Part 11

Part 11 - Appleton, Wisconsin and Rockport, Maine

Caroline was back in the land of soap operas. With school a dimming memory (her mother had absolutely forbid it), she was re-discovering how much it sucked to be disabled. Her time spent frolicking in life’s lesser interests had washed away the memory of immobility in a cloud of fragrant smoke. Now those hazy engrams were back in sharp focus, and she hated them. With her Queendom destroyed, she had nothing but the faded facsimile of cable to entertain her waking hours. She avoided sleep now. Her dreams were replays of the destruction wrought on her. 

Caroline’s mother had reverted to her old, hovering self; never more (it seemed) than six feet away from Caroline. It appeared that the return of Caroline’s disability (identical though it was) had, in her mother’s eyes, meant that the condition was worse than before. It was as if every movement of Caroline from one space to another could result in her death. Her mother, Caroline felt, would sooner cocoon her in bubble wrap than risk any more brushes with miracles.

Today was…what day was it? Time now ran contrary to Caroline’s expectations. It must be a weekday; her father was at work. But exactly what day of the week it was, that was something she neither cared about nor wanted to know. Every day was one more day of internal suffering. She had contemplated starving herself to death but knew that her mother would just have her hooked up to an intravenous drip. It was pointless to resist, but pointless to keep on going. Thus was the pointless life of Caroline, ex-Unicorn Princess.

Until one day the front door responded to a vigorous rapping.

Caroline’s mother looked up. ‘Who can that be, at this time of day?’ she asked rhetorically. 

Caroline doubted it was anything more interesting than someone canvassing for votes. Elections were on the horizon. Wisconsin had been elevated to the mainstream media for this small window of opportunity. Her mother’s flip-flops slap slapped on the hardwood floor as she shuffled out of the lounge. Caroline heard the door open, then muffled voices. She couldn’t distinguish the words, but she could tell that it was a man at the door. A conversation ensued. This was interesting. These days her mother had the patience of a tortured teacher. If this had been a peddler, they would have had the door-slam treatment. The tone of the conversation turned…angry? Words snapped back and forth. The volume raised enough that Caroline could hear some of what was being said.

‘…turn up on my doorstep…’ her mother said.

‘Caroline deserves…’ said a man. 

That the man knew her name wasn’t strange. Her celebrity status, walking or comatose, was well known.

‘You…’ began her mother.

A couple of expletives followed which appalled even Caroline. Who was this? There came a sound as if her mother had tried to close the door but couldn’t. That implied criminal intervention. Were they to be robbed for the value of the malfunctioning microwave in the kitchen? Perhaps Caroline was to be kidnapped for ransom? She should be so lucky.

The man’s voice lowered to a more reasonable, yet irritatingly undetectable, level. Her mother’s followed, so the conversation withdrew from Caroline’s range. Then she clearly heard something astonishing.

‘Oh my God, is that real?’ her mother exclaimed.

A murmuring followed on the man’s part. Quite protracted. 

Finally her mother said loudly, ‘But you can’t give that to me. What am I going to do with it?’

The man said something that made her mother laugh. Then she heard the undeniable squeak of the door being opened full tilt. Whoever this man was, he had been invited in. The sound of footsteps approaching. Her mother’s slap-slap, and another set. Not the clatter of hard shoes, something softer. Caroline was an expert at determining sounds, she had to be. Sneakers?

She felt her mother enter the lounge, followed by another person. The way the air shifted was different when more than one person entered the room. She was remembering how to notice these things. Her mother came in front of her. The other person (man?) remained behind her, probably in the doorway.

‘Caroline, there’s someone to see you,’ her mother said.

Caroline moved her fingers to the ‘Oh?’ position. 

Her mother turned off the TV then moved behind her and clicked the brakes off her wheelchair. She rotated Caroline with the agonizing sluggishness of a person who has no concept that the occupant is desperately keen to see what’s going on.

In the doorway stood a man, no more than twenty years old Caroline estimated. He was not very tall, with raven hair. The most striking thing about him were his eyes. They were so dark that she almost couldn’t see the whites of them. He was neatly dressed, in a suit. On his feet he wore…ah, moccasins! 

Her mother came around, looking nervously between Caroline and the newcomer. 

‘Caroline, this is Mr. Finn,’ her mother said.

Caroline’s heart made a beat so hard that she thought it might rip out of her chest and flop onto the floor. She felt her pupils dilating. It was him! How could this be? Her breathing fluttered, as if her soul were stuck in her windpipe. This response brought her mother rapidly to her side.

‘I knew this was a bad idea,’ her mother snapped. She turned to Finn. ‘You’ll be getting out right now, or else I’ll have the police here. I’m sure they’ll be interested to know where this came from.’ Her mother fished into the double pockets of her sweatshirt and pulled out a six-inch gold cross, encrusted with rubies and diamonds. 

‘Peace, Mrs. Krusch,’ Finn said in a cultured voice. ‘Caroline has been expecting me I hope.’ He turned to look at Caroline. ‘Hello Princess,’ he said.

Caroline started to feel faint. No, no, no! She willed the blood back up to her head. If I faint, mother will have him out of the door forcibly. He must stay. She focused on her mother, then glanced down at her fingers. Her mother automatically followed her gaze.

Friend, she signed. 

‘A friend of yours?’ her mother said.

Yes.

