Tangled Ripples

by Erin Thedwall

  Arista sat down in a chair next to him.

  “Gavin, please, I need you with me. What if we’re attacked again? Please, I need you there,” she said, picking up his hand and holding it tightly in hers. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

  “Fine, I’ll go with you. I’ll sit outside and wait, but I won’t be in the same room as him. Got it?”

  Clarissa and Arista both nodded silently.

  “Ok, then we had better get moving,” he said.

  ˜

  { Chapter 10 }

  Arista was completely exhausted by the time they got on the road. Exhausted from the encounter at the circus, and exhausted from her mental trip with Clarissa. She slept on the backseat of the truck on the way to Chicago, while Clarissa rode in the front with Gavin. A bump in the road jostled Arista awake to overhear them talking together.

  “So it takes an actual mermaid appearing on your doorstep to start believing all the things I’ve said for years, and now you won’t admit I’m right? You’re unbelievable, Payne,” she said.

  “I’m the unbelievable one? You’re the one making us go back there and dragging our dirt into the light of day. It’s bad enough I’m in a car with you, but to go back to his office? You have no right to be upset with me,” he retorted.

  “I never would have spent so much time with Jim if you had talked to me, listened to me, trusted me. You’re obviously capable of it. I mean, how much do you really know about Arista and why she’s here? Sure, she seems nice, but you are risking your own life for her and you know nothing about her. So you can show all this trust, all this faith, all this concern for this thing you don’t even know. Yet you couldn’t be there for your wife when I desperately needed you?”

  Arista thought she heard Clarissa choking back tears.

  “No, Clarissa, you are not pinning this on me. I didn’t force you to invite him to our home and into our bed. That was you. That was your decision and your decision alone. You could have left me if you were so goddamn unhappy. You didn’t need to do that.

  “And you’re right, I don’t know Arista. But I do know this is what I’m supposed to be doing. I can’t explain it, but I know I need to help her. Besides, she’s told me the truth so far.”

  “She has, huh?” Clarissa said, with a haughty tone to her voice.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Do you know something I don’t?” Gavin asked, turning his head to look Clarissa in the eye.

  “I can’t tell you that,” she said. “Her secrets, you know. Not mine. We have patient-client confidentiality or something like that. But you should learn more about why she’s here and what exactly you’re helping her do before you put your life, and now my life, in danger for her.”

  Gavin stared at the road in front of him and Arista saw the back of his jaw twitch as he tightened his mouth. She closed her eyes again and stirred on the back seat, making it a point to yawn rather loudly. Gavin reached back and ran his hand over her hair.

  “Hey there,” he said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

  “A lot more refreshed,” she replied as she sat up. “How much farther do we have to go?”

  She looked out the window and stared in amazement at the tall buildings that surrounded them. She could hardly glimpse the sky. All around them were cars and lights and people walking on the sidewalks. It was overwhelming.

  “It’s not much farther. Depending on the traffic, we’re about twenty or thirty minutes away,” he said.

  Arista leaned against the window, mentally rewinding Clarissa and Gavin’s argument. There was a twinge of guilt as she thought about what Clarissa said, the implication she was lying and using him. Arista sighed to herself, knowing she hadn’t been entirely honest with him. But she also never intended to put him in any danger. Maybe she should have told him the whole truth all along. She made a promise to herself — that night she would tell him everything. Including the secrets Clarissa hadn’t pried out of her yet.

  As Gavin made another turn, the buildings became smaller and spread out, with trees appearing in more frequent intervals. The hustle and bustle of the busy city traffic gave way to ambling walkers and joggers. It seemed that everything slowed down and turned into an altogether different world. Arista gazed out the window as Gavin and Clarissa debated where to park the truck. Eventually, they settled on a spot and all three got out to walk.

  Arista longed to sit in the nearby patch of green grass to watch the world go by. All around her people were walking, talking, laughing, and reading. Some looked serious while others looked relaxed, and everyone seemed happy. Music from nearby buildings trickled out the windows to the streets below and she felt at ease. Arista smiled to herself; this was how she had pictured life on the surface while growing up. This was where she had always wanted to fit in.

  Pangs of guilt and sadness quickly followed her happiness. She felt bad lusting after the surface. But everything seemed so much bigger and grander than her life had been in the water. Now seeing how much fun it could be, she felt grief knowing she still couldn't live on the surface. It’s not why she had left home.

  While Arista was deep in thought, the group had covered a fair amount of distance. She looked up when they reached the College of Arts building. Clarissa called Professor MacMahon during the ride over and he was expecting them. As they walked through the heavy double doors, Gavin tensed up and ran a hand his sandy blonde hair. She thought he was going to turn around and walk out of the building. Instead, he held the door wide open to let her pass. She caught a faint hint of his cologne as she walked by and felt the reassuring weight of his hand on her shoulder.

  The building was rather dark, with dim overhead lights leading the way down the long hallway. Office doors were on either side, most with piles of papers and books stacked up high on the ground with yet more papers spilling out of plastic holders stuck on the doors. They followed Clarissa to the end of the hallway and down the stairs. Clarissa had all but forgotten about the other two behind her as she retraced the well-worn path.

