MAX
"Moluska," Roberi smiled, as she stood in front of Kenny. "And who is this?"
She looked at her scales around his neck before looking at his legs. "Just some human I've been playing with."
Ouch, Kenny thought, hearing her tone shift. She's scared, I know that too, and she is different…go with her on this. "Whatever you need."
"You came with him. You blessed him to break the curse."
"All humans are the same," Max shrugged. "He pleases me for now."
Unhuman, he thought, it isn't English, how do I understand them? Her grace and protection? What does that even mean?
"Enough of these games, Moluska. You aren't leaving here."
"Soak me and take my scales? Free all you from the sea to do that?" Max said, looking at the bodies on the street. "You'll have to kill me…you'll never find the others."
"Once we bleed you out we will."
She felt something stirring in her, as she reached back and took Kenny's hand in hers. Squeezing tightly. "Plug your ears."
"What?"
"Do it," she said, dropping his hands. "Just trust me."
He looked at his wife, her pupils expanding at her overwhelming calm. "Max?"
"Do it," she repeated, as he for once did what she wanted. Summoning something deep in her, she screamed, the pitch so high the glass broke and she heard Kenny's yelp of surprise. Lunging at Roberi, who fell to the ground, she ripped her scales from his neck before grabbing Kenny's hand again. Unwilling to look at the fate she just put upon him. "Move!"
"Moluska!"
Max ignored him, as they ran over the broken glass as Roberi screamed in pain as his body twisted and groaned. I'll stop all of them.
KENNY
"You're way too fast," Kenny gasped. "Max! No one is chasing us! Max!"
"What?" she gasped, as he grabbed her. "Let go!"
"Get it together, Honey," he said, looking at her flushed face, wild hair, and panic. "We're clear."
I killed him, she thought, I think…how…looking at the necklace in her hands. At least he changed back and…How are they still so fresh, she thought, looking at the glittering scales. I dry up on land and… "We should keep going."
He looked at her, stuffing the necklace in her backpack. Hurt, scared, she's shaking. "Talk to me, Max. What's going on in there? What was that scream?"
"I'm a goddamn mermaid, Kenny."
"You sound like you…throwing up walls to avoid everything."
"I'm not avoiding anything. I may have just killed someone."
"He killed those people. He would have killed you."
"Does that give me the right?"
"Think like a cop, Fishy," he said. "You stopped a killer…having a tail doesn't change that."
"You always know what to say to talk me down."
"We were partners before anything else," Kenny said, just looking at her in the cut-offs, t-shirt and sneakers, with her hair twisted back. I can't stop looking at her, I've always looked at her… "Max?"
She looked up, I shouldn't love him, no, I should love him enough to let him go. "We should keep moving. I know we have no money and id, but…"
"Your voodoo doesn't hurt them?"
She shook her head. "No…it's just…it's weird. Like the legend of sirens, just not as dramatic as men drowning themselves?"
"You could take care of that."
She shot him a look. "Sorry."
Still her, Kenny thought, no matter what they said on the island, I trust her. "I knew you'd stop yourself."
"And if I didn't? If I was some sort of sea monster?"
"We wouldn't be having this conversation."
She winced at that. I can be who he wants, I can ignore the ocean…his love can be enough for me. "Never again."
"Hey, I have your grace and protection."
And you always will, Max thought. "We should keep moving."
He looked down as she intertwined her fingers with his. "Where to?"
MAX
"Stop looking at me like that."
He looked across the car at his wife, after their 48 hour journey to Michigan from New Zealand. She slept,her voodoo took a lot out of her… She stood in the shower for almost an hour and her skin is still so dry and hot still. "Like what?"
"Like that," Max repeated. "Like you think I'm about to break."
Squirmy, itchy, he thought, abrasive, distant, don't let her be all her. "Come off it."
I don't need the ocean, I'm okay. I'm still me. "Can we pretend I am then?"
