Sirens and Scales

by Kellie McAllen

  The water can’t hurt you.

  When she heard the lapping of waves against the docks she froze. There was a small tug boat bobbing up and down. A sea gull rested on the deck, sleeping. The moon shone on the waves, screaming at her, intensifying her fear to such a degree she could hardly breathe. This was hell.

  “I’m sorry about this,” said a voice from behind her.

  She spun around, aiming a vicious kick at the troll’s chest. He grabbed her arm and twisted. She heard her wrist break. She screamed as he picked her up and started walking towards the edge of the pier.

  “Get the fuck off me!” she screamed, banging her fists against his back.

  He was like a walking brick. Nothing she did made any dent in his skin.

  A spray of liquid caressed her cheek. Tameka had a moment to realize her horrifying fate before he threw her into the water.

  5

  “Are we really going to Hawaii, Mom?”

  “Of course my little Tammy. You’ll love it.”

  “You were born there?”

  “I haven’t been back in a long time. But I suppose it’s time.”

  “You seem sad.”

  “I have lots of good memories about my home, but also some bad ones.”

  “You’ll be happy because I’ll be there.”

  “My children always make me happy.”

  * * *

  Tameka let out a gasp as she felt her feet touch down on the slimy, muddy bottom of the ocean. She’d only sunk ten feet but it felt like she was sinking into the bottomless depths of the Mariana Trench. No matter how much she flapped her arms and legs she still sank like a concrete wrecking ball.

  I can’t die like this!

  She pushed herself frantically through the water, black and oily in the night. She grabbed hold of a wooden pillar, hoping she could pull herself up and find her way to the surface.

  I can’t hold my breath for much longer.

  Her feet hit an old, rotting stroller that had been abandoned. She fell over it, sinking head first into the slime and mulch. Panic overwhelmed her as she realized there was no way out. She was going to drown.

  I haven’t done anything with my life! I want to have a one night stand with a Vegas magician! I want a poodle! I want to tell Red I think he’s hot!

  Something soft took her by the waist. Tameka panicked, looking around the murky depths, and saw the blue eyes of a person staring back at her. She tried to swim away, her instincts telling her this person meant to do her harm, but before she knew it she was dragged to the surface.

  Fresh air!

  She gasped, taking in the sweet oxygen, before grabbing hold of the rickety ladder that led back up onto the deck. When she was safe she fell onto her back and laughed.

  “What are you laughing for?” a dry voice inquired.

  Tameka sat up, expecting to see Vincent staring down at her. She’d almost forgotten about him during her struggle to get to the surface.

  “I’m not in the mood to fight right now,” Tameka called. She climbed wearily to her feet, her sopping clothes weighing her down. “But I’m up for a challenge.”

  The sun was starting to come up on the horizon. Hours had gone by. She must have passed out on the pier after being rescued.

  Vincent must think I’m dead.

  “Who do I have to thank for saving my life?” she asked.

  A head popped up over the side of the pier. It was a woman, a black woman with skin that seemed to glisten. Her head was completely bald, and her ears tapered to a dagger like shape. She looked into Tameka as if glaring into the depths of her soul.

  “Who are you?” Tameka asked.

  But she knew, deep down. This woman, if you added some fake eyelashes and a black wig, resembled someone Tameka knew very well.

  “I’m your twin sister,” said the woman. “Obviously.”

  6

  “How was I supposed to know it was an actual troll doing the internet trolling?”

  “You are supposed to be intelligent.”

  “I took my eye off the ball. I admit that. It’s just…one of the victims was a friend. I got emotional.”

  “You’re not there to make friends. You’re there to keep watch over places we cannot.”

  “I apologize.”

  “I’ve finished berating you. I trust you’ve learned your lesson.”

  “Yes, Prime Minister.”

  “Our spies have revealed some alarming news. The mermaids have made contact with her.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Quite sure. It appears she might know some, or maybe all, about her past.”

