by J. L. Imhoff
“You sensed it?” I slid my feet over the side of the bed and wiggled my toes, expecting them to change any minute.
“There are things you haven’t yet learned about us. It will take time to clarify.”
“That’s what I want to understand. I want the explanations, today.” Reality sank in now that the danger had passed. Lily had a lot of explaining to do.
She stared out the glass for a long time, seeming preoccupied. “I disabled your wall for now.”
Figured that much. “What’s wrong?”
“Everyone knows. The High Council wants to see you. I’m afraid of what they’ll determine.”
“What do you mean ‘everyone knows?’ Yes, I made a mistake by running away with the dolphin. I’m sorry for it. It was a stupid, emotional, impulsive decision.” I grasped the tooth I’d kept as a souvenir, from under my pillow, and handed it to her. “A tiger shark attacked me. I couldn’t see well—it was so dark.”
She frowned, only briefly glancing at the tooth. “You couldn’t see? You should have been able to as if it was daytime. I’ll talk to Lucas about that.”
“You missed the part where I was attacked.”
“What you did put our whole community in grave danger. You’re too inexperienced. If you had been seen by anyone, we would all be at risk. Not to mention the harm you brought to one of our creatures.”
“I came back,” I defended as a surge of adrenaline shot through my veins. I was seen. Maybe even photographed. Had I ruined my chances here? “Roman said you had to meet with a High Council.”
“I don’t know what they’ll do,” Lily worried, turning back to stare out the wall. “You’ll have to stay here for now. I’ll come and get you once the High Council has decided what to do.”
“What? It’s that serious?”
“Yes, it is.” She left my quarters then.
Falling back into the sheets, I dove under the comforting weight of blankets. I wished I could undo what I’d done, but I couldn’t. The tooth Roman had given me was still in my hand, and I enclosed my fist around it tightly. Will they put me in some kind of prison? Or kill me?
Exhaustion won out and I slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep. When I woke up, Lily was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“They want to meet with you in a few days. They’re meeting in private first, and will see you soon after to hear your side of the story. This hasn’t happened before, so they want to confer amongst themselves. In the meantime, you’re not to leave the dome. I’ll have to keep a closer eye on you.”
“Am I a prisoner?”
“This is for your safety and ours. You came back. That’s good.”
“Do you think they are going to throw me out?”
“I don’t know, but I doubt it. We’ll see. Now, let’s go eat, you must be hungry. They have some fresh fruit down in the common area, and I thought we could have some tea. It’s dusk already.” She held out her hand for me.
“I slept longer than I thought. Let me clean up first. I need a hot shower.” As I placed my hand in hers to stand, I remembered the brutality of the attack. My hand went to my abdomen, searching for evidence of the bite.
There was none. Not a mark of any kind. “I don’t understand. I was bitten right here. Shouldn’t there be a scar or something?” The torn dress was piled in the corner, right where I’d left it. I shivered at the memory.
“Roman healed you—it leaves no scars,” she affirmed. She walked to the closet and took out a new dress for me to wear.
“Can everyone here do that?” I asked, walking to the bathroom.
“Only Roman.”
I didn’t linger in the shower. My anxiety level was high, and my blood sugar low. No wonder, doing the math I realized I hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.
After I dressed, I walked with Lily to the common eating area. All heads turned towards me as we walked in. They smiled at me in unison, and raised their hands in greeting. There was a flurry of movement as people shifted from table to table, but quiet—void of their voices.
Lily led me to a table by a glass wall with a high vantage point and much of the city was visible. While I waited at the table, she brought us a plate of fruit and two cups of steaming hot tea.
Hunger forgotten, I couldn’t focus on eating. Instead, I gazed out over the city lost in my thoughts, formulating questions.
“How do they grow grass at the bottom of the sea?” An easy topic, to start.
“With seeds,” she said, not elaborating.
I guess she thought that was a suitable answer. “Why are they all so quiet? They’re silent similar to the woman who brought me food last night. She didn’t say a word. Does she speak a different language?” I ventured, biting into a huge apple she’d brought to the table.
Lily raised her eyebrow, glancing briefly at all the other people going mutely about their business. “The woman who came to leave you food doesn’t know how to speak yet, not in the way you do. That’s not part of her job.”
“What do you mean she doesn’t know how to speak?”
“You have to understand, talking is an ancient form of communication for us. We have a connective consciousness—we feel and think as one. If we wish to communicate something specific to someone, we project our thoughts to the person. If you want to share in memories then you have to be touching.”
“Is it… telepathy?” I quizzed. That would explain why all the people walking around the room never said a word to each other. They glanced at us and nodded their heads when they passed our table, but said nothing. In shock, I looked around at all the people with a new understanding of their silence. Wait—Roman. Does that mean he could hear all my thoughts in the cave? Oh my god, I’m mortified. I fantasied about him making love to me. I hope he is an exception, or I’ll never be able to face him again.
“If that’s what you want to call it.”
“Do you not have private thoughts?” I asked, getting more and more confused. Please let my thoughts remain secret.