He watched as she drank more water and leaned back against the seat. "What's the plan?"
She glanced at the building. "I'm going to talk to my Mom."
"We're going to talk to your mom."
She shook her head. "I'll be fine on my own. Oh, stop looking at me like that. We're a team, I know that, just this is…We keep this secret of what we are. I know you know already, but…she'll talk to me."
"Or she'll panic at the sight of her dead daughter."
"She knows," Max trailed off. "I know she does, I sense it…oh stop."
She smells like the ocean, he thought, all flushed, glowing, something…she's all mermaid right now, even with legs. I see the shift, when she's still my Max and when she's really tuned into her mermaid part. "I'm backing you up, Fishy."
"Keep the engine running."
"Whoa, Honey," he said, seeing her struggling with the seatbelt, her fingers trembling. "Max, hey, look at me."
"I'm fine."
"Drink," he said, handing her the bottled water. She needs to be in the ocean…she's a mermaid. My Max…the love of my life and I'm going to lose her. "Humor me."
"Stop."
"You stop. I'm here, okay? You don't have to be tough with me. You know that. I know you feel like crap. I know you're different now. I love you. I'm here. Let me help you."
She leaned her head back and the seat and looked at him through her hair. "You are. I just need to do this mermaid thing. Then you can take care of me. I actually really like it when you do."
"Since when?"
"Since always. Even when I push you away. What are you doing?"
He climbed out the car, and opened her door too. "Come on. No arguments for once, Max."
She let him take her hand and pull her up on her feet. Forcing her legs not to tremble and ignoring her weak and aching body. My wrong body…no, I was human for 30 years…just not anymore. He's being so sweet and I'm a damn fish. I married the love of my life and grew a tail. Holding tight to his hand, she pulled her hood up with the other. "Are you going to carry me too? Ah! Kenny!"
He scooped his wife up in his arms. "Yup."
She squirmed a bit as he kissed her before setting her on her feet again. "Hmm."
He kissed her again. "Come on, let's go voodoo something."
It hurts, Max thought, to do that…I'm so tired already. Leaning against him, she let him support her aching body as they walked into the country club. Looking at the receptionist, she smiled sweetly. "We're not here."
I feel it, Kenny thought, I hear it…she's dangerous like this. What could she really do? No, she's still Max, I saw what others…no.
"Come on," Max said, looking out the entranced staff. "We need to move."
Smells like the ocean, Kenny thought, moves differently…flushed… "Where?"
She shivered, nodding toward the locker room. "Women only."
"You," he stated. "Scream, run, if anything goes wrong. Max, I mean it. I'll be right here."
She squeezed his hands in hers. "I got this."
"Go."
Max pushed the door open, sensing her mom. Sinking into her mermaid instincts, enjoying the magic and power in her, she smiled as she adjusted her hood. Hissing through her teeth, she hummed, causing the women to file out as she stood in the center of the locker room. "Hello, Mother."
"Where is your tail?" Olivia Stewart asked, looking her daughter over. "You reek of mermaid, Maxine."
Max lowered her hood, letting her hair spill out. "You knew?"
"Look at you," Olivia said. "You look sick…land not agreeing with you? You should be in the ocean."
Max grimaced and shook her head. "You knew what would happen to me there?"
"I can put you on our jet, you can be back in the ocean in hours. Just swim away…keep the mermaid filth away from our family. Go, Maxine."
"I need answers."
"You're a mermaid. An animal. You don't belong here."
"How? Why? Where are the others?"
"Do not come closer."
Max cocked her head to the side. "Why? Are you afraid of me?"
"You're a monster."
Max smiled at that. "So are you. Some warning would have been nice."
"What do you want?"
"The others…the ones that left the sea, that we're descended from. Where are they?"
"Why would I know that?"
Max sighed, and told her of the curse and what had happened. "I want to warn them. Protect them. They're coming for us. They'll bite you, make you change, and skin you alive."
