Discovered Under the Waves

Aurora got home three days after the battle with the mermaids, and she was still tired. All the energy she spent was too much for her, and she hated to admit it, but she was out of shape.

Self consciously, she licked her lips, still tasting the blood on her lips. She didn't get hurt, no one ever got close to her, and if they did, she ripped through them as if they were butter and she was the knife. Nothing ever good came from the mermaids. They're the one's who started it all anyway.

The home she got was a spur of the moment when she realized that regular humans had housing, so she'd need one to blend in. The house wasn't really decorated or anything. The walls were white, no pictures on the wall or anything really. There was a couch in front of the fireplace, and next to it held a bookshelf filled with books.

She checked her messages and found two unheard voice mails. She pushed the button and got her toothbrush to get the bloody taste out of her mouth and started to brush her teeth while listening.

Ms. Itsaso, this is Ardy Harrison, and I just want to check up on you and wondering how you feel with your eyesight back-

Aurora deleted the message. Ardy was the one who sold her the house, and it guilted her that she had to influence him to think that she had eye surgery. But she had to change her story so Merrick wouldn't be too suspicious. She even got that damned social worker in on it. The thought made her feel even more guilty. Magic and influencing people and situation were Aurora's skill.

She pressed the button again to hear the other one.

We're on your trail Filia Prima. Watch out or that certain someone will get hurt.

Her toothbrush stopped, she stopped breathing. The first thing she thought was Merrick, and how he could be put at risk, but quickly dismissed the thought. She replayed the message.

His voice was deep and rough, but didn't have that metallic sound that mermaids usually have. He was human. But he shouldn't even know about her... unless he was being payed or blackmailed by one of them. It didn't surprise Aurora that they'd stoop so low as to use humans.

The doorbell rang, and she groaned; she didn't want any visitors now. But it rang again, so she went to answer it. Still brushing her teeth, she opened the door to find a disheveled Merrick. He was breathless, in his wet suit and wet from the ocean. Probably just got done from surfing.

He stared at her, expectantly. Oh, right, they had been fighting before.

"What do you want?" she asked, talking around her toothbrush. It sounded like, wsssh do yuu wanths?

He gave her a funny look, so he probably didn't understand what she said. Aurora held up a finger, telling him to wait for a minute. She rushed to the sink in the kitchen and rinsed her mouth, then returned to the door.

She spoke again. "What do you want?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were having eye surgery?" he asked.

"Why should I tell you?" she said, narrowing her eyes. "If that's what you came here for, I'm busy right now."

Merrick looked at the ground and made her feel even worse than she already felt. "I-I came to apologize."

Aurora pursed her lips. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, just that I really don't need an apology. It is partially my fault for not telling you, but I don't see why you had gotten all worked up about it." she said, shrugging.

"Oh, well... we could go hang out now if you want..." he suggested.

"I have to work." she said. Hey, she had to pay for the food and house some way.

His eyes widened, as if the thought that she worked was something he hadn't thought of. As a rich man's son, he wasn't needed to work and probably hasn't worked a single day in his life.

"I'm a translator." she explained. "I just listen to what people say and translate it into a different language, and I don't need to see for that."

He looked so interested in the concept of working and gave Aurora a puppy dog look with bambi eyes to go with it. It kind of freaked her out. The look didn't go well with Merrick's looks.

"You could come and watch." she said wearily.

Merrick's face lit up, animated again. "Okay!"

"It's nothing exciting." she warned.

He nodded, saying that he'd be on his best behavior. She hardly doubted it, but let him inside anyways.

Aurora stepped back. "I work at home, so I don't have to go anywhere."

When he stepped into the house, he looked around curious. She, herself, didn't really pay much attention to the interior since she hadn't spent much time here anyway. Okay, she lied about her working, but with a flick of her wrist, all the necessary things were set up in her "office". (another spur of the moment thing)

Aurora went into the blank office. Having a desk with only a recorder and a cd player along with some boxes. On the other side of the room sat a white couch with another bookshelf that matched the one in the living room.

