8.
Naturally, despite Zac's new resolution, nothing happened immediately. First, of course, he had to come up with the right way to tell his parents the truth. This was a delicate process, not something he could just dump on them without so much as a by-your-leave and expect them to be okay with it. He had to ease them into the idea. Not to mention, it wasn't like he could sit them down himself and tell them before showing them the proof. He was currently all the proof they'd need and shocking them before he could give them a proper explanation didn't exactly seem like a good way to keep them calm, accepting and less likely to call the police.
His mum was already convinced something horrible had happened to him, he didn't want to suddenly show up with a fish tail and give her a heart attack.
He spent a few days dithering. He suspected he was driving Mimmi mad coming up with and then discarding plans. Eventually, she got fed up.
"Oh, honestly! I'll go tell them the truth!" she exclaimed, throwing up a hand in exasperation.
Zac's tail stopped kicking long enough for him to start sinking below the water line. He came back up with a splutter. "What? No!"
Mimmi shot him a look. "They'll find out about me anyway." She paused, expression softening. "You're worried they'll freak out before you can explain everything, right?"
Shrugging awkwardly, he nodded. Basically, yes, that was his biggest worry. He didn't want another 'misunderstanding' like had happened with Evie.
Mimmi nodded thoughtfully. "I think you're right, someone should explain it to them first and then show them. That's the easiest way, right?" She snapped her fingers. "Rita and I can go!"
Zac stared. "Rita?"
"She's in a position of authority for land people. They're more likely to believe her," Mimmi explained.
He had considered that. That they would have to accept the truth if it were coming from his Principal rather than him. Of course, he could only imagine the chaos should Rita and Mimmi turn up at the doorstep and announce they were mermaids and that Zac was a merman and Mimmi's long-lost brother and currently stuck without legs in the ocean. That would not go down well.
He bit his lip. Mimmi's eyes followed the movement and she clucked her tongue in exasperation yet again. "Zac! You listen to me! You can't keep swimming away from this! No matter what, it's going to be hard to tell them, so you just have to suck it up and do it!"
He watched her shoot him one last annoyed look before ducking under the water and speeding off. Great, now he'd ostracised the only family member who wouldn't look at him like he was a freak.
He glanced helplessly around the open ocean, at the bright morning sun reflecting off the waves, at Mako Island to his right and the endless horizon to his left. He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the mainland, and sighed. He scrubbed a hand through his hair and covered his eyes. "Good job, Zac," he told himself.
It had been well over a week, now, since Veridia had taken his legs. The weekend had passed and he hadn't been able to go hang out at the café, visit Evie at work, watch a movie with her, go on walks on the beach, or even just talk to anyone who wasn't a mermaid, his girlfriend, or his best friend.
It had been a very long, boring weekend, and an even longer and more boring week. It also seemed that the longer he stayed away from it all, the more he didn't want to even look at his textbooks. Evie tried every day to get him to focus, but it was so hard when he had to haul himself half out of the grotto pool, or drag himself up onto a secluded Mako beach and sit there in the hot sun, feeling every inch of him itch and burn at the dry prickling feeling that came with being out of water too long. All he could really concentrate on was getting back in the water, not on Evie trying to explain sines and cosines to him. Her voice became a buzzing in his ears and the lines of the pages of his textbook would blur and before he realised it, Evie would be standing in a huff, shooting him worried and disappointed looks, and stalking off.
School just seemed so…distant right now. It was hard to feel panicked or worried about not being there for the latest maths test. What was he going to do, drag two hundred pounds of wet fish-tail through the streets to the school and take the test lying on the floor as he slowly dried out?
The very idea made him shiver and he ducked under the waves so that his head and shoulders were no longer exposed to the hot rays of the sun.
It was strange how he'd never wondered about how easy it was for sea creatures to dry out, before Veridia had taken his legs. Mimmi said it was something to do with the magic that allowed the transformation between their mer and land forms. Being dry triggered the change and the transformation magic protected them from drying out in land form, so they never had to worry about getting too dry.
