Jessica
After my birthday swim with Myra under the ocean, my life seemed to be entangled with the mysteries of the ocean. I now looked forward to every new day, knowing that she would be there waiting for me at the Cove.
I just finished my long day of studying at North Bay, hopping onto the city bus and traveling towards the state park to where I had dreamt all day about Myra.
I hated to admit it, but I was becoming romantically attached to Myra and knew that I was going to have to let her go one day. She was a mermaid, and I was a human. Our two worlds should have never met, but I would never dismiss the experiences that she had shared with me.
Because of her, I now had a reason to live and be happy. But it came with a few life-altering changes! I stopped by the IGA and bought two salmon fillets before traveling the rest of the way to the Cove.
These days, I now only eat seafood, which had greatly confused my mother as I was her beef eater. However, after my birthday swim, I now cannot stomach the taste of beef, pork, or even bird any longer!
When I dreamed at night, it was now about swimming with her under the ocean. Being underwater was like being in the womb...it was life! I was blessed to have the honor to know a mermaid like Myra, but also felt awkward all at the same time.
The bus was empty as it arrived at the gates of the closed state park as I got off and walked down the gravel drive alone and made a sharp right turn to head to the closed off cove. Scaling the rocks, I see Myra waiting for me in the ocean. I sat down on my favorite rock as my mind was still swirling with those sad thoughts.
With my growing love for Myra, it only reminded me of my love for Joshua...and we all know how that went. I sometimes found myself crying when I returned home from school, making my mom concerned that my late evening strolls down the beach were having a negative impact on my life.
Myra gently takes my hand in her own webbed hand, comforting me as she sat beside me in the shallows.
"I do not have to be a mermaid to know that you're in pain. I just noticed that you have been feeling sad whenever we talk." she said as I glanced down at her. "What is it, my darling?"
"I'm fine!" I tried to put on a brave face, but she wasn't buying it. I then admitted my faults, asking her "H—how did you know?"
"I told you; I can sense the emotions of sea creatures." as she placed her clammy webbed hands on-top of my own warm hands. "Please, talk to me...maybe I can help you heal!"
I padded my feet as the thought of Joshua's sweet curls came back to stab me right in the heart. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I was embarrassed.
"It's nothing...I just thought this guy liked me...he certainly played me like a fiddle!"
"Fiddle?" she tilted her head, wondering if it meant anything important. "What is a fiddle?"
"Just a person that I liked, but he did not like me."
Myra then hissed, her tail flickering like an angry cat's tail. Just for a moment, I had thought I'd done some sort of mermaid taboo and had offended her. Then, she leapt onto my lap and wrapped her arms around me and hugged me, something that was universal.
"What are you...?" I asked as I tried to keep myself from being dragged into the ocean.
"Shh...it's alright!" she whispered. "It is tradition that if someone has a broken heart, we should show them love and be there for them. But then again, that is what we mermaids do for one another."
"But I am not a mermaid." I whimpered.
"You are my friend!" she softly said "My sister! And darling." She then kissed me on the forehead as I flinched, but I wasn't exactly repulsed. There was something comforting about her kiss.
It was just as tender as the kisses that my mother would give me when she tucked me into bed when I was just a child. However, something about that kiss felt different for reasons that I just did not comprehend.
Whatever was in her biology, it had made me melt into her arms. I cried all of my frustration out, tears enough to fill the sea. With the pain gone, Myra and I slowly distanced ourselves as we both seemed at odds with what 'chemically' had just happened between us.
I could not allow myself to get hurt again, so I would go to see her once per week as Myra was gone to Copalis most of the time. With the business done up north, it came time for her to head northward back to Vancouver to meet up with her friend.
When she brought it up one late afternoon, it felt like a slap in the face. I had enjoyed her company so much that I completely forgot that we lived worlds apart!
"Do you really have to go?" I asked, as it was emotionally tense. "Is the baby shark truly gone?"
"The shark had moved on about two weeks ago, Jess." She admitted, as if ashamed that she'd kept this from me. "I really want to stay around a bit longer, but I have to meet up with another one of my sisters"
"So, do you really have to leave, or is it an option?" I then selfishly asked, even though I knew it was obvious. The seasons were changing, storms will make visiting the cove dangerous to both Myra and myself.
"If I do not leave now, my friend Meara will begin to worry about me! And she will not approve of me talking to a Sur—human." she sighs, her tail remaining limp in the water, the joy replaced with solemn somber.
We both knew that it wasn't forever, yet, there was something in me that did not want Myra to go. It was like the time when a friend of mine, in the third grade, had left the school because his parents had been deployed to another state. I was depressed for over three weeks! However, this was totally different!
Myra wasn't an ordinary girl that I could meet any day at school or easily forget! Ever since I met her, all I have dreamed about was the ocean. Being set free in its vast blue, just like Myra. If there was a way to become a mermaid, I would.
"Will I ever see you again?" my voice trembled. Myra saw my distress and put both of her hands upon my shoulders.
"Jess, you are the first Surface Dweller friend I have ever made! Of course, I will come back when the waters are calmer and warmer."
"You will!" I smiled, hope springing eternal within.
"Yes!" she smiled with a gleeful nod of the head "In fact, if I survive the trek back home, I can come back here and see you anytime." Suddenly, my entire body went from feeling anxiety and depression to absolute joy. Without thinking, I hugged her.
