by Jenni James
Honestly, it did not seem as if he wished to harm her.
There was one word she seemed to hear more than the rest.
“Drake,” he said again as he pointed to himself. “I am Drake.”
Perhaps it was his name. She did as he did and touched her chest lightly. “Pearl.”
His smile grew, and he seemed incredibly happy right then. She watched him intently as he chattered away about all sorts of things. It was just about as adorable as she had ever seen anyone be. And then she noticed where he was pointing.
There was a castle up on the hill she had not seen before. Was he some sort of royalty?
She attempted to ask him as she pointed. “Do you live there?”
The man halted. His jaw dropped. And then he smiled and sighed.
She blinked at him, confused at his reaction. Did he not live there, then?
When he began to chatter some more, she realized he was more excited about hearing her speak than what she had actually asked him. It seemed as if he was urging her to repeat herself.
She laughed. “You are a funny thing.” Then she pointed to the castle once more. “Is that where you are from? Do you live there?”
This time, he followed her arm and grinned, his head bobbing up and down. He spoke and pointed and said his name several more times. Then his look became more serious as he gestured to the water below her.
Her heart dropped. How did he know? Had he seen her fins after all?
He repeated the word, “Home,” gesturing to her and then the water. Then he said, “Drake’s home,” and pointed to the castle.
She was afraid to answer. What would happen to her if she did?
With the water up to his waist, Drake took a step toward her and then another. She hesitated long enough to allow him to come about six feet away, and then her heart began to race again. Where was Keel?
Drake stopped and motioned with his hands for her to come closer. His grin was very enchanting as he continued to use a soothing voice and gestures, seemingly asking her to swim to him. Then oddly, he lowered himself to his knees in the water, the slowly rising tide bumping against them both.
She could not help herself. Pearl swam a few feet up to him. There was no way this man meant her harm. How could he? Her whole body zinged with excitement. He was gentle and handsome, and seemed to be just as fascinated with her as she was with him.
When she was within arms’ reach, she was shocked to feel his hand snatch hers. But instead of doing so forcefully, he gradually and gently brought her close to him.
His eyes were dark brown and very beautiful. Trusting.
Cautiously, he wrapped his other arm around her waist, and she gasped.
Drake looked down at her mouth and then back into her eyes. Very slowly, he lowered his head bit by bit, his gaze questioning hers as he did so.
She knew he wanted to kiss her, and her whole world seemed to jolt at the understanding that a very handsome prince on land had found her, seen that she was a mermaid, and wished to kiss her anyway. Of course she allowed it.
Clutching onto his clothing, the small vial still in her hand, she tilted her face up to touch his warm lips with hers—and wham!
Pearl had not a moment to properly register the kiss before she realized she had been captured. His hands wrapped wholly around her and lifted her, tail and all, out of the sea.
PEARL SHRIEKED AND ATTEMPTED to wriggle out of the prince’s tight clasp.
Just then, she looked over Drake’s shoulder to see Keel slam a heavy, wet rock onto the human’s head, causing him to topple over into the ocean, releasing Pearl as he did so. She immediately swam to Keel’s side. One arm went protectively around her.
Drake did not move. In fact, his body floated upside down upon the surface of the sea.
They watched him for several seconds before Keel grunted and tossed the rock into the water. “I want you to go out to the deeper section of the ocean now,” he whispered tersely. “I will call for you when it is safe to return.”
“Keel?” She was not willing to leave his side.
“Go!”
She watched as he waded over to the unconscious prince and grabbed his clothing. Then he hauled the man all the way to the dry sand and flipped him over. Without looking up, Keel raised his voice and said, “Pearl, if you are still near that rock and not swimming to safety, words will not express my upset. This whole plan will be over.”
Would he cancel the trip? No. Not now. She had not experienced anything yet! Without a word, she swam out to a deeper portion of the ocean and then reached the surface. Her mind was racing with fear and stress and confusion. What was this world, anyway? Was it really as bad as it seemed? Already she had nearly been captured! She tightened her fist and was amazed to see the vial still within her palm.
Keel would not abandon the journey if she had already grown legs. He would at least allow her to experience something after all that pain, would he not?
It was worth a try.
She glanced at the land and saw Keel walking into the water. He was heading straight for her.
Without another thought, she quickly opened the bottle and drank the contents.
There. Now there was nothing he could say or do about anything. For the moment.
And then the pain began.
Great, knee-buckling stabs of piercing agony. She lurched forward and felt the searing pain of each scale on her tail growing and expanding, ripping torturously slow.
Pearl could not remain upright with such tension throughout her body. She curled up and sank to the bottom of the sea. Even though Keel had ordered her to, she had not traveled too far from land—only far enough that she felt he might be happy with her. At this distance, the ocean floor was still a good twelve or so feet beneath the surface. Her back violently arched as she could feel the legs forming beneath her fins. Oh, my word. She had never known such horrendous sensations as these. How had Keel stayed so calm, just wincing and barely gasping? How had he not shown her the true amount of hurt he was experiencing?
She found a rock jutting up from the bottom and clutched it. When would it stop? Oh, please, make it stop!
And then she felt strong arms go around her. The sting hurt too much to register who or why someone would hold her—just that it was different. In that moment, it was a distraction from the pain. Turned away as she was, curled in a ball, she clutched the arms wrapped around her waist as tightly as possible. And wailed.
Oh, how she wailed as she felt herself being lifted to the surface again.
Once out of the water, her crying sounded different, but it was still intense. Her face probably looked like a purple mess, but she could not care. Nothing mattered.
“Shh . . . You foolish merwoman, what were you thinking?” Keel murmured in her ear.
She instantly turned in his arms and wrapped herself around him.
They began to sink.
“Whoa!” He chuckled. “I do not have my tail at the moment, remember? I need you to remain still as best as you can and I will get us to that reef, where you can change safely.”
“I want to go home,” she sobbed into his shoulder. Nothing sounded more perfect than being curled up in her large bed and feeling safe.
“I know you do. But I cannot give you the antidote right now or it would kill you.”
Another great slash of pain roared through her. She clutched him and arched and wailed. It felt as if she were already dying.
“I know how much this hurts, dear, but I need you to try to keep quiet as long as possible. I do not believe we attracted attention when I hit the human man, but I am not willing to attract any more right now. Thank goodness this is a secluded beach, and not many people wander along it.”
She clamped her mouth shut. Heaven knew he must think she was the most complaining merwoman he had ever met. “Forgive me,” she said between painful whimpers. “I was not thinking properly. Of course I would draw notice to myself.”
“I would allow you to c
ry beneath the surface, but I cannot. Soon, your lungs will transform, and you will not be able to remain under there.”
Finally, they approached the small outcropping, and he sat her down to face him. “There is nothing to forgive. You are doing much better than I did my first time, and even my second.”
She attempted a chuckle. “Liar.”
“’Tis true!”
“I should have listened to you. I should never have done such a stupid thing. Why? Why would I believe anything would be worth this horror?”
The remorse and concern in his eyes hurt her more than the actual growing of the legs. “My dear, if I would not have told you about this, never mentioned I had the potion, and then you would never have known. It is my fault that you are in such pain right now.”
She did laugh then. “Great kettlefish! Listen to you. You know I practically begged you for it. You know I would have been—” Pearl winced as a sharp stab pierced her fins. “Would have been devastated, had I never been given this gl—glorious opportunity.”
“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 TOO
K 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.
