Authors: Naomi Fraser
He’s just . . . I stop, breathe,
and wait for my heart to stop pounding, then look back at the car at him. The
grasses meet, waving toward each other. I let go of my hair, and the strands
flare out behind me as the tree limbs sway with the breeze.
From this distance, his smile
lights up my world.
Warms my heart.
A huge, answering
grin spreads across my face and I run toward my house.
THE DREAM ABOUT Lakyn veers into a crazy, full-blown
nightmare. An endless, paralysing black sucks me deeper into the mattress.
Here—I have no control—one tug and I’m drawn into a blanketed pit of foam and
horror. No escape.
A lifesaving jingle echoes in my
ear.
Again.
Again.
I
scrunch up my face and roll onto my back, groaning. Every muscle screams, and I
lie there, holding my breath, then release it slowly. I’m in flannelette
pyjamas to hide the cuts. No breeze floats through the locked window. Last
night’s events rush through my mind. Oh snap. I jerk my ankles and wrists
against the coarse rope binding me to the bed.
I’m a mermaid.
And Lakyn saved me again. Breath
rattles in my chest. Longing for the water courses over me, to slip off these
hot clothes and dip my head beneath the waves where I will grow a magnificent
tail.
Now I get to do a Houdini,
especially before Mum comes into my room. I say a silent prayer she’s running
late and hasn’t the time to check up on me. Tiredness grips my body, and sweat
lines my brow. I wipe the moisture off and set about untying myself.
The buzzing continues, annoying
the crap out of me as I hurriedly untie my left wrist. It takes a good three
minutes before I have both hands free. I stretch my fingers and rub at the red
strip of skin on my wrist and then grab my phone from the nightstand.
I switch off the alarm and see a
text message.
It’s from Lakyn:
How are you
feeling this morning?
I type back:
Like I got hit by
a truck
My phone buzzes and he replies:
I
wish I could be there, Ellie. There was a pulse.
A vibration
of entities moving between worlds.
Nothing friendly.
I’ll meet you by the gate after school, but take what you need to swim. Stay
away from the water until then.
I text back:
Ok c u
Mum’s heels clack loudly on the
wooden floorboards. Oh hell. I immediately look to the door. But her footsteps
fade away to the kitchen. I sigh with relief and undo the knots around my
ankles.
I arrive at the school on time
and walk through the gates, past groups of girls who sit out the front.
Bethany’s there and she
stops
me outside the office
doors by grabbing my hand.
“What do you have first period?”
she asks.
“Maths B.
You?”
“Science.
Meet me up at the lockers. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“All right.”
I move off at the bell, and the next four periods are a blur of more
assignments, book reports and laughing students. The bell rings for first
break, and I bite my lip, taking in a deep breath. I’m not sure what I want to
tell Bethany. On my way out of the classroom, I dodge students and head to the
lockers. I don’t hurry, but walk at a leisurely pace.
“Ellie.”
Bethany stops me outside the English block. “Put me outta my misery. Please.
What happened at the beach yesterday?”
More than I have ever dreamed. I
frown, reach my locker and open it up, then restock the books in my backpack.
“It was fine.” Except for the night-time escapade where sirens tried to kill
me, and, oh yeah, I turned into a fish. “He says he wants to meet me at the
gate after school. We’re going training again,” I whisper because people are
starting to stare.
“After school?”
Her eyes narrow and she bites her bottom lip.
“Today?
I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” She swallows and runs her fingers down
the straps of her backpack. “I don’t think you should.”
My mouth falls open. “What?
Why not?”
She avoids direct eye contact and
crosses her arms, shooting quick glances around the locker area. “Listen, I
talked to Cal and my uncle,” she says flatly, moving to one side so I’ll follow
her. “They talked about spotting some things in the bay they’ve never seen
before. My uncle refused to tell me what they were, but he said it would be
very dangerous to you if you went back in the water. Do you know
Gregor
Bane is saying he’s innocent? He’s hired a lawyer
and everything.”
I scratch my cheek and nod. “I
did hear that.”
“Lakyn turned up a month or so
ago, right after your accident. He wants you to go back in the water. He
wants—”
I start laughing, not because
what she’s saying is ridiculous, no, it’s because as usual, she’s right on
target.
“What?” she asks. “What’s so
funny?”
“Nothing.”
I shake my head. “You’re a great friend, but when he’s with me,
that’s
the one time you don’t have to worry.”
“So there are no red flags in
your mind at all that he might be the one who is hurting these people? On his first
day here, he talked to Anders Peterson, down at the waterfront.”
“Ah.” That explains a lot. “How
did you find that out?”
“My uncle saw him while he was in
his boat. He recognised the picture on the TV.”
