Damarian (A Merman's Kiss Novel) (6 page)

“You don’t remember changing?”

I inform her that the last I recall was swimming in the storm. She tells me that I will require to transform to a human if I wish to return to the sea, which is understandable because I do not believe she has the means to transport me in my child of the sea form.

“Did you do anything before you changed?” she asks. “Eat anything? Did someone do something to you?”

I shake my head.

She and I remain silent for some time, contemplating how I am to shift back to a human. I feel unease in my stomach at the possibility that I will not be able to shift and my fate is to remain on land for the rest of my life. My family would not know what happened to me. Little Zarya would be heart broken. No, I must return to the sea. I
must
.

“Maybe you need to be out of seawater for a while and then you change,” she says.

“That is a fair assumption. Perhaps we shall attempt it.”

She takes hold of my hand, and the gesture is reassuring. “It’ll be okay. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. I’ll help you in any way I can.” Her voice wavers when she says the next words. “You’ll be home soon.”

“Thank you. You are most kind, Cassie Price.”

“You can call me Cassie.”

I look into her beautiful eyes. “Cassie.”

Neither she nor I blink. That happy feeling passes through me again, and I do not wish for it to disappear.

Cassie turns away and stands. I admit I am disappointed. “We should test it out now to see if it works,” she says. “But if it does, we’ll have to wait until late night or early morning to go to the sea, before the fishermen come out. No one can see you.”

“I understand.” I study the pool. How am I to get out? I place my hands on the edge and try to hurl myself over it.

“Oh, yeah! Good idea.”

But this is not as easy as I imagined. My tail is too heavy and my arms do not hold enough strength. They strain to achieve my task, but they are too weak. I collapse into the pool.

Cassie is at the edge of the pool and peers over. “Are you hurt?”

“I am all right, thank you.” My chest heaves. I stare at my tail. “I do not believe I am able to climb out.”

“Give me your hands. Let’s work together.”

She takes my hands, and yet again, that joyous feeling passes through me. I do not understand it. Is it because she is human? Is it because she is a female? Then why have I not had this feeling when the princess touched me?

She tugs on my hands. She does not make any progress, only seems to grow tired. I attempt to hurl my tail over the edge of the pool as she pulls on my hands. I use all my might, all my strength. Just when it seems we will not succeed in our task, I throw my tail over with such speed that I am tossed over. Cassie is cast against the chairs that are lined against the wall.

She sits up and rubs her head. Then she smiles. “You’re out.”

“I am sorry for injuring you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

She crawls closer to me and leans her back against the wall. “Now we wait.”

I am not certain how much time has passed, but it feels like quite a while.

My elbows support my body as I lay back, my tail next to Cassie, who studies it every so often. I have never seen it out of the sea, and the sight is quite strange. It does not seem natural. A few times I have caught Cassie aiming to reach out and touch my tail, but she fists her hands. I tighten the towel she wrapped around my middle.

She lifts her legs and presses them against her chest, her arms wrapped around them. “How old are you?” she asks.

“Soon I shall reach my two hundred and fortieth moon.”

She seems to perform some calculations in her head and silently mouths, “Twenty.” Then she asks, “Are you considered an adult in the merworld?”

“Yes.”

She slides her hands up and down the back of her legs. “I just became an adult a few months ago. I guess that’s a few moons in your world.”

“Is it difficult?”

“I don’t know. Yeah, I guess.”

From the expression on her face, I understand that it is exciting to embark on this new journey, but also frightening. It matches the way I feel. “Humans do not differ that much from children of the sea,” I say.

Her eyes trek to mine and she nods. Yes, we are different, but we are similar as well. I did not allow her to die in the sea and she did not allow me to die on land. We are both excited and frightened to experience the next phase in our lives. And we enjoy the company of one another. That is, I believe so. I know I do.

“Maybe you can tell that to your king,” she says.

King Palaemon. If he and his queen were aware I have been on land, they would be outraged. They would not allow me to mate with the princess. Father would be most upset.

She stares at my tail, as do I. The transformation has not yet begun.

Quite some time has passed. Unease crawls into every fiber of my being. Just as am I prepared to surrender to my inevitable fate—of being bound here on land—an uncomfortable feeling overwhelms me. I am…hot, I believe. It is not something I am accustomed to. My forehead is damp, as though water is gathering there. Then I feel a sharp pain at my tail Cassie lays her hand on my arm. “Are you okay? Is it coming?”

“I feel…odd.”

“It’ll be okay.” Her gentle, warm hand squeezes mine. “Just remember to breathe.”

I nod, but the feeling grows more uncomfortable.