‘I don’t understand,’ her mother said. ‘I’ve never seen him before. Was he a friend from…before?’

“Before” was her mother’s way of compartmentalizing the time when Caroline had been her whole child. Caroline didn’t reply. Either answer would provoke more questions than she wanted. What she wanted to know was looking at her quizzically from the doorway. Damn it! She needed to know how it was really him. How could she ask this through her mother without getting into all sorts of difficulties?

‘Perhaps,’ Finn said, ‘I might speak to Caroline alone?’

‘You certainly shall not!’ exclaimed her mother. ‘And you shan’t bribe me with any more sparking twinkles either.’ She waved the cross at him in a vaguely biblical fashion. ‘I let you in here on the understanding that you knew Caroline. I see no evidence that this is the case at all. Now get out, before I call the police.’

Finn didn’t move. He just looked at Caroline with an expression of amusement, then said, ‘Well Princess, since our usual meeting place is out of order, I had no choice but to come and see you in…’ he looked down at himself, ‘…person.’ He smiled broadly and tried to wink. 

One side of his face contorted like he’d been smacked squarely in the eye by a fly. If Caroline could have laughed, she’d have fallen out of her chair.

Perhaps her mother picked up on this silent banter. She said, ‘Caroline? Is it OK if I leave you alone with him?’ She said the word him like she said the word fart.

Caroline indicated approval. 

Her mother sighed. ‘Very well, but I’ll be in the kitchen. Any shenanigans and you sir,’ she pointed at Finn, ‘can expect the frying pan treatment.’

Finn bowed and said, ‘I’d expect nothing less, dear lady.’

Caroline’s mother harrumphed and marched out of the room, preserving as much dignity as Caroline imaged she could muster. Once she heard her mother being (deliberately) noisy in the kitchen, Caroline looked at Finn. 

He walked over to her. She noticed that his gait was somewhere between toddler and nursing home resident. He drew up a chair opposite her and sat with deliberate carefulness. He was close enough that he might reach out to touch her, but not so close that she would feel uncomfortable. She placed her right fingers on her left wrist. Default position. Waiting.

‘I suppose,’ he said, ‘that you have many questions. Too many probably, and no way to ask them.’

She flexed a finger in anger.

‘I know!’ He held his hand up defensively. ‘I’m stating the obvious. Forgive me. This…talking. It takes some getting used to.’ He tapped the side of his head. ‘Mind to mind is so much easier. But we’re stuck with this for now, and I need to tell you many things. So forgive me please, I’m not lecturing you. When I’m finished I hope you’ll understand. I think I know what most of them are, they’re ones I’ve asked as well. Some I have answers to. Others, well I am no more enlightened than you I’m sorry to say.’

He leant forward and touched the back of her hand lightly. The warmth of his skin, the contact itself made flutterings inside her that she now recognized well. 

‘First, I think you’d like to know how I am here. That is more easily answered than why I am here, which I’ll get to. The reason I am here, is the same reason you are there.’ He moved his hand and placed it on the side of the wheelchair. ‘It’s magic, Caroline. The strongest magic there has been in two thousand years. Skagen did it. He went to a place no dolphin has been in millennia and sacrificed himself for us.’

She flinched.

‘Yes,’ Finn said. ‘Skagen is dead. I am sorry to have to tell you. He knew it was probable, and yet I hoped he might survive. But his legacy is our salvation, or our damnation depending on your point of view. Skagen placed a spell on us. You felt it I imagine? I know I did.’

Her eyes must have confirmed it, because he nodded his head.

‘It was terrible, wasn’t it. I have never felt such pain. My mother was furious. You can’t imagine her wrath at this magical intrusion. You could almost call it rape, since I never acceded to it. But it has borne fruit.’ He indicated himself. ‘This fruit in fact. I can now ascend to landfall in human form. This allows me to be with you. Now,’ he leaned forward so that she could feel his breath on her face. ‘This is only half of it. The spell was binary, that was its power. I can become human on land, and you can become dolphin underwater.’

Her eyes went so wide that she felt they must pop out of their sockets. She, become a dolphin? Again Finn held up his hand.

‘I know, it sounds fantastical. I didn’t believe my own ability until I tested it for the first time. I chose a secluded beach and went by myself so none would witness by embarrassment if it didn’t work. Even my lieutenants I made stay behind, although they didn’t like that. I went slowly out of the water, and it happened. Every small movement forward I could feel myself changing. It’s fabulous, Caroline. There’s no pain. Our form just rearranges. One moment I was breathing through my blowhole, the next through a human mouth. I won’t deny that it took some time to get to grips with the mechanics of the form and the gravity. You will have an easier time of it underwater I think. Eventually I found my balance and was able to walk. Talking was easier, it’s simply the transmission of thought to form.’

Caroline looked at his clothes.

‘These? Ah yes, that was a real challenge. You see we dolphins don’t use currency. Our economy is based on a form of barter. But here I was lucky.’ He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a golden necklace. Attached to it was a sapphire the size of a chicken’s egg. ‘You see the ocean floor is a treasure trove of humankind’s fascination with valuables. Perhaps not so much in the modern age, but the floor between South America and Europe is littered with the sunken remains of plunder. Things like this have no value for us other than as decor, but here I can exchange them for the bits of paper that humans find so alluring.’ He smiled again. ‘The ocean’s fortune is repaid back to its owners, and we shall use it to rebuild the bridge that was lost.’