Mers not protected by this magic had every chance of drying out and it was incredibly dangerous to become beached or to go out in the sun for too long.
He sighed again, bubbles escaping his mouth, before he turned towards the direction Mimmi had darted off to. Hopefully he'd catch her in time before she disappeared onto land and refused to speak to him for the rest of the day. If not…well…the dolphins were always chatty, and he was getting decent enough at dolphin small talk by now.
Zac swam around underneath the docks with impatient flicks of his fins. Surely Evie should have come down by now to check on her dad? It was getting annoying having to avoid all the speedboats coming in and out of the docks, not to mention staying in water deep enough to keep his form obscured. He stilled beneath a barnacle-encrusted pillar and glanced up at the dark shadow above.
Mimmi still wasn't talking to him, and because Mimmi was angry at him, Ondina turned up her nose and went to hang out with Erik at the café. Cam was too busy trying to awkwardly flirt with Carly for Zac to get anything of sense out of him, and Sirena was too busy prepping for another night of singing, which left Evie. Evie might be annoyed that he was having trouble focusing on his schoolwork, but she hadn't abandoned him completely.
He'd go crazy if all he had to talk to were dolphins.
Once again, he surfaced for a quick peek, but there was nobody on the dock, so he gripped the edge and pulled himself up higher to look around. He was maybe one boat down from Evie's dad's scuba touring boat. Considering the man himself was currently on board counting up the day's income and checking over his equipment, he'd be a fool to get any closer.
"Come on, where are you?" he muttered.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps on wood and quickly lowered himself back down, only letting the top of his forehead peak above the dock to see who was coming. It was Mr. McLaren, climbing around on the dock, unloading some things from the boat. Zac relaxed, but kept a careful eye on the man's back, just in case he turned around.
What he wouldn't give to be able to carry a mobile phone around with him. He could attach it to his wrist and let it dangle…if only he could find a way to waterproof it, but that kind of equipment was expensive.
For the next thirty minutes, he played peek-a-boo with Mr. McLaren's back until finally—finally—he heard Evie's dulcet voice float over the soft ocean breeze. He dived low as he swam closer to the boat, going under the keel of the neighbouring vessel and edging close to the point where water lapped at the hull. Sparing a moment's concentration to turn invisible, he surfaced as quietly as he could and kicked lightly to manoeuvre his way along the side of Mr. McLaren's boat.
"Dad, let me help you with that," he heard Evie say. Both her and her father's backs were turned to him and he searched the dock for something to use to get her attention. He'd splash her, but, well…that would be risky.
He edged closer.
"Oh, drat, I forgot the ledger inside. Hold on a moment, Evie." Mr. McLaren stood and turned and Zac froze in place, barely daring to breathe. He may be invisible, but he still affected his surroundings and he didn't want Evie's dad to get an eyeful of some very strange water patterns and try to take a closer look.
Zac waited until Mr. McLaren had climbed back inside before hissing, "Evie!"
Evie's head shot up and she glanced around, brow scrunched in confusion. Zac rolled his eyes and whispered, a bit louder, "Evie!"
Evie finally turned, eyes searching the right place. Zac deliberating splashed his hands and suddenly Evie's eyes were right on him, narrowing dangerously? "Zac?" she whispered incredulously. Her head whipped around before she quickly crouched at the edge of the dock. "What are you doing? My dad's right inside!"
"I know," Zac whispered back. "Meet me at the end of the docks in five, okay?"
"What? But—"
Zac didn't wait to hear her protests. If she didn't get to voice them, she'd be forced to show up and he wasn't going to wait around for her to negotiate a longer time. He had been waiting all day.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Evie clopped her way down to the end of the dock in her flip-flops, eyes darting all over the water for a glimpse of iridescent blue or a flash of tanned skin. Zac stuck a hand over the edge of the dock and waved to get her attention. Pretty soon she was making a beeline for him.
She crouched at the edge. "Zac, what's this about, I—"
He didn't know why he did it. Maybe it was the boredom. Maybe he was slowly going a little crazy with nothing to do, day in and day out. Maybe he just wanted her to have no choice but to hang out with him a little. Regardless, it was a split second decision when he reached up, wrapped a wet hand around her wrist…and yanked.
