The Little Mermaid (Faerie Tale Collection) (7 page)

“Yes. I know. It is so glorious, is it not?” He held her before she could shove him, and for a moment, her world seemed right again. Just for a moment.

When he pulled back, he asked, “Better?”

She lied and nodded. “It is easing up a bit.”

“There are a few minutes in the middle of it all when your body is growing the muscle mass and veins, and you can actually breathe for a little while. Perhaps you are already there, and your legs are growing nice and quickly.”

“Perhaps.” If this was the easy part, she was in for so much trouble.

“Well, if you are able to, would you mind telling me how you came to be in the arms of a male human?”

KEEL WATCHED PEARL’S FACE intently as she darted her eyes away from him and then winced. He could tell she was still in immense pain and was regretting every action she had taken up to this point. It was heartless to interrogate her further at this time.

Wrapping her up in his arms, he gently pressed her head to his shoulder and rocked her as if she were a wee merinfant who needed cuddle time with her mammay. “Never you mind at the moment. You can tell me all about it later. For now, it is more important that you are safe.”

Keel twisted a bit to look through an opening in the rock behind them. The human male stirred slightly on the beach. Ugh. Keel should have hit him harder to guarantee he stayed asleep longer. “Pearl,” he whispered into her ear around her muffled whimpers. “That man who found you has awoken. I need you to remain very, very still, and do not make a sound. He will not see us as long as we remain as we are, behind this rock. Can you do that for me?”

She clutched him tighter and nodded.

“Good.”

He attempted to hide his breathing as his heart rate increased. Why in all heaven’s name did the girl swallow that vial now? Could she not have waited until the human was safely away? Why is it that mermaids tend to do such drastic, unthinkable things without realizing the consequences?

He then watched covertly as the man stumbled to his feet and looked out to the ocean while rubbing his head. Looking up and down the shoreline, he finally shook his head and made his way up to the castle. With any luck, he would believe it was all some sort of hallucination or dream and forget about the beautiful mermaid he had found.

Keel kissed the top of her bright hair. How scared he had been in those brief moments when he watched the man slowly lure her to him. She was so fascinated and trusting! The foolish merwoman! What else would he want but to capture her as quickly as possible, attempt to dupe her into believing they were friends and he was merely as harmless as she?

Did she realize how close to the cruel realities of this world she actually came?

Ugh. Within just a few minutes of him being gone, she had already proven the worst of his fears. How in the deep was he to survive the next month with her? Or at least, manage to keep her alive long enough to prove his point? There was nothing on land that would not harm or destroy her. Nothing.

She was too unique, too beautiful, too exotic not to be considered a valuable prize. He sighed and willed himself to calm down. There was no need to become worked up all over again. Soon, she would have legs and be dressed as the humans were and have no need for any of his silly worries after all.

However, it would not be long now until she discovered that the human species would mock her for her foreign language and treat her as a simpleton and make her miserable. As much as it would pain him to watch her discover this for herself, he knew it was necessary if she was ever to find the princess within.

Unless, of course, he was wrong, and a human truly saw her beauty and fell in love with her. Gah. He quickly pushed that thought aside. No. They were barbaric. They could not help themselves—they had to destroy what intrigued them most.

Pearl flinched and jerked in his arms, a great wail escaping from her lips. The final change must be near. He quickly set her into the water once more to allow her privacy. “It is almost time,” he said in a soothing voice. “It is almost over.”

She covered her mouth with a hand. Those watery eyes met his and he wished to kiss every ounce of pain away for her. But he knew it would not be long now, and he had to fetch the clothing he had brought back for her to wear. “I will return quickly. In fact, if you look through this section here, under the rock, you will be able to watch me. I am only going on shore to collect the clothing I left when I saw that man with you. It is still there, wrapped in a white bundle upon that formation of small rocks. I will return very shortly. Breathe deeply, and do not allow yourself to sink.”

With that, he half swam, half walked upon the shore and quickly clutched the bundle before returning to her. In the village, the shopkeeper had been more than happy to take a small portion of gold for this covering. She had motioned to several more similar clothing examples on display—he assumed to let him know that he was welcome to return anytime and purchase more. He had thanked the lady with a brief nod and smile before rushing back to Pearl.

Now, as he swam toward her, he noticed that the tide had slowly risen a few more feet in the last hour or so. This was good. It meant that evening would be fast approaching, and she could hide more easily as he taught her how to walk. She would need as much practice as she could get.

As he approached from behind, he could see her shoulders shaking violently. His heart lurched for the poor dear.

“Pearl?” He touched her back, and she turned toward him.

Her whole face was purple, twisted in pain, and tears were visible, and yet she was not wailing as she had been. She was masking as best as she could the excruciating torment she was going through.

If he had not already fallen in love with her, he would have then. In the midst of such bravery and strength, he could do nothing less but love such a merwoman.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I promise it is nearly over now. You have done wonderfully.”

She muffled an answer, and so he thought it best to distract her with the clothing he had brought. Even though it would get wet, he knew it would be better if she came out of the ocean already dressed. “Would you like to see what I got for you to wear?”

