What Lies Beneath

Chapter 1

Asha woke up from her sleep with a headache already at the forefront of her brain. She kept her eyes clenched shut as she brought her hand up to her head. She rubbed it for a few seconds and let her body rest back into the softness of her mattress.

     After what feels like a few minutes, she forces her body to move. She shifts herself into a sitting position before willing herself to throw her legs over the bed and stand up. She walked to the mirror and examined herself in an effort to make sure her heritage wouldn't show.

     She opened her mouth with no elongated canines to be seen. She took off her bonnet and let her pink hair flow down to her waist. Her hand reached for a hair tie as she tied her hair back into a ponytail. Her ears remained perfectly round—perfectly human.

     After deeming herself satisfied with her reflection, Asha walked over to her nightstand and grabbed her phone. Before she even had a chance to open it, her ringtone blared throughout her room. Startled, she didn't check who was calling as she picked up and brought her phone to her ear.

     Her voice came out ragged, "Hello?"

     Her best friend's voice flowed through the phone sounding anxious, "Please tell me you're not just waking up Ash."

     Asha cleared her throat before saying, "W-what? Of course not. I'm almost ready... I just haven't had my water yet."

     Her friend seemed a little irritated, "Well I'm outside. Hurry up. You're not gonna be the reason that I'm late for school on the first day."

      "Yeah yeah Lyra," she said before hanging up.

     Thankful for the extra speed granted to her by her species, which is rare, she rushed to get ready for her first day of school. She'd just moved to the capital of Dowaton this past summer, seventeen, and ready to go to the school where she might be useful for the military.

     Within two minutes, she was dressed and heading out the door. Her bag was slung over her shoulder and her headphones on her ears when she got outside. The bright sun flashed her eyes but she smiled at this chance to finally start her own life.

     "Lyra!"

     A lightly blue-haired beauty's head stuck up from the canal in front of her house. Asha smiled down at her best friend. Lyra was a mermaid—and a tough one at that. Her pale skin and frail body type might lead people to assume that she's weak, but she's the farthest thing from it. If you take one look into her icy blue eyes, anyone could tell that she's not some weak pathetic girl.

     Lyra rolled her eyes. "You finally ready to go?"

     Asha nodded as she took a look around the city. Dowaton is a very interesting place, to say the least. Ever since the Interspecies Alliance was established about seventeen years ago, this has become the headquarters of their base, the joint military, and some of the richer people who just wanted to be where everyone is. In this town, as a symbol of the alliance, people from all species are welcome—even those outside of the alliance.

     To make sure everything is kept up to ergonomic standards, transportation, and public places are all outfitted to fit every species. For those with legs, there are light rails scattered about. For those with tails, there are canals fit throughout every part of the city for easy passage for the friends in the water. 

     In the city, every species seemed to help every species thrive. Humans, who lacked a natural affinity for magic, now have floating structures and other things activated by other species' magic. Meanwhile, humans are able to explain science and technology to others who previously hadn't used it. Those are just some examples of how everyone was mutually beneficial to each other.

     Asha walked down the sidewalk as Lyra swam in the canal beside her. They walked in comfortable silence for a while before Lyra broke it.

     "So, are you excited?"

     Asha smiled a little, "I wouldn't say I'm excited, but I am a little anxious. We won't have that many classes together since I'm only a human. There's but so much they can do with me. No magic or tails or superhuman senses."

     Lyra splashed her tail on the water, spraying some up on the sidewalk, and glared at Asha. "That's not a good attitude to have. I mean, you got accepted. And I may be a little biased, but I think you're one of the best humans out here."

     Asha rolled her eyes. "You're right about one thing. You are biased."

     She let their walk fall back into silence, the only noises resounding were the other students on their way to school. The Education District was only next door to the residential district so the walk wouldn't be too long—thankfully.

     She pulled out her phone and opened her music player. She hadn't even settled on a playlist when the sound of sirens echoed throughout the street. The sirens were soon followed by military cars driving through the small streets reserved only for them, which meant only one thing.

     They found a fae. One of her own kind.

     It's a funny kind of irony that she wanted to join the military that hunted down her kind. They find one, they catch them, they burn them alive. Always the same cycle.

     She let the ringing and how it affected her sensitive ears distract her from the churning feeling in her stomach. She knew what would happen to that poor fae. How they'd end up being burned alive in the center of the shopping district on live television.

     Asha knew, that one day, it may happen to her. So much so that every time anyone in the military came around, she became very nervous. She knew that the question wasn't if it'd happen, but when it would. No matter how she'd deny it and say there's a possibility she'd never get caught, she knew that would never be the case. For she was walking straight in the middle of it all—right into their territory.

     She knew that one wrong move would expose her as public enemy number one. When that happens, sweet karma will come and claim her life painfully for standing idly by, and watching her people die, and even joining the ranks of the people killing her own.

     "Gosh! I can't believe we're here!"

     As if that didn't just happen, Lyra's voice sliced through the air and brought Asha's thoughts back to the present. No hesitation. But why should there be? This is normal to these people and nothing would change that. Those who thought something wrong would stand by for fear of repercussions. They were all cowards. But she knew that.

     To top it off, Asha knew that she was the biggest hypocrite and coward of them all.