Something In The Water

A mermaid washed into a small lake where he meets a human girl that slowly becomes someone important to him.

Something In The Water

 

Chapter 1~ Arken

 

It had been three days since I’d been washed out of the ocean into this tiny excuse for a lake. I guess it wasn’t all bad though, there were plenty of fish to eat and it was actually pretty comfortable for a swampy mess of water. I smiled and swam to the surface of the water. There was a shafty building at the edge of the lake but I hadn’t seen any sign of life, well unless bugs and birds count.

I shrugged and swam back under the water, I hadn’t really eaten anything in the last few days so I decided searching for food was the best idea. After finding a few miscellaneous tadpoles and a few crawfish, I went back to the edge of the water and pulled myself onto a little boulder to lay in the light of the moon and stars.

~

It had been about three hours and I’d slept through some of it, which was a bad idea since I was out of water, but at about the time the sun started climbing into the sky some kind of loud obnoxious metal square came bouldering into the space of land that was completely rocks by the building. I lunged back into the water but my curiosity held me to the shore.

Four land creatures crawled out of the metal square and I tilted my head, they looked like me slightly except they  had two separate tails instead of just one and little extra separates between their fins um… feet?  I’d seen creatures like them before but never this close, my mother had always told me to stay away from them because they enjoy hunting and eating sea creatures.

They were all about the same colors as me but instead of a navy blue water color they had black and yellowish colored hair and they had some kind of animal skin designed clothing on, which seemed a little pointless. I stared at them a bit longingly for a while, what was it like to be able to withstand being out of the water for as long as they did, in fact some of their kind avoid water and when I had heard that I was absolutely mortified, but also a bit jealous? Could they really survive without water.

One of the creatures had long black hair and thin… legs.. And weird things that went through her .. toes... Sandals? She was really pretty. I smiled and watched for a bit before they went inside and I decided to lay on the rock again. It was daylight now and I hated being in the sun so there wasn’t a lot of ‘rock time’ before I jumped back in the water and continued to swim around. The girl made me curious, she seemed abnormal to two of mortals that had come from the little metal box but she did seem to get along with the tall third one.

I smiled and grabbed the tail of a small cod fish and put it in my mouth, they weren't my favorite but they were pretty good.

The day went by slowly and the heat made me want to hid in the sea grass. Once it got dark again was when I finally popped my head back above the water, but this time there was someone there.

Chapter 2~ Kat

 

    I woke up bright and early. I hate waking up early but today my family is going to our summer house on Lake Farsight in the town of Redmond. This town acts like a big touristy beach town. But just because it’s polished doesn’t mean that it’s popular. Despite its underwhelming existence I actually really love it there. My best friend, Rita, lives there, and together we take that small town by storm. Throwing parties  and just effecting everyone with our awesome. We decided a long time ago we were the only cool people ever to set foot in Redmond.

    I threw my backpack over my shoulder and marched outside to the car, where my dad was loading his suitcase into the trunk, my mom was yelling at my brother for something, probably the lingering smell of cannabis that often surrounds him, and my brother was being yelled at.

    “Oh well look who has decided to join us!” My dad said sarcastically and I rolled my eyes. My mom stopped yelling and turned to me.

    “Ok, load your stuff in the car so we can get going, it’s a four hour drive, and I want to get to Redmont before we hit traffic.” She got into the passenger seat and I threw my bag into the trunk and got in the car.

    We were off. In my head I thought about what would happen when we got there. I wondered if maybe it would rain the whole time, or if it would be bright and sunny. Maybe I’d meet a guy. I always did, but it was never some cheesy romance with a sad ending where I leave at the end of the summer. I liked to keep it casual, I had this thing I did where I used my eloquence, charm, and body to play hard to get and then if the guy was lucky, I’d go home with him. I did this half because it’s fun and half because I didn’t like do what anyone told me to, and that gave me a kind of power that made me feel excited and free. Rita calls me a ‘wild girl’ because I don’t care what people say or think. Or at least… I don’t want to care.

    I sighed and raked my fingers through my bettie paige bangs. My brother, Ian rolled down his window, and the wind swept my hair into my face. I glared at him and he laughed. Ian is 18 and a total jackass, but we are really close, other than Rita, he’s my best friend. We tell each other everything and neither of us are that judgemental, unlike our parents. Our parents are two very conservative, religious, do-gooders who somehow ended up with two very rebellious, free thinking, open minded, liberal children. So needless to say, what with my whole ‘wild girl’ thing and Ian being a total stoner, we think it best to just not tell our parents anything because we’re both afraid of how they might react. I don’t know what I’ll do in the fall when he’s off at college.

    Four hours, three fights over who picks the music, and uncountable sarcastic comments later we arrived at our house in Redmond right on Lake farsight. The four of us stepped out of the car and stretched our legs.

    “Ugg I hate long car rides, I’m so glad it’s over.” I groaned as I walked to the the trunk and pulled out my bag. “Anyway, I’m going to my room now. Is it locked?” I smiled innocently at my mom who just dangled the keys in front of my face.

    “Come back down for lunch when you’re finished unpacking, ok Kat?” She called after me and I nodded.

    “I’m going to my room too. Kat wait up!” Ian ran after me. I unlocked the door and stepped into our rustic, vintage, beautiful - but dusty, summer home. “Oh wow, I don't think we’re getting our money's worth with the spring cleaning crew.” I punched his arm.

    “We didn’t hire one this year, idiot.” He gave me a confused look and I rolled my eyes.

    “Really? Why?” He scratched his head but I ignored the question  because I didn’t know the answer.

    “I’m going to my room.” I smirked and ran up the stairs. I pulled open my door and flung my bag onto the bed. I looked around the room. It was just as I left it last year, my bed still had it’s fluffy black blanket and about a thousand stuffed animals piled on top, my desk was clean and all my posters still hung on the wall, even though mom and dad approved of absolutely none of them.

    When I got back downstairs Dad was already making lunch. It looked like tuna sandwiches, I made a face.

    “Dad, I don’t like tuna.” He looked down at the sandwiches then back at me.

    “Since when?”

    “Oh I don’t know, always.” I rolled my eyes and he looked at me apologetically.

    “I can try to find something else, but we were going to do food shopping tomorrow…” He started for the fridge but I shook my head.

    “It’s fine, I was going to head to Rita’s any way. I’m sure she’ll feed me.” I shrugged and walked out to the porch. I sighed heavily as I looked out over the murky blue-green waters of Lake farsight. It was peaceful, the water was completely still and the reflection of the sun made it look like glitter on the surface. For a split second I thought I saw someone in the water, but as soon as I saw it, it was gone. It was probably just my imagination. So with coming to the conclusion that I was seeing things, I started walking down the dirt road that connected my house to Rita’s.

    I knocked on the door, which flung open almost instantly, revealing my redheaded, beaming, freckle covered best friend.

    “Kiittttyyyy Kaaaattttt!!!” She pulled me into an excited hug. She likes to rotate nicknames for me, but her favorite by far is Kitty Kat, oh and also Wild Kat. “I’m so glad you’re here! We have soooo much to talk about!” She jumped up and down, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me into her backyard, which connected with the lake. It was like her own private mini beach. And she’s like this literally every time I see her at the beginning of the summer after not seeing each other for months. “Omigod I missed you so much!!” She squealed.

“Missed you too love.” I smirked and sat down on this little bench they have right in front of the water. “So, Rita Elise Conway, tell me everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything.” I smirked a little and she sat next to me.

“Alright Katrina Miranda Fielding, you asked for it.” She smirked evilly. Katrina is my full name, but I hate it so I go by Kat, and Rita knows I hate it. I rolled my eyes at her, but I was still smiling. “So let’s start from the beginning. On the first day of school I woke up at 6:00 am, hit my black and silver alarm clock, sat up and stretched my arms, then I proceeded to…” I cut her off my hitting her playfully.

“That’s not what I meant!” I laughed and she joined in.

“Ok, fine. Um.. I don’t know not much happened this year…” She sighed and tilted her head before suddenly jumping to her feet as if she had just realised something amazing. “Except oh wait! That’s not true! I, Rita Elise Conway, have a job now! And at this new job I met a man! That’s right! I have a boyfriend now!!! Whoo!” She jumped around theatrically and excitedly as she spoke. And I laughed at her and with her at the same time.

“Really, you?” I said in a fake skeptical sort of way.

“Shut up.” Rita sat down again. “So how about you, have you managed to keep a lover?” She licked her lips dramatically.

“Lover-s, yes. Keep? Nope. You know me.” I smiled innocently and batted my eyelashes.

“Oh you tramp!” She said sarcastically with a super high pitched voice. We kept talking and laughing about our lives and the ridiculousness that is ‘the us’, until the sun started setting.

“It’s getting late, I should get home so my parents don’t freak. See you tomorrow doll!” I blew a kiss and she rolled her eyes as she pretended to catch it and throw it into the water. I smiled and walked back down the dirt road to my house.

My family was sitting on the porch, Mom was at the grill, Dad was talking to her and Ian was sitting in a chair playing on his phone.

“Oh! Kat, just in time!, Dinner’s ready. I figured we should eat outside since it’s so nice. Did you have fun with Rita?” Mom started to put grilled chicken and asparagus onto paper plates.

“Yeah, it was great, we talked about sex and weed.” I smiled and my mom looked at me disapprovingly “What! I’m kidding” and took the plate she was holding out. I sat next to Ian and whispered to him. “I’m not kidding.”

“So what did your friend do?” Ian smirked.

“Oh you know, girl things.” The dinner conversations were all brief and boring so we all finished eating and went back to doing our own things, but mom insisted we do those things inside because it was getting dark. And I listened to her, for a little while. I sat at my desk drawing pinup girls until my parents went to sleep. I climbed out my window and down the tree, which I had built a ladder on a few years ago, and I walked down to the lake.

I sat on the dock and let my feet dangle in the water. It was still peaceful, but it wasn’t glittering as much in the moonlight. The water was kind of cold but it felt good, because the air was really humid. I sat there on the dock just thinking about life and other lame s**t like that for nearly an hour, when suddenly I saw something. It was probably just a fish. I saw it again, it was scaley and too big for any fish in these waters that I knew of. I pulled my feet out of the water. I knew I was probably being crazy, but I just kept thinking of these stories my brother would tell me when we were little, about the lake monster who would eat bad little girls. Just as I was sure it was gone and I was insane, someone popped up out of the water, I jumped up and let out a short, surprised screech. It was a boy who looked about my age but it was hard to tell in the dark. What I could see was that he had dark blue hair and a tattoo around his left arm. And this is just me, but, it was super hot.

