Chapter 1: An Interesting Tail
It felt like an amusement park ride. That's how badly this storm was tossing around the Cooper family boat. They had just left port in Vancouver last week on their way to Indonesia, where Elijah's parents were supposed to conduct a water study and fish population count along the coast.
Elijah had been on boats his entire life, but this was the worst storm he had ever seen. Equipment was flying everywhere and Elijah and his mom were scrambling trying to secure it all, while his dad was at the helm of the ship, trying to steer it against the storm. Once everything was secured, Elijah went up on deck to find his dad. But lightning struck and an explosion rocked the ship. Something hard connected with the side of his head, and the world went dark as he fell overboard.
Elijah's world was spinning. Flashes and pictures faded in and out in his head. Faces and people and places that seemed familiar. But he didn't know why. He kept tossing and turning for what seemed like years. Then out of the blue, an arm grabbed him and life shot back into him like a ligtning bolt. His eyes shot open and he gasped for air. Only there was no air to be had. With his eyes open he found himself underwater amidst a coral reef. He struggled, but whatever it was that was holding onto him held on hard. His strength faded and he stopped struggling. He could feel himself being pulled through the water. Before he passed out, he glimpsed what was pulling him along. Long brown hair. A slim feminine form. A long fish tail.
'Mermaid…' was Elijah's last conscious thought before he passed out completely
Consciousness returned to him slowly. First was the bright light of the midday sun leaching through his eyelids. Then the sand beneath his back. Then the sound of waves crashing in his ears. He coughed and water sprayed out of his mouth. He sat up and looked around. He was on a tropical beach with a jungle behind him and the endless ocean in front of him. But that's not what had his attention when he managed to pull himself together. There was a girl standing on the beach a few feet to his right. When she noticed he was awake, she stepped closer and knelt next to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked
She spoke in a distinct Australian accent, which gave him a pretty good guess about where he was.
"I'm alright. Just feeling a little out of it." said Elijah
"You're not from around here, are you?" the girl asked
"How can you tell?" asked Elijah
"Your accent. Is it American?" she asked
"Canadian actually." said Elijah with a smile
He tried to stand up, but halfway up his knees buckled and he hit the sand.
"Are you sure you're alright? You must have been in the water a long time. Just look at your clothes." she said
Elijah stopped and looked down. His clothes were torn and shredded and rotted away. His pants had been reduced to shorts and his shirt had gaping holes in them.
"You're right. Wow." said Elijah
"Just how long were you in the water?" asked the girl
Good question. But when he tried to remember, a sharp pain shot through his head. He clutched his head in both hands and groaned in pain as he tried to remember.
"Are you alright?" cried the girl
But when she noticed she had put her hand on Elijah's wet shoulder unconsciously, she recoiled and wiped her hand on her shirt. Elijah raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the issue.
"I don't think I got your name." said Elijah
"It's Cleo. Cleo Sertori. What's your name?" said the girl
"I'm Elijah." said Elijah
"That's a very unusual name, Elijah. What's your last name?" asked Cleo
Elijah was quickly struck by another headache.
"What's wrong?" asked Cleo
"I'm having some trouble remembering some things. Whenever I try to remember certain things, it's like a spike is being driven through my head." explained Elijah
Cleo winced in sympathy for his pain.
"Okay, what can you remember?" asked Cleo
"Why don't you ask me some simple questions, and if I can answer them, I will." said Elijah
"Sounds good." said Cleo
She handed him a towel to dry off and settled down on the beach next to him.
"What is your favourite colour?" she asked
"Blue."
"Favourite sport?"
"Hockey."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"What's her name?"
In a flash, Elijah could see her face in his minds eye. He could see gorgeous blue eyes and a radiant smile. He felt so driven to remember that the pain from his headache was excrutiating. He nearly passed out, but a slap across the face snapped him out of his attempt at remembering and the pain quickly faded.
"I am so sorry I slapped you. You were in pain and I panicked and I didn't know what to do." Cleo rambled on, her eyes wide
Elijah stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"There's no need to apologize. I should be thanking you. That slap was exactly what I needed." said Elijah
Cleo let out a sigh of relief. She rose to her feet and took out her cellphone.
"No more questions for now. You can come with me back to my house." said Cleo
She stepped away and made a call on her cellphone. She had her back to him, giving Elijah a moment of privacy. He thought about his current circumstances. He held out his hand and he drew water from the beach and from the air. He formed it into a spherical shape. He stretched it into a cylinder, then contorted it into a corkscrew before releasing it to fall into the sand. He smiled, satisfied. It was good to see that his use of his powers seemed to be intact. He turned to see Cleo, and she was just finishing her call.
"Thanks Lewis. You're a life saver." she said, before hanging up and returning her phone to her pocket
She turned around and Elijah stood up.
