16.
Most girl’s get a party, maybe a car, for their sweet sixteen. What do I get? A mask tightly on my eyes, chains around my hands, and one last goodbye from my parents before being dropped into the ocean. The chain that tug into my wrists, attached to an anchor that is meant to drag me as far as it can take until I can finally break free.
My mom calls it a test, my dad dad calls it Natural Selection day, the rest of the kingdom calls it a too soon death.
I stand at the edge of the pier. The wind is light and the sky bright. If it wasn’t Natural Selection day for me, than maybe I would be able to enjoy the day. But it was. And when I looked around me, I could tell that everyone was just as nervous. Half the kingdom was out today - which was very rare - their fists hanging close to their sides, clenched and knuckles white. Natural Selection day was never a big deal in Thelacia, people turned 16 almost once a week. But with me being the Kings daughter, everyone assumed I would get an automatic bypass at Natural Selection day.They all found out last week, when the guards made the announcement, that I would have it no different than every 16 year old in Thelacia.
Jasper, my best friend, stood to the back of me. This was something he had to do a lot, drop teenagers into the ocean. But he was more nervous than usual. And I knew it was because it was me who was tied to the anchor.
Jasper swallowed the lump that stuck in his throat, he only had about 3 minutes before he was suppose to push the button that released the boards under me and dropped me far below. “We went through this last year remember?” He said trying to sound convincing, but his voice cracking gave away the fact that he knew the odds of me coming out were low. Despite being the King and Queen’s daughter, I was never the fastest swimmer. Mermaid or not, I was always simply an ‘okay’ swimmer. I can’t reply because I look over my shoulder and I see my mom standing a few inches from me, the dark purple mask in her hands. I give Jasper the crack of a smile but he’s lost his cool and he’s gone pale. Only a few more seconds.
My mom ties the mask over my eyes and with the width of it, it falls over my nose in the process. She hums an enchantment over the mask, the one she has had memorized since she was 17. It is meant to keep the mask smothered against the persons face, slowly suffocating them from the second it touches water till the second it reaches the air.
She traces my bare shoulder lightly, I can hear the quietness of her tears that stands out in the silence of everyone holding their breath. The Queen’s quiet sobs and the crash of the waves are the only thing that can be heard. I count down in my head, I only had 10 seconds till I dropped from the moment the enchantment was placed, I had learned that from counting while I watched countless other teens drop, some never returning.
I keep my eyes shut so I can pretend that the mask isn’t on
00:10
I picture myself coming up from the ocean, the sight relief on Jasper and Eva’s face
00:08
The laugh that my father had been holding in since I dropped as he smiles and yells in his loud voice that sends fishes swimming “I knew you could do it Aryla!”
00:06
The warmth that surges through me as I remember that now that I am 16 and have made it past Natural Selection Day, I can finally leave Thelacia
00:04
Jasper’s comforting arms
00:02
Oxygen
00:00
There isn’t a second delay, just like I had talked about with Jasper, as soon as the time hit 00:00, I was gone. The cold feeling of the ocean surrounded me and panic already controlled me like it had been injected into my bloodstream, keeping me alive.
I flicked my legs furiously, waiting for the transformation to kick in and for my legs to change to my tail. I thrash my hands, yanking on the chains and trying to figure out how they expected me to unleash myself when I can’t see and I’m quickly being pulled to the bottom of the ocean. At this rate, even if I managed to get the chains off, there was no way I could make it to the top before I lost consciousness.
My legs change but with the anchor still tied to me, swimming up isn’t an option. I pull at my arm back, curling myself tightly into a ball and trying to slip at least one arm out. As soon as I have one out then I can do it. The metal tears at my skin, ripping it open as I tug relentless against it. My lungs start to burn and I feel myself getting lightheaded.
Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder, I know who it is before I can hear his voice, it’s Jasper. He wraps his arm under my shoulder and fights to hold me up against the anchor weighing me down. He slams something against the chains and within a few seconds, one of my hands are free. I throw my hand to the mask and Jasper whispers something barely audible. The reverse spell. The mask flies off of me and goes straight up, back to the top of the ocean.
In only two occasions is it suppose to return to the top without the person wearing it. If the reverse spell was said while the current possessor of the mask touched it with their fingertips, or the person wearing it failed to free themselves and died. Since the reverse spell was suppose to be unknown by anyone but the Queen, everyone’s obvious guess would be that I had died. That that it would have come as a shocker to anyone but my father, they all assumed I wouldn’t make it out.
“Come on, Eva is waiting for us at the end of the border” Jasper insisted and tugged at my wrist. I knew I had to get going. My father wouldn’t let the guards stop searching until they found my body, proof that I hadn’t somehow learned the reverse spell.
I slid my other hand out and I grabbed Jasper’s. I tensed up for a minute, it’s not like I wanted to stay in Thelacia, but leaving, especially leaving and letting my parents think I died, was never part of the plan. Well until two weeks ago.
I ignore the pain that suddenly hit me when I looked down at my wrists and saw tears in my skin from the chains, and I try to keep up with Jasper as we frantically swim toward the border. Once we’re across it, it didn’t matter what they did, we were out of Thelacia and therefore I was no longer Princess.
I take a look back at the anchor that dropped farther down into the ocean. I think of them finding the loose chains and trying to piece together what happened. I wouldn’t have made it if we didn’t do this, I wouldn’t have been able to break free. If we didn’t do this than I would die, and if we did use the reverse spell, but didn’t get out of Thelacia, than I would have been sent to execution anyway, Jasper would have been sent too.
So I take the moment while I am still in Thelacia borders, to say a silent prayer that everything goes well for the rest of the kingdom, and I thank the heavens for my mother, the one who didn’t stand by and watch me die, the one who gave me the reverse spell.
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