Reaching into the boxes, she pulled out a set of cd's and on each cd had a language labeled on it. She walked over to her player and put a disk in. "You'll have to be quiet while I do this. I can't have any background noise in these things."

Merrick zipped his lips shut, locked it, and threw away the key. He sat on the couch, his eyes bright and excited.

"You've never worked before, have you."

He shook his head. "Nope."

She chuckled. "Well, it's nothing to be so excited for, trust me. You won't even hear anything." Aurora held up some ear buds.

"Fine by me."

Shaking her head, she went to work. The disk repeated a sentence or two and she translated it to Spanish, French, or any other language that needed to be done. Being as old as Aurora, she knew almost every language known to man.

At first, Merrick watched her with interest, then he soon got disinterested and began to look around her home. He sometimes laughed at what she said, like, That mutated monkey stole my cow. Yes, she had things to translate like that.

By the lunch time, he was drawing with Sharpie on printer paper. Aurora rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen.

"You need any help?" he asked.

"Uh... yeah." she said hesitantly. "I haven't really been around my kitchen... and I don't know how to cook."

"Because you couldn't see before." he supplied for her, walking towards the kitchen.

Just like the rest of the house, the kitchen was pretty plain looking with white walls, granite counter tops. The window over the small sink had some yellow curtains on it but that was almost the only colors in the room. A single table with two chairs sat in the corner, near another window overlooking the beaches and the sea.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, I'll make you something."

Aurora gave a mocked gasp. "I didn't know that you could cook."

Merrick laughed, while pulling out ingredients. "I can't cook much, but for you, I'll make my special macaroni and cheese."

"Oh, God. Now I'm scared. If I die from food poisoning, my ghostly self will haunt you for eternity" she teased.

Like a child, he stuck his tongue out at her and she leaned over laughing so hard.

"Quit, you're making my stomach hurt!" she gasped.

He made the macaroni after he chased her and tickled her to death. Aurora laid on the floor, clutching her stomach, still giggling. Afterwards, they sat at the table eating.

She stopped dead when she heard the front door open. No one had another key to the house besides her, and she was certain that she locked the door before. What if it was the enemy?

"Aurora! You there?" Fin's voice called.

She relaxed instantly. "Don't scare me like that, Fin! Call me before you come over!"

Merrick gave her a weary look that confused her. What was wrong?

"Then what's the point in a surprise?" her brother said, striding into the kitchen easily as if it were his own home. He had come out of the fight pretty well, but a deep cut was still healing that ran down his neck to wrap around his back.

"The point where you don't give me a heart attack." Aurora retorted, slightly annoyed that he still acted so arrogant.

He chuckled, then gave Merrick a look over. An awkward moment passed, and she felt the need to introduce them to one another.

"Fin, this is my friend Merrick. Merrick, this is my brother."

"Older brother." he pointed out.

She scowled at him. "Shut up."

Fin held his hands up in defense. "What? You can't deny the truth."

Aurora rolled her eyes.

"You two are siblings?" Merrick asked, sounding stunned. He sat there, his mouth agape, the bowl of macaroni clutched in his hands. His baffled expression made Aurora want to tease him about it and giggle. Just not when her brother was here.

"Yeah, can't you tell?" she asked, quizzically.

"I always though it was obvious." Fin said, frowning. "Anyways, how's your eyes? The doctor told me to check in on you." He was smirking, damn it. Aurora seethed inside, and she wanted to smack him.

Aurora fought the urge to roll her eyes again. "I'm fine. Want any macaroni?"

"Are you sure? And no thanks, I'm fine."

Merrick just watched as they talked, glancing from one to the other, comparing their similarities.

"I'm fine." she repeated. "And how's dad? He didn't get hurt, did he?"

She didn't like thinking about the previous battle, which was why she left so quickly. It made the clan nervous and edgy, and that made them want to hold Aurora back from going to the human world even more. 

"Ah... well, no. It's something more serious though." Fin said, glancing over at Merrick.