Evie's scream of surprise was cut off mid-splash and Zac dragged her under just in time to watch the bubbles engulf her and change her legs into a beautiful, shining, golden-orange tail. Her arms waved around, windmilling for a moment as she struggled to right herself in the water. Finally, she was floating upright, hair billowing around her like a dark cloud, and an expression of impending doom on her face.
Whoops. Zac had less than a second to regret his decision before Evie darted forward, grabbed his arm, took off in the direction of Rita's. Zac let her drag him for a few moments, but then he beat his fins a few times to catch up to her speed and propelled himself with a surge of power until he shot right past her and her grip broke. Instead of catching up with him, Evie let him pass and then reached out and grabbed the end of his fins with two hands and yanked.
Zac let out a squeak of surprise and pain. He flipped over, tail kicking, and Evie let go, but then they hung there in a kind of stand-off, somewhere just beyond the docks, as a few sailboats cast shadows across the surface above them.
"Why?" he clicked at her, open palm rising with his one-armed shrug.
Evie blinked at him, shook her head, then then pointed towards Rita's, then made an 'up' gesture. Zac raised his eyebrows, and shook his own head. He was sick of Rita's grotto. He didn't want to hang out there, he wanted to do something different. He pointed in the direction of Mako.
Evie crossed her arms and her expression tightened.
He wanted to take her to the dolphins. She had loved meeting them last time, but hadn't had much time to play. He was sure she wanted to see them again. He pointed back in the direction of Mako and squeaked, "Dolphins!"
Maybe, possibly, she'd get the meaning.
Evie's expression tightened further, lips pressing firmly and Zac began to wonder if he'd gone too far. He'd just pulled her into the water—she couldn't be that angry about it…could she?
He made a gesture that he thought looked a lot like a playing dolphin and repeated himself, just to see, but Evie's expression didn't change. He sighed and groaned. "Fine," he mouthed, throwing up his hands.
Satisfied, Evie nodded at him and turned tail for Rita's. Sighing again in a flurry of bubbles, Zac followed her. No doubt she was going to lecture him about the irresponsibility of suddenly pulling her into the water in the middle of broad daylight, while her dad was nearby.
When they surfaced in Rita's grotto, Zac hung back near the entrance as Evie gripped the edge of the stone lip surrounding the pool and shot him a look over her shoulder. Her expression was equal parts annoyed and…well, something he couldn't quite decipher. His eyes widened.
"What was that?" Evie finally said.
"What was what?" Zac replied.
Evie stared at him, unimpressed.
Zac shrugged. "What? I can't want to hang out with my girlfriend?"
Evie let go of the ledge with one hand and gestured broadly in what might have been the direction of the docks. "Zac! You could clearly see I was busy!"
"Well when else am I going to see you?" he nearly snapped. He breathed out slowly and tried to hold his temper in. He shouldn't be angry, he was just frustrated. Evie didn't understand—she still had her routine, the only difference was that Zac just wasn't in it anymore. But for him it was the opposite—he had nothing but the wide ocean and far too much time on his hands not to go stir-crazy.
Evie's mouth tightened. "We find time—besides, we sit down to go over our homework every day, Zac-"
He cut her off with a snort. "Oh yeah, homework. I want to actually enjoy our time together, Evie."
Evie sighed, expression shifting to sympathy. "I know. And I'm sorry, but I can't just go swimming off at a moment's notice." She seemed to hover on the verge of saying something else, if the way she began to bite her lip was any indication. Zac watched her expression closely and wondered whether to try to coax it out of her. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, she blurted out, "Besides, it seems to me like you're not really all that worried about keeping up with your schoolwork."
"Sure I am," he retorted, immediately defensive. "You know how difficult it is to study like this. I'm doing my best."
Evie stared at him, searching his gaze. "Are you? Or are you more interested in playing with dolphins?"
He crossed his arms tightly. His tail kicked harder to keep him afloat and he bobbed in the water. "Oh, and what else am I supposed to do all day, huh?"
