The Turned

by Tracy Kiser

  “Are we ready?” The Goddess asked Thomas and Lana.

  “Actually,” Thomas spoke up with a slight cough, “Lana…” he swam over to her. “I know you came to save me and you succeeded and I love you dearly but …”

  “You want to continue your research?”

  Thomas sighed. “I do, kiddo’. Ten years of my life has been spent down here and if I don’t finish before I return to land it would all be a waste of time.”

  Lana’s gaze fell to the water shifting around her. She didn’t want to leave her father behind, but she couldn’t help understanding the position her father was in. She knew he’d also seen Sarah holding hands with Daniel. “Just promise me that you will come back, eventually, okay?”

  Thomas smiled. “I promise.” He turned to the Goddess. “May I have your permission to continue my research?”

  “Of course, Thomas.” She beamed. Their society had gained more insight into human transformation in the past ten years with Thomas than they ever had. The Goddess felt lucky that such a great scientist would be doing the studying.

  “Dad, one last thing.” Lana hugged her father, “thank you for this adventure. It would have never happened if it weren’t for you.”

  “I think you mean Merric,” Thomas countered, referring to the logbook that had turned up on her doorstep.

  “Where is Mer…” Lana looked around. He wasn’t there.

  “Honey, come on. Let’s go!” Sarah nearly shouted, breaking Lana’s train of thought.

  Lana swam closer to the boat and felt Aiden grab her hands and begin lifting her out of the water. The salty sea dripped off of her in beads, the droplets knowing which world they belonged to. She turned to look for Merric again. Lana didn’t want to leave without telling him how she felt one more time, but that would hurt Aiden… She didn’t want to do that, even if her feelings for Merric were stronger.

  “Goodbye Dad, Goddess…” her voice trailed off, searching the waves for Merric.

  The Goddess saw Lana’s eyes searching and began looking for Merric herself.

  “Goodbye Lana, I love you kiddo’” Thomas called out.

  She smiled but couldn’t concentrate on anything except scanning the waters for Merric. Lana turned her face toward Aiden to tell him she needed to go below the surface for a moment. When her lips parted to speak, Aiden kissed her softly with warmth that couldn’t touch her heart. She fell into darkness, seeing nothing but Merric’s face.

  Chapter 30

  The cold was a mirror to Lana’s feelings. It had been three months since Syria, her father, and Merric. The end of October was welcomed by Lana. The trees were shedding their leaves, becoming bare. She had started her senior year of high school and was looking forward to Thanksgiving break in less than a month. She needed a break. She needed more time to heal.

  Nothing had been the same when she returned. Daniel and her mother were a couple, the most lovey-dovey couple that Lana had ever seen. She was more than a little jealous. She thought she had been the only one to fall in love on her adventure, but as it turned out she wasn’t. Lana still felt happy for her mother. After ten years of being alone and shut off from love, Daniel had cracked the shell that Sarah had molded around her heart. Lana knew that she couldn’t blame her mother for her own lack of happiness. She wanted to blame her father, but she couldn’t do that either. It wasn’t her father’s fault that she hadn’t stayed.

  Aiden had left for college. They’d broken up a couple of weeks before he moved away. Lana remembered his last words. They echoed in her mind and brought fresh hot tears to her eyes.

  “You’re seriously in love with a freaking fish?” Then the slamming of a door and two days that she had spent crying.

  Lana had never wanted to hurt Aiden, but the connection she had to Merric was more than anything that connected her and Aiden. She couldn’t let go of the happiness that had brightened her life. She didn’t want to. Merric had saved her life and had shown her what it was like to find true love. A love that not even the miles between them could alter. She would often catch herself daydreaming of their first kiss, the first wonderful night that they’d spent together, and the last. She hoped that Merric dreamt of those days too, but he hadn’t even stayed to say a real goodbye. That had hurt Lana the worst.

  Going back was a thought that often crossed her mind, but there were too many doubts in her heart. What if Merric had already moved on? What if he had moved from the Bermuda population? How would she even become a mermaid again? Most importantly, would Daniel or her mother even let her anywhere near the ocean again?

