Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series

by Vaiya Books

  Departing from them, a bit shaken at leaving them, Ian shot forward at forty miles an hour and raced through the five golden arches he’d been through earlier. Once he’d gone through all of them, he swam for about twenty-five minutes and then resurfaced, scanning around him, noticing that he was past the red and black stone archway and back in the cove again.

  Though this really shouldn’t have encouraged him, for some bizarre reason, it did, even though it had been here where the woodsmen had nearly murdered him. Perhaps he thought that by being near to where he’d arrived in this world, he was that much closer to teleporting back to his home. He didn’t know. Still, it was the best explanation he had.

  Thinking impatiently about teleporting back home, Ian bolted off towards the land, opposite from where he’d last seen the woodsmen, rather sick of the water by now and just wanting to get out of it. Seconds later, he reached the shore, and quickly pulled himself onto the beach, his fish tail swishing back and forth restlessly. He wanted nothing more than to go home right now. But he couldn’t do anything to speed up the process. Hopefully, it were just a matter of waiting and he’d be back to Shadowcrest shortly; for if he were truly stuck in this world for good this time, he didn’t know how he could handle it.

  Lying on the beach, exhausted and racked with worry, he fingered the necklace the mermaid princess had given him. The gold beads felt smooth and precious underneath his fingertips. Though he’d never had anything to do with jewelry before, this necklace was actually pretty cool. When or if he ever got home, which was hopefully soon, he’d have to hide it, as his sister would undoubtedly snatch it away from him the second she saw it.

  Recalling his sister’s obsession with jewelry and anything out of the ordinary, Ian chuckled briefly, before a serious thought crossed his mind, forcing him back to more important matters. If he were to teleport back to the men’s restroom at Shadowcrest right now in this form, everyone in there would be terrified of him, thinking that they were seeing a mutant. To even imagine himself showing up in the bathroom as a merman seemed too humiliating to be possible. Yet, he knew that if he didn’t take off the necklace soon, that unlikely possibility could very soon become reality. He had to do something quickly.

  Reflecting over the magical necklace with intense urgency, too nervous to even care about what the transformation back would feel like, Ian grabbed onto the necklace and began to take it off, when his hands suddenly stopped moving as Taeria’s voice spoke inside his head, asking him politely if he wanted to remove the necklace.

  Startled for a second, he soon realized that this magic was similar to a recording and that she wasn’t actually speaking to him. However, that didn’t lessen his fear any, as he remembered what Rhena had said--that the princess controlled the necklace. In all likelihood, that meant that Taeria could probably keep him in this form for as long as she wanted, that he was stuck as a merman until she deemed otherwise.

  His heart pounding faster, he did the only logical thing he could think of: he told her in the nicest way possible that he wished to remove it.

  As the words left his lips, he waited anxiously in suspense for her voice to tell him “no”, or “not yet”. However, he didn’t hear a thing, and after ten seconds with no response, he took the silence as a good sign, and cautiously removed the necklace.

  A few seconds after the necklace had slipped over his head, immediately, he felt his body morph into his human form, his lungs and other organs altering, his tail splitting in two and then molding into legs, and his old clothes, shoes, and socks, reforming around him, all completely dry and clean now.

  Breathing a heavy sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to be permanently stuck as a merman, Ian pondered over the startling transformation that had felt even weirder than when he’d turned into a merman, especially now that he was watching it happen on land instead of in the water.

  Skin still tingling and strangely smelling like salt water even though it was dry, he slipped the necklace into his left blue jean pocket, this time burying it fully, as he stared in fascination at the lovely azure sky fringed with purple, gold, and red from where the bluish sun was retreating beyond the horizon.

  As he continued staring at the picturesque sunset, his thoughts drifted to home and he suddenly wondered why he was here and not one of his friends. He was no different from them. Anyone of them could’ve been in his same position. And yet, for some reason, he was here and they weren’t. It made no sense. Whatever bizarre circumstances or whims of fate had selected him instead of Eddy, Darien, Jimmy, William, or even Hazel, he could only guess at.