  “She must be freaking out right about now.”

  “Most likely. It’s time for you to step up. I trust you’ve been keeping up your flirtatious relationship?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. You need to be as close to her as possible from now. Be her lover.”

  “Yes. Right.”

  “I notice a hesitation. You have had intimate relations with a woman before?”

  “Of course I have. Men and women. It’s just…”

  “Then get to it.”

  “Yes Prime Minister.”

  The Prime Minister hung up. Red pondered, wondering what to do next. He knew he could seduce Tameka. He was quite adept at getting anyone he wanted to have sex with him. But with Tameka it was different. He knew her. He liked her. He may have developed actual feelings for her. The thought of hurting her made him feel like a monster. Yet he had no choice. The Prime Minister had given his orders, and to disobey him meant certain death.

  I volunteered for this mission. The least I can do is carry on with it.

  Red locked his apartment door behind him and headed up the stairs to the roof. He didn’t feel like walking right now. It was still early morning and he needed to stretch his wings a bit. Talking to the Prime Minister always made him feel like rebelling.

  When the sun’s rays penetrated his skin he grinned. He hated being down here. The sun was less bright, subtler. How the humans coped with it he didn’t know.

  Red spread his arms and leapt into the air. The change was instantaneous. The sun glistened off his scales as he flapped his wings and soared into the sky. The morning was ripe for the flight of a dragon.

  Her twin sister continued to stare at Tameka like she an exhibit in a zoo. She didn’t show any emotion other than fascination. It was creepy, like the way a dog cocked its head at something it didn’t understand.

  “Twin sister?” Tameka queried.

  The woman nodded. “You were born first by one hour.”

  It had to be true. The woman looked too much like her for it to be a lie, and Tameka didn’t believe in all that “everyone in the world has a doppelgänger” nonsense. Yet something wasn’t right. The woman might be her identical twin, but she didn’t seem too pleased to see her. Far from it. Her face was robotic, emotionless.

  “Are you okay?” Tameka asked, stepping forward.

  The sunlight on her sister’s skin began glistening more, like she had glitter glued to her. No. Not glitter.

  Scales.

  Tameka stepped back, trying to stem the illogical thoughts that were attempting to break through into her rational mind. Her sister couldn’t be what she appeared to be.

  “Are you a mermaid?” Tameka asked.

  Her twin nodded. “Let me show you.”

  The woman climbed up, giving Tameka her first fright. Her ‘sister’ had no fingernails. Her fingers just ended in odd nubs that looked like fish sticks. She was seemingly naked apart from the scales that shone on her body. She also had a tail; a fish’s tail.

  My twin sister is Ariel’s sluttier looking twin.

  “I am Asha,” the mermaid introduced. “It is good to see you again.”

  Tameka came forward hesitantly, a million quips coming to her mind. Yet she couldn’t joke, not now. This wasn’t a hoax. This was real.

  “Can I touch you?” Tameka asked.

  Asha nodded, an
d Tameka kneeled down. She placed the palm of her left hand against her sister’s arm, feeling the scales. They were dry and as hard as plate armor. She moved her hand to the tail, where the scales were softer and a little wet. She giggled.

  “The scales on my upper body I can grow and retract anytime I want,” Asha explained. She proved it by showing Tameka. It was cool. “They’re a sort of armor that protects me.”

  “So you’re naked.”

  “Is that a question?”

  “Can you walk on land?” Tameka asked.

  The fishy tail glowed for a second before two slender, human like legs were revealed. The two of them stood up, facing each other. It was like looking into a mirror.

  Tameka smiled and placed her hand on her sister’s face.

  “I somehow knew you were out there,” said Tameka. “I just knew.”

  “You have no memory of me,” Asha stated.

  “Of course not. We must have been separated at birth.”

  Asha shook her head. “That’s not entirely the real story. The truth is…”

  Her sister shrieked, a high pitched attack that caused Tameka to slump the floor. Her eardrums felt like they were ready to burst. It was very painful.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Tameka cried. “That fucking hurt!”

