Kelp

I knew I was going to get in trouble for this, skipping out on my sisters like that. Not that I cared. I had spent the entire week bored out of my mind in America's playground! It was my turn to have some fun. The music came out from the house almost pulsing the ground with the beat. If it hadn't been the only house on the dead end street, the cops would surely have been called minutes after the party had started. I looked like some of the other girls there, wild hair colors that reminded me of coral in Australia with small bodies and clothes. Chealsey and Laura were close to my side as we ran into the mess of people while cackling with laughter.

This was my first house party and I only had a few hours till I had to leave, but I was going to enjoy that little bit of time I had. Inside the music was deafening and made me fell the bass in my bones. It thumped and whumped as people bounced and danced around while drinking and smelling of their beverages. We immediately went into the sea of people and started to dance or grind or something, it was like being in a whirlpool of bodies. It was hot and exhilarating. If I had to pick my favorite part of my trip it would be right then when the people parted and I was stared down by a man that looked like he could have taken Hercules on. His dark hair was spiked into this fin and he had this dangerous smirk on his face as he sipped something from a red cup. I bit my lip before smiling and walking towards where there drinks being poured. Alcohol was a bit of a mystery to me, so when I took an offered cup, my surprise at the taste was evident.

“Strong?” A masculine said into my ear. I turned and saw it was the Hercules who'd been eyeing me.

“Very!” I shouted over the music. He smirked and sipped his own before holding it out in an offering gesture. Taking it, I smiled as I took a drink. It tasted sweet and a lot better than what I'd just had. “It's good! What is it!?”

“I don't know, but it is good!” He shouted back over the music. It didn't take long for more sips of the man's sweet ambrosia before we were on the couch. I in his lap with his hands on my hips and the drink long gone. His fingers left goosebumps on my skin as they felt me out and his tongue tasted me. We must have been there forever because when we came up for air we just stared at each other grinning. I glanced at a phone that was laying near by and saw the time. Oh no. I was late. My fell as I jumped up from the man's lap. He looked confused and possibly hurt. I yelled apologies as I ran out the back door. There was no time, I was going to be in so much trouble. People were outside around the pool and I ducked behind the plants and rocks that were all around it turning it into an oasis in the desert. Stripping, I dove and hoped no one would notice the weird girl in the corner with a sudden fish tail, the man I had been kissing forgotten all about.

~::~::~::~

It was in the middle of the day and I was panicking. I had missed the plane to Los Angels and my dad was going to be so mad. Vision of hurricanes and tsunamis flashed through my head. Gods! I was dead in the water when or if I got home. On the bottom of the pool, I laid and worried. My tail a mixture of dark maroon and shimmering green-blue scales, lay flat and lifeless as I tried to think of what to do. I couldn't just make my legs appear, after the week was up my sisters and I were mermaids again. Stuck with a tail and no legs made it hard to get across land. The chlorine water wasn't doing me any good, but it was all I had at the time. Thankfully people were drunk and didn't realize I had hid in the corner of the pool with scales sprouting.

It was quiet at least, no more music or loud people. I summoned up the courage to surface and see if there was anything around. In case of someone being around, I was quiet as I broke through the top of the water. I pushed my kelp like hair out of my face. Peeking over the edge, all I saw was trash from the party, ew. No one around.

While humans were fun to be around as a human, I had heart too many stories about them when they found mermaids to trust them as I was. I chewed on my lip, starting to panic even more and tears were threatening to fall. The amount of trouble I was in along with humans about to find me did nothing but make my anxiety worse. The glass door slid open and I ducked under the water again, swimming to the other side of the lagoon-pool. There were curves and corners to it, allowing me to duck into a pocket hidden by large fern like plants and fake boulders. When I didn't hear anyone talking, I peeked out and around to see a black and white dog sniffing around. Dogs weren't so scary; they like having their belly rubbed and to be given treats. This one seemed to be the same way. It kept sniffing around before relieving itself in a corner of the yard by the wooden fence. I moved to watch it further, but it saw me and started to bark.

