chpater one begins:

Jimmy lay beside Annison, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine and her companionship. Such moments were far too infrequent for Jimmy’s taste. But then, getting together with a mermaid for any length of time was a minor miracle.

They lived two very different lives. They lived on planet Earth, but Annison and her race of Aquamites were residents of the Emerald Lake, which lay far below Roombelow, Jimmy’s adopted home town. There was a link between the two worlds. An underground river flowed from the Emerald Lake to fill the well in the centre of Roombelow. That did not mean getting from one place to the other was easy. The problem was that the river’s tunnels were flooded to roof height. Jimmy could make the journey only because he had been given the gift of a magical belt from Witch Elwinn, the Guardian of Earth’s watery realms. There remained four Witch Guardians of Earth’s realms. Ira watched over the skies; Floella, the earth, sand rocks, pebbles and boulders; the fourth witch and leader of the coven had been Matilda for years and years until she was called to a higher realm and needed to appoint a successor. In terms of seniority, that should have been Elwinn. Contrary to all precedent, Matilda had appointed her recently qualified young pupil, Jade, as the new overall leader. There was no dispute, and Jade was now the leader of the witch’s coven.

She had been selected at an early age, just the year before she entered her teenage years. Matilda had passed on all the knowledge that she had accumulated over hundreds of years. That did not make Jade a perfect witch. She would always be prone to make mistakes when casting a spell. That was not so surprising because there were lots of spells to remember. There were so many that frequent searches of the ancient scrolls stored in the house on the hill were essential. Even then, Jade was still likely to make the occasional mistake. However, she now occupied the house on the hill that overlooked the town of Roombelow, and despite her youth, she was Head of the Coven.

Jimmy and Annison were not thinking of anything but themselves, luxuriating in the wide beam of sunshine that shone down on them through the extinct volcano’s empty peak.

This spot was the last pool with a beach before the Emerald Lake joined the outside world’s ocean. It also happened to be where Jimmy had captured the Wormz that threatened all life on Earth. They had taken several Aquamite lives during their short reign of terror. Annison would have ended up as one of their victims had Jimmy not transported her to his home planet of Attalia in his Starship. President Alpha had instructed the most highly technological physicians to save Annison after one of the Worms had bitten a chunk out of her fish-like tail. When they were together, Jimmy only had eyes for her beautiful, light blue eyes and long golden locks.