After we both had calmed down, we both agreed that we needed a memento for our friendship. I had spent hours before our farewell, looking through the only gift shop in town, wondering what a mermaid would even want from the Surface World. It wasn't long before I found a necklace with a piece of sea glass meshed into the metal. I then added a precious moonstone and a Native American depiction of a whale's tail. I was eager to see what a mermaid's idea of a gift was as I bought two cod sandwiches for our farewell meal.
When I finally arrived at the cove, I found Myra already there, waiting on the rocks this time. She had a big grin on her face and her tail was twitching excitedly as it wagged, almost making the water froth up.
I took a seat next to Myra as we both enjoyed a hot meal of cod as I then gave my gift to Myra, hoping that she liked it. Myra looked at the necklace...it was beautiful, shiny to her sensitive eyes.
"Ah! So cute!" she chirped. She didn't even flinch when I opened the clasp and looped it carefully around her gills. What I did not know at the time was that sea glass was precious as diamonds to the Atlanteans as it was a chief component in the energy grid. And moonstone, it was a sacred mermaid stone of the Oceanid Kingdom. The honor that I presented to her had made Myra hug me deeply.
"Are you ready for your gift?" she then asked. She seemed eager, yet nervous to show me the gift that she had brought for me.
I nodded as Myra leapt back into the ocean much to my surprise. She soon came back up and took my hand and placed something silky in my palm. I looked down at the object, it was small and smooth, like a pebble, yet under the light, I could see flickering hues of pink, blue, silver and yellow.
"Woah!" was all that I could say, mesmerized.
"I knew you'd like it!" she beamed, looking at her own gift. "I knew it reminded me of you the moment I saw it."
"In what way?" I wanted to know, feeling loved. Myra closed her hands around mine, looking up into my eyes.
"It is as special and beautiful...just like you! It may look ordinary at first glance; but if you look very closely, it is beautiful and very interesting...just like the treasures of the deep. Wear it always Jess, never take it off. With my grace, it shall protect you!" I gasped, moved. Something about that line spoke to my soul.
"You think I'm...beautiful?" I say as Myra nods and smiles.
"Yes, and interesting!" She softly sent me her emotions telepathically, filling my heart with love and glee "I know you do not think that right now, but you just need to have some faith in yourself. Maybe that boy you like will one day notice you."
"Yeah." I blushed. "Thanks!"
We then hugged and said our goodbyes. My sobs sounded like a hiccupping frog as the salty tears started to roll down my plump cheeks. I couldn't see if Myra was crying too, for she had immediately jumped back into the harbor before I could see her lovely eyes.
Oh, how my life has spun into a tale of fantasy! I was in love with a mermaid!
Then I saw the tip of her silvery-blue tail dart off into the horizon until it faded away across the breakers of the wild Pacific Ocean. All that I had to remind myself of her was the precious memories that we shared, and this small gem resting in the palm of my hand.
I returned to the Cove for a week afterwards to see if Myra had changed her mind and come back. But as I telepathically searched the harbor for her unique thought-patterns, she wasn't there anymore.
With the cold wind causing me to shiver, I turned my collar towards home.
~~~
The cold of winter had quickly come and gone until the calendar had advanced to the next early summer as I went to the Cove every day, touching the water just as Myra had shown me...feeling it, testing it.
It was still very cold...so it was still far too early for her to visit these waters.
So much has already happened in the few months since Myra had gone home for the winter. My grandmother had died in her sleep, and has been buried to rest. My grades had greatly improved with a new focus on achievement. And Joshua had dumped Becca, only to hook up with another girl that same day.
Happily, my body began to flourish from the hormones as I finally started growing into my chest and went through three different sizes in just a few months. Yet, even with so much change happening all around me, I personally felt as if I was standing still.
Standing on the wind-swept beach, there was no guarantee that she would ever return to me. I was a Surface Dweller, and she was a Cascadia mermaid; we both lived in two separate worlds. I touched the gem that I had fashioned into a pedant, wearing it around my neck, keeping it close to my heart.
The Pacific was vast and dangerous! I would think about Myra's fears and wonder if a shark had eaten her, or if her parents had learned about the story behind the necklace that I had given her and banned her from ever seeing me again.
And that was why I never talked about my mermaid friend, to anyone! Not even my own mother. Mermaids can be dangerous! Take this news article from eight years ago:
Mermaids have been intertwined with the Greys Harbor County area for many years; though the loyal residents here have a different version of the story:
It was a mermaid indeed...but Mr. Amiri did not die a horrible death as depicted in the Daily World. He was taken by them, to their underwater kingdom, far under the waves of the cold North Pacific Ocean. Mermaids have been visiting these lands for centuries, taking people from the shoreline to increase their own dwindling population.
~~~
By the start of the summer solace, I was becoming more confident about my own body.
Gone was my baggy shirt and in its place was a sleeveless singlet. I continued to wear the gem necklace 24/7, carrying it close to my heart, eager to show her what I had done with it.
When I went back to the Cove, before Midsummers Eve; and once again, there was no one there waiting for me. A pang of anxiety swept through me, but I tried to rationalize it.
'She is probably late!' or 'Maybe she wasn't coming today, but tomorrow!'
I ended up waiting for her, afraid that if I left, she would show up and I would not be there to welcome her back. Three long hours of pondering upon the rocks and some sunburnt shoulders later, I was convinced that she wasn't coming back today.
For a few days afterwards, I would check the Cove, only to find that no one had shown up as I was forced to eat two fish sandwiches every time. I began to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing up. Only the gem reassured me that it wasn't a dream. I thought about leaving a note, but I quickly remembered that all the numbers and letters would be strange symbols to her.