“We have private thoughts. Not everyone is privy to your thoughts, not exactly. You project into the Connective your energy, the whole of your thoughts, whether they are positive or negative. However, you can project a specific thought to someone else if you wish to. You’ll have to be trained on how this works and how to protect yourself. However, even your internal dialogue carries energy. If it were negative, it would affect the wholeness and harmony of our community.” She paused and took a drink of her tea.
Whew. I think. “But… I haven’t noticed any telepathy or connective-y thoughts. I don’t feel that,” I considered. “Does that mean the DNA infusion didn’t work?”
“You don’t feel it because of this.” Lily stopped eating and took my hand, lifting up a long and transparent covering from the back. “This is a sensory dampener. It protects you from our over-stimulating world, and protects us from your inexperience. This is why you do not feel the Connective.”
I ran my fingers over where she pulled it up. “Has that been there the whole time?” I marveled. “I never even noticed.” It was thin and transparent—it blended with my skin perfectly. Ok, good. I think that means Roman didn’t hear my fantasies. Double whew.
“It covers your electroreceptors and tones down the sensory input from our world. Without it, your brain and nervous system would short-circuit and burn up,” she explained.
“Is that why I’ve felt so… so… odd?” And freakishly horny?
“Please explain how you have been feeling,” she requested, resuming her meal.
“I’ve experienced really conflicting emotions and mood swings. A part of me is happy to be here, almost to the point of euphoria. Then my brain and logic kick in and I argue with what I feel,” I confessed. “If that makes any sense.” Yeah, omit the horny part. TMI.
“The euphoria you feel is the Connective. The sadness is your human thinking, holding on to your past, and resisting becoming a part of our world here.”
“Well, I woke up
not even two days ago, and I am still in shock and overwhelmed from all of this. Can’t the Connective give me room to adapt?”
“This is what the dampener is for.” She grinned. “If you’re finished eating, I should take you to see Lucas, to check things out. I’m concerned about your vision. Our eyes are far more sensitive than humans’. Come, we can talk while we walk.”
Lily led me out and we walked towards the Healing Center. As we walked outside in the gardens, we passed many other people in eerie silence. It gave me chills.
We approached the pyramid on our way and I stopped in my tracks—I craned my head up, and looked at the enormous structure, towering above us. An overwhelming desire to go in clawed at my skin. A tickle of recognition and déjà vu made me shake my head. What is wrong with me?
“Can we go in?” I asked, on impulse.
“No, not yet. Only when the king and high council are ready to meet with you.”
“You have a king?”
“Yes, King Mestor,” she shared. “The King of Poseidia, King Mestor, lives in this pyramid. But we’ll save the story for another day. Come, we need to find Lucas.”
She took a few steps, but I remained cemented to the ground in front of the pyramid. Lost in what seemed a memory, but it wasn’t from my life. My imagination must have been running wild.
I slapped my face a few times. The sting brought me back to reality, and I caught up with her. “If someone had evil thoughts, you would know it?” I asked.
“One must be pure to be part of our Connective. The Connective should purge the beginning of anything dark before it has time to take root.”
“What if they aren’t pure? What if they are evil? What would happen then?” I questioned. A slight breeze gave me the chills and I wrapped my arms around myself. A sense of dread crept up and my skin broke out in goose bumps. The self-hug not enough, I warmed my arms by brushing them with my hands.
“They would have to be removed from the Connective, or they will harm all of us,” she warned.
My mouth hung open in shock. The urge to run away from these crazy people clamped itself around my throat.
As we entered the Healing Center, she gave me a short tour before we found Lucas. Near the entrance was a wing of patient rooms, and then down a long hallway was the large room I’d seen yesterday. Being here again made me anxious.
“These are the healing tanks. This is where you were for weeks. I stayed with you every day, right here.” She indicated the large tanks filled with neon-green water.
“You stayed with me?” I laid in them for weeks?
“The tanks hold a sacred formula used to regenerate our bodies. Anyone can use them if they are feeling weak, tired, or ill. If someone is injured in an attack they can stay in them until their wounds heal, if their wounds were not fatal, of course.”
We walked by the healing tanks and she pointed to the left. “Down that hallway are two rooms,” she said. “One is for bathing and healing mud pools. It’s a community room.”
“And the other?” I asked, remembering the rows of capsules containing bodies.
“You mustn’t go in yet,” she warned.
My mouth opened to admit I already had a sneak peek, but then I shut it. I didn’t want to know. Not yet, anyway.
She looked over at me and tilted her head again, pointing to the right side of the room. “Over here is a hallway leading to a locked room. I’ll show you what is inside one day, but not today. We need to find Lucas.” She took me to the same room I’d been in when I woke up. It was a distinctly uncomfortable walk back in time to when I first opened my eyes.
Lucas entered the room soon after we did. “Hello Anna, how do you feel? I heard you had an eventful day. I need to scan you to confirm you are okay after your encounter. Is that all right?” Concern for me was evident in his face and tone of voice. It warmed my heart—it had been a long time since someone genuinely cared.
“Sure.”
“Have you noticed anything unusual?” With the gadget he had earlier, he scanned me head to toes, as before.
Unusual, ha, nothing unusual at all.
“Everything looks to be okay; I’ll check your eyes next. Roman did a good job, it is fortunate he found you,” he said, typing into the device.
