Chapter 11: Hear My Cry
He could feel the carpet of orange and yellow leaves crunching beneath his bare feet with every step he made. His scraped arms swept in front of him, brushing aside the countless branches and vines growing wildly in his path. It was dense. But he moved; slithering between the packed trees, whose lanky shadows slid across his dirt-ridden face and uncovered chest. He looked up and narrowed his eyes at the sun rays that had managed to break through the umbrella of treetops far above his head.
And then, rustling. He scanned the still trees…No, it was not the rustling of leaves. The sound was much too constant. His ears perked up, and his eyes darted straight ahead. It was there, beyond the brush.
Quickly, he moved forward, while a bird's scream echoed down to him from somewhere in the sky. His heart raced with anticipation, and he no longer cared to mindfully push aside the entangled branches and vines before him; he was simply running through them now. But it was not long before the piercing end of a branch had cut through the skin of his forearm. And it was only then that he took notice of his attire—skeleton leaves, daintily covering his lower body…and the dagger hanging loosely from the leather belt strapped around his waist. He glanced from the trees to the weapon in his possession, and after a moment of uncertainty, removed it from his belt. To his surprise, he felt extremely able with the dagger in the tight grasp of his right hand. And only after a slight hesitance in breaking off the first branch in his path, he was soon moving again, sweeping the blade in the air to clear the way. The rustling got louder.
He stopped and lowered his dagger when coming upon a curtain of moss hanging between two large trees. The noise was now crashing into his ears, and he knew he had found it. Slowly, he outstretched his arm and pushed aside the shroud of moss.
A cool mist instantly hit his face; a mist that seemed to sit like idle fog in the clearing he had just stepped into. He had reached the edge of an outlet, into which cascaded a crystal-like waterfall. The falling water created the continuous spray of mist that seemed to engulf the entire clearing, making the place appear especially hazy and dream-like. He walked closer to the outlet, gaping up at the waterfall to which he could not see the top. He wondered if it must have been the tallest in existence.
He then gazed at his own reflection in the ruffling water. He studied the bronze skin, tousled sun-bleached hair, darting blue eyes, and rounded face, his cheekbones and jaw less defined…
He was unrecognizable. He was young. Much too young.
He crouched down closely to the water, gently grazing his fingertips over the strange reflection. He watched his face slowly distort with the moving water, but before it could return to its normal shape, another had abruptly taken its place.
He fell back on his elbows, taken off guard by the new face that had appeared in the water. Still sitting half-witted on the ground, he stared at a violet figure that was now breaking the surface of the water; a cloth of bright color veiling the form of a head and narrow shoulders. He was ready to have taken it as some kind of ghost, until a thin arm rose from the water and pulled the violet sheet to the side. The beautiful face of a young girl was revealed, her copper skin gleaming with dripping water and her slanted gray eyes directed straight at him. Her long and thick violet strands of hair were floating all around her, and her neck and chest were covered in shimmering gems and shells of every sort. Over the girl's shoulder, he thought he caught glimpse of a large sage fish jump up from the surface before splashing back into the water. But then it came to him.
She was a mermaid.
Still unmoving, he watched as she lifted her wet arm out of the water and reached for his leg. She gently tugged on his ankle and parted her lips slightly. The alluring mermaid didn't speak, but he knew what she wanted.
It seemed that he was moving with barely any thought; mindless, as if he were being shifted by the strings of a puppeteer. But even so, he was not making any attempt to defy the strings that were now leading him into the outlet. He loosely clutched the mermaid's hand and stepped into the water's edge, expecting to feel a cold sensation around his feet. Instead, he was met by a more pleasing, lukewarm water that only seemed to urge him on. The mermaid tugged once more at his hand, and he finally let himself sink in, the pleasant, bluish water wrapping nicely around his body. Keeping her fingers around his hand, the mermaid smiled with apparent satisfaction before leading him further out into the water. She kept her head above the surface and kept looking to him with the same amused grin, while her lean body moved swiftly and easily through the water. He tried keeping up, but even then, the excited mermaid was practically dragging him along.