  The mermaid hissed and leapt back into the waves.

  “Asha!” Tameka cried. “Come back!”

  But she was gone.

  I can’t believe she’s left! I have to know more! I have to know the truth!

  A gust of wind brushed her hair. Tameka looked up into the sky, catching a glimpse of something flying off behind Blue Towers, a massive apartment complex by the sea that catered for the rich and famous. What the hell was it? She was pretty sure birds didn’t come in that size.

  She shook her head, realizing she must have brain damage from being underwater too belong. Besides, she had enough on her mind as it was.

  “I have a twin sister,” she whispered.

  She smiled and went on her way back home.

  Yenay was waiting for her on the steps up to their apartment building. The poor blue haired hippie looked like she’d spent the night there. She had bags under her eyes so big they were drooping past her nose.

  “What happened to you?” Yenay cried, pulling Tameka into a hug. “Shit! You’re wet! Have you been swimming while I’ve been worrying?”

  Tameka pulled herself away from Yenay’s clutches. She wasn’t in the mood for hysterics right now. She needed to change clothes, and have another shower. More than that, she needed to think.

  I have a twin sister.

  Mind officially blown.

  “What about the troll?” Yenay demanded. “Is he dead?”

  “I lost him,” Tameka admitted, ashamed at herself for forgetting about the troll altogether. Asha had consumed her thoughts. “But I’m on his trail now. I’ll get him.”

  Yenay shook her head sadly. “Trolls are tricky. Now he knows you’re after him he’ll be wary.”

  Tameka ignored her and tramped inside the building. Yenay followed her up the stairs, groaning about how powerful trolls were and she was no match against them. She wasn’t really listening. All she could think about was her sister and how she could be reunited with her again.

  She stopped outside her apartment door, a sudden question forming on her lips.

  “You know about trolls,” Tameka stated.

  Yenay looked sheepish for a moment. “I suppose I do.”

  “Why is that?” Tameka asked.

  She could feel the water dripping from her clothes onto the tiled floor.

  “I grew up in a small village in China that was quite remote,” Yenay explained. “We had a troll problem for a while.”

  “Sounds bad.”

  Yenay shrugged. “The Chinese government has a sort of non-aggression pact with the trolls, and wouldn’t do anything about the trolls terrorizing my village. That’s why my family and I left when I was ten. We wanted to be safe.”

  Tameka realized this was the first bit of personal information that Yenay had ever given her. She’s just assumed she was a private person and would confide in her eventually. She didn’t want to pry into what could be a traumatic past.

  It’s always me, me, me!

  “I’ll make you a coffee and some breakfast while you get changed,” said Yenay. She was smiling now. “You look like you have a lot to tell me.”

  Tameka was unsure what to reveal, yet felt she had to tell someone. Yenay was the obvious choice because she knew about trolls already. It wasn’t a complete stretch to think she’d be able to accept the existence of mermaids as well.

  “Sure,” Tameka said. “I’d like that.”

  Yenay laughed hysterically, clapping her hands with glee. She reminded Tameka of a hyper seal she’d seen once on the beach. It was delightful. Her friend could make her feel better at the drop of a trilby.

  “I knew it!” the Asian woman exclaimed. “I knew it!”

  “You believe me about mermaids?” Tameka asked.

  Yenay was sitting across from her at the kitchen table. Sat between them was two mugs of ginger and lemon tea and a plate of half frozen chocolate croissants. Her friend hadn’t been able to work the microwave. Tameka didn’t have the heart to tell her it was broken. She only hoped Yenay hadn’t gotten radiation poisoning from the damn thing.

  “Of course I believe you,” said Yenay, still grinning like a child who discovered Santa Claus in her living room on Christmas Eve. “I saw a mermaid once when I was fifteen when I was on a boat trip to see the dolphins in Blue City Bay. My parents thought I was being hyperactive but I knew. I knew.”

