Trapped with a Way Out

by Jeffery Martinez

  William barely seemed to notice them as she continued to sing to the count:

  Where would we walk?

  Where would we run?

  One of the young maidens seemed to hear the singing, and she strayed from the group and came down to the beach to find out what it was.

  The clouds broke as William sang:

  If we could stay all day in the sun?

  The count's eyes slowly began to open and the beams shined down on his face, and William' fingers tenderly brushed his cheek.

  Just you and me…

  And I could be…

  William' face was haloed in sunlight when the count opened his eyes. Through the fog of half-consciousness and the glow of sunlight, all he could truly discern was a beautiful young woman with dark skin (thanks to the shadows) and a pair of large blue eyes.

  Part of your world

  The young church girl then came down to the beach. William dove back into the sea to avoid her gaze, and the count closed his eyes to avoid the pain of direct sunlight.

  Very soon the church maiden came upon him. She gasped in fright, but quickly recovered herself and ran to his side.

  "Excuse me, sir," she cried, "Are you all right?!"

  The count slowly adjusted his eyes to the sunlight and looked upon her. By some happy coincidence, she happened to be a beautiful young maiden with flowing blonde hair, rich dark skin and the deepest blue eyes. She looked upon him with such concern and touched his arm so tenderly with her slender fingers that he could not help but smile.

  William hid behind tall rocks that stuck out of the water and watched to see what would happen. Most of the church maidens continued to walk and giggle along the grassy field until the church girl called them down.

  William watched as the count regained full consciousness, and smirked insolently as the girls all gasped and fussed around him. Only the maiden that found him had any sense of dignity and propriety, and she calmly held his hand and dressed his wounds as she gave instructions to the other girls as they arranged to get him help. He continued to hold her hand, and smirked deviously when she tried to withdraw it with a frown.

  William' smile for his well-being drooped as she saw the way he looked at the church maiden that found him. He smiled so tenderly upon this beautiful young girl, but he did not smile at William because he did not even know that she had saved him.

  "Well, that was a fun first trip to the surface," Schrödinger grinned beside her. "We got to see the twilight, saw a ship up close, witnessed a storm und a shipwreck, saved a guy from drowning und we got to see the shore! Don't you think this was fun?"

  Something about his chipper attitude renewed something in William.

  I don't know when… I don't know how…

  But I know something's starting right now!

  William had always been a spirited and stubborn young girl, but the light in her soul seemed to have been snuffed out following the tragedy of her childhood. Now that the tragedy passed like a storm, she could feel her old spirit return like the sun.

  Watch and you'll see…

  Someday I'll be…

  Part of your world!

  The waves broke around her as she sang, and William felt determined that one day she would see the count again.

  However, when he finally disappeared into the crest of the hill, the clouds returned, and she felt very unhappy. When they led him away to the big building she sighed wistfully and dove sadly down into the water.

  She went to see Harkonnen again after night fell.

  "Hello William, how did you enjoy your first—HOLY FISHCAKES!"

  "What?!" William cried.

  "William, what on earth happened to you?! You look like you got into a fight with a tiger and lost!"

  "A what? What are you talking about…?" William looked over her body and saw that it was covered with many huge scratches, welts and scorch marks.

  "AH!"

  Schrödinger laughed himself a fit to die.

  Overall, things were looking up, looking down.

  Despite William' declaration that she would one day be part of the Count's world, she soon realized to her dismay that she did not know who he really was or where he truly lived. She had dropped him off on the first speck of land she had come across, but she had no idea if he remained there or not. The land was so vast and there was only so much she could see from the shore.

  Many evenings and mornings she revisited the spot where she had left him. She saw the fruit in the garden ripen and come to harvest and she saw the snow on the high mountains melt away, but she did not see him. At first she remained hopeful that she might see the Count walking near the shore, or that she would overhear someone mention him. Quite often, she drifted close to the shore and covered her hair and shoulders with foam so that no one could see her little white face, and listened eagerly for any news. This always proved a fruitless effort though, as the church girls talked of trivial things.

  One day, she came close to hearing something as she watched two girls walk along the white sand. One of them was the very maiden that had discovered the Count and who had led him by the hand into the church. She walked along with a book in her hand while her companion looked wistfully about.

  "Oh, it has been ever so dull around here since the Count left."

  "He was not here very long," the church girl said indifferently, turning a page in her book.

  "Yes, but it was certainly very exciting while he was here," the girl giggled.

  She looked to her companion for some reply, but the girl turned up her nose and kept reading.

  "He fancied you, you know," the girl said.

  William felt her gut clench. She remembered how the Count had smiled at the girl and dreaded to hear more.

  "It was a fleeting fancy caused by the euphoric rush of joy from waking to discover he was alive," the girl said, "and I was the first girl that happened to be within sight. He only saw me for a short time and left soon after. It has been many months since he was away. I'm sure he has come to his senses and forgotten all about me."

  William sighed with relief and then moved closer, hoping desperately that they would say more about who he was or where to find him.

