Chapter 6
(Alysia)
I sit on the beach looking out to sea, my hand still wrapped in the human bandage Noah applied. I miss home. I want to go back, but I can’t. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know what I should do. I longed to go to land in the past, but now that I am here, I’m not so sure.
“Oof.” Mum, no, Jane says as she sits down next to me. “You alright Lys?”
I shrug, bringing my knees up to my chest “I think so…”
She nods, “Missing home?”
“Yes, very much.”
“Any family down there?”
I watch the water lapping forwards, as if stretching out to me, calling me. “My sister.” I whisper, “I’m all she has.” I turn to Jane, “I don’t know where home is. I don’t know where I am now. I’m injured, I can’t heal myself properly and I don’t know what to do anymore.” I swipe angrily at the tears that start to run down my face, annoyed with the frequency of them as of late. In the whole two ‘weeks’ as Charlie says, since I arrived, I’ve been recuperating in the Dawson’s home, mostly alone. Jane and David, her life partner, have been working, Charlie has been going to something which she calls ‘school’ and Noah… well, I’m not particularly sure.
“How about we go down to the Aquarium and see if we can at least try and find it?” Jane suggests, patting my back soothingly, “There’s bound to be some sort of sea life you recognise that’s local to a certain part and from there we could figure out some transport and drop you off, simple.”
I look at her, “You’d do that for me?”
Her lips quirk up into a gentle smile as she squeezes my shoulder, “Yes I would.” She winks at me, “You’ve grown on me, kid.”
Charlie drops down next to me with a sigh, “Look what I found.” She says, handing me some shells. I smile fondly at the discarded crustacean homes in my hands. “So I was thinking, mum.” She starts off.
Jane raises an eyebrow at her, “That never seems to lead to anything good, sweetheart.”
“Mum!” she groans in response, “It’s not about me this time.” Charlie glances at me, “I was thinking, I mean, if Lys is up to it, maybe she could start coming to school with me?”
“What exactly is school?” I ask, pushing my worries to the back of my mind. There’s nothing I can do at the moment and dwelling on sad thoughts is not going to help anyone.
Charlie draws some designs in the sand with the tip of her finger, “Well it’s basically like this place where we go to learn stuff. You know, kind of like what you guys do – those lessons on how to do things.”
In the time that I’d been here, I’d slowly told some of the ways of mermaids and my life back home. “Would I be allowed to?”
Charlie nods her head, “Yeah! We could totally say you’re an exchange student or something, get some things together, you know?” she turns to Jane, “You could probably tweak some strings mum, you work there after all.”
Jane gives me a thoughtful look before rising and brushing the sand off of her clothes, “I guess I could try if you’re up for it Lys. It would have to be a long-term commitment though. We can’t have you going for a few days and then not wanting to go.”
I shrug as I stand too, grasping Charlie’s outstretched hands as she continues to sit, waiting for someone to lift her up, “I’m happy to. But if I find a way to get back home…”
Jane laughs, “Sweetie, I’m not going to hold you back for something like school if you find out a way to get home.”
I smile in response as we start to trudge up the beach towards their home.
I’m listening to Charlie’s excited babble as she starts to plan all the things we’re going to do together when I get the feeling I’m being watched. Looking up, I see an old woman standing on the steps that lead up to the pathway on higher ground. Her hair is the colour of pearls and it rustles softly as a slight breeze picks up. Her brown eyes drill through me as she stands stock still, her expression unreadable.
“Hi Mrs Indikov.” Charlie says with a grin, following my gaze to the woman, “How have you been?”
The lady – Mrs Indikov – seems to snap out of her trance and looks to Charlie, “I’ve been better.” She grumbles, shifting the full paper bag she’s holding from one arm to the other. She glances at me, “Who’s your friend?”
Charlie grins as she pushes me forward slightly, “Lys, meet Mrs Indikov, our neighbour. Mrs Indikov, this is Alysia. Our mums were friends in Uni and she’s come to stay with us for a bit.”
