Chapter 2
There are a couple perks to being a mermaid or in Dad's case, merman. For instance, there are 3 kinds of mermaids; Originals, such as Dad and I, Mermaid fairies, like Pearl and Mom, and there are Turned mermaids. Originals are people that were born into the world as mermaids and have been that way their whole life. Mermaid fairies are the same as originals with the exception of having wings.
I have personally never encountered a Turned mermaid, only some of my family members have. I wouldn't say there are few Turned mermaids, but there aren't many. Turned mermaids are normal humans that transform into mermaids when they are in the right place at the right time. These places are always very well hidden from people and even animals, as if they aren't meant to be discovered, though a small percentage of mermaids have come across at least one of them during their lifetime. My parents each being one of them. There is a specific body of water in a specific place in every continent including Antarctica,(a merman there for a scientific study found one inside a glacier in the 1900s) usually inside a cave, that is made of moon rock. When the full moon goes over the specific point, it is at its full potential, giving anyone in that body of water the gift of being a mermaid or merman.
It is said that mermaids originated from the moon and lived in the water at the moon's poles. They had gills and couldn't go to the surface because of the lack of oxygen. A huge chunk of the moon crashed into Earth thousands of year ago and the mermaids adapted from gills to lungs. Now, it is said that all mermaids that were originally from the moon are extinct. Mermaids related to them are rare, but the mermaids that came to Earth along with the piece of moon rock have all died long ago. Without the mermaids heating the water, the moon's poles have frozen and will stay that way until one of them comes to the moon. Their ability to breathe underwater remained and they gained the ability to switch from mermaid to human with contact with water.
Mermaids' scales are always the same color as their eyes, same goes for mermen. Mermen have a set of scales running across the outside of their forearm.
Mermaids, all three kinds, have a special power. Mermaids that aren't turned receive their power at the age of twelve. There are three kinds; Freeze, heat, and control water. My power is to heat water, my Dad's is to freeze it, Mom can control water, and Pearl hasn't gotten her power yet.
Did you ever wonder what Mom needed that I only could help her with? Remember when I told her that she "needed to sit or lay down"? She is a Mermaid fairy and that means she has wings. What I meant was she needed to get on the ground, considering she was flying in midair. Now you're still wondering why she needed MY help. My power can evaporate water, so why need paper towels? I evaporated the water in her skin enough to change her back to human form and "cleaned up the mess", meaning I evaporated the spilt water.
Every mermaid's transform changes his or her eye color, as well as hair color. Like I said before, my brown eyes fade into bright silver and my hair alters into an electric blue. My sister's eyes convert to a pretty orchid purple and pink magenta hair. Since my mother and sister are mermaid fairies, their wings are the color of their scales and eyes. My mother have the same color eyes as Pearl, only they are lighter and her hair shifts into light green at the top of her head that fades into a darker green to the tips of her hair. Dad has probably the most wackiest, yet stunning combination. His features in human form are curly black hair and warm brown eyes. When he is in his merman form, he has bright fiery orange hair that's darker at the tips and bright sea green eyes.
Our powers; heat, freeze, and control, originate from our brain and heart, literally. The brain controls them while our heart actually releases them throughout our body to the source of water you're effecting. The brain directs the power to the your target, which you see with your eyes. The heart has a kind of extra chamber, that holds your power until you release it. It's like a flash drive, keeping all your information captive until you plug it into your computer. The only difference, a big one too, is that your power never runs out. EVER. It may exhaust you since it connects to your energy storage, but never runs out. The only permanent way to disable your powers would be to sacrifice being a mermaid completely. I've never heard of that happening with born mermaids, maybe Turned, but never born mermaids. It would be considering disowning your heritage. Your race. Your people. What YOU are. Born mermaids automatically have the extra chamber but it doesn't activate until a child's 12th birthday. Turned mermaids' chamber develops after a week's time. After fully developing, it starts to enable. The host of this chamber, the newly Turned mermaid, will get used to using this new function in about 2 days time for average people. It could take longer or shorter depending on the person, but the average time is 2 days.
Mermaids, except Turned mermaids, are born underwater. The mother cannot give birth until she is in a body of salt water. The mother's labor pains will go away the moment she enters the salt water and the birth will be painless. The labor pain's only purpose is to inform the mother when the baby will be born. During the birth, the mother must lay her egg at the bottom of the body of water and it will hatch on it's own. The baby mermaid grows into it's regular size after it gets released from its shell. Each kind of mermaid has a specific kind of egg. The shell of an Original would have a swirled pattern, while Mermaid fairies' shell fade off from a dark shade to a lighter shade. When humans have pregnancies, their bellies grow to signify that they are carrying a child. Mermaids don't gain any weight over 3 pounds during their pregnancy. Instead of holding a body, the mermaid will be carrying the egg that hatches into the baby. The egg sits inside the same place it does for human women and comes out of the tail that only opens during birth. It is about the size a clementine with a shell the color of eggplant. Mermaids know when another mermaid is "pregnant" if they see a marking on the top her right hand. The marking is a beautiful black full moon that fades into the skin at the bottom. The marking goes away immediately after the mermaid is born. Even though the process is painless, like the powers, the birth zaps the energy from the mother. In reality, the energy is redirected to the baby.
