by Aratare, X.
Not alone. Never alone, unfortunately, Gabriel responded. He could almost feel the shadow of Cthulhu’s monstrous presence in his mind.
Casillus squeezed his shoulder. I am here for you, Gabriel. I will do anything you need.
Gabriel looked out the window at Henry and, suddenly, he knew what he had to do. For now, Casillus, just stay here. Watch, but don’t let yourself be seen. I have to talk to them.
All right, Casillus agreed, even though Gabriel felt the Mer’s desire to be right by his side.
Gabriel kissed the Mer. You will be with me. It’ll be all right. I just have to take care of this.
He then quickly turned and left the bedroom. He knew that if he stayed with Casillus a moment longer he wouldn’t leave. He clattered down the steps and immediately went outside. He plastered a smile on his face. He knew that Corey would recognize it as false, but none of the others would.
“Hey, guys. Well, this is a surprise. I didn’t expect a party tonight,” Gabriel said.
Corey swung around to face him. His pudgy face was creased in distress and misery. He hadn’t wanted to bring them there. His voice was just as unhappy. “Gabe, I told them that we really weren’t up for company tonight, but—”
“But we insisted.” It was Henry who spoke. His voice was raspy and there was this strange, unnatural smile on his lips. “Well, I insisted, and that made Greta and Roger insist on coming along. They think I’m sick.”
“Aren’t you?” Gabriel found himself asking.
Another ill, slow smile crept across his pale, sweaty face. “Yes, yes, I suppose I am. It might even be fatal.”
Casillus, is there any way to help him? Gabriel found himself asking.
There was a pause, but then the Mer answered, It is said that a Caller can do so. But I do not know how and I assume that—
I don’t know either. Damn. I don’t think Henry has enough time for me to learn, Gabriel responded miserably.
Henry smiled wider, showing off teeth that had a hint of pink overlaying them. Blood. He was bleeding inside. “You’re asking your beloved about saving me. How kind of you. But you shouldn’t bother yourself with that. Some things are just inevitable.”
“How did you know what I was—was thinking?” Gabriel gasped.
Henry shrugged thin shoulders. “I just know. But really, that little bit of knowledge is not all that important.”
Gabriel stared deeply into the young man’s sickly face. His stomach fell into his feet even before he asked, “Then what is?”
“I know that you will change your mind,” Henry said, echoing Cthulhu’s words. “You will call Cthulhu to land. Johnson will have his showdown. And millions of people will die.”
The Merman: Landfall Book 5
1
NEW PLAN, SAME AS THE OLD PLAN BUT WITH GUNS
“I know that you will change your mind. You will call Cthulhu to land. Johnson will have his showdown. And millions of people will die.”
Henry’s words seemed to hang in the air like frost. Despite the heat of the summer sun, Gabriel Braven felt chilled to the bone. His best friend Corey Rudman, usually a ball of fun and energy, seemed frozen as well. Corey’s red hair and beard stood out starkly against his suddenly too pale skin. Fellow Miskatonic students Roger and Greta looked equally shocked by their friend’s words. Roger visibly tightened his hold on Greta’s shoulders. For her part, Greta stared at Henry with a mixture of worry and unease.
She turned to Gabriel and said in supposed explanation for Henry’s words, “Henry isn’t well, Gabriel. Ever since he went into the temple and was exposed to that terrible statue of Cthulhu he hasn’t been himself. He says … things. You mustn’t take offense at them.”
The temple she was referring to was an ancient glowing, blue stone structure allegedly built by mermen, Mers, to celebrate the pact they had with a local Native American tribe. The temple was in the center of the Native American settlement that had recently been unearthed by a condo developer. Miskatonic University had sent Dr. Johnson Tims, an ex-military man now turned professor of archeology, down to investigate the settlement. He had brought Greta, Roger and Henry, along with other Miskatonic students, with him.
The temple was dedicated to Cthulhu, a dread, many-tentacled and miles high monster who dwelt in the darkest depths of the ocean and defended the Mers from all enemies. Within the temple was a statue, a representation of this dark god. Henry had sequestered himself in the temple with the black stone effigy of Cthulhu. Simply being exposed to this statue had caused Henry to become dreadfully ill.
