Hi everyone! I'm so sorry that this update took so long to get out. School this year has been very stressful and I've had a lot of work to do. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this long update! More to come soon! Be sure to leave a comment and tell me what you all think.
Zac paced back and forth in his bedroom, having just received a frantic phone call from Cam who just had a very close call with Carly. They all new that it was only a matter of time before she put the pieces together This was beginning to get out of hand, already it felt like the ocean was getting crowded but Zac shuddered to think about the upcoming months and who would be the next unfortunate one of their friends to end up with a tail. It was a lot for him to deal with, and he couldn't help but feel jealous. Having a tail used to be his special thing and now there were more and more people being a part of his world that he was having trouble sharing.
He wanted to talk and rant to somebody about it but the only people that were available were newly turned merpeople, a snobby pod mermaid, a lovestruck mermaid, his sister and his high school principle. The options felt more than a bit limited. More than anything he wanted to talk to his mom and dad about all of the problems that he was facing but he knew that deep down involving his parents would only put them in more danger.
Zac couldn't help but face the thought of his adoptive parents finding out the truth. All their puzzle pieces would finally fit together, finding their freak merman son washed up on the beach. He had also yet to tell them that Mimmi was his twin sister, it just opened the door to too many questions that he didn't know where to begin answering (whether he lied or not).
A knock at his door interrupted his swirling thoughts, it was his mom.
Zac cleared his throat and tried for a convincing, "Come in."
Lauren stepped in the bungalow, a hopeful look gleaming in her eye, "Darling, your father and I were just headed to the club for lunch. Would you like to join us? You could bring Evie along!"
It broke Zac's heart to shake his head, but he knew the consequences of spending time around his parents: too much exposure to magic would put them even more at risk of the dragon finding them than they already were.
Lauren did the best to hide the disappointment on her face but Zac managed to see right through. "I – I'm sorry. I'm just really behind with some stuff for school," He fumbled for an apology while keeping his eyes locked onto the laces of his shoes.
"Well, we make time for what is important in our lives," She said sadly. Lauran crossed the room and put an arm around her son and then retreated, closing the door to the bungalow as she left the room.
As soon as she was gone, Zac heaved a big sigh. Of relief? Or sadness? Or of guilt?
Cam sat in the bathtub of the upstairs bathroom of his house, staring glumly down at his blue and silvery tail. The events of his date with Carly kept cruelly playing over and over in his mind. Where had he gone so wrong? Should he have just let Carly see him?
He knew that at this point, if he just came out and told her that she would know that he was just trying to keep it a secret. No. Telling her was really not an option now. Besides that, the more she knew about magic, the more at risk she would be. Cam knew that he was doing this for her own good, and couldn't blame her for being mad, knowing that he would feel the same way if the roles were reversed.
A knock at the bathroom door jolted him from his thoughts. The doorknob rattled as Julia tried to force her way into the small room, but she only found it locked. "Cam!" She exclaimed through the door. "You've been in there for an hour! Stop feeling yourself, it's my turn for the bathroom."
Cam's heart hammered in his chest, and thanked his past self for having the forethought of locking the door. He did not want to have to deal with explaining his secret to his loudmouth little sister.
The knob rattled again, "Hello?"
Cam cleared his throat, "Yeah, okay. I'll be out in a minute." He pulled the plug on the bathtub and the water began to gurgle down the drain. Cam then began the task of heaving himself over the edge of the bath. He had a stack of towels ready and plucked one from the top.
He was nearly dry when he noticed the bathroom doorknob turn and begin to creak open. He panicked and thrust his hand out in desperation, his powers managed to reach out and slam the door shut just in time, so no one could have seen or stepped in.
Cam finished drying himself, regained his legs and clothes and angrily stepped out of the bathroom. "What the hell do you…" His voice tampered off, he fully expected to see his annoying little sister outside the door who had found a way to pick the lock, but instead he stood face to face with his mother who held a skeleton key in her hand.
"You know the rule that we have in this house, Cameron. Open door policy." She said sternly. Julia stood behind their mother who just watched her dirty work with a smirk, Cam should have known that she would tattle on him She hadn't stopped blaming him for everything ever since she learned how to talk. She opened her phone and quickly typed out something and laughed to herself, probably telling one of her ditzy friends how she had just gotten her brother in trouble.
"Mom, I was naked. I needed privacy, I don't know what else to tell you. It's not like I try to walk in on any of you when you're in the bath." Cam shook his head. What he was saying, was at least half true.
"Yeah, speaking of that, how many 17 year boys still take baths?" Julia sneered at him, "Did you need some 'me' time? Were there scented candles? Oh, and bath bombs? I love bath bombs."
"Jesus, Julia! Just shut up!" Cam exclaimed and slammed his balled fists down to his sides. Immediately, Julia's phone was ripped from her hands mid-text and fell onto the hardwood floor with a sickening crack.
Both his mom and sister looked at Cam in confusion, obviously seeing the 'coincidence' in timing. There was no doubt in his mind that his powers were responsible.
He looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to put on a shocked face and play dumb. "Cameron, did you just…" His mom started.
