Page 31 of Sea's Secret

If we were not meant to have legs, then why did we have an Island? Father had always explained that the rocks were there for us to bask in the moon under the change of the tide, but why did we need an island? Of course, if we had once had the ability to transform from humans to mer, then that island would have been used often by my ancestors. My mind swam with questions. Finally, in the crashing of the waves onto the sandy shore, we were free from the waters depths that would kill the human. I pulled him as best I could onto the dry part of the sand. My tail scraping against the sand hurt, and I winced in pain. Finally, being out of the water, I collapsed to the side of the human and watched for any sign of movement. I saw his chest rise and fall and figured he was still alive. For a moment, I looked at him even closer. He was incredibly striking–a strong chin and jaw with a large scar on the side of his face. I wondered what had happened to that human to get such a scar. His hair was dark, like the fathoms of the ocean where the glowing fish lived. I watched him, taking in seeing a real human so close up, when suddenly, his eyes fluttered open. His human eyes caused me to gasp. They were a dark blue, and even in the glow of the moon, I could see just how beautiful they were; so different. No one under the sea had eyes that dark.

“You–” His mouth moved. I could not sense a soul’s melody within him. I would need to open my mouth. There was a cough, and he spit out sea water. I knew I should have left, because talking to a human was more against the rules than anything else. But I was frozen there. It was as if I were in arctic waters without any extra layer of warmth to protect me. I just could not move.

“Are you alright, human?” I asked. It came out as a whisper, and I hoped he heard me, for I did not wish to say it again. I noticed a cut on his leg, and I healed it as best I could with the little energy I had left, and then I realized my mistake. I needed that energy I had just given away in order to return to the sea. Still, I began to shift back toward the waves, when he spoke.

“Are you a mermaid?” he asked, his eyes upon my face for a moment; then they closed again.

I frowned.

Will he be okay?

“Thank you–” he said, and then his head lulled to the side as if he had just fallen asleep. I felt warmth, then; it was warmer than the tropical waters near the lava flow as I looked at him and realized he was alive. I had saved him. I saved a human.

He thanked me–a human had thanked me. Something evil would not thank someone. I raised my head and tried to shift my shoulders and body downward so that I could go back into the water. But as I tried, I realized I was too far away. I had barely any strength left at all.

Am I safe with this human? Will he wake and kill me? I wondered.

As my eyes fluttered shut, I realized that not only did I have no strength to get me out of that situation, I was about to lose consciousness, just like the human had, and my head also lulled to the side.

Chapter Thirteen

Meria

My tail hurt. I tried to sway it back and forth to figure out exactly what was wrong with it; only, something did not feel right. Noise–I could hear noise. Waves were crashing against rocks, and something above me was making strange squawking sounds, and air–air was all around me. My melody sang out, hoping to connect with any nearby mer. I took in gulps of air, greedily, touching my hand to my heart.

I was on land.

This is okay–I will be okay.

Feeling even more pain in my tail, I opened my eyes, wondering if I had injured myself. My head was turned to the side, and the view before me distracted me from my goal for a moment. There was a human man there beside me–breathing heavily, soaking wet on the sand.

In a surge, it all came back to me.

I saved this human. We both passed out on this beach.

In the morning light, I could see the man more clearly; he had a glint of gold at his ear, a ring of sorts, a scar on his cheek, and his dark brown hair went this way and that and partially covered his face. I remembered that hair did not float around people, or mermaids, when they were above the sea. My hair was just hanging there all around me–and rather heavily.

I reached out to rub my aching tail when I realized that I was missing my scales. I had skin where my tail should have been. I sat up with a start, surprised to see two legs there, instead. It was strange. I blinked over and over again, as if blinking would make it less shocking. It did not work.

This is good–you are half human.

I had no idea how to use those legs. I knew that humans balanced on them.

Perhaps, before this human wakes up, I can practice.

I needed to behave like a human, after all, did I not? I wasn't sure that I wanted this human to know I was a mermaid, especially because I didn't know if humans were still evil, as they once were when we had gone under the Marren Sea. Finn had always said humans had changed, but I wanted to be safe.

I placed my hands on either side of me in the dry sand, and I tried to lift myself up, bending my legs as I attempted to use my feet. I only knew the anatomy of legs because Finn had once explained it to me. Pulling myself up, I wobbled and fell back down. I tried over and over again in frustration until, finally, I stood and balanced myself. I took my first few steps, and to my surprise, it was quite easy. I walked back and forth, falling every once in a while, but my legs were surprisingly strong, and once I figured out how to balance on them, I could walk easily, just putting one foot before the other. I smiled at my triumph.

It is easy because it is part of who you are.

My melody was singing so loudly I was sure it would wake the human if he had a melody of his own somewhere inside of him–although I detected none. I walked back down beside him, looking him over once more. Then after some time, I turned to look at the island, the place that my people must have once inhabited. I wanted to see what it was like.

There were no clear signs of my people having ever lived on Marren Island from my walk through nearly half the island. I was disheartened by that. How could there be no signs that my people had once dwelt there? I had legs. That had to be the place where we spent time as humans.

As I walked through more of the wet foliage and tall plants on the west side of the island, I was in awe of it all. Although so different from the kelp forests, which I had always thought were rather beautiful underneath the sea, those plants had their own beauty, a land forest of sorts. I walked a while longer before deciding to turn back toward the beach where I had left the human, when I stopped suddenly, wobbling at the abruptness, because something on the wet ground caught my eye. Bending down without falling was not particularly easy, but I managed. It was something hard, like stone, yet carved and buried deep within the sand. I pulled at it, and after digging about it for a while, it came out of the ground, causing me to fall. It was hollow beneath it. It was dark and deep. I dug around the edges for many minutes, and soon a sort of cavern was revealed. I crawled in just a little ways, where I discovered something white and partially covered with the wet, brown, sticky sand that was all over the island's forest floor. I wiped it off, revealing ridges and a beautiful pink inside. A seashell. I smiled. Then at my left, under some small rocks, I discovered something else. I pulled it out from the brown, wet, sandy ground, wiping it off to reveal a strand of black pearls. They were Marren pearls–a necklace. My sister’s pink strands were strung in just the same way. Surprised, I looked even closer around where I stood. There were small things all over: some netting, more pearls, Abalone and conch seashells, as well as small slates, which were cracked and partially buried, but clearly carved in a Marren script.

My people have been here. This must be part of an old home.

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