Crazy Cray

The person who is watching Pasquel while she stays trapped in her tower room.

"We're going to do a makeover!" Coki bubbled.

"Can't you just sew my legs together?" I groaned. Mara shook her head quickly.

"Turn your legs into a tail?" she exclaimed. "Oh, no, not yet! It's much too soon for something that extreme!"

I felt sick.

Just when I thought I was doomed to spend the rest of my life as a mermaid's doll, every mermaid there suddenly froze in place. They went statue like, their faces focused and rapt, like they were listening to something. For a few seconds, nobody moved, and then, all at once, they all dove into the water, shrieking an unearthly sound, like a battle cry.

I gasped as I watched them, for their skin darkened to a bluish hue, and their hands became webbed. They became the freaky creatures I had seen when Mara kidnapped me. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they had sensed that some other poor creature had fallen into the pond, unaware that death and/or torture was on its way.

Sighing, I leaned my head against the cool cave wall and pondered my predicament.

Oh!

Duh.

"Tïzmäht." I spoke loudly and clearly the word for transport, which had immediately appeared in my mind. The word echoed a bit, before fading off.

I frowned.

Still sitting in the cave.

"Tïzmäht." I repeated, but nothing happened again. There was a magic dampener of some sort, covering the cave or something, because I felt the rush of magic, but it went nowhere, and did nothing. Remembering the feeling I had experienced once I was inside the basin, I glumly deduced that the weird feeling was a magic killer.

Dismayed, I trailed my finger through the sand, until a large object caught my attention.

A large chest sat among Mara's other 'treasures', and was by far the biggest and oldest. The metal was rusted, and the wood was peeling and warped. Intrigued, I uncurled myself and reached out for the handle.

I stretched myself to the absolute limit, pulling on the chain connected to my ankle, and my fingertips barely touched the edge. Forcing myself farther, I felt the strain on my ankle, but I made the extra inch and grasped the handle. With a sigh of relief, I pulled it over to my shackle, almost tumbling over myself when I discovered how incredibly light it was. Deceptively heavy looking, it only weighed about a pound or so.

I examined the lock. It looked unbelievably old and decrepit, but still solid, and covered in little barnacles. Gripping the end, I tugged at it, to find that it would not give, and that it felt really warm to the touch. The metal was probably made out of a special self-heating material.

There was a loud splashy sound as a mermaid resurfaced. Her greenish-blue tinted face looked upset, and her hair clung to her face. Suddenly, her skin became a deep ebony black color, and her hair turned inky black while lengthening at an alarming rate and becoming thick and wavy. She swam to one of the small basins, and brought herself into shallow water to sit down and pout, adjusting her purple seashell bra.

Another mermaid returned, also looking dejected, and was followed by many more, most of them muttering angrily. Coki and Mara were nowhere to be seen, but Uma and Pim returned at about the same time, and both shot me wistful looks, like the look a child gives to a toy in the store window that she knows she cannot have.

Another freaky fish thing broke surface with a loud crow of joy, and was lugging something behind her. She morphed back into her half human form, and I realized it was Coki, looking very happy and triumphant.

Mara appeared not far behind, grinning, which was a rather unpleasant picture at first, but became a normal smile after she transformed herself.

"Oh, my! Two humans in one day!" Mara chattered excitedly. "Quick! Put him in your pool, Coki! We can play with both of them together!" Coki dragged the prone form into the neighboring small lagoon, and flopped him over so he was face up.

I gasped.

Saol.

"Saol!" I cried, and lunged for him, but the stupid chain restrained me. "Saol! You killed him! You killed Saol!"

"Uh, no we didn't." Mara sounded offended. "No need to get all huffy. We'll bring him over." The two dragged Saol back into the water and swished their powerful tails, bringing him into Mara's pool and into the shallow water. I frantically checked his breathing and found he was not breathing, and his heartbeat was weak at best.

For once in my life, I thanked Finneaus for the all the first aid courses he had taught me, and placed my hands on Saol's chest, then pressed down, fast and hard, thirty times exactly. I held my cheek up to his open mouth, but still felt no air.

I pinched his nose closed, and preformed two rescue breaths, feeling despair setting in when he still did not breath.

I started the chest pumps again, and when I finished, I lowered my head to listen for breathing when his eyes suddenly snapped open and he began to gag and vomit out sea water, coughing violently.

"Ew." Coki commented, and I glared at her witheringly.

"Ava?" Saol croaked weakly, and I smiled wanly.

"Yeah, it's me." I assured him. He coughed again.

"Fancy meeting you here." he wheezed, and I laughed out loud.

"Aww....it's so adorable." Mara cooed. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"What?" Saol looked to me in confusion.

"Oooh! Tika just saved a new dress yesterday!" Coki bubbled, and the two dashed off to retrieve it.

"What are they talking about? What are they?" Saol asked, and I sighed heavily.