He forced out a laugh, "Yeah, right. She drops that thing so many times, it's hard not to time it with something."
He managed to slip away down the hall and couldn't breathe a sigh of relief until he was safe in his own bedroom. He then came to the sickening realization that he had just used magic in front of his family. More exposure. More at risk.
No one was safe near him.
Evie sat on the bed in her room, and she satisfyingly typed out the last line to her history essay. As soon as she hit the Save button, she closed her laptop and relaxed on the pillows at the head of the bed. She flicked through social media on her phone and clutched a warm mug of tea.
She tried to push the intrusive thoughts out of her mind of the dragon problem. Their new focus had to be protecting those who didn't yet know about magic and merpeople and the messy life that followed both of those things. She thought about all the people in her life that she needed to protect, especially Carly and her father.
There was a soft knock at her open door, Evie looked up and saw her dad. She smiled warmly up at him. "Hi, sweetheart." He said in greeting. He took a seat at the end of her bed.
"Hey, Dad. What's up?" She looked at him quizzically.
"Well, I'm in a bit of a tough spot right now. I'm supposed to take a fully booked group out on the reef tomorrow but one of my guides just called out sick and nobody else can cover his shift. I need someone else there because someone needs to be in the water with the tourists and someone needs to be in the boat— "
"Maintaining the air compressor." Evie finished for him. "And you're the only one who knows how to do that.
Doug looked over at his daughter and jokingly batted his eyelashes, "So, would you help out your old man?"
Evie's eyes danced around the room, trying to find anywhere to look but at her father. She thought of a lie as quickly as she could, "I'm really sorry, Dad. I'm in a group project for chemistry and I need to meet with my group members tomorrow at the library to finish up the lab report."
As much as she wanted to help, she knew that going out on a boat would be risky but leading a dive tour would be suicide. There would be no way for her to hide her giant golden mermaid tail from her father and thirty gawking tourists.
"Ah, I see. Well, I'll figure out something then."
"I'm sorry, dad, I wish I could help." Evie replied, her heart filing up with guilt.
"I know that you would if you could, darling." He pulled her forward and kissed her on the forehead. Then he left the room, leaving Evie feeling worse about her mermaid-ness than before.
She wanted nothing more than to tell her dad the truth about the other half of her life, but she knew how risky that would be. The second that he knew about magic, he would be on the dragon's radar. The safest thing for him was to make sure that he stayed in the dark. Evie just hoped that they could deal with the dragon soon enough for her to salvage some sort of relationship with her father.
David sat around the dinner table with his five other family members (which included his oldest brother Joe, who at the age of 20, was still living at home). Having a family dinner was something that his mother had requested, in order to spend more time together as a family. She had tried to get all of them together during breakfast, but Joe never seemed to show his face before one in the afternoon.
The only problem with the 'family bonding' was that nobody was talking, even little Maggie was distracted by a doll that she had brought to the dinner table. Leah, David's 14 year old sister, was busy texting her best friend David was doing was trying to train himself to navigate the water dangers of the dinner table. One drop, splash or spill and it was game over.
"So, how was everyone's day?" David's mother said in a sad attempt to get the conversation rolling. His dad looked over and glared at her, he didn't want to be around the table as much as the other kids. There was probably some sport on TV that he couldn't wait to get up and watch.
Maggie looked up at their mother, with wild excitement in her eyes like she just remembered something incredible. "Mommy, did you know that Davie is a mermaid?"
David's heart dropped into his stomach, but his mother only laughed, "My dear Maggie, you have always had the most active imagination."
David hadn't been a merman for more than a few hours and he already ran the risk of letting his whole family know about his secret and putting them in harms way. Part of him just wanted to come clear right then and there but looking around at his family he quickly decided against it and managed to come up with the best lie that he could under pressure. "Yeah, Maggie and I were playing a game, she gave each of us a mythical creature that we were going to be." He said giving a look to his youngest sister.
Luckily, Maggie was very smart for her age and caught on quickly, "That's right, Davie was a mermaid and Joe is a vampire because he never seems to show his face during the day," This earned a chuckle from their parents and a frown from Joe, "Leah is a witch, Mommy is an elf and Daddy is a wizard." Maggie sat back looking very satisfied with herself. David had to hand it to her, she was very quick on her feet. He'd have to watch out the next time he thought she was lying to him.
Their dad chuckled, "And, darling, what are you?"
Maggie puffed out her chest proudly, "I am the fairy princess, and you all should bow down before me."
The whole family laughed in response, their dad reached over and pinched Maggie's sides making her laugh uncontrollably and continued to poke her most ticklish spots, "All hail Princess Maggie!" He said, now laughing himself.
David breathed out a sigh of relief, he had narrowly escaped getting caught. He would have to have a little chat with his sister later about being a good secret keeper. But he could hardly blame her, this secret was so exciting, he was almost bursting at the seams himself. He wanted nothing more that take his new tail out for a spin with Sirena or try out his new powers, there was now almost no end to what he could do.
David's mom looked very pleased with herself, they were all talking and laughing like a normally functioning family. David had to roll his eyes to himself, he hated it when his mother was right.