Max put on his oxygen mask and the oxygen tank onto his back. He ran towards the jetty dock and jumped into the sea. Within minutes, he was swimming down towards the bottom of the sea towards the shimmering kaleidoscope of lights. What he saw later was a lovely sight even for eyes that aren’t sore.
There was, as he suspected, a huge world of living, breathing merpeople, just like the ones in the legends. They were all almost just like regular people like you and I, only that they have shimmering, beautiful tails for legs and they breathe underwater. They were all moving towards a huge castle that was purely made out of corals and shells of different shapes and sizes that shine just like a kaleidoscope. It was so beautiful beyond words that Max found it hard not to gape at it.
He tried to blend in but seeing that he had no shimmering tails like the merpeople and wore clothes and shoes instead of being half-naked like them, he’d be such a conspicuous spectacle. He resolved to sneak and hide in corners as he slowly advanced into the castle. So far, so good. He was really surprised to see a pair of octopuses guarding the front gate of the castle and he was even surprised to see seahorses wearing tux checking invitation cards, but he was lucky that he was able to go past them. He had his way of avoiding these things: he’s learnt those tactics in comics.
When he finally entered the castle and sneaked into the great hall, he was in for more excitement and surprises.
“Where is Max?”
The courting ceremony has already begun an hour and a half ago and the crowd of dancing bachelors and bachelorettes were increasing. Some have already got who they wanted and were either dancing to the beat or sitting at the corner talking lovie-dovie stuff. Norman had to say something.
“Oh, he’ll be here soon. He probably ran into someone he knows, like Bea or Felix, maybe,” Norman was so used to covering up for Max, the words practically came out almost automatically.
“Well, Felix is here,” Virginia said, pointing at the little merchant’s son dancing in the crowd as he tried to court a girl or two. “So, maybe he could be with Bea. He’d better make it here quick. He’ll be performing later.”
“Performing?” Norman’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Hasn’t he or his pals told you? He’s going to perform on stage later for a song. I’ve already reminded him that this morning before he went to school. That’ll increase his chances of getting himself the right girl. Although I secretly think that Bea is quite OK…”
Her voice began to trail away as Norman began to fear Max. He didn’t expect this, and he was sure that Max has forgotten it as soon as Virginia mentioned about the performance. He knew that Max hated this ceremony as much as Virginia hated the sea.
“You better come back soon, or I can’t help you anymore.”
Max stared with awe at the wonders of the castle’s great hall. It was decorated with more seashells and corals that glimmered brighter than the brightest jewels in the world. When he looked closer at the built of the wall, he noticed that some part of the wall was really made out of real crystals and rubies, and other part were made of real jewels, gold and silver here and there. If Max’s mouth was flexible, he would’ve gaped until his jaws fell onto the sea bed.
More and more merpeople were coming into the hall, filling it up with laughter and chatter. Max quickly swam his way into somewhere inconspicuous before someone found him. He hated the idea of being caught by an octopus or a whale or a dolphin or somewhat. From his hiding place, he continued to watch as everyone settled in the hall with their chatter and fancy fans and all.
“Introducing the arrival of His Majesty King Benedict!!!”
Everyone clapped when a seahorse appeared announcing the arrival of the King of the Sea. Max almost had a heart attack when he saw that this King Benedict, who was coming out in a weird shell-shaped carriage pulled by a pair of dolphins, looked exactly like his late father Blake. He wanted to run out and hug him but when King Benedict descended on the bed of an oyster (his throne) and when he looked harder, he realized that it was not his father. His father, as far as he could remember, had brownish-red hair and the blue eyes which he inherited from, but this man wasn’t brownish-red haired or blue eyed. He had dark blue hair and green eyes. And although his face looked exactly like his dad, it’s impossible that he could be able to live and breathe underwater, like what King Benedict was doing. Max sighed at the disappointment and stayed where he was. But he soon cheered up when King Benedict, using his trident, sent a shower of beautiful and magnificent fireworks.
“And announcing King Benedict’s most trusted advisor…”
And the list went on, introducing the incoming royal or important guests. Then suddenly everyone clapped when the seahorse announced that King Benedict’s sons were going to perform on stage for their beloved sister, who was the birthday girl for today. It dawned to Max that this was a royal birthday party. This was something new and he definitely didn’t want to miss it for the world. He checked to see if the air in his oxygen tank was still enough. Luckily it was, so he sneaked himself into another inconspicuous spot to get a clearer view.
The orchestra started playing, funnily played by a huge octopus, a blowfish, a few salmons and a group of jellyfish, conducted by a lobster. The curtains, which were made purely out of seaweed, drew up, revealing 6 oysters. As the song began to be sung, the oysters opened one by one, revealing 6 mermen who looked much older than Max. Max heard the mermen sang out their names throughout the song, namely Peter, Pad, Pjer, Pac, Pince and Pablio. Max wrinkled his nose at all their names and thought, ‘What’s with the ‘P’?’
