The signs took them down winding, cornfield-lined dirt roads until they arrived at the edge of a forested enclosure. A giant slab of cracked wood hanging on a chain-link fence boasted the words “Chiarini’s Circus of Wonders” in green paint. On the other side of the fence was a large clearing of smooth dirt they assumed was for parking. There were only three rusted-out cars sitting in the lot. Gavin pulled in and parked his truck by the rest of the cars. As they climbed out, he turned back to Arista.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
She nodded. “I have to know if it’s actually real.”
“Alright then, let’s go see what we can find out,” he said, locking the doors to the truck.
They walked down a dirt path to a building half covered by a cheap red and white striped tent that had seen better days. In front of the building was a small hut with a hunched-over old man huddled inside of it. Above the man was a sign that read, “See the wonders for $20.” Gavin whistled.
“That’s pretty steep for this little backwoods carnival,” he said to Arista under his breath.
“Now, now, I bet you’ll see things you never thought you would,” said the old man, who was missing several of his teeth and most of his hair. “That’s worth all the money in the world.”
“Is it now?” Gavin asked, pulling his wallet out of his pocket.
“I should think so,” the man said, putting away the money Gavin handed to him. “Be sure to check out our mermaid. Just look for the big tank,” he said, grinning his big toothless smile as he winked at Gavin.
Gavin took Arista’s hand as they walked under the pulled-back flaps of the tent and through the doorway. The building had a low ceiling and was surprisingly dark. It took a few minutes for their eyes to adjust to the low light. At the end of the hallway were signs pointing in both directions and a list of available attractions. Gavin squinted trying to find the one for the mermaid.
“It’s like a maze of freaks in here,” he said, muttering. “But I think we’re supposed to go this way.”
They turned to the left and kept walking through the hallway. On either side, doors appeared at random intervals with signs indicating what was inside. Gavin paused to read each one as they passed by.
“None of these are what we want… wolf boys, chicken girls, a genie? I don’t know who actually comes to see these things. And it all looks so dingy, they can’t be treated well in here,” he said.
Arista nodded her head in agreement; the conditions were deplorable. The ground was damp and there was hardly any light. They couldn’t tell if there were even any windows. It was likely none of these creatures had seen sunlight for quite some time.
Finally, near the end of the hallway they found it: a set of double doors with MERMAID painted in capital letters across them. Arista held her breath as Gavin pushed the doors open. Inside, uncovered light bulbs flickered from the ceiling, casting ominous shadows across the room. At the back of the room was a large tank, filled with dirty water.
“I can’t tell if there’s anything inside,” Gavin said, walking right up to the glass. He leaned over the top to peer into the water. “It’s so dirty, a fish would have trouble living in that filth.”
Arista walked up next to him and pressed her face against the glass, hoping to catch sight of any kind of movement. They both stood there for several minutes watching the water. Finally, they saw the slightest ripple at the top of the water. Arista crouched near the bottom of the tank, peering hard into the water through the cloudy glass. She thought she caught a glimpse of a shadow, then the slightest flicker of green in the faint light.
“Gavin, look, I think there is something in there,” she said, tugging at the leg of his pants to direct his attention.
“Oh, it’s definitely someone,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her up next to him.
Arista’s eyes widened as she saw the tiny face poking out of the water. It watched them with eyes so emotionless and flat, it was unsettling to look at. The head ducked back under the water again before the mermaid pulled herself up on a ledge on the far side of the tank.
Her hair looked as though it had been blonde once, but the water had dirtied it so it appeared brown and gray. Her face and shoulders were gaunt and her light blue eyes hollow and empty. Even her tail, which should be covered with bright shimmering scales, was faded and dull. That tail twitched and swished in the water as she stared uneasily at them. She wore two plastic seashells on strings in front of her chest. Arista gasped when she noticed the scars caused by the edges cutting into her skin. A thick metal ring sat around her neck. Small tears pooled up in Arista’s eyes as she squeezed Gavin’s hand.
“This isn’t right, this isn’t right at all,” she whispered. He looked back at her, concern showing on his face as well. The three stared uncomfortably at each other, then the mermaid finally spoke.
“What is it that you wish?” she asked.
“Wish?” Gavin said, shaking his head. “I don’t think I understand.”
The mermaid flipped her wet hair over her shoulder and smoothly slid off the ledge into the water. She swam over to Arista and Gavin, pulling herself up against the edge of the tank closest to them. She left the seashells dangling temptingly close to Gavin.
“Many want to look,” she said. “Others want to touch. Still others want me to touch them.” She reached out and placed her hand on Gavin’s arm. Even in the low light, Arista noticed his face flush with heat. She looked at the mermaid puzzled, wondering how she could have ended up in this situation. Gavin pulled his arm away from her and wordlessly stepped closer to Arista.
“Just here to stare at the freak, then, huh? Well, I think you’re the freaks,” the mermaid said, her voice filled with venom. She dove under the water and flipped her tail behind her, causing putrid water to cascade over the side of the tank.
