Chapter 11 Water spirit
Author's note; Rachel discovers a boy who's being possessed by a river ghost and tries to help him; Mrs. Wellington and Melora's sisterly bond grows.
Xinjiang China
A young man was walking through a beautiful forest. He was in his late teens, with short black hair and wore a black t-shirt and black jeans. He was enjoying the scenery when he stopped at a river.
The boy bent down to the river to have a drink. Under the water though, something was watching him.
The boy had a feeling someone was watching him. He picked himself up and started to walk away from the river.
Then suddenly a figure rose from the water. The boy gasped as the figure attack and his body collapsed to the ground.
A few seconds later he stood up again. The boy dusted himself off and walked off as if nothing had happened. But in the water was a figure that looked like the boy.
…
Rachel's eyes shot open and she looked around her room. For a brief moment she was surprised to see Annie standing in front of her bed wearing a sleeveless reddish-orange dress.
"Morning" said Annie cheerfully.
"Annie," exclaimed Rachel briefing with relief. "What are you doing here?"
"Your mom let me in," explained Annie. "She said you weren't up yet."
Rachel's eyes opened wide and she quickly got out of bed and started changing. She put on a bottle green off the shoulder shirt and black capris. The two girls then ran downstairs.
"Gotta go mom!" Rachel called to her mom as they ran downstairs and out the door.
As they walked to school, Annie and Rachel talked.
"Are you okay?" asked Annie. "You looked a little panicked when you woke up."
"Oh yeah," replied Rachel. "It's just I had a dream last night and it felt so real."
"What was it about?" asked Annie.
"There was a boy in a forest and it looked like he got attack by some spirit" said Rachel warily.
Annie starred gravely at her friend and they kept on without saying another word.
…
"So, humans ride in these things when they go on land?" asked Melora inside Mrs. Wellington's car.
"Yes," replied Mrs. Wellington ignoring her sister's uncomfortableness. "They're like when humans ride in boats, only on land."
Mrs. Wellington drove her car into the school parking lot and parked her car. Melora wobbled a bit as she climbed out.
"So," said Mrs. Wellington. "How's the pod been going?"
"Well, I became the pod leader ten years ago," replied Melora. "Mom and dad have both passed away."
Mrs. Wellington looked surprised to hear that.
"I'm sorry to mention it," replied Melora in a guilty tone. "I just thought I'd tell you now, dad passed away which is why I became pod leader. Mom passed away a few months later out of grief."
Melora could see her sister was looking saddened by the news.
"Don't worry," she said comfortingly. "It's not because of anything you did. They missed you just as much as I did. They had hoped that you'd come back to the pod."
"I felt I belonged on land," replied Mrs. Wellington. "I felt just as at home on land as I did in the ocean. I was bit of an outcast in the pod, I was getting a lot of attention in human school then mermaid school."
"You did look beautiful in that dress at the school dance" admitted Melora.
The sisters giggled as they walked inside.
Annie and Rachel were talking to Toni and Amelia as Mrs. Wellington and Melora walked by.
"Who's that lady walking with Mrs. Wellington?" asked Toni.
"That's Mrs. Wellington's sister Melora," replied Annie.
"I didn't know Mrs. Wellington had a sister" said Amelia with an amazed smile.
"She introduced us a few days ago" explained Rachel.
During geography Rachel was listening to Mrs. Malick talking about latitude and longitude. She tried to listen but suddenly Mrs. Malick's voice started to sound faint and suddenly she was seeing visions.
She could see a forest, and then a sign that said Meileiluse and then it looked like she was underwater. Then she could see a boy in the water, only she could see through him. He looked like a ghost.
Then she heard the boy speak.
"You have to help me."
"Rachel" came a whisper.
Rachel looked around she was back in the classroom and saw Jasmine looking at her oddly.
"Are you okay?" asked Jasmine worriedly.
"Yeah," replied Rachel breathing with relief. "It was just a daydream."
During lunchtime Annie and Rachel were talking about Rachel's vision.
"So the boy was there again and he asked you for help?" asked Annie.
"Yes," replied Rachel. "He looked like a ghost. And he was in a river in a forest, only I don't know where this forest is."
"Did you have any other clues?" asked Annie.
"I did see a sign on a highway," said Rachel thoughtfully. "It was in a different language. It said Meileiluse."
"Maybe we should go to the library and look it up" replied Annie looking at the clock.
They gathered up their lunchpails and ran down to the library.
The girls entered the library and got on one of the computers. Kelsey was there in the library sitting at a table studying and talking with Dana one of the girls from the drama club.
Annie typed in the name of the town Rachel told her on the computer.
"It says here," said Annie. "That Meileiluse is a small town in Xinjiang China. There's a large forest around the town."
"That must be it" replied Rachel excitedly.
"Let's go there after school and check it out" declared Annie.
Kelsey watched the girls leave and got up.
Kelsey found Parker, Irene and Trish in the hallway.
"Hey Parker," said Kelsey. "I overheard Annie and Rachel talking in the library. They were mentioning about China."