Evie let go of the ledge, as if she might swim closer, but then she changed her mind and pressed back against it. "I'm in school all day, would it kill you to spend a few hours going over your books?"
His crossed arms tightened. "I told you, I get dry. It's uncomfortable."
Evie's gaze darted away from his face. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she bit her lip. "Okay, I know. I'm sorry. It's just…"
He propelled himself a foot closer. He felt like she was on the verge of saying something important. Maybe what had been bugging her these past few days, besides his inability to focus on schoolwork…or tell his parents the truth. She'd been shooting him a lot of strange looks that he'd dutifully pretended not to notice. "Just…what?"
Evie ran a hand through her wet hair and then pushed the strands behind her ear. She glanced at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes to the water. Her fingers began to swirl it around in front of her, making little eddies in the pool. Zac hovered uncertainly.
Eventually, she sighed. "It's just…just…seeing you like this…I guess it just drives it home, you know?"
No, not really, he thought dryly. "Drives what home?"
She met his eyes. "That…that this is where you belong." She gestured vaguely towards the ocean. "You know, this is how you were meant to live, and…and I guess it's just made me worry that…that you might decide you don't want to come back. That maybe you'd rather be a merman all the time and…"
Zac had heard enough. He swam closer and grabbed her hand, stopping it's movement. "Evie. Hey. You know that's not true. You know I like my life, and like living on land, with my parents and my friends…with you."
She nodded quietly and their hands loosened enough for hers to slip out. She reached up and gripped the pool ledge. "I know that, I know that's what you say, but…"
"No buts. That's how I feel."
Evie studied his expression. "Are you sure?" she said, voice soft like a whisper. "I mean…Zac…this is how you were meant to live."
"But I grew up on land," he pointed out quickly. "So I don't think I could live in the ocean forever."
Evie's hand came up and covered her eyes for a moment. She laughed. "Gosh, sorry. I know it's a silly thing to think. I guess…I guess I was just worried that…I don't know, some part of you, the mer-part, would realise this is where you belong, and then you'd want to stay in the ocean, and then I'd lose you, and…"
Zac grabbed her hand again, eyes wide in surprise at her confession. He clasped the hand between his, brushing a thumb over the back slowly. With the wet slide of water between their skin, her hand felt silky smooth. He squeezed it and let go. "Evie, come on, you know me. I don't know where you're getting that idea from, but you know I want my legs back just as badly as you do. Wait, no, more than you do," he joked, flashing her a toothy grin.
Evie laughed again, shortly, and shook her head. Her eyes were a little bright, a self-deprecating smile creeping its way across her mouth. "Yeah, I know, I guess I just saw how well you've been adjusting. I mean, right now my boyfriend really is a merman-"
"Um, haven't I always been?"
"No, but I mean, before, you still had legs, it wasn't much different, you know?" She shrugged, smiling wryly. "But now I feel like one of those girls in the fantasy stories, whose boyfriend is some mystical creature and we have to sneak around and hide our relationship because it's forbidden, and I can only see you in the water. We can't go out, or watch a movie together, or hang out at the café anymore. You don't come and say hi when I'm working. I guess…it's just been hard for me, too. Even though you're still right here, I've missed you," she finished, voice tinged with a rawness that struck Zac. Sudden guilt opened up a small pit in his chest. He'd been so concerned with his own woes, he hadn't considered how lonely Evie must have felt without him around to be there for her when it came to the little things.
"Come here," he sighed, and pulled her into a hug.
Evie buried her head in his shoulder and he tighten his arms for a second, before the sensation of hugging her like this—virtually naked and wet—registered and he let go as quickly as he dared. Pretend it's just like wearing a bikini, he reminded himself.
She really did make a pretty mermaid, though.
"Thanks," she smiled. "I think I needed that. And I'm sorry, for unloading all that on you when you've got so much on your plate as well."
He shook his head. "It's fine." He flashed her a grin. "Remember, Veridia may have taken my legs, but I'm still a land-boy at heart."