“Where the hell did you come from!?” I asked annoyed that this guy snuck up on me.

“Where did you come from?” he tilted his head, at first I thought it was just a snarky comeback but then I realised he was actually asking.

“Um... brooklyn… my family comes down here for the summer…” I squinted my eyes at him skeptically. This guy seemed just a little off, but from what I could see in the dark he was kinda cute, so I went with it. “So, what’s the deal were you trying to scare me? You just came out of nowhere.” I smirked a little.

“No, sorry.” he said apologetically.

“Dude, I’m kidding. So do you live around here?” I sat back down. He tilted his head again.

“um , I do now… I hope you won’t mind me asking but, what’re these called again? they’re fascinating” He put his hand on my leg and moved it up a little, I moved away from him with a nervous laugh.

“First of all, no touching unless I say it’s ok. Second, they’re legs, what are you high or something?” I brought my legs onto the dock, not like that would really do much. He looked at me confused. “Look man I’m just going… um go back to bed. Later.” I pretended to yawn and stood to leave. But right as I had almost turned away from the boy in the water, I caught a glimpse of something I had to tell myself was just my imagination. A tail. A mother f*****g tail attached to the boy. I told myself I was crazy and made a run for my house. And I didn’t look back.

Chapter 3~ Arken

   

I tilted my head as the girl ran from the docks. She had seemed almost… scared. At least I finally knew for sure what the separated tails were called, legs! What a weird word. I smiled and stared at the building, she hadn’t gone back in and she was still standing by the side of it which seemed a bit odd. I stared at her for one last time before diving back into the water, I’d left Piper back at the hiding place so It would probably be better if I went to get her before she came to look for me.

“Piper!” I swam into the cave like under sea hiding place or home that we’d created after washing into the lake.

“Oh. Arky. you’re back, it took you long enough, aren’t you done investigating by now?” she tilted her head and her red orange tail whipped toward me a bit

“Sorry…. I didn’t mean to take so long but I saw some land dwellers going into the abandoned building that we were gawking at before.” I smiled and laid on the undersea leaf bed I’d created.

“Oh did you now? Stupid mortals… I swear they never stay put” she rolled her eyes and laid on the bed across the room.

“True… but to be fair, neither do we” I laughed and she shrugged

“Just go to sleep Arky, you’ve been out for a few nights so take this last half to rest and I’ll wake you up in the morning so you don’t miss the sunrise” she smiled at me with full knowledge that I loved the sunrise and sunset, just seeing them put me in the greatest mood. With that last smile, I fell into darkness.

 

~

 

Piper shook my shoulder and I burst awake.

“Good Morrow!” I laughed and swam out of the cave keeping my hand on the outside, Piper hated leaving the cave for fear of the land dwellers so I had stopped trying to get her out after a while.

“See you later” she waved to me and I waved back, “oh and don’t forget to bring me some coy this time!” she yelled at me as I swam away from the cave with a smile. I swam to the surface near the dock where I always went to see the sunrise and grabbed onto one of the poles to stare at it’s beauty. The glistening light shown from above the water and I suddenly envied the sky dwellers.

After a long pause the sun came fully above the land dome and something  started shaking the dock, there was someone on it again… I froze and went under the water, maybe it was the girl again. I was deep enough that the mortal wouldn’t be able to see me so if it wasn’t her then I’d be fine. I stared through the water at the figure with black hair that was sitting at the edge of the dock.

She seemed a bit worried but after a while stuck her legs back into the water. I swam toward them, only close enough that I couldn’t be seen and then came up from the water under the dock. She flinched a bit and her feet went out of the water, I swam out from under the dock and smiled at her.

“Back already? Land dwellers usually steer clear of these water” I smiled a bit and she gave me an odd look.

“F**k! I thought you were a dream. Also land dwellers? Really? Are you not a ‘land dweller’?” she seemed a bit scared but also confused. I laughed,

“First of all I am not a dream and second if not land dwellers then what would you like me to call all those with ‘legs’? Do you not thrive on land?” I smiled and tilted my head at her

“Well I prefer being referred to as human, but I can’t say the same for everyone I suppose” She said sarcastically.

“Alright ‘human,’ do you have a name?” I rested my arms on the dock and she stared down at me.   

“Kat.” I smiled.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, human Kat, I’m Arken” I smiled at her and hit my tail on the surface of the water, usually we just wave our tails but I wasn’t sure what a human greeting would be so I just went with what I had.

“What the hell is that!” She jumped up and stepped back. She was pointing at my tail, wrong greeting?

“Um… my tail…?” I laughed and tilted my head at her, “want to see?” maybe not the right approach but hey, everything is worth a try.

“Why do you have a tail!? I need to get out of here, sorry…” she turned around and my smile faded.

“Hey hold on… why do you have to go?” I jumped onto the dock so that my tail was still a bit in the water but the rest of me was above.

“Because this is f*****g insane, what are you a mermaid? I don’t remember smoking anything, but now I’m not sure!” Smoking anything? What the hell is smoking anything? I tilted my head.

“Um.. if you want to call me a mermaid then sure that’s totally what I am… but I’m a little lost with the ‘smoking anything’ what’s smoke?”

“Oh my god, ok so I know it looks like I’m leaving but…” She didn’t finish her sentence, she just turned and started walking away.  I stayed silent for a moment and watched

“Ok…” I spoke a bit silently and unintentionally and watched as she pulled something from the… pants… short? The cloth that she was wearing. It was an oddly shaped rectangular box ish thing that she toyed with and then put to her ear. I tilted my head as she began to speak to it.

“Rita! Hey um… oh yeah totally… can I talk to you about something?... Oh my god no, it’s only my second day here… I swear I haven’t slept with anyone- yet… I’m serious… So anyway, last night I was sitting on the dock and I… shut up I’m not done… I saw this guy, he was cute but like… Shut up… He was cute but super freaky… Not like that… Ok I’ll just come over ok?... sweet see ya babe… no… bye.” I tilted my head and laughed as she turned around quickly.

“Did you just talk to that thing?”

“Oh my god you’re still here. No, I wasn’t talking to the phone. I was on the phone talking to my friend. And I am not going to explain the science behind phones.” I laughed a bit more and sighed.

“Did you expect me to just disappear? I’m not sure if you humans can do that but um.. We merfolk can’t” I smiled and looked at her a bit questioningly but she just seemed rather annoyed.

“No humans can’t disappear. Whatever I’m not doing this, I feel ridiculous, and I have to go to Rita’s.” She rolled her eyes and left for real this time. She walked up to her house and I kept watching when she came out again a few minutes later in different clothes. I thought for a second this creature, Kat, might come back, but instead she walked down a little road until I couldn’t see her anymore. I sighed and decided to swim around the surface for a while. It was just too beautiful out to go back to the cave so soon.

But eventually, I caught a fish for Piper, ducked under the water and swam through the seagrass to get to our little cave. When I was inside I saw piper carving something on the wall with a sharp rock.

“What’re you doing?” I tilted my head at her trying to put a name to the thing she was carving.

“Oh good, you’re back! I decided to tag our cave so if anyone comes here they’ll know the place is taken.” She smirked and stepped back so I could see the carving, but I still wasn’t sure what it was. She must have noticed the confused look because she said; “Seriously Arken? It’s a fish!” She smiled and I laughed.

“A fish really?” She rolled her eyes.

“Whatever… Oh and speaking of fish! I was promised a coy.” She held out her hand, where I put the fish. “Thank you darling!”

“Anything for you Pipi.” I smiled and relaxed on the bed of leaves.

“So you were on the surface for a while what happened up there?” She floated above me. And I decided that maybe it would be best if I didn’t tell her about Kat the human.

“Nothing much, just swan around, it’s really nice today.” I smiled and she nodded.

“I don’t like when you go up there. What if someone saw you?” She suddenly looked very worried.

“Nothing’s going to happen… no one will see me,” But someone had seen me. She gave me this look that I couldn’t really read, so I changed the subject. We talked for a few hours then i took a long nap, then she did.

While she was a sleep I snuck back up the surface. It was getting dark, the sun was setting over the lake and looked truly beautiful. The beautiful moment was ruined however by the sound of footsteps I moved myself under the dock. It was her again, but she seemed kind of upset.

Chapter 4~ Kat

    I got out of there as fast as I could, I really couldn't deal with this right now, I mean it’s vacation and tonight is Rita’s party. I went inside the house to change.

    “Morning.” Ian said with a smile. He was sitting on the stairs with a mug of coffee.

    “Morning.” I smiled as convincingly as possible and went up the stairs past Ian.

    “Are you ok?” He called after me but I ignored him, I couldn’t tell him. I stomped into my room and changed into my bikini, which is a super cute and retro with red and white polkadots, also it looked great with my Bettie Paige hair. Then I pulled my semi see through cover up and put on my flip-flops. I stared in the mirror and thought about putting my hair up, but I ended up leaving it down.

I left the house trying to avoid looking at the lake, because i was trying to suppress any part of me that wanted to believe… um… I guess I didn’t get his name… whatever, I didn’t want to believe he was real. On my phone call to Rita I had tried to tell her about the mermaid or whatever, but now I think I just want to keep it to myself. I got to Rita’s and knocked on the door.

“Oh hello Kat. Rita’s upstairs.” It was her mom. She’s cool, or at least cooler than my mom. She’s a total hippie, one time she even took Rita and I to Coachella.

“Hi Mrs. Conway.” I smiled up at her and she gestured for me to come in.

“Ritaaa! Kat’s here!” She called up the stairs and I heard footsteps and then Rita was sliding down the banister.

“Hey Kitty Girl!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me up to her room. “So you seemed kinda freaked on the phone, what’s up?” She plopped down on her hello kitty bed sheets.

“Oh uh… it’s nothing, so you’re annual summer party is tonight right?” I smiled awkwardly.

“Uh… yeah… Omigod! You’ll get to meet my boyfriend!” She smiled excitedly. Thank god Rita gets distracted so easily. “Ok so let me tell you all about it!”

“The party or your boyfriend’s um” I laughed. “You know.”  She hit my arm.

“The party, you dirty minded scoundrel.” I laughed louder. Then Rita continued to describe how amazing her part would be, and all the people I should meet and how many hot guys would be there. And through all of it I smiled and made a sarcastic joke here and there, but my heart wasn’t really in it. I was thinking about my luming insanity and/or the possibility I wasn’t crazy and mermaids are real.

Rita and I hung out all day again, setting up the backyard for her party. People started arriving around 6pm and within only an hour or so Rita’s yard was packed. Every one had red solo cups filled with unnamed alcohol, and everyone was dancing to a random mix of current top 40 songs and music from the early 1900’s. I was talking to some guy.

