Chapter Text
I smile as the water rushes smoothly over my tail. This is what I was made for. I'll admit land can be fun, but I'll always return to the ocean. Lyla and Sirena are still off befriending Zac, but they don’t need me.
I slow down as the loud noise of a motor slices through the water. I look up to see a boat heading towards my. I keep swimming at a slower pace, keeping an eye on the boat all the while. It continues, as if following me.
‘Nixie, you’re well below the surface; they can’t see you and they aren’t following you.’ I scold myself. I shake my head and swim much faster, torpedoing through the water. In my wake, the boat also picks up speed. Worried, I quickly turn around, speeding right past it and continuing the other way. As I near the canal, I surface and look around. The same boat is heading towards the docks. I quickly dunk under the water and press myself against a leg of one of the docks. As the boat drifts closer I can make out the voices of whoever is riding it.
“Where’d it go?”
“I don’t care anymore, just let me off.”
“Alright. You wanna walk home? Fine, get off then.” I hear footsteps above me and the boat propeller starts and the boat moves away a little. I listen to make sure the coast is clear. I try to push off, but I don’t go anywhere. I look down to see that the blue netting surrounding the leg of the dock was now wrapped around my fin. I flick my tail a few times, but it only entangles me more. I struggle to break free.
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s down there. Under the jetty,” A voice calls.
“Just leave it alone, man.” A voice replies overhead. It sounds like David. I continue my vain attempt to get free, I can’t be seen.
“Turn your boat, and get out of here,” David yells.
“Are you crazy? I'm not going anywhere.” The other voice calls back.
“You’re the one who’s crazy,” David retorts. “Don’t be stupid, you’re scaring it.” I go invisible to keep from being seen.
“What’s up?” A new voice asks. I think it’s Zac. I must be under the dock near his house.
“My idiot brother’s chased something into the canal. It’s down there,” David replies.
“What is it?” Zac asks.
“Don’t know. A dolphin maybe, we’re not sure,” David says.
“Hey Sirena, scope it out. Take a look,” The unnamed voice instructs.
Sirena’s here? That means Lyla must be too. I look around above me, trying to see either of them.
“Ignore him alright?” David says. I hear footsteps moving towards the corner of the jetty where I am.
“I can’t see it,” Zac says.
“Joe scared it with his boat. He’s been stalking it.” David explains. So that must be the other voice.
“Well, why doesn’t it take off?” Zac asks. I look down at my fin irritably.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s hurt,” David guesses.
I look up to see Sirena and Lyla leaning over the side of the dock. I turn visible and point to my tangled fin. Their eyes widen.
“I think I saw a dolphin,” Sirena says immediately.
“It can’t be!” Joe exclaims.
“I’m pretty sure it was,” Sirena insists.
“Me too. I think it’s a rare one,” Lyla says. I go invisible again. This is getting difficult. I can’t remain invisible for long, I can already feel my strength waning. That and eventually I'm going to need oxygen.
“No way! It’s way too fast,” Joe insists. I start to flicker in and out of visibility. I won’t be able to hold this for much longer.
“He’s not leaving. What if he takes a closer look?” Lyla whispers to Sirena quietly. I certainly hope he doesn’t.
“Nixie can’t stay invisible forever,” Sirena states nervously. And it’s true; I don’t think I can hold it for another two minutes. They’d better think of something quick.
“Can’t you make him go?” Lyla asks frantically.
“He won’t listen to me,” David says. I go completely visible. I can’t hold it any longer; I don’t have the strength. I tug desperately at the netting.
“Hey, hey, hey it’s still there. Dave, it’s still there. Have a look man.” Joe calls. How does he even know?
“Moron, I can’t believe I'm related to that,” David mutters.
“Jump in. If you don’t, I will,” Joe warns. No please don’t. I continue to tug at the netting.
“He’s going in,” Lyla cries. “Can’t you stop him?”
“I tried,” David protests. There’s a splash as the boy that was talking to David at the café earlier enters the water. I desperately try to go invisible, but nothing happens; my power is used up. He looks at me and his eyes widen. He scrabbles out of the water and back onto his boat.
“What? What did you see?” David asks.
“I-I gotta call someone. A scientist, a-a someone,” Joe says shakily. A few heartbeats pass.
“Hello? Marine life research facility? Yes um, there’s something you might want to see. I'm not sure what it is. What yeah. Um ok. The docks. Yeah, alright.” The boat engine start as Joe pulls his boat up beside the dock.
“What was that all about?” David inquires.
“You're never gonna believe this man, but I just saw… a-a mermaid. It was under the dock. I think its stuck,” He explains. Sirena gasps.
“A mermaid? Man, you are crazy?” David retorts.
“I swear man, check it out,” Joe replies.
“We have to get Nixie out of there,” Lyla whispers frantically.
“Yeah, but how?” Sirena asks. “They're bound to notice if we leave.” Before Lyla can reply, I hear the sound of tires, and car doors slamming shut.
“What’s going on here?” a woman asks.
“My brother claims he saw a mermaid.” David says.
“A mermaid? Kid, we have important work to do. We don’t have time for stupid jokes,” the woman snaps.
“Janice, he looks pretty shaken up, mermaid or not, there’s definitely something that he saw.” A male voice says. “It might be worth checking out.”
“I suppose you're right. Alright kid where did you see your so-called mermaid?” the woman asks.