  The girl sighed, "Of course, it's easy for you to be so indifferent…"

  "What do you mean?"

  "If I was lucky enough to have a handsome gentleman like that swooning over me, I would not discard the honor as though it were nothing."

  The church girl seemed taken aback, and lowered her book slightly, but said nothing.

  William followed them for a quite a ways, hoping desperately to hear anything else about it.

  Eventually, the two girls wandered over the crest of the hill, and William was forced to accept that they would say no more on the subject, and sank sadly back into the sea. Every visit proved just as useless, so each time she came home sadder than she had left.

  William had always been quiet and wistful, and now she slowly became even more so. The royal sisters asked her what she had seen on her first visit up to the surface, but she would not tell them a thing. She told Harkonnen and the other stage hands basic details about the ship, storm and shipwreck, but did not describe much beyond that.

  "You poor fish!" Harkonnen exclaimed, "It must have been so devastating to see so many sailors drowned like that!"

  "Most of them escaped into little boats above water," William said slowly, "I'm sure they got out just fine."

  "You're sure? You mean you didn't stay to find out?!" Harkonnen cried.

  "Well… no," William said, averting her eyes. "I was a little preoccupied…"

  "Preoccupied? Doing what?!" Harkonnen cried.

  "Just… things," William squirmed.

  "Just things? Didn't you stay to help them all?"

  "I… look, Harkonnen…"

  "William, this is not like you!"

  William blushed and looked away. Schrödinger teased her so much about being a lovesick little guppy that she could not bear to t
ell Baron Harkonnen and have him also think of her as nothing but a silly little girl with a crush.

  "I was helping a few sailors on my own, all right? So I didn't get to see the entire group!" and she swam away.

  It was her one consolation that she could now explore the surface world. Now that she was a grown-up girl that could go wherever she wanted, she abandoned her job as a sea-dredger and explored the bright ocean above. On her way to the spot where she had left the ount, she often took new routes so that she could see more of the ocean, say hello to more sea creatures, and leave at different times of day to see as much of the surface world as possible. She delighted in the clouds of silver fish that swam around her, the playful dolphins that skipped about the surface the way flounders skipped about the sand of the ocean floor, and the large graceful whales that seemed so wise and ancient. She loved feeling the warm sunlight wash over her like a golden waterfall, adored the white fluffy clouds that made such wonderful shapes far above the water, and marveled at the thousands of stars that lit up the night sky like the Count's glorious fireworks.

  No longer was she trapped on the ocean floor, forced to look up at a world that seemed so vast and beautiful, without being able to explore or touch.

  William still returned to the Sea Capital to see Harkonnen and watch royal concerts, but her heart constantly pulled her back toward land. It was as though she was being drawn toward the irresistible melody of a siren's song.

  In fact, during one of Harkonnen's concerts, the youngest princess sang a song of her own invention.

  When a mermaid comes of age, she begins a different kind of life

  Childish games are left behind, and she prepares to become a bride

  Her schooldays are in the past now, her heart becomes her new guide

  It will portal the way to love eternal

  William continued to search through sunken ships to find treasures with Schrödinger, though she declined to look through the ship the Count had nearly drowned in. It felt haunted somehow, and she shuddered to think of all the unhappy humans on board who might have been lost to sea. In fact, William felt a little disquiet looking through all the sunken ships, with their keels split wide open and their insides covered in sand and algae. She imagined what might have happened to all the poor souls that once boarded it and whatever watery deaths they might have met; but Schrödinger told her she was being too sensitive. They saw mariners survive the storm, he said, so would it not be the same for these other sailors?

  Wisdom only comes with time

  The road to love is paved with broken hearts

  If I am to reach my goal, I must risk everything

  In my true destiny, no matter what the price

  During one of their last trips, before William stuck to her conviction of no longer wanting to visit such melancholic places, William and Schrödinger discovered a white marble statue that looked like a dashing prince. The figure seemed handsome and noble, tall and steadfast. He was dressed in noble clothes and held a mighty sword. While not an exact likeness to the Count, its smooth white face and noble brow reminded her of that of the Count, as she had brushed his dark hair from his cool temple. Likewise, she brushed her fingers against the brow of the statue, and then she wrapped her arms around it and fell into a melancholy that was almost luxurious. For many days and nights after, she wallowed in sorrow for the Count she missed so dearly.

  William thought of the Count every day since the day she rescued him, and longed to see him so much it burned her heart and mind. Her soul ached to be near his again, but it had grown steadily easier over time as she occupied her mind with other things. But now, with a physical reminder of his handsome face to visit and embrace every day, it made her long to be with him all the more.

  Soon, William found herself torn between seeing the place she had left the Count, the surface of the ocean that she so loved to explore, the sunken ship with the statue that reminded her of her beloved Count, and the Sea Capital where her friends and loved ones still resided. William no longer felt content where she was, but constantly felt compelled to move between the place she was and the next place she felt she should be. Over time, she grew very torn and very miserable indeed.

