#the seashell is from my shrimp tank

[soupkiddo]

shimp tank update!!! plants are planted and bacteria is growing!! there's a good amount of biofilm developing which will be a good snack for my little shrimpies once I get them. I put a bone from my endless bone collection into the tank for some extra calcium, as well as a couple seashells. my shrimps are gonna be powerful and undefeatable.

guys I'm so excited I'm getting my shrimp tank set up!!!

the gravel is gonna arrive in the next few days but until then I've got the driftwood in there to start growing algae and bacteria while the tank cycles. I'm gonna do some cute ass fairy garden shit for these shrimp. they are going to live in style. shrimp rave.

I ordered a bunch of plants online but i have no idea when they will get here but once the gravel gets here I can at least start deciding what goes where. I'm so fucking excited about this.

[gooddogbestfriend]

Day Four: Saplings

Liberty and Discovery, soul gold and ocean green, twine together in a balanced ply. Wrapping around them, unbalanced, tangled, and confused, the Candidate Chital, who holds a single seashell. The end of the Candidate's string is hidden in a cocoon of grey acrylic, the disruptive and uncaring Rigour.

This is a two-ply yarn with an autowrapped thread, a "bead," and a single cocoon.

Materials:

Gold and teal fine wool, likely merino or targhee

White bamboo fiber

Grey Hobby Lobby acrylic (it was a GIFT i did NOT BUY IT and if I had a receipt I'd return it or something but I don't. So I'm using it to represent the most evil capitalist machine I can think of.)

[buttterknifeee]

Deep Six- Teen Titans x Aquagirl!Reader

Request: May I request an insert in the episode Deep Six where the titans meet Aqualad?

Masterlist

Summary: Robin makes you accompany this guy name Aqualad and Beast Boy. Will you be able to handle them or will their bickering tear you apart. Also you're a katara kinnie (i know ATLA didn't exist then but still) This episode is Season 1 Episode 8!

Pairings: Platonic!Aqualad x reader, Robin x reader if you squint

Word Count: 4314

A/N: this time i decided not to split up the episode and post it as one! I made them meet for the first time here, so the Aqua kids don't bond much yet, but if you want to see more, feel free to request! (click here for guidelines) Also yes I also ended this one with "anyone up for pizza" thats all i know how to do to end a fan ficbskghs

“Ahhhh, don’t you just love the ocean?” you admired the shallow sea, the blue water flowing by you. The others prepared for launch, reading off the status of the T-Sub.

“Main power online.”

“Oxygen tanks at maximum”

“Defensive system active”

Beast boy hums confidently. “And your new secret weapon is ready to rock.”

Cyborg rolls his eyes through the headset. “Only time you qualify as a secret weapon is after eating a tofu bean burrito.” You stifled a giggle as Beast Boy yells in protest.

“Uh, 'scuse me, bud. Can you breathe underwater? Uh-uh. Can you be any fish in the sea?”

You shrugged your shoulders and smirked. “Cyborg can’t but I can. And I can breathe underwater without being a fish so I guess I’m just as much of a secret weapon as you, BB.”

You found out that you could breathe underwater a few days after you and the others formed the Teen Titans. You were surfing for the first time since that day when you fell off your board. You had accidentally inhaled underwater, and to your relief, you found that you were able to breathe in the ocean water with no problem. You offered to swim outside the sub on your own, but the team didn’t want you to get hurt, so you were stuck in the small confines of your own pod of the T-sub.

Robin ignores you three’s bickering. “We have to find out what this Trident guy is planning,” he says. “If it takes forty barrels of toxic waste, I doubt it's environmentally friendly.”

The engines warm up, the vessel humming to life. “Titan Launch!” Robin exclaims and the T-sub shoots through a tunnel and into the Jump CIty Bay. You watch in awe at the ocean life around you. Now that you had a connection to the ocean, your perspective on ocean life had changed. You clutch your seashell necklace as you continue to take in the view of the ocean, ignoring Beast Boy showing off his teeth and Cyborg turning off his mic as a result. Robin’s voice snaps you back into reality.

“Sonar contact. Beast Boy! Aquagirl! Ready to go?”

You gave a quick smile. “On it.” You unbuckle your harness and the dome unlatched, allowing you to swim out. Beast Boy gave a mischievous smirk.