I eventually came up with an idea. I left my old cellphone resting on my favorite 'sitting' rock, leaving it inside a Ziplock plastic bag with a few packets of silica gel. I figured that if Myra did show up, she would see it, know that I was looking for her, play with it, or even take it.
I turned on the GPS locator to track its movement, and to alert me when it leaves the rock. For a few days, I would check the Cove to swap out batteries and to see that the phone had remained undisturbed.
It sat amongst the limpets and the occasional shore crab, using it as shelter from the blazing sun. The summer then came and gone and I only paid a visit once a week to the lonely Cove. I was losing faith that Myra might ever return.
On a brisk August afternoon, I returned to the Cove with two fish sandwiches in my hand. Over the months, I had taken a liking to all types of fish. Even daring to eat raw fish...which surprisingly I found to be quite tasty...Myra would be so proud.
Looking at the spot where my cellphone had been resting...it was gone!
Excitedly, I called out Myra's name, but there was no reply. My heart quickened its pace with excitement. Could my cellphone have been stolen by some adventurous brat who had stolen it whilst exploring the Cove?
Then, a massive splash drew my gaze back to the grey harbor. A tail of blue and silver entered the Cove and darted toward me. Before I could even react, Myra leapt out of the harbor, her scales glimmering in the sunlight. A flash of silver and gold flickered in my eyes as she wrapped her arms around me.
I felt the chill of the ocean soaking into me. The scent of her salty breath wafering into my nose. My heart skipped a beat as I did not know if this moment was truly real!
"Hiya Jess!" she happily said as we rested on the rock, laughing. "I saw your phone! I knew you were somewhere...pretty clever!" I couldn't help but hug her back, not minding the cold, sea water-soaked skin and scales of her mermaid body pressed against my own warm flesh.
Yet, it was her glimmering armor that stunned me as unlike last time, she was now dressed just like a princess. She was beautiful, settling into her own maturity! Enchanting to my mortal eyes.
She looked less like a kid now, but still had the youthful enthusiasm that I remembered from last summer. For some reason, I was glad she still had the necklace that I had given her. It helped me to believe that she did not forget about me.
We talked about her underwater home, about the Queen of Cascadia who had asked about the necklace...and how she had lied about finding it somewhere in Copalis. In exchange, I spoke about my own troubles and my developments. I even got so comfortable that I confided in her about some of my deepest secrets.
"So, uhm...I am transgender. I really am not a biological girl." I said as Myra did not know what that meant.
"Oh?"
"That doesn't bother you?" I wondered. Myra, however, shook her head.
"Why should it? I like you for 'you'"
"Do you see me as a boy or as a girl?" I simplified.
"A girl of course." Myra says as I look ashamed.
"I am a boy...biologically speaking." I said, ashamed "I am sorry if I somehow deceived you, I never meant to do so! I was brutally mutilated by my dad when I was seven and have been in transition ever since." I explained as Myra was surprised, but not appalled.
"I am sorry, Jess. You've suffered already so much, and you are so young!" she commented.
"My mom and dad always wanted a girl and when I was born, I was born male. When dad was intoxicated, he cut my..." as I looked down, it wasn't easy to say "...well, to say the lease, I cannot have kids anymore." Feeling the pressure come off my shoulders, I breathed easier, leveling with her.
Surprisingly, Myra gave me a hug and smiled.
"That explains why I was having a hard time understanding your scent!" Myra says as she looks into my deep blue eyes, saddened to have to leave me so wounded.
To make matters worse, she did not come all this way to converse for months! The ocean was already too cold for her to live comfortably...she came to say farewell.
"Jess, I cannot stay here with you." her words piercing my heart "I came back to let you know that I have been called back to Cascadia. I have expectations that I must uphold for my people. And just like you, I too have a secret that I must share with you..." as she looked ashamed "...I am no ordinary mermaid, I am the princess of the Cascadia Kingdom. And because of my position, I only put you in danger."
I was shocked, but not disappointed in her. Myra gently held my face in her webbed hands as she smiled.
"I truly wish that I could take you back home with me. Though, I do not think the Queen would approve of a Surface Dweller living, unchanged, amongst us. I could not face seeing you outcast."
"It's okay, my dear friend!" I gently said to Myra, placing my hands on top of her own as she cradled my face "I know the feeling of being an outcast. I will deeply miss you, and if it was possible, I would do anything to come with you."
"There is a way I could take you with me, Jess. A way that you could become part of our society."
"What is it?" I asked, curious. Myra gave a very wide and cheeky grin.
"I could turn you into a mermaid, just like me!" I was absolutely speechless. I did not know that Myra had such abilities! And for some strange stupid reason...I was scared...Myra could feel my anxiety.
"Would it hurt?" I asked, feeling foolish for even considering!
"No, you would feel not a thing." she answered "The Soul Crystal would put you into a stasis, and then I would have to introduce the energy of the crystal gently into your body...initially, you would undergo the same metamorphosis that the Atlantean's had underwent during the fall."
I looked at the glowing gem that she had given me...never did I know that I was carrying a part of the mermaid world so close to my heart...a relic from the lost civilization of Atlantis!
"Is that even remotely possible?" I asked, not sure what to say. Myra nodded, telling me.
"In fact, all Surface Dwellers have the potential to become mermaids if their instincts for the sea are awakened. Do you still remember the day when you had changed after a strange electrical storm?" I clearly remembered that scary transformation that lasted for about a day. "The process only needs to be instigated by another mermaid or Atlantean."
"No way!" I was stunned and amazed by just how casually she had actually said it.
