Prologue

The entirety of Blue would not have revolted, if it had not been for the slaughter of the dolphins and the near extinction of the orcas. After that, there was just no reason to forgive Green, Tic-Toc had said. And for the most part, Julie agreed. But that would be in the future— after Julie and Tic-Toc had met. And like all stories, we need to start at the beginning. And this story starts where everything started – deep, deep in the deep blue sea, the Deep, and other parts of Blue, the ocean, the seventy-one percent of the Blue Planet that is Blue, the ocean, where most beings live, as opposed to the twenty-nine percent that is Green, or earth, where Greens, or rather humans, live.

An excerpt from the beginning of chapter 1

ulie kicked sand along the beach’s edge. The edge where the grass started, not the edge near the water. There was a girl down on the beach, sitting on the rock ledge right next to all those red star fish that were plastered all over the rocks. Julie stayed as far as possible from those sea stars, as they were supposedly called, though she thought of them as star fish. She hated how gooey and stretchy they seemed; she had seen one move once down the wall and it had reminded her of a spider. Come to think of it, she thought, she might like a spider better.

The girl stood up and appeared to be walking towards her. She had long reddish brownish, kind of strange-colored hair, and a sort of hippie look that seemed from this far away a mish-mash of scarves. Julie had lived in Topanga, hippie capital of Southern California, maybe of the world, and she could identify “hippie” from “wanna-be” accurately. She’d seen it styled from Grateful Dead-throwback, right through wanna-be. Her mom lived for the authentic stuff.

But this girl was not a throwback, nor a wanna-be. She was something—else. For one thing, she seemed to be Julie’s age. She had on green pants and lots of jewelry, even in her weirdo hair, which floated off her body. That was some massive gel she had put in it, Julie thought, to get it to do that. She had on a blue top—a clingy scarf-y thing, kind of chiffony, the bottom of it blowing back in the wind. She also had a direct stare that was now gazing at Julie. Vader started to bark. The girl just kept staring at Julie.

“I’m sorry,” Julie muttered, not really feeling sorry, but knowing that’s what you said when your dog barked at someone. “She’s really friendly,” she added, wishing maybe that Vader weren’t so friendly. She wanted the girl gone, too.

“You all say that about dogs when they bark, don’t you? ‘I’m sorry’,” said the girl. Her voice had a kind of musical edge that was nice. Julie found herself wanting the girl to say something else. Or maybe the girl was even going to start singing.

From the end of chapter 1

There was a ring on the sea wall—Julie noticed it right away. She walked towards it, drawn to it. It was a small abalone ring. Abalone was supposed to bring peace and compassion, according to her mom, who had studied stones and magic when they lived in Topanga.

Julie picked up the ring and immediately felt a vibration. While she was holding it, she could almost hear a voice in her head, or a voice trying to come into her head. She put down the ring. Then she picked it up again. She was drawn to it—it really was gorgeous.

I’ll be back, seemed to be the message coming into her head. Remember, this is your life. You’re almost thirteen. Like I said, I’ll be back. Sorry, but this is not the last time you’ll see me.

Julie dropped the ring into the sand. She was spending way too much time in her room. She needed more friends. She had made really only one casual friend here, Yolanda, and Yolanda’s boyfriend Sam, but she clearly needed some more friends. She needed to get out more. She was imagining way too much. She looked at the ring.

Maybe she’ll be back for it, she thought, then picked up the ring and ignored the vibration she felt. She put it back on the sea wall where she found it. Then quickly, very quickly, she walked away from it.