Finn put the necklace back his pocket and sat back in the chair. ‘I am now probably one of the richest people on the planet,’ he said, then barked a laugh. ‘It’s hilarious when you think about it. I’m not even human.’

Caroline considered this. With money you could do pretty much anything. Of course it was also said to be the root of all evil. But if the person with the money didn’t care about it, could the money then make them evil? This philosophical conundrum would have to remain in the background. The important thing, the only thing that mattered, was that Finn was here. Then she realized he was right. The how of his presence was secondary, it was the why that was important. 

As if Finn could see the cogs of her mind turning, he said, ‘Yes, now to the why. I’ve come to take you away Caroline.’

Her eyes twitched, and her fingers stared.

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘You need to be near the sea. We can’t make this work here. We need proximity to each other, so that we can transfer to each other’s worlds. I’m going to ask your parents to let me move you to the coast. I’ve paid a lawyer quite a vast sum to represent you. The law is a little grey, but it should allow you to instruct your parents to let me take charge of you. To be honest, I’m not expecting them to protest.’

She glared at him. How dare he imply that…then she caught herself. He was right to be honest. Her father would put up some notional resistance, but he would be secretly happy for Finn to take responsibility for her. Her mother would be harder, but if Finn could show a life which Caroline wanted, an existence greater than here, she would fold in the end.

Finn said, ‘I’ve already bought a place for you to live. It’s a town on the coast of Maine. It’s known to sea mammals as a safe haven. The people there look on sea creatures with almost maternal instincts. It’s the perfect place for us to setup our land base. In the ocean, we’ll use my quarters in the palace. I’ll make sure you have the best treatment on land. When you’re with me in the ocean, you can swim and be around the dolphins. Once you’ve seen our world, you’ll realize that being confined on land is a small price to pay. I promise we won’t let you down.’

Caroline’s head swam. It literally felt like her mind was caught in a storm and was sloshing around inside her skull. How could this be happening? Finn here, as a human; coming to take her to live on the coast where she could go to the ocean to be with him as a dolphin? It was beyond fantastical. Even in her Unicorn Queendom she’d have challenged Simonale to come up with a more ludicrous concept. The memory of her erstwhile companion slowed the rollercoaster of her emotions. What had the destruction of the Unicorn Queendom been for? Had the death of her mind-friends been nothing but the fallout of this spell?

Finn touched her again. ‘I know this is a lot to take in. We are destined to become the engineers who will rebuild the bridge between dolphins and humankind. Look I know that this didn’t turn out very well the first time. But this is a second chance. To be honest, I think Skagen realized his mistake. He was trying to fix it the only way he knew how. Whether we agree with his final solution or not, I believe it’s up to us to make this work. Don’t you agree?’

So, comes the time when I must decide, she thought. She analyzed her feelings and found that she felt excited and elated. Was it really a choice? To spend her years cooped up in her parents’ house. Row upon row of years repeating themselves. Watching winters ravage the city from the lounge windows. No school, no friends. The fantasy of soap operas creating a paradigm for her to relate to the real world. For whom did not turn to the fantasy of TV when the reality of their life sucked a*s sufficiently? Making herself useful. No, indispensable. If her brief sojourn into the life of the un-wretched had taught her anything, it was that a life without purpose was no life at all. This way promised a chance to undo the harm she had done. She didn’t know if she could live up to the expectation placed on her. Unlike Joan of Arc she had no belief that she was ordained by God to perform this task. But she had the firm commitment of sixteen years of misery to inform her. Only half your life sucking was better than all of it. And if the half that didn’t suck was full of wonder and excitement, then didn’t that more than compensate for the portion that did? 

Caroline smiled at him with her eyes. He smiled back with his.

‘I’ll go and get your mother,’ Finn said. He rose and tottered out of the room. 

Caroline looked at a picture on the wall next to the doorway, a relic of her mother’s community course in art history. Caroline had looked at this replication her whole life but had never seen it until now. In the picture a single figure, a cloaked, bearded man, stood atop a sharp outcropping on a mountainside. Beneath him marched an army. The connection between the two was opposed, this was plain by the gesture of the man’s outstretched, clenched fist. His defiance was overt. The army ignored him. No chance they couldn’t see him, they simply refused to acknowledge his presence - as if by doing so they would ratify his challenge. To them, he was no more than an irritating fly. He could be swatted or killed. Who was she? The Baird, or the army? In which direction would her life take her now: to be the conqueror, or the conquered? Or was it better to be the mountain? Ignorant and unknowing, waiting for time to pass so that something exciting might happen. An earthquake perhaps, or an avalanche. She would not be passive. Her whole life, excepting the fleeting time she had been set free, she had been asleep in one way or another. As the Baird screamed his rebellion at the overwhelming forces below him so she, Unicorn Princess Caroline of Wisconsin, would stand at the edge of the world and bellow her challenge. “Here am I,” she would scream. “What you see isn’t what you get.” Surface and undercurrent. Like the ocean she would be one thing on the top, but something quite different underneath.

As this realization warmed her, her mother entered the lounge with Finn propelling from behind. Her mother clutched a sheaf of papers to her chest with all the pleasure of someone holding a stick of burning dynamite. The expression on her mother’s face was somewhere between total panic and befuddled bewilderment. Finn gave Caroline a look that implied that her mother was not on board. 

‘I do not approve of this,’ her mother said, waving the papers.