“Dude, I was born ready. Try not to be jealous.” He aimed the second comment at Raven, who looked at him indifferently. Beast Boy quickly swam out of his pod and transformed into a whale.

“He just put on three hundred thousand pounds. I am so jealous.” she notes sarcastically.

You and Beast Boy made silent eye contact before swimming towards the cargo ship, examining its destroyed remains. He turns into a shark to keep investigating, and you follow his lead. You couldn’t help but feel that you were being watched, as you swam around the ship. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see a green figure; not a bright green like Beast Boy’s but a sicker, murkier green. You point at the green man as he swam away, and you and Beast Boy immediately bolt after it, the T-sub following behind.

Your black scuba shoes propelled you forward, and you aimed blasts of water towards the figure, but it kept dodging your shots. The monster, whom you now assumed was Trident, fired his weapon at you and Beast Boy, and when you dodged, it hit the T-sub. You forced yourself to continue to chase after Trident, hoping that the vessel was also capable of dodging his shots.

You and Beast Boy were nearing close to catching Trident when a voice rang in your head. It wasn’t yours, nor Beast Boy’s; it was clear, belonging to someone no older than you were.

“Your friends are in danger.” you heard. You and Beast Boy both stopped in your tracks, looking at each other in shock. You realized that the T-sub was no longer following you.

“Our friends are in what? Whoa! How did you say that? Dude! How did I say that? Hey!” Beast Boy also says in your mind. You turn to see the T-sub being attacked, and shot off without waiting for Beast Boy.

“Dude, questions are for later! Let’s go!” You order, not even entirely sure how you were able to talk either. You approach the vessel, which was being destroyed by Trident, who you swore you were just chasing.

Suddenly, a figure knocked Trident down. Trident and the mystery person fought each other, moving so quickly that all you could see of the person was a blur of black and blue

You turn your attention to the T-sub, which was slowly sinking into a fissure on the seafloor. Water was filling up fast and a look of panic settled on your teammates faces (except Raven, who seemed to have accepted death). Your eyes glowed blue as you outstretched your arms towards the damaged vessel. Focusing on the water around the titans, you forced the leaks to cease and the descent into the fissure to stop. Your muscles burned as you kept your stance; holding the vessel in place underwater was similar to holding it up on your arms above ground. Beast Boy raced to help as you struggled to keep grip when suddenly, two whales came and carried the sub on their backs.

You let go of the ship and breathe a sigh of relief. Beast Boy sees you almost passing out and comes to your side, now in the form of a squid. Instead of comforting you, he complains about the whales' help.

"They got it? How come they got it?"

A familiar voice rang in your head again. "Because I asked for their help." The voice belonged to the guy who was fighting Trident before. He comes to your other side and supports your other arm, putting it around his neck.

"You talk to fish? Yeah right. And let go of her!"

"You guys need help, and I'm talking to you right?" He glared at Beast Boy, keeping his grip on you.

Beast Boy was about to reply when you held your hand up in front of his squid face. "Beast Boy, I'm a solid five seconds from collapsing. I'm fine with the help."

The guy in blue gave a small smile. "And it's called telepathy. Let's go."

The three of you swam into a cavern. As you entered, the T-sub was floating on the water's surface and although it was extremely damaged, it managed to keep your teammates safe. You nodded to Beast Boy and the other teen and they let you go as you approach the other titans.

Raven asked, "where are we?"

"My place," the mysterious teen answered. "I told the whales to bring you here."

Raven and Starfire both blushed and gave bashful thank yous. You stared at them. Are they… in love with the new guy???, you thought, confused.

Beats Boy seemed angrier than ever. "He saved you?" He yelled, turning back into his human form. "Hel-lo? I was there too, you know."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "Were you? Because if anything I remember Aquagirl keeping us from drowning. What, you stopped Trident from kebabbing us with that souped up shrimp fork?"

"Way to go!" Robin said sarcastically. Beast Boy stuttered a response, but the blue teen interrupted.

"Aquagirl, huh? Well, I'm Aqualad. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, we Atlanteans like to keep a low profile."

You shake his hand, now taking in what Aqualad looked like. He was half a foot taller than you, with slicked back hair and black pupils. He wore a bodysuit with blue scales and black accents. He had nice features, but you couldn't figure out why the other girls were drooling over him, so you kept that thought to yourself.