“Wait!” Arista yelled, throwing herself against the side of the wet glass. “Wait, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
She put her hands on the top of the tank and struggled to pull herself up. Gavin grabbed her waist and pulled her back down.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going in there. I have to talk to her,” Arista answered, fighting to free herself from his grip.
“You can’t do that. It may be better if we just get out of here,” he said while motioning to the door. “I’m not sure we can help her anyway.”
“I can’t leave her here, knowing she’s trapped like this. Gavin, she doesn’t belong here,” Arista said, a feeling of helplessness growing inside her.
There was another ripple on the water’s surface and the mermaid once again lifted herself up onto the ledge across the tank. She sat there wringing the water out of her hair and watching them. Deep puncture marks next to the mermaid’s gills ran down both sides of her neck to her collarbone. Her hair had hidden the swollen injuries before.
“What’s your name?” Arista asked her.
“I am Merdessa, the last of the mermaids. I came here to share my beauty with the world,” she recited, her voice flat.
“That’s a lie,” Arista responded.
“Yeah, how would you know?” she asked, taunting the people who stood before her.
“You can’t be the last one — because I’m standing right here,” Arista said. She pulled back her hair so the mermaid could see the scars on her neck. “Now, really, what is your name?”
The mermaid gasped and slid off the ledge again, less gracefully this time, and swam to them. She pulled herself up against the edge of the tank and reached out to touch the marks on Arista’s neck. A tear slid down her cheek and Arista reached up to hold her hand, looking right into her forlorn eyes.
“I’m Arista, of the Tidehli family. Who are you?” she asked her again, in a more gentle tone.
“It’s been so long now, I can hardly remember… Kyla,” she said finally.
Gavin moved closer to them and Kyla looked at him with distrust.
<
br /> “It’s ok, he’s ok. He’s helping me and we’re not here to hurt you, Kyla. I promise,” Arista said, hoping the mermaid would believe her reassuring words. “How did you end up in this horrible place?”
Kyla looked at the closed door then back at them and tapped her fingers on top of the tank.
“We don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this quick. But then you two need to get out of here, as fast as you can.” She waited for them to nod in agreement before she continued.
“A couple hundred years ago, I was swimming on the surface of the ocean. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there, but we were in an isolated spot where people were rarely seen. So we were a bit lax with our rules.
“I was out one day when a fisherman fell over the side of his boat. I swam under the water and helped him back to the surface. He was so thankful and so kind, not at all like the horrible stories I had heard about humans. We met every day after that and fell in love. Everyone in my family had lost the knowledge of transformation. It’s obvious your family still has some type of magic,” she paused to eye Arista’s necklace, which had slipped out from under her shirt. Arista hesitated then nodded before Kyla went on with her story.
“We wanted to be together even though I couldn’t become human, so I left with him. I swam up to the shore as far as I could, and he was there waiting for me with a small boat filled with water. I got in and he pulled the boat with horses back to his home. He built a large pool for me to live in and that’s how we stayed for years and years. Now, when you transform, you start aging like the humans do. Although I was living on land, I was — well, am — still a mermaid, so I kept aging the same as in the ocean.
“Eventually he died, but the rest of his family continued to take care of me. I became sort of a family heirloom, or a pet. We kept on like that for decades, until there was only one son left in the family. He had no desire to care for me. I asked him to return me to the ocean, but instead he sold me to this circus,” she said, spitting out the last word.
“Only it turned out, it’s not much of a circus. I don’t even know how many of us there are now. We’re all kept separate in our own rooms, cages, and tanks and aren’t allowed to speak to each other. It wasn’t always quite this bad, though. For a time, we did travel around the country as part of magic acts. I even spent some time in Las Vegas. The original Chiarini who started this show died several years ago. That’s when we were all sold to him — when things turned really bad,” she said. She glanced sideways at the door to make sure no one was coming.
“Who’s in charge now?” Gavin asked.
“Salazar,” Kyla whispered, sending a chill down Arista’s spine. “We only came to this building recently. He never told us why we moved.”
“How did you get those marks on your neck?” Arista asked her.
Kyla reached up and winced as she touched some of the fresher wounds. “From him. He’s been draining my power. He comes in at night and he… he drinks,” she said, as a mixture of fear and shame spread across her face.
“Wait, is he a vampire?” Gavin asked incredulously.
“I don’t know that he’s a vampire. Vampires drink the blood of humans, right? He is whatever can steal power from mermaids,” she answered.
“A blutjager ,” Arista whispered. Gavin raised his eyebrows.
“The Blood Hunters you mentioned earlier? I meant to ask you, what kind of powers do you have?” he asked.
“Although we have a lot in common with people, mermaids are quite different,” Arista answered. “We can age in the water at a much slower rate; we can also heal from injuries much faster. It’s why we were hunted. There are many magical properties in our blood as opposed to that of people. The same goes for lots of other creatures, like unicorns and fairies.”
Kyla nodded in agreement while Gavin stifled a laugh.
“You had me until the unicorns,” he said.