As for the offer, it was very tempting. I imagined myself swimming freely in the ocean with Myra, watching the many curious fish dart on by as we twirled around with our beautiful mermaid bodies, listening to the whale song, and the continuous melody of the currents.
I wanted to see Myra's home! To meet her mother, the Queen. So, I wondered what was holding me back!? The life she was offering me seemed like something out of a fairytale. And yet, at the back of my mind, I knew there had to be a catch. And turns out that I was right.
"Of course," Myra begins "I'm not allowed to do this transformation yet! Mermaids are only entrusted that power when they are a certain age, and now isn't the time."
"Then why tell me all this?" I felt the sting as I would have probably gone with Myra this day.
"I wanted to see what you would think!" she whispered as she rested her webbed hand against the gem hanging from my neck. I floated my small legs next to Myra's long tail as I sighed. However, Myra followed up, saying "Jess, when I become old enough to learn that spell, would you like to become a mermaid and leave all of this for a life at sea?"
I looked at her, surprised by her forwardness. Once more, my heart beats crazy as this choice could impact my life down the road. I looked at those bright blue eyes, swirling like a whirlpool as they invited me into the sea. Without thinking, I answered.
"Of course! I owe my life and happiness to you." I softly said to her "If it wasn't for you, I would have drowned myself!" She gave me a bright smile which sent a fuzzy sensation through my whole body.
"Trust me! You'll make a wonderful and beautiful mermaid, my darling! I just know it! Your soul is pure, and you have so much to offer my people!" With those kind words, we parted, knowing the next time that we meet, it would be the last time I will be human.
For the rest of the year, I spent every waking moment to learn everything about the sea and about Atlantis. This spark of interest had caught the attention of Poe, who was trying to earn my favor once more after ditching me...but I forgave him for my own personal reasons.
If he had not ditched me for those cocky jocks, I would have never met Myra at the Cove.
My constant travels to the beach began to worry mom as she thought I was entering an isolation period as I was not interested in making friends...I was only interested in everything aquatic.
I stood on the sand as I stared at the crashing waves as I took a deep breath, daydreaming.
'Better learn to swim...and this is a good start.' as I first taught myself to swim in the shallows of my chilly cold Cove in the summer, and then practiced my technique in the pool during the winter. I practiced every technique that Myra advised until I was ready to test my abilities and skills in the roaring Pacific.
With my wetsuit snug tightly to my body, I ran into the crashing wave, plunging under the breakers...
~~~
"Jessica!" cries out my PE teacher as she chases me down from the school's grounds as I was already heading to the bus stop to head home. "Please consider taking the swimming course! You have potential to join the Masters!"
"I do not swim in competition drill. It would not be proper of me!" I told her once again.
"Listen, the team doesn't care if your trans! We need you!" she begged me "Please, Jessica!"
"I need to go home before it gets dark!" I whined, waiting for the bus to hurry it up "I prefer to swim in the ocean where the water is 'fresher', the pool is just too chlorinated for me! It burns my eyes!"
"Please reconsider, Jessica!" The bus then pulled up as I shook my head, glancing back at my teacher, quickly saying before leaving.
"I said I am not interested! I just want to swim in the ocean! I'm sorry." I climbed onto the bus, waving my fare as I took my seat.
Quickly arriving home, I slipped on my swimming suit, glancing at my wetsuit hanging on the drying rack. As of lately, I have been conditioning myself to withstand the icy cold temperature of the ocean. It never gets any easier! Jumping into the waves stings the senses like a thousand jellyfish!
I finally reached my private Cove amongst the thrashing waters of Grays Harbor, tossing my towel and purse onto the rocks. Today, the ocean seemed wild, like a bandito wild sea horse.
The summer holidays were already upon me, including my 16th birthday!
When I was only 14 years old, I met a beautiful mermaid named Myra who had saved me from committing suicide. And when I was 15, I confessed my eternal love to her, telling her my secrets, and choosing to follow her into the ocean.
Now, only hours away from my sweet sixteen birthday, I felt like my life was about to change! Where once no confidence had dwelled in my heart, now I was a confident woman who was willing to leapt into the ocean without the fear of sharks or orcas!
Looking around to be certain that I was unseen, I then stripped off my civilian clothes. I revealed my new blue-grey spandex swimming outfit that did not restrict my movement...it was like swimming naked!
I ran into the water and dived into the deep end and dolphin kicked under the waves as I enjoyed the rhythm of the ocean that very few ever heard with their own ears. I saw a vivid flash of colors as I then stopped and looked at a massive fish swimming towards me. I panicked, frozen with terror.
'Orca!?'
[Pfft!] I heard the orca laughing at me. When the blackfish came into view, it turned out to be someone who I knew!
[Myra!] I squealed out telepathically, forgetting the danger of using telepathy.
[Jess!] She hugged me tightly as I hugged her back. I then pointed up to the surface as I was running low on oxygen. Surfacing, we continued to speak.
"Your form was amazing, Jess. At first, I thought you were another mermaid! I can tell you have been practicing!" she excitedly said as she commented on my swimming technique. It was a great honor to be complimented on swimming by a mermaid.
"I am so surprised to see you back Myra! I am so glad that you came back! Let me go to shore to give you some room." I said as we seemed to always have this understanding: Honoring the division between the land and the sea.
Myra, however, shook her head as she was glad just to see me in the water and no longer saw me between the land and the sea.
"I was hoping to find you in the water, practicing!" she comments.
"Have you learned the spell?" I asked as she shook her head. My heart sank, that meant that she had not returned because of that.
"No, I came to help you learn how to swim like a mermaid, but it seems that you have already discovered that talent for yourself. So, let's take it up a notch!" as she showed me a handful of kelp bindings.
