Elemental Origins: The Complete Series

by A. L. Knorr

As my gills took over the job of breathing, the urgency of finding Antoni faded away. Something in me registered that it was important to stay close to the surface. So I rose again and began to swim like a dolphin, leaping out of the water, inhaling gulps of air, and then diving back under the surface. My thoughts cleared again and I focused on finding Antoni.

  I approached the laser, still on its side and buffeted by the sea. Antoni was nowhere to be seen. A heavier panic set into my human brain. I scanned the waves wildly, desperate for anything that looked like a human form. I knew I'd be able to find him better under the water so I submerged and looked around.

  There! A flash of yellow lifejacket. He had drifted a long way from the laser. I could read in the way his form moved that he was drifting lifelessly at the mercy of the ocean.

  "No. No, no, no," I said out loud as I reached him. The violins in my throat were still there, melancholic and leaden with fear for my friend.

  Antoni was face down in the water. "Antoni!" I rolled him over and lifted his face to the sky. I called his name, slapped his cheek. His hazel eyes were open and lifeless. Living eyes did not look like that. I put my sensitive fingers to his throat. No heartbeat. He was dead.

  Chapter 16

  I buoyed him up easily. Placing an arm under his back, I lifted him up on top of the water and held us there with my powerful tail.

  I fastened my mouth over his slack one and filled his lungs with air. Water burbled in his chest. I changed tactics. Instead of blowing into his lungs, I sucked, pulling very gently. I drew the sea water towards me, slowly, slowly, up from his lungs and into his mouth. I pulled steadily until I tasted the sea water in my own mouth and expelled it through my gills. It trickled down my neck. I kept pulling in one smooth motion until no more water came out. There wasn't a lot. It was remarkable how little water a human could drown on.

  Then, without breaking the seal of my mouth over his, I changed gears again and pulled oxygen in through my nose and pushed it into his lungs. His chest inflated under my hands. When his lungs were full, I opened his mouth with one hand and pressed on his chest to expel the air.

  Keeping one hand under his back to support him, I placed my other palm on his chest and pressed on his sternum, willing his heart to pump. I now had immense power in my limbs, but I wasn’t conscious enough of it and I heard a crack. "Sorry," I said, grimacing. Somewhere, I’d heard that you aren’t doing CPR properly if you don’t break a few ribs. I comforted myself with that thought and kept going.

  I repeated this strange CPR without ceasing for what felt like a very long time until - Thud. His heart spoke to me, quietly. Thud. It was working. I stopped pressing on his chest and listened. His heart was finally beating on its own. Relief flooded through me. I kept breathing for him, but it didn't take long before he sucked in his own breath. My heart leaped. He was going to live. I turned my attention to getting him back to shore and finding help.

  Cradling him in front of me, I tucked my forearms under his armpits and rested his head and neck on my shoulder. I aimed my back towards the shore and began to undulate my tail. Immediately, we moved rapidly towards land. Antoni's legs and arms trailed in the water leaving a small wake as the water hit my back and then splashed around us. The waves that had been my ruin only a short time ago were no barrier to me now. I sliced through them without effort.

  Antoni coughed and gasped as rain began to fall in earnest. It came down straight, hard, and in sheets. So this was the kind of sudden, violent storm that Martinius had been talking about at dinner.

  We were close to land now. I steered us towards the boathouse and found the dock.

  I heard a cough and looked down at Antoni's face, so close beside mine. He was trying to open his eyes. It was hard to do in the pouring rain and with his face upturned to the sky.

  The rain didn't impede my vision or bother me at all. The water hit me in the eyes but I didn't blink or react in a human way. I'd have to ask my mom about that.

  Mother!

  My heart did a skip as I thought of her again. She was going to be overjoyed. I couldn't wait to find her and tell her. Everything we had so wanted had come true. My mouth twisted in a wry smile. I only had to die to make it happen. I wondered if it had ever occurred to her to try drowning me when I was little, then I discarded the thought. There was no way she would have taken the risk.

