Chapter 1

I had heard that the beach is calm before and after a storm. It is a deceiving calm, that almost makes you believe the driving winds and rain of last night never happened. I had never fully believed this information, even though it came straight from the best wise men of the merkingdom. I laughed and said that if what the wise men said was true, I would have to see it myself before I could believe it. I spent many years that way, living life on the edge, doing experiments -that often ran into danger- just to "see what would happen." But that was before the hurricane. My mother had warned me that morning that there were warnings of a big storm that was going to hit our area, one that would affect both the land under the sea and above the surface. In other words, a hurricane was coming.

"Leia, I wish you wouldn't go anywhere today. There are rumors of a storm, and currents are sure to be strong." She cautioned, worry showing plainly on her face.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll be back before the storm hits." She still seemed anxious, so I tried to feign more confidence than I actually felt. "If I'm not, I promise I'll find someplace to wait it out." I didn't wait to let her say anything else, fearing that she would stop me from going altogether. In a short time, I had swum to my base of operations: a small reef with a sheer drop-off perfect for experiments with gravity. Near the reef was a cave where I kept my equipment and records of the results of my previous experiments. Luckily, a sunken ship provided most of my research tools that I couldn't find or make from the natural sea life. Quickly rigging up a system of pulleys and levers, I attempted to see how much force and time it would take to break open a large boulder with another rock that was less than half its size. It was all really very simple: I pulled on the end of the rope; the pulleys raised the small rock. I let go, and the rock fell on top of the boulder. After a couple of hours of this, I stopped to check my progress. All that pounding had only made a nice sized dent in the boulder, nothing more. The small rock, on other hand, had seen better days. Discouraged, I started to pack up my equipment, struggling a little against the ever quickening current.

By the time I had everything back in the cave and organized, the current was strong enough to force me to swim my hardest if I ventured to swim out from the shelter of the cave. Things would have been a lot better if the force of the current were flowing in the direction of my home. If that were the case, I could have gotten there in record time. Unfortunately, it was running in the opposite direction. My mother's warning flashed through my mind. If she were here, she would be warning me to stay away from the mouth of the cave and remain inside until all trace of the storm had gone. The choice was simple: Do I stay like my mother would want; or risk it and try to find my way home? I wavered indecisively between the two, unable to decide which one to choose. Finally, after much wasted time and peace of mind, I made my decision. Swimming to the cave's opening, I only hesitated a moment before shooting off into the open water.

Almost immediately I regretted my choice. The water swirled in all its oceanic fury; every inch of ground I gained in the right direction would be lost when the current propelled me backward. Following this pattern, I reached the valley where countless ruins of ships that had gone down in lighter squalls than the one at present lay. Over time, it had become a sort of ship graveyard, where occasionally merchildren played or explorers and scavengers hunted for human relics. Remains of ships flashed by as the current swept past, propelling me with it. With no warning, I collided with the jagged hull of an ancient vessel. I screamed in wordless agony as the pointed metal adornments of the ship tore a large gash in my side. Blood clouded the water, making me feel sick to my stomach. Mercifully, I passed out, and knew no more.

Daryl walked along the beach, exalting in his good fortune. The storm yesterday had been the cause of it all. Bits and pieces of wreckage and plant life were strewn haphazardly about the beach. He had made a point of getting up early and coming out here in the hope he might be able to scavenge something he could use in his laboratory. He hummed a little in satisfaction: his sack was already almost full, and he hadn't even covered the entire beach yet. As he climbed over a sand dune, Daryl saw something that made him drop his sack and simply stare in wonder. It was colossal! Stupendous! The greatest discovery of his life! It was- "A mermaid…" Daryl breathed, almost in reverence. Completely disregarding his dropped sack, he advanced slowly toward the mermaid's prostrate form. He stood over his find, his eyes fixed on her limp tail with obvious delight. But she was hurt; blood seeped out of a serious looking wound in her side into the sand. He knelt to examine it more closely, trying not to care about blood getting on his white lab coat. Other than the tail, her body was perfectly human, Daryl noted in some surprise. Not at all like the old tales that his mother had told him as a child. In those stories, mermaids were more fish than human, although they were rumored to have haunting voices that would lead sailors to their deaths if they heard it while aboard ship.

So absorbed was he in this train of thought that he almost failed to notice when the mermaid lying right in front of him began to make feeble motions as if trying to drag herself back into the ocean. Not wanting to lose his latest discovery, Daryl slung the mermaid over his shoulder, being careful of her wound and her tail. He carried her back to the laboratory, taking the long route so no one would see what he carried.

Once he was in the secluded safety of his own home, he took his find downstairs to the cluttered basement. Kicking open the metal door, he frantically searched for a place to put her while he searched for a first aid kit. The only place that wasn't cluttered with papers, books and pieces of experiments was an old bathtub, so he laid her in it as gently as he could.

"First aid kit, first aid kit, got to find a first aid kit." Daryl murmured to himself as he scoured the shelves for something, anything, that he could use to stop the mermaid's bleeding. She couldn't die, she was too important to science to die. Finally he found what he was looking for at the bottom of a large trunk where he had put apparently useless things.

Taking out a large roll of a gauzy waterproof bandage, he tried to measure out how much he would need in his head. Failing at that, he just decided to use the whole roll. If it was a bit over excessive, at least it couldn't hurt.

When the job was finished, Daryl stood back with a smile of satisfaction. It didn't look too pretty, but the bleeding had abated somewhat. The mermaid was still unconscious, however, and Daryl couldn't wait for her to wake up.