"Lewis will be here to pick us up soon." said Cleo
"Thank you again for all this. Do you live near here?" asked Elijah
"Well sort of. I live on the Gold Coast of Australia. Right now we're on an island, Mako Island, which isn't far off the coast." said Cleo
"Australia, huh. I can't remember leaving the Northern Hemisphere." said Elijah
"Well you would have had to be in the water for a very, very long time to get here from there by ocean currents. It's impossible." said Cleo
'Not when you can do what I can do.' thought Elijah, 'My powers must have kept me alive while I was underwater.'
"Hey Cleo,"
"Yes?"
"What are you doing all by yourself on an island that is far enough from the coast that you need to call for a ride?" asked Elijah
Elijah noticed how she tensed up at that. She was on the defensive, and Elijah could guess that the next thing out of her mouth would be a lie.
"Well Lewis came here with me earlier, but he had an errand to run, so I told him to just come get me later." said Cleo a little too quickly
"That makes sense." said Elijah, nodding
Cleo nodded in return. Elijah could tell she was hiding something.
"There's Lewis' boat." said Cleo, pointing toward an incoming shape on the horizon
The boat arrived on the beach a couple of minutes later. The blonde boy, Lewis, beached the boat and climbed out.
"Lewis, this is Elijah. I found him washed up on the beach." said Cleo
"Nice to meet you, Elijah." said Lewis
"Same to you, Lewis." replied Elijah
"Well hop in, and we'll be home soon." said Lewis
"Lewis, can you help me into the boat?" asked Cleo
Cleo glanced at the water, then back at him. Lewis looked confused a moment, before he had an epiphany moment.
"Oh! Right." exclaimed Lewis
He swept Cleo off her feet and carried her into the boat.
"Thank you, Lewis." said Cleo, once she was sitting comfortably in the small boat
Lewis pushed off the shore and joined them in the boat. He started the small, 15 horsepower motor and they were on their way. It wasn't long before they were docking in the harbour. Once Lewis had tied the boat up, they began the walk to Cleo's house. Cleo opened the front door and the two boys followed her inside. A middle aged man stepped into the room to greet them.
"Welcome home Cleo." said the man
"Hi Dad." replied Cleo
"Good to see you, Lewis." said Cleo's Dad
"Hi Mr. Sertori." said Lewis
"And who is your new friend?" asked Cleo's Dad
"I'm Elijah." said Elijah
"Elijah, it's nice to meet you." said Cleo's Dad
"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Sertori." said Elijah
"Dad, can Elijah stay here for a little while?" asked Cleo
"Doesn't he have a home of his own?" asked Cleo's Dad
"Cleo found me washed up on the beach on Mako Island." said Elijah
"He can't even remember his last name. It could take a long time for him to find his family." said Cleo
"I don't know about this, Cleo." said Cleo's Dad
"I would be willing to work to earn room and board." said Elijah
"Oh alright." said Cleo's Dad
"I'll lend you some of my clothes. They should fit you." said Lewis
"Thank you, Lewis." said Elijah
Lewis nodded, and left the house.
"I'll get you settled into the guest room." said Cleo
"Hold on, Cleo. You need to do the dishes." said Cleo's Dad
"Where's Kim?" asked Cleo
"She's at a friend's house." said Cleo's Dad
Cleo looked to be on edge. She was beginning to look as though she was backed into a corner.
"I'll do them, Mr. Sertori." said Elijah
Cleo started to calm down.
"I appreciate the offer, Elijah, but it's important that Cleo learn responsibility. I can't have you taking over all her chores." said Cleo's Dad
"I'm not going to do all her chores. Just the water based ones." said Elijah
He kept looking at Cleo's Dad, but he could feel her shocked stare burning into his head.
"Why only the chores to do with water?" asked Cleo's Dad
Elijah glanced at Cleo. She looked scared now.
"Well, you know how girls are about skin care. They're always afraid that things like washing dishes will dry out their skin." said Elijah
"Well- um... ah alright then. I'll leave you to it then. I have some shopping I need to do." said Cleo's Dad, and he left as well
Cleo shut the door, and spun to face Elijah.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded
"Covering for you. What did you think I was doing?" replied Elijah
There it was again. Cleo had done a 180 and was back on the defensive.
"Look whatever is going on with you is clearly more than just hydrophobia. But I'm not going to insist that you tell me what's going on." said Elijah
"Well I'm not- wait, what?" asked Cleo
"You just convinced your Dad to let someone you don't know anything about live in your house. Your Dad clearly doesn't know about this secret of yours, and I won't pressure you to share it with me. That said, if you did decide to tell me, then it would make it much easier to cover for you. And it goes without saying that I would take the secret to my grave." said Elijah
"That's... good to know." said Cleo
"Also, as a show of good faith, I am going to share my secret with you." said Elijah
Cleo was intrigued. She followed Elijah over to the sink.
