They sat beside each other in the sand, just far enough from the water that it brushed Sapphyre’s fluke when the waves rolled in. Luis was busily attempting to untangle a bit of netting Sapphyre had found, and Sapphyre inserted suggestions—or her fingers—in an attempt to assist him.
After the storm the day before, a great deal of netting and jetsam had found its way among the rocks. Nets were always useful among merkind, so Sapphyre felt it would be a good gesture to bring back as much intact as possible. Thankfully, Luis was eager to help.
As the blanket of clouds drifted slowly overhead, they were finally almost finished with one piece.
“I wonder if this fisherman can still fish if he lost all his nets,” Luis carefully pulled a strand out of a knot. “Do merfolk use these nets for fishing too?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “A few mermen swim with the net between them through a school and they catch quite a bit that way.”
“Sounds like fun.” He grinned. She only smiled in reply.
“I still think it’s interesting that merfolk uses so much from humans,” he mused, but he soon worried that his comment could have been considered an insult.
Thankfully, Sapphyre seemed amused by the thought too. “You’re right. They’re always scavenging shipwrecks and finding bottles and nets and things. Oddly enough, we use a lot of it for clothing.”
“Clothing?”
She tossed a corner of the net over her shoulder as if it were a piece of her costume.
Luis initially nodded, but then a sly look fell across his face. He gently pulled on the other end. “Why look-y here, I’ve caught myself a beautiful mermaid!”
“Gasp,” she flailed backward melodramatically, “I have been captured!” Sapphyre rested her chin on her shoulder and looked back toward him coyly. “Oh, but what a handsome captor...”
“Oh...” Luis breathed the word as he leaned closer to her. She parted her lips and wrapped her tail around his back.
A scream and a reply of rough calls jolted them both out of their amorous scene. The sounds were coming from the ocean.
Luis dropped the netting and ran after Sapphyre as she pulled herself into the water to see what was going on.
They both peered carefully out of their archway, and off in the distance they saw a small fishing boat bobbing in the water beside the rock they had visited the day before. There were two men working on the boat—and a long orange tail tangled in a net they were reeling in.
Shock and anger drained the color from Sapphyre’s face. “Khalli!”
Luis had to put the pieces together on his own as Sapphyre shot underwater and headed toward the scene.
The young mermaid screamed as she fought against the ropes and netting. She writhed and flailed until her golden locks were tangled around her head, and the nets were tangled even tighter around her body. She was finally drawn out of the water and tossed into the back of the boat.
“I can’t believe it—can you even believe it?” The man with a camouflage hat said to the other.
“We are going to be on every news station—every website,” the other, with a red cap, was mumbling as Khallista continued to grunt and moan. “This is going to make us rich!” He pulled out his cell phone and quickly began snapping photos of the scene.
“Wait—is this the one that escaped from that laboratory?”
“Who cares—it’s still a—”
Their boat jostled suddenly, testing their balance.
“...What was that?”
Another bump had the boat rocking back and forth.
Khallista’s screams died down when she caught a glimpse of a blue and lilac tail darting below the boat.
“We’re going to hit the rock!” Red Cap yelled, clamoring over the mermaid to start up the motor while also trying to secure his cell phone.
Camouflage Hat looked around warily. “What’s going on—?”
Two hands and dark hair were all they could see skimming out of the water, grasping onto the side of the boat, and then pushing it forward with a great deal of momentum.
The boat was driven into the rock and jolted as it made contact. Khallista slid up against the side of the boat as Camouflage Hat fell against the steering wheel.
“What are you doing—start the motor and get us out of here!” He yelled to Red Cap.
However, Red Cap fell backward when the boat was again jostled. He winced as he grabbed at his head, and then he saw a man with a scruffy beard attempting to pull the orange mermaid out of the back of the boat.
“Hey!” He shot to his feet.
A lilac fluke burst from the water behind Luis and inundated the boat with water, knocking both men back down. Luis held on to the trembling mermaid as Sapphyre dove deep and shot to the surface to pull on the side of the boat. The moment it was pulled down, he rolled Khallista out of the boat. The two submerged, but Khallista wriggled away as he swam back to the surface.
Luis only had a moment to catch his breath when a fishing pole struck the side of his head.
“You idiot—what are you doing?!” Camouflage Hat barked, swinging the fishing pole at Luis again.
The blue mermaid grasped the edge of the boat and twisted out of the water. Her lilac fluke made contact with the man’s face, knocking his hat, along with the rest of him, overboard. Red hat could only watch the scene in shock and awe as the mermaid landed back into the water with a heavy splash.
Sapphyre caught Luis by the shoulders as he attempted to swim away. “Deep breath,” she said quickly.
He did as he was told and was whisked underwater and away from the scene.
Without a mermaid and back in calmer waters, the two men lay against the side of their small fishing boat in a state of bewilderment.
“What... what just happened...?”
Red Cap held up his phone—wet, but surprisingly still functional. It displayed the last photo he had taken: a man with a scruffy beard in the water beside a blue and lilac tail fluke.
—
Luis sat at the edge of the water as Sapphyre returned with Khallista. The orange mermaid was still caught in the net, and he got up to help Sapphyre pull her ashore.
“Here, let’s get her out,” he said gently as he knelt down beside Khallista. He pulled his yellow-handled pocketknife from the pocket of his shorts and held it out. “This is a small pocketknife: I’m going to use it to cut the nets, okay?” He then proceeded to open it with a flick.