  They had walked halfway down another hallway when Clarissa stopped and caught her breath in front of a door with a MacMahon placard. Her fingers skimmed across the metallic surface of the sign before she firmly rapped on the door. There was a loud rustling of papers before the door opened. The man standing on the other side wasn’t quite how Arista had pictured him. She thought anyone who wooed Clarissa away from Gavin had to be something special. But the first thing that struck her about James MacMahon was his utter simplicity. His monotonous brown jacket and cream-colored shirt practically disappeared into the wooden door he had opened for them.

  Clarissa and Arista stepped past him into the office and his face turned bright red as he made eye contact with Gavin. James extended his hand to Gavin, who folded his arms in front of his chest and only offered a glare in return. He leaned against the wall, crossing one leg over the other and giving every indication he wasn’t moving until they were ready to leave. James gave an understanding nod and stepped back into the office.

  He shut the door behind him and for a brief moment Arista felt a rising sense of panic at being enclosed in the small room. But as she looked around the office, with its stacks of harmless books and papers, she stifled her worries. Gavin was still on the other side of the door.

  Clarissa didn’t seem as concerned. She coolly slid a chair out from the side of his desk and took her seat, primly crossing her legs and gazing up at him. It was then Arista realized that whatever had come between Clarissa and James to end their relationship, it didn’t come from her. She was still very much in love, but something had driven a rift between them. James sat as far away from her as possible, hardly even making eye contact with her. After a few awkward minutes of silence and shuffling feet, James was the first to speak.

  “I must say, I was surprised to hear from you,” he said, finally looking at Clarissa.

  “I know, it’s been a while. I should have called sooner,” she said, looking sh
eepish. “But I thought you might be able to help us.”

  James leaned back in his seat, rocking slightly and taking a sip from his mug of coffee. “I’m listening,” he said.

  “We need to know everything you can tell us about mermaids.”

  A slight smile crossed his lips and he set his cup back down on the desk. “What exactly are you hoping to find?”

  Clarissa blushed as she answered. “We’re hoping you can separate some of the fact from the fiction for us. I assume you’ve come across them in your studies.”

  James nodded silently, thinking to himself, before setting his sights on Arista. “And what do you have to do with this?”

  “The other day, I thought I saw a mermaid,” she said, lying before she even had a chance to think. Clarissa looked at her with a bemused expression on her face.

  “You saw one around here?” he asked, the surprise showing in his voice. “Well, I’m afraid that’s unlikely. There are hardly any reported sightings at all here in the States. Those tales tend to be of European origin.”

  James got up from his desk and walked to the window on the other side of the office, looking outside as he continued. “As long as people have lived near water, and witnessed things they couldn’t explain, there have been reports of mermaids. Even as early as ancient Greece, the myths of the Sirens can all be traced to the same lore.”

  “Like in The Odyssey, ” Clarissa said, trailing off into her own thoughts and reverting to her days as his pupil.

  “Precisely,” James said. “That perception of mermaids has been around for a very long time. Nearly always a seductress, a mermaid is frequently a killer of men.”

  A chill ran down Arista’s back as he said the word killer. Immediately an image of her mother flashed through her mind and she desperately hoped those whispered stories weren’t true. With a crushing blow to her heart, she thought about the death she herself had caused.

  “In the oldest stories, the Sirens or mermaids waited on rocks or under the waves for men to pass on ships,” James continued. “They’d often sing to distract the sailors, causing them to jump off the ship into the water or run the ship into rocks. However, the deaths aren’t always intentional. Other stories tell of mermaids rescuing or falling in love with men, then accidentally drowning them while taking them back to their underwater homes.”

  Arista sighed, realizing it matched the rumored descriptions of her mother. James looked at her curiously from the other side of the room. Clarissa noticed and tried to distract him.

  “Are there any others? Maybe stories of them being kind to humans? Or what about coming onto land?”

  James turned to stare out the window again, clasping his hands behind his back. Clarissa glanced at Arista and gave her a quick, reassuring smile.

  “There are a couple such stories I can think of,” he said as he moved over to a bookshelf next to the door. He pulled down an older-looking volume with a worn and faded red cover. He flipped it open to the beginning, muttering to himself as he scanned the page. He quickly turned through groups of pages until he found what he wanted.

  “In the Arabian Tales… ah, here it is. There are a few tales that feature what has been translated as sea people, but they fall less into the standard mermaid mythology. These creatures are much more like people who happen to live underwater. They are identical to people, no fins or anything fish-like, but they can breathe in the water. This allows them to live both on the land and under the water. In these stories, they live among people, even breeding with them. The child of a sea person and a human also inherit the ability to live underwater.

  “Then, of course, there’s the classic fairy tale of the Little Mermaid who came to land after falling in love with her prince.”

  “And there aren’t any stories like that in early American folklore?” Clarissa asked.