"What do mean?" asked Parker. "Why would they be thinking about going to China?"
"Rachel said she was having visions about China" explained Kelsey.
"Thank you, Kelsey," said Parker. "I'll look into it."
…
Annie and Rachel gathered the ingredients to make the potion that makes a portal appear for them to get to China.
When the potion was made the girls went to the moonpool and poured the potion into the water and a portal opened and they jumped in.
The flew out of the portal and landed on the ground.
They looked around and saw that they were in a forest.
"It's the forest from my vision" muttered Rachel.
"I think we should follow the river" suggested Annie.
The two girls walked along the river for a while, until they stopped for a rest. Rachel looked around the area.
"This is the area in my vision where I saw the boy" declared Rachel.
"Then I guess we have to go underwater," said Annie. The girls jumped into the water and turned into mermaid form. They swum underneath the water; it looked clear.
Just then they saw a figure ahead of them, it looked like a human. They swum closer and saw it was a boy. He was transparent, so he looked like a spirit. The girls stopped in surprise.
"He looks like the boy in my vision" whispered Rachel.
The boy's eyes widened at seeing mermaids.
"You can see me?!" he asked in shock. "And you're… mermaids!"
"I'm Rachel," said Rachel. "This is Annie."
"I'm Charles," said the boy. "Charles Fa. Can you help me? Some spirit is in my body and I'm worried he'll cause trouble."
"Of course, we can," said Rachel. "Tell us what happened."
"I was walking in the woods," explained Charles. "And I was having a drink of water from the river and suddenly this spirit came out of the water and attacked me, when I woke up, it was like we switched places. I was in the water and he was in my body!"
"Don't worry Charles," said Annie. "We'll check it out, we'll be right back."
Annie and Rachel resurfaced and used their heat powers to dry off and regain their legs.
"I think we should go to town and look for Charles's body," suggested Annie. "We have to find out what whoever's in Charles's body is up to."
Rachel nodded in agreement and they headed off.
They walked through the forest for a while until in the distance they could see a small town.
"That looks just like the town I saw on the computer," said Annie.
Annie and Rachel walked through the town. Although it was a small town it was still big enough to have a hard time finding a certain person among the crowd.
The two friends searched around the town for ten minutes, though it felt like hours. Suddenly they stopped to see coming out of the house a boy that looked like Charles.
Annie and Rachel exchanged looks as the boy walked across the walkway. He stopped to look at the girls for a minute and then walked on.
They walked up to the front door and knocked on it. A woman answered the door. She looked like she was in her late forties, with long straight black hair and wore a white Chinese robe.
"Hello," said the woman in a kind, gentle voice. She spoke in a Chinese accent. "Can I help you?"
"Are you Charles Fa's mom?" asked Rachel.
"Yes," replied the woman surprisedly. "Are you friends of my son?"
"Sort of," said Annie awkwardly.
"Do you know what's wrong with my son?" asked Mrs. Fa worriedly. "He's been acting a little strange these past couple days."
"Well…" said Annie struggling to say the words. "To tell the truth… we believe your son has been possessed by a spirit."
Mrs. Fa looked at the girls, she looked like she was going to collapse to the ground.
"I had a feeling it was like that," she said softly. "I sensed there was dark presences in my house."
"Don't worry Mrs. Fa," assured Rachel. "We're going to take care of this."
Mrs. Fa nodded and went back inside.
As they walked down the steps they started talking.
"She seemed to believe us about what we said about her son being possessed" said Rachel.
"Well Chinese people have a strong connection with the spirits," explained Annie. "I think I might know what this spirit is."
"You do?" asked Rachel.
"Yes," said Annie. "I think it might be a shui gui remember what Haru said about them? They're ghosts of people who drowned and they take over people's bodies to come back to life."
"Yeah," replied Rachel. "We should check for more information."
The girls headed down town where they found a library. They went on computers and did some research.
"Hey Rachel," said Annie from her computer. "It says that when shui guis take over people's bodies the spirit of the body they take over takes their place in the water until the next person comes along."
"How are we going to tell Charles about that?" sighed Rachel.
"I don't know" replied Annie.
"Well, I was doing some research about any deaths by drowning in Meileiluse," said Rachel. "And I found a news article that says that five years ago in 2010, a group of high school students were having a campout in the woods. A boy named Alec Cheng got drunk and lost consciousness in the river and was found dead by his friends the next morning."
Annie looked at a picture of the boy on the computer screen. He was an Asian boy around the same age as Charles. He had short black hair and wore a white dress shirt and black vest.
"Maybe we should ask Charles if he's the shui gui he saw" suggested Annie.
Rachel printed out a picture of the boy and they headed back to the river.
…
When Annie and Rachel got back to the river, they showed Charles the picture of Alec Cheng.
"Is this the shui gui who took over your body?" asked Rachel as Annie held up the picture.
Charles looked at the picture.
"Yes," he exclaimed. "The spirit who attacked me looked like that boy."
"But what are we going to do now?" asked Rachel. "The only way to bring you back to life is for you to take over someone else's body."
