Becoming Mermaids

Chapter 7: So Far Away

Coquette sat in a corner of the room that she thought would make an excellent breakfast nook. Samantha was doubled over, folded in half, with her face smothered in the lower underbelly of her tail and her hair splayed out like a dead woman.

"Coffee's getting cold," Coquette said, taking a sip.

"I'm a monster," Sam moaned.

"Technicalities."

"No really! You don't know what I did to him."

Coquette perked up. "Do tell!"

Sam gave her a sour look and folded her arms as she leaned across the tail. "I'm a rapist," she said with the dry throat of sobriety. "That's what I am."

Coquette couldn't contain her amusement. "In my day, we'd say 'seductress.'"

"No, it wasn't like that!" Sam insisted, sitting up. "He was helpless. Scared. Pinned by his own body. And instead of helping him, I... I..."

"Helped yourself." Coquette blew steam from her coffee mug.

"How can you say that? What if it happened to you?"

"A lot of things have happened to me," she said, darkly.

Sam's lip stiffened. Once again, she was reminded that she really didn't know this woman.

Coquette brushed it off and said spritely, "I had an exciting night, too!"

"I don't care."

Another moment passed between them. "So then... tell me: how was Mr. Swordfish Steaks, anyway?"

"Shut up."

"It's a relevant question. Did you get what you wanted?"

"I wasn't even thinking. I just—" She squeezed her fist like she was crushing an orange.

"That bad, huh?"

"It's the tail, isn't it? It's changing me."

"I thought you said you weren't wearing the tail when it happened."

Sam thought for a moment, then groaned and crushed her forehead into the floor. "You're right. It's me!"

"There's powerful cunt magic in that jemstone. Just wait'll you start singing."

Sam remembered that the gem was still tied around her neck and yanked it off with her fist, snapping open the latch.

"Don't you dare lose that."

"Where did it come from anyway?" Sam pressed its sharp edges into her palm.

"Dunno. Coquette— French Coquette— she said there was seven of them. She and her six sisters each had one. By now they could be anywhere. The sisters drifted apart, and the last time Coquette encountered a mermaid, her sister's gem had been passed on to somebody else. That's why she gave hers to me."

"Have you ever seen a mermaid? Other than, you know?"

"Not even once. The ocean's huge. And who knows? Maybe they've been eaten by sharks."

"But you live forever..."

"It gets dull."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. They both propped up, and Coquette stood to answer it while Sam fished for blankets to hide her tail. "Wait!" she said, not soon enough.

"Well, hullo, stranger!" Coquette said, greeting Andrew. He was still completely naked. He said nothing; pushed her out of his way to quietly get his stuff. He put on his work uniform, collected his wallet and change from the floor— one coin at a time— and then briefly investigated the burst-open pants and shirt. He let them fall back on the floor.