The mermaids that have been paired up with a human have babies differently. Since the baby will have a human parent, it will be a half-mermaid. It isn't considered a kind of mermaid because will be one of the three kinds. The baby will only need the slightest drop of mermaid blood that has been passed down due to heredity in order to transform. The mermaid gene is always dominant. The only difference about half-mermaids is that their transformation will be delayed by a couple of years. So the half-mermaid will be human until past their 15th birthday. There is no determining the exact period of time or age when the half mermaid will change. Though it is a fact that the ages range from 15 to 18. Never over that. Never below.
There are two kinds of markings; the mark that symbolize a pregnancy and the mark of your "blood companion". A blood companion is basically the same thing as a "mate" for werewolves. Instead of a mate, this person was born with the same exact blood as you. It is an exact duplicate and is needed to have a baby, meaning you aren't meant to be anyone else and you can't reproduce with anyone else other than your blood companion.
Though for Turned mermaids, that is a different story. If you are a Turned mermaid, you still have a blood companion. It's because that Turned mermaid was meant to be a part of the mermaid world on way or another. At one point, that human will become a mermaid so they will feel the strong pull of their blood companion. They had a blood companion the entire time, but they won't know it until they Turn.
It is also different for half mermaids as well. It's always different for un-pure mermaids. Half mermaids change between the ages 15-18, so there is a possibility that they will meet their blood companion before or during their transformation. There are times when they meet right before the transformation. Since it is so close, the meeting will trigger the transformation to speed up, 2-3 weeks max. The half mermaid will know that the transformation is close because they will start feeling changes in their bodies about a month or so out.
The only person I've heard of was a merman and a human woman that was a good friend of my great grandfather's. It is said that when blood companions meet, their eyes flicker to their true color.
My parents have told me the story of when they met. I have always secretly loved that story and hoped it would be like that, or something similar, when I meet my blood companion. My parents would always begin saying "I remember like it was yesterday...."
-Flashback-
My dad and mom met when my dad was 18 and my mom was 19. Dad was at his friend's annual Halloween party and my mom was, sorry, is the best friend of the guy's girlfriend.(Sofia's parents:P) "I saw your mother walk in exactly 30 minutes after I had arrived. Her dark hair was flowing just over her shoulders and her eyes, green with maple leaf brown surrounding the edges, shined brightly under the dim light." my dad smiled lovingly at Mom. Mom would reply with a roll of her eyes. "Yeah right, my hair was not like that. It would not cooperate with me that day. But thank you. I am very appreciative and grateful that you think so. " She returned the smile and kissed his cheek.
-End of Flashback-
I would ask them about the so called "pull" you feel. "If you're already looking at them, then the pull won't be necessary. If neither of you are looking at each other, you feel it. You can't ignore it. It's very strong" they told me. Then I asked "But what does it feel like?" "It's different for everyone. Sometimes it's like a stirring in your gut" my dad started ,"or heart" my mom interjected. "But either way you know the second you feel it" they both smiled at me.
There have always been many pleasures in being a mermaid and I've always loved it. Every mermaid does. There are powers, a "companion meant for life", and you get to breathe underwater. What more can anyone want? Yet there are times when I do envy being a normal human being. To go to high school and have friends. To go around without feeling like your different because you are hiding something from everybody. To NOT be afraid to be near water in public. But hey, you gotta live life and live it with all it's conditions and consequences. Live while we're young!
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The sunlight seeped through my baby blue drapes, the golden light pooling into my spacious room. My eyes twitched open and found their way to the clock I set onto the nightstand last night. The green numbers blinked 8:30. "Well, a new day to settle into our new house" I thought as I jumped up to walk to the balcony.
Opening the drapes and then doors, I stepped onto the balcony. The sun was peeking over the tops of houses and above trees. The sky was stained by pink, orange, and now a light blue, resembling a gorgeous painting of colors. A complete collage of shades and the exact opposite of an ocean. Both majestic beauties of nature. A little flock of birds flew from a tree nearby, while I could hear other birds battling each other by whistling the morning tune. A sigh escaped my mouth, and I was reminded that this move won't be half bad. I turned around and walked into my new room to get ready for the day. Before I reached halfway across the room, I stopped and realized I only had 6 days before I start school. Great. Just great.
YOU ARE READING
Aquarina(mermaid graphic done by Jihan B. Jackson)
Fantasy(Sample): I opened my eyes, waiting for the transformation to happen. Less than three seconds later, the change occurred. The transformation never ceased to amaze me and as I watched it, I remembered the times when the water was salty instead of cle...
