Hey everyone!

I hope the holidays were good for each of you this year, despite Corona possibly making plans harder than usual. I for one spend Christmas with my parents this year but due to restrictions not the rest of the family. What did you guys do?

Here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please vote, comment or follow. If you leave a message I will most definitely reply as soon as I can. :-)

Love, Robin

*

A Dash of Water

When the light traveled up to illuminate the face of the newcomer for my benefit I had another shock. "You!" the word fell rather accusingly from my mouth and Matt quirked his lips rather annoyed, "Yes me. This way or do you want to catch your death in those wet clothes?"

He didn't wait for me but started back inland at a brisk pace and I had to jog to catch up with him. Incidentally that also got my blood pumping so I felt a little warm again. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?" I asked him once I'd caught up.

He send me another grumpy look over his shoulder and kept on walking. I had a moment to admire his jean clad behind and the way his shirt clung snugly to his shoulders. "I came looking for you when Mark came into my bar looking all pale and worried." He shrugged those nice muscled shoulders and continued, "I was on the alert because I saw Jamie and her gang return without you. What the hell was that girl covered with by the way? She was blue all over..."

"She was? I couldn't tell from shore how much had hit her. She'll be blue for days," I grinned, no longer feeling cold just from thinking about that prospect. Matt paused so I could catch up more fully with him and I thought for a moment that I saw an answering grin on his face but it was gone so fast I could have imagined it.

"Yeah well anyway, when you weren't with them I kept an eye on the boat charters and I saw Mark head out with one of his boats to sea. Didn't fit his normal pattern so I figured he'd gone to Sharkfell to fetch you." I nodded and ducked a branch so I could stay abreast with him. "Good guess. Glad to hear he at least came here, I'll have to remember to pay him tomorrow."

He harrumphed and kept walking but I thought we were nearly across the island now, with a much more direct and easy route than I'd probably have managed on my own. "He was in my bar as I said, looking pale so I asked him what was up. He said he was supposed to pick someone up but she was a no show. Didn't mention name or location but I'd seen his heading, knew he was talking about you. So I came to look for you. Was planning to head out anyway, to check for damages and all that."

"Hey, I know better than to damage things and if I hadn't gotten distracted by all those pretty pebbles down by that little lake I probably wouldn't have fallen into that cave...." I said defensively.

Matt abruptly stopped walking so I overshot by a few steps before I realized. When I turned around to look at him he directed the flashlight right at me and let it glide over my body. I thought that maybe it was only now that he took in the scrapes and bruises on my arms and knees. "You fell into a cave? What cave?"

I frowned, not liking the intensity of his voice, he was almost vibrating with it. "It had a pool of water in it and no exit, just a long winding tunnel. I had to swim out." I pointed vaguely back in the direction we'd come from and watched as I saw him frown and swallow, now he looked really worried. Was that cave and the pool what his family was hiding on Sharkfell Island?

"That explains why you felt the urge for an evening swim..." I heard him mutter though and then suddenly he spun toward me and pressed a warm hand against the small of my back. "Keep walking, you can't cool down until we get you dried off..." A little push from him and we were walking again, this time with him much, much closer to me.

We didn't say anything until we reached the break in the rocks that let us out onto the beach I'd been stranded on that afternoon by Jamie. I could see a boat on it that had to be his and a single set of tracks over the sand leading in our direction. He kept us at a brisk walk that helped keep me warm all the way across the sand and then told me to wait beside the boat while he climbed in.

I felt a little uneasy, envisioning him sailing off without me but that worry was ridiculous, he'd actually come looking for me. Instead he climbed back out holding a large blanket that he held up. "I won't look, take off your clothes and wrap yourself up in this. I can dry your clothes on the engine here, it's still warm."

I did as he instructed, using the shield of the blanket he was holding up like a barrier between us to strip off my shirt and shorts. When I handed those to him around one side of the blanket he said gruffly, "Undies too Dani, you want to get dry or not? I swear it won't take long, done it a million times before."

Feeling really awkward and uncomfortable about being naked, with nothing but a blanket to wrap myself up in I did as he said. I hardly knew him, having only met a few hours ago, that he was my classmate's brother helped a little but not enough. But the moment I'd gotten naked and yanked the blanket around me I felt better, much warmer and at least almost dry now.