“Just because I’m dying, Greta, doesn’t mean I’m suddenly stupid or a liar,” Henry said with an angry flick of his head. “Don’t they allow a man’s dying declaration in a court of law because it’s assumed that few will lie on their deathbeds?”
“You’re not dying, Henry. You’re going to get well,” Greta said, but her voice was weak and unconvincing.
“I am dying, Greta. We all are. Well, maybe not all of us. Mers live forever,” Henry said with a pointed glance at Gabriel. At that moment, he swayed and nearly fell over.
Greta reached towards him, to steady him, crying out, “Henry!”
“Don’t touch me!” Henry twisted away from her hands and somehow kept his feet.
“Henry, let me help --”
“I need you to leave me alone!” His feverish eyes blazed for a moment before fading into dullness again.
Greta’s hands snapped back to her sides even as her gaze was anguished. “You’re not well. You need help.”
“I don’t need your help!” Henry snapped again.
“Hey, dude, Greta’s just concerned about you,” Roger said. There was an angry, almost disgusted glint in his eyes as he looked at Henry. There was evidently tension between the three of them that went deeper than just this showdown.
“She’s trying to undermine my words by suggesting that since I’m sick I’m unreliable! If you all wish to ignore what I’m saying because I’m dying that’s your problem, I suppose,” Henry said. He bared his teeth as he suddenly let out a laugh and Gabriel again saw blood on his gums. “Maybe ignoring me is the better course anyways. Maybe ignorance really is bliss. I wouldn’t know anymore. I can’t remember what it was like not to have all this knowledge in my head that just wants to spill out like puke onto the sand.”
Greta slipped out from under Roger’s protective hold and went to Henry’s side. She put a hand on his upper back. At first, he tried to shake her off, but suddenly he just slumped forward and allowed her touch. She stroked his back and, for one moment, the dark-haired young man didn’t look like a crazed zealot but a frightened little boy.
“It’s okay, Henry. It’s okay,” she said soothingly.
“Greta, I didn’t mean what I said. I …” His words broke off so he could cough into one of his hands. When he opened that hand and exposed his palm it was stained bright red with blood. Greta pulled out a tissue to clean it off.
“We need to get you to a hospital, Henry.” She looked over her shoulder at Roger for agreement, but he just shrugged as if he already knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Henry’s words confirmed that. “No hospitals, Greta!”
“Dude, you really don’t look too good,” Corey said, his brown eyes narrowing with concern.
“Just like Gabriel didn’t look good this morning at the settlement?” Henry taunted. Though Henry had not been there when Corey and Gabriel had accompanied Greta and Johnson to tour the settlement, he seemed to know about Gabriel’s earlier illness. “But while Gabriel’s weakness is merely his becoming what he always should have been, I’m—I’m changing, too, but my body can’t take it.”
A rush of surprise and unease went through Gabriel. Henry clearly knew that he was transitioning into a a merman. Ancestors on both sides of his family had been the result of Mer and human interbreeding. In Gabriel, there had finally been enough merman DNA to trigger the transition, for his body to turn into that of a Mer’s. Bein
g a Mer had many advantages: immortality, the ability to breathe underwater, and telepathic communication, to name a few. Yet it had one large disadvantage, at least for newly transitioned Mer: being on land equaled death.
Gabriel had only about a day left on land before he’d have to take to the water for years, perhaps decades. But before he left the land he still had a few things he had to do. The most important of them was to get that statue of Cthulhu out of the temple and away from humanity so it couldn’t cause more harm than it already had.
“You’re changing?” Gabriel finally asked the other young man even as he didn’t acknowledge what Henry had said about him.
Henry nodded. “Cthulhu is trying to make me into one of its servants, something that can survive underwater at great depths, but I don’t have Mer blood like you do.” Gabriel didn’t confirm or deny that statement either. Gabriel had only wanted to reveal that truth to Corey and his grandmother, but now it seemed like these students knew all about it. Henry continued, “I’m just a regular human. Or I was just a regular human. I won’t live through whatever this change is.”