I nod and we keep walking down
the hall, but I stop at a big sign on the wall. The drama students’
advertisement is bright purple and white, listing the dates for singing
auditions. “Is there a musical happening this year?”
Bethany shrugs dismissively.
“They do it every year. Most likely this one will be for Christmas.”
“Cool.” Singing is something
that’s always been a part of me. I love doing it so much, even though my dad is
no longer with me, so no more jam sessions. I long for more fun in my life
again. “Maybe I should try out.”
“I didn’t know you could sing.
You’ve been keeping secrets,” she says with a troubled voice.
More than you know.
“In
Sydney my dad used to play the guitar and I’d sing.” I smile at her. “I guess I
never told you. When we first moved here, I used to sit on the cliff by our house
and sing old tunes, trying to remember those times when we were together. It
would make the pain bearable, you know? I guess it hurt too much at the time to
let anyone else hear me. And I didn’t want criticism.”
“Hey, I understand.” Bethany’s
hand on my arm is steadying. “I’d like to hear you.” She nudges me with her
elbow. “But think about what I said, all right?”
I look at her, and butterflies
expand,
then
swarm in my stomach. “I will.”
“Have you seen him yet?” she
asks.
“No, he texted me to say he’d be
busy, that’s why he wants to meet me at the gate.”
The bell rings and she says, “See
you at second break, Ellie.”
I nod and eat a packet of grapes
from my bag on the way to English. I match everyone else’s pace down the
hallway that leads through the double doors. As I leave the wide hallway, three
guys stop ahead and stare at me. I frown as I pass by, a trigger in my memory
seeing them in swim trucks at the school pool.
Friends of
Lakyn’s?
My heart skips in a foolish sensation. It’s like the whole
world knows I shouldn’t be with him.
THE SUN HIGHLIGHTS the soft wrinkles on Ralph’s face. He
rests an elbow on his bent knee,
chin
on hand and
studies the water. His coffee-coloured irises look more troubled than the surf
below.
A light sea breeze whisks across
my skin and I sweep my hair behind my ear. Sand fills the gaps between my toes.
The air smells of salt and heat—Christmases with my dad, happiness in the
sunshine. The sound of crashing waves can’t help but ease the tension in my
back and shoulders. Never mind, I need to get back into the water again.
Turn into something completely
different.
But I’m not the only one who
can’t change external things in my life, though it’s entirely up to me how I
choose to experience them.
“What are you thinking about?” I
ask.
Ralph shifts on the rocks, and
his gaze flicks to the trail behind us, over to the beat up Hyundai and Lakyn
who bends into the open boot. The muscles bunch in his back, shoulder blades
squeezing together. He suddenly straightens, and then rolls his shoulders, the
only sign of discomfort from the weight of his dive gear. My sight drops lower,
over his perfectly toned legs in black neoprene.
Heat rises to my cheeks, and I
glance away.
Ralph’s eyes still contain a
wary, haunted expression. He squints against the sun’s rays, although it has
set a tad. In this light, his skin looks almost bronze, like old leather. The
greying strands of his salt-and-pepper hair appear greasy, the peak in his cap
lopsided.
“I’ve lived here longer than
you’ve been alive.” A weird half-smile graces his sun-weathered face. “And I’ve
never felt anything like this. Something big travelled through to here,” he
says. “My bet is they’re after you two, but they’re using you to get to him.
They want him, Ellie.”
Not one for pulling his punches
or tactfully breaking the ice. As if I’m unaware the sirens are following
Lakyn. My toes wiggle in the sand. A warm hand lands on my shoulder and I jump,
blowing out a hard breath, then turn.
“Or something big was
allowed
to travel through,” Lakyn counters with a tough edge in his voice. He pulls
more gear over his shoulders. “I might not have enough time to train her.”
Ralph nods again. “I’ll do what I
can. We all will.”
A glow warms my cheeks, spreading
heat into my soul. I smile at both of them. Somehow, I feel I belong. “A
reporter was at school today. She waited at the gate before Lakyn got there. She
asked some kids from my year questions, but wanted an interview with me. I told
her no, of course, but I guess they’ll ask my mum for permission or fake
something anyway.”
“Mainstream media,
gotta
love it,” Ralph says with a bark of laughter.
“Not particularly.” I avoid
Lakyn’s penetrating stare. “If too many people know—it’ll make it harder for me
to hide my tail. They’ll be watching me wherever I go. That could be a good
thing in case sirens get me, but I doubt it.” I glance up from my feet. “Not
with news cameras watching my every move, ready to broadcast them to the
world.” My hands shake and I squeeze my fingers. “But what do you both mean
when you say something big travelled through? What could be that big? And what
is with this pulse you mentioned?”