“Yeah, I would have died. I didn’t realize sharks are so hungry for… Mer,” I laughed. I guess I was so caught up in the Connective explanation, I forgot to ask Lily about the Mer part. Just go with it.
“It is dangerous out there for a lone Mer. You should always swim with someone,” he lectured. “Your new physiology will help you to recover faster from wounds, but they can still be fatal. Sharks are not to be feared—only respected. Humans are far more dangerous. You should also note our biochemistry is different from humans. Perhaps you are feeling the mood spikes already. Your emotions will level once you fully acclimate into our world. It should only take a few days, weeks at the most.”
“Definitely feeling it already. One minute I think I’m crazy, then I’m happy,” I admitted. Remembering the attack, a new appreciation for being safe washed over me.
“The swings are because we have more serotonin and neurotransmitters in our bodies. Your brain is not accustomed to the stimulation, and needs to work with your body to find a balance.”
“Whatever it is, I can’t say I don’t love it.” I laughed. “The euphoria—it could be addictive.” I could do without the constantly horny part, though.
“Oh, yes, it is quite different than being human.” He traded equipment and examined my eyes with a light pen. “I can fix this with a laser—I’ll be right back.”
He returned and placed large black goggles over my eyes. Lights started flashing, and after only a minute, it beeped, whatever the procedure was, now complete. It was painless, and we left soon afterward.
Lily led me back to my quarters, explaining she had to meet with the High Council. Restless, I checked the door and both glass walls to see if they were locked. They were.
My mind free to wander, I considered what I might tell the police if I were to attempt living on land again. Mermaid with psychic bumps. Great way to land in a mental hospital. Only briefly did I wonder what David was doing. My time with him was beginning to feel as though it happened a million years ago. Another lifetime. Ultimately, I fell asleep remembering Roman’s arms.
Chapter 9
The next morning, I took a long hot shower to wake up. While the water ran over me, I explored my new body. Heightened sensations were awakened with the flow of water.
Refreshed and excited for company, I paced the room while I waited for Lily. My heart leapt when the door buzzed and she walked in. The need for skin contact was so acute, I was barely able to wait for her to set down the tray of food before hugging her.
What is coming over me?
Lily didn’t seem surprised, and held me for a few moments. “Good morning,” she beamed with her arms wrapped around me. Her hand went to the back of my head and cradled it, in a motherly way.
The embrace felt as if I’d come home, a breath of fresh air in a previously dreary existence. She then touched our cheeks together, one side, and then the other, rubbing them together briefly in a circular motion.
It was almost as if I could feel her essence. A comfort, that I’d known her forever and we were reunited. Euphoria seeped through her to me.
Strangest feeling ever. It has to be the neurochemicals or neurotransmitters, whatever they call them. Or the Connective. Or both.
“We have a lot to do today. Did you sleep well?” She held out a bag to me.
“I guess so.” Not at all. “What is that for?” I looked in the bag and saw a tight suit of some kind, and some running shoes.
“To train in. The more you increase your strength and endurance, the safer for you out of the dome. Weeks of being unconscious have resulted in your body being weak and more vulnerable to predators.”
“Right, predators. I remember,” I muttered, retreating to the couch.
As I sat down, I unpacked the bag and shook out the suit to get a good look at it, running my hand over the thin silky material.
“You’ll find many of the changes to your body will be in physical strength and agility. We’ll see how strong you are and work on your weaknesses.”
“I have a lot of those.” After we ate a quick breakfast of seaweed, and hot herbal tea, I changed into the new clothes, grumbling the whole time. Lily patiently ignored me.
“Follow me, and I’ll show you to the Training Center.”
Sleeping or exploring all day was more tempting. I’d not been a fan of exercise on land, and couldn’t imagine a change of scenery would improve the prospect.
She led me outside and across a curved sidewalk, taking me by a large building and onto the field behind it. A running track surrounded the field. In the center and on the far side, several people trained with swords and knives.
“Warm up first, stretch, and then see how far you can run,” she instructed, pointing to the track.
“This won’t last long at all,” I mumbled, laughing at myself.
Feeling out of shape, I started with a slow jog, but gained speed faster than I expected. My body was able to do more than when I was human, but I tired after several laps. Stronger, but still weak and slow compared to the other Mers, who ran laps around me at high speed.
Next, we went inside the building, walking by open doorways revealing classes being held.
“We train and learn to continually adapt to the changing world,” she whispered.
“What is going on in this room?” I asked, mirroring her tone, while I pointed to the people sitting on the floor with their eyes closed.
“This is one of our meditation rooms. Everyone utilizes this space to clear their minds and stay centered. You have to learn to be free of all negative thinking and old issues before you’ll fully adapt,” she explained.
“And what are they doing over there?” I pointed to the adjacent room. A large group of people moved beautifully in unison. The form flowed flawlessly and they seemed very calm and relaxed.
“This is another form of exercise. It’s good for our bodies to keep fit and healthy. This practice is gentle—it tones and stretches. You’ll encounter many predators in the sea… and on land, you’ll need to outsmart, as you have learned.” She continued down the hallway.