She stopped breathing inside. This couldn't be good news from the way his expression darkened. "I have something I need to tell you, too." she said, quietly, then turned to Merrick. "I'll be right back."

She got up and dragged Fin to her bedroom, shut the door, and whirled on him. "Your news first."

He took a ragged breath. "Our defenses slipped. Reina was kidnapped."

It seemed like the earth stopped moving for only a millisecond, but that's all she needed. Rage exploded from her, making her see red. It took all her strength not to find something and hurl it at the wall.

"Your defenses slipped?" she practically screeched. "And you all accuse me of being so easy going when you all have more protection put together than I have in my pinky alone! God damn it! How the hell could you let this have happened?"

Fin at least had the grace to look ashamed. He looked down when he spoke again. "We're guessing that they're trying to gather all of us royals so they can weaken us."

 A low growl escaped her clenched jaw. She wanted to claw at the walls, maul Fin, anything that could be destroyed, she wanted it to be reduced to rubble.

"What was your news?"

"Nothing as bad as this." she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. The phone call seemed a bit silly compared to the kidnapping of her sister.

"What?" he urged.

"I got this phone call. It's definitely one of them, but they're using humans as their tools." she said.

He nodded. "Just as I thought. Meet me at the pier in a couple minutes." he said, and slipped out. Aurora heard the front door shut a few minutes later. She ran her hands through her hair.

She took five minutes to gather herself, then sprang into action. She grabbed her overcoat and raced through the hallways. Merrick crashed into her. He caught her before she could fall to the floor

"What's wrong?" he asked, breathless.

"I have to go. Family emergency." she said, hurriedly, distracted.

"What is it?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. I'll be back in a couple days or so." she said, and they both raced to get out the door.

They walked out of the house and she took out her key and locked the house as fast as she could. 

"Why can't you tell me?" he demanded.

She had to get rid of him. "Because," she snapped. "I hardly know you and you called me a liar! It's none of your damn business!"

He stopped in his tracks, and she took advantage of it and ran.

 

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Merrick followed Aurora, staying in the shadows. If she thought that she could get rid of him so easily, she had another thing coming. He didn't understand the situation, but he saw the fear and anger in her eyes. She was racing towards the pier like a bat out of hell.

When her brother had come into the house, he instantly recognized him as the guy in the picture where he thought that he was her boyfriend. Merrick instantly noted the similarities and mentally kicked himself for not noticing earlier. They were definitely siblings; their long black hair, same eyes, same nose, face, everything... it was all there.

He had no idea what Aurora was keeping from him, but it was obviously something suspicious. Merrick couldn't trust her since he didn't know anything about her. He didn't even know why she approached him in the first place! Why'd she show up at his doorstep that day, then act as if they were total strangers? Nothing made sense at this point in his mind.

Merrick stopped at the beginning of the pier, watching her black coat make it over to another person who he could only guess as Fin. They both talked for a while, then someone pushed against him, knocking him forward and the breath whooshed out of him.

Suddenly, he was dragged to his feet, something pressed against his back. "Be quiet and do as I say and you won't get hurt." a voice whispered. Merrick couldn't turn around and see who was threatening him. The cold barrel of a gun made reality slam down on Merrick. Whatever s**t was happening with Aurora and his brother, Merrick was being dragged into it.

They both walked up towards the two siblings who were in deep conversation, or argument. The old wood creaked with each advancing footsteps, his heart pounding and he was beginning to sweat.

"We need to go home and discuss this!"

"They won't do anything in time! We have to go get her now." Aurora argued.

"Well, we can't just go in with just the two of us." Fin hissed.

The wind whipped around them, both their eyes flashing different colors, and the waves seemed to splash almost thirty feet in the air, misting them both. It was almost as if they were two ocean gods fighting it out.

Aurora looked around and her eyes landed on him. Her eyes widened. Merrick hadn't uttered a word since the stranger had pressed the gun to his back, but now he found some strength. "Aurora... who is this guy?" His voice cracked.

Fin cursed in a language that Merrick didn't know.

"You're the one who left me that message." she hissed, accusingly.