When they reached the middle of the outlet, the mermaid slowed down and gestured for him to swim under water. She lowered her own head into the water and continued holding his hand, her flawless white teeth flashing as she smiled up to him just beneath the surface. He felt the corner of his mouth turn up into a smirk, and he sucked in a deep breath before submerging to join her. He had instinctively closed his eyes upon plunging in, but when he opened them, he was met by an ostensibly endless stream of colors. He gazed at the red, orange, green, pink, blue, yellow, and violet revolving around him. All the swirls of color drifted close to him, and he felt the warmth of each mermaid as they slinked by and brushed his skin. Every one of them was just as striking as the first, with unblemished tanned skin and enthralling gray eyes. He merely watched their slow, graceful movements in the water, all of them giggling mutely as they took turns in whirling their silvery-green fins around his torso. He laughed when the green-haired one tickled his stomach and blushed when the orange-haired one kissed his cheek, but when he glanced at the bubbles coming out of their mouth, he suddenly felt the need for air.
Leaving the beguiling mermaids below, he swept his arms upward and kicked his feet until reaching the surface again. He rubbed the slight stinging away from his eyes and caught his breath, but before he could turn his head back into the water, he suddenly noticed what was sitting only a few feet away from him—a massive rock, jutting out of the outlet like a tiny island; but even more prominent was the girl standing on top of it. Why hadn't he seen it earlier?
He looked up at the girl curiously. Her mid-length, light brown hair and her thin white gown were blowing in accordance with a small constant breeze sweeping past. She appeared to be staring back at him with a faint smile.
"Hello there?" He spoke for the first time, calling out against the noise of the waterfall.
Upon hearing his voice, the girl's eyes lit up, and she quickly motioned for him to come nearer.
"Oh, I just knew that was you!" the girl yelled back with elation. "Come join me!"
He swam to her obligingly, hoping that he'd recognize her once they were closer. She helped him up the rock, and as he stood up, she ran her fingers through his soaked hair, brushing away a few locks from his forehead. He observed her as she did this, watching her rosy lips as phrases such as "goodness, those mermaids want you all to themselves," and "your hair needs some trimming" spilled out of them. He took notice of her round baby blue eyes, and the way she smelled of lilacs. Why wasn't she soaking in water?
"Sit with me," she said after tidying up his hair the best she could. She sat on the rock, neatly laying her gown over her legs, which she bent up against her chest.
He looked down at her wonderingly for a moment, and then sat down. She was quiet for a time, simply scanning the clearing and the trees surrounding it. He wanted to ask her for an explanation. But he looked at her face, profiled from the way they sat together, and could not do it. Somehow, he felt that he would have hurt her feelings if he asked who she was, or where they were, as if he were expected to know these things. So he didn't speak. Instead, the girl tilted her head at him and smiled, a blanket of her hair draping across the side of her face. She was pretty.
He smiled back at her, but almost instantly after, a strong wind blew past them. They both looked up at the sky, which was slowly but surely turning darker, and he noticed that the water around them was suddenly becoming rough. He looked back and saw that the waterfall and clearing were gone. They were in the middle of an ocean.
"High tide," the girl said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her gown.
"High tide?" He got up and looked back around, trying to make sense of the disappearing waterfall.
A wave of water came crashing unexpectedly onto the rock, and when he looked down, he saw that it was now only a few feet wide.
"We have to get out of h—" He turned back around to the girl, but she was gone.
"Hello?" he yelled out into the empty air, searching the torrent of water with a panicked thought that the girl had fallen in.
Seeing that the water was now to his ankles, he knew staying on the rock would be no hope. He looked desperately out across the water, struggling to stand on the drowning rock and against a forceful wind pushing him back. At first, he thought it was only wishful thinking, but when the waves of water lowered for a second, he saw it—a beach, maybe a few yards away.
"Hello?" he called for the girl again, lowering himself on the completely immersed rock. If he tried swimming, he might have been able to find the girl on his way to the beach.
He clutched the rock firmly with both hands and slowly slid his legs off, the water violently hitting his face. For a moment, he remained there, struggling to hug the rock as tight as possible and keeping his chin above the water.
He counted to three in his head, and then leapt off the rock, lunging in the direction of the beach. He swam quickly, trying to fight off the thrashing movements of the ocean, and for a short time, he succeeded. But just when he could see the beach only a yard or so away, a monstrous wave suddenly immersed him completely into the water. He came up immediately for air, but somehow, he could not go on swimming. Waves crashed over his head unmercifully, and he yelled out for help before more water filled his mouth and muddled his cry…
Panting, and soaking in sweat, Nicholas jumped up in bed.
Author's Note: I know, I know, it's shorter than usual, but that's just the way it turned out. I had to stop it there. But anyway, god I almost didn't realize that I've gotten 11 chapters up…yay, double-digits! Haha. Again, thank you thank you thank you for the reviews. Big hugs! Oh, and HP and the Half-Blood Prince…WOW..