Isla was a fisherman's daughter who had lived on the Cornish Coast all her life. It was a slow life, especially for a little girl, miles from any big cities with the only entertainment being the dangerous ocean and rocky cliffs, but it had turned her into a wonderful swimmer, with the ability to hold her breath for long periods of time and keep her eyes open underwater. Isla loved to swim. She was out there every day from the early morning hours, even now as a perky 18 year old, choosing to follow the currents instead of the trends that every other girl her age did.

Of course it probably helped that for all her life, Isla had had a secret. One she had somehow managed to keep all this time, just for herself.

Belle. A mermaid, a real life mermaid, who had swam up to her while she was hunting for the prettiest shells in a rock pool, and changed her life forever. Isla had named her that, as to her little 7 year old mind, the mermaid was the most beautiful person she had ever seen, and still was to this day. Even as a small child herself, Belle was dazzling, her skin a pale sage green that was sometimes blue, depending on the light, and a shiny tail that faded from a deep green into a shimmery gold. Her hair and eyes were dark, inky green, almost like seaweed, and her features were pretty and delicate, with a smile that made Isla weak at the knees. They formed a firm friendship on the beach that day, playing together and discovering things about their different worlds.

For 11 years, Isla met Belle in the rock pool where they had first met, the isolated beach a perfect place for secret rendezvous, and they swam together. Isla taught Belle to speak English. Belle taught Isla how to swim in just the right way to surf the currents, to find edible things in the ocean, and to make jewellery with the nature they found around them. Now Belle wore strings of sea snail shells around her neck that Isla had made for her many years ago, and Isla wore the pretty seaweed bracelets that Belle had wound around her wrists, braided with the mermaids hair for strength.

Life was perfect. Isla didn't need other humans when she had her best …