"Climb in," he said while he was busying himself by draping my things over the case of the outboard motor. "Sit here," he pointed at a bench in the middle of the boat and I sank down on it gratefully. "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble Matt... I'm really grateful you came looking for me," I said quietly. I wasn't too proud to admit that and I could tell I'd surprised him when he stiffened and then turned to look at me with a thoughtful frown.

"No problem," he said rather huskily after nearly a minute of silence. "You warm again?" At my nod he leaned past me and lifted up a familiar looking messenger bag, "This is yours I believe? Found it washed up on the beach."

I smiled, "Oh yes it is! Thank you, I was afraid I'd lost it when Jamie tossed it overboard after she tried to rifle through it." I accepted the proffered bag one handed and carefully checked it over. All of the ink packets I'd rigged under the flap had busted however and then washed clean from their soak in the sea.

"They really don't like you much do they?" he remarked and at my shrug shook his head. "It's because I'm a year older than them and I'm new..." His head shot up, "That makes you what? Eighteen?" At my nod he grinned, "Then I don't need to worry about having seen an underage girl in her undies."

My eyes widened in shock, my heart thumped uncomfortably for a moment. He'd seen me in my undies? Had he peeked just now? Or had he seen me wring out my shirt and shorts right after my swim? "Oh you pervert!" I heard myself exclaim heatedly, "You said you wouldn't look!"

"I didn't look after I said that..." he murmured smugly while turning to look at my clothes drying on the motor casing. "I think this is dry, here." To my great surprise my things were indeed completely dry and I got dressed awkwardly under the blanket. Greatly relieved to be a little less vulnerable that way. Once I was dressed I kept the blanket around me for heat.

Matt however jumped back out and started pushing the boat back into the surf. I offered to help but he gruffly said I should stay put and he'd done it before on his own just fine. He did indeed have the boat back in the water in no time, and once he jumped in he didn't complain about soggy wet jeans either.

"So... How come no one else came looking for you? Aren't your parents worried by now?" he asked once he'd gotten the motor going and we were heading back to the mainland. He was sitting on the bench across from me and we were face to face so I could see he was genuinely curious and even a little concerned.

I shrugged, "Mom's dead, my dad's away on business right now. I got the house all to myself." All week probably, who knows when my dad needed a refill for his suitcase or some papers he left on his desk? Though I felt some resentment over being left to myself all the time this past year, now that mom was gone, I thought I'd done a good job keeping it out of my voice. Matt certainly didn't say anything else.

We reached the marina in utter silence and still said nothing to each other when he moored the boat and helped me climb out. Once with my feet solidly on the mainland again I turned to him and thanked him once again for coming to look for me. He told me gruffly that I should not make it a habit and that should he find me again on Sharkfell he'd go to the police. When I swore to him that he wouldn't catch me there again he grinned and said: "No going there at all Dani, don't play tricks alright? It's not safe." His eyes shot to a scrape on my arm and he frowned, "As you found out today."

"Fine, I won't set foot on Sharkfell without your explicit permission Matt McLaren," I swore while rolling my eyes. He stepped closer, pressed a hand to the small of my back and urged me in the direction of the bars and cafés down the beach. "I'll give you a ride home, this way."

I started to protest that it wasn't necessary but he silenced me with a gruff: Shut up! In truth I didn't much feel like having to walk all the way home, which is what I had to do since I'd left my wallet in my locker at school as a precaution. Once we were abreast with a cozy looking bar called The Stonefish he turned towards a parking lot and had me get into a worn looking pick up.

"The Stonefish is mine, I run it with a mate," Matt indicated the bar behind us. I thought it was both awesome that he owned a bar and typical that he'd called it The Stonefish. That fish was after all one of the most deadly fishes around, innocuous looking, almost like a rock but with spines on its back that if stepped on would inject you with really awful venom.

"Cool, I'll remember that," I said and then started giving him directions to my home. My house was in a well off neighborhood right up against the beach and it was only a ten minute drive. I could tell from Matt's face that he was a little uneasy about driving in this neighborhood but he said nothing when I instructed him onto my driveway.

