Uncharted Seas

Chapter 5

Nori, as she soon introduced herself, was indeed a trustworthy guide- especially to her granddaughter.
“We’re related?” Abigail asked, surprised by the revelation.
“If I’m correct, yes. Tell me, did Carmen ever tell you about your father?”
“Only recently. Up until then, I think she was just hoping that dad would come home and be able to explain it himself. Wait- why do you know mum’s name?”
“Laiken always used to talk about her after they met,” Nori smiled softly. “As for her name, it confirms what I thought. You must be his daughter. What did she decide to call you?”
“Abigail. But how could you tell?”
“Your tail,” Nori explained simply. “As you are only half mermaid, your tail can currently only reflect half your heritage- mermaid genetics are more complicated than you probably think, but the main thing is that, had your mother also been a mermaid, you could’ve inherited the colour from one and patterns and fins from another. As she was not, you could only get them from your father’s side.”
Abigail thought over this information.
“So…you recognised me because my tail is identical to dad’s?”
“Not exactly identical, but in every way that it can be. Yes.”
Nori let her in, and immediately seemed to regret it. A woman who had previously been sitting calmly in the living room looked at Abigail, looked at her tail and looked at a necklace on one of the nearby shelves before hurrying up to the next floor.
“Ah…that would be Nerissa.” Nori sighed. “Your aunt. I’m very sorry, but she doesn’t handle conversations very well. She probably swam to her room to avoid saying anything that might upset you.”
“Oh, it’s fine.” Abigail smiled a little awkwardly. “It’s more than most people I’ve encountered seem to do.”
She looked around. The whole house was made of hollowed out stone, and more bioluminescent plants were used to light it.
“What’s all this about Laiken’s child?” An old man, presumably her grandfather, swam down. He took one look at her and immediately seemed to know the answer.
“Delmar, this is Abigail. Abigail, this is your grandfather, Delmar.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Abigail smiled, but she felt as though her usual facade was cracking. She was a mermaid, she’d just stumbled into her mermaid father’s home city, there didn’t seem to be a way home and now she’d met no less than 3 relatives she didn’t previously know existed for the first time. And Delmar clearly saw through it all.
“Nori, if we could have a talk in the kitchen? I’m sure our guest will need some time to think.”
“Of course. Abigail, why don’t you take some time to yourself in the living room? I’m sure today has been quite stressful.”
Abigail nodded and went into the next room, but could still hear their conversation all too easily.
“How do we know this isn’t just some stranger who disguised herself?”
“Delmar, that’s a ridiculous concept. Even if she was, wouldn’t they know where to go if they were looking for us? She’s not familiar with any of this, I can tell. I found her staring aimlessly at the paths in the city centre, and surely even you saw her erratic swimming.”
So they really did know something was off about her.
“...I did. But how do we know how she got here? Someone could have brought her here- whether that was to harm her, us or even her father.”
“Uhm, sir?” She piped up “You do realise I can still hear you, right?”
Silence. Delmar peered into the living room, and Abigail didn’t even bother to hide her nerves from him.
“Look, I’ll tell you how I got here, but I need it to be a secret. I really don’t know anyone around here, or how safe this could be.”
“Delmar, please just give her a chance,” Nori asked quietly. Her husband begrudgingly nodded towards the teen.
“You’re telling all of us, though.”
~
“The railing broke and I woke up here.” Abigail had all but finished telling her story. “I don’t know if anyone did anything to turn me into a mermaid, but I don’t know how to get back home and I really don’t want anyone to get hurt. I don’t even really know if the Laiken you know was actually my dad- I never met him.”
Delmar seemed to consider this to at least be an acceptable explanation, Nori had clearly maintained her stance on Abigail and Nerissa…well, it was harder to tell what she thought. She’d barely made eye contact with her niece the whole time she’d been speaking and frankly, she didn’t mind.
“I’m pretty sure he is,” she finally spoke up. “You look like him.”
“I do?”
Nerissa nodded.
“Just a little bit different.”
Abigail looked back towards the floor. Her mother always said that as well, even before her scales had started showing up, but she’d never been able to meet him. Maybe his family knew why.
“What happened to him?” She asked. “Why didn’t he come back?”
“I suppose he tried to protect a human from the guards,” Delmar guessed. “We were never told, but we do know he was captured. He’s been in The Hold ever since.”
“It’s not that he’s not trying to get out,” Nerissa reassured, seeing her niece’s devastation. “We get letters on a monthly basis saying that he tried to escape. Well, I do anyway. They stopped sending them to mum and dad because mum kept ranting really loudly about how they should just let him.”
“They should!”
“Grandma’s right. He didn’t do anything wrong, and we have to help!” Abigail tried to stand up immediately, but was sharply reminded of her form.
“We can’t. If a Siren like Laiken can’t break out of there when the moon is full, there’s no way the rest of us could when it isn’t.”
Abigail seemed confused.
“Mermaids who have a slightly more shark-like form when it’s the full moon, and legendarily beautiful singing voices as well. basically our version of…Werewolves, I think.”
“Are they stronger like that?”
Nerissa nodded.
“And a bit faster, with more endurance and a little bit stronger.”
“Which is why it’s too dangerous to try and break him out,” Delmar butted in, eying his daughter. “If the security’s tight enough to keep him even in that form, then it’ll be tight enough to keep us out- or catch us as well.”
Nerissa’s spirit seemed to break under her father’s gaze, but Abigail was more resilient. Looking around this room, at these people, she knew that Laiken’s capture was torment for all of them. And she was done letting it weigh on them.
“Well it is with that attitude!”
Delmar looked at her sharply.
“I’ve been drawn here for as long as I can remember. Now, I can finally see why I wanted to come here so badly- so that I can save him. But I can’t even begin to plan it if I don’t even know where I’m going.”
She locked eyes with her grandfather- a difficult task even in a better scenario. As she did, he seemed to see something, and his expression changed.
“You’re going to need to plan this well.”
“If we strike tonight, the security won’t be as high.” Nerissa got off her seat. “They raise the security for the night of the full moon, but they tend to lower it the night before and the night after so the guards can rest. Since the full moon isn’t until tomorrow night, we’ll have a better chance of getting him out tonight- and you might even have an easier job!”
“Your swimming isn’t like most others,” Nori noted. “It’s more…instinctual, and sort of erratic. The guards might find it harder to predict your movement. Not to mention that your tail is more or less identical to Laiken’s. It’ll confuse them in more ways than one.”
“Come on.” Abigail flinched slightly as her Aunt took her hand and started swimming away with her. “You’re going to need to rest. I’ll get everything else ready and explain the plan when you’re awake.”

Sorry about the late chapter everyone. I must have just been preoccupied on Monday. I hope this chapter was worth the wait!