Lying on the sea bed, I was looking up to the sky and watching a school of fish swim through my line of vision. Stretching out my body, I inhale the water and hold my breath for a minute before exhaling loudly. Sitting up, a puff of sand clouds the water around me I can barely see my tail through the murk. Shuffling the sand from my body, I push up of the ground with my tail and move swiftly through the fish that dodge me and breach the surface of the reef. Taking a breath of air into my system I feel instantly lighter and bubblier. Grabbing onto the side of the rusted boat, I use the strength in my arms and heave myself from the water and onto the top of the boat. Shuffling my tail back, I roll it onto the moldy towel and begin to wiggle myself dry.
It's quite a interesting transformation becoming a human, first few times the change is beyond painful which most mer-people decide to never attempt the transition again. It starts from the hips and slowly it drags down the tail which slowly melt into human legs, what once was a dark green color of a tail slowly melts into two light brown legs. My family taught me how to transition since I was a little over ten years old which meant I'd been changing into a human for over 165,000 years. Again a trail specific to mer-people was our aging, we were slow growers and we live for long periods of time. Standing up with my legs, I grab the side of the boat and groan as I stretch my legs. Walking into the cabin of the house, I grab a robe off the bed and slip my hand through it and tie it around my frame.
"Quinn!" the gruff voice of brother hollers from the sea, walking back to the deck I scan the waters for him.
I see him easily, his brown hair tied in knots on the back of head are sleeked back as he pushes forward in the water to my boat. His brown skin too creating a monochromatic look about him glistening from the sun, he was only twenty five thousand years older than me but acted as if he was two hundred thousand.
"Sam" I say, stepping to the latter he will pull himself upon.
"Did you forget what today is?" he asks me, I pull my brow together and extend my hand to help him from the water.
Smacking it away he heaves his body onto my boat, pulling his yellow tail onto the mouldy towel. Extending his arm over his tail, I watch as he concentrates on the water on his body envisioning its evaporation. Much like water and fire meeting, his tail begins to sizzle and his body reacts as he too begins to shift. Looking away as he stands, I go and retrieve him another robe to hide his body.
"And no I did not forget that today is the one hundred thousand anniversary of the war against the shallows" I say, sitting down on the rotten wood seats at the bow of the boat.
"Prince Drogo shall want your attendance" he replies, sitting opposite me.
"So I can congratulate a man who killed the dwindling population of our species?" I reply.
"Quinn" he sighs.
"You were to be married to him for over fifteen thousand years you are of importance to the King and Queen" Sam says, I roll my eyes at my brother.
"Just because I was picked from the draw when the arrange marriage between Drogo and Undine failed due to her being eaten does not mean I am in any sense royalty or wish to be" I remind him.
"The King seeks a re-engagement and has ordered a compulsory attendance to the celebrations this year" Sam says.
"This is of news to me, Drogo and I have been separated since I turned 120,000 I don't see why he would think that we would reconcile our differences" I reply.
"The King is fearful that if we don't make peace with the shallows and deep kingdoms there will another war and by infusing our bloodline with the royals it may be the start of a peace" Sam replies.
"So you are telling me because we are of mixed Reef and Shallow Kingdoms I will be forced to marry a barnacle?" I demand.
Looking me in the eyes, I watch as Sam's crystal eyes harden and stare into mine "Yes"
"No!" I demand, standing up in anger.
"Yes, it is already agreed to" Sam replies.
"Then I will simply stay on land" I threaten.
"And waste mer-life that you care for so much, don't be silly Quinn you won't kill yourself" he says.
"No, but I will hide on land unlike you brother I can settle into the human world quite easily" I reply.
"Yes but you are considered a wild card Quinn, the King has guards all around his place and watching over you" he replies.
"Guards?" I say.
"They want you safe and want you to return to the palace, will you please come with me?" he says, extending his arm to me.
Sighing I shrug and take Sam's hand. Slipping off my robe, I throw it into my house and sit on the edge plopping my legs into the water. Much quicker then loosing the tail, I watch as my legs begin to bend and mould into each other as green scales begin to sprout over my legs and feet forming my tail. Slipping into the water, I sit under the water searching for the guards that Sam was speaking off. Hearing the splash beside me, Sam pops up beside me and smiles at me.
"Come on" he says, swimming around me and towards home.
Staying in sync together, we pass over the large reef and towards home. Trailing my fingers through the coral, I smile at the fish who hurry along with their day. Coming over the large ridge of the reef, Sam comes to a halt, stopping me by grabbing onto my fin he pulls me back behind him. Over the reef, I see that all the fish are hiding a feeling of terror is in the water. It doesn't take long to see if the cause of the terror, patrolling the reef edge were Sam and I need to pass is a rather large Great White shark. Its body was rigid and it seems to be scared itself, nudging Sam's arm I indicate to him with my head before whispering to him.