“So um do you live around here?” I smiled and twirled my finger in my hair.

“Nah, my family is staying here for a week. Mini vacation.” He smirked  “How about you?” He moved in a little.

“I live in New York my family comes here every summer.” I bit my lip and thrust my chest out just a little. He nodded. “So um… Danni, do you want to dance?”

“Totally.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd of half drunk teenagers. I swayed my hips and that’s where he put his hands, but I pushed them off.

“Not yet.” I said with my sexiest voice, he flushed and I smirked. We danced for a while until we decided to sit on the bench on Rita’s mini private beach and talk.

“So you wanna get out of here?” He moved his hand up my thigh. I leaned in.

“Not today love.” I stood up and he looked at me surprised and disappointed.

“What? You’ve been all over me!” He stood too.

“Oh I know, and it was a great night, but I’m afraid we’re not going to have sex tonight.” I started to walk away and he grabbed my wrist. “Hey!”

“You b***h! What’s you’re problem?!” I tugged my hand away from him.

“You! Ugh.” I stomped off to find Rita. “Hey girlfriend!” I tapped her shoulder.

“Hey Wild Kat! What happened with fuckboy over there?” She leaned against the plastic folding table where the drinks where.

“Nothing, he was a little too much of a f**k boy, so I sold the idea of sex then denied it, like I do.” I smiled and she nodded.

“Cool, cool. So uh want a drink?” She was already pouring something into a cup before I could answer.

“Sure I guess.” She handed it to me “Oh there’s my man, catch you later babe!” I nodded and walked off then someone grabbed my hand. It was whatshisface.

“I’m not done with you.” I tried to pull away again but he just held tighter.

“Let go of me, I’m not sleeping with you get over it.” He dropped my wrist and his hand moved to my waist.

“Come on baby!” He moved in and tried to kiss me, but I stepped back.

“Get off me, and get over your f*****g ego.” I tried to leave again why wasn’t this guy just leaving me alone.

“S**t!” He yelled so loud every one who wasn’t passed out looked at me. I squinted at him then went to find Rita, I just wanted to leave now.

“Kat! Ohmigod, are you ok?” Rita put her hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I sighed.

“I’m fine, but I think I’m going to head home, I’ll call you in the morning doll.” I smiled hugged her and started walking home.

When I got to the house I paused and looked over at the lake, then back at the house, then the lake. I took a deep breath and walked to the lake. I walked cautiously onto the dock. I took off my shoes and cover up, and sat down. I wondered if I’d see the mermaid guy, because if he was in fact just my imagination I could probably tell him anything. I dangled my feet in the cold water and just as I was thinking of him, the whatever mermaid, popped his head out of the water. I sighed heavily.

“Oh good, I was just thinking about you.” I said sarcastically and rolled my eyes at myself. “If you are a figment of my imagination you’d tell me right?” I said in defeat.

“I think I’m pretty real.. So yes if I was then I would tell you.. But I don’t think I am” he smiled a bit and lifted himself so arms were on the dock.

“You think?” I sighed. “Whatever, I don’t care.” I looked down, I wasn’t in the mood to, like argue with a f*****g mermaid.

“Um… are you ok?” he tilted his head and stared at me.

“Not really… but if I told you what was wrong, you would either judge me or just not understand.” I blew a strand of hair out of my face.

“Try me” he smirked a bit.

“Um… I don’t know... “ I bit my lip nervously, I only ever really talked to my brother and Rita. He tilted his head and I clicked my tongue. “Fine I’ll tell you, but you’re not allowed to judge me. Promise?” I pointed my finger at him.

“Cross my heart” he smiled and put his arms over his chest in an x shape. I took a deep breath.

“Ok, so I do this thing, where I hit on guys and I try to sell the idea that I will have sex with them, because let’s be honest here I like making them beg and sex is fun, but usually I will decide at the last minute I don’t want to sleep with them. I did that tonight, he called me a s**t, which I have been called before, but it just makes me feel… I don’t know… small.  And it just f*****g sucks. Especially because I like to think I don’t care what people think or say but I really do.” I flicked a pebble into the water and glanced at him, he was staring at me with a look that seemed just a little judge mental, even though he said he wouldn’t. “Are you judging me right now?” I squinted a little.

“No.. I just don’t fully understand” he smiled a bit and continued, “I guess you were right...” he laughed and put one of his hands into the water.

“I know.” I sighed. “But It’s ok.” I stood stretched my arms and impulsively dived into the lake. I popped my head up to the surface and treaded water next to… s**t I still didn’t know his name. “Hey, just now realizing, I never got your name.” I smiled trying to ignore that I just told some random guy one of my biggest insecurities and he didn’t get it, like I knew he wouldn’t.

“Oh.. I thought I told you.” he laughed “It’s Arken” his head went underwater and I followed. Under water, even though it was dark I could see his tail, my eyes widened and I swam back to the surface. “Isn’t it nice?” his head popped out of the water and he smiled.

“Oh it’s lovely.” I smiled sarcastically. “I’m just not not used to it… or the fact mermaids exist assuming you’re not my imagination.” I was still smiling.

“I was talking about the water” he laughed and splashed me with his tail, and I didn’t mean to, but I laughed with complete sincerity.

“Oh… yeah” was I blushing? I was, why was I doing that?

“It’s peaceful at night, no one fishing on the land side, no humans trying to find me” he stared at me with a smile on his face “or thinking I’m not real”

“Ha, yeah, but can you blame me? I mean you know that most humans don’t believe mermaids exist, right?” I laughed.

“They used to… after they started hunting us though we went into hiding and after that we just became legends” he shrugged

“That sucks… I would assume…” I really wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“Yeah.. I’m hoping that you won’t do that” he laughed a bit nervously and I shook my head with a smile.

“I won’t.” I smoothed back my hair and sighed. “So… I’ve been coming to this lake for like my whole life… and I’ve never seen any mermaids, I mean maybe you were just good at hiding until this year… so um, what’s the deal?” I shrugged and tilted my head.

“Oh… no not really, I’ve always been really curious so you would’ve seen me before if I was here” he laughed “I washed in with a tsunami a few months ago” he pointed in the direction of where the ocean was.

“Oh, that’s tough man.” I sighed and leaned back just floating on the still waters.

“Not really, it would be a lot worse if I was alone” he went under the water again and I shifted around and went under too. I tried to look around but it was too dark to see anything that wasn’t like right in front of me. Like him, he was in front of me. I was staring into his eyes, which were purple, they were beautiful. Suddenly I realised I’d been holding myself under for a while so I forced myself back up. I coughed and pushed my hair out of my face. He came up seconds after me with a concerned look.

“F**k.” I coughed again. Then in the distance I heard someone calling my name.

“Kaattt! KAATTTRIIINA!!” I looked toward the house, I could make out the shape of Ian standing on the porch.

“I uh, I gotta go. Um… bye.” I smiled at him and swam back to the dock, I pulled myself up, rang out my hair, picked up my shoes and cover up, and turned back to Arken. “I, um… had a nice time…” I smiled at him and he returned it.

I ran back up to the house, punched Ian in the arm with the smile still on my face.

“Why the hell are you so cheerful?” He laughed and I sighed.

“Can’t I just be in a good mood?” I smiled.

“No!” He said sarcastically, and I stuck my tongue out then ran up to my room.

I flopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I liked the merman, even though I still wasn’t convinced he was real. But he was nice, even if he seemed kind of oblivious when it came to humans… then again I know nothing about ‘mermaids.’ I replayed the third and best interaction with Arken over and over again in my head, until I fell asleep.

 

 

Chapter 5~ Arken

 

    I smiled at her as she walked away and then splashed as I ducked back under the water. She seemed so nice, I guess I hadn’t seen her whole personality. Truth was, I knew exactly what she’d been talking about before I just didn’t want to tell her off about it. I found it a little weird that she was the type to toy with people’s feelings and I’d seen it before in sailors and even other merpeople. I swam back to the cave and stared at Piper who was still fast asleep in her little bed of leaves. I smiled and laid in mine.

    “A little early are we?” she was still facing the wall, “did something happen?” I smiled and looked at the rock above me.

    “Nothing important” I turned to face her and smiled as she turned to face me.

    “You never come back this quickly.” she smiled at me and leaned on her hand pressing her elbow on the leaves.

    “Eh... I guess I just got a bit tired is all” I shrugged and smiled. “But I might go out again later.”

    “That’s more like it” she turned back around and laid on her under water cotton pillow staring at the rock wall to her other side, “well get some rest then weirdo, I’m thinking about finding a way back to the ocean tomorrow and I have an idea. Though I’m not sure yet… it’s really dangerous… and I’m going to try to think of something else.. First” I tilted my head at her.

“What?” I smiled a bit.

“Nevermind… I’ll tell you tomorrow after your night adventure or something” I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.
    “If you say so” I laid my head onto the cotton pillow and smiled. Hopefully when I woke up, I could see the human girl again, she was surprisingly fun to talk to.

~

 

The surface of the water was grey and dark green and it was pouring rain outside. I smiled and stared at the house.

“Maybe she’ll come back” I tilted my head, no one had come out of the door since I’d come back to the surface which I guess was understandable since humans typically avoided the rain as far as I’d seen. Every time the sky started leaking there would be no boats over the ocean water and all the lively lights and whispers would disappear. I guess it wasn’t any different around here.

“Hey there” I flinched and turned to face the voice, a man stood at the edge of the lake with his hands behind his back.

“Um… me?” I swam back a bit and shadowed my tail behind me a bit to keep him from seeing it.  

“Can I talk to you?” he gestured for me to go toward him but I stayed where I was, I didn’t know this guy… where the hell had he even come from, and why was he sitting in the rain?

“Um.. I guess” I swam a bit closer but stayed out of range.

“Why are you in the lake so early boy. It’s cold and wet. Are you alright?” he gave me a worried look and I smled.

“I’m fine sir thank you for your concern. My parents know that I’m out here and they’re going to come and get me for breakfast soon. I just um... I like the water”  he stood up and looked at me as if I was in pain

“It’s so dangerous to be in the water during a storm young man, you should be careful” he shook his head and I swam a bit closer.

“I’ll be fine” I insisted. He stepped into the water but his hands stayed behind his back

“Come here for a moment, I think you should come out of the water it’s too dangerous” there was lightning in the distance and he seemed really freaked out so I swam forward toward him. “Gotcha”

“What?” I flinched as he pulled his hands forward and a net sprung up around me. “What the!?” I pulled at the net as he grabbed the side and started pulling me toward the shore

“I knew it! I knew it! No one believed me when I told them but they’ll have to listen to me now!” My entire body was out of the water and I suddenly felt sick,

“Let go of me!” My tail was tangled in the net and I couldn’t pull myself out, “quit it! That really hurts you’re tugging at my tail!” I felt one of the ropes pressing tightly against my tail and it was starting to hurt a lot.