Q.E.D. thought Caroline. 

‘This man,’ she continued, ‘has some over-paid Boston lawyer demanding that we hand you over into his care. They’re using some mumbo jumbo about the United Nations and saying that because you’re over sixteen there’s nothing you father and I can do about it. Well,’ she stamped her foot to emphasize her point, ‘I may not have gone to some fancy college, but I know a scam when I see one!’

Calm down, Caroline fingered. An oft used combination, specifically for when her mother’s maternal instincts kicked in too loudly.

‘Mrs. Krusch,’ Finn said, ‘I have no intention of removing Caroline from your care without your permission. If you read the terms of the documents, you will see that they deal only with Caroline’s welfare and care. The decision for Caroline to come with me is yours, your husbands and, above all, Caroline’s.’

Caroline’s mother turned on Finn and thrust a finger into his sternum. ‘Don’t you take that tone with me,’ she said. ‘When Caroline’s father gets home, which will be very soon since I have texted him to come here urgently, he will deal with you in a manner befitting your intrusion into our life. Poor Caroline has been through more than any person her age deserves. She needs the support of her family and a quiet, safe place to live.’

Caroline sighed inwardly. This was impossible. Caroline couldn’t help to convince her mother without her voice, and Finn wasn’t likely to persuade her. But if they hadn’t won her over by the time her father got home, then the situation would be lost. Her father had been in a foul temper since Caroline’s condition had returned. She could see he blamed himself for allowing her to go into the sea in Miami. He couldn’t see that it had been her deepest wish, and he had granted it. Now he must be made to see again, but this time no raging of her cousin would make that happen. Her father’s heels were well and truly dug in. Yanking them out would require something…miraculous?

There was, perhaps, one person who could change her mother’s mind. In this equation, there was a balancing factor missing. Perhaps what was needed here was to equalize. Caroline made a complicated sequence with her fingers. Her mother frowned.

‘What is it?’ Finn asked.

Caroline’s mother looked at her sharply. 

Repeat! Caroline signed, adding the exclamation point for emphasis.

‘Caroline,’ her mother said to Finn, ‘wants your mother to speak for her.’ Her mother looked back at Caroline. ‘But that doesn’t make any sense, sweetheart.’

Finn raised his eyebrows at Caroline, then took the initiative. He said, ‘I believe my mother would be open to that suggestion. But there are certain difficulties that prevent her from actually coming here.’

Caroline’s mother said, ‘So? Get her on the phone then.’

Finn gave a pained smile. ‘My mother isn’t accustomed to communicating that way. But I believe, if you would lend me your cellular device, that I could make the connection.’

Caroline looked at Finn. He inclined his head in a it’s worth a shot expression. Caroline signed to her mother to do what was asked. Her mother looked cross but unlocked and handed over her prized iPhone. Finn worked the touchscreen deftly.

‘So, you are the one who has stolen my son.’

The voice was inside her head. It was female. She heard it clearly, as if the speaker was standing next to her. Caroline recalled speaking in the Unicorn Queendom. It was a matter of thought control.

‘Your majesty?’ she enquired. A safe and tactically good kickoff this she reasoned.

‘Who else,’ snapped back the reply. ‘I understand that my son has moved this foolhardy fantasy into a new direction, and now I am dragged into the sordid affair.’

‘I’m sorry, your majesty.’ It was the best that Caroline could muster.

‘Sorry? That hardly covers your misdemeanors. Had you been a dolphin I would have had you flogged and tossed into a cell for six moons. That would have taught you some manners.’

Finn coughed. Silence pervaded her mind. 

‘My mother,’ Finn said, ‘is in communication with Caroline.’

Caroline’s mother pitched in. ‘Now listen here, I�"’ 

Finn cut her off with a knifed hand. He said, ‘Mrs. Krusch, I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but my mother is speaking with Caroline directly. She will relay Caroline’s thoughts through your cellular device. You might think of my mother as a translator of sorts.’

‘Ridiculous,’ Caroline’s mother snorted. 

Finn sighed, then turned to Caroline. ‘Caroline, ask my mother to relate something that only you and your mother know. A secret perhaps.’

Caroline groaned inwardly. 

‘What’s the matter girl?’ snapped the Queen. 

‘I don’t want to upset her,’ Caroline said.

The Queen’s tone softened. ‘Child, sometimes it is necessary to break the hearts of the ones you love to put them back together in a better fashion. If your mother cares about you, and I imagine she does, then she will understand.’

Caroline gulped, and told the Queen her secret.

‘Ah,’ said the Queen. ‘I see what you mean. Yes, well that is very unfortunate indeed. You have my sympathies. I understand we are to meet in due course?’

‘I believe so, your majesty,’ Caroline said.

‘Hmmm, well. At that time we will discuss this matter further. I will provide succor if I can.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Carline said.

Through the speaker on the phone Caroline heard the Queen’s voice, or at least a human version of it. The nature of the phone’s speaker luckily made it naturally tinny, so its tendency towards squeakiness didn’t appear too unusual. The overall impression was of a haughty lady who lived in a European castle, one of many spires and too many servants. The Queen relayed the message.

Caroline’s mother gasped, then put her hands to her face and burst into tears. ‘It’s true,’ she wailed. ‘I have failed her.’

Finn reached out and patted Caroline’s mother on the shoulder. ‘Do you believe now,’ he said.