"What are you going to use that for?" I worried as she gently laid me on my back, having me float in the harbor.
"You'll see!" she grins as she then manipulates the water, turning it into a jelly to keep me steady.
"Eww...what is this stuff?" I asked as I raised my arm and looked at the blobs of clear slime falling back into the water with a 'splat'.
"Jelly...I wanted to keep you safe while I bind your legs." she says as I look at her, terrified. "You can still swim, but mermaids do not have legs. So, will you need to learn how to retrain yourself to use your legs as only one appendage...just like a tail."
With my legs well bound...they were not coming apart unless I cut the kelp. She then 'melts' the jelly and turns it back into water as she eases me into a resting position.
"Float with gentle strokes with your hands and tail. I am about to take you under!" With a flip of her tail, we both plunged into the harbor, out of the sight of bypassing fishing boats.
I forgot to breathe as I struggled to reach the surface, but before the last bubble could escape my pale lips, Myra kissed me! She pulled the air from my lungs and gave me the ability to breathe water again -- a taste of the Atlantean curse now resided inside of me.
[Myra...!] as I inhaled and exhaled the salty ocean from my own lips.
[Breathe normally.] she said as I was stunned. I was breathing water once more, just like I did when it was my 15th birthday.
[How is this possible!?] I telepathically asked, adrift under the waves. It seemed every breath I took unlocked another secret of the deep.
[Magic!] she smiled, teasing me. [Now try your dolphin kick again.]
She coached me as I felt safe and dolphin kicked with as much force as I could. She shaped and manipulated the water around my legs until I had a false tail made of jelly. With one stroke, I spun forward, ending upside down! I was swimming like a terribly handicapped mermaid!
[Pfft!] I heard Myra giggled [Swim with grace! Now, watch me!] as she swam with gentle, yet powerful, movements. I mimicked her, swimming beside my dear friend with my jelly tail as we both swam for miles out towards the open Pacific Ocean.
With me tired out, we both returned back to the Cove as I surfaced. Both Myra and I drained the water from our lungs as she educated me.
"Now scan the shore before you reveal yourself!" she instructed me.
Seeing not a soul in sight, I then used the incoming wave to hull up onto the shore, resting in the shallows. Myra then joined me, disenchanting the jelly tail as I watched it melt away. She then cut the kelp as my legs were freed.
"That was so cool, Myra!" I relished the reveries of swimming as a mermaid "Having a tail is so amazing! Even if it was fake. Just swimming out there, feeling the ocean enveloping me and singing to me...it was just like a dream!"
'...ocean singing?' Myra contemplated the meaning of my words.
"A few more lessons and you will master the basics of your tail." Myra told me "I want to say thank you, Jess!" she says, surprising me.
"For what?" I wondered. It was me who should be saying thank you.
"For trusting me with your deepest secret. I could sense that it wasn't easy for you to say that to me! However, I was honored that you trusted me!" Myra says as I just nod my head.
"So much of my life, Myra, is an uncertainty." I begin as the words resound with her.
"I totally understand!" she replies as her business in Copalis has given back most of her memories back. "You know, I wasn't always a mermaid." I raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear that "I was once a Surface Dweller, like you! I was called Roe in my previous life."
"You mean, Roe Amiri!?" I blurt, shocked to hear that name from the half-fish woman.
"Correct! How do you know that name, Jess?" Myra asked as I explained what I had read and the short article in the Daily World.
"When I could no longer contain my transformation, that was when I switched genders and species...I forgot so much about my life on the surface...I'd still say nearly sixty percent is still missing. The ocean seems to have a way with the heart and mind!"
"If I become a mermaid too...will that also happen to me? Will I forget who I am?" My words hinted at a new fear as Myra did not have the answers. We did our best to ignore the possibilities and focused on our future, together.
"Time will only tell, Jess." She then unhooked a tiny crystal bottle from her armor satchel, handing it to me. "Here, drink this. It will help replenish the energy from your depleted crystal."
I drink the substance inside without even asking. Whatever it was, I felt the world spinning as I laid down in the shallows...losing consciousness...
"Myra...?" I murmured as she looked so distant "...I am...so tired."
Myra gently cradled my heavy head in her cold scaly lap as she hushed me, singing a strange song that lulled me even deeper into a peaceful slumber.
"I am so sorry, Jess." Myra whispered, petting my head as the drug inside the empty bottle began to modify my body.
---
Just before sunset, I stirred, awaking as my body felt like it had entered the atmosphere, crashing down to earth! I yawned, tasting a strange seaweed like flavor still in my mouth.
"Myra...?" I called out...I could sense her somewhere out there, but she wasn't responding to me.
"Myra!" I called out again, rising to my feet as tears flowed down my face "Where did you go?"
I glanced off to the west, seeing the setting sun as I knew that I better head back before the last bus departs. I took one last look to Greys Harbor, hoping she'd show herself, but not even a jumping fish broke the smooth glassy golden surface.
'I am sorry if I offended you. But thank you for teaching me! I loved it!' I grabbed my things, leaving the Cove to hurry back inland.
~~~
Day after day, I returned back to the Cove, but Myra would not show herself. I feared that I might have done sometime to offend her, but my respect for her had left me honoring her isolation.
Day after day, the hope of transforming into a mermaid had all but faded from my mind, but not my heart. I swore that if I could not become a mermaid, then I would still embrace the ocean as my own. However, the power of the gem around my neck had only intensified with magic, promising me to hold on! Then one day, something positively strange and unexpected happened to me!