“No way! I’m going to prove to everyone that I’m not crazy!” I tugged at the rope he was holding and he growled a bit, “quit struggling” he dropped the rope and my head hit the ground, I’d never been this far from the water before, the ground hurt and it was a lot less soft than I thought it would be, I assumed grass would feel like the seaweed but…

“Ow!” the man had taken both of my hands and was using part of the rope to tie them together, “stop it” I was extremely thankful for the rain if it had been sunny out I probably would’ve passed out by now.

“Hey!!” The human girl's voice came from the house’s direction and I saw her come running toward me. For a moment she stood there staring at the two of us and the man smirked

“Look at this! It’s a merman and I caught it! With my own net!” I struggled at the ropes as he tightened them and looked at Kat

“Stop it. You’re hurting him” she pushed the man away from me and I stared up at her

“What are you doing?” the man got up and stared at her, she looked angry and panicky and cold and like she didn’t know what she was doing.

“Put him back!.” She pointed at me and yelled over the rain. The man walked in between us and glared at her.

“Open your eyes! Look at it!! It’s a fish freak why the hell are you trying to keep me from my prize you stupid girl!?” he pushed her back and I tugged harder at the ropes.

“He’s not a prize! Just leave him alone you a*s!” She stumbled back a bit but easily regained her balance. I could barely breath and I really didn’t know why.

“No! I’m taking this merman to the city and celling him to the highest bidder!” he turned around and grabbed the net again, pulling me forward, away from the water.

“Why would someone buy a mermaid, why not just sell something else? Like you’re sorry excuse for a boat?” She snarked, but seemed unconfident.

“Are you kidding? This thing will make millions in the city! People will come from all over to see a live mermaid!” he tugged more at the net and I felt a sharp pain flood throughout my tail. I looked back to see what hurt so much to see that part of my tail was as red as Piper’s. Kat looked around nervously and didn’t say anything. She leaned down and when she stood straight up again she chucked a rock at the fisherman. “Hey!” He shouted as he barely ducked in time. The man suddenly dropped the net and my head slammed against the ground, “Are you trying to kill me!?” he grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her so that her feet were off the ground. She gasped.

“Let go of her!” I winced at the pain in my tail as I tried to get out of the net again.

“Put me down you son of a b***h!” She spat at him and he growled, it looked like he had tightened his grip a bit before throwing her to the ground.

“KAT!” I didn’t mean to shout but it just kind of happened.

“Now stay out of my way you brat!” the man turned around and glared at me, “now you, you’re lucky I need you alive or you’d be dead by now!” he kicked my tail and I winced again. The man grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me up, wrapping his arm around me and throwing me over his shoulder. I could barely move, my tail ached and I hated not being able to help Kat. I’d only known her for a little while but she had tried to save me and now she was hurt and it was all my fault. I had to at least try and do something.

“I… I can’t… breathe” I decided that if he needed me alive then my only way out was by pretending that I wasn’t. My mother had actually showed me a way to stop my heartbeat and breathing for a long period of time in case I ever needed to fake it against a predator… which I guess this guy kind of was.

“Yeah right” he rolled his eyes and tightened his grip, I glanced at Kat who hadn’t gotten up  “don’t toy with me b*****d, I know the rain is keeping you alive” he looked down at Kat and growled, “you know, I bet she’d actually fetch a good price in the city too” he laughed a bit and my eyes widened.

“What the f**k?! I have rights! And my mom’s a cop!” She shouted angrily and stood up, stepping back a little.

“Don’t touch her” I struggled again and he almost lost his balance

“Shut up! I’m not going to touch you brat! You’re far too much of a hassle” he rolled his eyes again and I looked at Kat. This really sucked, if we were in the water then I could actually fight back but this.. I couldn’t even survive on land, let alone fight. “Cop or not as soon as I’m gone your mother won’t be able to do anything little princess” he stared at her and snarled.

“Oh f**k off, you’d never get away with it.” She huffed.

“Oh whatever” he turned around and walked toward one of the human...boats, were they called boats? It didn’t matter. “I don’t have time to deal with selfish brats, I’m going to the city and hopefully I’ll get there by midday” he threw me into the space on the boat and I winced as my arm scraped against a piece of wood in the back, “I’ll have to pick up a tub or something to keep it alive…” my tail was still leaking red and I really wasn’t sure how to handle it, but at least we were technically on the water again. Just as he turned his back, Kat lunged and tackled the man and he stumbled forward.

“I will. Not. let. You do this.” She was clinging to his back trying to pin him down, while he tried to pull her off.

“You b***h.” He grumbled. “You’re f*****g crazy, get off me!” She brought him to his knees, and stood racing to the boat. He grabbed her ankles and she nearly  tripped but managed to keep going. Unfortunately the man was back on his feet seconds later, and again, there was nothing that I could do but watch.

 

Chapter 6~ Kat

 

I hadn’t even thought about it. I had had just ran out the door the second I looked out the window. I barely knew Arken, we only talked three times, and everytime I thought I was imagining him, but when I saw the fisherman trying to pull him out of the water I just had to help.

So here I was, outside, in the rain, in the middle of the night, struggling to make my way through the shallow water to cut Arken free. I had a pocket knife in the pockets of my pajama pants and I was almost to the boat and running through the water was slowing the crazy fisherman down. Unfortunately it was slowing me down too. The man gabbed my arm tightly and flung me to the ground with a clumsy splash. He stood over me menacingly.

“You little b***h. What do you get out of helping it?” He snarled and I backed up, struggling to stand.

“Well I don’t know yet, we’ve only talked a little. Maybe a friend? Confidant? A secret, to give my life excitement? Or maybe we’ll be mortal enemies, but I won’t know if you take him, now will I?” I snarled sarcastically as I forced myself back to my feet. He glared and luged at me, but I moved out of the way and made a run for the boat where Arken struggled in his net. I managed to get into the fishing boat and kneel next to Arken. I pulled out my pocket knife and started sawing the ropes as fast as I could before the man stopped me.

I had almost done it, Arken was almost free, if he jumped out of the boat now, he could wiggle out of the net in the water.

“Go now! I’ll be fine.” I yelled just as the man struggled onto the boat, dripping wet with a scowl stuck to his unshaven face. Arken gave me a skeptical look but jumped anyway. I stood swiftly and smiled nervously at the man. “So, um, if it’s cool, I’ll be heading home now.” I said nervously and inched my way to the railing of the boat.

“No! I won’t let you get away with this! You just cost me millions b***h!!” he grabbed me too quickly, I shrieked in surprise and fright. I had never been so afraid, and I didn’t know how to get out of this. The man, while still holding my arm so I couldn’t escape, started the boat’s engine. My screams were drowned out but the thunder and rain, so I just stopped. He threw me to the floor of the boat as we headed to the middle of the lake.

The lake may be small, but it’s still a long way back to my house, and I’m not a strong enough swimmer to make to all the way, not to mention it’s night and thunderstorming. But, jumping off the boat was still the best option. So the second I could I got up and jumped into the lake. As I plunged into the ice cold water I heard the man calling after me. I swam away from the boat as fast as I could even though it was far too dark for me to see if I was going in the right direction. I stayed under as long as I could for fear of the crazy fisherman catching me again.

I pushed myself to the surface gasping for air and looking around wildly. The boat had stopped moving, and from what I could see it looked like the man was searching for me or maybe for Arken. I doubt he’d be able to see or hear me though. Now the next issue of  ‘what the f**k do I do now?’ Suddenly I felt something brush against my leg, I held still while trying to see beneath the water’s murky surface. I heard a soft voice from behind me.

“Hey, thank you... so much, you really didn’t have to do that. Are you okay?” I whipped around to find Arken staring at me with an unsettlingly calm but apologetic face. I shook my head, I was afraid that if I spoke I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from bursting into tears. “No human has even helped me before. Thank you” he put his arm out and looked around, probably making sure we weren’t within range for the fisherman to hear or see us. I nodded and bit my lip. What do I say in a situation like this… without crying? “Also um… I can swim you back to shore if you need me too. You look like you’re going to sink?” I squinted at him, because if there is one thing I hate, it’s seeming weak. However he was right. My arms were starting to ache just from treading water for so long.

“Ok.” I mumbled and moved closer. He wrapped his arms around me and smiled.

“Hold onto my shoulders and hold your breath” he smirked and turned around so that he wasn’t facing me anymore. I held onto his back and I gasped for air as he dove under water. He moved quickly and I only had to make him resurface twice before we had gotten to a place in the water where I could stand. I trudged out of the water, once I was on shore I turned back to Arken.

“Thanks. Um, you should lay low for a while… I’m gonna too… I um I need to go now.” My words were a little broken as I spoke. I tried to smile so he knew I was really ok, but I just couldn’t do it.

“I know.” he looked at the water with the single saddest face I had ever seen and then looked back up at me “and I can also tell that you aren’t ok so I’m not going to ask. Please be careful, I can’t help unless you’re in the water so stay safe please. Also… thank you again for saving me.” he smiled brightly. I forced a smiled and nodded.

“Good night Arken.” I said as I turned and ran home. I thought I heard him say it back, but I didn’t acknowledge it. I just ran to my house, climbed up the tree to my window and got inside where it was warm and dry.

I decided the first thing I’d do now that I was safe was take a hot shower. So I stripped from my soggy pajamas and threw them in the dryer, then I proceeded to make the shower as hot as I could stand. I let the water fall over my face and clean out the seaweed that was caught in my hair. I replayed the events of the night in my head and before I knew it I burst into tears.

When I got out of the shower I wrapped myself in a towel and walked quietly to my room. I flicked on the light and sighed. I put on a clean pair of pajamas and crawled under my marilyn monroe sheets. I glanced at the clock next to my bed, 2:30am. I grumbled, turned out the light and closed my eyes.

Chapter 7~ Arken

 

    I swam back to where the man’s ship was in the middle of the lake, he hadn’t moved and everything was really quiet. I stayed far enough away and with everything but my head to my eyes underwater so that he wouldn’t really be able to see me. I was uncomfortable with how silent it was and the cut across my tail was starting to make my swimming really awkward and sloppy. He was standing at the edge of his boat, silent and listening. His eyes were closed for a moment before he opened them and stared in the direction of the dock.

