Kelp

While Aaron was gone, Nick asked a few questions about my tails and scales and such. Like how far I could swim, what did my skeleton look like, and what did my scales feel like. The last one was the most awkward. Touching and feeling tails was a sexual thing for merpeople. While most merpeople didn't mate for life, as we didn't have children very easily, we weren't like what humans have portrayed us as being promiscuous beings. I explained how merpeople had sex as well, much like dolphins; they weren't sure what to think about that part. When Aaron came back with the blanket, Nick and Zak stood to help me up. If I didn't change, they would put me in the tub for the time being so I could wash off the pool water.

“On three,” Nick said. I held onto Zak and Nick's wrists while Aaron held the blanket. “One, two, three.” The men hauled me out of the water and into the awaiting blanket. Quickly, I was wrapped up, but still had no legs. If Zak hadn't scooped me up I would have been on the ground. I squeaked and wrapped my arms around his neck as he carried me inside. My muscles were tense and tight as he held me, never having been out of water with my tail as well as being that close to a human. Sure I had danced and kissed a few boys while I had my legs, but this man had my entire body nearly pressed against him and I wasn't very good with lots of physical contact like Zak holding me while I had my tail.

“Are you good so far?” Zak asked as he carried me.

“Yeah,” I said, my face tucked into neck. Human smells were some of my new favorite things. The way they wore perfume or deodorant or even their natural pheromones. Zak's smell was definitely at the top of my list, making the nagging of my brain more present. His house was shiny and new, something I hadn't really seen before since I had been in a hotel the whole time I'd been with my sisters. The tub was large enough for me to sit and submerge my whole tail, thankfully. Carefully, he helped me into it and took the wet blanket before turning of the water.

“Let me know how you like the water,” he said as he adjusted it. It took a few moments before I was comfortable with the temperature. The pool was warm and left me cool without the sun heating me.

“Right there,” I said. The water ran and filled up the tub till it was full while Zak and I sat in silence. I was considered the ugly duckling of my sisters. I was small and my scales weren't the same colored and patterned oddly. The whole week in Vegas, I had been the kid sister. Boys would come and fawn over my sisters, a few glancing at me. There were boys that talked to me and tried to hit on me, but mostly I wasn't allowed to do much since it was my first time on land. I was used to being over looked, my father having so many children that I was the last thing on his mind. But if one of the children went missing, he was quick to search and find them. We weren't very many, maybe a hundred thousand in the Pacific where we mostly lived and a few thousand in the warmer seas in Europe and Asia.

“Are you feeling anything?” Zak asked as he turned the water off. I shook my head.

“No.” I was still a bit apprehensive about being around humans with my tail, but these men seemed to be a few of the nice ones. The fact that I was in trouble when I got home was at the forefront of my mind. I didn't like being in trouble. It made me feel sick to my stomach and nervous. If I didn't get home and somehow my father found me with these human men. . . I didn't want to get them in trouble too. Zak sat there quietly before getting up.

“I'm going to go change and dry off. Um. . . Just yell or something if you need one of us. Aaron and Nick are just outside of the door,” he said, looking anywhere but at me.

“Okay,” I said softly with a nod. He closed the door behind him and left me with my thoughts. It made my stomach hurt more as I worried. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, letting these men see me. It was scary because I was alone and there was no sister buffer. Anxiety ate at me as I did my best to wash the chlorine off of me. Doubt and paranoia started to slip in and mix with the other emotions, killing anything good the week on land might have given me. All the excitement and wonderment was replaced with dread and panic. I sniffled, feeling the tears well up in my eyes again. “I want to go home,” I whispered as I wiped at my face. My father could take away the chance to ever go on land again, I didn't care. This was scary when there was no one else with me that I knew. My family was back home without me and even if I was over looked and picked at about my tail and big fish eyes, I didn't care.

It was home where things were safe and good and no one would have barking dogs and strangers staring at your tail wanting to touch it. I curled in on myself and tried to lay down under the water where I felt more comfortable, but my side poked out above the water. The fresh water was helping though. I felt better with the tingling chemicals washed off my skin. While there was still a bit of residue in the tub, it was less potent than the pool. I shifted after a few minutes, sitting back up.

Times when I was stressed like I was then, made me miss my mother. She used to stroke my hair and sing me songs and I was her only child, which was a rarity for wives of Poseidon. My father had multiple wives, because we were so few and he was the most fertile of males. There were a few wives that had died though, one of them being my mother. She had big, amber eyes like mine with long flowing hair of deep turquoise, and a deep maroon tail. Ophelia was her name and she named me after a character that was ship wrecked in a play of Shakespeare's. Her mother named her and my mother always thought she was given a doomed name. It was tragically fit. Especially since she had gone on land and had drowned. When merpeople have legs, they are no longer merpeople and can drown. For one week, we are as vulnerable and weak as humans are in the water. I hadn't thought much about it till I was stuck in the tub.

