Aqua Waters | ✔

Twelve

Sammy, Gage and I sat around the coffee table located in the middle of the living room. Papers were strewn across the surface, laying in an unorganized mess filled with words of stories, and any information we could find about my condition. The wood of the coffee table covered in scratches.

Gage had stopped at the library grabbing every mythology book he could ever find. The book with its ancient spine lay open, a picture of a creature of the sea staring back at me. I reach forward, my mind taking in every detail of the scale covered being. Was this was I was bound to become? Nothing more than a monster that was forever trapped below the crashing waves of the ocean.

My body ached, I stretched to relieve the knots in my back. A few cracks sprang throughout the air, glancing around the room, worried that someone would care. The sky outside was now dark, the light fixture above us casts shadows across our research. I clasped my hands together watching as Sammy delves into another page of the book in front of her, searching for any cure out there.

It felt like we had been staring at these pages for hours, none of it beneficial. We weren't going to figure this out by staring at pages on the history of mermaids. Was I even a mermaid? Was there some other creature out there? Weren't mermaids supposed to have these beautiful voices and lure men so they can kill them? I shook my head, there was no beauty in the sound of my singing voice and I had no desire to kill men, as dumb as they can be at times.

"So what have we learned so far?" Gage leans against the wall letting out a tired sigh. He looked exhausted from the hectic week.

"I feel like we've learned nothing, we've been reading every possible thing we could for a week now." Sammy sighs in response placing the book down on the floor in front of her. I slid from my seat on the couch, lowering myself to their level.

"We've learned that I'm a mermaid." I tried to add some humor to the room, making a mental note to not do that anymore. I kept my eyes down to avoid the death glares from my friends. Gage leaned closer to me, his hand brushing my foot as he did so.

"We know that you transform when wet, so if we can keep you dry forever then you can live a normal life." Gage grabbed the notebook he was taking notes in, searching for anything he could have missed.

"But, I can never shower ever again." I caught his eyes at just the right time, trapping me in their blue-green hue, reminding me of the sea.

"This here says your supposed to have some control over the water." Sammy piped in, showing the rest of us the book. Her manicure chipped from all of her stress, she had a bad habit of biting at her nails. I glanced at the words as she read them out loud.

These creatures were known to do amazing things with water, whether they could freeze it, morph it, or make it appear out of thin air, each earned the power when they completed their first full transformation.

"What is a full transformation?" Gage questions, he stands up heading towards the kitchen to grab something to eat. The fridge terrifyingly empty when he opens the door. "Jesus you guys need to get some food in this house." He pushed the expired milk out of the way to reveal the last slice of pizza sitting on a plate. He pulled it from the fridge, examining it carefully before throwing it in the garbage. Dropping the plate in the sink he found his seat next to me once more. This time closer than before.

"How about this Oly.." My heart fluttered as he used Sammy's nickname for me. She was the only one to ever call me that, but from his lips, it sounded so sweet, almost protective. I nodded my head ready for anything he was about to say. Gage had been around quite a lot this last week, helping diligently to figure out what was going on with me. "You and I can head to the grocery store tomorrow and get some stuff to eat because this place is barren."

"Yeah, and while you guys do that I can head to the library and see if Gage missed any books that might help us." I glanced over at Sammy.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you? You could come to the store with us?" Gage shot the both of us a look. I cowered down at the idea I had presented. They were like wild beasts tearing apart every word I muttered.

"No, you two need to get food and I'll get the books. We can meet back here and do some more studying."

"Geez, we are studying more now than we ever did our first year of college." I tried once more to humor the room, the attempt falling flat.

"You guys spent a year in college?" Gage questions, tidying the papers into a neat stack. Sammy and I both nodded furiously answering his question like our lives depended on it. I knew neither one of us wanted to talk about our horrid year of college. The school work we didn't do, the teachers we hated, the boys that drove us crazy. Sammy was too focused on her boyfriend at the time to really pay any attention to the schoolwork she was supposed to hand it. It wasn't the right time for us.

The three of us went to work on organizing the papers, making sure to keep them in the proper order, the information important for figuring out what was going on with me was stacked on top making it easier to get to.

"Well, what do we do now?" I stood from the spot on the floor, the room now cleaned, a drastic change from its previous state of clutter.

"We try to attempt some magic." Sammy slammed the book shut, her green eyes staring at me. She had something up her sleeve, I could just feel it.