His captor gave a humorless laugh. "Yes, and I have been informed to... terminate you."

"Is that any way for a man like you to act?" Aurora asked tauntingly while slowly inching towards him.

The man took the gun away from his back only to put it by Merrick's temple.

"Stop!" he pleaded hoarsely.

"Yes," the man cooed. "Do as he says and come with me so this man can live. You're fond of him, aren't you."

Something in Aurora's eyes hardened, and Merrick saw another flash of color go through them. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. God, he hoped she was fond of him. They hadn't known each other long, but he didn't want to die just because she didn't like him.

Ominous clouds started gathering and thunder rolled in the distance.

Without warning, Fin lunged over his sister, grabbed the barrel of the gun, and pointed it upwards. A shot rang out but no pain came, so he assumed that he was alive. Aurora yanked Merrick out of the captor's hands who was distracted by Fin.

She pulled him away, but he stumbled and knocked into her, making her fall backwards and over the railing. Lightning flashed, and everything happened so fast.

"Aurora!" Fin yelled.

Aurora and Merrick seemed to free fall for a second, but only a second before hitting the cold water. Merrick tried to go back to the surface, but the waves kept on bringing him down, and soon, he could feel his chest constrict from lack of oxygen.

It was murky, underwater, and it was impossible to see anything, but something grabbed him by the waist and swam. It was like drowning all over again. Damn, he didn't want to die; he figured this out the last time he almost drowned. Then, someone's lips were on his, prying them open. Merrick was too shocked to really process anything. The person was giving him air!

Suddenly, it was as if a light had been turned on and he could see. The salt water stung his eyes, but he was used to it. He was turned backwards so he only saw the way he had come. Momentarily, he was distracted by his need to breathe by seeing a very long tail. S**t, a fish had snagged him! A really big fish.

Merrick could only see its tail, and it was black and sleek. Under the water, the scales seemed to glow, if black could glow. Small wisps of... something, came out of the tail, looking like fins, but too thin and small to be them. They trailed out behind them.

He couldn't take anymore. His chest felt like it was about to explode and black danced around his vision. Before he could pass out, though, the fish yanked him upwards and broke through the surface of the water in a small cave. 

Desperate, he grasped the edge and climbed up, gasping and cursing. Suddenly, another thought came to him.

Where was Aurora?

He whirled around to see a hand that was resting beside him before, start to slither back into the water. It must have been her, she must have been saved by the same fish. Call him crazy, but Merrick was sure that the fish had saved them.

Lunging, he caught her hand before it went back under the water. He still couldn't see her face, so he had no clue if she was unconscious or not. Merrick tried to pull her up, but for some reason, she was resisting. Determined, he yanked at Aurora, just as she did to him so that he could get away from the danger as possible.

The force he pulled seemed to make her come out, but what he saw, he could never prepare for.

The creature looked a lot like Aurora, but that was impossible. The fish tail he saw before, caught his attention first, then his eyes traveled up to meet flesh, human flesh, right where the hips were supposed to meet. Her chest rose and fell from the exertion she had done, and wet black hair came over her back and hung in front of her face. She was staring at him with a mixture of horror and dismay, her blue-green eyes were just slits, like a feline's. Something stuck out of her head where her ears were like antenna. Her fingers were kind of webbed, but became claws at the tips.

"Merrick-" she started, her pink lips struggling to find words.

He scrambled away from the ledge, as far back as he could go, but that's where the cave wall was. "You-... you... what the hell are you?"

Aurora's face seemed to fall at his reaction, but he must have imagined it. She was a monster. Hopefully, he imagined this whole thing. He looked for a way out, but found none. The cave was like a dome, the only opening was the water. She looked at him sadly. "If you want to get out, you'll have to come with me-"

He didn't let her finish his sentence. "Hell no! I'd rather starve here than go back under with you." he spat.

She looked wounded. Good, he thought. She didn't say a word for a while, then crawled back into the water, her tail disappearing last.