"You're from Atlantis? That's so cool!" You say.

He nodded. "So is Trident." He opens up a hologram from a table in the cavern. "He's the worst criminal in Atlantis, with an ego to match."

He continues a sideshow filled with pictures of the sickly green monster. "Trident claims he's perfect in every way so he thinks he can do whatever he wants."

"Any ideas what he wants to do with all that toxic waste?" Robin asked.

"Whatever it is, it'll be bad for both our worlds. He's already gained some kind of new power. It's like he can be everywhere at once." Aqualad says.

"Noticed that," Raven says sarcastically.

"As long as we're after the same guy, maybe we can help each other." He looks at the six of you.

Your eyes sparkle. "Of co-" you begin, but Beast Boy pushed you out of the way.

"Whoa, hey, no, we're good. Got the whole Trident thing under control. 'Sides, I'm sure there's a school of minnows somewhere that need your--" He rejects Aqualad's offer, much to you and the other's dismay. Robin pulls him back, and the six of you group huddled.

"We're at the bottom of the ocean," Raven notes.

"Our sub is Swiss cheese." Cyborg adds.

"I almost died back there," You say.

"And we cannot breathe water," Starfire mentions.

Robin is the first to break away from the huddle. "We'll take any help you can give us." He says to Aqualad.

Aqualad nods and has some amphibian guy named Tramm fix the T-sub. He turns back to us. "While he's helping you, I'll track down Trident. " He turns to go into the ocean again, but Beast Boy intersects.

"You mean I'll track down Trident," He says, pushing him a little

Aqualad pushes him back a little harder. "That's ok, I can handle it."

"Thanks, but I think I should do this."

"Seriously, I can take care of it!"

The five of you watched as their quarrel turned into an all out brawl, and suddenly you couldn't take it anymore.

"GUYS," You yell, causing a wall of water to shoot up next to them to grab their attention. They both stared at you wide eyed. "Stop. The. Fighting." You say with a stern expression.

"Why don't you two both go track him down together?" Robin offers, but the two teens cross their arms and scoff.

"I usually work alone." Aqualad says.

"Yeah. Me too."

"You do not! You're part of a team!"

"And you hang out with Tramm the fish boy! What's your point?"

"Hey! Arguing isn't going anywhere. Listen, Aquagirl can go with you. That'll make sure you stay on task." Robin commands, and you perk up at the sound of your name. You quickly pulled him aside.

"What the hell man?? They obviously don't like each other, you should have seen how much they fought on the way here!." You argue, and Robin looks at you through his masked eyes.

"You're the only other person who can survive underwater, they're gonna need you. Besides, you're great at handling conflicts; you'll be fine." He says with a smile. You blush a little at his comment, and sighed.

"Alright Rob, you can count on me” You return to the rest of the group and the three of you jump into the ocean.

As you headed towards the bottom of the ocean, you decided to ask Aqualad a question that's been bothering you.

“Hey Aqualad,” you say telepathically. “Before you said that you were able to communicate with sea animals. How come you’re able to communicate with me?”

“I don’t know actually,” Aqualad admits, still swimming next to you. He points to your necklace. “I’m guessing it's because of your necklace.” He stops to examine it. Beast Boy groans and stops as well. It glowed a little in his hand as he read the ancient text off of it.

“The Shell of Poseidon,” He read out loud. “I recognize this from the library in Atlantis. Only Atlanteans can use its powers, so you must be Atlantean then, right?”

“Woah! I’m not Atlantean, I’ve never even been there,” you sputter, absolutely shocked at what the teen said.

“Well, you must have some blood in you,” he shrugged. “Hey, maybe we’re cousins or something.”

You grin. “Aquacousin? I like the sound of that!”

Beast Boy interrupts your moment. “Ok, haha, family is fun and all, but while you were floating around finding out parts of your identity or whatever, I’ve actually found something on my sonar so, try to keep up.” He swims off, leaving you two to follow him. You expected to see the sea monster, but instead came upon a group of dolphins.

“No offense B.B. but these don't look like Trident to me.” you smirk.

Aqualad swims up to the dolphins, focusing on his telepathy. The dolphins swim up together and Aqualad turns to you and Beast Boy.

“They told me where to find Trident. Try to keep up.” He mocks Beast Boy, then swims with the dolphins. You look at Beast Boy, who seemed pretty grumpy, and turn to follow Aqualad.

