AN: I LOVE MY REVIEWERS! You people are awesome! Sorry for the time between updates, school just restarted, so I am madly busy right now.
"What? Oh, oh dear lord, but is she alright? Yes, yes, I get it Roger, but... No, yeah, yep. We'll see what we can do. Okay, yep, bye."
Dad snaps his mobile phone shut, looking tense. Mum and Aunt Sapphy are looking at him anxiously.
"Mum's had an accident," he sighs, "a bad one. She's going to be fine, but she'll need help for a few months- more help than Roger can give. With their pension, they can't afford a live-in nurse."
"We have to go to her!" Mum cries, passionately, "It's up to us to help her!"
"I know," sighs Dad, raking a hand through his dark hair, "and my work isn't a problem," Dad's a copy editor with The Times, and works from home, "but what about Kerrie? We're talking a three or four month stay in Australia at least! She can't miss a month of school, she starts her GCSE year in September!"
"Her school has a boarding section," Mum points out, "I'm sure we can arrange for her to stay for a month or so!" She turns to me, smiling. "You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?"
"Um, yeah!" I say brightly. I don't really mind, but I'm sure that just agreeing will make things easier.
"That's fine," says Dad, "but it would also involve her flying back from Australia alone! She can't go on a twenty-four hour flight by herself."
"She won't have to," interjects Aunt Sapphire, her voice as cool and reassuring as a glass of water in the heat, "she can stay with me for the rest of Summer." She waits whilst Dad's had flies upwards, staring at her hard and sharp. Then she continues. She can stay with me, and I'll drive her back to London when the time comes. I'll stay with her for a couple of days, get her to school, then come back up here! By the time half-term rolls round, you two should be back, and everything will be fine."
"Leave her here," says Dad slowly, "by herself."
"With me," corrects Aunt Saph, and her eyes are sparkling angrily. She and her brother glare at each other, conversing with their eyes, but only for a moment, before Mum cuts in.
"Oh, Sapphy! You would do that? That would be perfect, thank you!" She's all hugs and smiles, steering a spluttering, confunded Dad away to start booking tickets and packing.
I blink a few times. It's barely been two days, and they're gone. Packed, driving back to London to make arrangements from there. Mum was flitting round the house like a Robin, room-to-room, getting everything ready. Dad worked quietly and efficiently. I couldn't tell wether he was more worried about Grandma, or about leaving me here.
The car's driven out of sight, and suddenly Aunt Sapphy and I are alone in the cottage. A few weeks ago, I'd be fine with this arrangement, but images of a man with a tail keep slipping into my head, and I feel nervous.
"Do you want to go explore the area?" she offers, smiling, "I need to do some stuff for the shop here, but you can go wander round!"
"Yes please!" I jump at the chance to be alone. It strikes me, the difference between her and Dad. She's willing to let me wander round an area by myself, an area I've never been before. Dad would turn puce if he knew.
It's all very fun, rushing out of the house by myself, but I realise I have no idea where to go. In the end, I just find a footpath, and follow it. I'm halfway along the path when I hear it. Singing. It's beautiful, almost choral, but freer, a more raw sound. It's male voices, there's more than one. I don't understand the words they're singing, but they remind me of the sea.
Almost without knowing what I'm doing, I follow the sounds. I don't know where it's taking me, I have no concept of where I am, until I find myself at the edge of the cliff. And I see them. There are three men sat on the other end of the cliffs. I stiffen as I see them. One of them, the eldest one, is someone I recognise. It's the man I saw Aunt Sapphire with that night. I can only assume, then, that the three of them are mermen. I begin lowering myself down the rocks carefully, watching them the whole time. The second man is younger, only about thirty, with a soft face, and very curly, light brown hair. I swear quietly as I almost fall of a rock, managing to catch my balance at the last second. My heart hammering from the moment. I see the last figure. He's the youngest of all, only about my age. His hair is dark, mahogany-coloured, and his eyes are darker still. All three of them are good-looking, beautiful, even, in an old-fashioned sort of way.
I manage to get to the bottom of the rocks without killing myself, and by this point, they aren't singing anymore. They're leaning in talking, so I can't hear what they're saying. When they break apart, the two older mermen dive straight of the cliffs, disappearing beneath the waves. The youngest waits to watch them disappear, then his face breaks into a huge grin, and flops backwards, so he's lying back onto the grass, with his tail hanging off the edge of the cliff.
The whole situation is so strange, I'm frozen. I want to run away, but I'm rooted to the spot, watching him. Then, almost in slow motion. He sits up and looks down and across so that he's facing me. And then he's waving me over.
For a brief moment, I consider turning and climbing back up the cliff. An image of me tripping and tumbling back downwards dispels the thought, so I stay put. The boy sighs, and dives off, into the sea. I allow myself to relax, when he appears again his head above the waves, a few meters out, waving me over. I take a few steps closer to the seafront, until I'm at the edge of the ocean. I roll up my shorts, and tentatively wade in till I'm knee deep. I'm not stupid enough to go further, as far as I know, I'm out here alone, and I'm not the strongest of swimmers.
The boy sighs when he sees me stop. He ducks under the waves again, and appears a foot away from me in a second. I yelp, startled by his sudden appearance so suddenly, and almost fall down. I'm suddenly terrified. There's a merman in front of me!
He raises an eyebrow at me. "You're not very good with those are you," he states, nodding at my spindly legs.
My fear of him evaporates suddenly. I bristle. "Better than you could ever be, clearly!" I cry indignantly.
"Is that how you greet new people here?" he asks.
"You're not a person."
He looks hurt. "Why, because I'm cleft? My uncle was right, you humans are peculiar."
"I'm peculiar? You're a merman, for heaven's sake!"
"I'm not a Merman," he huffs, "I'm Mer. There's no 'man' involved. Now for more important things. What's your name?"
"I can't tell you my name, you're a stranger!"
"So it's alright to insult new people, but not introduce yourself to them? Strange."
I sigh. "My name is Kerenza. Kerenza Trewhella."
He looks at me, surprised. "Kerenza?"
"Well, yes. Though I suppose you could call me Kerrie, if you wanted."
"No, no," he shakes his head, smiling, "Kerenza is fine."
I frown, puzzled. "Why do you find it so odd?"
He shakes his head. "I'll explain it some other time. My name is Carrow."
"Pleased to meet you," I say, holding out my hand. He looks at it. I pull it back. "Never mind."
He shrugs and then moves on. "Do you want to come with me?" he asks, glancing at the waves.
I snort. "Please, be serious. I can barely swim in a pool, and I can't even dive! Not to mention, I met you all of five minutes ago. And I can't breathe underwater."
He looks at me. "I'll help you. And you won't need to breathe. Don't you want to see something new?"
I allow myself to imagine a whole new world, beneath the waves. For a moment, I'm about to agree, to go ahead and explore. But I stop myself. "Not today," I say, shaking my head. "My Aunt's expecting me back for lunch."
He sighs. "If you're sure," he says.
My stomach tightens with disappointment, but I begin to move away.
"Kerenza," he calls after me, "maybe later?"
And then, without looking back, Carrow, this strange new boy turns and dives, and dives, leaving me utterly bewildered.