Her mother’s red eyes peeked at Caroline through splayed fingers. ‘Is it really you, sweetheart?’ she said.

Yes. 

‘Oh my God,’ her mother said, and crossed herself.

‘Now,’ said Finn, ‘Let’s get down to business.’

**********

Peter Krusch flew through his front door, shutters down and ready to do battle. The text he had received from his wife had left no inch in his mind for doubt.

INTRUDER. IN DANGER. COME HOME!

In his hand he carried a pry bar that he kept in the trunk for emergencies. He clenched it, ready to defend his family with terminal intensity. From the hallway, he heard voices in the living room. The door was ajar, but he didn’t pause to listen. He kicked it open and lunged in, bar raised. His ancient battle cry had more sense and remained at the door as its berzerker took stock of the young man sitting drinking coffee with his wife. Caroline was parked behind the table, facing the door. Her expression was one of mild amusement.

Peter exclaimed, ’What the fuc�"’ 

‘Language, Peter!’ his wife interjected. ‘Don’t be so course in front of our guest.’

‘Guest?’ Peter raged. ‘But you said there was an intruder. I thought you’d been, well…’

They all looked at him. His bar descended limply.

‘Oh that,’ his wife said. ‘Sorry love, misunderstanding. All cleared up now.’ She indicated the man sat opposite her, who now stood up. ‘This is Mr. Finn.’

The man came forward with his hand outstretched. He had an odd walk, as if Peter should be ready to catch him should he pitch forward.

‘Mr. Krusch, I’m so pleased to meet you.’

Peter took the offered hand. Good grip, strong. The lad had a strange accent. It reminded Peter of the old country. 

‘Please,’ Mr. Finn said, indicating the spare chair facing Caroline.

Peter sat down, feeling dazed. The draining adrenaline in his system had left his faculties misted. He felt he was missing something, some crucial piece of information. 

‘I’m sorry,’ Peter said. ‘Who are you, and why are you in my house?’

‘This is Mr. Finn. I told you that already,’ his wife said.

‘Yes I know his name,’ Peter said. ‘But who is he?’

Mr. Finn said, ‘Sir, you might think of me as Caroline’s fiancé.’

Peter Krusch started at the man as if he had just announced that he was Jesus Christ himself. He looked at his wife, and got only a slow nod. Caroline’s face was, as usual, cut from stone. But her eyes glowed with a vitality that he had never seen. They shone, they really shone.

‘I think,’ Peter said, rising from his chair, ‘that I’m going to need a stiff drink.’

**********

The first time Caroline felt Rockport’s sea wind, it felt like her face was being washed in layers of silk. But it was the odor of the sea that she found most alluring. The mixture of salt and water was primeval. It was the smell of new life. Finn said that the dolphins only used oceanic names for reference. To them, the sea was one body of water; always connected, always moving. With the right currents and wind the ocean could carry you around the world, given enough time.

Time; always the party pooper. More than death, time had its fingers in too many pies. 

Finn’s lawyer, a matchstick man called Jeffrey Parry, had purchased a house with its own beach. The cove that held it was flanked by impressive spars of stone. Finn had demanded privacy for Caroline, and Parry had ensured that he got it.

The house was not large, just three bedrooms. One for Caroline, one for guests and one for the part-time nurse. A woman from Rockland came and cooked and cleaned, and a company from Camden manicured the grounds. Finn said they could have afforded a bigger house, but this one had a crucial feature, the only one on the surrounding coast that had it. Finn had paid over the odds for this. The house hadn’t even been for sale. He had just walked up with Parry, knocked on the door and told the owner that he was living in Caroline’s house. Parry had handed the owner a piece of paper containing a sum so outrageous that the owner had laughed at them. Parry had subsequently produced a check book and written a deposit for ten percent of the proposed sale price. No inspection required, balance to be paid in full on vacation as soon as possible. The owner wasn’t stupid. When someone offered you five times what your house was worth, you took it. Within a week the house was empty and in a trust for Caroline, with her parents as trustees.

The feature Finn had already known about was a slipway directly into the sea. It had once been the launchpad for a pre-war flight of fancy to splash into summer seas. Weather and tide had beaten it up, but its original construction had been sound. Repairs by a firm from Portland, specializing in fixing cracks in oil rig foundations, had taken one week. The company’s CEO had been visibly shocked by the size of the contract offered for this minuscule job. He had pulled a few engineers back from vacation with triple time, and it was done. Caroline was furnished with a wheelchair specially constructed to avoid saltwater corrosion. So Finn could wheel Caroline down to the sea, and back up the slipway afterwards. When Finn could not be at the house, a nurse called Melissa was there. She was paid full time rates for being on call, an agreement she obviously liked. Melissa looked after Caroline with a dedication that Caroline’s mother (who had inspected the whole setup) approved of.

Caroline arrived at her new home in a specially fitted minivan. The parking in front of the cottage had been widened to accept it, and Finn proved adept at maneuvering around tight angles. She loved the place immediately. But her impatience quickly overruled the novelty. Finn settled her in a rear room that overlooked the sea. He had become expert at deciphering her finger language. She flexed her frustration at him.

He said, ‘Patience my love. Tomorrow the forecast is for rough weather. But the day after should be fine and clear. I’ve already instructed Melissa that she won’t be needed that day. And there will be no other people around. That will be your first adventure into my world.’