    “Arken.” I flinched back and dove underwater before seeing Piper’s red hair and calming down. “Are you ok? What happened? Who is that?” she gestured toward my wound and then at the ship

“I’m fine Piper. The fisherman over there saw me and tried to take me to the… city? I think that’s what he called it. It’s not a big deal though I’m fine” she sighed and crossed her arms

    “You could’ve been extremely injured Arken. You need to be more careful. Anyway, who was the girl? And also why are you back at the boat where the man that took you is?” she glanced at the shadowed figure that was half in the water as it bobbed side to side in the storming waves.

    “Her name is Kat and she helped me escape.” I shook my head and turned toward the boat again, “and I’m making sure that he doesn’t go after her” Piper grabbed my wrist and pulled me further under water so that we were towards the lake’s floor.

    “Even if he does, the girl is back in her building of safety with other humans around, no one is stupid enough to go after her. We need to stay under the surface for a few days, promise me you won’t go back up until this all dies down” she gave me a worried look and I nodded

    “I won’t put myself in danger. I’ll be careful, promise” I nodded and she let go with a sigh.

    “You made me leave the cave. I got a really bad feeling after seeing you leave without telling me and I heard yelling.” she rolled her eyes and looked at my tail, “come on, let’s get that patched up”

We headed back to our cave and Piper spent the rest of the night patching up my wound with weeds and fish potions that her father had taught her how to use for healing.

“You should be a lot more careful than you are being after everything that’s happened to you and your family” Piper sighed as I stared at my tail, it had stopped bleeding and she was almost done wrapping it with seaweed.

“You’d think” I smiled at her and she rolled her eyes.

“You’re going out again aren’t you?” I put my hand on the back of my head as she stared at me in concern and question but with full knowledge of the answer.

“I won’t go to the surface, as I promised, but yes, I plan on going back out and exploring. I kept getting distracted by the humans so I haven’t had much of a chance to fully explore the lake.” I  smiled in curiosity at the cave's exit and she smiled back.

“As long as you’re careful then I couldn’t care less.” she sat down on her leaf bed and laid back. “If you get in trouble though I won’t be there to bail you out like when I did with your mom” i rolled my eyes and smirked.

“Don’t you worry about that” I swam up a bit and winced, my tail really hurt and it was a lot worse than I thought it would be. Being as adventurous and curious as I am, I’d gotten hurt a lot so I didn’t really have a hard time with pain as much as I used to but this cut was really deep and Piper had had to toy with it a lot to get all of the strands of rope that had stuck to, and inside, the wound. I began to swim toward the entrance but paused as Piper spoke.

“Don’t even think about it mr. I-want-to-be-in-danger-all-the-time. You need to rest and let your scales heal and after you sleep the day away then you can go on your adventure.” I sighed but did as I was instructed. I laid onto my leaf bed and without a second thought, fell asleep.

 

~

 

“I’m going out now Piper” I smiled at her and quickly swam through the entrance before she could argue. It was about morning at this point and the sun was going to climb through the sky at any moment so she really couldn’t complain considering I had laid down all day.

I decided to adventure on the opposite side of the lake where the human Kat’s dock was not instead of giving the fisherman another chance to hunt me down and ‘sell’ me whatever that was supposed to mean.

“What to do!” I smiled and swam through the high lengths of seaweed that spread across the bottom of the lake, I was still pretty far from shore just in case and there was only one boat on the lake, or only one boat moving on the lake. There were a few just floating on the surface but they were all really far from where I was. I swam upside down through a school of fish and let the little washer fish clean off my tail before heading to a further side of the lake that I hadn’t been to before.

I’d adventures through the west side, north side and Kat was on the south side, all that was left was the east side. I’d been through before a bit and the east side was actually where me and Piper had first washed in but I hated how bright it was during the day that I ended up just going to the other side where we found the cave in about the center of the lake. It’s an underground cave and it was so dark that it fit perfect for Piper.

There was a giant fish in the east side it was about as big as my upper body and it didn’t swim with anything else. There was also a tank fish and a cute little bubble worm that I let crawl on me for a while. I found one of the candy fish too which I hadn’t seen before but it looked like a human candycane, in color, it actually looked very flat and like one of the… pigs? Those weird pink animals that humans eat.

After a while I was able to spot a large opening in the water which reminded me of a cave but it was a bit too big and it looked more like a diamond cavern. There was a small opening in the corner that actually looked like one of my people’s homes back where I was born. I smiled and swam through the blocked opening, it was only blocked by seaweed which was a very common thing back in Mererl, which is what my home is called, but the humans usually call the mermaid home ‘Atlantica’ or something, I’d heard it in a story when listening to one of the cruise ships stories.   

“Who might you be young one?” I flinched and looked around me but no one was there

“What?” I continued to circle the room like place before another mermaid uncamouflaged through the wall. “How… how’d you do that?” I was alittle scared but mostly intrigued, whatever that was, it was cool!

“Ah yes. The royals must’ve ban that too in the village because it ended us being very hard to find their children after they got lost when they didn’t want to be found” He looked really old and I had no idea what he was talking about. “So who are you? I haven’t seen any other merpeople around this lake for quite some time” I smiled at him.

“The name’s Arken! I ended up washing in here with my friend Piper after a HUGE storm” I opened my arms to exaggerate just how big the storm was, we weren’t that far from the ocean so getting washed in by a wave wasn’t really that abnormal but washing back out was a HUGE issue and it wasn’t going to happen. At this point the only way back to open waters would be with human help which Piper is absolutely against.

“Ah I see. I’m Hirashioa an old man of the  Mediterranean” he nodded and I smiled with question.

“What are you doing all the way over here then?”

“That’s a fine question young Arken, I came to Mererl with a message and ended up being taken here by a human. I got my message to them though so in the end it was worth it. It’s very peaceful here, not a lot of interesting things happen” I remembered everything that had happened last night and laughed a little, everything I’d seen here so far was interesting.

“So um… do you think there’s any chance I’ll ever be able to get back to the ocean?” I tilted my head, maybe there was a secret passage through the underground or something that Piper and I could use to return home.

“There is a way for you to get back young Arken but I’m sure you will not like it” I tilted my head now extremely curious.

“Really? Try me” I smiled and he nodded.

“I heard that it was ban in Mererl because of its dangers and risks but I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you stay away from their water.” I blinked.

“What?” that seemed really unreasonable for me and Piper to stay away from water, and who was they?

“Please let me finish”

“Yes sir, I apologize” I closed my mouth and nodded at him to continue.

“About four hundred years ago the great leaders of the ocean waters forbad the use of mermagic, we are born with a special scale in our tails that allow us to separate our fin to become like human legs if we so choose. We can also change our tail to become more like the land animals but it’s much harder to do that because our scales have a harder time changing to fur than to human skin, which is odd, but somehow makes sense” I looked at him curiously, was he being serious, could we really turn human?

“Can I turn human?” I whispered to myself but he heard me and answered

“Indeed, we believe that it was originally a defense mechanism in case we ended up with a larger and more dangerous undersea predator that made. Or we came from land creatures that functioned better underwater but kept the ability to stay on the land” she shrugged “but no one knows for sure really.”

“How do I activate it?” I stared at my tail wondering which scale was the one that turned me human.

“I’ll tell you, but I suggest not doing it before you are in the shallows kid. It takes a while to learn how to function with human legs” he shook his head and I nodded in excitement but understanding the warning, how hard could it really be though? It’s just like having two tails instead of one, right?

“Understood sir” I smiled

“Actually kid. It’s much easier to show you… also, you should find pants first, the humans don’t like skin showing” I tilted my head

“Pants…?” he rolled his eyes

“Here” he swam through a little hold and grabbed some kind of blue cloth thing, it was wrapped in some kind of ocean bubble, I assumed to keep it dry. They actually reminded me of the things Kat had worn but.. Longer. There was also something else but they were a dark greyish and smaller than the other thing.

“What are they?” he handed me the things and I took them

“Clothes, human clothes. They’re for your legs” he pointed to my tail “come with me. I’m going to take you to shore to teach you how to turn into a land creature” I smiled brightly as he took me into a dark hidden spot that was next to sand. “Here” he poked a spot on my tail that was directly above my fin at the bottom, it was the only scale on my tail that was completely black, the rest were blue and purple and light blueish white.

“Ok?” I covered the scale a bit self conscious, everyone back home had always made fun of me for having a black scale, they always said it was because I was cursed and that I was going to die. That was mostly when I was a kid though they mostly stopped as I got older

“Everyone has a single odd colored scale, and in the rare case that they don’t it means that they cannot turn human. They usually are less obvious than this but yours is pitch black, I’ve never seen one of this color before” he stared at my eyes and shrugged as I uncovered the scale. “All you have to do is tear it off, after you do the transformation will occur, but do not, DO NOT! Lost the scale, after you grow your legs you have to hold the scale to your leg and the scale will embed itself into your human skin. If it touches the lake water that you transformed from then you will turn back.” I smiled and grabbed the edge of the scale, ready to tear it off, “However!” he hit my hand and I flinched, “if any kind of human water touches you then you will burn until you bleed, if enough gets on you then you will die” I flinched and stared at him with a sudden realization of why the great water royals had ban the use of this ability.

“Um… does rain count?” I gave him a nervous smile and he nodded

“Any water that is not from the ocean or the water that you transformed from will burn you, rain is dangerous because there is no way to tell where it came from. Do not test your luck with rain. EVER!” I nodded and put my hands up. “If you understand the risks then go ahead”

I smiled, all I had to do was avoid water, what he’d said before made sense now and no matter what the consequences were, I needed to do this, I’d always wanted to be human or at least try it out.  I wasn’t about to pass up this chance, not for the world!

I tore the scale from my tail and it barely even hurt, I had been swimming in the water but everything had gone black for a moment, when I could see again I was in Hirashioa’s arms, I felt weird and I was out of the water at this point. I looked down only to find my tail was now two legs that were covered by the dark blue… pants.. That Hirashioa had given me before.

“Oh my markings!” I flinched back with a smile on my face, “I’m human!!” I went to stand but I ended up falling backwards, why were these leg things so hard to function with.

“Remember, you can’t touch the water unless you want to turn back” he gestured to the lake “and avoid any other water” I continued to attempt standing straight up until I was finally able to do it, and at that point moving was my only problem. “Be careful young Arken. The human world is dangerous” he shook his head and dove back into the water, I nodded. This was amazing, where was Hirashioa my whole life when I needed to be a land creature!?  Now I just needed to figure out how it all worked.

Chapter 8~ Kat

 

    When I woke up the day after my lovely near death experience, I, unsurprisingly, wasn’t feeling too great. I stumbled my way down the stairs to find my parents and brother sitting at the island in the kitchen.