"Observe." he said
Elijah reached out a hand, and the water rose out of the sink with all the dishes in it. The water started swirling and churning rapidly. Elijah made a gesture with his free hand and a ball of murky, gross water separated from the main mass of water. He directed it into the sink drain and released it. The remaining water was now perfectly clear and still, and all of the dishes were squeaky clean. Elijah plucked the dishes out of the ball one by one, placing them on the drying rack. Once all the dishes were retrieved, he released the water into the sink. But it didn't go down the drain. Instead it floated back into the air, in the shape of a clear tentacle. Elijah looked at Cleo and found that she was intensely focused on the water, and making hand gestures of her own. Once she was done, she released the tentacle into the sink and it went down the drain.
"So we have the same power. Does this mean you're a mermaid too? I mean, I guess you would be a merman." said Cleo
"Uh no, I'm not a merman. Why do you…"
He had a memory flash to back before he passed out underwater. To what he saw.
"I didn't wash up on that beach. You pulled me out. You're a mermaid." said Elijah
"Yes, I am. But you can't tell-"
"I told you before, I will take your secret to my grave." said Elijah
Cleo breathed a sigh of relief.
"If you aren't a merman, then how do you have those powers? I didn't get my powers until I became a mermaid." said Cleo
"I don't remember much. All the details are fuzzy, but some pictures are clear. I remember some kind of rocky sea cliff, and a watery cave. But I don't think I got my powers from there. No, my powers just awoke when I nearly drowned." said Elijah
"Do you remember where it is?" asked Cleo
Elijah winced as he hit a block in his memory.
"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" asked Cleo, noticing Elijah's pain
"I'm alright. I'm sure I'll be able to remember eventually. You said you became a mermaid. How did that happen?" asked Elijah
"On Mako Island, there is a pool of water in a volcanic crater. I swam in it as the full moon passed overhead. The water started bubbling, but it wasn't boiling, and little lights started floating up to the sky. The next day, I climbed in the bath and this happened." said Cleo
She ran her hand under the tap for a second, before turning it off again, and a few seconds later her legs locked together as a tail and her clothes were replaced by a scaly bra that matched her tail. She fell over, but Elijah caught her before she could hit the ground.
"Wow, that's really something." said Elijah
Suddenly Cleo froze as she heard the front door open.
"Cleo, I'm back." came Lewis' voice from the front door
Cleo breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"We're over here, Lewis." called Cleo
Lewis caught sight of Cleo.
"So I'm guessing he already knows about you." said Elijah to Cleo
Cleo nodded.
"Of course I know about her. How do you know about her?" asked Lewis
"I trusted him with my secret after he trusted me with his." said Cleo
"What secret?" asked Lewis
"Can you dry me off first?" asked Cleo
Lewis nodded and went for a dish towel, but Elijah simply summoned all the water that Cleo had used to transform into a small sphere which floated above his hand.
"I think that answers everyone's questions." said Elijah, before sending the water down the drain
"Fascinating." said Lewis
Now that Cleo was dry, her tail disappeared and her normal clothes reappeared. She stood up and brushed herself off.
"So he knows about you. Does he know about Rikki and Emma?" asked Lewis
"Who are Rikki and Emma? Friends of yours? Mermaids?" asked Elijah
"Both. I'll introduce you to them soon." said Cleo
"Can't wait." said Elijah
"Right, here are some clothes." said Lewis, and he handed Elijah a duffle bag
"Thank you, Lewis." said Elijah
He took the duffle bag into the bathroom, and when he emerged a few minutes later, all cleaned up and dressed in fresh clothes. He put the duffle bag in the guest room, and re-joined Cleo and Lewis downstairs. But it wasn't just the two of them anymore. They had been joined by two new girls with blonde hair.
"Rikki, Emma, this is Elijah. Elijah, this is Rikki and Emma." said Cleo
"Well Cleo, as far as creepy new house guests go, you could have done worse." said the girl Cleo had called Rikki
"I'll take that as a compliment." said Elijah
"Elijah knows I'm a mermaid." said Cleo
Emma and Rikki's heads spun to stare at Cleo at sub-whiplash speed.
"What!?" they cried out in unison
"He trusted me with his secret, so I trusted him with mine." said Cleo
"I think you mean our secret." said Emma
"What secret could this guy have that's on par with the truth that we grow fish tails when we touch water?" demanded Rikki
Cleo looked at Elijah.
"You should probably show them before they kill you." she said
Elijah nodded. He put a hand out and focused. A ball of water began to form out of thin air. He grew it to the size of a basketball and floated it over to the blonde mermaids.