Caroline spent the next day fretting. Finn had gone undersea, supposedly to prepare for her introduction to the Court. Caroline thought it more likely that he was smoothing things with his mother. Involving Valeena in persuading Caroline’s mother to part with her daughter had been necessary. However there was no doubt, as Finn had explained on the drive to Maine, that his mother was not at all happy at being dragged (as she saw it) into a family squabble. Now Caroline was faced with the prospect of meeting the Queen with not only the fate of dolphin/human relations at stake, but also with being in the s**t-house for involving Valeena in the first place. They’d hoped for a day or two of practice, to get Caroline used to being a dolphin. But the Queen had demanded an immediate audience with “that girl” (Finn had to be pushed hard to release this bit of sarcasm). It didn’t help of course that Lord Skagen, albeit out of favor with the Queen, had died making this happen. Finn said that his mother would have likely forgiven Skagen after a decent length of banishment. He had been, after all, one of the Queen’s father’s most trusted advisors. No doubt Valeena understood that it had not been Skagen’s fault that Caroline had betrayed them. But someone had to be blamed. Caroline had no delusions that she would be picked apart as the carcass of this misery. She would have to work hard at mending the rift. It was the only way to restore the Court’s faith, repay the debt that Skagen had laid on her and redeem herself in the Queen’s eyes.

Caroline envied The Little Mermaid the simplicity of her struggle. 

Without the Unicorn Queendom to retreat to, Caroline was left to the workings of her subconscious. It took delight in reminding her of her entry into the world of the living. Why couldn’t she suppress these reflections of her wastefulness? She wanted to forget. But her memories (especially the bad ones) had a way of lodging themselves for unwanted retrieval. The waking hours of a whole day with nothing to do but sit in her chair, watching the sea for signs of Finn, the shards of her betrayal puncturing her soul. She supposed this was the sort of torture that Queen Valeena would approve of. 

Caroline’s sleep that night was haunted by a monstrous dream where Skagen, in the dragon form he’d used in her Queendom, was being eaten alive by the rotting corpse of a unicorn. The shape of this devourer looked worrying similar to her Unicorn form. Skagen’s mouth had been open in horror, but no sound came out of it. 

The caw of gulls, and a shaft of warmth across her face woke her. The day of her induction had broken clear and true, as forecast.

Melissa knocked gently before coming into her bedroom. This was a courtesy that Caroline appreciated, and one that her mother had never learned. A bustling lady in her mid-forties, Melissa had the solid practicality that her profession demanded. She made no comments about Caroline and Finn’s relationship, nor his irregular hours. That she should only be required when Mr. Finn was “away on business” irked her not at all it seemed. When Caroline was ready, Melissa moved her to the breakfast table in the kitchen. Finn was already there, drinking coffee. As Melissa brought her in he smiled broadly, rose and came over. 

Kissing her on the cheek he said, ‘So, are you ready for today’s adventure?’

Finn had told Melissa that he was taking Caroline to meet his mother. It was that best type of lie. Melissa had nodded wisely, as if this was adventure enough for any girl.

‘You’ll do wonderfully,’ Melissa said, in a rare personal comment. She’d dressed Caroline in her best and plaited her hair. 

As she was being beautified, Caroline had laughed inside. If only Melissa knew that her efforts were completely wasted. Once transformed, she would be as naked as any other dolphin. Finn had said this wouldn’t bother her any more than it bothered him to wear human clothes. Caroline suspected that he didn’t understand that her human sensibilities would never let up their Puritan roots. To be naked was to be rude and vulgar. Still, needs must. Frankly she was excited by the prospect of swimming as a dolphin, especially the ability to leap out of the water. Like a racehorse confined to its starting pen, she was coiled to be released. 

After breakfast, Melissa put her coat on, leaned down and placed her hand on Caroline’s arm. ‘Good luck,’ she said, giving a winning smile.

Caroline signed thanks. Melissa nodded and whisked out of the front door. The sound of her car faded away, leaving Caroline and Finn in the silence of their new world together.

So? Caroline signed.

‘Yes, but first a small field trip. You might call it a homage.’

WTF? she signed. This was a new combination that she had prepared for just this sort of tactless attempt to divert her first metamorphosis. 

‘Peace,’ Finn said. ‘Firstly this is something that will give you kudos with the Court and, by extension, my mother.’

Finn’s eyebrows raised slightly in an expression that Caroline clearly recognized as meaning “and you could use all the help with my mother that you can get”. He wasn’t very good at a poker face. She was going to have to work on that.

‘Secondly,’ Finn continued, ‘For anyone watching the house it shows us leaving as planned.’

Watching? she signed.

He shrugged. ‘I can’t be sure, but we dolphins have a sixth sense for such things. You’ll understand once you transform. When you swim in three dimensions, you develop a sense of what’s around you. We are not the largest things in the ocean. We may be the smartest, but that’s no defense against predators. It won’t take long. A short drive to the other side of town.’

Fine she signed, hoping that he spotted the positioning of her fingers to indicate sarcasm. She bore into him with her most intense stare. He looked away.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ he said. ‘You’ll understand when we get there.’

He helped her into a jacket and wheeled her out of the front door. A combination of presses on the minivan’s remote and the side door slid back with a pneumatic hiss. The specially fitted ramp extended out like a metal claw. Up it she went and was positioned and locked into the van’s center. Finn closed the door and took to the driver’s seat. 