I was able to stop taking my estrogen as the crystal around my neck was modifying my body to produce its own estrogen; which astonished my doctor as I was still showing signs of feminizing, yet, without the use of supplemental hormones.
With my sweet sixteen having come and gone, mom scheduled the surgery, and only a few weeks later, I was placed under the knife as they corrected the last physical anomality...making me appear completely female down there. The pain that I had to endure was horrific as I deeply regretted my decision at first; but like all wounds, they heal over time.
Not only was my body and development being influenced by the mermaid's gem, so was my art and expressions. I would spend time out on the beach painting the ocean and adding schools of tropical fish the Myra would talk about seeing around the Sandwich Islands.
Sometimes I would paint Myra's beautiful mermaid body, capturing her beauty and hiding the picture from all human eyes, as they did not deserve to see it.
Then on the day of my 17th birthday, still healing downstairs...and strictly forbidden to go swimming, I had decided to spend my special day at the place where time seemed to have been sped up: the Cove.
'Something seems odd! Like time has been flying by so quickly!' I stared at the harbor, my mind would not release the memories of both Myra and I swimming under the wind-swept waves.
I sat down on my favorite rock, pining for the ocean.
'Like the tale of the selkie -- I feel like I was living in-between worlds! Between the land and the sea.' I closed my eyes as I felt like I was drifting away. My head was supported upon a scaly cold lap as I heard a sweet voice calling out to me from beyond my subconsciousness...
~~~
"Jess, wake up, my darling!" I heard her calling my name as it felt like a had been asleep for a whole year! I glanced up, rather confused as she giggled "That swim had certainly worn you out, my love!"
"Swim?" as that felt like almost a year ago. Myra just giggled, helping me sit back up on my own.
"Rested?"
"Yeah..." I scratched my head, confused "...felt like a whole year, though!" I felt below decks, but noticed that nothing down there seemed 'amiss' of changed. In fact, I was still wearing the same spandex swimming suit.
"A dream?" as that did not seem remotely possible.
"Happy sweet 16th birthday, my darling!" Myra sang to me as she presented to me a weird-looking device.
"What is it?" as I looked at the jelly-like mold that she held in her hand.
"A piece of Atlantean technology; just like your cellphone! It is used to communicate over long distances. I would like you to have it for your birthday gift! But be warned, once it is attached..." as she showed her own device wrapped around her wrist "...it is as hard as diamond and cannot be removed! This is an important decision, my love. Once it is attached, you'll be considered Atlantean!"
"I know!" I then rolled up my sleeve, asking "Will I still be able to come with you, even if I accept this gift?"
"Yes! With this bracelet, it will help to argue your case for citizenship. But you will not be considered a 'duine' any longer with this bracelet, and must adhere only to Atlantean law, and laws and rules passed down by my mother! It is a big responsibility!" she warned me.
"Then please! I accept!"
Myra slips my hand through the jelly mold. It was a gross feeling as she placed it around my wrist and then activated the device as it vibrates, warms up and then with a painful shock that made me yelp, it hardened into a smooth, blue-white bracelet, glowing all hues of color, flowing like water. It looks more alien than human, tech.
Sitting on the rocks, Myra used my own hands as she taught me how to caste a few spells. I never truly believed in magic before, but once you understand that magic isn't something mystical, but like a science, then it makes perfect sense. It uses the natural energy in your body to manipulate the laws of nature.
"This spell is something that you can use to protect yourself from those who wish to do you harm." Spinning her hand, a flow of water was pulled from the sea as it formed a watery barrier as she then pushed her hand out and the shield of water splashed hard against the rocks.
All I could do was look mesmerized as she then had me try it as she laid her hands on my shoulder to supply me with more energy as I was not yet fully Atlantean. Making quick circles with my hand, nothing happened, much to my dismay.
"Try imagining the water forming. Nothing forms out of nothing, Jess." she says as I close my eyes and imagine myself pulling water out of Grays Harbor and forming a shimmering shield before me.
"Am I doing it right?!" I asked.
"You're doing it, darling!" Myra cheered on as I opened my eyes and saw a swirling mass of water spinning before me.
Slowly, Myra removes her hands as I control the water. My cellular vibration was now at the correct frequency as I pushed the water away, but lost control of it as it just fell into a cute waterfall, upon the rocks.
"I actually did it!" I said, overjoyed.
"Yes, you did!" she says with a smile and hugs me. "Anything I teach you; you must not use it on land unless you have no other option! Got it!" I quickly nodded, understanding her warning clearly. "Now, let's try something harder, like a summoning spell."
She glanced over at the ocean and with just her finger squeezing inward, slowly, a bubble of water came out of the harbor. She then controlled it, keeping its form as she then moved it over to me.
"Try copying what I am doing. Put all of your energy into the action and remember, you must imagine controlling this water ball or it will not work!" As I just nodded and copied her motions as she passed the water sphere to me.
I could feel it's cold nature and energy passing into my body as I focused on the ball of water. Focusing on its shape and the nature of water, I signaled for Myra to let it go. I then held onto the magical sphere as I began to lose focus as the water ball began to lose its form and then, just like popping a balloon, a torrent of salty water splashed down all over me!
Myra was laughing as I was pulling seaweed from my hair. I could not believe that I could actually do this stuff!
With lessons over for right now, we laid there upon the warm rocks, basking in the glow of our friendship. Using the sun to dry off, Myra occasionally summons water over her body like a wet blanket to keep her scales moist and saturate her gills.
Our civil friendship was coming to an end as we were elevating to an even higher level of friendship...falling madly in love.
