Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  Underwater, I could hear my heartbeat, like some sort of bass drum that oddly pounded in time to the music. My eyes were open, and I could swear that I could see better than ever before in the water. Everything looked crystal clear.

  I must’ve hit my head harder than I thought.

  The strangeness made me hesitate briefly before reaching the front glass and pulling myself up the edge of the glass to introduce us to the audience. Christine glanced over at me in concern. Everyone else had reached the glass before me. Usually I’m the first to reach the glass, being so excited about the chance to perform. I gave her a quick nod to let her know that I was all right.

  Focus, Tara, I told myself.

  The music came on, and all four of us waved. We were supposed to push off the wall and do a back flip. I obliged, trying to execute the movement, only I slid through the water like a hot knife through butter and misjudged my trajectory, shooting me down twenty feet, almost to the bottom of the pool. I could hear the gasp of air bubbles above me, and I realized that my fellow mermaids saw my mistake. I quickly recovered and swam back up, aligning myself with Christine.

  My troubles didn’t end there. For some reason, every time we twisted, I spun an extra three times. When we did a backflip, I did mine in a quarter of the time. It wasn’t that I was trying to show off. Heck, I was the least experienced out of all of us—I usually couldn’t move as fast as the other three mermaids. Nevertheless, I was spinning and moving like I’d always lived in the water.

  Like I was a fish.

  Jordyn caught my eyes, and she did a double take. Yeah, I was about to feel that way too. Something was wrong. Yet at the same time, something was oh so right.

  I enjoyed it. This reminded me of the first time I put on a tail two months ago. In all my dreams, I had no idea how incredible it was to be a mermaid. Again, I was feeling like I did that first day, only this was far more...empowered.

  The adrenaline hit me then, filling me with elation. I gasped when it hit me, and the awkwardness fell off me like I’d removed a cloak.

  I suddenly forgot how weird it all was. There was just me and the water. I was going to have fun with this and take this performance to a whole new level. When we were supposed to spin, I executed the quadruple spin. When we backflipped, I made my circumference bigger, relishing the water supporting me.

  The music drew me into a frenzy. I made my movements bigger and bigger, not realizing what I was doing until I dove down to the bottom of the pool, touched the slippery concrete, and then sped back up to the surface, breaching it like a dolphin. I went so high up, I could see the crowd in the arena gasp, the flashes of their cameras hitting me in the air. I bent forward, entering the water hands first, and swan dove into the pool.

  The music ended and the crowd erupted into cheers that I could hear underwater as well as I could out of the water.

  Only when I surfaced did I realize that I had dropped my air hose somewhere along the way. And then I couldn’t remember when I had used it for the entire performance.

  I hadn’t needed it. I did the entire show without taking a single breath.

  Christine, Alaina, and Jordyn looked at me like I had literally become a sea monster in front of their eyes. Cthulhu could emerge from the ocean, and they would have the same expression that they had now.

  Christine mouthed something to me, her expression a cross between shock and worry as the crowd went wild, the uproar deafening.

  I closed my eyes. I didn’t know how any of it had happened. Suddenly, the air that was filling my lungs now threatened to throw me into hyperventilation. I took a deep breath and retreated, heading back to the other side. I took off my mermaid tail as I did so, and doing that didn’t even slow me down. I reached the ledge, surprising a volunteer and an aquarium worker. Neptune was jogging on the other side, saying something to me.

  I didn’t care.

  I sprang to my feet, bringing my mermaid tail with me.

  “Tara!” It was Christine. She spluttered, farther away, unable to catch up to me. “Tara, wait!”

  I ran back to the dressing room, thankfully not running into anyone who could have stopped and asked me what I was doing. I needed to be alone.

  What had happened?

