Extraordinary Comics:MERMAID
Two years ago
Three 14-year old girls were standing waist deep in a pool inside a cave. Above the pool, the roof of the cave had an opening, and from the sky above, full moon was shining down.
“You know, I don’t think anything is happening,” one of the girls said, shivering. “We have been standing here for a while now and all I feel is cold.”
“Give it a moment longer,” another girl, blonde rather than brunette like the others, said. “Maybe the moon is not in a correct position yet.”
“How was it supposed to go again?” the third girl asked.
“According to that legend I found in dad’s papers, if you stand in the pool that forms during low tide when the full moon shines down and illuminates the pool, you turn into a mermaid. But a combination of a full moon at the exact right altitude and low tide is a rare occurrence. And it occurs tonight! If we give up too soon, we may not get another opportunity. And this might be our big chance! Think about how cool it would be!”
“Unless the legend is crap,” the shivering girl said.
“Dad says that magic actually exists, even if it is rare. And he teaches at Hickory University so I think he knows. Let’s wait at least until-”
“Hey! I think something is happening!” the third girl interrupted.
The pool had slowly started to glow with a soft white light.
“The illumination!” the blonde girl exclaimed. “It was true!”
“Wait, what is that?” the shivering girl pointed out.
Something was rising from the bottom of the pool. The girls saw a flash of green, and then silvery scales.
“There is something in the pool!” the shivering girl shrieked and started to clamber out, her friends following her example. The girls scampered away as something broke the surface of the pool”
“Air! Real air! I am breathing air!”
The voice was beautiful and softly accented, and belonged to another girl apparently close to their age. She had emerald-colored eyes and hair and was dressed in what looked almost like a diving suit of silvery scales. There was also something subtly exotic about her features. The girl leapt out of the pool and said: Ground! Dry ground! Well, moist – but I am out of the water! First time I am out of the water! I am free!” The girl leapt at a wall, kicked herself off it, cartwheeled through the air, kicked herself off from the opposite wall and was soon delightedly bouncing, flipping and cartwheeling around the cave, her feet not even touching the ground, happily repeating: “I am free I am free I am free!”
“Look at how she moves!” the girl who had been shivering said, her mouth agape.
“That is so not normal!” the other brunette said. “But I don’t think she is dangerous.”
“Umm. Excuse me!” the blonde girl called out. “Who are you?”
The green haired girl gracefully flipped down in front of the other girls, made a theatrical-looking bow and said: “I am Princess Ahshala Ravatumal, of the Tides! To whom do I have the pleasure of introducing myself?”
“I am Kelly Tiedemann,” the blonde girl said. “These are my friends Sheila and Denise. Uh, are you a mermaid?”
“I think your people know mine as Sea Elves, but you can call me Mermaid if you like."
“Did we summon you or something?” the shivering girl, Sheila, asked. “You came from the pool.”
“No, I came through all by myself. At the right time, a portal forms between my realm and your world. I had been waiting for such a time. In a moment the portal will close and then I will be truly free. I won’t have to go back! I managed to get away!”
“Get away from what?” Kelly asked.
“Water! There is no air in my realm. No dry ground. It is all water, water, water. And I am supposed to like it – but I don’t. I really don’t. So I escaped. My esteemed father, King of the Tides, won’t be happy, but so what.”
“You fled to our world?” Kelly asked. “What are you planning to do here?”
“No idea. I figured I’d work it out once I was here.”
“If you will give us a moment,” Denise said and turned to the other girls: “A quick talk!” The girls huddled together and spoke quietly.
“Okay, we didn’t turn into mermaids, but this might be almost as good,” Denise said. “We could get one as a friend. She is about our age. She has no idea what to do here. So we get her to live with us and enter our school, and then we get her into our cheerleading team. Did you see her moves? With her in our team, we will win the next cheerleading contest for sure. We will just have to tell her to tone it down a bit because really.”
“But we can’t just bring her home and ask to keep her!” Kelly said.
“Sure we can,” Sheila replied. “We will just have to alter the story a bit. We go with her escaping from some people, but tell that she swam in from the ocean after jumping from a ship where she was being held prisoner. We will just have to instruct her about what to say. Like, that she does not know what her home is called around here, only that it is a long way away. With no way to return her back to where she came from, all you need to do then is convince your parents to adopt her.”