Lakyn places the spear gun on his
back and suits up with so many razor sharp weapons the pit of my stomach
somersaults.
Spear gun, knife, some type of telescopic spear
and a packet of long, thin metal darts inside a satchel against his chest.
Another gun-like weapon on his back sits next to the longer spears.
Right.
He was one of the guardians of the sea. I have to
remember that. This is normal for him.
My stomach feels full of those
sharp objects. The bottom is the top and the outside is inside. Everything
changes.
I have to change with it.
“I know I have to tell you more.
I feel I should protect you from what could happen,” Lakyn says deeply and
turns around. “There are magnetic forces in this world that you can manipulate
to achieve different things. When we came through to this world originally, we
were hunted, and we hunted humans. There were too many deaths. The rules
changed and we went back to how things were. In the old tales, mermaids or
mermen would appear, almost magically, cause a ship to wreck and gain its
treasure. Or sirens would seduce men who were too willing to crash their ship
onto the rocks. Why do you think there are no more sightings? We all had to
return to our world. But now something big travelled through to this one and
the energy changed long enough for me to feel it. All of the other finfolk here
would’ve felt it, too. That’s what worries me. They’re not hiding anymore.”
“The sirens?”
Curious if this could be a way to get information—proof so Lakyn can get back
his fins, I ask, “Is it a doorway, a vortex, a certain part of the sea?” I near
him on the sand, our bodies inches apart. This close my heart thunders like
I’ve done a two-hundred metre sprint. His height shadows the dying sun.
“It’s a vibration.
A hologram that dissolves and reshapes itself.
Something you
think exists but can’t prove because it isn’t of this realm. Once you’ve felt
it, you’ll never be the same. Finfolk shift so their bodies meet the
requirements of this dimension, and they use magic to do it. It’s possible for
finfok
to retain their tails while they’re here, but it
becomes uncomfortable after a while. We are sensitive—we rely on underwater
vibration. Not just anyone is allowed to shift through dimensions anymore. The
council has protocols and uses magic to stop us.”
“So to get to
this underwater world—” I study his face “—theoretically, I’d need to shift,
change vibration?
How?”
“Magic.
Finfolk magic.
There are places that are easier than others.
Sometimes it can happen on land, depending on who is in control of the magic.
It’s also a conscious thing, something that happens when you have finfolk
running through your veins. And, you have to break through the magic wall. You
can try, but you will be blocked. You also need to know . . . before it is too
late, the longer you spend in the water, the more
mermaid
you’ll become. Stay mermaid long enough in this world and it will probably kill
you,” Lakyn says.
“I’ll be a mermaid permanently
and then die?”
“Only if you stay in this world,”
he asserts. “The vibration will mess with your body until nothing works.”
“It’s one of the strongest parts
of the legends,” Ralph says behind me, and his tone offers no comfort at all.
“The longer you stay in that form, the more your energy aligns to it. The same
is true for being human. The pulse was large, and if
it’s
sirens, that means a whole lot came through.”
“You could always practice your
techniques in the school’s pool, but people would see you,” Lakyn adds.
“Oh.” Wind picks up my hair, and
I can’t hide the crushing despair in my voice. The sand glints white from the
sun’s reflection, and the soft smell of salt sweeps over me as I look at him.
“You’ll lose who you truly are then.”
He clasps my hand and grins.
“Never.
That will never happen. Who you see is who I am,
finfolk or human. I’m more myself right now than I’ve ever been.”
His fingers twist around my hand,
making me hyper-aware of his touch. My knees grow loose and hot. I swallow and
look out to the sea where wind shears the surface of the waves. The weight of
his sacrifice challenges everything I believe about the world. He gave me back
my life. Now, what will I do with it?
He tugs me closer to the
breakers, and I stop at the edge of the water, the foamy, white line touching
my toes. “Today I’m going to show you how to shoot underwater. My father was
the best marksman in the king’s guard. He taught me what I know.”
The whitewash kicks up over the
rocks and sounds a lot like a washing machine. I take in a deep breath and
clench my left hand into a fist.
“Nervous?” Lakyn gives me side
glance.
“Maybe,” I admit with a laugh.
“You’ll be fine. You’ll change.
Expect that, but I’ll be there for you. We have towels to dry you off, and you
don’t need to be back at your place until later on. This is your chance to
learn how to protect yourself when you have a tail. I’ll show you as much as I
can before anything happens . . . to me,” he finishes quietly.
I frown at the idea he’s
expecting something bad, but I nod and walk into the water, the silky coolness
circling my ankles. Foamy, white fingers crawl up the rocks and drip down
again. The sun shines on my upturned face, and we leave the perfect beach of
the cove. Lakyn has taken us to a place I’d never seen before, but Ralph knows
all the best spots.