  I stopped in front of the mirror. Through my tears, I could see that I looked the same. Same dark hair, same green eyes with turquoise flecks, even if they were the color of the sea that day. Then I noticed that the spider web of bruising was gone from my temple. Come to think of it, my headache had been gone for a few hours now. I touched around my face, feeling to see if there was any part of my head that was tender. I lifted up my chin, inspecting to see if there was anything on my neck.

  Then I gasped. The first second of a scream escaped my mouth before I could clamp a hand over it. My eyes were wide with terror, a fresh stream of tears falling from them.

  Gills. I had gills. Just like Nereia had shown me, I had two slits on either side of my jaw.

  Oh my god, it had been real. My dream with Finn and Nereia really happened. Up until now, I’d been willing to believe that it had all been a dream.

  The world tilted, and I grasped the edge of the vanity, trying not to pass out.

  How in the world could I have gotten gills? I wasn’t a mermaid—I was human! A girl who had plans to go to college next year and become a marine biologist. Sure, I’d always wanted to be a mermaid; I just hadn’t realized that I didn’t really want to be a mermaid. Not a real one, at least.

  Maybe it was only temporary, and that was how I was able to breathe last night. Maybe it would go away. Or maybe I’d start sprouting a fin for real and I’d have to live under the sea. I had no idea what I’d do with my life if that happened.

  “Now that you’re a merwalker, you should come back and visit.” That’s what Nereia had said before I passed out after drinking whatever she had given me. She had called me a merwalker. What the hell was a merwalker?

  I needed to think, somewhere where I wouldn’t be bothered.

  Without a second thought, I ran into the shower and locked the door. I turned the water on high and huddled in the corner of the shower, unable to really process what was happening to me.

  “Tara?” Christine’s voice came on the other side of the door. “Tara, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine!” I cried. “I just...” I faltered. “Leave me alone!”

  “Let me in, please?” I was about to, until she asked, “What was that out there?”

  That only caused my chest to constrict painfully. I pulled up my legs closer in a fetal position. I was a freak, and everyone saw that. The audience might have gone crazy, but they didn’t know that what they saw was not a part of the usual performance. I couldn’t even try explaining what had happened out there. Only that I’d been saved by a merman and a sea witch had done something to help me heal and breathe underwater. Which was now causing me to transform into a mermaid. Or a merwalker, whatever that was.

  I wiped the tears from my eyes and stayed in the shower until the water went cold, although it no longer bothered me. And then I still stayed in it even longer, not wanting to face the reality of what was happening to me.

  Chapter Five

  Eventually, I decided that I would have to leave the relative safety of the showers. With my hair still sopping wet, I wrapped a towel around my torso and went into the changing rooms, dreading what I would see.

  Other than Christine sitting on the couch and typing on her laptop, I didn’t see anyone else.

  She glanced up at me as I came in, raised an eyebrow, and then sat back, crossing her arms. “Do you mind telling me what that was today?” she asked. “Are you on drugs?”

  I stared at her open-mouthed. “N-no!” I spluttered, shocked she would even consider something like that.

  She was silent for a few moments before she closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, I don’t think that you’re type to do that kind of stuff. Just tell me, how did you...” she waved her hand, trying to des
cribe our performance, “...do that?”

  I had no answer for her. I averted my eyes and stood there awkwardly, unable to decide on a single thing to say. How could I?

  My silence must have been too long, because Christine sighed and sat back, combing a finger through her hair. “I know it’s not my business unless you do want to talk about it. Still though. You did deviate from the performance today.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Despite everything, she gave me a small smile. “You were...amazing though,” she said breathlessly. “I don’t know how you did it. You looked like a real mermaid. I couldn’t believe it. Neither could the audience. Pity you didn’t stick around at the end because everyone wanted to talk to the star of the show. Including Mr. Stevens, who talked to Neptune about having us back next year.”

  The tight feeling in my chest loosened a bit, and I let out a breath.

  “So you aren’t angry?”

  “No.”

  “And Neptune’s not angry?”

  The corners of her lips quirked up. “He’s...curious. Grumpy. But that’s how he always is, you know that.”

