“Have a good night,” I called to the aide.
“You too,” she called.
I turned and exited the room, clutching the envelope tightly against my chest. I walked down the narrow halls of the hospital, feeling like a zombie, and rode the elevator back to the ground floor. I slid into the driver’s seat of my car, closing the door behind me. I stared at the envelope. It wasn’t sealed. Mermaids were inherently curious, but something deeper drove me. I needed to know.
I opened the envelope.
Inside, I saw Cooper’s name assigned to a hospice worker and details documenting the care he could expect in the coming days.
I wasn’t the only one who was dying.
I pulled my car into my driveway and clicked off the lights. It was three o’clock in the morning. Cooper would be sleeping. I left the envelope on the seat of my car and headed down the boardwalk to the beach.
There, the lake waters lapped lazily against the shoreline. I gazed up at the moon. It hung in the sky like a gem. I pulled off my clothes. I felt detached from my movements. It was like I was watching myself from above. I took everything off and walked, naked, to the shoreline. I didn’t pause like I usually did, to let the waves kiss my toes and nothing more, but I pressed into the water. The lake was cool. I pressed forward until the waves engulfed me up to my chin. It had been nearly three hundred years since I’d transformed into what I truly was.
I dunked my head below the waves and felt the lake embrace me. It enveloped my hair, my ears, hugging me like a long-lost friend. I swam, stretching out my arms in the cool water, kicking my legs. A little more. A little more. Underwater, I opened my eyes, letting my human vision, which saw only the darkness of the deep, fade away. Slowly, my eyesight reformed into the vision of a mermaid’s. Light and color flashed so brightly that it nearly startled me. The black water crystalized into a haze of color and light. The massive lake fish swam close to me, curious to find me below the waves. The iridescent colors of their scales shimmered like rainbows.
I opened my mouth and inhaled deeply, letting the lake water filter into my lungs and with it, the oxygen that was the breath of life. The small gills behind my ears opened, and I inhaled and exhaled the water, becoming one with the lake once more.
I turned in the water then and looked at my legs. Kicking the long limbs one last time, I closed my eyes and felt the swirl of mana magic surround me. A soft caress, like my legs had been wound with a scarf, enveloped me. My legs tingled, a prickly—but not painful—feeling like electricity flooded the lower half of my body.
When I opened my eyes again, my legs were gone. In their place was my emerald-colored tail, the tips trimmed with glimmering gold.
I laughed, the sound bubbling upward. Overhead, the stars and glimmering moon looked distorted against the water’s surface, casting long shimmering streaks of silver. Wondrous.
I opened my arms wide, feeling the water surround me, then turned and dove deep, searching for the lake bottom. I’d forgotten how fast I was, my tail pushing me powerfully forward, driving me through the waves. I swam over rises and around boulders. I spotted a sunken ship in the distance, a remnant of the great war between the Europeans, now covered in algae and zebra mussels. I swam deep, the bottom of the lake calling me. There, long fingers of tall seaweed grew from the bottom of the lake. I darted around them, laughing as I passed a massive old turtle who looked surprised to see me. They, like us, had lives that spanned decades. Did he remember my kind? Was I the first mermaid he’d seen in years?
I swam toward the rocky crevice that ran just north of Chancellor. As I moved along, I saw the crevice was full of beach glass. Hundreds of shimmering pieces lay there waiting to be tossed up and washed to the rocky shoreline. There were heaps of pieces, blues, greens, purples, ambers, white, and more red than a jewelry maker could ever dream of. I swished my tail hard and passed it by, pushing out deeper into the lake, gliding toward the surface. I leapt out of the water, catapulted by my long tail. I danced with the waves, diving in and out of the water, as I moved quickly toward my destination.
It didn’t take me long to reach the island. As I neared the shore I slowed and looked, being careful to keep my body hidden under the waves. The island was quiet. It was clear that people had been there. The college had posted a sign at the head of the island declaring it theirs. There was some sort of plastic equipment shed near the sign. The brush had been mowed low. I circled the island, looking for any sign or sound of humans, but there was nothing.
Slowly, I swam toward shore. I stopped when my tail touched the rocky bottom of the lake then closed my eyes, willing myself back to human form. Again, I was treated with that same warm feeling. It didn’t take long before I felt the swish of water between my legs.
Having been human for so long, I was conscious of the fact that I was naked as I walked toward the shore. I hoped the professor and his crew hadn’t decided to camp out all night. They’d be in for quite a sight…and Alice would no doubt accuse me of throwing myself at her new mark. But there was no boat. There was no one.
When I reached the shoreline, I had to pause. It was the same place, but so many years had passed. The trees were taller, the banks eroded from so many hard winters. Taking a deep breath, I crossed the shore and walked up the narrow slope onto the island. A path to the old settlement had been cleared. It amused me to think that the scientists were following the exact path we’d used. It was almost like the island had told them where to go. I followed the path to its end.
The excavation site had been marked off. Moonlight cast enough glow that I could see opened graves which were covered with a tarp. The wind whipped across the island, chilling my skin as my wet hair dripped down my back. Shivering, I walked over to the unearthed grave and pulled the tarp back. They had uncovered two bodies.
From the way the arms were arranged, I recognized Merlilium’s body at once, her bracelet taken from her. To her side was the body of an orphaned mermaid, Kisla, who’d adored my sister. I’d laid her to rest at my sister’s side, wanting her to go into the afterlife with someone she loved. Still buried, on the other side of my sister, was Kadan.
Grief wracked me, and I fell to my knees. Tears threatened, but I drowned them. A terrible moan escaped my lips. It echoed into the night’s sky. I lay down on the earth, pressing my cheek against the dirt, imagining I was lying once more in my Kadan’s arms. I was supposed to die with them. I’d been meant to die with them. I shouldn’t have lived. I shouldn’t have survived. I dug my hands into the earth, clutching soil and grass as I moaned in heart-wrenching agony. I could die right then. I could end it all, let the last tear fall, let the spark of life leave me. I opened my eyes and looked at my sister’s skeleton. She was my younger sister, taken before she’d ever loved, or had children, or had even lived a life…much like Cooper.
I closed my eyes and listened to the waves lap onto the shore. I didn’t want to live anymore. I didn’t belong to this world. My world was long forgotten. With certainty in my heart, I knew it was time to end it.
But there was one thing I needed to do first.
I turned and kissed the earth, kissing my Kadan, then rose.
Walking back to the shore, I dove under the waves and headed toward Chancellor.
Chapter 13: Cooper
A knock on the door woke me. I hadn’t even bothered to crawl into bed. I’d crashed on Gran’s couch, too miserable to move. When I opened my eyes, waves of nausea hit me.