"Mermaids." I sighed, and Saol's eyes widened, and he shot up.

"Mermaids. Two forms. Half human, cervical fracture. Aquatic form, separate head from body with poisoned allolite weapon." he droned as if in a trance. I backed away, my eyes wide.

His body relaxed again, and he furrowed his brow.

"Is there any way out of the cave?" he asked.

"Saol, what was that?" I demanded, unsure whether or not to be afraid.

"What was what?" he looks absolutely clueless.

"You......you just went into this weird mode. You were saying how to......to kill them." I told him.

"I did?"

"Yes." I nodded, and Saol sighed.

"Another fun effect of my memory loss." he half-smiled sadly, and I punched his shoulder lightly.

"Hey, it's not that big of a deal. You're just strange." I said.

"At least I'm not short." Saol cracked a grin. "Or razmatazztic." I laughed out loud, forgetting our situation for a moment.

"Why are we here, anyway?" Saol looked around the cave curiously.

"Saol, they keep humans here as.....toys, or entertainment. The only way in and out is blocked." I filled him in.

"Can't you just teleport us?" Saol asked.

"No. There's some sort of magic dampener, that extends all the way to the rock wall."

"So..." Saol mused. "It's just a matter of getting past them. Anyway, it can't be that hard, can it? It's just a bunch of pretty girls with fish tails." He scoped out the surrounding mermaids, and my gut clenched, seeing him surveying all the impossibly beautiful faces.

"Didn't you see them when they grabbed you?"

"That was them?"

"They have two forms, and I'm sure they won't hesitate to use both of them. Besides," I tugged on my chain. "there's still this little problem." Saol examined it for a moment, when a wide grin suddenly spread across his face.

"I know exactly what to do." he chuckled evilly, rubbing his hands together.

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Pasquel opened her eyes blearily, and tried to sit up, only to have searing pain fill her head. A tortured groan escaped her lips, and she rubbed her head, grimacing with pain.

Where am I?

With great effort, she remembered going out to get Dantaus, then she had talked to someone......

Eventually, she was able to prop herself up and examine her surroundings. She was lying on a simple bed, in a small room, with a dresser, chairs, and table, a closed door, and an ajar door that led to a bathroom.

Dantaus, she remembered, forcing herself to stand. I have to get to Dantaus. She staggered over to the closed door and turned the handle.

Locked.

How long had she been here? It was daytime, so she estimated that she had spent the night, after being incapacitated by that.......thing. Pasquel shuddered just thinking about it, and nearly jumped out of her skin when the door suddenly opened.

"Morning, miss." a round fellow came bustling in, wearing a slightly strange grin, bearing a tray, closing the door behind him. He went straight to the table, and set down the tray, which held a bowl of oatmeal, grapes, and some eggs. "I have your breakfast." Pasquel quickly shut her gaping mouth.

"Who are you?" she demanded. She was not going to be held prisoner like some helpless sap.

"Crazy Cray, at your service." his demented grin widened.

"Well, as Queen of Islan, I order you to let me go, unless you wish to experience the full wrath of Islan." Pasquel drew herself up. "I shall not stand for this wrongful imprisonment." Crazy Cray stared at her for a moment, before bursting into wild shrieks. Terrified, Pasquel stumbled backwards, until she realized that the high-pitched yelps were laughing. He was laughing at her.

"Ooh, miss, don't make me, haha, laugh so hard! Heehee, I'll crack a rib. Crazy Cray with cracked ribs, that's me, haha!" Crazy Cray laughed, then abruptly stopped his screechy giggles. "Come, eat. Gotta keep up your strength. Eating for two, remember?" Pasquel paled.

"How would you know that?" she whispered. Crazy Cray just grinned.

"That's why the Master brought you here, miss. Got stuff to do, people to meet, he does." he chuckled. "Eat, now." Pasquel sat, gripping the edges of the table with white knuckles.

"Cray," she began, half whispering. "why am I here?" Crazy Cray shook his finger at her.

"Now, miss, don't be calling me plain old Cray now. I'm Crazy Cray, that's for sure. No cracked ribs, but I'm Crazy Cray surer than a hopper flies." he reprimanded her, holding his strange half smile.

"Crazy Cray, why am I here?" Pasquel repeated, feeling a sense of unease stealing over her. A faint outline of an idea began to appear, but Pasquel shoved it away, refusing to accept the only plausible explanation. Through her haze of disbelief, she heard Crazy Cray.

"Well, the Master needs to do stuff, see? And he can't very well do it without a right and proper body, of course." Crazy Cray replied cheerily. "And you-" with his crazy smile, he poked Pasquel in the stomach. "are just the lass to provide that body, being with child an' all. Now, eat, eat! Stay healthy, be happy!" He laughed his shrieky laugh again, while Pasquel felt her blood run cold.

Author's Note

Crazy Cray with cracked ribs, that's him!