They had arrived in Rockport after dark, so this trip was her first opportunity to survey her new zip code. Compared to Appleton, it was as different as two places could be. Gone were the strip malls and gas stations, replaced by the harbor and boutique shops. The opera house displayed fanciful posters of forthcoming attractions. They drove over a bridge and swung down a cutback road to the harbor’s car park. They had no need of the reserved spot next to the Harbormaster’s office. The carpark was pining for summer’s visitors to return. Finn got Caroline out of the van. He wheeled her up on to a small green that sided the harbor. The tide was out, and the exposed seaweed emitted a fetid smell that promised redemption when the sea returned. 

Finn wheeled her towards what she had thought was a stone bench. Closer up, she saw that it was a sculpture. Cut from dappled grey stone, it was a rotund seal laying with one fin wrapped under it, and the other by its side.

‘He’s trying to do a human bow,’ Finn said. He laid a hand on the seal’s head. ‘Hello old friend.’

Caroline made a noise and signed a query. 

Finn sighed. ‘They called him Andre. Of course that wasn’t his real name. I met him when I was studying humankind as a Princeling. It was a required course for one destined to rule dolphinkind. Andre was the smartest seal in the world. They had sent him to us to be educated. His view on humankind was…unique. He thought that if we could imitate them, then that would help them understand us. Every year he came here to try and connect with them. His school of thought became popular with certain factions. Many dolphins, and some orca’s attempted to follow his teachings. They allowed themselves to be captured and imprisoned in attractions. Over and over they followed human instructions, trying to be more human. But it seemed that the more they tried, the harder it was to connect with their trainers and audiences. Andre died before anyone realized we had it the wrong way around. It was humans who needed to be more like us.’

Finn bowed his head and was silent for a moment. Caroline could empathize with Andre. She had tasted the same thing almost every day of her life. The sense of hopelessness, the repeated torture stretching out in front of her. A tear trickled down her face. Finn tenderly put his finger under the emotion. He took her sadness and anointed Andre’s head. 

‘There,’ he said to the statue. ‘What you began those years ago, I will finish. I know it’s not in the way you imagined, but I pray that the result will be the same. Your brethren will be safe, as will mine and the offspring of all the animals in the Ocean.’ He turned and smiled at Caroline. ‘I knew you’d understand. I hope you see now why this was important.’

She signed I do, and added the combination for love afterwards.

He leant over and kissed her on the mouth. This was the first time he had ever done this. Her heart, and several other parts of her, responded. She wished so much that she could kiss him back. She knew that they could make love. She had been able to suggest it after a fashion, and he had picked up quickly. He told her he wanted to do it. He would be tender and help her. She knew of course, from her foray into the world of the living, what to expect. Still she would be the manikin. In the Ocean however, they were free to couple. An alien method, but no worse than for him here. It was simply a matter of perspective. She awaited both with anticipation.

They returned to the house in silence. Finn had become taken with human music but had turned off the stereo. No music could express what had just been, and what was about to become. Once home, Finn wasted no time. He undressed her, substituting a blanket to  deflect any chill wind and keep her covered until the last minute. Again he seemed concerned about prying eyes. For himself, he slipped out of his clothes and put on a bathrobe. Caroline lapped up his naked body. Bare footed, he wheeled her out to the slipway. The sun still shone, but a decided nip in the air promised Fall’s arrival. She knew that she need not fear the cold of the ocean. Her transformed body would keep her warm, even in temperatures approaching arctic levels. Her heart began to pound as they descended the slipway. The sea rustled impatiently, as if the branches of a birch forest beckoning a murder of crows. 

She remembered the first line of a Robert Frost poem.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

Now she would find out how lovely, how dark and how deep the enchantment of the sea was.

********** 

Finn applied the brakes at the water’s edge. Looking around he saw nothing except a sailing boat on the horizon. He glanced up; cheeks flushed. Was his dolphin-sense bemused by being out of the water? The sky was vacant, excepting the traditional seagulls arcing left and right, eyes always on the water beneath them. He fought off the feeling of observation and turned to Caroline.

‘Ready?’ he said.

Her hands lay above the blanket. Always she signed.

He removed the blanket slowly, to give her time to adjust to the ambient temperature. Her body gave a convulsive shiver, and her n*****s crinkled. He shed his robe, putting it and the blanket into a plastic bin he’d placed at the bottom of the slipway. Positioning himself behind the wheelchair, he released the brake and let it towards the water. This first time he had promised to take it slowly. As she got more practice she could make the transition more quickly.

Finn had made the change many times, so he was prepared for it. How could he explain it to Caroline? Even if the Unicorn Queendom had still existed, he doubted his ability to describe the transformation experience to her. So he could do nothing but look at her face. As soon as her left toe touched the Ocean, her body spasmed. This time he knew it was not due to the temperature differential. The power of the spell, like a thirsty drunk, opened itself and let Caroline drop into it. 

Caroline’s skin changed color. The fleshy tones gave way to a waxy grey. Her breathing changed perceptibly. The slow, deep inhalations were replaced by sharp, shallow gulps. She was fueling the change with oxygen from the air. He pushed her in so that the water went over her ankles. She gasped. Her shock was no doubt caused by the fact that where her feet had been, there was now a perfectly formed fluke. Finn recalled his own shock as he had put his rostrum out of the water that first time and watched it morph into feet. 

He put more of her in. Her legs dissolved into the peduncle. 