  We arrived at the boathouse. The door was closed but a light shone through the window. The fellows from earlier must still be inside, waiting for the storm to pass.

  I lifted Antoni onto the dock like he was an infant. So this was how my mother felt; lifting 200 pounds up out of the water was no problem. Before I let him go, I felt his muscles tense and he groaned. He turned his face towards me, struggling to open his eyes in the pounding rain.

  "Targa?" he croaked and started coughing.

  Not good. Overwhelmed by a panicked urge to hide, I disappeared under the water, leaving him up on the dock. I grabbed a stone from the sea floor and resurfaced only long enough to hurl it at the boathouse window. It smashed through the glass and I heard someone yell. I disappeared under the surface again and swam away from the dock as fast as I could. Antoni would survive; what mattered now was not being discovered.

  I followed the shoreline until I found a hidden piece of beach in between two rocky outcroppings.

  Just the thought of walking was enough to transform me. My scales softened into human skin and my musculature reformed into legs in the blink of an eye. It was a nice feeling. In a moment I was walking through the shallows on bare feet.

  My shorts were a shredded mess but there was enough fabric left to cover me, like wearing a tea towel that a couple of Rottweilers had used for a game of tug-o-war. I untied my sun shirt from my waist, thankful for it now, and pulled it on.

  My head was pounding but I was thinking clearly. I had to get back to the manor. Antoni would either be rallying people to look for me, or he'd be raving about a mermaid like a madman.

  With the wind and rain buffeting me, I ran back to the manor on tender feet. I noted my increased speed and stamina with pleasure, but by the time I got back to the property I was limping from cuts on both soles.

  The gates were closed. I ran up to the intercom and pushed the buzzer.

  "Tak?" said a rough male voice.

  "It's Targa," I said into the intercom, not even sure that they would know who I was. "Antoni and I, we tipped the laser and then got caught in the storm. He's down at the boathouse and needs help."

  The gate opened and two men came out. They took one look at me and one went back inside and reappeared with a blanket. He threw it around me. They obviously didn't speak much English, but they understood that the situation was urgent.

  "Antoni," I repeated, pointing towards the ocean. "He's at the boathouse." They spoke to each other in rapid Polish. One of them wrapped an arm around my shoulders and steered me towards the manor, the other pulled a radio from his belt and spoke into it. The one with me noticed that I was limping and looked down at my feet. I didn't protest when he swept me up into his arms and carried me to the manor. My feet were stinging and bleeding. The wind and rain whipped at us as he almost ran with me down the drive.

  As he was climbing the front steps with me, a Jeep pulled out of the multiple-doored garage at the far side of the property. It sped down the drive and out through the open gate.

  Once in the foyer, the man set me down and yelled a stream of words. Three staff members came running. He turned to me and said, "You, ok?"

  I nodded and said, "Dziękuję Ci." Or I tried anyway, my attempt at thank you was rough. He nodded but didn't smile. Worry creased his brow.

  I was given a pair of disposable slippers by one of the maids and then ushered up the stairs. The man who had carried me watched me go, a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows. One of the staff, an older lady with a stern face and a severe bun in her hair, said something to the maid who then nodded and headed back down the stairs.

  "Doctor,"
she said to me in her thick accent.

  I balked. "No, please. That's not necessary. I'm fine. I'm just cold. Don't call a doctor."

  "Already done," she said.

  My mother never went to the doctor. She hadn't even gave birth to me in the hospital, she'd hired a midwife. I think she was worried that a doctor might notice that there was something different about her. "Do you know where my mother is?"

  "At meeting. She comes," she answered.

  We arrived at my suite where I heard bathwater running. These people didn't waste time. My teeth had begun to chatter. She took me into the bathroom in my suite. We passed another maid on her way out who shot me a condescending look. I didn't care. This was another change. A look like that before my change would have hurt my feelings or made me feel defensive, but now... I couldn't have cared less what she thought. If she had an issue with my getting into trouble, that was her problem, not mine.