A groan escapes me as my body collides with the floor. The pain, the heat, the…unrelenting agony. It is more painful than my shift from human to child of the sea, as though my body yearns to battle it. I release a final cry and then my body grows limp.

I am too exhausted to move.

“Damarian?” Cassie’s hand shakes my shoulder. “You okay?”

It has never taken me this much effort to open my eyes. I only manage a slight peek before they are forced shut. My tail is no longer there. The legs have returned.

“You hit your head pretty hard. But you’re human again.”

“I am exhausted.”

She asks me if I wish to take a nap. Yes, my body requires it, yearns for it. She says a few more words, but I am much too drained.

It is not long before I no longer hear her at all.

***

When I wake, I no longer feel weak. It is completely dark, and I since I am human, I cannot see. The first emotion to enter my being is fear—I am not accustomed to blindness. But I suppose my eyes are adjusting, because it is not too long until I begin to see Cassie’s form.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hello.”

A green color shines on her face. It originates from an object clasped around her wrist. It does not provide enough light to see her face, only illuminates the object on her hand. “You’ve been out of the water a while,” she says. I understand what the object is—a means for humans to calculate time. Father and I have discovered many similar objects from sunken vessels.

“Yes,” I say.

She trembles. Perhaps she is not comfortable with the cool temperature. “I guess as soon as the salt water’s gone, you change into a human.”

“Yes, I suppose.” I am surprised to discover that I tremble, too, though it is not due to the cool temperature, for I very much enjoy it.

Cassie rests her hand on my knee. “Are you okay?”

I am not quite certain. I do not feel ill, as I felt when I shifted into a child of the sea, but I am not quite at ease with the fact that I am human. “Yes,” I lie.

She apologizes for the pain I have experienced and asks if I wish to dress into warm clothes. While the thought of being warm does not rest well with me, I do not appreciate sitting in the dark. “Yes, thank you.”

The room is suddenly illuminated. When I glance around, I notice objects on the walls that must be the source of the light. Cassie offers me her hand and assists me out of the pool room. I still do not feel secure walking on these legs, but my performance has much improved.

When we enter a room with many chairs and a table, Cassie freezes. “The door.”

“Pardon me?” Does she refer to the noise that has not halted since we have awoken?

She takes hold of my hands and leads me into another room. She gently pushes me on a soft object—a bed, I believe—and tells me to remain here.

“What is the matter?”

Her top teeth bite her lower lip. “I promise it’ll only take a minute.” She closes the door behind her. I cannot see past this room, for the door blocks my view. But it does not matter because I cannot see long distances in this human form. I hear Cassie retreating, and then a few seconds later, a voice says, “Finally! I thought you were kidnapped.”

I recognize the voice. It matches the one that belongs to the female Leah, who rescued Cassie from the boulder when she nearly perished. My heart beats harshly in my chest. Will this other human discover me? Is she to be trusted?

She attempts to enter, but Cassie does not allow it. I feel myself relax.

“What’s going on?” Leah demands. “Where’s Angel Guy?”

Again with this angel.

Now that I am certain Cassie will not expose me to the other human, I pay no attention to their conversation and study the room. I do not understand the objects that are cluttered here. A small table sits next to the bed. It is not made of stone like the ones in the sea. It is a brown color and has a smooth surface. A few number of items rest upon it, but I do not know what they are. One resembles the object Cassie used to communicate with her uncle—a phone. I rise off the bed and head to a brown object that slightly resembles the small, smooth table near the bed. There are round objects protruding out of it. When I pull on them, they open. Clothes lie in here. I close it, for I do not wish to cause any disorder.

I sit down on the bed. I bounce a few times, silently chuckling. Then I notice another object on the small table. It appears to be a female human trapped inside a rectangular object. I reach for it. It is smooth and shiny, and there seems to be more humans trapped inside. I open the object and use my thumbs to move to the next human. There are small symbols beneath the humans. I now realize that they are immobile, therefore they must not be real.

The door opens and Cassie walks in. Her eyes immediately make contact with the object in my hands. “Mom’s fashion magazines,” she says. She moves closer to me. “I’m going to get you clothes soon. But in the meantime, do you want to eat anything? I’m pretty sure swimming all night and changing into a human, and then changing into a merman and then back into a human has left you starving.”

One thing that is not different between a child of the sea and a human is the noise my stomach creates when I am famished. I glance down at it. “I suppose.”

I follow her to what she refers to as the kitchen, to where I assume the food is located. She tells me to sit at the table and heads to a white object. She pulls on a handle, opens the door, and bends forward until I no longer see her head.