Stopping in front of the house he left his engine on idle while he peered out of the windshield at the dark windows. "Your dad's away on business you said? When will he be back?" I had the instant impression that he didn't like the thought of me being by myself in the big house which had me respond more sharply than I might have otherwise. "None of your business, thanks for the ride," I slipped out of the car and slammed the door harder than I should have when it turned out to be rather heavy.

It had him rev the engine loudly and peel out of the drive with such abruptness that it left no doubt that I'd managed to piss him off. I found that despite my gratefulness over his help getting me home, I didn't mind all that much. If there was one thing I couldn't stand it was secretiveness, it would bother me until I could find out the truth and I vowed to myself that I would. Matt could be annoyed about that as much as he liked too. So what if I had a fatal dose of curiosity? Kept things lively didn't it?

Once inside the house I didn't bother with the lights and went straight to the kitchen. Since it was already so late and I was definitely hungry I fixed myself a spicy tuna sandwich and then went straight upstairs to get showered. After my dive in the sea I couldn't wait to get the salt washed off my skin and out of my hair.

With my dad away so much he'd let me have the master bedroom in the house, which meant I had my own en suite bathroom with both a shower and a bath. I undressed in my bedroom, tossed my half drowned and now crustily dried bag on a chair and padded naked into the bathroom.

There I finally turned on a light and surveyed my scrapes and bruises in the mirror; not as bad as I thought it might be. I leaned into the shower stall and turned the knobs to get the shower going and at the right temperature. Shaking cold water drops off my hand I headed to the cupboard with clean towels to get one out and draped over the radiator so it would be warm.

Then I had the shock of my life when with a sudden wrenching feeling my entire body changed and I lost my balance. I landed face down, roughly catching myself on my hands and lay panting on the floor for a disorienting moment; unable to comprehend what was going on.

Rolling onto my back I stared at the ceiling a long moment before daring to glance down my body and see what had happened. When I did at last lift my head to look, I gasped and thumped my head back down on the ground, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. That was impossible, I couldn't be seeing what I was seeing... Maybe I'd hit my head when I fell into that cave, or lack of oxygen during my dive was causing me to hallucinate.

But when I lifted my head a second time to look nothing had changed and my senses were telling me it was true. After all I wasn't feeling my legs anymore, not the way I was used to... I had somehow grown a fishtail and lost my legs... I'd turned into a mermaid.

From my waist down a sprinkling of red and gold scales started until skin was completely replaced by them. Where my legs had been a strongly muscled but elegantly tapering tail flowed into a half circle wide fine fin that was strengthened with strong spines of a dark red. With all the gold, orange and red I rather thought it looked like a tougher version of a goldfish. No, not it. Me; I looked like goldfish, a slender version of a goldfish and then just the bottom half...

Holy crap... What now? My first thought was to get to my phone and call my dad; for an emergency like this he'd probably come home. But I decided against it immediately, he'd not believe me over the phone and more than likely try to have me committed than help me. Once he did see for himself it was true, what he'd want to do probably involved lots of doctors and that meant publicity of some sort. No way would this stay under wraps when more people found out.

So if this was a permanent change, I should get myself to sea or something shouldn't I? This had to have happened because of that silver water in that pool in the cave, maybe if I headed back there...

My hand was still wet so I first used the towel I'd gotten from the cupboard to wipe that dry. Once I'd done so to my great relief that wrenching feeling washed over me and I was suddenly myself again. Two legs, a little scraped and bruised and not a single indication I might grow a fish tail.

So it was the water that had caused the transformation... Testing this I sat down carefully on the floor beside the shower and touched the tip of my finger to a few water drops. I counted out loud, my voice shaking and then at number ten I changed, my legs shifting into a mermaid's tail in the blink of an eye. When a few moments later I wiped my hand dry on the towel again I almost immediately returned to normal.

Fishing a rubber glove from the cupboard I used it to cover my hand against the water and then managed to turn off the shower. After which I concluded that if I wanted to wash my hair, I'd better take a bath instead. Standing up wasn't an option it seemed. I went to bed after that, after I'd dried myself off after washing but I lay awake a long time wondering what had happened to me and how to deal with it.

*

What would you do if this happened to you? Tell your parents or keep it a secret? :-D

Vote and comment if you feel like it, I'd appreciate it!

Much love,

Robin