She eyes me up and down, a glint of something in the back of her eyes, “Is she now.” She shifts her bag again.
“Would you like me to take that for you?” Jane offers, stepping forward.
Mrs Indikov steps back, “No, no. I’m fine thank you. I better be getting home.” And with that, she leaves without another word.
*
“You’re going to school.” Noah says in disbelief. We stand together in the kitchen, his parents at a dinner ‘par-tee’ and Charlie having a shower, “What about home? Aren’t you trying to get back?”
I take the small bowl of ice-cream from his offering hand with giddy delight. Though not all human food is to my liking, ice-cream has definitely been an exception. “Jane is going to take me to the Aquarium sometime soon, then we’re going to see if I can pinpoint a place with my knowledge of local sea-life. What’s an aquarium?”
He scoops out his own bowl of ice-cream before replacing the lid and putting it back into the freezing cold box that they call a ‘freezer’. “It’s basically a place people go to see fish and other sea animals. Kind of like a zoo.”
“Zoo?”
He sighs as he sits down at the small table near the glass wall overlooking the backyard, “Another place where you can see land animals.”
I sit next to him, now more comfortable with his presence. When we had first met, my experience with the men on the ship with the nets had scared me and despite his good looks I’d been alarmed at his brash movements to help me.
“I haven’t seen a land animal before.” I say in awe. “Are they those creatures that we saw on teeeveee?”
He nods, spooning soft sugary goodness into his perfect mouth, “Yeah, but there’s heaps more than just lions and zebras. And it’s TV, not teeeveee.” He mocks, drawing out the long syllables even more than I had.
I elbow him in the side, “You suck.”
He raises an eyebrow at me in response, “You’ve got to stop copying Charlie, Lys. She’s going to get you in a lot of trouble at this rate.”
I shrug, licking my spoon, “So what do you do at school?”
He shrugs, leaning back in his chair, his feet coming up to rest on the seat of the chair on the opposite side of the table. “You basically learn stuff so you can get a job. I don’t know how you’re going to be able to be admitted in when you’ve never had an education before.”
“Hey! I have had an education!” I retort, “My mother taught me many things and just before I got lost I was going to the equivalent of your human schools.”
Noah’s face scrunches up, “Yeah, one of those ‘how to grab a guy’ schools. How can you put up with that crap? Don’t you guys have any life outside of reproducing?”
I put my spoon down angrily, “The mermaids are a dying race. We’re a rare species to find in the ocean and if we want to stay alive, that’s all we can do. Yes, we technically don’t have a choice, but I was never against finding my one true love.”
He snorts suddenly, breaking out into laughter, “Oh wow. You guys have definitely got it bad.” He chuckles. “It’s like some crap out of Disney but worse!”
I get up abruptly, furious that he’s laughing at my race and our ways, “I may not know what this ‘Dis-nee’ is but I do know that you are making fun of us and I do not appreciate it at all.”
“Oh come on Lys, I’m just teasing.” He says, trying to placate me.
“What’s going on?”
I whirl around to see Charlie dressed in her sleepwear, drying her wet hair with a towel. “Noah is making fun of me.” I grumble, crossing my arms in an imitation of what I’ve seen her do when she’s not feeling happy.
She sighs, coming over and hitting her brother on the back of his head, “You are so insensitive sometimes, Noe.” Turning towards me, she points upwards, “The bathroom’s free if you feel like taking a bath, I’ll fill it up for you if you want.”
I nod my head, the prospect of my tail coming back making me feel better. The first time that Charlie had suggested it, I agreed just to make her happy. Imagine my surprise when my tail suddenly morphed back once I’d sat down in the large tub. My happy shrieks of laughter had brought Charlie and Jane running into the room and I had grinned happily as my tail splashed the water. Being in human form was interesting, but my mermaid form was what I felt most comfortable in. I’d spent a long time like that, closing my eyes and imagining I was back home.
