklace and breathing underwater.

  She shook her head in exasperation. There is no logical explanation for any of this! There is no way even Mrs. Dilts could come up with an explanation for this stuff! And she knows everything.

  Tiny cleaning shrimp seemed to magically appear and made good use of the shark’s motionless mouth. They went right to work like brave little dentists, swimming right into its mouth and picking out the remains of the shark’s last meal.

  Destiny was thankful that it wasn’t little pieces of her they were cleaning out, though she secretly hoped they would miss something and the shark would get a big, painful cavity.

  “Bad shark!…BAD!” she said, resisting the urge to poke it in the nose. “You tried to eat me!..and that’s really NOT nice!”

  This is all just too weird. She slowly reached out again and ran her hand across the shark’s enormous snout and down the side of its monstrous face until she came to its teeth. Holding her breath and grimacing most unattractively, she reached into its mouth and used her pointer finger to tap gently on its sharpest tooth. It felt as sharp as a pin.

  Destiny reached her foot up and cautiously put her toes on top of its head and pushed with all her might, to see if it was movable. The shark didn’t budge. It seemed to be completely frozen to the spot, like in an instant in time. Then, reaching up with both feet and planting them squarely on its head, and using it like a stepping stool, she climbed up until she stood like a surfer on a giant surfboard.

  “I wish I had a picture of this!” she mumbled.

  She wriggled around until she was facing the ledge, putting her at a better height to see about getting her hand loose.

  A large piece of broken wood from the dinghy was wedged between the rocks and coral on the reef, effectively trapping her hand. On the board, the letters “N C E R” were left showing. The remains
of the name of the small craft.

  Destiny grabbed the edge of the dinghy with her free hand, bent her knees and heaved off of the shark with all her might.

  “JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO THAT POOR DEFENSELESS SHARK?!” the angry, deep voice of a boy stammered.

  Destiny was so startled she whirled around to see where it came from, momentarily forgetting where she was. Her feet slipped and she had to madly wave her free arm around in the water to keep her balance.

  “I demand you unfreeze him at once!” he shouted.

  She turned again but couldn’t get a good fix on him. She could hear him clearly but she didn’t see anyone. Could it be my conscience? No…she figured her conscience wouldn’t sound like a boy…perhaps her fairy godfather then? After the day she had, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was the tooth fairy.

  “I’m sorry! Whoever you are. This defenseless creature was trying to eat me, and I am trapped under this stupid piece of boat,” Destiny said quietly, looking around. She paused, hoping the imaginary voice would say something. But it didn’t, so she continued rambling on. “I didn’t freeze him on purpose, my necklace just sort of froze him in mid-chomp and I don’t know why.”

  She paused again, still no answer. She was getting annoyed, as she always did when she thought people were being rude. “On top of all that, I drowned, was almost written to death and am completely confused!”

  She again waited for a response. And still he said nothing. The nerve!

  “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know where you are! But what I am ABSOLUTELY certain of is that you are very rude and definitely not the TOOTH FAIRY!” she ranted causing tiny bubbles to come out of her mouth so fast she could barely see.

  Angry tears welled up in her eyes but were washed away instantly by the seawater. She hoped whoever was talking to her wouldn’t notice; there was nothing worse than a crybaby even if the situation deserves it.

  “Up here, dimwit,” the boy said.

  He was perhaps a few years older; she could tell when he emerged from a colorful sponge covered rock on the ledge above. He had short black hair that floated about as if trying to escape his piercing blue stare.

  He wore a large knife and sea cucumber pack strapped across his chest. In one hand, he held a large test tube and wore a ring with a red stone similar to the one in Destiny’s necklace. All in all, he was the cutest boy she had ever seen. The thought horrified her, and her temper rose until her lovely shade of pink gave way to an angry red.

  “Dimwit?!” she stammered.

  He scowled sharply. “Well, what else could you be? You’re in a restricted area, standing on a poor frozen shark with… with..legs!”

  Destiny looked down at her legs quizzically.

  “When the King gets word of this, you are going to be in BIG trouble,” he said pointedly. “Now, stop messing around, unfreeze it, and let’s go.”

  “Go? Where?” she asked, feeling even more confused, as if that were possible.

  “Probably mer-jail,” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s what usually happens to mermaids who don’t follow the king’s rules.”

  He pulled his pack open and carefully put the test tube he was carrying into it.

  Destiny exploded. “What?!”… “What king? Mermaid? Are you crazy? I am an American! My name is Destiny Mariner! I don’t know how to unfreeze this giant creep, and if I did, I would only do it if I was absolutely positive it would gobble you up!” She did her best to stomp up and down for effect, though it was hard not to lose her balance.

  The boy stared at her, looking like he had just been slapped…hard.

  He didn’t speak for a full minute. Then he suddenly bowed his head and spoke apologetically. “Please forgive me, Princess Destiny,” he said. “I didn’t know it was you.”

  Destiny starred at him in disbelief. That was not the response she had expected. She tried to stay angry, but she was just too exhausted and it was all so strange! Her anger melted away instantly as it often did and was replaced by musical laughter that bubbled up from her toes until she could no longer contain it.

