AN: Okaaaaay... Um, yeah... Not sure how much I need to apologise to cover that hiatus... Sorry? *ducks under table sobbing*
Every muscle in my body is as tense as a strung bow. I know I heard him, though I try to tell myself otherwise. I don't look back over my shoulder. "Kerenza," he whispers again. I glance around me quickly to see if anybody else notices, but Caiden and Conan are occupying everyone's attention with an arm-wrestling match.
"You okay?" asks Nessa brusquely.
"Um, yeah, just... yeah!" I say.
Luckily, Nessa seems too preoccupied to really care what I'm saying. I can't stop glancing over my shoulder.
"Okay everyone!" calls Rowan. The girl has boundless energy, she jumps straight upwards off the log she's sitting on. "Time for games!"
"Seriously?" groans Elowen raising her eyes.
"Yup, and EVERYONE will play," Rowan says, grinning brightly. "Kerenza, since you're the newest you can choose!"
Everyone looks at me expectantly. "No, it's okay I-"
"Rubbish," says Rowan, "pick a game."
An idea starts formulating in my head. "How about... Hide'n'Seek?" I suggest tentatively.
Blythe grins appreciatively. "On a beach. Without a lifeguard. At night. Sounds good."
I close my eyes and count slowly and deliberately up to one hundred as the others scamper off to hide. There's a silence, thick with anticipation, as I open my eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!" I call. Then, after waiting a second, I bolt towards the place I heard the voice.
"Carrow," I'm hissing before I even see him, "I don't know what you're thinking, but-"
I stop short when I see him. From the waist up, it's definitely Carrow, with his tanned ches, and dark hair, and bright eyes. But where he usually has his glistening, muscular tail he has...
"Carrow," I whisper, "why do you have... legs?'
He's sitting in a rock pool, so I all I can see are his shins and feet, which are sticking out. He stares up at me, a look of sheer terror on his face. "Help me, Kerenza," he whispers. I've never seen him look so desperate.
"What. Did. You. Do?" I ask.
He grins weakly. "When the tide was in, I swam to this pool. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, the tide was out and I had legs."
I stare at him. "You fell asleep, and woke up with legs?"
He cocks his head to the side, beaming.
"Wait here," I hiss. I jog back to where everyone's kept there stuff, and open a big box that contains lots of swimming things. I find a pair of blue trunks, grab them, and run back to Carrow. I toss him the trunks. "Put them on," I say, turning around.
"What? Why?"
"Stop asking stupid questions!" I cry.
It takes him a while, but he figures them out eventually.
"I'm done," he says, and for the first time, there is definite uncertainty in Carrow's voice. I turn to look at him, and he is leaning against a rock, as though unsure if his legs will support him. I look at his legs. They are muscular and sinewed, the legs of a swimmer, but they are trembling, and the skin looks tender, like it's healing from burns.
"Can you walk?" I ask him.
He looks nervous. "I don't know how."
I glance around quickly. I think I can see one of the other's, Blythe maybe, cowering behind some nearby rocks. "Put your arm around me," I hiss. He does so, and I can feel his arms are still as strong as before. Somehow, slowly, we stand together.
"Now watch," I say, "put one foot in front of the other, like I do, okay? Yes, good."
He's shaky, and looks tentative, but manages to stumble forward and back. I can't just leave him here. "Hang on," I say, "wait here till everybody leaves, and then we can... figure something out."
Carrow nods, but sits down heavily on the sand. Standing appears to be taking a toll on him.
I steeple my fingers and press them to my face. "Okay, okay, okay," I say, my voice muffled as I speak into my hands. "We're going to get you out of here, to someone who can help us."
Carrow looks like he wants to protest, but he isn't well placed to make any better suggestions. "Stay hidden," I hiss at him. He raises an eyebrow at me, and he looks jarringly human for a second.
"I don't exactly know how to run away," he points out, but slumps lower behind the rock.
"Rowan!" I call out. Silence. "Rowan, I have to go!"
Sighing, Rowan emerges from behing a boulder at the other side of the beach. "I don't know how you play this game where you come from, but round here, you have to actually look to-"
"Sorry," I say hurriedly, "it's just... I don't feel well. At all. I really should go home."
Immediately, Rowan's expression switches to one of concern. "What's the matter?"
They always want the details, don't they? "Um, I feel... nauseous. And feverish, slightly. And a bit light-headed." Okay, maybe I'm laying it on a bit thick. "I'll just go tell Aunt Saph, she'll do something."
Rowan looks at me anxiously. "Are you sure you'll be alright, don't you need me to walk you home?"
"NO!" I say a little to quickly. "I mean... it's your birthday! Happy Birthday! But you can stay. I'll be fine."
After ten minutes of persuasion, Rowan leaves to round up the others- they're all going to go on to a restaurant- and I wait an appropriate amount of time before high-tailing it back to the rock.
"We have to go now," I hiss at Carrow, yanking him to his feet by the arm. He winces. "Sorry," I whisper, but the urgency is still there.
"I can't- ah- move as fast as you do. I've only been- ow- cleft for a while!" He screws up his face with the effort of moving. In the end, I have to drape one of his arms around my shoulders and try to drag him, but he's still not moving fast enough, and he clearly needs more support, though he won't ask for it.
"Okay, okay, okay, stop!" I say. "Here," I take his other arm and wrap it around my waist, where he grips it. This is very very awkward. I feel myself flush as I have to haul Carrow along the road in what feels like an all too awkward, all too long hug.
It takes an hour, punctuated with several stops to get back to Aunt Saph's cottage, and I feel a surge of relief as I lean to knock at the door. Carrow stares at the building, his eyes bright with curiosity, but he doesn't speak.
"Right," I say, my voice tight with the effort of dragging his leanly muscular body up the street, "Aunt Saph'll sort this out, we'll have to keep you to a low profile." I knock sharply on the wooden door with my taut knuckles, tension slowly seeping out of my shoulders as I reassure myself that my Aunt, apparently an expert on the mer, will sort this... whatever it is that's happened to Carrow... out.
The door handle turns, and before the door opens, I'm gushing. "Aunt Sapphire, you've got to help me! I don't know how this Ingo works because it's pulled a 'Little Mermaid' on us and now Carrow's tail's turned into a pair of well-formed but useless legs and-"
"Kerenza," says Carrow in a low voice, "I do not think that this is your aunt."
"Huh?" I look up- and see that Carrow's right. I know the face that stares back at me so well, and it does resemble Aunt Saph. But it is not her, no.
"Dad," I whisper.