Shoreline

 

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Chapter 1

 It was smooth on the sea today, and the sun high in the sky. Ava's boat paused over a coral reef where she was monitoring a pod of dolphins that came and go. She had an app on her iPad that showed her where they were, she had tagged most of them and saw them heading straight for the boat, she had nicknamed one Mikey as he was the biggest male in the pod. "They're here!" she squealed excitedly and watched them swim under the boat. 


Suddenly something caught her eye under the boat as the boat had a glass floor. "Can you get my diving equipment ready?" she asked glancing over her shoulder. 


"I thought you weren't diving today, not after your last encounter," one of the scientists said. 


"It's okay but there's something unusual down there, and I don't think I can leave it," she said. 


"If you're sure," he said and began to get all her gear ready while she pulled herself into a wet suit and someone zipped her up, the oxygen tanks were clipped onto her back, and she sat on the side, placed the breathing apparatus into her mouth and then fell back into the water. Once in the water she began to descend to the coral reef. 


She was being careful looking for Mako sharks in case she startled one again. But there in front of her sat the shining shard she had seen glinting from the surface of the boat, she glanced up and saw her team watching her, making sure she was safe. She then turned back to the shard and moved some rocks to access, it was made of metal and it had a point on the end, she pulled it out of the mud more and noticed it was quite long and she thought it looked like one of the prongs from a trident and was gold. She then returned to the surface with her find in her grip. 


She swam to the back of the ship where there was a step that she pulled herself on and back onto the boat. "What is that?" one of her team asked, a young man with glasses and dressed in casual clothes but with their research team's shirt on. 


"I'm not sure. It looks like a prong off a folk." She said turning it around in her gloved hand, she put it on the side as she began to take her oxygen tanks off. The team spent a little while longer out on the water before heading back in as they began to lose the light. 


"Perhaps we should let the science team take a look?" one man suggested. 


"Nah it's okay, it's our find and I don't want them taking credit for it." She replied and collected her things up. "I'll see you tomorrow yes?" 


"Yes, six am on the dock?" he smiled. 


"See ya then," she said hugging him and walking off to her motorcycle parked on the pier and chained to the wall, as she drove she glanced at the light house it was on the one thing that made her smile as it helped her find her wat home when they got lost once returning from a night of jellyfish monitoring, she drove to the bar not far from the harbor. As per usual it was noisy, and she predominantly could hear male voices. 


She kept her bag close and walked in, she pushed the door open and pulled out her hair tie from her long brunette hair, the left side had been cropped short, most of the men glanced at her before going back to her drinks. Ava walked to the bar, she stood at the bar ordered her drink and then sat in the corner, she glanced up for a second as she heard a commotion, it was men taking selfies, but she didn't say anything as she didn't really want to get involved with them. She then took the artefact out of her pocket and began to examine it in the low light, as she looked at it, she began to play with the whale bone pendant around her neck. If only she could identify it properly.


The man with the long hair tied back and tattoos turned his head was now sitting at the bar and then turned his head to her slightly, almost like the artefact was calling to him, his father noticed his distraction. "What's wrong?" he asked. 


"I'm not sure," he replied, he decided to get up and walked over to Ava, she heard his boot steps and lifted her head slowly she saw him approach her and her face began to flush red. 


"C... Can I help you?" she squeaked shyly. 


"Where did you get that?" he asked looking down at the shard in her hand. 


"I... I found it in a coral reef," she answered. Then the man's father came over breaking up the awkwardness between them. 


"Hi sorry about my son," he said. 


"Son?" she asked a little confused. 


"Sorry where are our manners, I am Tom Curry, and this is my son Arthur. I own the lighthouse." He said introducing the both. 


"Ava Sanders," she smiled and offered her hand out and they both shook it. 


"That's an interesting artefact," Tom said.


"Artefact? How do you know what this is, can you tell me what it is?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement. They both exchanged glances. 


"Let's go back to the lighthouse, let's not do this here." Arthur said.

