Leaking Skies - Book One

Winter Wonderland

Maria went to the backyard where Giulia and Luca were feeding some goats Alex had in a field. He had all sorts of animals like it was a sanctuary for them. Lions, Tigers, snow leopards, cows, sheep, horses and more. "He may be a traitor, but he has some specialties." Maria said to herself as she walked over to Luca and Giulia giggling and Laughing over the goats. "They're so cute!" Giulia giggled, "What are you two doing?" Maria asked, "We're just feeding the animals. Would you like to help?" Luca asked, "Yes." Maria said in her plainly usual self as she grabbed some bags and walked over to the other animals. Alberto walked out the house and sat on the front steps looking at the snowy-white sky. He sighed and held his head in his hands, "So stupid." He said to himself, "Something wrong, Alberto?" Simon asked, "Oh, uh, n-no, it's nothing." Alberto said standing up and walking over to him and Alex, "Do you guys need any help?" Asked Alberto, "No, but you can help Giulia and Luca with taking care of the animals I have in the backyard." Alex said pointing to the path to the backyard, "Okay." Alberto said walking to the back, "Is there something you want to say?" Alex asked looking at Alberto with curiosity, "Um, well, I might've said something to upset Maria." Alberto said,

"What was it?" Simon asked,

"Alex, in what way is 'love' different to you and your kind? Besides the human kind of love." Alberto asked,

"Oh... Um... Well, it's a bit more complicated..." Alex said rubbing the back of his head, "There's different ways I can't really explain very well, but I'll try my best." He said,

"Maria said something about not singing to me to get me to fall in love with her- w-which I'm not! I just... was curious." Alberto said, "The Siren Song? Yeah, it's how we hypnotize our prey to fall in a deep love spell, its how we hunt them. But you just said she didn't sing to you. Hmm, That kind of love is different from ours." Said Alex,

"What's is love like with you guys?" Alberto asked,

"Well, its more of a winning a war kind of love. To see which sex is strong enough to 'own' their spouse." Alex said,

"What does that mean?" Alberto asked,

"Well... let's say a male wants to marry the female and the female doesn't want to. They have to... um... try to dominate one another to win their choice. If the male wins, he gets to marry the spouse and have a family with her, if the female wins, she gets to decline the marriage proposal and find a spouse of her own." Alex explained,

"Does the male win?" Alberto asked,

"No. Not really. In the water, the females are the dominate species." Alex said,

"Oh..." Alberto said looking down, "Is... That why they're upset with you?" He asked.

Alex sighed, "No... That's not why. When mating season comes around for us merfolk, we males have to provide the females with children for our generation to continue to grow. Since I'm the last male and can't transform anymore, I can't help my people. That's why they're upset with me. Because I abandoned them. I left them for dead. With no males to provide children, they're population is decreasing." Alex said looking down in regret and sadness,

"But, isn't there a way for them to have kids?" Simon asked,

"Yes, it's what you humans call 'transgender.' We have a pool next to the lake that transforms females to males. But the water is damaged. They can't turn." Alex said.

"I might be able to help with that. we could use some of your items to clean out the toxins in the pool. Like a restart pointer." Simon said,

"But, what if it doesn't work?" Alex said with worry,

"We have to try. For the survival of your people." Simon said "I'll get some chemicals and start working, Alberto, see if you can get me a bucket and fill it with the pool water so I can test the effects."