*
(Noah)
I watch my fists clench and unclench on the table. I hadn’t meant to get her angry. I’d just been covering up my disbelief.
It’s been two weeks since we first found Lys and I still can’t get my head around the fact that none of us are freaking out that there’s a flipping mermaid living with us. Out of all the mythical creatures that could be real like the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot, it had to be the girliest being to ever grace story books.
I’d laughed when she started going about that true love bull shit because that’s exactly what it is, bull shit. I was horrified to hear about that whole baby-making project she’d been brainwashed into to doing. These mermaid chicks were having kids in their twenties before disappearing never to be seen again. I mean, what the heck is up with that? We live in the twenty-first century now, people are having kids closer to their thirties and they’re basically abducting their kids back into the ocean, leaving the father wondering what the hell happened. It’s not that I have anything against Lys herself, it’s just the whole think kind of irks me…
“You shouldn’t have laughed at her.” Charlie says, sitting in the seat Lys vacated just recently.
I shrug, “Don’t you find it weird though? And all those Strigmatar guys sound a bit over the top.”
My sister sighs, patting my shoulder, “You may be older than me, but you’re still as dumb as they come.”
I shoot her an annoyed look, “How is she going to get into school anyway? It’s not like she has papers or anything to give in. Heck, she’s not even a citizen! We could be arrested for harboring a stow-away.”
Charlie flicks me in the side of the head, “Oh stop being an idiot. Mum said she’d sort everything out, anyway it’s temporary. Wouldn’t you get bored if you were cooped up at home every day by yourself?” she sends me a sly look, “Wait, you already do that out of your own free will. Forget I asked.” She squeals like a stuck pig as I grab her and pull her into a headlock.
“I’ve been letting you get away with your sass for a bit too long,” I growl playfully, rubbing my knuckles against the top of her head.
She screeches a whole lot of swear words at me as she tries to struggle out of my grasp, “Let me go you big ape! I’ll tell mum and dad if you don’t stop now!”
I release her with a laugh and she sits up quickly, rubbing her sore head, “You are the worst big brother in the world.”
I raise an eyebrow, “Am I now?”
“Yes.” She says, sticking her tongue out childishly, “All my friends think you’re some protective knight in shining armor who’s hot to boot. They’re all gravely mistaken.”
“They think I’m hot?” I grin at her.
“Ew, you pedo! They’re underage. Don’t even think about it.” She scrunches up her face at me and I grab her nose.
“Oh stop it, I was joking.”
She glares at me, shoving my hand away, “Are you driving us tomorrow?”
I get up stretching my arms over my head, “Tomorrow? What’s going on tomorrow?”
“School of course.” She pulls down the bottom of my shirt, “Gross I don’t want to see your junk. Pull your pants up!”
I pull my shirt back up pointing at my stomach, “Charlie, these are called abs.” I point a bit lower, “And this is called a v-line. I can’t see ‘the boys’ anywhere so my pants are fine where they are.”
Charlie falls off the chair dramatically as she pretends to gag on her vomit, “I did not need to hear that. That was completely over the line Noah.”
I crouch down next to her, ruffling her hair, “Someday, you’re going to find a guy who has a great v-line – not as amazing as mine of course – and you’ll appreciate the fact that he wears low rise pants.”
She sends me a withering look, “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want to see you wearing them. Oh gag. I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Get out of here.” I laugh, nudging her with my foot. “Mum left some roast in the oven for you.”
She gets up glaring at me, “I don’t even think I have an appetite with the weird conversation I just had with you.”
I laugh again making my way to the living room to see what’s on TV, “I’m a great way to get onto that diet then.” I call out over my shoulder, “You’ve been looking a bit chubbier than usual.”
“Say that again and I’ll stab you with the carving knife.” She growls back at me from the kitchen.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”