You tailed behind as the two boys raced each other, Beast Boy turning into various aquatic creatures to catch up with the equally competitive teen. Then you see it. In front of them, Trident swam into view. You and Aqualad stop on instinct, but Beast Boy keeps going.

"Beast Boy! Stop!" You both yell, as he barrels straight towards Trident.

"What's the matter?" He taunts. "Am I too fast for y-"

You winced as you watched him crash into the sea monster and fall to the floor.

"Heh… how's it going," Beast Boy says telepathy to the monster towering over him. Trident growled.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself, you inferior fool!" He pointed his well, trident at beast boy and fires; Beast Boy barely dodges it.

Aqualad tackles Trident and they fall off an underwater ridge.

"Oh no you! This time he's mine!" Beast Boy yells, following Aqualad to the ridge.

"Beast Boy wai-" you yell, but was cut off by something grazing the side of your head. You turn, and see Trident swing his weapon at you. You dodged his next swing, wondering how he was able to get to you right after being attacked by Aqualad. You send him flying across the ocean with your water powers, when you hear Beast Boy yelling. You turn to see Beast Boy in squid form latched onto Aqualad's face. You could see Trident swim away from the corner of your eye as you swam to pull Beast Boy off of Aqualad. Aqualad glares at Beast Boy, his face peppered with red dots from Beast Boy's accidental attack.

“I said, ‘incoming’” he defends himself. Aqualad ignores him and points to another figure swimming into a grotto.

“He’s getting away!” Aqualad swims away, Beast Boy following.

“Wait-” you say, confused. Didn't you just send Trident flying in the other direction? How did he move so quickly? You reluctantly followed your friends into the cavern. You joined them as they observed the two tunnels that split off into two different directions.

“What are we gonna do now?” you think out loud.

“Maybe the question is where were you guys?” Aqualad snaps, turning to the two of you. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion while Beast Boy swims forward to be face to face with Aqualad.

“Where was I? Fighting Trident by myself!” He jabbed a squid tentacle into Aqualads shoulder.

“You barely laid a tentacle on him! At least I managed to break his weapon!”

“Dude, that's just wrong. I so broke that fork thing!”

“BOYS!” you yell. “I also fought Trident and I sent him in the opposite direction, and now he's here. There's something going on…” The two began to think, but then perked their heads up. They then point at opposite tunnels.

“There he goes!” they yell at the same time. You stare at the two of them in even deeper confusion. Beast boy swims up to you, making eye contact.

“I saw him! He's that way! I'm right, he's wrong! End of story!” He crosses his tentacles. Aqualad pushes Beast Boy aside so that you were now staring at his dark pupils.

"I'm telling you, he's this way!"

"GUYS, we can just split up," You say flatly, pinching the bridge of your nose in frustration. "Aqualad I'm sure you can handle yourself, so I'll go with Beast Boy."

"Aw sweet!- Heyyy…" Beast Boy says to your backhanded comment. Aqualad nods and swims off into the tunnel.

You and Beast Boy were alone in the tunnel when you sighed.

"B.B., why do you keep picking fights with Aqualad?" You asked, still looking ahead. Beast Boy turns to you, acting shocked.

"ME??? It's not my fault Mr. Pretty-Boy-Know-It-All keeps showing off!" He whines.

"Dude, he's just trying to help us. Maybe you should-" you were cut off by a loud booming voice.

"Worthless scum! You cannot beat perfection!" Trident bellowed from behind you. You and Beast Boy turned, already in a fighting position.

"How many of you fork things do you have?" He mumbled as you charged forward.

You dodged his energy bolts, Trident in return dodging your attempts to push him farther back. Beast Boy turns into a turtle, pulling his arms and legs inside. Trident threw his weapon and it bounced off of him, flying into you and sending the two of you hurtling through the water.

"I always win!" You hear him say as you regain your stance. Beast Boy turns into a giant crab, grabbing onto Trident's weapon.

"And I thought Aqualad had a big ego!" He yelled telepathically.

"BEAST BOY GET BACK!" You yell. He swiftly let go, and you shot a jet of water towards Trident, sending him flying into a cavern wall. The cavern shakes, and a mass of boulders come crashing down. All you could see was a crushed trident sticking out from under the rocks. You breathed a sigh of relief until you felt a searing pain in your leg. You look and see a burn mark; Trident probably hit you before you buried him in a pile of rocks. Beast Boy looks at you, a worried expression in his eyes (despite being in the form of an ocean animal).