“Under the jetty, I think it’s stuck. If you don’t believe me, look at my boat’s fish finder,” Joe says. I hear him and someone else jump onto the boat.
“I've never seen images like that before. Carl suit up, I want to take a closer look,” the woman orders. Please stay out of the water. Just a little longer, and then I'll be able to go invisible again. A few minutes later someone jumps off the dock. She’s in diving gear and her long brown hair in flowing freely behind her. She looks startled when she sees me, and her eyes drift down to my entangled tail. She surfaces.
“Carl get in here and bring those line clippers,” she instructs.
“Sure thing Janice,” the male voice replies. Janice comes back under water and swims slowly towards me. I shrink back against the jetty. There’s a splash overhead as a second diver enters the water. He’s so shocked that he almost drops the large scissors in his hands. The female diver points to me and does a bunch of weird hand motions that I believe are a form of communication. The male diver nods and inches his was towards me carefully. I struggle to break free. The diver grabs the netting and begins to cut through it. I stare at him. They're really helping me? Pressure begins to build on my lungs, as I reach the point where oxygen is necessary. I attempt to reach the surface. My efforts don’t go unnoticed either. The female diver points to me, then the surface, and does more weird motions. The male diver nods and gets faster. The scissors nick my tail and I try to pull away from the dock and the divers. The male diver struggles to keep hold of the netting.
Quickly the female diver, Janice according to the other diver, swims up to me and grabs my arms. Fear sweeps through me and I try to pull away, but she has me in a gentle but firm grip that I can’t break. She keeps me from moving and I realize that it’s so that the other diver can keep cutting. I try to keep still so that he doesn’t cut my fin off. Once she’s sure I’m not going to flail about, Janice takes her one hand off my arm and reaches into a pouch on her waist. She pulls out something small and pointy. It’s filled with a strange liquid. I don’t like the look of it. Before I can react, she quickly pushes the pointy end into my arm. I gasp and a stream of bubbles escapes my lips. It doesn’t hurt too much though. She removes the object and releases me. I start to see black spots in front of my eyes. The other diver cuts through the last piece of netting. I will my tail to propel me out of here, but it just sinks, as though someone tied a bolder to it. I feel like I'm made of stone as my fin brushes against the sandy bottom. I try to move, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I feel hands grabbing me and bringing me towards the surface, before everything goes black.
…
I watch the water. We should have gotten Nixie out of there. Now we’ve been exposed.
“We have to help her,” Sirena whispers to me.
“Just wait a minute, maybe she’s still invisible, maybe they didn’t see her,” I say, though I know I'm running on false hope. “Sirena, go find Rita, she might know what to do.” Sirena runs off. I watch as both people surface. My hopes shatter as I see a flash of orange scales just below the surface. Why doesn’t Nixie just swim off? Now I know something is wrong. The woman gets out of the water, while the other one remains.
“Well, you were right,” she confirms to Joe.
“You’re not serious?” David asks.
“I am. I won’t lie to you, this could be one of the biggest discoveries ever,” she replies.
“Are you sure it’s not just a trick?” Zac asks.
“More than positive. Look, this needs to remain confidential for now, alright?” she says, glaring at all of us.
“Alright,” David agrees.
“Fine, just keep it away from me,” Joe decides. “That’s unnatural.”
“As long as it won’t be hurt,” Zac reluctantly agrees. I ignore her demand.
“What’s going to happen to her?” I ask. “You’re going to let her go right?”
The woman shakes her head. “No, we can’t. For all we know she could be the only one of her kind. We need to take her back to the lab. I want to make sure she wasn’t injured when she got tangled in that net,” the woman explains.
“You do intend to release her later right?” Zac asks.
“We’ll see,” The woman responds. “It depends on her condition, along with some other things.” She looks at me. “You never answered me.”
“What if I don’t agree?” I challenge. She furrows her eyebrows.
“Then there will be trouble,” she growls.
“She won’t say anything,” Zac intervenes. I glare at him. “Lyla it’s not worth it,” he tells me. The woman nods, apparently satisfied.
“Where are you taking the mermaid?” David asks.
“Back to the marine lab,” she answers.
“Will we be allowed to visit? See for ourselves?” I ask.
“If you can keep this a secret, then feel free to come by anytime you like. But I'll have to ask you to clear out for now.”
“All right, come on bro I'll give you a ride to the café. You too Zacs” Joe offers.
“Thanks,” Zac replies. He turns to me. “Coming Lyla?”
“No thanks, I'm just gonna go home,” I say. I watch the boys get in the boat and drive away I turn and walk off behind Zac’s house. Once I'm out of sight, I poke my head around the side and watch. The woman rolls out a long piece of white fabric. Then they both haul an unconscious Nixie out of the water and onto the fabric. Grabbing both ends of the fabric the lift it up, so all I can see are the tips of Nixie’s fin. The load her into the large vehicle and close the doors. They talk amongst themselves, but I can’t hear what they are saying.
“Lyla!” Sirena calls quietly. I spin around so fast, I almost fall over. Sirena and Rita are walking towards me. I put a finger to my lips and motion for them to come over here. I turn back to the docks, and heartbeats later Rita and Sirena reach me.
“What’s going on Lyla?” Rita asks.
“They have Nixie,” I reply, my voice catching in my throat. I watch the two divers get into the vehicle.
“What? Who has her?” Rita demands just as the engine starts and the van starts to move. I point to the departing van.
“Them.”