He sounded almost sad, but not about the fact he was going to die, but for the fact he wasn’t going to get his chance to serve Cthulhu. That had Gabriel shuddering.
“And this change is happening just because you were in the temple with the statue?” Corey asked. “Because we were all the statue and we’re fine.”
Corey was right. Greta, and likely Roger, had been around the statue as well and they weren’t sick. Johnson Tims had also spent considerable time with it, but he wasn’t ill either. At least not physically ill. Though thinking on the professor’s obsession with Cthulhu—and with Gabriel himself—perhaps his mind wasn’t all that healthy.
Another weary smile from Henry. “No, not just that. I thought I could connect with Cthulhu like a Caller can, like Gabriel can.”
At that moment Gabriel felt Casillus’ unease spike into the stratosphere. Casillus Nerion, Prince of the Mers and Gabriel’s beloved, had been keeping out of sight in Gabriel’s bedroom and listening to the conversation over their telepathic bond. But upon hearing Henry talk about “Callers,” a purely Mer term, Casillus went tense as a bow.
“A Caller?” Gabriel asked as if he had no idea what that meant.
Henry shook his head. “Please, Gabriel, I’ve contacted Cthulhu. I know what you are and so does everyone else here. And that’s part of why the others are here in the first place. They want to make sure that Dr. Tims doesn’t find out the full truth about you and force you to use that statue to call Cthulhu to land. Yet all their plans will be for naught. You will call Cthulhu. There’s nothing to be done. It’s going to happen.”
Callers were Mers with the power to call Cthulhu into battle to protect those they cared about. But there was a catch. Cthulhu’s mere presence on land would destroy not only a Caller’s enemies, but anyone and everyone up and down the coast. Supposedly Callers needed to physically touch the statue of Cthulhu in order to bring it to land, but not Gabriel. He could do so with just a thought. Gabriel had to be careful to not even think Cthulhu’s name, because he feared the monstrous creature would use it as an excuse to come to him.
At that moment there came the soft screech of the cottage’s screen door as it opened and then a solid thunking sound as it fell shut. Gabriel spun around even though his bond with the Mer already told him who it was that was leaving the house. Casillus strode down the front porch’s steps towards them. His gills still fluttered at his sides even though they were fast disappearing as his skin dried.
“Casillus! Um, you ah—wow, you’re—you’re here, outside, where everyone can see …” Corey’s voice drifted off as the Mer stopped in front of Johnson Tims’ archeology students.
Casillus, what are you doing? You should have stayed inside! Gabriel cried over their bond. Gabriel fully turned towards the Mer as he said this.
Casillus’ long dark hair was still damp and hanging in a long silken rope down his back. The scrap of cloth that he wore loosely around his hips to identify his House and position was still plastered against his cock from their frolic in the ocean. Gabriel felt a burst of possessiveness. He fought against the urge to cover the Mer up, because he knew that urge was foolish. Casillus was his forever. No one else could ever have him. Others’ opinions of the Mer prince’s beauty were irrelevant. Only Gabriel’s appraisal meant anything to Casillus. Still, he gritted his teeth a bit as he heard Greta let out a low breath. And when he darted a glance at her, he saw her look at Casillus’ cock. She flushed deep crimson and quickly looked away, biting her lower lip.
There is no need to stay hidden any longer from these people, Gabriel, Casillus said as he put a protective arm around Gabriel’s shoulders. They already know about Mers. If Henry’s words had not alerted me to their knowledge, the expressions on their faces now confirm it. They know everything.
Gabriel swung back around to glance at the three Miskatonic students. He realized that Casillus was right. Other than a few awe-struck looks from Greta and Roger, and a sickly smile from Henry, no one looked at all surprised to see Casillus and his gills. They knew about the Mers. They believed in mermen. They were only amazed at seeing the proof of their beliefs in the flesh. He was sure that Casillus’ beauty and grace also was causing some of their awe.
Yes, but still! I don’t think they need to see you, Gabriel said.
If Henry intends to talk about Callers—about you—I will be here by your side, Casillus said firmly. His protective instincts were on high alert, and Gabriel knew that in Casillus’ place he would have done the same thing and revealed himself.