‘You OK?’ he said.

Caroline nodded back to him, her eyes bulging. 

He knew it wasn’t pain. There was no discomfort, the spell was too perfect for that. But the mind boggled at the visual transformation. The fact that there was no pain made the brain’s refusal to accept what was happening even greater. There should be agony. He saw her fingers flex.

Faster she signed.

‘No,’ he said. ‘We agreed. Take it slow the first time.’

No! Faster she signed.

He frowned. She had already undergone one transformation, and that worse than this one. The spell Skagen had crafted to cure Caroline had been advanced, but not perfect. This magic was ancient, as solid as the foundations of Atlantis which it had helped build. He pushed the wheelchair in past her hips and up to her chest. She let out a yelp of surprise as the dorsal fin grew out of her back. It pushed her forward. With the angle of the slipway, she was now perched on the edge of the wheelchair.

‘Not yet,’ he cried.

Caroline grinned, shifted her weight forwards and gravity did the rest. She toppled forwards into the Ocean’s embrace.

**********

The first thing she noticed was that her perception of the world had shifted on an axis she never knew existed. Sight became secondary. Sound became her primary connection to the universe. She could hear the throbbing of a marine engine. Not only that, she could tell that it was about five miles to the north. A small boat, probably a failed yacht heading home against the wind. Next was the feeling of suspension, a lack of the gravity that had held her to the Earth for sixteen years. Was this how astronauts felt when they were in space? But they didn’t have the pressure of the world bearing down, wanting to crush them. Except she could not be crushed. In this body she was perfectly designed for existence in this place. She kicked, and her fluke responded with a powerful thrust that sent her torpedoing through the water. She twisted, and her body responded with a barrel roll. This was living, in this form. 

She swam out and down. She had to do it. She could not wait for Finn. Sensing the sea floor she made a U-turn and kicked with all her new power. Up, up she propelled herself. The closer she came to the surface the lighter she felt. She breached the surface, launching into careless space.

F**k yeah! she screamed as her body rose ten feet above the clapping surface. She executed an Olympic quality turn, and hit the sea with a splash no more exciting than that cause by a stone cast away some landlubber. And she’d remembered to breath in the time she was airborne. Finn had said that he’d stashed a breathing apparatus for her in the bay. Until it was fitted, she had to rise to breath the world’s air. 

The air that we breathe, she thought. It’s one of the things that connects us. I can build on that.

She veered back towards the shore. The passion of the sea flowed through her. If only every human could feel this, each person would understand that the ocean was a precious jewel, a rich inheritance that must be protected and nurtured. Oh to tell them how it should be. Already her mind was filling with possibilities, the things she must do. The ocean must not be Earth’s dumping ground. Sea and land, dolphin and human. She must find a way for each half to co-exist. 

Time. Again the great adjustor. There would be time to make plans. Now was her time. She had flexed her physical muscles, now there was one last thing to test. The thing she had missed the most since her return to incapacity. 

She projected as he had told her she should. 

Finn, can you hear me?

Silence.

Damn, she wasn’t doing it right. He was in the water; she could sense his form around her from the pressure changes against her body. 

Try again. You can do it. Speak to him in your mind.

Finn! Finn, are you there? 

Nothing. Why wasn’t he replying?

Don’t shout, said a voice.

She began to form a suitably cutting reply, but something stopped her. That voice. Finn had said that their voices would be the same underwater, in direct telephonic communication. The mind knew no other voice than that which the body generated for it. Since that first squelching squeal after breaching into an impatient world, one’s voice was one’s own.

That had not been Finn’s voice.

A sensation arose in her new physiology with which she was dearly acquainted. It was panic. Every time she had needed the bathroom, and neither of her parents had been near. Every time she could feel her period coming. Every time…

So, said the voice, you begin to understand do you? It was not enough that you deprived me of Skagen, now you take my son from himself when you deign to enter my realm.

Oh my god, Caroline thought.

Not your god, came the reply. But here, I am your Queen.

Caroline looked at Finn. He stared back; his eyes silent. 

He knew, she thought. He knew that Skagen’s spell would require balancing. He knew, but he didn’t tell me.

She focused on him with everything in her being.

Can you hear me at least? she said.

His expression remained as a death mask.

He cannot hear you, Queen Valeena said. In exchange for being able to pollute himself with human poisons, his voice was sold for a price he pays every moment he is home. 

Sadness welled up in Caroline. A spring of misery drowned all the happiness she had felt at entering this world. The bitter irony bit her now; she would never speak on land, and Finn would never speak underwater. And neither had the Unicorn Queendom to act as an island of understanding. They were stranded on opposite sides of their worlds with only insufficient ways to express themselves. She had her finger positions, he had…what did he have?

A tear of sister-water formed in her left eye. For no time the sea water nursed it. Then the hold was released, and it began its journey towards the light. Caroline felt a touch on her flank. She looked to her right and found Finn resting a fin on her. His expression she discerned with her heart.

I do not regret.

Caroline let the current slide her into Finn’s embrace. They entwined in the world each had come from. As Finn joined with her, a sensation alien yet wonderful, she felt regret crumble. They rolled together, blocking out the external world. No voices did they hear or need. The Unicorn Queendom was dead, but new life was being made to fill the void within Caroline. Their happily ever after would contain no small sum of sorrows, yet the redemption of humanity had begun.

THE END