I’m up to my chest in the cool
seawater, and about to go under when Lakyn urges, “Take the jump, Ellie.” His
bright blue gaze clashes into mine. “You breathe fine underwater.”
I push off from the sand,
enjoying the water rippling around my body, but Lakyn’s hand surrounds mine,
and he drags me faster through the shallows. Finally, we’re so deep, large fish
swim past and I no longer see the sandy bottom. My feet dangle below me. I move
my legs rhythmically to stay afloat,
then
burst free
to the surface. But I can breathe underwater, if I try. I have to change, allow
it to happen and my chest squeezes at the thought. I need to believe I can do
this, but a moment to shift, to change, might mean a lifetime of being someone
new.
Lakyn grabs me by the shoulders
and his expression grows serious, obviously reading the indecision in my eyes.
“Ellie?
Don’t panic. Show me what I taught you last time.”
I pant, pushing water out of my
lips and brushing the fringe back from my eyes. “It saved me. That move you
showed me saved my life,” I say simply. “I was on my way to the surface with it
after I got the siren off my leg.”
“Show me one more time.”
I breathe in, out, in and then
quickly dive underwater.
Before I even reach the bottom, my
mouth opens to swallow water.
My muscles remember exactly who I am without
me having to force anything at all.
I flail.
God.
There’s nothing to grab onto, and fire roars up my body, from my toes to my
waist, burning my skin. My lungs squeeze tight, and bones shift, slide and then
pop in my chest. My ribcage flattens. I scream and bubbles stream out of my
mouth. Heat pushes against the underside of my skin. Flesh swells. I want to
itch, scratch, but then the skin pops open and relief is too short. A thick
substance secretes down my legs.
A manacle grips my wrist and I
look up to see Lakyn floating above me in the sun-drenched, blue water. My
stomach stops clenching in absolute fear and I set my teeth against the pain.
He won’t let me go. Not here. My
thighs stick together and the skin overlaps, hardening as each tiny scale
settles. Skin splits behind my ears and salt stings the wounds. The raw flesh
feels strange and tender. My bikini bottoms seem to be stuck into my skin and
it hurts so badly, I reach down to undo the laces at the sides, flinging the
fabric aside.
Fire immediately roars up my
hips. My back bows, and legs fully cement together. Bones mesh, one instead of
two, inside a tail.
Lakyn doesn’t let go, but I don’t
have to be embarrassed, and I’m not. He’s taken care of me in the sea before,
and his hand offers a lifeline, which assures me he understands the pain turns
me mindless. He floats down to meet me under the surface and firmly wraps an
arm around my waist until my lungs settle.
I suck in a mouthful of water and
breathe out again. Taking my time, I glance around at the ripples of waves on
the surface and light pushing through this wonderful place. I let go of him,
swim away a little and my opalescent tail fin glints with a myriad of colours.
The seabed is in full view and ripples of light dance across the sand.
Bombies
with waving seaweed delineate sandy walkways and I
smile at the thought of following where they lead.
Lakyn’s head pops up in front of
mine, his mouth piece and goggles covering half his face. He shakes his head
and points at the gun in his hands. He blinks and for a moment, his eyes are
bluer than the ocean, shining brighter than sunlight. Colour flows over his
irises. He is part me. Part of who I am.
A turtle swims beneath my tail,
and water eddies on my tight-knit tail.
So slow and peaceful,
in another world entirely.
We swim down to the coral. I’ve never seen
such colours. Pale pink and white waving fronds, the brightest green, yellow
disks stuck into stone, adorable blue and yellow fish.
The
purples, oranges, and brown spidery tendrils of plants.
It all looks
like heaven.
We swim over a huge swathe of
yellow coral and set down on the sea floor. The moment I touch the bottom, I
flick my tail back and forth and rocket up to the surface. He catches hold of
me on the way and we both break the surface together.
He slicks water from his head
with a quick toss, removes the mouth piece and grins at me. “You’re a fast
study. Good.” He falls silent and stares into my face, both hands gripping my
arms. “You look like you truly belong here.”
I take in his chiselled face and
his smooth lips only to have mine sting. I lift up a hand to rub at the
softness, and frown, breaking the moment. “Why do they do that?” My voice is
small with bewilderment, and I realise I haven’t taken a breath of air. I
breathe shallow, but it hurts, and I wince, rubbing at the sore spot on my
chest. My ribcage wants to expand.
“Do what?” He leans closer and
the slick fabric of his wetsuit rubs against the bare skin of my stomach. His
flippers rhythmically tread water, legs occasionally brushing against the
sensitive matrix of my tail.