"And you lead them right to us?"
"I don't feel them. Does my father know about this?"
"Your father is a moron. He wouldn't know a mermaid even if he saw the tail. Let me look at you, Maxine. Humans don't understand."
"Kenny likes my hair," she said, fiddling with the chaotic curls. "He didn't flee when he saw me…that way."
"Kenny knows?"
"He has my grace and protection. I wasn't leaving him there. We're married."
"You're a mermaid. You dont belong with humans anymore."
"I love him and he loves me."
"He can't love you. Not like this," her mom continued. "Look at yourself, Maxine, there is nothing human about you, even with a pair of legs. You know what your powers can do, that's why he's with you. Let him go."
"He loves me."
"He loves the woman he married…not the mermaid…and that's all you are."
"You're wrong," Max stated. "And we're not talking about my marriage. I need to know about the others."
"Go. Don't come back. Your powers won't work on me."
Max smiled and shook her head. "They won't. You're one of us, your mermaid DNA waiting to be activated…to join us. Don't you want to be with your real family?"
"You stay back."
Max moved closer, moving faster than she thought she could, shoving her mother against the wall. "Tell me. Tell me now."
"Monster!"
"We have a big family," Max hissed, giving into the mermaid, forgetting her humanity as her emerald eyes burned into her moms. "Where?"
"You stay away from my family."
"My family."
"You need to swim."
Max shook her head. "I need to find them. Tell me. You'll never have to see me again."
"Your DNA is active…you don't need to bite us for ours to activate now."
"What?"
"You should have never gone there…it'll activate all of us. All the women in our family."
Max gulped. "How?"
"I should have known it would have been you. You were my worst mistake."
Max winced. "Stay away from the ocean. You won't change unless…what?"
"How is being out of the water working for you? You look sick, Maxine."
"I'm fine."
"You doomed us."
"You should have told me then. All of us."
"You never would have believed me. Now we have no choice. You have no choice. The others?" he mother continued. "North. The cold suppresses their needs, the water is frozen…it prevents the others from coming for them if the curse is broken. Us, their descendants? We need to go there now until this mess you created is sorted."
"Where?" Max asked as her mom moaned. "Mom?"
"You did this."
Max stepped back as her mom fell to the floor and seized. "Mom?"
"Get away."
Max gulped watching as she shuddered on the floor as her mermaid DNA activated. Seeing her gray hair return to the red and the lines began to smooth out on her face. "Let me help you."
She stared at her with her green eyes. "Go."
Max shook her head as her mom grew more youthful, looking no older than she did as her body shifted as the mermaid in her woke up. "The others?"
"They weren't near you…they have more time," her mom said. "We'll return to the sea together once we stop the threat."
"We?"
"We're a pod, Maxine. We're what we are supposed to be again."
She's different, Max thought she hated me a few minutes ago and now? Mermaids…pod…family…how I feel now too. Even if having legs feels wrong… "I have a car out front."
"Not with that human. We don't belong with them."
I do, she thought, this mermaid loves a human. "Wait…"
"They'll change. We don't have much time."
Max gulped. I can't abandon Kenny…he loves me. "Mom!"
She convulsed on the floor, thrashing on the cool tile and letting out a scream that shattered the mirrors. Max stared in shock as she began to dry out and shrivel. No…Not thinking, she grabbed her and dragged her toward the locker room showers. Not the ocean, Max taught, but it's what I have. Shoving her under the shower, she turned on both nozzles. Looking around she grabbed the scrubbing salts and threw them at her, stepping back to avoid the salt water she was creating.
"You need to swim," Max said. I changed in the ocean, it soothed me and…the rest. Oh crap what did I do? "Mom?"
Olivia screamed again, the fresh water doing no good as her skin began to flake off and she dried out even as the water poured over her.
"Mom!" Max sobbed as her mom became nothing but a husk on the shower floor.
Stumbling back, Max ran for the door.