  "Edith,” said the stern looking woman, pointing to her chest by way of introduction. "In tub," she pointed. She didn't seem like she was going to wait until I got undressed, and I no longer had shame about nakedness. I truly didn't care what she saw. I stripped off and got in.

  The water was very hot and I gasped. My feet stung, my head throbbed and I felt the burn around my left wrist where the belt from the life vest had bruised it. I put a hand up and felt the bump on the top of my head. It was tender too, but it already seemed better than before. Mom had always told me that the mermaid gene meant faster healing. Between that and spending time in salt water, she had an unparalleled rate of recovery. I guess that was true for me now, too.

  Edith noticed me touching my head and pulled my hand away to look. She clucked her tongue like a mother hen. She bent and picked up the rags of my wet clothing. She noticed the fishing line that I'd tied to my ripped shorts and gave it a puzzled look. Then she said, "Doctor comes. One hour. Mother before. I get ice."

  I nodded and she disappeared, leaving the door open. I sank into the water and prayed for Mom to arrive before the doctor did.

  Chapter 17

  I heard her before I saw her. Less than ten minutes after I'd sank into the tub, she exchanged words with Edith outside in the hall. Then she appeared in the doorway, worry etched across her face.

  "Mom!" I cried out, all excitement and urgency.

  "Targa!” She had her arms around me in a moment, holding me tight, my wet body soaking her Bluejacket button-down shirt.

  "You hate this shirt," I sniffed. Now that I was a mermaid, I understood her revulsion for restrictive clothing better than ever.

  She laughed, took my face in my hands and looked at me. She was all concern, but as she read my face she cocked her head with curiosity. "What happened?"

  Emotion welled up inside me. Tears burned behind my eyelids, threatening to spill over, more from shock and happiness than the trauma of what had happened. "Let me get out and I'll tell you everything." I was pink and warm and while I was eager to tell my mother everything, I also felt an exhaustion settling into my bones. She held up a towel and I got out and wrapped it around me.

  "Mom, they called a doctor," I whispered, urgently.

  "Yes, of course they did.”

  "Can you... I don't think that's a good idea." I was still whispering. I didn't know how far away Edith was or who else was hovering nearby.

  "What is it, Targa? We're alone. Come see." She opened the door and went out into the suite. I trailed after her. Our rooms were empty. We went into my bedroom and she closed the door behind us.

  "I'm..." Where did I start? I just blurted it out. "I died today, Mom. I drowned and then I changed. I came back to life. Now, I'm..." I couldn't bring myself to say the name, just in case this was a dream and it fractured if I spoke the word. "...I'm like you.”

  Several emotions crossed her face. Shock, understanding, then disbelief. "How can that be?" she said. "That's impossible." Then she put a hand to her heart in a rare gesture of dismay. "What do you mean, you died?"

  "I drowned! It has to be possible, because it just happened. I guess, I..." I searched for the words but she got there first.

  "Had to die to change.” We looked at each other in wonder and amazement. "You had to pull the sea into your lungs. You have had the gene all along, it just never expressed until it had the right conditions." My mother usually said everything quickly, but this she said slowly. It was too big. "Your body wanted to survive, so it found a way." She put a hand over her mouth, looking almost like she was stifling a laugh or a cry, or both.

  I nodded. I started to laugh, and felt on the edge of tears too.

  She put her arms around me again as I stood there in my damp towel and sore feet. "Shhhh. It's all right. You're ok. I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

  "Don't be sorry, Mom. If you'd been there, this wouldn't have happened. You would have saved me."

  "Can you tell me what happened? Do you remember everything?"

  I gave her the short version as we sat on the edge of my bed. She digested every word and asked questions about how I felt, how I managed to use my new body, and about Antoni.

  I told her what I remembered but I didn't get into all the emotional details, I knew that the doctor was coming so we didn't have the luxury of time.

  Mom looked at the bedside clock. "Get into your pj's. I'll see what I can do about the doctor. We'll talk more later." She made for the door.

  "Mom," I stopped her. "Antoni. Can you find out where he is? I had to leave him down at the boathouse. I saved his life." I hiccoughed.