It was loud and frightening to someone stuck in a place they couldn't run from, so I tucked myself back into the corner so it couldn't see me. It began to get louder and snarl instead. I whimpered softly as the door opened again, this time a human came out. "Gracie! Come here!" A man shouted. He sounded scarier than the dog. "Gracie! What are you barking at!?" I tried to pull my tail in as close as I possibly could so he couldn't see me. The dog continued to bark, scratching at the ground as it tried to get closer to me without climbing over the hill of rocks and plants that hid my pocket of pool. "What's wrong girl?" The man asked as he got closer, the sound of footsteps loud and clear on the grass. I nearly pulled myself out of the water with how much I was trying to curl up. My head and shoulders were out of the water with the rest of me under the small waves. It would be easy to see my tail, which made me hold my breath as the footsteps and barking got closer.

"Hello?" The man called. "Is anyone there?" He sounded calmer, nicer this time. I almost wanted to come out, but I stayed put, fear keeping my self preservation intact. The dog started to bark louder and more fiercely, then it climbed up the hill and saw me. I clung to the side of the pool, trying to stay as hidden as possible. "Gracie! get down! Now!" The man ordered the dog. The dog looked like it was about to jump on me, it's body low and legs shifted to get a better stance. Tears were freely rolling down my face at this point. I was so scared of what would happen that a small sob escaped my throat.

"Gracie!" The man huffed before he yanked on the dog's tail, making it turn around and climb back down. The dog whimpered as it trotted back toward the house. "Who's there?" The man asked. A hum like whimper betrayed me as the man kept talking. "I won't hurt you. My name's Zak. What's yours?" I was silent a few moment; I was caught and all I could do was hope for him to show mercy.

"Viola," I said my voice barely above a whisper.

"That's a pretty name," he said. "What are you doing back there, Viola?"

"Hiding. Your dog scared me," I sniffled. "It was really loud and looked like it'd bite me." The man chuckled a bit.

"She's not mean, I promise. Gracie just didn't know you were back there and was protecting me and her house," the man said before a pause. It sounded like he was shifting a bit. "Can you come out? I'd like to talk to you and see you at the same time, sweetie." I bit my lip as I slid out slowly. My body still pressed against the wall so he couldn't see my all the way. "Hi," he said, a smile on his face. The man was sitting on the ground, next to the pool looking relaxed and friendly. His dark hair was mussed a bit, resembling something of a fin in the middle of his head. Deep blue eyes crinkled a bit as he smiled at me, possibly trying to put me at ease.

"You promise not to hurt me?" I asked, wiping a few stray tears from my amber colored eyes.

"I promise. I don't like hurting anything as a rule," he said. The man looked nice and cute. The stories me stay wary. "How old are you?" He asked, shifting to lean closer to me.

"Fifteen," I said shyly, dipping lower into the water. It wasn't a lie. For every two human years, it was a year for mer-people. At the time I was thirty in human years. We stop aging at about sixteen or seventeen in human years. So we're forever a teen. Some look older and some look younger. I fall into the younger looking slot.

"How'd you get in here? My yard's fenced in," Zak, what a funny name, asked.

"I was at the party here last night," I said.

“You were here last night?" He asked, his face getting scrunched up. I nodded, biting my lip. "Who'd you come with?" He asked.

"I came with some girls, but they left without me," I said. Looking back, I realized my error of judgement with Chealsey and Laura, two girls I had met on the strip that were going to the house party. I trusted them too easily when they said they would let me know when it was time for me to leave and catch a ride to meet up with my sisters.

"That's not cool," Zak said. "Here, I'll help you out of the pool." He stood and offered his hand. I just stared at it. There was a picture of a cross on his finger and more writing on his wrist that seemed familiar. "Come on, we'll find you a ride home and you can call your parents to let them know you're okay."

"I. . . I can't call my parents," I said.

"Cause you don't want to get in trouble?"

"No, because my dad doesn't have a phone."

"Oh, well, maybe we can call you a cab."

"I missed my flight last night. To get home." Zak was quiet for a moment, his face in a confused frown.

"We'll figure something out. You're probably ready to get out of there and get some dry clothes on," Zak said, still holding his hand out.

"I can't," I said. He was nice, real nice, but he didn't seem to see my tail, which could be a problem. There was no real easy way to tell him and have him not laugh at me without showing him.

"Why not?" He asked, going to a knee next to the edge of the pool.

"Because," I said, moving away to flip my tail up above the water. "I don't have legs." Zak knelt there, his mouth open and his body still. I went under the water and swam from one side of the pool and back faster than any human could. My tail was brighter in the sun, making it shine and glimmer.

"You're a mermaid," Zak mumbled to himself.

"Yes," I said. He seemed to stuck.