Khallista shrunk back with wide eyes.
“It’s okay,” Luis consoled, moving slowly. “I’m just going to cut right here.”
Sapphyre held on to her sister to calm her, giving her a trusting look. The young mermaid could do nothing more than give in silently.
Luis delicately took the netting and began to cut through each strand.
Sapphyre eyed Luis’s gentle expression, but she frowned when she saw blood was slowly dripping down his wet hair from where the fishing pole had struck him. She held her silence for the time being and turned to watch his hands hard at work.
It wasn’t long before there was a hole large enough for the orange mermaid to wriggle through, and Luis stepped away to give her room to crawl out.
Khallista immediately set to detangling her hair and adjusting her bodice, but when she started to the ocean, Sapphyre caught her arm.
“Thank you, Luis,” Sapphyre looked over her shoulder. “May have a moment with my sister?”
Khallista looked incredulously toward Sapphyre before sending a very cold, untrusting stare in Luis’ direction. Her steely eyes could have cut as well as his pocketknife had.
Luis nodded softly, and he stepped into cove’s passage. He sat down on a rock just around the first bend, keeping himself within earshot out of curiosity.
Khallista had already crossed her arms when Sapphyre turned back to her. Her unabashed fear had melted into obvious annoyance.
“First things first; Mama’Ne clearly doesn’t know you’re here.”
The youthful mermaid rolled her eyes and huffed. “I don’t need this from you too.”
“Yes, you do.” Sapphyre said forcibly, “You were nearly captured by humans! Do you realize what would have happened?”
“I don’t know; you’re the one who hangs around them all the time.” She sneered.
Sapphyre frowned but refused to take the hit. “Everything Mama’Ne and the others in Enclei say about humans is true; almost every one of them are self-centered and manipulative. All they want from us is to put us out on display and study us like we’re a fancy trinket to collect.”
“Is that what this guy’s doing to you?” Khallista jerked her head in the direction of Luis’ exit.
Luis tilted his head, his lips parting slightly as he strained to hear.
“He’s clearly different from the rest of them, considering he helped save you.”
“‘Different from the rest,’” Khallista mimicked, “That’s what you thought about Christopher.”
The blue mermaid bit her tongue. “You’re right,” she said after a moment, “I did think so. But I was wrong... too blinded by passion to realize he saw me as a bauble just like everyone else.” Her expression softened. “Luis is the only truly kind human I’ve ever met. He’s probably the only kind human there is.”
Khallista still had her arms crossed, unfazed from Sapphyre’s impassioned admission. “So, if you can come up here with the scary, dangerous humans, why can’t I?”
“I’m from up here; I think that draws me to it.”
“So what! That’s not my fault! I want to be able to come up here, too!”
Sapphyre looked at her adopted sister squarely. “All right; why does Nathaneal get to practice magic and you don’t?”
The orange mermaid idly drew one of her hands through her drying locks. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“You’ll see. Answer the question.”
“Why—because he’s the one it got passed down to.”
“But you’re part of the same family,” Sapphyre put her hands on her hips. “Why can’t you do it? Why not ask Mama’Ne?”
“Come one, Phyre, you know that’s just how it is!” Khallista straightened up, annoyed. However, the moment her words were spoken, she sunk back. “...Oh.”
“I know that’s not the best analogy, but sometimes things are the way they are.” Sapphyre said more gently. “I don’t take this ability lightly, and I never want to flaunt it as something I get to do that no one else does. It’s always potentially dangerous since, at any point, even my ‘safe haven’ here could be discovered and I’d be out of luck. I would absolutely stop coming, but now that I’ve met Luis... well, it’s the only way I can see him.”
Khallista had finally relaxed from her defensive stature. “Do you fall for humans because you used to be one?”
“I think so.”
“Because Micah totally has a crush on you.”
Sapphyre rolled her eyes with a half-smile. “I’m certainly aware of that; but no, thank you.” She looked aside, “I think, even if I have to come up here every day... Luis is all I need.”
“Do you love him?”
The smile on her lips grew cheerful. “Yes.”
Khallista huffed softly. “...Love is complicated.”
“You’re too young to be talking about love.” Sapphyre shot her a glance.
Khallista stuck out her tongue. “Stop trying to be Mama!” Suddenly the orange mermaid shrunk down. “...You’re going to tell her I was here...”
“I’m afraid I have to.”
“Agh... no!” Khallista grabbed at her golden hair. “Please, Be’Phyre!”
“Khalli, in all seriousness, who can lie to Mama’Ne’s face?”
“You don’t have to lie,” Khallista flopped onto her side. “Just don’t even say anything about it and she won’t ask!”
Sapphyre raised an eyebrow. “Good luck with that one. Besides, remember what I said about her being worried about you? If you’re honest and truthful to her, she’ll know you can be trusted to do more of those things you want to do without worrying her—even if you still make a few mistakes.”
“Okay, fine!” Her sister moaned and started to crawl into the water. “Are you finished lecturing me?”
“Only if you promise to go straight home.” Sapphyre watched the orange mermaid dip back into the water. “And don’t try to change up the story when Mama’Ne asks because I will tell her exactly what happened when I get there.”
“I know...” Her sister’s golden hair bobbed underwater for a moment. When she came back up, her expression had grown more apologetic. “...Can you tell your boyfriend I said ‘Thank you’?”
Sapphyre smiled softly. “I will.”
A light splash hid the orange mermaid as she disappeared into the blue.
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