  “Princess?” she scoffed, sounding more hysterical then she would have liked.

  “You really are crazy.”

  His dark brow furrowed, and it was his turn to look confused. “May we please begin again?” he asked, all traces of anger gone from his tone.

  “Be my guest,” she said somewhat guarded, but not wanting to miss out on what this lunatic had to say.

  “I am Kincade. It is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady. Please accept my most humble apologies,” he said politely. He rose from the rock, put one hand behind his back and one across his front to form a regal bow that ended before her in an impressive somersault with one swift motion of his massive tail.

  Tail? It would have been an enchanting moment, if only Destiny hadn’t fainted.

  Chapter 3

  Magic Carpet Ride

  Destiny’s eyes flew open an instant later. Could she have fainted? What kind of wussy girl was she anyway? Could this be any more embarrassing?

  Kincade was above her on the ledge, his arm muscles flexing with strength as he used the blue piece of coral to pry the board loose. She noticed he was pushing off the ledge with a pair of finely muscled legs.

  She watched him as he worked. Soooo handsome. Had she imagined the tail? No. It vividly stuck in her mind. It was shiny and bluish-green. She would bet her necklace on it.

  After a few strong heaves, there was cracking noise, like a breaking tree branch, and the stubborn board gave way all at once. He carefully guided the sinking scraps of wood around her and her frozen shark.

  “There you go, Princess,” he said, with a crooked, self-satisfied smile.

  Destiny watched as the wood fragments caught the current and drifted away like feathers in the wind. She was free! She was so excited that she momentarily forgot where she was and danced a little jig.

  The pain ebbed away as the blood coursed back through her hand. Destiny wiggled each finger and kissed them in turn, happy to see them in one piece.

  “Thank you! I’m so happy to be free and alive,” she said dramatically, as she examined her wrist, still perched atop the frozen shark. It was a bit scratched, but without serious damage.

  “My pleasure, my lady,” the boy said, with a polite bow.

  That was all she could take. “Okay,…Kincade? Was it? First, if you don’t stop calling me ‘my lady’, I will simply have to stuff you into the mouth of this shark,” she said, pointing downward with a wry smile.

  “I don’t really want to, seeing as you freed me and all, but now that I have use of both hands…” She paused. “Just don’t tempt me. It has been a very long morning.”

  “If you insist, Princess,” he said, returning the smile and adding a flirty wink. “I think the shark has had a rough enough day without being stuffed.”

  “I agree,” she said, deciding not to make an issue of him calling her Princess, even though it was bugging her the same irritating way it did when her Dad took the D-e-s off her name and shortened it to Tiny.

  “Secondly, I’m really sorry about the whole passing out thing.” She wiggled her hands and grimaced. “I saw your.. ah…other bottom. I mean… fish fin,” she stammered, a little too quickly, horrified that she said bottom to a boy she didn’t know. What if he thought she was staring at it? Turning away, she tried to hide her cheeks that had suddenly become so hot that she was worried the seawater would start boiling around them.

  She was relieved when Kincade changed the subject. “May I?” he asked, as he offered his hand to help her off the shark.

  “Please do! I have had enough of his beastly iciness.” She took his outstretched hand. It was warm and strong and made her want to giggle for no reason. What was wrong with her?

  Kincade pulled her up beside him to stand on the ledge. “May we let him go now? I don’t know if it is safe for sea creatures to be frozen too long.”

&nb
sp; She warily watched the light glint off its dagger-like teeth. “Is it safe?” she asked, biting her lips nervously.

  “Well, my laaa…,” he started. Destiny raised a warning eyebrow.

  “Ppprrrincess,” he finished. “I’m not suggesting we wait in front of him while he regains use of his chompers.”

  “Oh, of course,” she replied, feeling silly again. He seemed to be good at making her feel that way.

  The sea was again alive with movement. It seemed that all the sea creatures were ignoring the shark at the moment, and she felt a tiny twinge of guilt. Poor thing, it was looking rather pathetic, going from a scary sea creature to a giant frozen ice cube. On the bright side, the little shrimp had done an excellent cleaning job. She couldn’t imagine that a more impressive, sparkling set of teeth could be found anywhere in the ocean. He would definitely be the envy of the other sharks, even if he were still hungry.

  “Let’s find a safe place,” Kincaid suggested. “Follow me, if you please.”

  Destiny nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

  Kincade, still holding her hand, led her back down the side of the cliff wall until they came to the opening of a huge pink tube coral.

  “This should make good cover for a few minutes,” he said, carefully climbing inside and motioning for her to climb in beside him. “I don’t think he will want to stick around.”

  Destiny felt like she was climbing into the trunk of a giant pink elephant. Squeezing in beside him, her legs suddenly felt like they were being tickled. Several tiny, striped fish jutted out, looking unhappy with having to share their pink home with unannounced visitors. Perhaps next time they should call. She smiled to herself and settled in next to Kincaide, putting her hands on the rim of the coral and secretly enjoying his closeness. They crouched lower in the opening and peered over the edge at the shark.