So many humans seem to love their fairy tales more than their own world. They wish yourselves back to the days of knights and princesses, dragons and mermaids….
Well, this mermaid is happy to have progressed beyond that. I for one am delighted with the opportunities these modern times give. I’ve learned so much…
Are you the Beowulf who took on Breca in a swimming match on the open sea?”
The festive hall quieted. Unferth, that envious rat, who had remained silent throughout the hero’s introduction, now sought to sow discord. Beowulf’s boasts had convinced King Hrothgar, and everyone else in the mead hall, that he’d be
Gentle waves brushed against the rocks of the southern California beach, the sun dipping into the ocean. Seagulls chattered as they pecked over scraps of food left on the empty beach.
Mariana jogged down the worn boardwalk, her bare feet stinging from the fading heat of the day. Glancing over her shoulder,
I rap my knuckles on the bucket of fish to get Delphine’s attention. My muscles tense as I scan the rippling surface.
She pops up next to me, sending a wave sloshing onto the slick surface beside the pool. Delphine’s grin reveals double rows of sharp teeth. She chitters. “G’day, Charlie.”
My insides quiver
The world swayed around me like the ocean waves, but I couldn’t feel the water’s calming caress. Pain pounded in my left temple. My eyes refused to focus. I tried to swim, yet I couldn’t lower my arms from over my head. And my tail… where was my tail?
I wiggled my toes…
I was feeding the fish in my garden this morning when my left arm went numb. Then my legs crumpled underneath me, and I collapsed by the koi pond. I couldn’t catch my breath. Am I dying? Frantic, I started thrashing around—and slapped myself in the face with what used to be
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Diving for corpses was not Belyan’s ideal profession, but someone had to do it. She shivered as cold, merciless currents swept past, dragging snarls of seaweed and chipped clamshells along with them.
Before her, two gleaming shapes curled through the water, light glowing from their sleek bodies. The presence of Ursu and Laur
Waves sloshed below the old man as he sat at the pier’s edge, waiting. A face emerged from the sea, her hair as white as the foam on the wave crests.
“It is good to see you, Mr. Crispin. You have the boot?”
Puzzled as he always was during these exchanges, Crispin held it out.
We have eyes on the fish. Repeat, we have eyes on the fish.” Haddie Underwood whispered into her wand. Her dark sunglasses tempered the fierce sun, and—mercy—she was sweating something awful underneath her black trench coat.
But today she was a spy and had to dress the part.
“Firstly,
Askos looked too quiet to be the home of a murderer. Perched on a shady hill overlooking the nestled cottages, Tula unrolled her seaweed parchment and gripped her squid-ink quill. Below her, a man sat by a stream fishing, a broad-rimmed hat sloped over his eyes. Humans harvest fish in fresh water, she wrote,
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She will not listen to you. The sea witch’s warning rings in my mind as I ride a wave up to the ship floating like an empty snail shell. They’ve dropped anchor, and the royal vessel crests wave after gentle wave. Ornate sconces cast a warm, cheery glow across the bright blue streamers
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Galia stared down at the cold waves tickling her bare toes and clutched Odessi’s hand. They stood alone on the beach, waiting. Finally, after fifteen years, the Change approached—they would trade their human legs and lives for tails and near-immortality.
Lightning crackled through the dark-blue sky. The fine hairs on Galia’s arms rose.
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