My male instincts were taken aback by Myra's beauty. Her childhood fats had continued to melt away from her woman's features, helped by the long flowing locks of platinum blonde hair that now were reaching her flanks.
Even her body had made me jealous! She was practically a young woman and if not for that scaly slimy tail, she would be the heartthrob of any guy.
At times, I found myself just staring at Myra's body, mentally comparing her form to my own...wondering what it feels like to have a long strong scaly tail instead of legs.
Myra's behavior also underwent a dramatic change.
For one thing, she has gotten a lot closer and intimate around me. She always wanted to be hugged, touched...needing contact...something from her human past that still demanded attention from time to time.
Whenever I would be caught looking at her, she would flick her hair over her ear in a suggestive gesture! Or she would tickle me with her lacy caudal fin, teasing me. Sometimes I thought I'd see her wink out of the corner of her eye, but it was gone by the time I had actually looked.
She enchanted me!
Yet, at this point, I was unsure how she felt about me.
Were we just two close friends? Or sisters, as she said from time to time? Did her meaning of calling me darling and love, was a testament of her feelings, or something that a mermaid just said to Surface Dwellers -- like a hypnotic siren song?
With the sad evening hours approaching, off to home I went as my mind carried Myra with me everywhere I went.
Lying in bed, my hormone enriched mind would think of all the semi-naked guys that I have seen at school! I could just taste the overflowing testosterone in the pit of my mouth...it was sickening! I then thought of Myra...
'What does Myra mean to me?' I wondered.
She was beautiful, kind, and smart! But was there more to her that I liked? Then the voice in my head would come up with a convincing counter argument:
'You are biologically male...it is all but chemistry...not actual love.'
The next day, just after school, I was swimming once more in Grays Harbor, practicing my techniques with my legs bound as Myra enchanted the water to encase my legs inside a water-based mermaid's tail to give me more power in my strokes. Underwater, gifted with the ability to breathe, I glanced at her glimmering scales.
[What do mermaids like?] I asked her. She looked rather confused, asking.
[You mean as in food? Game? Pleasure?]
[I mean, do all mermaids date the opposite sex?] Myra's face turned a hue of rosy blush.
[Oh...uhm...a mating question.] she remarks as she slowed me down with her magic and we just drift there underwater. [Time to relax.]
I could sense she was taking her time to figure out how to explain mermaid sexuality to me, and if it was half as embarrassing as explaining human sexuality, this might be difficult.
[Not all mermaids date the same sex. First off, there are very few mermen, thanks to the Soul Crystal. So many mermaids take a partner with another mermaid, or an Atlantean male from one of the evolved kingdoms in the Atlantic Ocean.]
[As for procreation, two mermaids cannot form another mermaid. So, my people used to mate with Surface Dwellers in the past, but that only serves to create hybrids. Now, we just take Surface Dwellers who are drowning or lost at sea, and make them into a new generation of mermaids!]
[Oh...] I blushed, drumming my fingers against the stones upon the seafloor as we laid on the oceans bottom. [And what about you? If you do not mind me asking! I know that it is a rather personal question that you do not need to answer if you do not wish.]
Myra casually brushed a strand of floating hair that was tickling her nose just like a silvery strand of spider's silk.
[I do not really know, to be honest.] she confessed.
[What do you mean...maybe I can help!] I offer. Myra pauses to reflect on the nature of my question, before answering.
[When I was a Surface Dweller man, I did not have time to love or be loved about another! I was always obsessed with finding proof that mermaids had actually existed; even though I was originally born as a mermaid, who believed she was a duine!]
She looked at my puzzled face as she just laughed, sounding much like a dolphin, explaining.
[As a merchild, my mother has always said that I would one day make a young Atlantean very happy! That I would bring peace and stability back to our kingdom. Is it so uncommon for Surface Dwellers like us, to feel this way about the same sex, or is it just me?]
I gulped, feeling the tension thicken between us. At the time I had wanted to ask her what she felt about me, but it seemed that that moment had come and gone. But I was young and naïve, answering truthfully.
"I do not believe so!" I said, much to Myra's relief.
I quickly changed the subject, regretting ever bringing it up. Both of us departed, emotionally hurt...but unwilling to speak about our true feelings for one another as summer had ended and the cold rains of November had returned.
Myra left back for Hawaii as I focused on my schooling and practicing the magic that she had taught me. She may be gone for the winter, but I still had an obligation that I must keep. And that was when all hell had broken loose...
~~~
It was about 10am in the morning. The sun was out and I was just stirring as the mornings were becoming colder.
I looked down at my Atlantean bracelet. I remembered my mother's reactions when I came home with it on...she was as mad as a hornet! She tried over and over to remove it, but it was more of an implant...a part of me as I begged her to stop.
It wasn't until she took me to the Ocean City fire department that they tried cutting it off and the energy discharge from the device had sent a powerful EMP blast over the whole coastline.
It was agreed that no one would talk about this as this town has already seen its fair share of odd things happening. From a bloody circus murder, to odd temporal vortices. A rogue tsunami, and wipe spread die off and mutation that was all but a mystery. Then there was the incident with my friend Roe/Myra, and now this!
Mom was beside herself. I wasn't taking my hormones any longer, and yet, I was having female level hormones still being produced in my body. I was coming home with weird trinkets from the ocean, and leaving every day in the summer, coming home soaking wet!
With my interest in everything aquatic and swimming, mom began to worry...
"Darling...we need to talk." she says as I take out a piece of smoked salmon to eat for breakfast.