Merrick closed his eyes, as if that would take him away from this unrealistic reality. He was dreaming, he must be. Mermaids don't exist, especially not blind mermaids that just had eye operation. Maybe if he banged his head against the cave wall, he'd kill himself or see reason.

 

 

 

He didn't know how much time passed, but the light in the pool of ocean water seemed to start dimming. He had already tried to swim, but it seemed like the cave was lodged inside a rock or something and he couldn't find a place to surface.

Aurora still hadn't come back and he could feel his stomach growl for food. He couldn't remember the last time he hadn't ate all three meals each day. Merrick would just have to grit his teeth and keep on trying to get out. He still couldn't believe that Aurora was... that thing, much less just leave him to die. She just had to fool him again.

Something flickered in the pool and two heads popped out. It was Fin and Aurora. It shouldn't have surprised him that Fin was the same as her, but seeing it in reality... it was almost all he could take.

Merrick said nothing to them, and they didn't either with one look at him. Aurora looked like she wanted to say something but realized that nothing she could say would get through to him now.

Instead, they both dragged vacuum sealed, air tight bags. They slipped on the necklaces that he noticed they always wore on land; their rock necklaces. Before his eyes, they started to glow and shimmer, their tails replaced by legs and the clothes that they were in before.

Aurora stood up and ruffled her hair a bit, still not talking and got out whatever she brought. They brought a lot of blankets, some pillows and food that Fin threw at him. Merrick caught it. McDonald's. He grimaced and glared at them.

"What are we going to do?" Aurora asked, her voice sounding tired.

Fin rubbed his brow. "We can't do anything right now; it's too dark. If we went out now, we'd be searching blind."

"But we have to find Reina."

"We can't do anything right now." he said quietly.

She hung her head in defeat. "Yeah."

"Now... what are we gonna do about him?"

Merrick tensed. Yes, that was the question. What were they going to do to him? Drown him? He glanced at them. Aurora was staring at him with her arms crossed, her face a mask that, for once, he couldn't read.

"He refused my offer to take him back, so I don't know. We can't let him stay here; people will think I kidnapped him." she said, sounding frustrated.

"Then we'll have to force him." Fin said, sounding disinterested. Merrick flinched.

"You know how I feel about that, Fin."

He rolled his eyes. "Then you think of another way."

She sighed, exasperated. Aurora looked over at him. "You're not going to eat?"

"I don't eat McDonald's." he said, disgust rolling in his stomach.

She smirked. "Well, it's macaroni or anything. It was all we could get. So eat it, or starve, but I'd prefer that you live. The choice is all yours."

"My choice?" he scoffed. "It wasn't my choice that you came and knocked on my door."

"We're not discussing this right now! Eat the damn food, already." she said.

"You know what I want to eat?" Merrick said scathingly. "Fried fish."

He landed on a sore spot, he could tell, because she flinched. Fin clenched his jaw, and she turned her back to him. "Whether you fear us or hate us, Merrick, we're only trying to get you back home. We're not taking you prisoner."

Merrick snorted. "Please. Then why don't you take me back now?"

"We can't expel too much energy in case we need it later, which, knowing them, will be soon."

"Who's 'them'?"

The siblings shared a look.

"That's not your concern." Fin said emotionless.

"The hell it isn't! After all that's happening, I can't know what's wrong with this world? What's next? Vampires exist too?"

They both burst out laughing.

After a while, Aurora wiped her tears away, still giggling. "No, there's only us and them."

She still didn't answer his question so he groaned along with his stomach.

"Eat." she urged. "We'll take you back the first thing tomorrow."

Reluctantly, he ate the fries and burger that was provided with revulsion, but it satisfied his stomach. Instead of leaving like Merrick expected them to, they stayed.

After a while of not sleeping, he heard their voices.

"We're not taking him home, are we." Aurora's sad voice reached his ears.

"We can't. Not now." Fin whispered back.

"Do you think Father will like him?" she contemplated.

Merrick's blood ran cold. They lied. Aurora wasn't taking him home, he was going somewhere that he didn't know.

Great God Almighty, what happened to the reality he knew?