by Hannah Reed
Connor and April waited expectantly for Alex to continue.
“I think I can make one.”
~
Alex spent the afternoon coding a card that would grant unlimited access to Rushton. To do this he commandeered the entirety of the kitchen island. Utterly engrossed in his work he only looked up when in need of a fresh cup of coffee. April walked past him to get a snack out of the fridge. The notes covering the counter made no sense to her. She grabbed a freshly baked chocolate cake from last night. Cutting it up into slices, she placed a plate on Alex’s island. He gave her a smile and a quick thank you before diving back into his work. April carried the other plates back to where she, Connor and Megan were sitting.
Between the three of them, Connor divided up the information scanned from his Dad’s books and the information Alex downloaded. If April was going to leave as soon as she found her pearls, then she needed to learn anything of use now. They were sitting on their respective couches facing towards the magnificent window. Connor passed her a large rectangular pad that reminded her of one of her Iris pads. She started to scroll through it while skim reading the first of the many documents Connor had assigned her. Her section started with the financial details of the laboratory. She scrolled through record upon record of all the transactions made. She swiped through them uninterestedly. Catering, staff, protection, technology, flowers, and maintenance - none of this was of use to her. She only wanted useful information - information about Ethan, her pearls or the war.
She started scrolling faster through the invoices and records. A purple one was the only one of note as it stood out compared to the dullness of the others. ‘Socrates Summer Gardens’ supplied the government with all their flower needs from Devil’s Helmet to Daffodil’s. What odd names, April thought, though not as bizarre as the toilet roll supply company ‘From me to Loo’. April made her way through the rest of the invoices until she reached her next file. The opening layer read confidential. She skim-read the pre-amble of the documents until she reached the next layer. The file split into two sections, ‘Mer’ and ‘Human’. April clicked into the mer database. It was a contents page, she scrolled down alphabetically through hundreds of names. She reached the bottom and saw another folder ‘Of Interest’ she clicked into it and saw records for her parents, Ethan’s parents, Demetrius, Clyde, herself, Tate head of the pearl shamans… the list went on. Every one of ‘importance’ was listed. Fascinated April clicked on her name.
Name: April Rose Meridia
D.O.B: 30/03/1993
Genetic Status: Mer
Position: First in line to the throne
Pearls: Essentia, Commutavi, Factus, Curo, Assurgere, Communico, Tempus, Tenebrasco, Iris
The information on her was scant, she sagged back into the couch in relief, unaware she was leaning forward. She clicked into her Dad’s profile. The information on him was far more comprehensive. Feeling as if she was intruding she clicked out of the file. She backtracked to the human folder and clicked in. Scrolling down to the bottom she found two files. One titled ‘Of Interest’ the other as ‘Classified’ April clicked into the classified folder and found a handful of names. She scrolled through and saw one woman with the surname May. She opened up the profile.
Name: Salacia Alexandra May
D.O.B: 19/09/1947
D.O.D: 22/08/2000
Genetic Status: Suspected Mer
Position: Civilian
April read through the profile of Salacia. The woman lived as a human but it was suspected she was a mera. The profile ended ‘research terminated due to loss of subject.’ April clicked out of the profile and went through the others. James Ross, Kelly Underwood, and Lucinda Harris, all these people were mer masquerading as legged. Reading through the profiles she was gripped. But, the final line on Lucinda’s profile gave her goose bumps, it read ‘subject lost to research.’ What research was this April wondered. The profile gave no specific details. While she sat and contemplated the profiles she suddenly remembered why she was interested in Salacia.
“Connor, are you related to a Salacia May?” April asked. Connor looked up from his own reading quickly.
“Umm yes, that’s my Mum,” he said slowly with a small smile.
“What?” April said sitting up. She put the pad to one side. “Salacia May is your Mum, I thought she was called Sally?”
“Yes,” Connor said shifting on the couch. She could see he was getting agitated. “Salacia May is my Mum, my Dad called her Sally, why?”
“I don’t know what to say,” she said. April picked up the pad and came and sat next to him. She passed him the pad and let him read it for himself.
“No,” Connor said shaking his head. “No, this can’t be right.” He clicked out of the profile and clicked through some others. He searched through his own and Alex’s too.
“No,” he repeated again.
“Connor?” April said warily. She moved across the couch to give him some space.
“So you’re telling me that my Mum was a mermaid,” Connor said sarcastically.
“A mera,” April corrected him, then quickly changed her tone “No, I’m not telling you, this profile is.”
Connor looked down at the profile again.
“When did you lose your Mum?” April asked.
“It was a long time ago, I barely remember her.”
“How did she die?”
“It was an accident, her plane crashed in the middle of the ocean.”
“Oh,” April said. She didn’t know how to respond. “I’m sorry Connor.” April received a small smile from his freckled face but he quickly looked back down towards the profile.
“But how could I not know, we not know?” Connor said.
Megan watched the conversation unfold and gathered what April had stumbled upon.
“Think about it, April hid that she was a mera from you,” Megan said calmly. She walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder. Connor remained silent and stared down at the ground. Then without speaking he was up and striding over to Alex.