"You're a mermaid, in my pool," he muttered.

"I am. I need to get home to the ocean, the Pacific one," I said, keeping my distance now. Zak had a dazed look about him that made me nervous.

"Okay, um. . . Just, huh, give me a second to adjust," he said as he went to both knees and then into the pool. I killed him! I dove down and pulled him back up as two more men came running out.

"Zak!" One cried as I pulled Zak back up to the surface to sputter and flail.

"Calm down and think!" I cried, his legs and arms touching my tail and body. It was weird and I didn't like it. Sure I had skin myself, but it's different from human skin. I had scales peppered over my body that were almost the color of my skin except for a splash of blue sheen.

One of the men jumped in as well to get Zak, who was flailing. I let go of him so the man could take him to the edge. The bald one on land stared at me much the same way that Zak had. "Aaron, little help!" The man in the water grunted. I wasn't helping by floating there so I swam back out of the way. "Aaron!"

"Okay!" I watched Zak sputtering as he and the other man were pulled out of the water. There were more of them and Zak hadn't taken to my tail very well, so I what did that mean for me? I was quiet, at the other side of the pool as the men talked. Their voices were softer and I couldn't hear what they were saying. Zak was the first to speak up. He was on his hands and knees looking at me. The back of my neck tingled with a sensation that told me to remember something, but my mind was going blank.

"Viola? Can you come back? I'm sorry that I did that. I didn't mean to scare you, sweet heart," he said. "Can you come back over and talk to us? These are my friend, Nick and Aaron. They're nice and I promise they won't hurt you either." It wasn't like I had any other choice. I was in a pool that was starting to make me sick from the chemicals. "Viola?" Slowly, I swam over to where Zak and his friends were. "Hi, sweetie," he said with a smile. His shirt was off showing his muscles and pictures on his body. My eyes absorbed the image as that tingling became stronger.

"Hi," I said. The men next to Zak were quiet.

"We're going to figure out how to get you home, okay?" Zak said. "This is Aaron and this is Nick." He motioned between Nick, the one who had jumped in the pool, and Aaron, the one who stayed on the grass.

"Hi," I waved to them slightly. The longer I was in the pool, the worse I felt. I felt sluggish and tired and my eyes burned a bit.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked, frowning. I shook my head as I held onto the edge. "What's wrong?"

"The pool's making me sick," I said. "There's too many chemicals. I'm not used to this kind of water."

"Well. . . Are you able to get legs?" Aaron asked. I shrugged.

"I could try," I said. “Maybe if I got out of the water I would change back to having legs.”

"Wait a second," Aaron said jumping up. "I'm gonna go grab a blanket since she's. . . You know. . . Naked." I looked down at myself and didn't feel naked.

~::~::~::~

Ghost hunting was something Zak did professionally for years. He was ready to expect the unexpected, but the girl in his pool was something he actually didn't see coming. She seemed really upset and anxious. Well, if she was there and got left by some dumb friends, he'd be upset too, but that upset? It took a few questions before it clicked. She was underage. Damn it. Some poor kid got dumped by her friends after a party. She might have gotten drunk, passed out somewhere, then woke up very confused and wet and scared. He certainly didn't care for getting in trouble with his parents and the fact that she would have upset and angry parents to go home to was cause for her to be scared.

Except something about her eyes rang a bell with him, but he wasn't quite sure what. Zak was going to figure it out, but first he had to get her out of the pool. Of course she was reluctant, any teen would be if they had to go home after a night of partying, but her reason blew his mind. He was used to being touched by unseen forces, hearing voices to questions on tapes that he had asked out loud and not gotten an answer to at the time, but the girl in his pool had a tail. A fucking tail. Zak's brain became stuck and everything he knew went out the window. Girls didn't have tails. There weren't such thing as mermaids. Just like there were no such things as ghosts.

After he fell into the pool and his mind started to work again after he was fished, heh, out, he felt embarrassed. He was the lead investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew. A bad ass that could take on demons and ghosts without hesitation and he'd just fell over at the sight of a mermaid. Not to mention it scared her. Zak would be scared too if people started falling over at a part of his body, maybe. At her mention of being sick, Zak felt bad. Viola had been in there all night around drunk people and the chemicals were making her sick the entire time. Upon closer inspection, he could see how pale she was as well as her blood shot eyes. Mermaids weren't supposed to be that pale, where they? Getting her out was the best solution. They just had to get her out.