Finally, from below the stage, emerged another oyster which was bigger than all of them combined. While singing, the 6 mermen shifted their gaze towards the oyster and sang, “Here’s our birthday sister Phoebe!” The oyster opened, revealing the birthday girl, and boy, what a birthday girl she was, with dark chocolate-brown hair and the most beautiful jade-green eyes Max had ever seen. She was fairer than the fairest fairy in the world and Max had never seen any creature as beautiful as her.
He had finally found his princess from the far unknown destination of paradise.
Up on land, the courting ceremony was pretty warmed up. The bachelors and bachelorettes chit-chatted amongst themselves, seemingly pretty excited when the MC announced that there will be a performance soon, performed by the one and only Maxwell Deanhart and his band. Norman began to feel nervous when he heard the excited whispers from the girls.
“Oh, this is so great! Max is gonna perform!”
“Yeah! That’s a new thing we don’t see everyday!”
“For once, Max is being sensible instead of drowning himself in dreams!”
“Ooh, I wonder what he will perform!”
“I wonder where he is,” Norman muttered to himself nervously, praying hard that Max has come back from his ‘sea expedition’ and remembered his performance for tonight. Everyone waited anxiously, including Virginia. No one came out of the stage. No one stepped out to sing or act or do something on stage. Norman began to sense big trouble was coming afoot.
“Where is that young man?” Virginia asked in the midst of all the anxious, surprised and impatient whispers. “He has to go up now if he wants to get a bride.”
“Uh…I think maybe he got a little stage fright,” Norman said as he stepped further and further away from the widow. “I guess I’ll go and check on him for a while.”
Norman ran towards the backstage in a thrice. When he reached there, he saw Felix, Bea and a few more people standing there with their instruments, looking nervous and agitated.
“Psst! Where’s Max?” Norman hissed. Bea noticed him and ran towards him.
“You mean you didn’t see him too? Oh no, what are we going to do?”
“He sneaked out of the house and out to the sea again. I should’ve stopped him.”
“Out to the sea again?!” Felix exclaimed. “Oh man, this is so not good! Mrs. Deanhart told us beforehand to help out with Max’s performance and told us to keep an eye on him! I can’t believe he did this again!!”
“Norman! You better give me a good reason why Max is not here!!”
Norman winced. Needless to say, Virginia was standing right behind him, looking pretty fumed up and angry. Outside, the crowd was getting quite wild and pissed off, especially the girls. Felix and Bea gulped in fear.
“Uh-oh. Busted!”
Max stared dreamily as the birthday princess Phoebe was on stage performing a song for her fellow guests. Everyone present even forgot their food to listen to her song. She sang so beautifully, like a sea angel descended from heaven for all the creatures of the underwater world to see. He was ultimately sure that no one could match her beauty ever.
After her performance, she mingled with her friends to enjoy her birthday cake and food. She could be seen swimming around, laughing and talking with all her mermaid friends. She even danced with a few mermen and had a blast when her brothers came in one by one and gave a sort of teasing dance. Finally, King Benedict got off the throne to dance with his daughter. Max couldn’t help being mesmerized by them: one who looked so much like his late father whom he missed so much and the other who was truly beautiful and wonderful beyond compare. Max almost drooled when he heard her laughing; it sounded like spring has come into the sea and touched his heart.
“Hello, Phoebe!” Max heard someone calling the beautiful Phoebe. It was a merman, and quite charming at that. He looked a wee bit like Max, with dark black hair like a raven and a pair of deep violet eyes and very fair skin. He saw Phoebe blushed at upon seeing him and his heart couldn’t help feeling jealous.
“Why, hello, Prince Drakeb. You’re pretty late,” Pablio clapped the merman’s back.
“Sorry, but I’m here to bring my sweet princess a gift,” Drakeb replied and clapped his hands. A turtle swam in with a string of seaweed in his mouth. The seaweed was pulling along a shell. Drakeb excused the turtle and announced, “My dear princess, I give to you…”
He tapped the shell a few times before it cracked open to reveal a statue of Phoebe carved out of a huge coral. Everyone gasped and oohed at the sight. Phoebe was at lost of words. King Benedict clapped his hands with glee and admiration.
“My, my, my, what a pleasant gift! This must have cost quite a sum! I would be glad to have a son-in-law as generous as you!”
“It would be an honour if I am given the opportunity to dance with Princess Phoebe as a token of your gratitude,” Drakeb bowed gracefully as he took the blushing Phoebe’s hand, which was of more jealousy to Max. He was about to come out of his hiding place and rush over to give Drakeb a piece of his mind when he noticed a dark shadow coming towards the castle.
“It is pretty generous of him,” Pad stroked his chin thoughtfully, “but where are we actually going to place this statue?”
“How about on my sea bed?” An icy cold voice filled the whole hall which sent everyone into horrified screams and terror.
Max could see that this type of danger was no simple one to tackle.
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