“Did you know about this?” he demanded, thrusting the tablet in Alex’s face. Alex hurriedly took his headphones off.
“Pardon,” Alex said raising his left eyebrow. He’d never seen Connor so flustered. His brother was white in the face, his freckles standing out more than usual.
“Did you know that Mum was a mermaid?” Connor said.
Alex stared blankly at his brother. He had clearly lost it. He took the tablet off him and started reading the information. His hand cupped the back of his head.
“I didn’t know Connor,” Alex said eventually looking up. “I swear.”
April and Megan rushed over to join the brothers at the kitchen table.
“Are… are you two okay?” April asked tentatively. She walked around and took the seat next to Alex. He was pale underneath his tan. Connor sat too and put his head in his hands.
“More secrets, great...” he said bitterly.
“I suppose it makes sense,” Alex said. “All the stories, her insistence on being by the ocean.”
“Yeah, and now Dad’s hatred of mermaids,” Connor said. April let the mermaid remark slide this time. She looked intently at Connor.
“You don’t think your Dad actually hates the mer?” she asked “I presumed this was some sort of power struggle or desire for resources.” No one answered her. The calm of their afternoon was now replaced with a tense silence. Megan flicked her eyes between the two boys.
“Does this mean, that you two are mer?” she asked.
“No,” Connor said immediately. “No,” he repeated again in shock.
April and Megan stared at the brothers. Their faces were white. Even Alex’s joking demeanour was gone. Instead, he sat frozen.
“You could be,” April started slowly, talking as she would to a pair of wild and scared seahorses. “If your Mum was a mera the chances are that you two are mer.” April stopped to let the information sink in. She reached up and
gently patted Alex’s back as he did for her. She was rewarded with a small smile.
“I suppose, it would be cool,” Alex said.
“It would be super cool,” April agreed glad that Alex seemed to be recovering from his shock.
“Cool, it’s preposterous. I would know if I was a mermaid,” Connor said.
“Mer,” April corrected. Connor glowered at her. Megan placed her hand on Connor’s arm.
“I know this is frightening, but just think, April hid that she was a mera as did your Mum. How would you know otherwise?”
Connor stewed in silence.
“What about my tongue then?” he said with relish.
“Well, as you’re only half a mer that makes sense. Not all mer have blue or green tongues,” April stated and was rewarded with another dark look from Connor.
“There is no point arguing about it anyway. It’s not like we can prove it,” Alex said.
April looked down at her wrist. She still wore Ethan’s watch as it reminded her of home.
“Actually, I think we can.”
CHAPTER 39
April stood in the middle of the guest suite’s wet room. She was filling it with warm water from the shower and adding to it with her own powers. Currently, the water reached up to her calves. The edge of the room glowed a faint white with Factus energy to stop the water from running out of the room. April was almost certain this would work. Her mind raced ahead, if Alex and Connor were mer then they could come with her. They could help her relay President May’s plan to her Dad and start to renegotiate peace. This hopeful thought lessened her feeling of dread. The decision to free Ethan and get her pearls meant the next step was to leave. But, April didn’t want to be alone. After the news of her Mum and losing control over her powers, April needed to be kept occupied. Whenever she was alone her thoughts drifted back to the unsolvable questions swirling in her mind – the guilt, the anxiety and the pain. Alex and Connor stopped those thoughts. They distracted her.
A memory floated through her brain. She was young, a tiny merita. Above her a rainbow was shining in the sky. Sitting in a hot spring pool she played with the little manatee toy she took everywhere with her. “Come on Maxi let’s storm the castle! But oh no, it’s raining!” April looked up, her Tempus pearl glowed and it started to rain. She darted Maxi under the sea to protect him and they swam round and round to reach the cluster of rocks she was pretending was the castle.
“April! Stop this rain at once,” Freya called out.
“Sorry Mummy,” April said petulantly and the rain immediately ceased.
“Really, I don’t know what to do with her,” Freya said.
“Don’t worry your highness. This holiday will distract her,” Perdita said.
“April!” Connor called. April blinked and was brought back into the real world. “April is the water almost ready?” Connor shouted from downstairs.
“Almost,” she called back. What had her Mum been distracting her from April wondered. She tried not to think about the fact that she would never be able to ask her.
“Woah! What’s going on here?” Alex said as he stood hesitantly outside the door. The door was open but in front of him was a knee-high wall of water. It stopped perfectly at the edge of the door as if undulating against a glass wall.
“Come in, it’s not going to hurt you.”
Connor arrived at this moment with Megan in tow. All three dressed in swimming attire.
“This is cool,” Megan said. She prodded the water before walking into the room.
“Ohh! It’s nice and warm,” she giggled.
Connor and Alex followed her. They stood awkwardly in the wet room while the water slowly rose up across the white tiled walls. Connor folded his arms as he shuffled further into the room.
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“We’re going to test if you two can turn into mer,” April said excitedly. She flung her arms into the air and wielded an arc of water to frame her as she said the words.