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Chapter 2

 They left the bar and walked out to the parking lot. "You okay to follow behind?" Arthur asked.  Ava nodded and mounted her motorcycle, she flipped down the black visor. Arthur glanced back at her and noticed that she had a sea horse on the side of her helmet but it looked like the ones from his home, Atlantis. He also noticed she had an orca painted on the tank of her motorcycle, he smiled to himself and climbed into the truck. 


They headed towards the lighthouse, every now and then Arthur positioned the rear view mirror so he could keep an eye on her, his father noticed and turned to him. "She's on a motorcycle she'll keep up," he said. 


"I know but. . ." he paused. 


"But?" his father asked. "You like her don't you?" 


"No," Arthur said and quickly glanced at her, "there is something about her, and I don't know what it is." 


"Is it perhaps that she has sea creatures on her helmet and motorcycle?" he asked. 


"You noticed that to?" Arthur replied.


"With a big obvious orca on the side of it how could I miss it," his father teased and elbowed his son in the arm playfully.  "Or the fact she's a marine biologist?" 


"She is?" he asked a little surprised.


"Yes, I've read three of her books," his father answered. 


Ava revved her engine breaking their conversation as she sped up, they soon reached the lighthouse and they pulled up outside, she halted her motorcycle and took off her helmet and shook her hair free, her eyes landed on Arthurs. "What?" she asked. 


"Nothing," he replied, she walked past him and headed into the lighthouse after Tom. 


When she walked into the front room, she noticed her books on his bookshelf and smiled to herself, she turned to Tom. "If you knew who I was, why didn't you say anything?" I asked. 


"Because I didn't want to frighten you." He replied, she nodded and continued to look around the room. 


"Feel free to take a seat." He said and sat opposite her, and Arthur also sat across from her. She took the shard from her bag and lay it on the table. 


"Where did you find this?" Arthur asked picking it up off the table. He could hear the call of the seas. 


"I was out on the boat this morning checking on Mikey and his pod when that caught my attention and so I retrieved it in a coral bed." She explained. 


"Coral bed, that's strange," Tom spoke up. 


"Someone's removed the trident from its resting place." Arthur said.


"Wait trident?" She asked and sprung up from her seat. "We were right?" she began to pace up and down. "You know how big this is for us? We are only a small group." She said. "This would get us noticed."


"Not just you, but my brother." Arthur said. "It would then cause a war." 


"War?" Ava asked. 


"Between land and sea, it will be a war of power." He explained. "Let me keep this."


"I can't, it belongs to my research group." She said. 


"Then let me meet them." He suggested. 


"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." She replied. 


"Why?" he asked. 


"Because we're not a social bunch," she said and her words turned into a whisper. Arthur began to chuckle to himself. "What?" she asked. 


"It's nothing. . ." Tom interrupted him. 


"He understands your love for the ocean." He said. Ava smiled at him. 


"Anything I can do to save it," she said. She then looked up at the clock on the wall. "I should be getting back, it's getting late and we're out on the sea again tomorrow." 


"Don't be silly we have a spare room, why don't you stay here?" Arthur offered. 


"No it's okay," she said picking up her helmet and walking outside where it began to rain, Arthur followed her. 


"May I join you tomorrow?" he asked. 


"Sure," she smiled pulling on her helmet and offering a nod of thanks and drove back to her home not far from the harbor.

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Chapter 3

 By the time she got home she was soaking wet, even though her leather was guaranteed to the complete opposite. She pulled off her leather and threw it onto the radiator keep her dry it did nothing, she peeled herself out of it and threw it onto the radiator. She walked to the safe in her room and put the artefact in it, it was now safe and away from the world of man. She then got ready for bed, she gazed out of the window and saw a silhouette. 


She shut the curtains, grabbed her trench coat and ran outside to see who was standing there, she turned on the porch light and saw that Arthur was stood a few feet away from her front door. "What are you doing here?" she asked a little confused. 


"I had to make sure you got back safely. Now that you have found that shard some people may come after you." He said. 


