ENCHANTAILS: Mariana Realm Book 1

TASI AND THE DANGER OF THE DEEP

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1: A Bit of Sparkle

          “There!” she said with satisfaction. Tasi lifted her goggles up onto her fiery red hair and set down her welding torch.  She had just finished putting finishing touches on the door hinge for old Mrs. Chow, who floated over for a closer look.  Mrs. Chow opened and closed the door several times, noticing that the hinge glided perfectly.  But there was something else.  “What is that?” Mrs. Chow asked with a touch of criticism.  Tasi could see Mrs. Chow’s bony finger pointing at the bioluminescent sea moss stuffed into the hinge joint.  “Oh, that is just a bit of sparkle that will light up the threshold when you open the door,” Tasi cheerfully explained.  “It will help you see where you are going.”  “I’ll have you know I have lived here for more than half a sea cycle and I do just fine without… sparkle.”  Mrs. Chow swam into her dwelling and closed the door effortlessly behind her.

          Tasi chuckled.  She couldn’t help but make things beautiful.  She hoped in her heart that, even though they rarely said it, her neighbors felt secretly happy with her special touches.  Most of the merfolk in her realm didn’t understand art.  They always were focusing on function.

          Tasi packed her tools into her satchel and headed back to her Form and Function class.  She was ever so grateful for the community assignments that got her out of class once in awhile.  Tasi was not one to sit still.  She couldn’t help but pause for a moment as she swam up and over one of the Mìmì Qiáo, the secret bridges that connected various parts of the city.  Before her lay the most magnificent realm in the sea.  Mariana glowed with the industrious sparks of the metal-workers. The realm is a maze of elaborate structures, made strong from the iron, copper and silver that was plentiful in the realm.  Every one of merfolk took pride in making Mariana strong.  Certain parts of this massive realm descended over 35,000 feet into the blackest deep.  They contained mysteries that remained hidden from even the bravest Mariana explorers and their precious records.

          Tasi proudly scanned the city until her eyes fell upon the towering spires of the castle rising out of the Shēn in its center.