There is a peculiar item concealing the table. Just as I am about to touch it, Cassie looks back at me. “Do you only eat fish?”

I touch the concealing item. It is a material I cannot identify. “What is this?”

“A tablecloth. It protects the wood of the table and is used as a decoration.”

I raise the tablecloth a few inches off the table. Wood. I do not know what that is. It resembles the table in the room where I touched that “fashion magazines.” Is that what the table is created from—wood? “We use stone as tables.”

Her eyes shine as though I have shared with her a magnificent tale. “You don’t have any evil octopus witches who can turn humans into mermaids, do you?”

Octopus witches? To what is she referring?

She laughs. “Just kidding. So what would you like to eat?” She walks to another “wood” object that stands against the wall. “What do you eat in the ocean?”

I inform her that we feast on many creatures and plants in the sea, such as fish, crabs, seaweed, and even octopuses and squid. I admit I am quite alarmed at the notion that she believes octopuses are witches.

“Is it dangerous to hunt?” she asks.

“Father…” I wish to inform her of the manner in which we capture our food, but my mind warns me not to reveal too much. I do not know why it is my desire to share my world with her—perhaps because she has shown me only kindness—but it is imperative that I conceal as much truth as possible.

She appears a little upset by my silence, though she does not utter a word. She returns to the wood object and waves an item. “Sardines.”

Sardines! Yes, it has been quite some time since I have feasted on them. “I only realize now how famished I am.”

With a large smile on her face, she places the object in my hand. I stare down at it. I do not understand. These are not sardines.

She instructs me to pull on a part of this object, which reveals the sardines. My mouth salivates as I grab a handful and devour them. It is only after I have nearly finished half of them that I notice my behavior. “Forgive me for my rudeness. Would you like some?”

“No, thanks. I’m not really a fan of fish.”

She does not enjoy fish? How is it possible for a being not to enjoy fish? “What do you eat?”

She begins to name many items. The only word I manage to hear is, “Candy?”

She opens another wood object and produces an object of many colors. When she hands one to me, I immediately understand what it is. “That is what humans use to capture our fish.”

Her eyes slowly move from the bag to me before she urges me to sample it. It does appear different from the worms that are used to capture the fish in the sea. And for reasons I cannot fathom, my mouth salivates when I study these “candy” worms. I reach for one and bite into it. I have never eaten anything quite as delicious! “This is quite tasty. I very much enjoy it.”

“Your kind doesn’t really hate humans, do you?”

Her eyes carry a whisper of sadness, as though she does not wish for me to tell her that we hold humans as our sworn enemy. I swallow the worm. “No. But we are told to fear them to ensure our safety.”

She nods.

I have devoured every last sardine and ask Cassie if she can supply me with more. She is more than happy to provide. She reaches for another one of those objects—which she refers to as a can—and tosses it at me. It hits my chest and then falls to the floor.

“Sorry! You were supposed to catch that.”

“Catch?”

She sweeps it off the floor and tells me to throw it at her. I am hesitant, for I do not wish to harm her, but her eyes urge me not to be afraid. With as little energy as possible, I throw the can at her. She seizes it before it makes contact with her body. “Now you try,” she says. She throws it at me and I catch it in my hand. “Good job!” She smiles.

Then she asks me if Mother has ever told me not to play with my food. I do not understand. “We slaughter the fish before we eat them,” I tell her. We certainly do not play with them.

She leans her body closer to mine, and I do not know why, but I feel warmer. “How do you do that?” she asks.

I can trust this human. Yes, I am quite certain I can. No harm will befall me if I were to divulge a little information on how the children of the sea fare in the ocean. She is sharing a part of her world with me, and it is only befitting that I return the favor. And I…enjoy conversing with her. “Father along with my younger brother and I hunt for food. As soon as we see an edible fish, we attempt to seize it. There is a location on the fish we must bite in order to kill it. Then we place all the fish in a large oyster shell and bring it home to the rest of the family.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool.”

Cool? I once again do not understand the words of this human. “The sea’s temperature is cool. The deep sea is extremely cold and dark. We do not venture too deep unless needed. The king sends a party to explore the deep sea. It is the only area we have not fully explored.”

She smiles.

There is once again noise coming from the door that I assume is the exit of the house. Cassie is now on her legs. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I am beyond curious. I gradually place myself on my legs and walk to the entryway between the kitchen and the room that has many large chairs and a table in the center. It appears to be a room where humans relax. From my location, I can see the entrance to the house. Cassie stands in front of the door. The familiar female human known as Leah is before her, holding clothing. Cassie thanks her as she takes the clothes and places her arms around her.