"I have an idea," Annie spoke up. "If Charles and Alec switched places, then maybe if we can get Alec to come back here with Charles's body, Charles can get back to his body and send Alec's spirit back to the water."
"That might work," said Rachel. "But it's getting late, we have to go home now. Don't worry Charles we'll come back after school tomorrow."
"Thank you" replied Charles gratefully.
…
Mrs. Wellington and Melora were talking at Melora's house. Haru was tidying up in the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. Mrs. Wellington got up and answered it and saw Parker.
"Mrs. Wellington," said Parker. "Kelsey told me she overheard Annie and Rachel talking about going to China after school today."
Mrs. Wellington and Melora looked surprise.
"Why?" asked Mrs. Wellington.
"She said something about Rachel having visions," explained Parker. "Do you think we should go after them?"
"Maybe we should go tomorrow" agreed Mrs. Wellington.
…
The next day Parker kept a close watch on Annie and Rachel trying to listen to any conversation about China. But Annie and Rachel were quiet about it.
When school was over Annie and Rachel made the portal again and jumped in, they didn't notice Parker, Mrs. Wellington and Melora jumping in too.
Annie and Rachel met Charles in the river.
"I thought about it," said Annie. "I'll go look for Alec and try to lure him back to the woods and when we get close enough to the river, Charles can attack and take possession of his body again."
"How are you going to do that?" asked Charles.
"I'll think of something," said Annie unsurely. "Rachel will keep you company till I get back."
Annie swum to the surface and dried off. When she regained her legs, she took a brave breath and walked off to town.
"I can't believe you girls are mermaids," said Charles. "My mother told me stories about myths, but I never really believed them."
"It's hard to believe that magic is all around us," said Rachel softly. "I'm sure Annie will be back."
…
Annie walked into town and looked around for Alec. She decided to see Charles's house to see if he was there.
She hid behind a bush and saw Alec walking out the door. He looked around for a minute and walked off.
Annie peered out trying to see where he went.
Suddenly, Annie felt someone grabbing her and a hand covered her mouth before she could scream. She tried to fight back, but the person who grabbed her whacked her and she fell unconscious.
When Annie woke up, she was back in the woods and she looked to see Alec starring at her.
"You're one of those girls who was spying on me yesterday," he said speaking in Charles's voice. "What are you?"
"I know you're really Alec Cheng," said Annie glaring at the shui gui. "Why did you do this."
"I wanted a second chance at life," declared Alec now speaking in a different voice. "When I was alive, I was careless. I didn't consider my safety which resulted in my accident. I spent five years in the river waiting for someone to come along so I could take over their bodies and live again."
He got closer to Annie ready to finish her off. But Annie held her hand up high and used her heat power to burn a branch on the tree above Alec off the tree. The branch fell and got Alec on the head.
Annie got up and ran.
"What are you?!" cried Alec.
Annie kept running through the woods. The area looked familiar and she knew she'd was almost back at the river.
She was almost there when she felt a grab on her arm. She looked back to see Alec holding her arm tightly.
"I know what you're doing!" he snapped. "And I'm not going near that water!"
Annie tried to pull her arm free, but Alec's grip wasn't loosening.
Just then Alec got wacked in the head with a branch and fell to the ground unconscious. Annie looked to see Parker had been the one to wack him.
"Parker!" cried Annie in relief. "What are you doing here?!"
"Kelsey told me she overheard you and Rachel talking the other day," explained Parker. "So I came in case you needed my help."
"Thank you, Parker," Annie sighed hugging her boyfriend.
"Now's your chance Charles!" called Rachel surfacing.
Charles's spirit rose from the water and attacked his body. The three starred for a minute.
Then Charles's body stood up and he smiled.
"Thank you, Rachel," he said kindly.
The four looked down at the water to see Alec's ghost in the water again.
"Aww, now I'm a shui gui again," said Alec annoyedly. "No fair!" he pouted like a sulky ten-year-old."
"Now you can't do bad things anymore," said a firm voice.
The group turned around to see Mrs. Wellington and Melora. They wearing moon rings.
The two sisters held out their rings and a bolt of blue light shot out and zapped Alec. He screamed and disappeared.
"Where did he go?" asked Rachel.
"Melora and I used our rings to banish him to the spirit world" explained Mrs. Wellington.
Charles bent down at the edge of the water and hugged Rachel.
"Thank you for helping me Rachel," he said. "And don't worry I won't tell anyone about mermaids."
"Thanks Charles" said Rachel softly.
And then Charles headed back to town and the others went home.
…
That evening Mrs. Wellington and Melora sat in the living room watching tv.
"We were pretty good today, weren't we?" asked Mrs. Wellington.
"Yes we were Dawn," replied Melora. "It's really becoming to be just like the old days.
Mrs. Wellington smiled. She remembered the days when she and her sister would swim and play together in the ocean. Although their relationship was becoming strong again, she wondered if things would really be just like the old days.
Author's note; This chapter is similar to the episode of charmed Dead man dating.