  "Of course you did. It's what we do. Into bed with you, please." She vanished.

  I pulled my pyjamas from the dresser and put them on. As I squeezed the water out of my hair, relief and laughter swirled around each other like otters at play. I really needed to rest; I'd been running on adrenalin at full dose for several hours. I also needed to know that Antoni was ok. I needed to know how much he remembered and what he thought.

  I had barely pulled the covers over me when my mother, Edith, and the doctor came in. He spoke no English, which was why Edith was there. I gave Mom several anxious looks throughout the exam until she finally mouthed, 'It's ok.’ I tried to relax.

  He took my pulse and listened to my heart, his fuzzy white eyebrows shooting up in surprise at how slow it was. I now had the heartbeat of an extreme athlete. He examined my head, and listened to my lungs. He looked at my feet, cleaned and bandaged my cuts. He said a few things to Edith throughout this but all she conveyed to me was, "All ok". So much for translation. The doctor gave me an ice pack for the lump on my head and spoke to Edith some more. The two of them conversed, taking turns shooting me looks I couldn't define - concern, disbelief, awe?

  "Are you hungry?" asked Edith. I shook my head. Perhaps I should have been, but I was so distracted and in shock that food was the last thing on my mind. She patted my hand and said, "Just rest, now." She and the doctor left.

  I waited until the door was closed to speak. "Did you find out about Antoni?"

  Mom nodded. "Yes, he's here. He's resting in his suite. The doctor has already seen him. He has a hairline fracture in two of his ribs. He's in the early stages of hypothermia, but he'll be ok."

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  "What's concerning everyone, though," she continued, "is that he seems really confused. When people ask him what happened, he just keeps saying he doesn't know. He remembers the laser tipping over and being blown away from you. He tried to call for help with his radio but the batteries were dead. The young men who work at the boathouse are beside themselves. They said that they didn't have any time to prepare for you properly. They even tried to radio you after you left when they saw how fast the weather was changing."

  I nodded, "Yes, it was a last minute decision. Poor guys, they shouldn't blame themselves."

  "Antoni doesn't remember anything more until he woke up in the boathouse," she finished.

  "That's because he died too," I said. "We both died today. The only thing
that saved us was the fact that I changed and somehow, I knew what to do for him. I actually heard the water in his lungs. Can you believe that?"

  "Yes, I can. I know exactly what that sounds like." She combed my damp hair back from my face. "Why don't you get some rest and we'll talk about this tomorrow?"

  "But... it's still early." It was all too exciting.

  "You need to rest, darling," she insisted. "You'll need more hours than usual after what you've been through." She pulled the drapes to shut out the pounding rain, kissed my forehead and then closed the door behind her, leaving me in darkness.

  I was afraid to fall asleep. What if I didn't wake up? What if it wasn't real? What if I was still dead and this was some kind of limbo? Irrational thoughts elbowed each other my brain.

  I grabbed a pillow and hugged it to my chest, curling my body around it. I took deep breaths and tried to remember what it was like to be in the ocean with the gentle tug of the currents swirling around me. It occurred to me that my eyes had stopped hurting sometime after leaving the water, and that was my last conscious thought.

  Chapter 18

  My waking thought was a question. Had it all been real? I touched the top of my head and was answered by the tender spot under my fingers. Yes, it had been real.

  I checked the clock. 5:15 am. Most of the house would be asleep. My stomach growled ravenously. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a cotton sweater. I looked out the window at a grey morning, still more dark than light. It was no longer raining and the wind had died down, but everything looked very wet and ruffled up.

  I went into our sitting area and opened our mini-fridge. It was filled with drinks but no food. My stomach groaned again. Mom's door was closed so I ventured out of our suite and went down to see if there might be something happening in the kitchen, if I could even find the kitchen.

  The house was an abandoned maze of hallways and closed doors. Occasionally, a door would be open but there would be no light or sign of life. I came to a hallway lined with windows on one side. The windows showed the courtyard in the centre of the house.