    “Morning dear.” My mother sipped what I assumed was tea, since she recently declared war on coffee. “How’d you sleep? I heard the shower at like 2 in the morning.” She tilted her head, I rolled my eyes.

    “I slept fine, thank you. And I was just up late… I was drawing and I spilled... um.. my beverage on myself and I was all sticky.” I laughed nervously and put on a pot of coffee.

    “Sure…” Ian smirked suggestively and I punched his arm. “What!?” He laughed. I stuck my tongue out.

    “So what are you kids doing today?” My dad smiled cheerfully. I sighed.

    “I think I’m just going to stay in… it’s all dreary today.” I grabbed a piece of toast and filled a mug with coffee. “How about the rest of you?” I fake smiled. I was just going to drink my coffee and draw something, maybe I’ll listen to loud music.

    “Well your father and I are going to head into town and go to Cynthia's, you remember her right?” My mom smiled and I nodded. Cynthia is my mom’s old college roommate, and also my godmother. I really don’t like her. “You can come with us if you’d like?” I shook my head.

    “Nah, I’m going to keep it low key.” Mom nodded and I headed back to my room.

    And that’s what I did. For the whole day, I drank coffee and drew burlesque girls. At one point I found myself drawing a merman who was suspiciously like Arken.

~

    The next day I called Rita.

    Rita; Heeeyyyy Kitty girl! So I knew the last party I threw ended badly for you, but my next one, tonight, this one will be dope!

    Me; Rita Conway, did you really need to ask?

    Rita; Awesome. Oh! You know what would be fun!?

    Me; what?

    Rita; DRESS SHOPPING!!!!

    Me; *laughing* Sure, I’ll meet you at Redmonds only cloths store in twenty minutes. Later b***h.

    Rita; Later b***h.

    I hung up and sighed. I think tonight whichever guy I decide to chat up I’ll actually sleep with. I grabbed my purse and called to my mom as I started walking into town. Rita was waiting outside the store texting on her phone.

    “Hey Rita.” I smiled and skipped up to her.

    “Hey wild Kat!! You ready to find us some skanky dressessss!” She smiled and showed all her teeth, I laughed.

    “You’re so weird, but totally.” We walked into the store arm in arm. The store is small and smells faintly of smoke and incense, but it’s quaint and has some really cool cheap vintage clothes. I browsed the racks and shelves looking for something that was classy but sexy. While Rita looked for something comfortable but a little revealing because she was planning to hang around her boyfriend for the whole party.

    Eventually I found something absolutely fabulous and very hot. It was a vintage flapper dress, it was a dark red with short black tassels around the bottom and neckline, also it was very short. Not only did I find that but also a matching pair of red maiden heels. Rita’s dress was so short her a*s hung out the back, but none the less it was pretty cute. We parted ways after purchasing our dresses. I went back to my house and started getting ready for the party. I took a shower, blew out my hair, put on my makeup, got in my dress, slipped on my new shoes, painted my nails, called Rita, and headed out the door.

    The party was loud, I could hear it before I could even see Rita’s house. When I did get there the music was booming, people with singing a long and dancing, some were having out conversations and some were already wasted. I smirked at the sight of it all. But first before I start dancing like no one’s watching, I went off to find Rita. When I did, she was sloppily making out with her boyfriend.

    “Rita!” I had to yell so she could hear me.

    “Oh hey kitty Kat!” She broke away from her boyfriend and smiled at me.

    “I just wanted to let you know I was here, you can go back to making out now.” I looked at her then her boyfriend. “Hey man.” He smiled at me and went back to making out with Rita. I left, and headed to the dance floor.

    I was slowly swaying my hips with my arms above me, before I knew it I had several guys all over me. I smirked, it worked every time. I like to dance in a way that just screams ‘sex.’ I was right in the middle of flirting with some guy, and by ‘flirting’ I mean just dancing up on each other, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around expecting to see Rita, but it wasn’t her.

    “Oh my god.” I was staring up at a familiar face, but not one I’d expect to see in a place like this. I was staring at him and the sound around me sort of faded away. “Arken?"

Chapter 9~ Arken

When I’d finally gotten the hang of swimming on land, or walking… on land, as the humans call it. I’d walked to a random building on that particular side of the lake, it was quite small and cute and I figured I would try out being human, maybe not mention any water things or the human things that I didn’t really understand fully because it had made Kat uncomfortable so I figured it wouldn’t make anyone else very comfortable.

“Um… hey?” There was a girl at the door and she looked confused.

“Um.. hi, my name’s Arken and I’m uh… I’m a bit lost” I smiled with a sudden realization that I actually had no idea what I was doing, who I was looking for or where I was going to go.

“Ok… I’m Kira, are you looking for someone?” she walked outside and closed the wooden thing that she’d opened before to say hello.

“Yes… her name is Kat and I have no idea where anything is. I uh.. I think she lives on the edge of the lake, somewhere over there” I pointed in the direction of the weird dock where I’d met her, maybe if I could find Kat then I could figure everything out and what to do.

“Oh Kat, that’s Rita’s friend. I’m not sure why you’re looking for her though, she’s not a good match. Trust me” I tilted my head, was she insulting Kat? That’s a bit weird… “Either way, if you’re looking for her then I’m sure you’ll find her at Rita’s party tonight. I’m going too so you can stay here until then” the girl smiled and I returned it.

“Thanks, I’d love to” I stayed for the afternoon and the girl kept touching my leg for some reason but after a while she’d stopped. She told me to get into one of the weird metal boxes and I got in. She only drove a little bit before I started getting a massive headache from something loud.

“We’re here” She opened the box and I plugged my ears to see a huge, basically glowing building that blew up with sound and it really hurt, She came around to where I was now out of the metal box and she grabbed my wrist.

“Kat...Kat’s in there?” She pulled me toward the building and I sighed.

“Yep. I still don’t know why you want to talk to her though. I’m just as good you know, and I’m loyal.” I tilted my head as she pulled me into the crowd of humans. I thought I heard her say something else but with the amount of noise in here I couldn’t really hear much. At one point the girl let go of my wrist and I just started walking around.

“K..kat!” I kept shouting a bit but after getting about ten glares I stopped. A few of the humans started dancing near me, like really closely and for some reason it was making me uncomfortable. “Kat!” I flinched as I spotted her in the middle of a circle of people. I pushed out of the circle of girls and tapped her shoulder.

“Oh my god” she turned around and stared at me, she had stopped dancing and she was giving me a really weird look, “Arken?”

“Ca… can I talk to you please?” I took her arm and pulled her from the circle of guys, they looked really pissed at me but I ignored it and continued walking.

“Um… ok… but I have a lot of questions right now.” She followed close behind me and I pulled her up the passage where there weren’t any other humans. I turned into an open room and shut the opening.

“Where the sharks are we? This place is so loud and awful and people keep dancing on me and touching me and it’s weird” I shivered and she tilted her head.

“Um… ok. First of all this is Rita’s house, second it’s a party that’s why the music is loud and people are dancing, third most of the people are horny teenagers and you’re hot so that’s why they’re all over you. And fourth, why and how the hell do you have legs!? I didn’t know you could do that!” She gave me a nervous and a bit freaked out look, but also something else… I didn’t read into it.

“Me neither!!!” I smiled and she tilted her head, “apparently it’s something all of us can do! We were forbidden from it by the sea royals but this old guy in the lake taught me how to do it so that I can bring Piper back to the ocean!!”

“Wow, sounds fun… who’s piper?” She smiled a little.

“Oh...um… she’s… a... Uh… she’s my best friend… always wanted to see the ocean you know?” I put my hand on the back of my head, if this girl did end up being a crazy human that wants me dead then there’s no way I would sell out Piper too, she hated humans enough as is.

 “Um ok… So now that you’re human what do you want to do?” She smiled and raised an eyebrow.

“I...Uh.. I actually have no idea… I think… well I was actually going to ask you?” I looked at her nervously hoping that she hadn’t caught onto the fact that I was pretending Piper was human instead of another mermaid trapped in the lake.

“Ok… let’s see… there’s so much we could do… I think you should pick the first thing. Just say the first idea that comes to your head.” She smiled brightly and bit her lip.

“Oh! I want to know how those metal boxes work!” I smiled and she gave me a confused look.

“Metal boxes?” She scrunched her face a little.  

“Um… the uh… the things that you humans ride around in… you know.. Instead of walking” I felt my face turn a bit red, I really didn’t know how to better describe it and I felt really stupid for asking.

“Cars?” She smiled and laughed a little. “Ok, Come with me.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me back out to where the loud party was. About four people had tried pulling me away from Kat before we finally got to the way out of the building, which was the same place I came in. Kat leaned over some redheaded girl making out with a tall blonde guy. “Hey Rita! Can I borrow your car?” Kat shouted and instead of breaking apart from the guy, the girl gave a thumbs up. “Thanks babe!”

“What?” she pulled me out the opening and went around the building to one of the big metal boxes… uh… cars.

“Ok, you get in that side, I’m going to drive. This’ll be awesome.” She smirked and stuck a key into the car.

“Um..” I flinched as the car pulsed back and my head slammed on the back of the seat thing.

“Sorry, I only got my license last year.” She smiled and the car lurched forward moving extremely quickly down the road.

“Oh my markings! Kingdoms of gold are you trying to kill me!?” She laughed.

“No, relax, you’re fine, this is awesome!!” I held tightly to the side of the seat and stared at her, whatever this thing was it was going a lot faster than even my speed when I was in the water, and I like to think that I’m pretty fast.

“A..are you sure? I’m starting to think that I shouldn’t have asked” I closed my eyes and the car made a circle motion before she laughed and it came to a quick and shocking stop.

“Ok then… we can do something more low key… anything in mind?” She turned to face me with an excited smile.

“Um… I’m not really sure. What do humans usually do?” I smiled and tilted my head as I sat up to regain my balance in the car that she’d had me go in.

“Well… we do a lot, we could go to my house? I could show you some music, maybe explain some icons… um.. We could play a game, maybe dance, we could try tree climbing but it might be hard with new legs… um we could go back to the party? I’m not sure do any of those things sound appealing?” She tilted her head a little as she listed things.

“Your house sounds nice… I’m not sure what kind of music humans listen too but that sounds interesting, but I would prefer not going back to the noise house.” I smiled at her and the car started moving again.

