<div style="background-color:#6c9cb8; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><span style="color: #000000"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Century Gothic;">A shark sped past her, but it wasn't hunting - that much she knew. It just didn't smell that way. Alannah grinned toothily and followed, racing with her 'cousin' to nowhere. Maybe it had also felt the weird pull from the depths and gotten scared.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Slow down!"</span> She laughed, a large stream of bubbles erupting from her mouth. To her surprise, the shark did as she asked. She swam around to face it, her own blue eyes seeking its large black ones. There was so much more intelligence there to be found than people understood, and it made her sad. The shark seemed upset, too, for some reason. Maybe she was scaring it. Even if it had seen her before, they didn't have the best memories from what she knew.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Look, I'm the same,"</span> she said, doing a quick round to show off her tail. She brushed her long hair away from her gills. <span style="font-weight: bold">"Just like you,"</span> she continued, her smile faltering. <span style="font-weight: bold">"Just like you..."</span> Lucy would have had a heart attack if she could have seen this, and so would Dan. Dimitri had made the strange feel so normal.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"That's in the past,"</span> she scolded herself, out loud, because no one besides the shark would hear, and it wouldn't tell anyone. It seemed decidedly unimpressed by her. Alannah decided that she wouldn't get more entertainment from that particular fish, and let the remains of her dinner drop from her hand. The shark turned rapidly to snatch the easy bite and went on its way. With it gone, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched and judged returned to the mermaid in full force. She wished she had a waterproof watch as she swam deeper, hoping that the twenty-four hours would pass a little faster this time.</span></div></span></div>