  Just shaking his head at this confusing situation, Ian turned his thoughts to Hazel and just laughed as he tried to picture what she’d look like as a mermaid. Before he could think too much about this though, a beautiful castle-shaped cloud directly above him distracted his thoughts and brought vivid images of kings and queens to his mind.

  Gazing at the cloud with interest, Ian grinned, remembering the party on Monday when Hazel had teased him about reading too many fairy tales and he’d denied it. What would he say to her now, though? His life was a fairy tale. He’d seen things that people only saw in their dreams; he’d tasted delicious food that kings served in royal palaces; he’d smelled scents that would make perfumers pay a fortune.

  Not to mention, he’d also been turned into a merman, a creature straight out of fantasy, and had been to a magnificent underwater city reminiscent of the fabled city of Atlantis. Like it or not, his life was never going to be the same again. He’d just have to accept it and move on, hoping that he’d never have to face the Elayans, the elves, or the woodsmen again.

  Smiling faintly at how he’d somehow managed to escape from all of those wicked groups unharmed, he calmly watched a flock of bright purple birds making an interesting circle formation above him, before a sudden inspiration hit him, and he lowered his eyes to the ground, scanning the beach for any interesting seashells he could bring home as souvenirs.

  While sweeping his eyes across the sand, noticing several weird seashells, he caught sight of a brown speckled green crab about twenty feet from his shoes, scuttling towards him quickly and eyeing him with its two big eyes. Seeing its large pincers snapping back and forth angrily, Ian hastily picked himself off the ground and turned to move away from this spot, when his left shoe brushed against a hard dense object.

  Curious, he immediately stared down at his feet, where he saw a small stone container lying near them. Stooping down, he picked it up, turning it over curiously in his hands. As he gazed at the outside of the circular container that showed a detailed image of a beautiful mermaid applying cream-colored lotion to her face, he instantly remembered this as the gift that Rai had given him. It must have fallen out of his tunic when he’d transformed back into a human.

  Smiling, not knowing what he’d ever do with it, yet greatly hesitant to leave behind such a rare gift which used to belong in the princess’s own collection, Ian slipped it into his right blue jean’s pocket, and then just stared into space, as an uneasy feeling clawed its way into him: he’d left without ever saying goodbye to Taeria or Rhena. How could he be so insensitive? If he were ever to come back to the merfolk kingdom again, he may be in for a rude awakening.

  Rather distressed at how he’d overlooked such a common courtesy after all they’d done for him, he felt something large crawling onto his foot and glanced down hurriedly, right as one of the crab’s enormous pincers tore into his tube sock and grazed his skin.

  Startled, his heart suddenly racing, he shook his left foot around repeatedly, until the crab finally released its tight grip on him and flew through the air, landing feet first on the sand like a cat. It wasn’t at all happy and looked ready to charge at him again.

  Without any time to check if his ankle were bleeding and how badly his sock was torn, Ian darted away from the crab, running feverishly across the beach, until it was only a tiny green speck in the distance.

  Feeling that he’d be safe for at
least a couple of minutes before the aggressive swift-moving crab found him again, Ian crouched down on the sand, shoving away thoughts about his inconsiderate attitude towards the mermaids, and relaxed. But his rest quickly faded away, as an unusual thought forced its way into his mind: why did he still taste vanilla cream and almond extract in his mouth? Hadn’t he drunk the blue punch over an hour ago? Sure the flavor had been powerful, but it definitely shouldn’t have lasted this long.

  Racking his brain for answers, growing more anxious by the second, he noticeably shuddered as he discovered what had caused this long-lasting flavor. Princess Taeria’s peach-colored liquid had somehow magically altered his punch, causing the flavor to remain for who knows how long. No wonder the mermaids had looked so giddy when he’d drunk it.