“Awesome, we have to drop the car off at the party then we can walk to my place. This’ll be awesome, I’m going to show you all the classics. Madonna, Weezer, Nirvana, Beyonce, Blondie, all of them!” She grinned as she spoke, but I honestly had no idea what she was saying

“Drop off the car… and walk…” I smiled “I’m a little new to the walking thing but I’m sure I’ll be fine”

“Well you should practice, don’t worry I’ll help ya out.” She smiled and pulled the car into the driveway, we luckily didn’t go as fast that time but she still stopped very quickly and harshly. We started walking around the lake, following one of the roads, after we got out of the car. “Oh I meant to ask, how did you know to find me at Rita’s?”

“Oh, I just knocked on this building and a girl came out asking if I was lost. After I asked about finding you we waited a bit in the building and she brought me to the party thing… I think I forgot to say thank you… I’ll apologize next time I see her, if I see her again that is” I looked at Kat and my face went red as I realized I was just blabbering on.

“Cool, do you know who the girl was?” She smiled up at me.

“Yeah, she said her name was Kira I think”

“Did she say something about me? What ever she said isn’t true!” She seemed a little rushed to speak and like she was angry and upset.

“Well she kept telling me that I shouldn’t be your friend because you’re… I don’t remember the word she used but it wasn’t very nice.” I shrugged and almost tripped on a random tree staff that just stuck into the road like it was my arch nemesis and wanted me to die.

“Careful. Well as long as that’s all she said. We’re rivals, it was a whole thing. Anyway we’re almost to my house.” I looked up at the building… house? That must be what they call these things which is actually really funny because underwater we usually just call it home.

“Oh cool! What does your home.. Uh house.. Look like on the inside?” She smiled as we reached the way in.

“You are about to see.” She turned the knob in about the middle left of the wooden thing and lead us into an open room with stairs and a few little outlines to an opening but with no actually wooden boards blocking them. She lead me up the stairs past framed pictures of her and people who I assumed were her family, and down a long hallway where she opened another wooden thing. “So this is my room” She stood and gestured to the small open, yet crowded, space in front of us. It had white walls, but there were large pictures covering most of them, there was a bed with a shaggy black thing...I think they’re called blankets? And a few small wooden structures cluttered with things I didn’t know the purpose of.

“What’s this thing?” I lifted one of the weird things from her wooden structure… desk.. It had a weird darkness to it like it wasn’t supposed to be there, there was an outline with two people on the back and it looked really odd, the two people were only half human like the bottom half had been completely cut off but one had black hair with blue eyes and the other had both brown hair and brown eyes.

“Hm? Oh that’s my brother’s phone.” she sat down and leaned against the wall took off her… um shoes, and started fiddling with something that looked like what I was holding but the back was different. I sat down next to her.

“Ok..” I set it down and shrugged, it looked pretty useless and boring but I didn’t feel like asking why she had it. “And who are they?” I pointed to the people on one of the posters she had, they looked exactly like the two on the phone thing except they had legs this time.

“That’s Dan and Phil, they’re youtubers. I was obsessed with them when I was like fifteen.” She sighed. “Good times… but now I a have a more retro and/or noir aesthetic.”

“Cool. They look nice.” I glanced down at my human clothes and jumped remembering that I wanted to show Kat the scale that turned me human. I had no idea where it would be though… I lifted the cloth on my right leg hoping that it would be near the bottom since that’s where it had been on my tail. Unfortunately though it wasn’t there, but there was a slightly large slit in my leg that explained why it hurt to walk.

“What the hell is that?” Kat looked at the cut and I shrugged.

“I got cut on the net when the fisher guy was after me. I guess cuts and stuff still show up no matter what form I’m in” I shrugged. I pulled it back down and lifted the other pant leg but the scale wasn’t on my left side either, at least as far as I could tell without pulling it up anymore, Hirashioa had said that humans don’t like showing a lot of skin so I figured I’d just let it go for now.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh…” I smiled, I was really excited to show her but I guess I’d have to settle for just telling her for now. “I turn human by pulling off this particular scale on my tail and then I change human, I still have the scale somewhere on my legs and if it touches lake water then I’ll turn back. Or the ocean water where I’m originally from” I smiled and she looked toward my legs

“That’s pretty cool.” She smiled brightly and nodded her head. “So you can change whenever you want?”

“I think so yeah” I smiled, “but I should probably have someone with me when I do because I blacked out the first time…”

“Ok… so you ready to listen to the greatest hits of human music?” She smiled and I smiled back.

Chapter 10~ Kat

    I pushed the button on my phone and one of my favorite songs played through the speaker. It was Blondie’s, quite possibly most popular song, “One way or another.” I sang along and Arken watched with wide eyes and a half smile spreading over his face as I stood up and began dancing and lip synching to the song as if I were Debbie Harry on stage. Arken was laughing and smiling and it made me do the same. The song ended and I plopped back down.

    “So, that was ‘One way or another’ by Blondie, accompanied by my fabulous moves. What did you think?” I smiled and blushed. I was starting to come to the conclusion that I kind of liked him in a not entirely platonic way… and not just because he was hot, I like, actually liked him. Which is fairly new territory for me.

    “That was great, the song sounded a little stalkery though… but I liked it” He tilted his head at me, I smiled and rolled my eyes.

    “Good, glad you liked it. You ready for another song? You can pick the band.”

He tilted his head at me, because he didn’t know any bands. “Ok which one these bands and/or singers sounds interesting and I’ll pick their best song. The bands are; Weezer, Madonna, Panic! At the disco, fall out boy, Nirvana, lady gaga, or Sinead o'connor?” I smiled and he stared at me kind of lost.

“Nirvana sounds cool” he smiled and shifted a little closer to me on the bed. I blushed again.

“Alright, this song is called ‘smells like teen spirit.’” I scrolled through the music on my phone and pressed play, the air filled with music again. We listened to music for about an hour before both of us got bored, I made him listen to all the bands and singers I listed to and he seemed to enjoy all of them for the most part.

“I think my favorite was Fall Out brothers… I think maybe it was the one with Panic in the name.. I'm not sure the song was like ‘Former heroes who quit too late, who just wanna fill up the trophies case again’” his voice was amazing, which I guess wasn't surprising considering he was a mermaid and all the legends said they could sing well.

“Yeah, that’s a good one. What kind of music do mermaids listen to?” I bit my lip a little.

“There isn't really a 'type’ of music, usually it's whatever we can sing and play on the sea Coral, we usually just make things up as we go along” he suddenly smirked “ you know, to lure sailors into our dark waters, seduce them and then drown them.” He rolled his eyes and I smiled.

“Oh cool, I do that too.” I said sarcastically.

“I heard that one from and old sailing couple on a cruise one time” he laughed and I did too.

“So um, what do you want to do now?” I tilted my head and stared up at him.

“I don't really know… you said something earlier about climbing the land corals? I think you called them trees though…” he smiled, I rolled my eyes.

“Sure, but after we are teaching you some new words.” I hopped off the bed and opened my window. “Now, I use this lovely tree for sneaking out when I’m not supposed too. We can either start from the top and climb down, or we can go out the front and climb back up. Your choice.” I smiled gesturing to the window like I was in an add and trying to sell it.  

“I mean, whatever you want to do is fine” he looked out the window probably a bit shocked at how high it actually was.

“Well I think it’ll be easier to start from the ground, so come on.” I lead him back into the hall and down the stairs. We walked around to the side of the house in front of the tree. “Watch me first, ok?” He nodded and I started to climb the tree. I stopped when I got to my window. “Ok, now you try, I’ll walk you through it if you want.”

“Um.. yes please” he laughed a little and stared nervously at the branch above him.

“Ok, so grab onto that branch there.” I pointed to the one closest to the ground. “Then pull yourself onto that one.” I pointed again and he followed my instruction. His way of doing it was a lot different from mine and it was very sloppy but luckily he had enough arm strength to compensate for the lack of being able to use his newly found legs.

“This is a lot harder than I thought it would be” he sat on the first branch holding tightly to the trunk of the giant oak.  

“We can do something else if you want?” I smiled reassuringly.

“No!” He closed his eyes for a moment and I tilted my head “I'm not giving up, I'm at least going to make it half way!” He looked up at me and then grabbed onto the next branch, he was shaking a lot but he was really determined to make it. I smiled.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting.” I leaned against the trunk and crossed my legs casually. It took him a while, but he did indeed make it up to where I was.

“Told you I could do it.” He smirked and I blushed.

“You say that like I doubted you.” I said as I climbed over him and into my open window.

“Um…” he grabbed onto the side but just hung there for a moment before pulling himself in and rolling into my room through the window. I flopped onto the bed with a sigh.

“I shouldn’t try to climb trees in a dress like this.” I played with one of the tassels and sat up straight. “Ok so, we drove a car, listened to awesome music and climbed a tree. What’s next on the agenda? Say the first thing that comes to your mind.” I leaned forward a little and he sat down on my desk chair.

“Uh…” he shrugged and looked at me with a look that asked what I wanted to do.

“Ugh, you’re bad at this. Ok fine, I’ll pick… um… have you ever played truth or dare?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“No… wait… is it like shark chase?”

“Huh? I don’t know” I tilted my head a little,  hoping he might elaborate.

“Uh.. it's like one of a group of us stays still for a few moments and the others circle them for that time and when the person says 'Chase!’ then everyone swims off as fast as they can, whoever gets caught first has to sit on barnacles” he laughed “and the last one caught gets to have free dinner for a while. As in everyone else catches their prey for them”

“Um ok, well truth or dare is very different… In truth or dare we take turns asking each other ‘truth or dare?’ if you pick truth, then I’ll ask a question and you have to answer honestly, if you pick dare, then you have to do whatever I tell you. And it can be anything. Get it?”

“that sounds dangerous.. but yes, I think I understand. Aren't games usually boring with just two people though..” He looked at me skeptically.

“Not necessarily but I suppose we don’t have to play.” I said it with a wicked grin, challenging him to play.

“Alright fine. I'll try your little game” he smirked back and crossed his arms, he mostly seemed intrigued by my game.

“Ok... truth or dare?” I smirked and pulled my hair over my shoulder. He stared at me with his big shiny purple eyes like he was thinking over the options.

“Dare” he folded his arms against his chest and smiled at me.

“Ok, I am going to blindfold you and feed you things I find in the kitchen. Here tie this around your face I’ll be right back.” I threw an old bandana at Arken and ran down the stairs. He probably didn’t know any foods other than fish and seaweed, so I would find the best and worst things in our cabinets. I found nutella, mayonnaise, capers, yogurt, cottage cheese and hot sauce. “Ok I’m back!” I laughed and sat in front of him. “Is the blindfold on all the way? You can’t see anything right?”

“Not a thing” he shrugged and I checked to make sure it was on correctly but he’d actually done really well at tying it.