"You can touch it. I cranked up the cohesion of the water molecules, so you'd have to touch it for 10 seconds straight to transform." explained Elijah
Emma and Rikki looked at each other nervously, before reaching up to touch it. They pulled their hands back, and after 10 seconds nothing happened. Elijah dissipated the water back into the air.
"See, I told you." said Elijah
"That little trick doesn't make you trustworthy." said Rikki
"I don't expect you to magically trust me. I know I have to earn it. But let me show you an advantage to keeping me around." said Elijah
He filled a cup with water and set it down on the table.
"Which of you lovely mermaids would like to help me with my demonstration?" asked Elijah
"I will." said Cleo, and she sat down on a chair
Elijah very simply picked up the cup full of water and dumped it on Cleo. But before the others could make an outburst, Elijah held out a hand and the water flew toward him. Within seconds, all the water was floating between Elijah and Cleo. The 10 second mark passed and nothing happened.
"See, your water worries are now greatly decreased." said Elijah
"I will admit, that is pretty handy." said Rikki
"How did you get your powers?" asked Emma
"Well, like I told Cleo earlier, there's a lot I don't remember about my life before she fished me out of the drink, but I think my powers came naturally." said Elijah
"So you really don't remember where you came from?" asked Rikki
"Nope. My first clear memory is of the beach on Mako Island after Cleo saved my life." said Elijah
The sound of keys in a lock came from the front door, and all supernatural talk stopped. The door opened and Cleo's Dad walked in, followed by a younger girl with sandy blonde hair.
"Dad, who is this?" the girl asked
"Kim, this is Elijah. He's going to be staying with us for a while." said Cleo's Dad
"But why?" asked Kim
"He doesn't have a place to stay." explained Cleo's Dad
"And that means he's staying here?" asked Kim
"Yes." said Cleo's Dad, and he walked into the kitchen to put the food away
"I won't forget this." said Kim, glaring at Cleo
"One other thing, Kim. Your services on dish duty are no longer required." said Cleo
Kim's eyes were wide and her mouth open as she stared at her sister. She complained about having to do it, but in truth it earned her $40+/week. She groaned exasperated and stormed up to her room and slammed the door.
"That was fun." said Rikki
"Let's go to the Juicenet." said Cleo
The other's nodded and they all got up to leave.
"What's the Juicenet?" asked Elijah
"It's this juice bar/wifi cafe where everyone hangs out." said Cleo
"Sounds cool." said Elijah and he followed them out the door.
They hadn't been sitting at their table at Juicenet for 5 minutes when two guys walked up to bother them. Elijah had never seen them before, but the looks of disgust on his new friends' faces told him that these two were not going to be pleasant.
"I see you've found yourselves a new friend." said one of the boys
"Must be fascinating for you to see, Zane. Maybe if you stick around you might learn how to do it yourself." said Rikki
"You're funny." said Zane
"I know." replied Rikki, and gave him one of her radiant, carefree smiles
"C'mon, Zane. Let's just go." said the other boy
"Yeah, alright Nate. I'm sure we can find something better to do." said Zane
The two of them left Juicenet. Elijah looked at Lewis.
"What was that?" asked Elijah
"That was just Nate and Zane. They're annoying, but it's best to just ignore them." explained Lewis
"I see."
"Come on, let's go on the net and see if we can find anything about your past." said Lewis
Elijah nodded and followed the other boy over to the computer, leaving the girls to chat amongst themselves. He sat down next to Lewis, who was at the keyboard.
"Alright. First I'll search your name through missing persons reports." said Lewis
He typed in Elijah's name in the search.
"You should widen the search parameter for time and area. I'm not sure, but I think that I might have fallen into the water far away, and that my power kept me alive until Cleo pulled me out of the water." said Elijah
"Alright, widening search parameters." said Lewis in focused monotone
He hit the search button, and waited for the page to load.
"Elijah isn't a very common name, so as long as someone filed a report I should be able to find some information on you." said Lewis
The page loaded. 0 results found.
"Oh well. It's not the end of the world. There are loads of databases that I can and may have to search." said Lewis
"Don't worry about it. That would have been too easy." said Elijah with a reassuring smile
"How's the search going?" asked Cleo, who had appeared behind them
"Very slowly." said Lewis
"When do you think you will find some results?" asked Cleo
"This could take a while. Maybe you and Elijah should go home." said Lewis
"Yeah you're right. Nearly drowning takes a lot out of you. I should probably get some rest." said Elijah
"Yeah I'm feeling tired too." said Cleo
They both said goodbye to everyone and walked home. Once home, Elijah climbed the stairs to Cleo's guest bedroom, flopped onto the bed and was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.