The Little Mermaid of the Gulf (#OnceUponNow)

Part 6: Change

The closer she came to where her pod lived, the more her body wanted to freeze in fear. The water wasn't clear as it usually was, and the more she swam, the more dark oil Miranda encountered. She swam lower, grazing the sea floor where the oil had not yet reached, until she found her pod.

Thick, black oil hung in the water where her people panicked. Many had already awoken, probably due to the sound of the explosion, and were gathering their valuables and loved ones, unsure of where to go. Some others had not yet wakened, thanks to the black oil that stopped their breathing. Miranda searched in terror for her father who she had not yet seen. She swam to their dwelling, but he was not there. The broken watch face seemed to mock her before it became obscured by the black oil swirling in to suffocate her.

Miranda hurried away from her old home and back to where most of her merfolk had gathered, panicking. Even Dover looked lost and afraid. "The landfolk have tried again to kill us. First they take half our pod, then Calden, and now they're back for the rest of us," he shouted.

"Miranda! Miranda!"

Miranda heard the familiar sound of her father's voice. Maro broke through the crowd, his eyes wide with fear.

"Papa!" she called in response.

Maro's eyes searched the crowd frantically until they stopped on his daughter's face. He zoomed to her side as the black oil chased after him, closing the pod in to an even smaller area of safety.

"Where have you been?" Maro asked as he clutched his daughter in his arms.

"I found Calden," she said. "He is a human now."

Maro pulled away from his daughter and stared at her face. "A human?" He shook his head, reorganizing his thoughts back into focus. "We have to get our people to safety."

"The path to shore is clear," Miranda said.

The oil moved in, and now some of the pod began to cough it from their bodies. Even Dover began to suffocate from the oil. "We have to move!" he managed to yell.

Maro made a split decision. "Toward the golden waters and the shore!" he called.

"To the landfolk? I don't think so," Dover said, his voice murky with oil.

"There is no other choice," Maro retorted.

"Let's go!" Miranda yelled.

She began to grab the wrists of her surviving pod members and pulled them toward the bottom of the sea where the path to shore was clear. "This way," she ordered. "Don't stop until you see Calden!"

"Calden?" Dover asked, finally being persuaded to follow. "I knew you knew where he was."

"I just found him tonight. He is a human now. He will not remember you," was all Miranda had the time to say.

She and her father continued to usher their merfolk away from the black water, but so many of them were sick with the oil, both Maro and Miranda wondered if they would survive the night. The pod had learned from the last time black water invaded their home that once a body is filled with oil, there is no cleansing it.

Unless.... Miranda thought. Unless the transformation into a human body could save them.

"Keep swimming!" Miranda shouted as the black oil seemingly chased after them. "Don't stop until you see Calden! Don't stop until you meet the shore!"

The surviving pod swam against time, despite their aching bodies, despite the danger they knew lurked ahead of them on shore, until they finally reached the reeds between the sea and Grand Isle.

"Stop!" Miranda called. The pod sputtered to a halt. Maro coughed up oil beside her. "Papa?"

"I'm fine," he wheezed.

She shook her head. "You're not. Stay here." She swam to the head of the pod. "Everyone stay here."

Dover tried to protest, but his voice was too muted with oil to make a sound.

Miranda swam to the shallows and poked her head up. Calden and a group of other humans waded in the water, watching the oil rig blaze. "Calden!" she called.

His face lit up with relief. "There she is, I told you she'd come back."

The people began to near her, and Miranda wondered now if she had placed too much trust in the landfolk as Dover called them, and in Calden.

"What are you doing, Calden? Bill?"

He stopped in his tracks, a hurt expression on his face. "We are here to help. It's not every day you see a mermaid."

It used to be for you, she thought.

"We need Mama Perrine," Miranda said. "These merfolk may die without her. I need to know how the conversion works."

A group of humans whose expressions didn't immediately turn to fear and disgust at the mention of Mama Perrine's name climbed up to her house and returned carrying her in their arms. Her body was small enough for them to hold her without much struggle or complaint.

"Mami Wata, you brought a lifetime of souls for me," she said in her raspy voice.

"This isn't for you, it's for them. Many of my people were poisoned by the oil. They need to be cleansed, but we learned the last time that we cannot be on our own. I need to know truthfully if we can be cleansed of the oil through your transformation process."

Mama Perrine thought for a moment, then winced. "Truthfully, I don't know Mami Wata. It should work. Their bodies change, so their breathing changes. Perhaps it will clear them."

Maro began gasping for breath behind Miranda, and all her thoughts went blank except one: I have to try whatever I can to save my people.

"Do it, Mama Perrine. Change them."  

"I will have all their souls then, Mami Wata. You know what that means."

"I don't care!" Miranda yelled. "Just do it!"

Mama Perrine nodded with a smile. "Everyone else stand back," she told the other humans. Calden stepped forward and scooped Miranda out of the sea and into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Miranda asked.

Calden carried her back to where the other humans stood, on the town's main street, and began cupping water over Miranda to hydrate her. "If they will all forget, the mermaids will lose," he said, not once meeting her eyes. "We will never know any more about your people--our people--except that you existed. Someone needs to feed our curiosity. Someone needs to outlive this change."

Miranda smiled, though Calden did not see.

Mama Perrine took Maro's hand in her left and Dover's hand in her right. "Everyone must touch. We must all connect," she instructed the pod. They each took a hand in theirs, creating a full circle of wheezing and panicking merfolk at Mama Perrine's command. She began to chant some words that had since lost their meaning to all landfolk except for her, and perhaps a handful others. The water began to glow in golden light, illuminating the spreading oil that began to follow them past the reeds. The pod wheezed and thrashed in pain from the oil in their bodies, though as their moans intensified, Miranda realized that their were in pain from the conversion process too.

"They're in pain," she told Calden, trying to wriggle free from his arms.

"It's almost over, I think," he said, holding her tighter.

Miranda watched the pain intensify on her father's face and her chest nearly collapsed with anxiety. Then, it all seemed to stop. The glow faded, the pained expressions dissipated, and all their faces went blank. Miranda knew it was done. Her people were now humans.