“Perfect.” I cackled and unscrewed the lid on the mayo jar. “Ok, first thing!” I lifted a spoon and put it in his mouth, he didn’t even flinch, and he actually tried eating the spoon too but luckily I pulled it out of his mouth before he could. “Don’t eat the spoon dork.” I laughed.

“Uky” he was probably trying to say ‘okay’ but he still had mayo in his mouth so it

sounded weird. As soon as he swallowed he smiled a bit and tilted his head, “that wasn’t poison right?”

    “No, and I can’t believe you ate all of it, that was gross. But the next thing is better I promise.” I wiped off the spoon and put it in the nutella, then put it in his mouth. He did not eat the spoon this time.

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about the first thing was good too. The second one tastes…. Really… I don’t know how to describe it... Like the sweet sea caramel I guess.. But not” he tried lifting the blindfold but I stopped him, “so what was it?”

    “It’s called Nutella, it’s a chocolate hazelnut thing. I once let a guy lick it off my face and then I did it to him. It was awesome.” I smirked. He made a weird face and I laughed. “Ok, next thing.” I fed him the hot sauce.

    “This one tastes like the electric eel that I tried to take home as a pet one time! It died though, and then my mom made me eat it” he laughed and I was the one that made a weird face this time. “It’s different though, less… eel..”

    “That would be because it’s not eel… ok next thing.” I fed him the rest of the things I’d gathered and untied the blindfold. “And now, it’s your turn to ask ‘truth or dare?’”

    “Ok… truth or dare?” He set down the blindfold and smiled at me.

    “Dare” I smirked.

    “Ok. I dare you to name seven kinds of fish in twenty seconds and if you can’t then you have to swim in the lake for five minutes” he smiled and I tilted my head

    “Fine, I have a timer on my phone.” I opened the timer and handed it to Arken. “ When it beeps time’s up.” I took a deep breath. “Ok, trout, cod, koi, gold fish, beta fish, cuttlefish, um… guppy! Ha! Did I do it?” I smiled and he stared at me like he was surprised I could think of seven different fish, and to be honest I was a little surprised myself.

    “You forgot mermaid”

    “Do mermaids count as fish?” I tilted my head.

    “We are sea creatures… but I guess I just call everything fish. My dad used to yell at me for it all the time ‘They aren’t fish Arkideanien, they’re called sharks’” he laughed and I looked at him confused, “what?”

“Arkideanien?”

“Oh.. uh.. Sorry that’s my birth name but only my father calls me that” He tilted his head and I half smiled.

“Cool, ‘Kat’ is a nickname too, my full name is Katrina.” I looked up at him. “Ok, truth or dare?”

“Truth” he smiled

“Ok um… are you a virgin? Also how do mermaids have sex? Answer one or both.” I gave him a curious smile.

“Um.. yes… and I think the other question is something that would be better explained by Piper, not me” he laughed but there was definitely a look of discomfort on his face.

“I guess I’ll just live in curiosity then.” I sighed and smiled. “Your turn.”

    “Um… ok… well truth or dare?”

    “Um… truth.”

    “Have you ever swam far through the lake?” he shrugged

    “Mmm.. no, but it’s just because I’m not a strong swimmer.” I shrugged too.

    “Well maybe I can teach you sometime” he smiled and I rolled my eyes.

    “I know how to swim, i’m just bad at it.” I smiled. “Truth or dare?”

    “Um truth”

    “What was your first impression of me?” I bit my lip, slightly worried about what he might say.

    “Well you’re really pretty and you just were very easy to talk to and I was glad that I had a human friend. I think you’d make a really pretty mermaid” he smiled, my face went red and I found myself smiling as he spoke. Much better than I would have thought seeing as how I freaked out the first time we met… and then thought he was imaginary the next few times, and that’s not even mentioning the way I dress. I guess I’d assumed he’d think poorly of me at first.

    “That’s um… thanks.” I smiled softly up at him. Suddenly I felt very shy, but within a millisecond the shyness faded back into my nearly unwavering and sometimes slightly off putting confidence.

    “You’re welcome” he smiled brightly and shifted a bit to the side “ok you now, truth or dare?”

    “Dare.” I smirked.

    “Alright, hmm” he put his hand on his cheek and paused for a moment “I dare you to… uh… nevermind, you aren’t a good swimmer… ok, I dare you to get your brother and make him play” he laughed, probably because he couldn’t think of anything else. I rolled my eyes a little.

    “Fine, but only because he’s probably high and it’ll be funny to watch him try to play.” I stood up and walked down the hallway and knocked on his door.

    “Just a minute!” I heard him shuffling around before pulling the door open with an innocent smile. “Kat! So glad you’re not mom.” He smiled and I rolled my eyes.

    “Me too. Any way, would you like to play truth or dare with me and my gentleman friend?” I smiled and nodded towards my room.

    “Gentleman friend?” He smirked.

    “Shut up, yes or no?”

    “Mmm… ok” He followed me back to my room. “Hey man.” He waved to Arken and sat in the middle of the floor.

“Ok, um, Arken this is Ian, Ian this is Arken” I smiled awkwardly and sat on the bed.

“Who’s turn is it?” Ian looked between the two of us.

“Yours.” I pointed at him, and he sat back thoughtfully.

“Ok, Arken. Truth or dare?” Ian looked up at Arken with a smirk.

“Dare” He smirked back.

“Ok I dare you to… dress up in Kat’s clothes and makeup then walk down the hall like it’s a runway. Drag race it up!!” He shrieked excitedly. I laughed and looked at Arken who was probably a little confused.

“Ok” Arken shrugged and looked at me, “what do you want me to wear? Also, um… what’s a runway?” Ian squinted a little.

“Seriously? Just walk like a model down the hall. And you can wear whatever Kat says you can.” He tilted he head and smirked but Arken gave me another confused look

“Um... sure” He stood slowly and I sighed.

“I guess I’ll have to show you.” I smirked and looked at Ian who nodded and took my phone. Arken was looking between the two of us, a little lost. Ian and I went into the hallway followed by Arken. Ian hit a button on my phone and Rupaul’s ‘sissy that walk’ began to play, I walked down the hallway like I was at a victoria’s secret fashion show. Ian clapped while Arken just stared.

“Fabulous darling, now let’s drag up your gentleman friend.” Ian went back into my room and started digging around in my closet.

“So what are you picking out?” Arken was hovering over Ian’s shoulder and staring in my closet, as a mermaid I hadn’t really thought about it before but did they care about the gender norms because he really didn’t seem to care about having to wear girl clothes or walk down the hall like a model, which he didn’t even know what the meant.

“Can he wear this one?” Ian ignored Arken’s question and held out a gold mini dress I had only wore like twice, I smirked.

“Absolutely.” I glanced between the two of them as Ian handed the dress to Arken.

“Put this on.”

“Right… um.. How do I do that?” he looked at me nervously, Ian shook his head a little.

“Make Kat help you.” He sighed and I rolled my eyes. I smiled and walked Arken threw putting the dress on. It was really tight and short on him, but it still fit. I then made him sit still while I did his make as best I could. In the end he looked pretty good.

“Ooh! You look hot, you could do drag professionally!” Ian smirked and practically skipped into the hallway. I laughed and Arken followed behind us awkwardly.

“How do you wear this? It’s so tight” Arken looked at me and I tried not to laugh

“She’s a girl dumbass, she pulls it off. Now strut down the hall” my brother rolled his eyes and I burst out laughing as Arken tried to copy what I’d done before, he almost tripped about three times before stopping at the end of the hall

“Ok… can I put the other thing back on now please? This is really tight” I nodded and he took the dress off, almost on his own. He sat on the bed next to me.

“Alright Katty, your turn” my brother stuck his tongue out and I glared.

“Mhm.. right, Ianna truth or dare” if my brother ever called me something stupid I enjoyed returning the favor, he rolled his eyes.

“Truth”

“Lame” I stuck my tongue out at him and he shrugged, “Have you ever seen a mermaid?” I knew the answer but I really wanted to bring the topic up again because I was still a little curious about my second question to Arken, though it didn’t really matter considering he could turn human.

“Uh... What kind of question is that, you running out of ideas?” Arken flinched a bit and Ian looped his finger around his head calling me crazy. “you can’t see something that doesn’t exist Kat” Arken looked back at me in a slightly hurt but also a ‘I’m used to it’ look.

“Right. I know” I looked at Arken and smiled, winking to let him know that I believed (for the most part) but didn’t really want my brother to know. Just then my brother’s phone rang. He grabbed it from the desk and Arken and I listen to his half of the conversation.

“Guten tag...Oh hey!... nothing, like at all… my sister and her latest” I winced when he called Arken ‘my latest’ “truth or dare, you?... f**k, that sounds better… can I bring weed?... sweet.” He took the phone away from his ear and smiled at Arken and I. “Well, it’s been fun, but that was Lisa Gardner. Remember her? My on again off again girlfriend from last summer?” I nodded. “Well, we are back on! I’m going to go to her house, so bye.” He sprinted out of my room,  came back in and went out my window.  I glanced at Arken.

“Well then… um… do you want to keep playing or… I don’t know, something else?” I smiled awkwardly, hoping that he hadn’t noticed the whole ‘her latest’ thing, or that he would at least ignore it. With almost any other guy, that probably would have been the case and I wouldn't care if they knew, but with Arken, I didn't want him to think I was using him. I looked at the clock on my phone as a bed of distraction from thought. “Wow, it’s already 1:30…”

“Yeah… I think I’m done with truth or dare… what do you want to do?” He smiled a little, I think he could sense my sudden awkwardness, but I wasn’t sure.

“Well… it’s kind of late, so maybe a movie?” I tilted my head, doubtful he even knew what a movie was.

“A what?” He squinted a little, and I smiled brightly.

“You’ll see.” I got up and grabbed my laptop. “We’ll start with a classic…here sit back, it’s a small bed so we have to squish.” I shoved half the stuff off the bed and he leaned against the headboard. I sat next to him and scrolled through netflix, I couldn’t find anything so I went to my queue on itunes. “Hmm… ok… this movie is called ‘some like it hot’ like that poster.” I pointed to the wall, Arken nodded. “It’s about theses two guys running from the mob so they disguise themselves as women and travel with these performer girls, and they chill with Marilyn Monroe.”

“Uh…” He stared blankly and I rolled my eyes.

“Let’s just watch.” I pressed play, leaned back, turned off the light and wrapped my arm around him so I wouldn’t fall off the bed. The movie started but I was having trouble paying attention because his arm had wrapped around my back. I was so thankful for the dark, because I was blushing like crazy. I tried to watch the movie, but we weren’t even halfway through when I fell fast asleep in Arken’s arms.