  Frightened at this realization, he felt himself bombarded by thoughts: what if his breath always smelled like this? what if the flavor never died away? Sure, there were obvious advantages to this, but they were meaningless to him right now. All he could think about was how to prevent anybody from finding this out. For, if his breath always smelled like this, it wouldn’t be long before people took notice and started commenting on it. And that was the last thing he needed.

  Stressed out, feeling hopeless, he suddenly remembered something he’d overlooked, which made him feel way more hopeful; he hadn’t tasted the vanilla almond flavor when he was eating the other food at the banquet, meaning that perhaps the taste magically went away when he had other food in his mouth, before reappearing once the food was gone. Hopefully, that were true. He could work with that. If he were always chewing gum, which he already carried around with him almost everywhere he went, then nobody would be the wiser.

  Letting these thoughts encourage him, Ian lay back on the beach and rested, waiting impatiently for the bright flash of light that would take him back to his world, as mixed emotions of terror and excitement etched themselves onto his mind. Though he really wanted to go back to his world, something told him that if he did, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Something told him that his friends would never view him the same way again.

  Chapter 20

  Stiff as a robot, Jimmy kept looking at his dirty hands, then at his plate. Every so often, he took a sip of water from his straw. Then he forked a small piece of chocolate cake into his mouth. All was done rigidly, mechanically. He’d never had a worse meal in all his life. And it was all Ian’s fault for inviting girls.

  Eventually, after listening to the girls whisper among themselves for over half a minute, likely about him, he’d had enough. Turning to Eddy, he mumbled, “I’m gonna wash off my hands.”

  “Go ahead--I’m not stopping you,” replied Eddy, smiling, biting into a crispy slice of cheese pizza; he looked to be enjoying himself immensely. Though Jimmy didn’t share his feelings, he did envy him for being able to be so at ease among the girls.

  Departing from the table, as Eddy refocused on the girls’ conversation about the latest romance novel Tianna was reading, Jimmy headed straight to the men’s restroom. Upon reaching it, he pulled open the door and looked around the room for Ian. But there wasn’t a soul in sight; all four of the stalls were empty. The only sign that Ian had been here were the flooded floor tiles near the sink, the drain working overtime to take the water away. Apparently, Ian had generously applied the water to his barbeque-soiled clothes. Yet, strangely enough, Ian wasn’t anywhere in sight. This baffled Jimmy, as logically, Ian should be drying off his clothes now. But obviously, he wasn’t.

  Scanning around the dry part of the bathroom, just in case he’d overlooked something, Jimmy returned to his thoughts, as a jolt of thunder shook the room: Perhaps I missed him on my way...

  A scythe cut through his mind as a flash of bright light blinded him, terrifying him beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. Was the world about to end? Was he dying? Was he being abducted by a UFO?

  Breathing in short hollow gasps, he saw the light dissipate through his closed eyes, as a warm breeze blew through his curly black hair. Terrified more than a sailor about to strike an iceberg, he pressed his hands to his heart in agony. What’s going on? Where did this wind come from?

  Trembling, he just stood there, eyes completely shut, listening intently for any alien sounds or voices, expecting any minute for his life to end.

  After half a minute, though, without anything happening, curiosity won over his fear and he flashed open his eyes, instantly overwhelmed by what he saw. Somehow or another, he was in a forest glade, surrounded by enormous blue-barked trees with silver-colored leaves and four foot tall prickly bushes that were swarming with unfriendly looking red beetles.

  Taking a step away from the beetle-laden bushes, he shook his head in awe. There was no logical reason why he should be here right now in this forest resembling something from a fantasy book. It would’ve been amazing enough to have simply teleported out of the restaurant, but to find himself in a completely different environment was downright staggering.

  In all appearance, he’d finally lost his mind. He always knew that it were possible, and Jack Lane and Wally Sherman, two of the worst possible bullies that his mind could conceive, had already told him countless times that he was out of his mind. Perhaps they were right....

  He swatted at his forehead, his thoughts snapping back to the present, causing a lizard, which had decided to parachute onto his face, to tumble through the air, making an annoyed screeching sound. Shaken, Jimmy watched as the black spotted, foot-long green intruder crept back into the foliage, beginning its ascent up a nearby tree, perhaps trying to reenact its previous diving maneuver. Well, it wouldn’t get to.