“I’m not sure…” Kelly said.
“Haven’t you always said that you would have wanted a sister, but your parents can’t have more children?” Denise asked. “This is your opportunity. And ours.”
“Maybe it would work,” Kelly said. “But she is going to need a name that is easier to pronounce.”
Now
A sunny day at the public beach. As Sheila and Denise headed for the water, Kelly turned to look back and asked: “You sure you don’t want to come for a swim, Em?”
“You know what I think of water,” the green haired girl reclining on a blanket replied. “I will just stay here and enjoy the sun.”
Some distance away, two young men were sitting on the beach. As Kelly went after her friends, the one called Greg nudged his friend Cody. “Now is your chance!”
“Huh? Chance for what?”
“To talk to Emerald. It is obvious you have been wanting to. Her friends went for a swim. She is all by herself. Go on before the others come back.”
“But… What do I say to her?”
“Compliment her cheering or her looks or something and go from there. But do it now before the opportunity goes away!” Greg gave his friend a shove to get him moving.
Somewhat hesitantly, Cody walked up to Emerald, who turned to look at him. “Uh, hi,” he said. “Your, um, hair looks nice. I like the way you color it.”
“Why do I feel that it is not my hair you are most interested in,” Emerald said, making him blush. With a smile she added: “That was not a rejection, by the way. Since you are here-“ Suddenly she stopped, frowned and stood up, looking out at the sea.
“What is it?” Cody asked.
“A shark. A starving shark heading for the beach.”
“A shark?” Cody turned to look. “I don’t see-“ But Emerald was already running for the lifeguard tower. “Hey!” She shouted at the lifeguard. “Sound the alarm! There is a shark in the water!”
The lifeguard raised his binoculars and looked out over the waters. “No, I don’t see any-“ he started, but Emerald shot up the stairs of the tower and stared right into the lenses of the binoculars. “Just sound that fucking alarm!” she said. Intimidated, the lifeguard complied, turning on the siren warning people out of the water.
As the confused swimmers started returning to the shore, the lifeguard kept scanning the waters. Suddenly he froze. “Holy shit! There it is! How on earth did you see it?” Then he focused on something else. “Damn it, that kid on an inflatable raft. He is not going to make it out of the water at that speed. Hey you! Leave the raft! Damn it, he does not hear me, or does not understand.”
“Em!” Kelly and the others pushed through the crowd. “Em, do something! The shark is going to catch that kid!”
Emerald looked at the water, grimaced, but then said: “Oh well,” and shot towards the water at a run. Upon reaching the waterline she leapt, dived, and vanished under the surface. For a moment nothing happened then, until Cody asked: “Where is she? Why doesn’t she surface?”
“Relax,” Kelly said. “Em can hold her breath for a long time.”
“There!” Greg had pushed his way through the crowd. “I can see her! Holy shit, how is she that far already?”
“For someone who does not like water she is a seriously badass swimmer,” Cody commented.
“Tell me about it,” Kelly said.
Emerald reached the raft. But rather than stopping, she kept going right at the shark. “What is she doing?” Cody said. “She is going to get eaten!”
“Want to place a bet?” Denise asked. “My money is on her.”
Upon approaching the shark, Emerald dived, shot forward and rammed the shark. The skeleton of a shark is made of cartilage rather than bone. The impact hurt. The shark still attempted to bite, but moving with astounding speed Emerald slid out of the way and started raining blows on the shark. Knee, elbow, fist, headbutt. After getting first rammed and then rapidly pummeled, the shark realized that it was in a fight it could not win and turned away. Letting it depart, Emerald swam back to the raft, grabbed hold of it, and started pulling it and the kid on it towards the shore.
Reaching the shore Emerald walked out of the water, nodding half heartedly at the cheering crowd and commented: “Water! I have never liked the stuff. Where is my towel? I need to get dry!”
“Wow, she is pretty awesome,” Greg commented to Cody.
“Yeah,” Cody sighed, looking at Emerald in the middle of her friends and the congratulating crowd. “And I lost my chance to talk to her.”