“I’ll be fine,” you grimace. “Let's find a way out first.” You painstakingly swim until you find a cave similar to Aqualads. You drag yourself towards the land as Beast Boy turns back into his human form. Right after you pull yourself up, you see Aqualad jump out of the water. He sees the two of you, and runs to meet up with you. He and Beast Boy begin to talk at the same time.

“ I just saw Trident!... No, you didn't!... Yes, I did! Cut it out!”

“I don’t care what you say! I fought Trident!” Beast Boy yelled, a vein nearly jumping out of his forehead.

"That's impossible!" Aqualad counters, his fists clenched so tight you thought you saw blood.

They both seemed to be prepared to fight each other. You jumped in between them, holding both their heads back as they flail their arms, trying to get a hit at each other.

"You know," You begin, silencing the two boys. "When Robin asked me to join you guys, I didn't want to. You two are heroes that just met each other and you were already fighting! But he told me that I could handle it and he's right! I can handle the both of you; but it seems to me that you guys can't handle each other. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna heal myself because oh right! I got BURNT and you two are gonna talk it out." You let go of the boys, and they watched as you limped over to the edge of the water, plopped yourself down, and started pulling the ocean water to your leg. You listened in a little as you concentrated the water on your leg. It only took a few seconds to heal your burn, it was only surface level and you had gotten better at using your healing powers. They were still talking as you noticed what was in front of you: hundreds of Trident clones and yellow Trident capsules-eggs attached to the ceiling.

"Uh guys…" you say, rejoining them, but they had seen it too.

"One Trident is bad…" Aqualad says.

"... but this is…" Beast Boy adds.

"... an entire …" You say.

"...ARMY!" One of the tridents finishes your thought.

They all charge, and the three of you brace or impact. You raise your arms and a wave of water takes out a small group of the monster clones. You dodge their attacks, shooting jets of water at their heads. You see Beast Boy get flung into a machine, and an egg hatching sequence begins on the screen. You regroup with the other boys in front of the machine.

"Oops," Beast Boy said sheepishly.

"Great," Aqualad groaned as the clones began to close in.

"We need a plan," You mumble.

A group of the clones began to speak.

"My brilliant plan is already a success"

"If one of me was perfect…"

"Why not make more?"

"You can never have too much of a good thing"

"Once my army conquers Atlantis…"

"I will declare war on the surface world! Everyone on the planet will bow down before me"

"And praise my perfection!"

Aqualad whispers to the both of you as the clones cheer. "Any bright ideas?"

Beast Boy whispered back. "Just one. Try to keep up." He turned to the clones. "So if you're all perfect, which one of you is the best?" He asked.

One of the tridents answered. "I am!... Huh?"

As soon as you understood what Beast Boy was doing, you grinned. Aqualad stepped up.

"Come on. You can't all be the best." He says.

"One of you must be better than the others," You add.

One of the tridents step forward. "I am the original!I am the best!"

"You are not the original"

"I am!" Multiple tridents yell at once.

"Nonsense you inferior fools! I am perfect! I am Trident! "

You watch in amusement as the clones turn on each other and the fight turns into a full on brawl. The fight eventually ends, and all the tridents laid on the ground, defeated. Aqualad turns to Beast Boy.

"Great idea," He says. You noticed that there were no hints of sarcasm in his voice. Whatever they said to each other earlier must have made them work better together, you figured.

"Kinda got it from you," Beast Boy says."Now we just have to stop those from hatching." He points to the yellow pod filled ceiling. Right as he said that, the screen on the machine behind you hit 0 on the timer and the word "begin" flashed on the screen.

"Too late!" The three of you yelled at the same time. New Trident clones were breaking through their membrane "eggs". Beast Boy instinctively turns into a hippopotamus and tramples the crowd, creating a path to the ocean. You and Aqualad sprint behind Beast Boy, dodging the clones' outstretched arms. You all dive into the water, the Tridents close behind.

"We can't let them escape! We need to find some way of sealing the exit!" Aqualad yells telepathically.

"Right now, I'm just worried about getting to the exit." Beast Boy replies. You didn't look back, but you could feel the clones closing in. As you got closer to the exit you saw a familiar looking silhouette.