  Swiping a few adventurous red beetles off his shoes, and avoiding the swarming bushes that housed thousands more, he moved warily through the forest, keeping his eyes fixed on any creature that looked like it was even remotely thinking about moving into his bubble, while quickly shoving away any thoughts that he had gone over the deep end into the furthest recesses of his mind. In all reality, he hadn’t lost his mind. Whatever this place was, it was definitely real and not in the least bit imaginary. This was no dream or hallucination.

  Glad to know that he wasn’t going insane, Jimmy stepped over a gurgling brook, its clear waters meandering across the landscape, and noticed a few slender orange and yellow birds, perched on the lowest branches of the tall trees, as they began singing lighthearted melodies, reminiscent of sunny days and morning strolls through a park.

  Drawn by their cheery music, he was unprepared when a long blood-red salamander, slithered over his right shoe, causing him to nearly fall backwards into the brook. Catching his balance just in time, he was greeted by a translucent purple frog, which hopped onto his shoulder and brushed against his neck with its slimy wet legs before leaping off into a bush.

  Gasping in sick amusement, Jimmy peered penetratingly at the forest above him in search of any more potentially falling reptiles or amphibians. What kind of place was this? It seemed all the woodland creatures wanted a piece of him.

  Seeing no immediate threats from above, he turned to the ground just in time to see a three-foot tall black-haired bunny gazing at him from across the brook with its coal black eyes. Not wasting any time debating whether or not the bunny wanted to share a cup of tea with him, Jimmy bolted off in the other direction, not looking back for anything.

  As he raced through a huge patch of the blue-barked trees, the scents of cinnamon and guava nectar flooded his nose, yet he ignored their enticements and continued running. It was probably just a trap that would give the monstrous bunny time to catch him.

  A minute later, out of breath, he stumbled out of the forest, his sides heaving. He hated to admit it, but being a cross country runner just wasn’t one of his strengths. He’d teased Jason before, saying how easy running was, and that anyone could do it with a little practice, but now he’d have to rethink this. Even with a year of practice, he couldn’t ever imagine himself in good enough shape to run the three-mile race. He’d be
surprised if it didn’t kill him.

  His only solace for his physical exhaustion was that the course he’d just run wasn’t a typical one for a cross country race. Aside from the logs that lined his escape route, large rocks, viny plants, the occasional stream, and a whole bunch of animals also impeded his flight. It just wasn’t possible for him to make such a precarious run without consuming large amounts of energy.

  Brushing off the silver pollen that covered his legs, likely a result of having run through a patch of native silver wildflowers, Jimmy shifted his focus, hearing voices nearby speaking in an unrecognizable language that reminded him of German only riddled with more harsh consonants.

  It didn’t take long before he saw two young men, both with dark black hair, coming towards him as if intrigued by him. They both wore what looked like lavender kilts, which came down to their feet, and maple-colored goatskin sandals, while they carried long slender swords in their calloused hands. The razor-edged blades, made from a light purple steel-like material, shimmered in the sunlight; their ebony hilts, both etched with a stone white castle, spoke of both dignity and power.

  Straightening himself out and dusting off his blue jeans, Jimmy approached the men cautiously, a timid smile on his face, still panting softly as he heard voices coming from the forest he’d just exited. “Hi, there.”

  But they just looked at each other with confusion, mumbling indiscernible words, while Jimmy, not able to understand them, felt his heart skip a beat. Maybe they were criminals about to rob a store, or thieves about to break into somebody’s house and steal something valuable. He’d better get out of here. This world didn’t seem to have his best interests in mind.

  Thinking of the safest way to escape, he saw a group of twenty dreary looking young men and women all dressed in silver robes emerge from the forest, two of them looking absolutely ill. The swordsmen, seeing this, left Jimmy in a hurry and went over to help the two sick students.