“Well, why do you think they’re all gone?” Kyla snapped. “People killed them to use the magic in their horns and in their blood. It’s the same for mermaids. Unicorns had a harder time hiding. At least the water saved us. It’s why Salazar is slowly killing me now, and he’ll kill you, too, if you don’t get out of here soon,” she said, looking at Arista. Gavin turned to her as well.
“Could that be who's after you?” he asked, trailing off and turning slightly pale.
“What are you talking about?” Kyla asked. They told her about the birds that had attacked them and as they finished the story, her eyes grew wider.
“That sounds a lot like him. He’s grown strong in recent years and when he comes here, he often has a raven with him. I suspect he’s learned how to control birds. I’m not the only mermaid he’s gone after, either. He used to hunt a lot more, but it’s been harder for him since mermaids rarely come to the surface. That’s why he’s been slowly draining me and keeping me alive to use for as long as he can. And I don’t think he’s hunting alone anymore. I hear him talking to someone, although I don’t know who it is,” she said.
“Can we do anything to help you?” Arista asked. “Maybe there is some way we could get you out of here.”
“I don’t think so. This ring around my neck is part of a spell. It’ll kill me if I go past the doorway and there is no way for me to take it off,” she said, giving it a futile tug with her hands. “This is how he keeps us trapped. Don’t worry about me, just get out of here. I have no idea when he’ll be back and, believe me, you don’t want to be here when he does.”
“Arista, she’s right. I don’t know how we can help and I promised to keep you safe. We can’t stay here,” Gavin said.
“But I can’t leave you here like this,” Arista said, looking desperately into Kyla’s eyes. “It’ll kill me knowing we left you here to be tortured like this. I can’t do that.”
A slight flicker in Kyla’s light blue eyes caught Arista’s attention and she frowned. “Will it work? I mean, since I’m not in mermaid form right now?” Arista asked.
“I don’t know,” Kyla answered. “But it’s worth a try, right? You don’t have a tail, but you’re still a mermaid.”
Arista nodded before closing her eyes and bowing her head. She raised both of her hands over the side of the tank and Kyla intertwined her fingers with Arista’s. They both said the words they learned as children. A violent surge of power shot through Arista’s body, leaving her feeling as if every inch were on fire. She squeezed Kyla’s hands tighter as the fire raged on. She heard Gavin say something in the background although she couldn’t make out the words. She and Kyla were lost in their own world, letting everything else slip away.
Finally, the fire calmed and Kyla’s hands went limp. Arista opened her eyes to see the mermaid’s head falling to one side. She let her go, allowing Kyla’s body to drift across the water. It floated until her body burst into an explosion of bubbles that dissolved into the water.
˜
{ Chapter 8 }
Arista turned away from the tank, wavering on her feet, and saw Gavin’s mouth agape.
“I’ll explain later, I promise, but right now we have to go. Until I have a chance to recover, I’ll be weak. We need to get out of here before someone spots us,” she said.
Gavin nodded and reached out to hold her arm, keeping her steady as they walked to the door. He cracked it open and peered around the corner to make sure it was empty before slipping out. As they ran down the hall, Arista tried not to think about the rest of the creatures trapped behind the doors. Gavin had thought they were all fake, but now she wasn’t so sure. After all, Kyla was real. Her heart broke for every single one still locked away.
They each breathed a sigh of relief when they safely reached the truck. As they turned onto the main road, another car was coming towards them. The driver pulled off to the side of the road to let them pass. They made eye contact and, for that brief moment, Arista couldn’t tear away her gaze. He stared at her with his dark black eyes, mirrored by those of the black bird sitting next to him. I
n the side mirror, Arista saw him sitting there, watching them drive away.
But she lost track of the bird.
…
Unsure where to go next, Arista and Gavin headed back towards Chicago. They didn’t speak much until they reached the highway. They kept glancing in the mirrors and out the windows, afraid to voice the cold fear they felt.
Finally, they pulled over at a rest stop to take a quick break. They left the truck to stretch before sitting down on a nearby bench.
“So what exactly happened back there?” Gavin asked.
“Well, when mermaids grow old, right before they die, they choose someone to receive their power. Then they transfer their magic into the other mermaid. In that way, they go on living forever as a part of you, even after their body dies. But, mermaids can’t live without magic, so giving up magic means you’re giving up your life. So that’s what Kyla did, she gave me the last of her strength, her power, her life. Everything that Salazar wanted he can’t have now. Kyla can finally be at peace,” she explained.
“So are you stronger now?” he asked.
“That’s the idea; it should increase the magical abilities of the mermaid. Unfortunately, we’ve lost so much knowledge of how to use our powers that it doesn’t really do anything. It’s more tradition than anything else. If we could learn to control our powers more, then yes, it would make us stronger.”
Gavin nodded and was quiet for several minutes. A bird chirped in the distance and Arista jumped off the bench in a panic, ready to run.
“Did you see that other bird fly off that car, too? We’re not safe out in the open like this. We should get back on our way,” Gavin said.
“Back where? Gavin, whether it’s Salazar or not, whoever is coming after me won’t stop if we get farther away. I don’t want to run forever. There has to be some way to stop him, or at least somewhere to go while we figure this out,” she said.
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