Just finished. I think it still needs some editing, feel free to review!
Chapter 2
Anya woke to the sound of voices, rushing and urgent. She made her feet carry her to the cabin door, shyly taking a peek out. People all around carried suitcases and travel bags, official tickets and documents clutched behind worn, tired fingers. The ship had docked.
Time to go.
Anya hurriedly changed into dark, inconspicuous clothes. She yanked her dark red hair back into a sloppy bun and threw a tasseled winter hat over it all. Everything else got zipped away into her backpack.
There was a predicament.
Anya didn't have papers. A passport. Anything really. She had stowed away and found an empty cabin, hiding in plain sight. Getting on the boat was easy, Russia had pretty lax regulations. But America, Oregon to be precise, had so many laws; She would have to act fast.
She found a secluded spot on deck, away from people disembarking, and took her pants, underwear, socks, and shoes off. She put it all in her backpack, and tied the straps across her chest after putting it back on. She also tied the two tassels of her hat together, so the currents wouldn't rip it away. Anya climbed over the safety railings, perching on the edge for a moment. Scoping out the area. She figured she should hurry up, being half naked and all. Anya jumped over the side feet first, breath held, eyes tightly shut.
The salt water engulfed her. It was freezing, but not too cold for her. An itchy sensation crawled over the inner sides of her legs, which she held close together. She felt the skin knit together, intertwining into one smooth mass. Her feet, which didn't have much arch to begin with, began to inch forward, elongating into a thin but strong membrane. A fin.
It was almost done. The slits on her neck opened, allowing her to breathe at last. A second, clear pair of eyelids slid beneath her flesh ones. Her time was getting better. Only a two minute transformation. A faint feeling of rare pride gently settled over her. If luck was on her side, nobody had seen her. No screams erupted anywhere, so she assumed not. After Anya opened her eyes, she pulled a compass from around her neck, planning on traveling south, where warmer waters awaited.
She worried about her English. Anya was moderately fluent, but sometimes she feared her accent would surface, arousing questions about where she came from. She couldn't get caught by police. Authority could not find out about her condition. Rusalka. Selkie. Mermaid. Русалка. She had heard everything. So far, only strangers and mis trustworthy people had seen her legs. Criminals. People that were easy to get away from, and would only be called crazy or liars.
But if caught by authorities, she would be finished; Sent away to live in a test tube while a swarm of scientists examined her until she died.
Anya couldn't allow herself to be caught.
Darkness had fallen above the water. Anya had been swimming for hours. She tentatively surfaced, hungry and tired. The coast was only a few yards away. She swam partially out of the water for the last few feet, giving her gills and eyelids a chance to return to normal. She lifted herself out of the water onto a rock with her arms, curling up on dry land. Now came the hard part.
It took much longer for her tail to revert back into legs than it did for her legs to join into a tail. She had to be mostly dry from the waist down, and since all of her absorbent belongings were wet, she would have to let the water evaporate. And she couldn't walk anywhere. Damn.
Anya dragged herself over to the treeline, searching for some type of shelter. Tiny pieces of dead plants and dirt stuck to her damp clothes and body. The ground was rough, branches and rocks littered the forest floor. No morning light shone from the east, allowing her a few hours of invisibility under the blackness. She sat at the base of a tree,pulled out a sweater from her backpack, and sat on it. Anya didn't plan on waking up with two legs and leaves in her ass.
The moon was nearly full, shedding enough light for her to discern shapes from the darkness. The tree she sat against had a short and thick trunk, and a huge canopy of pointed leaves so dense she couldn't see the branches. Myrtlewood. Found in southern Oregon and northern California. Anya doubted she had made it all the way to California yet. Must still be in Oregon. She decided to have a look around whatever town was nearest in the morning, maybe find some food. She was very hungry.
A starry sky shone down through the lacy foliage. The long swim had tired her out. It was difficult to get comfortable against the hard tree, but eventually exhaustion won out comfort, and she fell into a fitful sleep.