  Far away I hear the call of the heart that sings a song like mine

  Its melody draws near and suddenly we're in perfect harmony

  I know it beckons to me from the land that's far above the sea

  Yet I know I must follow wherever it leads me

  "Can't you find the Count?"

  "Sorry, no can do, mein Schatzi!"

  "B-but why?" William cried, "You're 'everywhere und nowhere,' right? A living embodiment of Schrödinger's Cat, right?"

  William had no idea what these things were, but Schrödinger said them often enough that she felt she could convince him.

  "Sorry, mein Schatzi, it's not that simple."

  "Why not?!"

  "For one thing, I haf no idea where he ist-"

  "But you're everywhere and nowhere! Surely you can be where he is if you're everywhere?"

  "Und even if I was," Schrödinger continued as though she had not interrupted, "I am obviously a creature of the sea, while he ist a creature of the land. Do you want me to fry up there in the sun, or suffocate in the air?"

  "You can breathe just as well as me!" William said peevishly, thinking how he could hang off her shoulders for so long when they looked in on the Count's ship together, but she realized it was no good asking him further.

  She thought about it and realized that even if she could convince him, and even if he could magically teleport over to where the Count was, he would be a miserable little fish lying on the floor unable to move, and the humans might be frightened to see him anyway. It would do little good.

  Wisdom only comes with time

  The road to love is paved with broken hearts

  If I am to reach my goal, I must stake everything

  In my true destiny, no matter what the price

  Finally William couldn't take it any longer. She told her secret to Harkonnen. He did not know anything about the Count. Immediately all the other stage hands heard about it. None of them knew about the Count either. No one else knew her secret, except a few more mermaids who told no one - except their most intimate friends. One of these friends knew who the Count was. She too had seen the celebration on the ship.

  "Then how come I didn't see you?" William exclaimed.

  The girl laughed. "If we are so good at hiding from mortals, then we must be good at hiding from each other, yes?"

  William frowned.

  "All right, I watched from a distance, but you wouldn't have seen me since you swam right up to the bulwarks!"

  William grew uncomfortable. While merpeople were not forbidden from going near humans or the land per se, contact between the sea world and the human world was forbidden. Most merpeople did not wish to interact with humans anyway since they could not stand for humans to gaze upon them and know them for what they truly were, but laws were in place just the same. William heard that their natural aversion to humans had something to do with their Lord Poseidon, who grew tired of human "heroes" of old slaying his sea children and so did not wish for them to meet up again… Or perhaps he was fighting with his brother Zeus, lord of the overworld, and did not wish for his children to mix with theirchildren. Who could tell with their mysterious and temperamental Sea God?

  "Anyway," the girl continued, "I don't know where the Count is from or where his fiefdom is…"

  "His what?" William asked.

  "Fiefdom. It's land that lesser lords own. Like a kingdom for a king, only smaller."

  "Oh."

  "Anyway, I don't know where it is, but I know someone who might..."

  "R-really?!" William cried, relieved and excited at the same time.

  "Yup, you can find her on the surface," the girl grinned.

  "Oh!" William cried, looking longingly up.

  Why did the surface always seem to hold all of life's joys
?

  "Come, little sister!" said the stagehand.

  Arm in arm, they rose from the water in a long row, right in front of where her friend resided.

  As they neared the surface, William heard distant music that was very pleasing to the ear. As they drew closer, it became louder and prettier. William was enchanted by the music, and the closer they got the more lost she felt to it. The melody was so lovely that she just wanted to submerge her mind to the music the way her body was submerged in the water of the sea.

  As they broke through the surface, William realized it was a voice they were hearing even before they saw the singer. Standing atop a little brown rock that poked out of the water in the middle of the ocean, stood a bird woman with glossy black feathers. She had long black hair that hung down to her ankles, a pale and freckled woman's face, and black feathers that covered her entire body like a gentleman's suit. Long wing feathers hung off her arms (though she still had clawed hands), and large yellow bird's feet poked out from the feathers around her ankles.

  As she sang, William longed to swim over to her and embrace her. However, the music swelled and the siren's song came to an abrupt stop.

  William blinked, slowly came to her senses, and then gasped when she realized she had indeed half-crawled over the rock to reach for the bird woman's feet, most likely to grovel over them. It was an embarrassing position to find herself in.

  Without looking down, the siren said in her sweet pretty voice, "Und so, I have acquired new admirers."

  William slowly pushed herself backwards into the water, mortified by what she had done.

  The siren then smiled brightly and lowered her head. "Ah, there ist no need to be embarrassed, little fish! Man or woman, fish or human, my voice affects all without distinction."

  William blinked.

  She then heard laughing, and turned to see her companion out in the water. At William' questioning glance, the stagehand pointed to the seaweed she had stuffed in her ears.

  William swelled with indignation. "You knew?!"

  The mergirl burst out laughing. "I'm so sorry William, I could not resist!"

  "Wha-? Bu-! How could you-?!"