  That muscle in my chest got a little looser still. “I won’t get fired?”

  She chuckled and shut her laptop. “Of course not. Everyone wants to meet the mermaid who can swim like, well, a mermaid.” She tapped the lid of the computer. “I’ve been answering emails from three local newspapers, some blogs, and more. You’re famous, Tara.”

  I crossed my arms in a self-conscious gesture, not wanting to be famous for being a freak. “I didn’t know I could swim like that,” I said. Ain’t that the truth.

  “Well, that was certainly a surprise. Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” She frowned. “You seemed upset earlier.”

  “I was,” I admitted, though I didn’t want to expand upon that. “Where are Jordyn and Alaina?”

  “They went back to the hotel.” Christine yawned. “We’re all a bit tired. Especially since we were so worried about you last night.” I cast my eyes down, feeling guilty. “Good thing we only have tomorrow’s performance, and then we fly to Portland.” She smiled warmly up at me, trying to cheer me up.

  I inwardly recoiled in horror. I’d entirely forgotten about that. The idea of it seemed so final.

  “Oh,” was all I could say. “That came up quick,” I added lamely, realizing that the silence had stretched longer than I’d thought.

  Christine scrutinized my expression, looking at me as if she could read my face like the gossip magazines. “Look, I know you’re young, but this thing you have…”

  “What?”

  “The boy you spent the night with last night.” She looked regretful, like she was sorry for what she was about to say. “Surely you knew that it wouldn’t work...”

  “No,” I said. “It’s not that. There’s...”

  She took my tongue-tiedness as admission of my hot night and stood up, taking her laptop with her. She had immediately clammed up at my lack of a reaction. “I know, I shouldn’t prod.” She grabbed her purse and headed towards the door. “I’m going to let Neptune know that you’re okay. Come find me if you need me.”

  She left me alone, and I really didn’t want to be alone. I wanted someone I could talk to, someone I could ask what was happening, and most of all why it was happening to me. My hand timidly moved to the space under my jaw. Sure enough, the slits were still there, painful reminders that something was indeed very wrong.

  I only had one more night to figure out what the hell was going on from Nereia and Finn before I flew across the country. Then I’d have no way of getting back into contact with them. I’d be lost forever, with a set of gills. Or maybe even worse.

  “Oh, Christine isn’t going to like this,” I muttered aloud to myself, realizing what I was going to have to do. What choice did I have though?

  I let out a steadying breath. I was going to have to find Finn or Nereia and have them reverse whatever was happening to me.

  Then again, the ocean was immense, and I had no idea where they’d be. They must be close by if everything happened last night; however, I had no idea which direction to go. I could literally spend hundreds of years exploring the sea and never find them, and I only had tonight to do it.

  Unless... I clenched my fists at the thought.

  Finn knew Kai and had been trying to rescue him last night, right? Maybe the merman would try again tonight.

  Yet I could also ask Kai where they’d be and see if I could help the poor dolphin out in the process. It was worth a shot.

  Mind made up, I grabbed my mermaid tail out of its garment bag. If I was going to have to dive in the water again, I wanted everything I had that could help me.

  I rushed out of the room, heading down the now-familiar hallway to the dolphin tank. After last night, I was mindful about the security cameras that were recording my every move. Just act casual, I thought to myself, although I had no idea how casual aquarium volunteers acted, especially carrying a mermaid tail that was as big as they were.

  Thankfully, the few people I passed didn’t take any interest in me. Tim, the aquarist, had kept his word. I felt bad that I was going to have to betray that trust by doing the exact same thing again. Hopefully I’d be back before anything happened tomorrow.

  For now, I needed to have a chat with Kai.

  I stepped out to the dolphin pools. The other dolphins were clicking, busily talking to each other and calling out to Kai, who still looked depressed in his isolation tank. It struck me that I understood all of them, not just Kai this time. While I couldn’t recognize which dolphin the voices came from because they all talked in quick succession, they all had their distinct personalities.

