At Mermaid Cove, we're used to hearing the howls of werewolves; it's not uncommon for them to climb to the top of the coastal rock to call to the moon.
But on Halloween, thirteen of them stood atop the salty and barnacle-encrusted stone, yowling to the lights above. So I surfaced in the tide pools to get a good look.
The werewolves treat the tide pool like a fairy circle of sorts, respecting our existence in their violent world, but only within Mermaid Cove's tight boundaries. They know about us mermaids, as we know about them.
In return for their quiet yet disgruntled acceptance, I've never made much of a fuss when I surface to watch them transform. That's why I think they howl atop the coastal rock; they're asking the moon to relieve them of their canine body.
But none of the thirteen werewolves currently howling are shifting back to their human self; their cries fall on nothingness.
Then at last they unify their staggered calls, so they echo a single, burrowing howl into the distant night.
Mermaid-witch Cello surfaces next to me, tilting her ear to the starlit sky.
I tell her, "They won't transform."
"I know," she says. "I grew tired of them taking turns coming here, every night, mocking us with their shapeshifting powers..."
"Mocking us?" I repeat, baffled.
"Transforming on top of that rock," she replies, gesturing, "while we're stuck in the water!"
"I don't mind living in the sea," I say.
"Well," she says, "I do, and I didn't need these yappers ruining it today. So just this Halloween, I closed the Ley-line along the shore."
Again they howl in unity.
♦️
First draft: October 18
Word count: 280 (w/o A/N)
Inspiration from: Halloween Vault contest, "Bite Size Stories," located here:
https://my.w.tt/IOyLZW1S9Q
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Oktober Mermaids
Short StoryHalloween Vault Winner | Frightmare Fest Winner | Mermaids and sirens, as well as other ghostly and ghastly terrors, gather together in celebration of the Halloween Vault and Frightmare Fest contests and prompts. Completed. #1 Oktober | October 18 |...
