The Portal Weaver and The Otherworld

Okay, so—uh—this is gonna sound insane, but I swear it’s true.I caught a mermaid.
Yeah. A real one. In my fishing net. On a random Monday morning.
Mama didn’t believe me (shocker), and neither will you. But now there’s this really intense mermaid named Surf living in my top bunk, running into traffic, and calling Earth “Otherworld.” She needs to get back to her magical world, Loselliaha, and somehow I got roped into helping.
Thing is… I kinda need her help too. Mama’s sick. Like, terminally sick. And if there’s any chance something in Surf’s magical world can fix her, there’s nothing I won’t do to get it.
Anyway, if you don’t like chaos, near-death experiences, and some of the most embarrassing moments of my life talking to a girl— then you might not wanna read this.
Just… if you do, don’t tell Surf I said any of that, especially that last part.

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Laun Baslit

My name’s Luan Baslit. I’m twelve years old. Well… for, like, six more days I am. Then I’m officially thirteen, which sounds way cooler than it probably actually is.It’s summer break right now, and honestly? I’m trying not to think about seventh grade. School’s not really my thing. Mostly because of math part...the jerk part isin't great either.I do like baseball though. I’m the pitcher on my team, and luckily I get to play all summer. At least that’s the plan. That, and fishing out on Papa’s boat. Papa catches fish for Mama’s restaurant, which is easily the best food in town. Maybe even the whole province. Mama’s from Jamaica, so all her recipes are authentic. You know, the kind she learned growing up with Gran.My best friends are probably Mama and Papa. I don’t really fit in with the kids at school. And honestly, I'm not exactly fans of them either. I mean, it’s kinda hard to wanna be friends with people who call you “Forehead” and “Stutter Boy,” you know?Oh yeah. I have a stutter. A pretty bad one sometimes. It’s super annoying, but I do speech therapy to help with it. I hope by the time school starts again in September, it’ll finally be gone.That would probably change a lot.But anyway… for now, this is me. Luan. I guess this technically counts as a journal entry about my life. Nothing crazy. Nothing special. Just a kid in a boring fishing town trying not to die of boredom during summer break.…Though, okay, to be fair, I wrote this before I accidentally caught a mermaid in my fishing net.

Little Surf

My name’s Little Surf. But please just call me Surf.I’m a thirteen-year-old mermaid living in Loselliaha. I was born along the Coral Coast, but when I was little, Mummy and I moved all the way across the world to the Northern Bay Pod. We live deep beneath the waves where the water turns dark and quiet and glowing algae cling to the cave walls like tiny underwater stars.There are about three hundred and forty-four merfolk living here.Personally, I liked it better when it was just me and Mummy.The other merfolk don’t really understand me. They make fun of my albinism and say my mannerisms are strange.And to make things even worse, my arch enemy lives here too.Brave Reef.This past year has been especially hard because Mummy vanished in the middle of the night almost a year ago. No note. No trail. Nothing. I know she was kidnapped, no matter what the entire pod says. There’s nothing I won’t do to find her.And I’m almost certain it has something to do with the portals.For a long time it felt like I was completely alone in the world. Like nobody understood me or my mission to save Mummy.At least… that’s how it felt before I met my new best friend, Luan.