  “Hey, Prince, you need to eat somethin’!”

  “You need to keep your strength up.”

  “The trainers feed you fish. Fish.”

  “It’s not working.”

  “Well, of course he’s depressed.”

  “I miss my mama.”

  That last one had been Kai, sounding like he was pleading for the other dolphins’ help. My heart broke for the little guy.

  I glanced at the camera, which was still trained on the other dolphins. I took a gamble that whoever was on duty in security that night wouldn’t notice them acting a bit weird and walked over to Kai’s tank. His big blue eye stared at me warily as I tiptoed to the edge of the pool.

  Of course, the other dolphins noticed my return.

  “Hey, the girl’s back!”

  “The one from last night!”

  “I think she likes Kai.”

  “I’m worried about him,” I told the other dolphins, knowing that I could communicate with them in whatever language I’d been speaking in the night before. The mouth movements were different, and I could feel it in my throat, although I heard it as clear I would in English.

  They all stopped, stunned that I had responded.

  “Dude, she talked to us.”

  “In Mermish.”

  “Think we could get her to give us some fish? Or play with us?”

  Mermish. That was the language I was speaking. I tucked that away in the back of my mind for later. “How come I can understand you guys now when I couldn’t earlier today?”

  This seemed to perplex the dolphins.

  “I dunno?”

  “Maybe you weren’t listening?”

  I had been trying to listen. Then again, maybe whatever transformation was taking place came in waves, and I had simply been unable to at that point in time. So many questions and not enough answers.

  I knelt next to Kai’s pool. “H-hey?” I hesitated, willing myself to have more strength in my voice. “Hey, Kai, it’s me, Tara. Remember me?”

  The young dolphin studied me, not moving a muscle. The light breeze on the water made him bob up and down slightly, the only movement in the pool. I got the feeling that he was taking everything in, making sure that I wasn’t a threat to him.

  “I was here last night. When Fin
n came to save you.”

  “Yes, Finn!” a dolphin hooted behind me. “Finn was here to save you. He saved the girl too!”

  I almost thought that Kai had ignored me once again, yet I saw his eye widen perceptibly. He had recognized Finn’s name too. I latched onto that.

  “I think Finn had to stop your rescue mission in order to save me.”

  I stopped my nervous stream of consciousness as Kai’s voice filled my head, and instead of the scared, whimpering tone I’d heard earlier, it was now relieved. “I’m glad you’re better.”

  The other dolphins had stopped clicking, sticking their heads out of the water and seeing Kai and I talk to each other with intent expressions on their bottle-nosed faces.

  “I am,” I said genuinely.

  “I told him to take care of you first,” Kai said. “You were hurt real bad.” His eye rolled once, and he shifted his bulk to avoid hitting the side of the pool. “I didn’t want you to drown.”

  This little dolphin being concerned about my wellbeing touched me. “Why did you ask him to save me?” I asked. I didn’t add the other part of my question, which was, Why did you have him save me when he was so close to saving you?

  “Because you were hurt.” He said it so matter-of-factly too. “I didn’t want you to die.”

  Had I been that close to dying that a baby dolphin recognized it? A chill went down my spine, and I shuddered inwardly. “Thank you,” I said. “I owe you big time.”

  I could have sworn that the corners of the dolphin’s mouth turned upwards in a smile. It was the first time I saw any other emotion coming from him other than sadness. I didn’t even know that dolphins could smile.

  I felt bad for asking for his help when he was so distraught. “If it’s all right, I wanted to ask for your help again tonight.”

  “Yes?”

  I took a deep breath. “When Finn saved me, he took me to a sea witch. Nereia. She helped put my head back together, but I think she also did something else to me.”

  The dolphin didn’t answer. I realized that he was waiting for me to explain further, so I tilted my head back, and I pointed to the gills. “I think she’s turning me into a mermaid.”