"People? You mean other Atlanteans?" She asked. He nodded. "So you're here to protect me?" 


"Yes," he said and advanced towards her. 


"I assure you I can take care of myself." She said. 


"I'm sure you can but I'm not taking any chances." He told her and walked in to her house without even inviting him in, she rolled her eyes, and followed after him.


"If you're going to stay fish man you sleep downstairs and I will sleep upstairs.." Ava told him sternly. 


"I see you're a no nonsense girl." He said. 


"Indeed I am," she smiled and walked upstairs. "Goodnight."


"Goodnight Ava," he said walking into her conservatory, and laying down on her couch and wrapped the mermaid blanket around his shoulders. Ava slept soundly upstairs clutching her sea horse cuddly in her arms. The storm began to get worse, and the sea was beginning to grow angry, although the two may have slept soundly a group of soldiers was emerging from the waves and heading towards the house. 


Ava awoke suddenly she felt someone was watching her, her bed faced the window and she saw blue glowing lights walking towards her, it seemed like they were holding glowing weapons in their hands, she leapt up and ran down the stairs almost tripping over her octopus slippers, she ran to the conservatory and pulled the door hard and woke Arthur up. He sat up and looked at her, "Ava is everything okay?" he asked. 


"No, I saw a group of what looked like soldiers advancing towards us," she said. 


"Are you sure?" he asked, his face contorted with concern. 


"Yes," she nodded. 


"Okay. Go grab the shard and meet me back here." He told her and pushed her away, she ran upstairs and opened her safe and grabbed the shard, but as she turns there stands a soldier his weapon pointed at her. 


"Give me the shard!" He exclaimed and pulled out his sword. 


"No," she said and ran to the door but the soldier knocked her back and she hit the floor, Arthur had been fighting one downstairs. "Ava!" he ran to the bottom of the stairs. "Ava!" he called again, he panicked as he heard the thump on the ceiling but he was afraid not to hear her answer him, just as he was about to run upstairs a soldier grabbed him by the legs and pulled him down the stairs. 


Ava groaned as she sat up, the soldiers gun pointing at her again. "I won't warn you again human!" he exclaimed. 


"No!" She snarled. The creature just growled and advanced on her and  using his blade it struck her right in the side, she was thrown back with a great force from the weapon and hit the wall before falling onto the bed, she let out a cry of pain and lay there with the shard in her hand, luckily Arthur beat off the soldier downstairs before running up and seeing the scene. 


"Ava!" he cried. 


The soldier looked at Arthur. "You are to return to us immediately, you betray our own kind!" He exclaimed. 


"No!" he growled and gripped the soldier by the throat and threw him out of the top window, his suit broke and he died there and then. Arthurs gaze turned to Ava, she was still but a hand was pressed to her wound. "Ava?" he asked walking over to her. 


"A. . . Arthur," she stuttered. He rushed to her side and saw the damage, the wound was bleeding profusely, he ran his fingers through his hair and began to panic. 


"Do you have anything to stop the bleeding?" he asked. Ava looked at him, she was in so much pain, she took a deep breath. 


"D. . . Downstairs second cupboard. . .a. . . above the sink." She said. 


"I'll be back soon," he said and ran down the stairs. Ava squealed loudly and turned onto her side which just made the wound bleed anymore, frantically Arthur searched through the cupboards and finally he found the antiseptic, bandages, the needle and the thread. He rushed upstairs but when he reached her room she was out cold. "Ava!" he called but she didn't respond. 


"No, no!" he panicked, he quickly poured antiseptic onto a cloth and began to clean her wound with it, he heard a slight whine from her, he let out a sigh of relief and began to sew up her wound, he bandaged it the best he could, but she still remained silent, it worried him but he knew she was saved, well at least she was for now.

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Chapter 5  

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Chapter 6  

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Chapter 7   

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Chapter 9  

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Chapter 10  

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Chapter 11  

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Chapter 12 

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Chapter 13  

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Chapter 14  

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Chapter 15  

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Chapter 24 

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