“Show off,” Alex laughed and he reached down and splashed her with some water. April flicked her wrist and sent a wave of water crashing into Alex. He stumbled backwards.
“Right who would like to go first?” April said smiling first to Connor then Alex.
“I will,” Connor said. His took a step towards April and eyed the water nervously.
“Excellent.”
April stepped forward and undid Ethan’s watch from her wrist. As she did she shivered involuntarily. The second the pearls left her skin she missed their energy. She fastened the watch to Connor’s wrist and twisted it round so he could see the pearls. Connor felt the hair lift on the back of his neck. It could be the pearls but it could also be April’s proximity. He tried not to let his nerves show and so gave her a little smile.
“Right so this is Ethan’s watch. And as you can see he has three pearls. And this here is an Iris messaging pad, but the poison in the water around here means it’s useless,” April said in a rush eager to find out if Connor and Alex were mer. “This is his Assurgere pearl,” she said pointing to a dark green pearl at the top of Ethan’s watch face. “It controls the growth of plants. This one is his Essentia pearl.” She moved her finger to four on the watch and pointed to a pale rose pink pearl. “Every mer has an Essentia pearl. It monitors the life source of the wearer and by a wielder can be used to monitor the life source of pretty much anything.” April moved her finger to the final pearl that gleamed a bright violet at eight.
“And this one is the Commutavi pearl. Legend has it that in times past only the Royals could transform in and out of the mer and legged form. But, after the Battle of Kara only one living member of the royal family survived. He felt lonely transforming on his own so he combined the powers of the Essentia and Curo pearls and created a new pearl. He called it the Commutavi pearl and it allowed other mer to transform with him.”
Alex, Connor and Megan followed her every word. They remained in silence when she stopped with only the sound of the water splashing down from the shower around them.
“Any questions?” April asked letting go of the watch and swinging her arms.
“Do you need this pearl to transform?” Megan asked.
“Yes and no. I don’t need a pearl to transform and nowadays nor do many others. But some mer need the extra energy to help them transform,” April said.
“So, anyone with one of these Commutavi pearls could transform?” Connor asked. He was holding his wrist at an odd distance away from his body.
“Well not anyone. You need to have the inherent ability to transform. That’s why legged can’t transform.”
“This is fascinating,” Megan said. “I wish I could transform.”
“So how do I transform then?” Connor asked cutting across Megan.
“Well, I’m not entirely sure. I just think, I want to transform now and I do.”
“Excellent,” Connor rolled his eyes. “I want to transform,” he said.
Alex punched Connor in the arm. “Stop being an idiot.”
“You have to really want it or it won’t work,” April said. The water was now lapping around her waist. She looked down and imagined herself swimming in the water. A glow of violet wrapped around her waist.
“Wow!”
“Oh my!”
“So, there you see, it’s as simple as that,” April said. Fortunately, the wet room was large enough that she could swim a couple of laps. She couldn’t help but smile at the joy of swimming again. Reluctantly she returned to the surface. She wielded a water-dense bubble for herself and perched upon it so she was head height with everyone else.
Alex, Connor and Megan watched avidly.
“Your tail! It’s beautiful April,” Megan said. She was mesmerised by April’s tail as it glistened like a diamond and bounced the light off against the white tiles.
“Thank you, you should see my best friend Setha’s tail. It’s ruby red and is truly exquisite. I wonder what colour your tails will be,” she s
aid grinning.
“Right, it’s my turn now. Give me the watch,” Alex said and made to grab the watch.
“No. I haven’t had a proper go yet,” Connor said keeping the watch out of reach. “April can you help me? Please.” Connor was still pale from the shock of finding out that his Mum was a mera. April smiled at him kindly.
“Okay, I will access the Commutavi energy so it’s easier for you to wield.”
“Okay.”
“Just believe in yourself.”
Connor hesitantly closed his eyes. He felt ridiculous. “I want to be a mer,” he muttered so quietly no one could hear. This is stupid he thought. About to open his eyes and complain he heard a splash.
“Alex!” April exclaimed. She widened her bubble and dragged him up onto it. Alex sat there in stunned silence.
“Oh my,” Megan said. She clapped her hands over her mouth.
“What?” Connor said. “How did you do that? You don’t even have the pearls.”
Alex was staring down at his tail. He went to make the motion of flexing his feet and his fin flicked upwards, the shock almost sent him off the back of April’s bubble.
“I, I don’t know. I did what April said. I felt a warm energy and I… I followed it.” Alex said in a daze still staring at his tail. He leant down and gingerly stroked his scales. They were surprisingly soft. He raised his tail as he would his legs and marvelled. His scales were a deep blue, almost black in colour. Next to April’s tail it almost looked like a yin and yang symbol shimmering in the water.
“Alex...” April said lost for words. She leant over and hugged him.
“Do you want to try and swim?”
“Umm, I suppose so.” Alex tentatively slipped off April’s bubble into the water.
“What do I do?” he said struggling to keep his head above water.
“Go underwater, and move your tail. Almost like flexing.” April slipped off the bubble to join him. Megan stepped out of the way as April glided through the water. Connor remained rooted to the spot.