  “I’m sure there have been some tales from overexcited fishermen who see a small whale or a dolphin late at night. Back in the day, manatees were often confused with a possible mermaid in the water. But any stories would be from fishermen on the coast, not here in the Midwest where there's no ocean or larger sea creatures,” he said. He closed the dusty red book and slipped it back onto the bookshelf.

  “It’s not possible for them to be in a lake?” Arista asked tentatively. She knew that he couldn't know why she asked, but it still made her nervous to say something so close to the truth. She absently pulled out her amulet, twisting and rolling it between her fingers to help her calm down.

  “Definitely not in the Great Lakes. I’d be less surprised to hear that Nessie had relocated here than to hear of a mermaid,” James answered with a laugh. “I can recall one story, out of Britain, I think. There, sighting a mermaid, like the Sirens, is a bad omen — a sign of disastrous things to come. As the story goes, a mermaid swam up a river from the ocean to a lake. A man went out and thought he heard a woman drowning. He rushed to the lakeshore but before the mermaid could pull him in, his servant came and stopped him. I believe that’s the only reference I’ve seen to a mermaid not being in the ocean.”

  “Is it always a female?” Clarissa asked, her curiosity peaked. “Are there no stories with men?”

  “You would be interested in that, wouldn’t you,” James muttered, shooting a sharp glare her way. “They do come up occasionally, described as wild and ugly creatures. But, you must remember, it was men who first wrote these tales. Much like the men of today, they were far more interested in writing about the allegedly fairer sex.”

  Clarissa rolled her eyes. “So back to the water people from Arabia, you haven’t heard of anything like that here?”

  “I’m sure there's a pocket of the country where that’s possible, where it has developed as their own regional folktale. Take, for instance, the vampire lore particular to New Orleans or the Pacific Northwest with Bigfoot sightings. The folklore in New England is different from that of the South, and both are different from what has developed out West. We, for instance, aren’t worried about the Chupacabra in the Midwest. Unfortunately, this is pretty far out of my realm of expertise. There may be another researcher with more information on regional-specific tales, but there's no mainstream lore I’m aware of,” James said. He took a long sip of coffee as he reclaimed his seat at the desk.

  Arista shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It didn’t seem like this was going anywhere.

  “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help,” he said. “If you’ll excuse me though, I do have a meeting to prepare for.”

  “Well, thank you for meeting with us, Jim. It was good to see you again,” Clarissa said, standing up and stepping closer towards him.

  “Will you be in town much longer?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, glancing at Arista who shrugged back. “I imagine we’ll be here for a few more hours at least.”

  “Alright, how about you and I meet for dinner,” he said. “At our usual place.”

  Clarissa nodded in agreement and the two women left his office. As they walked out, Arista felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as James glanced at her with a curious expression.

  But he couldn’t know the truth.

  …

  Gavin was still leaning against the wall where the women had left him. As they walked back through the winding hallways, Clarissa had a far-off look in her eyes. After all the tension that had been growing between her and Gavin, Arista was glad to see her happy.

  “Are you excited for tonight?” she asked Clarissa.

  “Tonight? What’s going on tonight?” Gavin asked as he suspiciously turned around towards them.

  “Well, I told Jim I’d have time to grab dinner with him,” she answered, glancing at Gavin with an ashamed expression on her face. He rolled his eyes and picked up the pace to reach the door faster. He opened it and let the women walk past him before starting up again.

  “We don’t all have to go, do we?”

  Clarissa shook her head and Gavin let out an exasperated sigh. “
So what are we supposed to do while you’re busy making doe eyes at the professor?”

  Clarissa stopped dead in her tracks and glared at him. “You know, I’m getting tired of your attitude. We are not together. I am the one doing you a favor. I am the one going along with all this nonsense to help you out. And why? It’s not because I enjoy putting up with your bullshit.”

  She stood there fuming and taking deep, hurried breaths. “I went out of my way to get information for you and your new mermaid pal here and I’m sick of this. I’m done. I’ll take the bus back tonight. I don’t care what you’re going to do in the meantime. Or ever.”

  With that, Clarissa turned on her heels and walked away in the opposite direction. Gavin stood there motionless with a dumbfounded look on his face, watching her leave.

  “I’ll be back,” Arista said to him softly. “Just stay right here.”

  It took a few minutes for her to catch up to Clarissa, who was still calming down.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you,” Arista said, gently touching Clarissa’s elbow. “I do appreciate your help.”

  Clarissa stopped walking and whirled around with tears welling up in her eyes.

  “Arista, I’m sorry, that wasn’t directed at you. I wish I could be more help, but I’ve done all I can. And honestly, you and Gavin will be better off without me in the mix. He and I can’t be together for too long without fighting, you know?”

  “I’ll tell him I’d like to stay around here for dinner tonight. When you’re done, if you want to leave with us, I’ll tell him I promised we’d take you,” Arista said, offering a reassuring smile.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll call Gavin if I want to take you up on that.”

  Arista turned to leave, but Clarissa grabbed her shoulder to stop her. “If I don’t see you again — good luck.”

  ˜

  { Chapter 11 }