When he unfolded the white underclothing to reveal the beautiful aqua-colored covering wrapped inside, he knew she would be ecstatic.

She was. This color had always been her favorite.

“Well, my dear. I wish I could tell you that what I wear is similar to your clothing, but alas, the landfolk women have it much more difficult than men. The shopkeeper had to show me several pictures before I understood why it was so important to buy this white stuff too. Apparently, you must wear all the fluff underneath the pretty one on top. Do you understand?”

Pearl gave him the funniest look he had ever seen. “But—why?” she gasped out.

He could not help himself. He laughed. “I have no notion why they would do something so peculiar. Perhaps you should ask one of them.”

IT TOOK SEVERAL TRIES, and with the weight of the clothing in the water, it was almost impossible to achieve, but eventually Pearl was able to get the silly thing on. Who would ever torment females with such a getup as this? It was deuced awkward to stand as it was—she could not imagine attempting to walk as well.

There was one good thing about the impossible layers of fabric, and that was that it managed to keep her so occupied in sorting out that she almost forgot about the pain she was in as her human legs fully formed. Almost. Eventually, the pain subsided, and her body was transformed.

Once the sun had set, with the help of Keel, she was able to bob and float her way over to the land, and then came the difficult part—actually walking upon the sand to the flat ground awaiting. If she thought the soft, sinking sand painful with each torturously heavy step she took, it was nothing compared to the shooting agony that zipped its way up her legs as she began to walk upon the hard ground above the ocean toward the village.

The pain of that first step caused her to crumble into Keel’s chest. And by the time she had become brave enough to attempt the third and fourth step, he finally commanded her to stop altogether.

“Give your new legs a bit of time to rest.” He whisked her up into his arms and began to carry her, much like the prince had done.

“Wait. Keel, you must not dare! If my feet are in this much distress, I cannot imagine what yours must be going through with my added weight. Put me down this instant.”

Of course, the foolish merman refused to listen to her. Instead, he grunted his way for several paces until he found a suitable seating area amidst several magnificent buildings. Then he collapsed next to her. It was dark, and the streets made of stone were completely barren. The soft breeze of the ocean air found its way toward them, and he brought her into his chest and snuggled her against him.

She was exhausted. Utterly drained.

Curling up to him, she brought her shoe-covered feet upon the bench-like seat he had found for them and splayed the skirt of her clothing around her new legs, allowing it to dry out better. It really was a pretty bit of cloth. She knew that once the thing dried and the sunlight lit upon it, the whole dress would shimmer over her.

Dress. It was such a funny word. Keel had mentioned that was what the store owner had called it.

She smiled as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her in just a bit closer. She felt his chest expand as he took a deep breath of air. This was perfection. Just like this, sitting together in the twinkling twilight on the land as humans. The quiet, darkened street reminded her much of the faded colors of the ocean at night. Everything looked blue and gray and purple. But the similarities ended there. Where she was used to soft, more rounded buildings, these tall, flat structures were fascinating, each with reflecting windows to peek out to the human world from within.

If she looked toward where they had come from, she could just make out the horizon of the darkened beach below them. Closing her eyes, she listened to the soft, gentle pull of the waves as they broke upon the sand. Quiet humming and clicking sounds could be heard above them as the landfolk spoke to each other, their open windows allowing the sound to travel to her. But for the most part, there was simply no one around. Just peaceful, quiet solitude.

“We shall sleep out here tonight, and then tomorrow, I will work on gathering us some food.”

“Food?” Ugh. Her stomach churned at the thought. “I could not possibly eat a thing at the moment.”

Keel’s deep chuckle caused her heart to hammer a bit more than normal. It was so different to hear him speak above the water like this. It would take some getting used to.

“You may not be hungry now, but I promise you, my dearest, you will be quite famished on the morrow.”

“Does it have something to do with the transformation?” she asked him.

“Yes. Your insides are still too new to comprehend the use or need of sustenance. Your body is experiencing a bit of shock from the pain. But by morning, after you have sufficiently rested, it is all you will think about.”

He was simply too good to her, thinking of each one of her needs before she knew what she would want next. How was such a male to be in existence? He would clearly make the perfect husband for some lucky mermaid one day. Her grin grew as she brought her exhausted legs forward, rustling the dress a bit, and snuggled in tighter as she turned a fraction on her side.

Sleep sounded so very wonderful, and Keel made the most perfect pillow she had ever known. Closing her eyes, she allowed the soft, rustling breeze to remind her she had finally made it. They were human. A surge of glee swept through her, and then she calmed back down.

He whispered quietly above her. “Sleep, my beautiful one. Tomorrow, we shall awaken early to procure better sleeping arrangements. As of now, I fear to walk to any hotel with your legs being so very tender. So we will sleep this soreness off and face the challenges in the morning with much better ease.”

“Thank you,” she murmured into his chest.

“You are most welcome.”

She yawned. “You know I could not do this without you. You are simply wonderful.”