  Lana’s life had gone dim. No, it had gone pitch black. She struggled every day to find the light that would help her shift away from the depression that gripped her. She prayed that one day she’d wake up from the nightmare she felt she lived in.

  * *

  The Goddess watched her grandson eat the sushi that they had prepared. He’d barely touched it. Her eyes went to her son’s face, Merric’s father. She saw that he had also noticed Merric’s behavior.

  “Son, this has to stop. It’s been three months. One of these days, you’re going to have to snap out of it.”

  Merric shifted his body. “You don’t understand,” he muttered.

  “Then help us to understand, Merric,” his grandmother coaxed. “The last three months have been hard on you, but dear, she’s a human. She belongs on land. That’s just the way it is and I’m sorry.”

  “But that’s not the way it should be,” Merric snapped. “Neither of you get it. Lana isn’t just some human to me. I…I … fell in love with her,” his tone softened. “And now she’s gone.” He looked at his father. “Mom was right and I didn’t do anything to stop her from leaving. I could have stopped her from changing back, I could have asked her to stay…”

  Merric’s father flinched at the mention of his deceased wife.

  “What did you just say?” The Goddess asked, her eyes wide and her body rigid. “What did your mother tell you?”

  Merric sighed. “She told me that my true love would come from up above, and she was right. Now I suppose I know how the story ends.”

  “Your mother predicted this?”

  Merric nodded. “Why does it matter to you?”

  “You are aware that your mother worked for me when she met your father,” the Goddess motioned toward her son.

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with her prediction for Lana?”

  “Everything, Merric. Tulevik was my advisor. She helped me rule Syria until she had you.” She clenched her fist in frustration. “Why didn’t I see it sooner?”

  “What Grandmother? See what sooner?” Merric questioned.

  “Are you sure that she’s your true love?” The Goddess took Merric’s hand in both of hers.

  “Yes,” he affirmed.

  “Then you have to go get her.”

  The words took a moment to sink in. Merric was confused. Had his grandmother, the Goddess, just given him permission to bring a human down here? “Really?! I can bring her back?”

  “You have to. Or at least try. The survival of our way of life may depend upon it.”

  “Mother, what are you talking about?” Merric’s father jumped into the conversation. “What did Tully predict?”

  “If Merric doesn’t find his true love, our line dies. Tully told me that when the time came for Merric to join with another, I had to do everything I could to support him or else our kingdom would pass to a different family. She said the family that it would pass to would destroy our way of life. Tully told me that under any circumstances I had to stop that from happening.” She looked at Merric square in the eyes.

  Merric’s father sensed the importance of what his mother was saying and helped his mother motivate Merric. “Merric, go. Head to your Aunt GiGi’s house. Gillian will know how to get you to Lana, she’s the one who sent the logbook for you.”

  Merric was frozen. Not only would he get Lana back, but he’d get to see his Aunt Gillian. His he
art beat wildly.

  “Well, get going,” the Goddess laughed.

  “Mother, we’re going to have a lot of work ahead of us to make the city accept a Turned as a part of the royal family.”

  “It will all work out, my dear. I know it.”

  Merric left the chamber smiling for the first time in four months, hearing his father’s voice becoming quieter as he moved away from his family, his home, and closer to Lana. Merric’s heart was racing and he swam as fast as he could. He would soon be reunited with his true love, with his Lana.

  After Merric had left, Atargatis turned to her son. “I hope he’ll be able to bring her back,” she sighed casting a glance down at her sushi.

  “Tully really predicted all of this? Merric falling in love with a human?” he asked, unsure of what the prediction entailed exactly.

  “Yes, she really did,” Atargatis admitted. “She told me that the first woman he fell in love with would be the last and if I didn’t do everything I could to help him win her over, then he would never fall in love again. Our family would end with Merric.”