"The T-sub!" You exclaimed as you swam out of the cave. The clones stop in their tracks in confusion.

"Huh?" You hear one of them say.

You moved out of the way as the sub sent beams towards the entrance of the cave. The Blast caused a pile of rubble to fall, blocking the exit. You smile at your team who's cheering (along with Aqualad’s friend Tramm) inside their pods. The three of you turn bad to observe the T-sub’s work.

“Good thing Trident likes himself so much, 'cause I'm thinking he won't see anybody else for a looong time.” Beast Boy says.

You find yourself on the surface again, on the shore of the Titan’s Tower. Raven and Starfire both continue to look at Aqualad with heart eyes as Robin steps forward.

“Consider yourself an honorary titan” he says with a smile, holding out a familiar black and yellow communicator for him to take. “We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks.”

“Right back at you. It's good to know there's people up here I can trust.” Aqualad looks at you and Beast boy. He says goodbye to Raven and Starfire, who blushingly say it back. He then turns to Beast Boy.

“What can I say, dude? You're the best.” Beast Boy says.

“Nah. You're the best.”

“Yeah, you're right. And if you ever want me to prove it, I'm always up for a race.”

“Just try and keep up.” Aqualad laughs, patting his head. He finally turned to you.

“Aquagirl, it's been really nice to meet you. Next time you’re near Atlantis, give me a call and I’ll show you around. There's so much to show you,” he stretched out his hand for a handshake, but you pulled him in for a hug. He was surprised at your gesture, but soon returned it. Raven and Starfire looked at you with pure envy as you pulled back with a smile.

“I’ll take your word for it, Aquacousin” you say, making a reference to your nickname for him earlier. He laughs, then waves goodbye. The six of you wave back as he swims back into the ocean. Robin gently put his hand on your shoulder.

“You did a great job today Aquagirl. I knew I could count on you.”

“You know you can always count on me, dude.” you say with a smile. “Now I’m kinda hungry. Anyone up for pizza?”

[marveliter]

Invincible

Summary: Roberta Ross has the best life living with her mother and spending the summer with her best friend, but what happens when a certain someone shows up and flips her life upside down? She's asked to join a team of incredible people and fight alongside her incredible father, but does she want to?

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER ONE 

Characters: OCs + Marvel Characters

Warnings: none :)

A/N: enjoy ;)

I climb onto the boat's ladder as I emerge from the water, and once on the boat, I dump my findings of seashells into a bucket.       "Okay," I say once I take my mask off. "Let's head home," Ollie looks at me in shock, lifting his sunglasses up onto his forehead just so I can see his face.       "It's only ten, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" he asks.       I shrug, "Sail around, maybe we can go out far enough so that under the water we can't see the bottom," Ollie shakes his head with fear in his eyes. "I'm kidding! Although, I'd like to see a shark with my own eyes, immersed in it's home instead if seeing it being held captive in a glass tank,"       "Being a marine biologist, you're going to have to place animals in captivity to study them," Ollie says.       "I'll be kind to the animals," I say as I threw my tank top on over my bathing suit. "Where are my shorts?" Ollie points to my pink drawstring bag that sits on the bench opposite of him. He sips on a Coke with his foot bandaged and set on top of his drawstring bag. I laugh at him, which make shim stop drinking.       "What?" he asks.       "You look like a slum dog millionaire drinking pop on a boat with your feet propped up." I tell him.