"About what?" I asked as she invited me to sit down.
"What is really going on with you!? You have been acting odd for the last three years! Then three months ago you came home with that thing on your wrist! God knows what it is?!" as I look at the Atlantean bracelet.
"Nothing is going on!" I spoke.
"Bull shit!" mom exclaimed, much to my surprise. She despises cussing, so she must be really mad! "You're eating fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!"
"But isn't fish good for you?" I asked, turning my mother's own ideology against her.
"In quantities, yes...but you now eat it all the time! And you refuse to eat anything else, except fish!"
"Did the doctor say that my diet of fish was hurting me?" I asked her as she bit her lip, fuming mad. Actually, since the day I started my diet of fish-only, my CBC, weight, and overall health were excellent. She looked away as I assured her.
"Mom, everything is happening according to my life! And I am finally happy. Please do not change it!" she glances at me, wishing it to be true.
On the table, I watched her cup of coffee rattle as the coffee inside vibrated. We both looked at her mug as it shook harder and then the whole house shook violently as I was thrown to the ground.
I hit my head hard against the coffee table as mother scurried over to me as she checked up on me while dragging me under the coffee table.
With each thrust of the quake, it only became stronger and more violent! I cried out, terrified as I have never been through an earthquake before.
"Just breathe, it will soon be over!" as the windows break and shatter as the house was tilted towards the ocean.
The next thing that I knew, the earth seemed to be falling as we fell with it, then rebounded as we rose. It was a violent earthquake and began to wear down the foundation of the house.
The quake went on for a staggering eight minutes as the shaking then finally stopped and I laid there on the floor crying from the pain. Mom eased me up as she looked at the nasty indentation from the hit on the table.
"My head..." I cried as I held pressure over my bleeding forehead as she hurried through the ruins of our house as she looked for a first aid kit in the kitchen. Finding it, she then returned and treated the wound with antibiotic cream and a band aid. I looked down at my injured arm, my Atlantean bracelet was all lit up red!
"Why is that lit up like that!?" she wonders as I shake my head slowly.
"I do not know."
The sound of seabirds then fills the air as I slowly rise and stumble outside to see a storm of birds flying inland. My eyes looked out to the ocean as the tide seemed to be going out rapidly...on the crest was a wall of water as mother held onto me tight.
"Dear God!" she cried out as I looked at the tsunami growing in size as it approached the shoreline.
It was already too late to run...so we were frozen with fear as we watched the wave come upon the shore as my life's hopes seem to all fade away as I was so close to joining Myra...and now the ocean comes to invade my home!
With an eruption of salty spray, the wave swallowed the beach as it must be at least sixty feet high!
"I love you mom!" I cried as she holds me tight as we wait for death to take us.
With the earth was now vibrating from the approaching wave; I watched my death approach as instinct then had me hold out my hand as I imagined a golden bubble of air protecting us as I free-flow my other hand as the water slams into an invisible wall of energy.
Swirling air added strength to the bubble as mother then released me as I continued to pour my energy into the spell that I was performing to just save our lives. She was in shock as the house around us was totally obliterated and swept away inland. Yet we were both standing in a whirlwind of swirling water as she bravely touched the magical shield and felt the icy cold-water flow freely around us.
With the sea-level lowering, the reverse current now carried all of the debris back to sea. I began to weaken as I saw a new dune high above the flood and looked over at mom.
"We need to get to that dune!" as I moved the shield and we walked over soaked, waterlogged earth and debris as my energy was rapidly failing.
We began climbing the dune as I then lost control and the shield dropped, but we were now high enough to make it to safety. I lost consciousness as I remembered falling into the arms of mother, losing all awareness.
~~~
I awake in a hotel, in Ocean Shores. The city was obliterated once more, but the hotels mostly survived thanks to the new construction efforts.
"Where are we?" I mumbled.
"Ocean Shores, in a Red Cross house until I can get someone to rebuild our home." she said as I slowly got off the bed and saw that I was hooked to IVs and monitors.
"What happened?" I wondered as mom looked at me...scared of me.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." she said as I then remembered the wave and using my powers that Myra had shown me. "It is about time to be honest with me, sweetie! What is going on with you!?" she asked as I looked over at her...no sense in lying to her now...she knows everything. But I promised Myra that I would not tell anyone about the mermaids.
"Over the years, I have become bonded to the ocean." I told her "I think it has something to do with that electrical storm." I then showed her the device on my wrist "This is what saved our lives! Atlantean technology."
"Atlantean? As in Atlantis!?" mom says, not believing it.
"That is why I never said anything! I knew you would not believe it then. So why believe me now?" I say, bitter...I just saved her life and she was being rude!
Mom looks down at the floor as she looks ashamed.
"Maybe we should leave the ocean...for your sake! We have nothing left here."
"I cannot leave the ocean, mom! I need the ocean to survive!" I walked over to her, looking outside to the muddy Pacific "If I leave, it will most certainly kill me!"
"But why!" she shouts.
"Because I am becoming a mermaid!" I shouted back and looked hurt.
Mother was stunned, speechless! I looked away as I could not believe that I was that stupid to say something so revealing and secret! Mom sinks on the bed as she looked lost in disbelief.
"If I leave the ocean, mother! I will fade away. I already accepted my fate!"
"How did this happen?" she cried.
I sat beside her as I really would like to know that too; but the truth was quite obvious! I wrapped my arm around her, cuddling with her, trying to assure her that it would be alright.
"Mom..." I softly said to her "...I feel in love."
"Love?" she whispered, stunned.
"Yes...with a mermaid."