  “What I want to know is how can I have a twin sister who’s a mermaid? Does that make me a mermaid too?” Tameka shook her head. What a ridiculous notion. “No. I don’t think I’m a mermaid. I’d know, right? I would’ve noticed the tail for a start.”

  She took a bite out of a croissant and spat it out. You should only be forced to eat half frozen pastries in Hell.

  “Could I be a mermaid?” she asked, considering it. “Maybe I’m not a mermaid because I don’t know I’m a mermaid. Now I know I am a mermaid then maybe I can become a mermaid. Does that make sense?”

  “A little,” Yenay admitted. “But how do we test this out?”

  Tameka stood up, thinking about Asha’s tail. She imagined herself with one, a glittering turquoise tail that would be the envy of any sequined drag queen.

  Nothing happened.

  “Go mermaid tail, go!” Tameka shouted. “It’s morphing time!”

  Yenay laughed. “I never pegged you for a Power Rangers fan.”

  “I’m not. I just dated one for two months. He was very, very adaptable.”

  Tameka sighed. Maybe she wasn’t a mermaid after all. The thought saddened her a little. It would’ve been so cool to be a mermaid. Not that her life at the moment wasn’t a thrill a minute working for Blue City PD, but still…mermaids.

  Yenay paused before saying, “You do have this phobia of water. That might be related to this mermaid thing.”

  “No,” said Tameka. “My fear of water has nothing to do with mermaids.”

  “Maybe you drowned in a previous life. I used to be a ballerina, and one time I died from the plague. I think I used to be a dragon too.”

  Tameka had never spoken to a single person of her past. Not even Red and the others at BCPD knew what she’d been through. They knew she was adopted, but not the circumstances surrounding it. Even now she found it hard to talk about it without her hands trembling.

  I suspect Red knows everything. He would’ve done a background check on me when I became a consultant.

  “Are you okay?” Yenay asked gently.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, not ready to share just yet. She took a sip of her tea. “I just need time to take it all in before I go after the truth.”

  “How do you expect to do that?”

  “I don’t know yet.”


  Yenay left to go to work, leaving Tameka to her own thoughts. She looked around her apartment, at the smashed doors and the devastating damage left behind from the troll’s attack. His green blood would never come out of the carpet.

  She stood up, ready to go head back to bed, when she realized she had something more important to do. She located her cell and dialed her mother’s number. Her mother always picked up on exactly the third ring.

  “I’m with a patient,” said her mother patiently.

  “Mom, do I have a twin sister?” Tameka demanded.

  7

  Miranda Hamilton hesitated interminably before saying, “Are you having trouble sleeping? You know a bit of fresh air or masturbation is perfect for helping you drop off.”

  “What’s that got to do with anyone?” Tameka demanded, trying to pretend her mother hadn’t just advised her to flick one off. “Please, Mom, just tell me whether I have a twin sister or not.”

  “Tammy, you do not have a twin sister.” She paused before adding, “Interesting. Very interesting indeed. You having a twin that died in the womb does explain a few things.” Some woman was crying in the background, “No, Amanda, your feelings of abandonment are valid. Now wait a moment while I talk to my daughter.”

  “I need to see my adoption records.”

  Doctor Hamilton sighed. “You don’t have a twin sister. We were there when your…parents died. They never mentioned you having a twin. We never saw a twin with you or with them. Do you remember having a twin?”

  Asha seemed so familiar…

  “I guess not,” Tameka admitted painfully. She laughed, nervous. “I suppose I’m not sleeping much. I’ll try the masturbation thing. Have you get any tips over how I can get off easier?”

  “Tameka…”

  “Sorry for being crass. This latest case is getting to me. Tell Nadya I said hi.”

  “She misses her big sister. She wonders why you don’t visit.”

  Tameka held the phone away from her ear. She needed time to breathe.

  “Just tell her I said hi,” said Tameka, hanging up.