“Okay so, everyone, this is Casillus Nerion, Prince of the Mers. Casillus, this is everyone,” Gabriel said. He glanced over at Corey, who just looked back at him sheepishly. “I can tell that you all know he’s a merman, so at least that’s out of the way.”
“Can I just say that although everyone here is playing it pretty cool, I took the news about merman being real like a champ, too? I was cool as a cucumber,” Corey said with a smile as he linked his hands over his massive Buddha belly. “I was speechless for only about ten minutes or so and my jaw dropped to the floor like only once. So totally cool.”
“You were very cool, Corey,” Gabriel agreed with a laugh.
“And you, Gabriel? Are you a merman, too?” Greta turned her warm brown eyes towards him.
“You already know that I am, Greta. You saw my eyes change at the settlement,” Gabriel said. “You knew then what I was. That’s why you shielded my face from Johnson Tims and helped me get away from him.”
During his and Corey’s tour of the settlement Gabriel had started having visions of what had happened there centuries ago between the Mers and the Native American tribe they were allied with. After countless years of co-habitation and procreation, a war had broken out. The Mers and their half-Mer offspring were killed by the tribe who turned on them, but then the Native Americans themselves were killed when Cthulhu came to land and destroyed them in kind. After experiencing these visions, Gabriel’s eyes had temporarily changed from human to Mer, giving him irises and pupils much larger than a human’s. Greta had seen and recognized the change. She had then distracted Johnson Tims so that he wouldn’t see the physical change in Gabriel.
“Are you really a Caller?” Roger asked. He stood terribly still as he asked, not blinking. “Is Cthulhu real? And can you really bring it to land?”
“It’s real,” Gabriel said. “And yes, I can call it.”
Casillus tightened his hold on Gabriel’s shoulders.
“I’ve been telling them that for ages, but they didn’t believe me,” Henry got out.
“Yes, well, its hard to believe unless you’ve seen,” Gabriel said.
“If they saw Cthulhu, Gabriel, they would be dead,” Henry said. “Only you can see it and still retain your sanity and your life.”
“Gabe’s the man,” Corey said with a nod.
Greta brought her hands t
o her head. “Oh, God, we really need to talk. Really, really, really. I mean I knew that you were based on Corey and Henry told me, but to really hear it? To really know it?”
“I think we all need some beer,” Gabriel said, running a hand through his still damp hair. “Why don’t we talk out on the back porch? You guys go on in and Corey, Casillus and I will be right in after you.”
The three students started heading towards his grandmother’s cottage while Gabriel and Casillus lingered outside with Corey. His best friend was shifting guiltily from foot to foot. His guilt undoubtedly came from the fact that Corey had brought the three Miskatonic students there without letting Gabriel know he was going to do so. However, Gabriel was momentarily distracted from his best friend by hearing Greta speaking softly to Henry.
“It’s just a few steps, Henry. Roger and I will help you,” she said.
She and Roger practically carried Henry up the stairs and into the house. Gabriel thought about his own weakness when he was out of the water too long. Though he and Casillus had been swimming all afternoon and his T-shirt still clung damply to his back, his breathing already felt slightly forced. Henry wasn’t just out of breath, though. He looked drained of life.
He is dying, Casillus said simply and sadly. But his fate will seem kind if Cthulhu is called to land.
I’m not going to call it, Casillus, Gabriel said firmly. I wouldn’t do that. Even though I’ve been told twice now that I am going to change my mind—
Twice? Who else said this other than Henry? Did -- did Cthulhu speak to you? Casillus was suddenly gripping his shoulders. The Mer’s eyes looked rather wild.
Cthulhu had talked to Gabriel in a dream after Gabriel and Casillus had made love in the ocean. Like Henry had said, Cthulhu had claimed that Gabriel would call it. But Cthulhu had not allowed Gabriel to tell Casillus about the meeting when he woke. But now the stricture seemed partially gone and Gabriel was able to say, I couldn’t tell you. It wouldn’t let me, and even now it feels like my throat is being squeezed by one of its tentacles when I try to talk about it.