She was stubborn like her mother and over the last six months Denise has been trying to get through to her but she doesn't know what Darya is going through. She had an okay relations.h.i.+p with her parents and she's had her father in her life since birth but Darya just met her father and then had to make the tough decision to let him go for his safety.

That's not a decision a fifteen-year-old girl should be making. Remembering that she had just got home she let her keys fall into the bowl on the table by the front door. The house was dark aside from the Christmas lights on the tree.

"Maybe she's asleep." She thought out loud.

"She on the sh.o.r.e line." Marty's voice made her jump and instinctively put her hand over her heart.

"Martin Todd! Don't scare me like that!" She shouted making Marty laugh. He had been sitting on the couch for the last twenty minutes after Darya went to the sh.o.r.e to try and call her father.

"Sorry, Ms. Denise, Darya's at the sh.o.r.e trying to call her father. We think she may be able to contact him with one of the blue sh.e.l.ls she's collected." He told her.

"She actually wants to talk to him? Or even about him? You are some kind of wizard Marty because I couldn't even mention him around her without anger or sadness coming from her." Denise almost mumbled to herself as she put her purse down and reached for a gla.s.s in the cabinet to fill with water.

"We had a good talk about it. She knows telling him to leave was the best thing for him but that she could still contact him without his kingdom and secret being at stake. I even yelled at her a bit. I didn't want to but she's stubborn." Marty grabbed the gla.s.s out of Denise's hand when she offered him one for some water or juice.

"Do you think I should go down there? See if she's okay..." She wondered out loud.

"Maybe, I mean it's your family too." Marty was right, Raj was a part of her family whether she liked it or not.

She stood at the back door and looked over her shoulder at Marty who stood there drinking his water. Denise reached for the back door and quickly slid it open and left for the sh.o.r.e of the beach. She made sure she left her shoes at the end of the stairs of the deck. She looked out to the sh.o.r.e by their house and tried to look for Darya's form. Once she saw her, Denise began walking down the sand covered beach.

Darya sat in the sand with her toes dug into it while the water pulled up right under them and then receeded back to the sea. Denise could see the small blue sh.e.l.l in her hands but she was just staring at it and not doing anything.

"Dar?" Her mother asked when she arrived at the spot Darya was sitting at. She looked up at her mother and wiped a few stray tears away. Denise kneeled down in the sand to be with Darya. She threw her arm over Darya's shoulders and held her tightly. She pulled a few strands of hair out of her face and put it behind her ear so it wouldn't get stuck in the tears that were drying on her cheeks.

"What's wrong, does it not work?" Denise asked.

"I haven't tried. I've been working up the nerve to put thought into calling him. That's how he told me it worked. You have to think about the other person and hold an object in your hand that connects you to the sea in some way." She held out the blue sh.e.l.l for Denise to see it better.

"That sounds easy enough. Let's try it." She put her hands over Darya's and tried to think of Raj under the waves.

"What if he doesn't want to speak to me?" Darya asked in a small voice that cracked some from the crying she had done before Denise came home.

"That's nonsense. He's your father and he loves you, he will want to speak to you." She squeezed her shoulders tighter letting Darya know that she was there for her.

"Okay fine, I'll try. Did you know my birthday wish was what called him the first time? I've made the same wish for years and last year it finally came true. I didn't think any of this would ever happen when I wished to meet my father." Darya confessed. Denise wasn't too surprised she's seen a lot over the last year or so and she didn't think anything else would shock her.

Darya concentrated on the sh.e.l.l and her father and the world under the water. When nothing happened she nearly gave up hope but the second the little blue sh.e.l.l began to warm in her hand and it wasn't just from her holding it, she knew that he was hearing her.

"Raj?" She asked in her mind like the link would work. Nothing was happening.

"Dad?" She spoke again hoping the link would work...

She waited for almost ten minutes before she stopped trying. Then right before she opened her hand with the sh.e.l.l in it, she felt the familiar tickle at the back of her mind.

"Darya?" It said.

"Dad? Is that really you?" She asked through the link that finally opened up for them.

"Yes, it is me. I was worried I would never hear from you again. I know you believe it's too dangerous for me to visit you and for you to come down here, but I miss you." His voice filtered through her head like he was sitting right next to her. The tears that came down her face this time were ones of joy and not sadness.

"I'm sorry I told you to leave me alone. I didn't really want you to leave, but that man was going to take you away from me and there are so many people that need you down there. I couldn't be selfish anymore." She confessed through the link and waited for his reply. Darya looked up at her mother who was left out of the conversation since she couldn't link with them.

"I understand why you said what you said. You wanted to protect your people, even without being a proper princess your whole life you still thought of them first. I'm proud of you, don't forget that." Tears streamed down her face even faster, she had waited her whole life to hear that from her father. Hearing it from her mother was good, but there was something about having both of your parents think it that made it so much better.

"How is everything down there? Are you safe?" She asked him, hoping for a good answer.

"It's actually better than that. The war has ended, and the creatures that started it have been irradiated. Nasty little beasts, but we are safe. Maybe next summer we can try this again? We can be more careful this time. Oh, by the way, Gemma asked about you." His last words stumped her. She never thought Gemma would ask about her in any way.

"Really? I thought she hated me." Darya mumbled through the link.

"Yes, she is very sorry about how she treated you. Once she heard about what you did for the kingdom she turned her att.i.tude around. She's secretly always wanted a sister and now she has one. If of course, you'll have her." Darya's smile brightened up the sh.o.r.eline at that moment. Denise wished she knew what was happening but she was okay with waiting until they were done.

"I would love to be her sister. We will have to get to know each other the next time I visit. Which I hope is soon. I love you, dad." Darya spoke through the link that seemed to be drifting further away from her.

"I love you too, Darya. Remember, you can always call home." His parting words before the link went dead. She knew that he must have put a lot of energy into the link since it was nearly impossible for him to hear her from such a distance. That's why it took years for him to hear her birthday wishes.

"How do you feel?" Denise asked when she saw Darya's shoulders relax and her body turn to face her.

"Better, I know that he's there and I think that's all I needed. Thank you, mom, I really love you." She grabbed her mother into a tight embrace and Denise hugged her back. The waves slowly and peacefully pulled into the sh.o.r.e while they sat there and gazed out at it. Their story wasn't over, in fact, it had just begun.