When I had found about about going on land, everything else didn't matter. I got to go where my sisters went and talked about so much. To be old enough to go and experience something outside of my home had smoothed over anything else that I might have been told before.

My eyes had focused on a spot on the wall, staring it down as everything ran through my head. Vision going blurry, I had closed my eyes and let the warm water try to relax me and wash me. In the span of a few minutes I had calmed down enough to just lay there resting my eyes. A while later someone knocked softly on the door.

“Come in,” I said, opening my eyes and sitting up. Zak came in with new, dry clothes. I stayed quiet, averting my eyes to my lap and gasped. Legs! In my relaxing something happened. My tail had receded, leaving me two long, pale legs.

“Whoa,” Zak said, turning around quickly. “Okay, uh. . . I guess we just had to clean off the chlorine.” Apparently. “Here's a towel and some clothes,” he pointed to a black towel and large clothes laying on the floor he had tossed down. His reaction made me feel uncertain. Did he think I was ugly? I knew humans always had clothes on around each other, but I was so used to having no clothes that it seemed odd.

“Thank you,” I said softly. Getting up was rough. I was clumsy on legs, balancing without water was hard! Carefully, I stood and held onto the wall before stepping onto floor. A nervous hum came from me as I wrapped the towel around myself. Standing at my full height, I only came to Zak's broad shoulders.

“Are you okay?” He asked after a moment, daring to peek back at me.

“Yeah. Just getting used to legs again,” I giggled nervously.

“I'll let you get dressed and then you can come to the living room where we can figure out how to get you home,” he said, quickly turning to leave.

“Zak,” I said, making his pause.

“Yeah?” He asked, looking back at me.

“Thank you. For helping me. Everything I've ever heard about humans being around mermaids wasn't very good and. . . Thank you for not being like the stories,” I said. Zak stared at me a moment, looking confused.

“What stories?” He asked.

“Stories of humans being cruel and hurting us,” I said. “Killing us for fun or showing us like animals.” His brow furrowed, like he was trying to think of why I would even think that about him or the other men. It softened after a few seconds into almost a sad brood.

“Humans are cruel and I'm sorry that you have those stories at all, but like I promised, I won't hurt you and neither will Nick or Aaron. We're good people and I hope you can see that not all humans are like those stories,” he said.

“I know not all of you are, but. . . Thank you none the less,” I said, biting my lip as I gripped my towel.

“Well, you're welcome,” Zak said as he smiled softly. “I'll let you dress.” He turned and this time I didn't stop him as he closed the door behind him.

~::~::~::~

Zak had a mermaid in his bathtub. One that he had found in his pool. He was pretty sure that there were a few teen movies or shows made from that very scenario. After he left Viola to get dressed, he headed to the living room where Nick and Aaron were. What she had said, about the stories she was told about humans, stuck with him. It made his gut twist in a terrible way. Had she thought that about him when he had found her just a little while ago? That he or the guys would do something cruel to her? Zak shook his head as he looked over at Aaron and Nick. “She's got legs,” he said.

“You had a mermaid in your pool,” Nick said, sitting in a recliner. “A real, God honest mermaid.”

“This is weirder than ghosts,” Aaron said, scratching his neck. “This is. . . She's on the physical plane and has just blown scientists and shit out of the water. It's like catching a full body apparition and having a conversation with it while drinking tea. Do you think they have mermaid ghosts or see ship wrecked ghosts?”

“I just don't know what to think right now,” Zak sighed. “She's just a scared kid when you get down to it. She's far from home and needs help. That's what we do isn't it? We help the dead and the living, so how is helping a mythical being any different?” The guys went quiet a moment in thought. This was different from anything they had ever done. They weren't creature hunters or looked for monsters, that was Josh Gates's job, but Viola wasn't even a monster. She spoke and answered questions and was intelligent and had feelings.

“I don't know about you guys, but I've got nothing to do for a while and a road trip sounds in order to get this lil' lady home,” Aaron said.

“It shouldn't take us that long to get to California. Two days at least if we booked it,” Nick said, looking at Zak.

“You guys willing to do this? It could get sketchy,” Zak said, slipping his hands into his pants pockets.

“It's a straight shot to Cali, we get to the beach, drop her off, maybe scout some locations for a lockdown. It'll be a breeze,” Aaron said, ever the optimistic one of the group. Nick and Zak looked at each other getting a feeling it wouldn't be as easy as Aaron thought it would be.