  Chapter 31

  Merric’s eyes were just above the water as he stared at his Aunt GiGi’s house. It was huge compared to the homes in his own city. Did every human live in something so monstrous? The large white columns holding up what his Aunt called a balcony as well as the invisible walls that slid open confused and startled Merric. The above part of the world was so confusing and strange. He was an alien to this side.

  As he swam closer to shore his human family came into view. Merric’s Aunt and her husband sat on the beach making some sort of castle with their daughter. He let more of his body come out of the water as the depth decreased. The sand greeted his body as he stopped at the shoreline.

  “Aunt Gillian,” Merric called out. He watched his Aunt turn with a mixture of fear and surprise on her face.

  “Merric? What are you doing here? It’s daytime! Someone could see you!” Gillian stood from the sand and rushed to the shoreline. Her husband and daughter were right behind her.

  “I know, GiGi, but I need your help. I had to risk it.”

  “Uncle Mewwic,” his cousin shouted, running to the water’s edge.

  “Hi, Ary,” he replied, taking his blonde haired cousin into a bear hug. He released her as his Aunt and Uncle came nearer to the water.

  “You okay, kid?” his Uncle Ben asked. Ben had always been a human, while his Aunt was a mermaid first. It was a bad experience that had turned Gillian into a human, until she met Ben. Ben had saved her life and Gillian had fallen madly in love with him the moment they met. Merric liked his Uncle Ben. He was tall with a stocky build, the kind of physique that could hurt someone but with the kind of heart that wouldn’t hurt a fish.

  “Physically, I’m fine, but I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything, Merric,” Aunt GiGi replied quickly. “Has something happened?”

  “Not yet, but it will unless you can help me turn into a human.”

  Ben’s eyes snapped toward his wife. Her mouth hung open. “Except that.”

  “GiGi, you have to.” Merric’s heart leapt within his chest. He twisted his body so that he was sitting, facing his Aunt and Uncle.

  “No, I don’t. This is a little outrageous. You’re a merman, Merric. You belong that way.”

  “Belong dat way,” Ary echoed, giggling. No one joined her laughing.

  “You were a mermaid once. You changed,” Merric challenged.

  Gillian shifted her weight and brought one hand to her hip. Ben took a step back, knowing exactly where this was headed. “Because fishermen caught me in a net and gave me CPR thinking I was a corpse! Becoming human isn’t easy to learn.”

  “I have to GiGi,” Merric’s voice lowered to a mere whisper. “You don’t understand.”

  “Explain then.” Gillian demanded.

  “It’s Lana, I have to go find her.”

  “The one I sent the logbook to?” Gillian’s face portrayed her confusion. She had done as Merric asked and mailed the logbook to the girl, someone’s daughter or something. The details were a little hazy.

  “Yes,” Merric nodded. “She went back on land and I need to find her.”

  “No. That’s it Merric, she went back to land. You can’t force someone to live beneath if they belong above.”

  “You love her, don’t you?” Ben interrupted, taking a step toward the water, away from Gillian.

  Merric met Ben’s gaze and slowly nodded. He felt tears welling in the back of his throat, but fought them back. He wouldn’t try to imagine a life without Lana.

  Ben shifted back to his wife. “Honey, he loves her. We should try to help him.”

  “He’s a merman, Ben. He belongs in the ocean,” Gillian raised her arm and motioned toward the seemingly never ending sea, “not on land.”

  “But look at you and Ben…” Merric reminded Gillian, pointing at the couple.

  Gillian contemplated the situation silently while she watched Ary dumped handfuls of sand onto her lap. “I have to think about this,” GiGi said finally. “And you should to.”

  “GiGi, come on, even Grandma said I should come bring her back. And you know how Grandma Atargatis is…” Merric tried to convince her, but his aunt was already walking away.

  “Merric,” Ben said softly. “She’ll come around. Give her a little bit of time.” Ben watched his wife walk with their daughter back to the house. “Ary, come tell your cousin Merric goodbye for now.”

  Ary turned away from the house dropping her mother’s hand. She ran as fast as she could back to the water and threw her arms around Merric.

