Page 18 of Whispers of the Starlit Sea
Sorcha obeyed. The seaweed had slid off her while they talked. Her beautiful sapphire tail and shimmering, iridescent scales were gone.
In their place was a pair of pale human legs and narrow feet.
Chapter six
“What…whatishappeningtome?” Sorcha cried out in fear.
“You didn’t think you could be bound to a human and remain a mermaid, did you?” Maeve asked.
Sorcha didn’t know what she had expected, but not…this. Not these pale sticks in place of her powerful sapphire tail. Her new toes were nearly blue from the cold of the water.
“You’re going to want to cover up, too,” Maeve said. “Humans are rather snooty about clothing.”
“What?” She looked down. Of course. Humans had skin everywhere. Her torso, too, was white and smooth, the scales that normally covered her having vanished. Only the blue gem in its lattice cage rested against her chest, the ribbon around her neck somehow having held through the storm. She bit back a sob.
“I don’t want to be a human.” This couldn’t be happening.
“Too late for that,” Maeve said dryly.
“What do I do?” she whimpered.
“The only thing you can do is get him to like you.”
A strange voice calling out from the other side of the rocks interrupted her next question. With barely a splash, Maeve disappeared.
Sorcha pushed herself free of the rocks and scrambled deeper into the water. “Don’t leave me here!”
She flipped over and tried to swim, kicking her new legs together as though they were still joined. She ducked under the water, but she couldn’t pull air from the water like she normally did. Why were her gills not working? She opened her mouth to call for her aunt. Water filled her mouth, and she choked.
What was happening to her? The ocean was her world, her whole life. Why was it rejecting her? She flailed, her limbs refusing to work as required.
Arms reached around her, and she was lifted from the water.
No! She had to get home! Ciara needed her!
She fought against whoever was holding her. The man said something, his voice rough, but she couldn’t focus. His voice was so loud! He stumbled as she continued to flail.
“Let me go!” she cried, pushing against his chest.
With a grunt, he released her, and she fell to the sand.
The jolt startled her out of her panic, and she glared up at him. The early morning sun turned his ruddy-blond curls copper, and his hazel eyes were full of concern.
He spoke, words that made no sense. She shook her head and pointed back to the water. Aunt Maeve had vanished, but maybe she was still close enough to help her back to the grotto. If she could just get home, surely Aunt Maeve could help her solve this. How her aunt knew so much about the binding, she didn’t know, but she definitely planned on asking.
She pointed more aggressively, her hair shifting with the movement.
He looked away, his cheeks flushing pink. Searching the beach, he muttered to himself. What was he saying? He motioned with his hands for her to stay put, then hurried off. She huddled in the sand, burying her strange toes in it. Her long hair fell in tangled waves, and she let it cover her as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
The man hurried back with a bundle of cloth in his hand. He held it out to her, keeping his head turned away. What did he want her to do with it?
Maeve’s words about humans and clothing returned to her. Oh. Right. She didn’t have scales to cover her anymore.
With a half-sob for what she had lost, she snatched the cloth from him and wrapped it around herself.
The man crouched down to her level, worry creasing his forehead. He spoke again in a soothing tone. She couldn’t understand him. Humans spoke a different language, but whatever magic had transformed her into a human hadn’t thought fit to ensure she could speak to any of them. Tears trickled down her sand-dusted cheeks.
“I need to go home,” she whispered, knowing he wouldn’t understand her.