      He raises his pop and gestures to his foot. "Pure doctor's orders," I laugh at him while I pull my shorts on over my bottoms, pull up the anchor and then start the boat. We sailed for minutes towards home until we started seeing other boats for tourists and parties. People were tubing and children with life vests floated in the ocean, waving at us. We had to drive the boat slowly, because the cops around our neighborhood were very strict - especially in our neighborhood.       Ollie was up on his feet now, wearing soft slides as to not hurt his foot. He was helping me prepare to turn left into the neighborhood. Our houses were tall and somewhat small, meant to be condos that were on the water side. Thing was, because there were so many houses and families with boats, the way for boats in between the houses felt really narrow. Once we could park Ollie's boat on the side in front of his house, it wouldn't take up the water way. When there are many boats trying to get through, it gets very claustrophobic and congested. Ollie's boat shouldn't even be parked in the water way, but there were many families around who had the same type of boat and some with yachts that did take up half the water way. My house was the very first one on the right, on the corner of the cement wall keeping the salt water waves from reaching my house.        Just as we were coming up on our neighborhood, and I could see the Carolina blue color of my house, my phone began buzzing from my drawstring bag. It kept buzzing, not like someone was calling me, but sending me multiple texts every second.       "I'll get it," Ollie says as he walks over. As he does, his phone goes off, but he doesn't check it until he reaches my bag. Ollie grows quiet, and when I ask him what's wrong he still doesn't reply. I slow down the boat and turn around to him.       "Ollie-"         "Stop the boat, Robbie - now," he says strongly, looking down at his phone. I do what he says as I approach him and my bag.       "What's wrong?" I ask, leaning down to my bag, opening it and grabbing my phone.       "It's your Mom," he says with confusion, looking over at me. I stare down at my lock screen, seeing all the texts from Mom that she sent a few seconds ago, one after another. Mom: Robbie don't come home Mom: stay where you are Mom: don't go to polly's house either Mom: i mean Ollie don't go to his houseeither Mom: is he with you?       "What did my mom send you?" I felt fear creep up my spine. Ollie stares at me, biting his bottom lip. I see the same kind of fear in his eyes, his teeth now grit in confusion as he looks back down at his phone.       "'Ollie if you're with Robbie don't go home with her and don't bring her home, go somewhere else I'll call you when it's okay to come back,'" he reads. My chest starts tightening as my heart pounds and my face flushes. I run my hands through my wet hair and pull in panic.       "Why is she saying that?" I ask.       "She's saying it like something's wrong," Ollie says, his thumbs dancing across the keyboard. "I just asked her why," I start texting Mom back frantically. 

Me: Mom whats wring? Me: wrong Me: are you okay? Me: answer me plz Me: youre scaring Ollie anf I Me: im coming home rn