  “I love you, Mewwick,” she whispered with a knowing look in her eye.

  “I love you too, Ary.”

  Merric squeezed his cousin and was about to release her from the hug when she leaned in closer and quickly kissed him on the lips.

  “Ary! No!” Merric heard his Aunt GiGi shout as fire spread through his body and everything around him went black.

  Chapter 32

  The bed beneath Merric was soft, but it didn’t ease the burning he felt. He’d never experienced fire but the one within in him was waging war. He’d gotten exactly what he had wanted and it hurt like hell. An expression he’d heard his aunt use. Merric tried to block out the searing pain. He was doing this for Lana, the girl he loved. The one he had let leave.

  Her face, her beautiful face, entered Merric’s mind. Had she went through this much pain when he’d turned her into a mermaid and when she’d changed back into a human? If she could do it, then so could he. Merric swore to himself that he would do anything for Lana. That’s what love meant, right?

  A sharp pain shot down his spine and into his legs. He tried to scream but failed. Merric had learned that he couldn’t move when he’d awakened in the darkness that had overtaken him. Time had been a major loss in the black shroud that covered him. Merric knew he was lying somewhere soft, like a cushion – a bed is what he remembered Aunt GiGi calling it. He also figured that he was in his Aunt’s house but he didn’t know exactly. He couldn’t hear, smell, or see anything.

  Merric tried to re-focus on Lana. Not having any control over his senses sent a wave of anxiety crashing down onto him. He mentally wove in and out of memories of his time with Lana. Then he began creating new ones. Memories that they would make in the future, together.

  * *

  The haze around Merric felt as if it were floating away. He felt the cloth beneath his fingertips and an aroma he could only describe as enticing filled his head. Merric focused on moving his fingers. They were stiff, but they moved. They moved freely. His eyes popped open and he sat up straight with a jolt, bringing his hands up in front of his face. He stared at them as he twisted around. The webbing was gone.

  Merric shifted to look at his feet. No webbing. He held his arms outstretched. The patches of scales had been replaced with smooth skin.

  “Goddess! I’m human! It worked…” Merric exclaimed. Happ
iness flashed through his body, his human body. He had to hurry. He had to find Lana and he had no idea how long the darkness had kept him immobile.

  Merric swept the room with his eyes. Wooden furniture and doorways with wooden slabs connected to them. How was he supposed to get off of the bed? Merric shook his head, his red hair falling in his face instead of floating around him. Walking couldn’t be that hard. Merric swung his legs over the side of the bed and let his feet touch the floor. It was hard and cold.

  Feeling like an infant, Merric was filled with amazement. Using his hands to push himself up, Merric stood beside the bed. His legs were shaking, but he kept his balance. He placed one palm on the wall and utilized it as a crutch to walk to the door.

  Keeping his eyes on his feet, he took each step carefully. Merric felt himself smiling. He was walking! Just like a human. Merric reached the door and tried to slide it open but it swung out and hit his toe. Pain shot through his foot. It hurt badly and tears formed in the nooks of his eyes. His hand immediately rose to wipe them away. Merric was in a daze. He’d never seen tears before. Everything was a brand new experience.

  Merric swung the door open as far as it could go, making sure his toes were out of the way. Slowly, he moved through the squared archway and emerged into a hallway. In front of him was some sort of contraption that went down into the house.

  The thing seemed to be made of wood and was connected in rectangular blocks descending from the landing where Merric stood. He could hear voices that sounded like his Aunt and Uncle.

  “GiGi?” He shouted down the contraption.

  “Merric?” He heard her running and she came into view. He moved his leg to step down.

  “Don’t move!” She rose her hand up to signal him to stop.

  It was too late. Merric felt his foot slip and he fell down the staircase, a snapping sound filling his head as he tumbled toward the bottom.

  * *

  Merric grit his teeth against the pain as it shot up through his arm, reminding him of the flames that had nearly consumed him when he was between the world of the sea and this world. He’d never felt pain like this before.