"You got the communication gene, talk to him" I say.
"I'll try" he replies, slipping forward and sticking close to the reef floor.
"Shark" he calls out, his voice changes as he allows his gift to seep through his skin.
"Quinn?" he replies, I look up at him in shock.
"What about my sister?" he says again.
Looking back to me I look at Sam's face, he seems confused and scared. Setting off a chain of events by staring back at me, the shark in question turns his body and is staring straight for me. Pushing off in a speed that is much faster than my own, the shark came racing towards me. Letting out a terrible yelp, I push off the rocky surface and swim as fast as I can to the boat in which I hope will not give on me.
Swimming around the rocky edge of the cliff, I manage to dodge the snapping jaws of the shark as its pursuit is not yet over. Turning around, I am face to face with the angered creature. It was not normal that a shark ate a mermaid; we were on good terms with the animal as a whole. Within the midst of fear, I forget about Sam and selfishly think of myself.
Pushing off again, I spiral under the shark as it lunges at me and head to where I can see the shadowing off the boat in which I can seek safety. Pushing my tail as fast as I can, I reach for the surface when the white hot heat of teeth clamping down on me washes out any other emotion and feeling other than agony.
Letting out a high pitch scream, I turn around to see the shark's jaws wrapped around the mid length of my tail. Beginning to shake his head, I scream and reach forward to bat at the shark. Seeing the clear water turn a murky green, I feel sick as I see my life draining from my tail.
"Quinn!" my brother's gruff call is heard.
Slapping the shark's head with my hand I watch as he pulls away slightly with each hit, closing my fist I continue to bat away. Shutting my eyes as the pain is beginning to blur my vision, I continue to bat until the water around me slowly becomes warmer by the second. With the gruff growl of the shark, I feel his teeth release me as I fall to the reef floor. Opening my eyes through blotches of white I can see a ring of heated bubbles surrounding the shark, scanning the floor I see Sam and a Reef soldier with there hands up containing the shark. Watching as the shark begins to frantically attack the bubbles, it writhes in pain as the water is slowly cooking the creature.
"Stop" I mutter out to the men.
"Quinn" Sam says, dropping his hands and swimming to me.
Gripping my arms he props me up, looking down at the mattered tail he kisses my head and sighs "You're healing already" he says.
Nodding, I watch as the shark now lays limp on the floor "Is it dead?" I ask.
Sam nods grimly "I think so, I'm returning to the city to speak with why the shark attacked and why he continued to repeat your name until death" he says.
"The guard will remain with you" he adds as I push up off my tail and swim slowly to the shark.
"Quinn stay behind me" the gruff guard says, reaching forward and tugging me behind him.
My body was focused on healing my tail, I put up little of a fight it would be useless if he was full strength also. The guards we're stronger than most mer-people together.
"Stay safe, get her to the house boat there she can heal safely" Sam says, pointing the guard to my boat.
"Yes, we'll await your return" he says, nodding to Sam.
Watching as Sam swims off towards the city, my stomach grumbles as I feel like he won't be returning any time soon. With the aid of the guard, we swim to the boat were I barely manage to heave my body from the water. Rolling onto the mouldy towel, I assess my tail in the sun. Although my body was healing my wound, I still felt sick as seeing my tail ripped and hanging together barely. I possessed the opposite genes to most reef women; I guess that is why I was chosen to be married to the prince. As most woman's hair was a rich green and their tails were that of violet or pink, I was left with pink curls and green scales. For years I hated that I was different, although men and women admired my difference I felt as if I was on display. They say my brother and I are freaks due to the cross breeding of kingdoms years before my parents were born.
"Quinn, is this a safe location for you?" the guard asks, holding his hand over his tail and beginning to shift to a human state.
"Yes though I can't shift until my tail is healed" I reply.
"Understandable we may have to rest for the night on this boat is there a location in which we can seek water and safety on this boat?" he asks, I nod.
"Yes under the deck is a small bathroom, mostly broken I could shift water into it if you wish" I say, shifting and leaning against the wall of the cabin.
"I shall seek clothing and scout the boat, stay safe Princess" he says, trying out my soon to be title.
"I'm not a princess, guard" I warn.
"Though you soon will be" he replies standing and stretching his legs.
Walking into the cabin, I hear lapping in the water I knew the sound of the approach too well. There were mermaids underneath us. The sounds of the fins slicing through the water was the only flaw in our DNA and that only affected us from detection from other mer-people. Pulling myself up onto the top of the deck wall, I look down into the reef water and feel my stomach roll.
Deep sea mermaids were on the move, hundreds scattered amongst the waters around us. Heading towards the kingdom were Sam and my family was, the shark made sense now. To celebrate the one hundred thousand years after winning the war against the shallows, the deep sea domain was going to attack us.