Evie looked at him sternly. Her mouth pursed, eyes scrunching. She reached out, hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "Zac…do you really believe that? I think you've always been a merman at heart, with the way you've always loved the water." Her look turned knowing and he shrugged lightly.
"Well, okay, I guess you can look at it from the other perspective, if you want…"
Evie gave him one of her tiny, sincere smiles. "You have to admit, you've been adapting well. I just think you're more suited to this life than you think, and that's why I was so worried."
He could see the earnestness in her eyes and reached up to cover her hand with his. "Sure," he said. "Maybe if I had a real pod and…I dunno, there was more to do… Evie, I'm going crazy, there's nothing to do."
Evie's fingers found his and their hands tangled and dropped to the water. She shot him a puzzled look. "What about the girls? Mimmi? I thought they were sort of like a pod."
He huffed out a breath. "They're never around! Mimmi has her job, so does Sirena, and Ondina will only spend so much time with me before she gets annoyed." They exchanged knowing glances. Ondina's personality had never been the most fuzzy. Zac liked her well enough, but they'd never be best friends.
"Okay, I get it. I'll try to save some more time to hang out, but I've got the shop to run, and…" Evie trailed off apologetically, fingers squeezing around his.
"I get it," he assured her. And he did. It didn't stop it from sucking though. As awesome and responsible as his girlfriend was—and as amazing a person as that made her—for once he kind of wished she could neglect her responsibilities, just for a while.
That was wishful thinking, and that was all it would ever be.
Suddenly, Evie laughed. "Okay, but seriously, don't you think we're like one of those fantasy romance stories? The merman and the land girl, trying to overcome the great divide between land and sea!" She grinned, rolling a hand dramatically.
He winced. "Okay, okay, please. Let's not go that far, okay?" Just the words 'fantasy' and 'romance' together made him want to cringe. "Besides, you have your own tail. It's not like the ocean is some great barrier between us."
Evie bit her lip for just a second, before her expression morphed into a pleasant smile. "Of course, you're right. It's not that bad, is it?"
Zac tilted his head and hid the concern that tried to pucker his brow. He smoothed his expression and smiled back, but inside he worried a little. Why didn't Evie believe him? Why was she so worried that he was just going to swim off into the great blue beyond and never turn back? It was like they had backtracked to the beginning, when he'd first got his tail and Cam had convinced her the mermaids were trying to steal him away. He had thought those fears long gone—in fact, he was sure of it—so where were these new fears coming from? Hadn't he made it abundantly clear he wanted his legs, and his life, back?
"Okay, how about half an hour, we'll go see the dolphins and then you can get back to work?" he offered.
An exaggerated look of thoughtfulness crossed her face, before she grinned at him. "Okay, Zac, you win!"
Smiling back, he grabbed her hand and together they ducked back underwater.
Swimming side by side, Zac lead them to the dolphin pod's play ground. While normally he would have been filled with excitement at showing off how well he was now able to communicate with them, suddenly he was seeing all these little expressions on Evie's face that lead him to wonder if she was still thinking about losing him. She thought he was adapting 'too well', which was stupid. He was just doing his best to survive and not die of boredom, that was all. Anyone else in his position could and would do the same.
He could tell she had fun with the dolphins, that she loved their playful nature and genuinely enjoyed herself. Maybe she wasn't even thinking about her concerns anymore and Zac was just being paranoid. He couldn't help but wonder though, now that she had brought it up, and it coloured every decision he made, made him second guess every interaction.
Finally, after half an hour of swimming with the dolphins, and watching Evie's bright smile, he firmly told himself to stop worrying about something he couldn't change, and just make sure he reminded her as often as possible that he missed her and missed land and couldn't wait to be back.
Besides, he still had bigger things to worry about—like how he was going to tell his parents the truth.
[17.11.16] Some old fears resurface for Evie, and Zac tries to figure out how to tell his parents without causing them to panic and do something rash. Now, I promise, the next chapter will have something a bit more exciting since so far it's been a lot of introspection these past few chapters, but these minor plot points just had to be explored first. Also, I may just have a bit of a thing for long, dramatic build-ups...sorrynotsorry?