      I stick my phone in my back pocket and turn back to the wheel.       "Ollie, get ready to call the police," I say as I start the boat back up and take it slowly but fast enough to head into my neighborhood.       "Robbie - wait!" Ollie says just as I start driving faster. "Your mom just texted," I turn to him just as I slow the boat. "She says, 'Hide Robbie,'" His phone chimed again. "'Do it now if you're almost home' - she's not saying what's wrong!"       "Let's do a drive-by," I tell him, moving to the bench where my bag rests on top. Inside the bench when I open it are life vests, and as I step in I tell Ollie to take the wheel.       "Where do we go after?" he asks.       "I guess anywhere but home!" I shout. "Go slow too, I need to see what's wrong, and then I'll call the cops,"       I didn't close the bench until Ollie was about to turn the boat into the neighborhood. Keeping it slightly open with my fingers, Ollie goes horrifyingly slow.       "Do you see anything?" I ask. Ollie turns his head towards my house.       "No one in the yard, but there's people inside," he whispers loud enough for me to hear. I can't see a thing from what  thought I could from here, but suddenly Ollie curses and looks away from the house.       "Close the bench," he quietly snaps. After I close the bench, just leaving the tip of my finger to keep it open for air, I can hear an unfamiliar voice from my yard yell at Ollie.       "Can I help you sir?" the voice asks. Ollie stops cuts the boat's engine.         He clears his throat, "You? Maybe not, but your friends might,"       "Sir, this work is none of your business, so please continue on,"       "I can't sir," Ollie says. "Where's Miss Ross?"       "She's busy," the voice says. "Important business,"       "Don't tell me she's switching fishing companies," Ollie says.       I'm as confused as the man the voice belongs to when he grows quiet.       "Excuse me?"       "I'm Oliver O'Malley, my grandparents are in association with Tobuck's Fishing, I'm Miss Ross's delivery boy for shrimp and fish. I need to speak to her now about an important delivery she has that needs her permission to go through," Ollie explains. He was a good liar, but he basically called me a sack of fish. I roll my eyes as I can just barely see him looking over at the bench I was in.       I don't hear the man anymore, and when I call out to Ollie I hear him shush me hard. The sound of many footsteps a moment later catches my attention, and soon I hear my mother's voice.       "Ollie," she says, but it's not her voice. It's not her sweet soft, cheery voice. Instead it's shaky and sad, like last night but worse.       "H-Hey Miss Ross," Ollie says awkwardly. "I have the fish and shrimp delivery ready to go, but I need your decision whether to hold onto it for one more day or send it by later," he pauses for a second before saying. "Looks like you had that party a little bit early."       "Oh, um. . .could you hold onto the fish and shrimp for one more day? I could call your grandparents when I need it by tomorrow. Thank you, Ollie," Mom says, her voice breaking a little bit more.       "Miss Ross, are you okay?" Ollie asks. A new voice steps in, another man with a scratchy, calming voice.       "She's alright son," the man says. Ollie glances at my bench and looks back to the people I can't see.       "Miss Ross," Ollie says, ignoring the man. "Are you okay?"       "She's fine young man," a deep, terrifying voice interjects. "You better leave now,"        Ollie is silent for a few moments, but then the man with the calming voice asks, "What was your name, son?"       "Oliver O'Malley," Ollie replies. "Yours?"       "Thank you, Ollie," Mom interjects. "I'll call your grandparents later,"        In a matter of seconds, Ollie turns the engine back on and takes it slow to sail away from my house. I wait until I feel the boat turn right into another neighborhood, and Ollie stopping the boat. He scares me by opening the bench out of nowhere.       "Sorry!" he exclaims as he sees me jump and shriek.       "Who was it? What did they look like?" I ask, getting out of the bench. My body felt tight now, but I ignored it as Ollie shrugged.       "The first guy was white and in a grey suit, then your mom came out looking like she had just cried, and the man standing next to her was kind of tan with brown hair and glasses. He wasn't wearing a suit, he wore a button shirt and khakis. He looked way nicer than the other guys," Ollie explains.       "What did the man with the deep voice look like?"  Ollie and I move to the steering wheel as he starts the boat up one last time. He shivered looking forward and remembering.       "Tall and big, dressed in all black - and get this - dude had an eye patch," he says with wide eyes. "There were two guys and one lady watching from the backdoor, they all dressed differently too, just in normal clothes but they looked so intimidating."       "That's it? Six people?" I ask, crossing my arms. Ollie nods as we pause for a bit at a cross section, letting another boat pass through. While that happens, I take a look around in thought, biting my lip as I lean against the boat's railings.       Mom is a cellular biologist at the local hospital; I've met all her coworkers and bosses, even doctors out of state that call on her when the need her help. None of their voices were remotely close to the people I know in her field. The men didn't sound like they were there for help in cellular biology. Suddenly, I hear the sound of a small raft motor boat, and looking to my left, I see three people in the boat. Their faces were stern, murderous even, and one man who was blonde and built very strong points at me. The boat starts going faster.       "Ollie go!" I shout. Ollie looks at me, then to the motor boat, and his eyes grow wide and he curses and pushes the shift forward, which makes the boat jump into action across the section and forward into the long-winding water way.       "How'd they see me?" I shout, holding onto the bar the control box for the wheel as the boat does violent little jumps in the water. Ollie doesn't answer as he's too busy panicking and making the boat go full throttle.       "When need to lose them!" I shout as we violently turn a corner, sending waves up on the yards over the cement wall, splashing an old couple who sun bathe. "Go faster!" Just as I say it, Ollie starts slowing down fast. "Ollie!"       "Trust me, Robbie!" he snaps out of fear.       Soon, the boat is at the correct speed through the neighborhood, and though it's painful my anxiety starts causing me to panic.       "Why are they after us?" I whisper as we pass a police boat, who floats in front of the way to a col de sac. Ollie smiles and waves at him, and through grit teeth says, "Remember that guy?" He means the officer in the boat, who I wave to, but have no memory of. "He pulled us over last summer for speeding through here, I almost fought him because there's no limit, and tourists always come in fast through here,"        The sound of the motorboat enters behind us as we start to turn left out of the way and into a new neighborhood. I watch as the motorboat speeds passed the officer, who immediately throws on his sirens and grabs a megaphone. The motorboat stops, and Ollie's takes off. We round a whole other neighborhood way that reroutes us back to the open ocean.        Once out on the ocean, riding fast, I sigh heavily and turn to Ollie.       "What do they want from my mom? Why do they look like they want to murder us?"       He shrugs and shakes his head, "I have no idea, but we're heading far away from here,"       "They can't find us, right?"       "I don't know how they could,"