Page 7 of Oceansong
Hanging weightlessly, she drifted sideways in tune with the current, and bobbed with her breaths.
They made the slow, uneventful journey into the depths.
A brush of freeze seeped through at her nape and grasped her entire body, and she clenched her jaw. The gentle splashing overhead faded into stillness, until the only sounds surrounding her were the rhythmic, soothing whoosh of air when she inhaled and exhaled.
It was quiet, tranquil, peaceful.
She reached out to brush through the algae beds stroking her belly and legs as she swam by and brushed away stray plastic fragments and the occasional cigarette butt and chunk of fishing gear floating about.
How she wished the ocean could return to its pristine majesty, without the pollution. The desire to take action was what drove her to pursue marine biology.
She checked her dive computer after descending further. It registered that they were at four hundred fifty feet, close to the depth where the divers allegedly saw mer. She made a sharp turn, trailing Stefan, and jotted down another mark on her dive compass so she knew how to return to the boat. Her heart fluttered at the marginal possibility she’d see a mermaid.
A seabed lay ahead, and nestled within the sand, a school of halibut flitted about. Curious eyes at the top of their heads peered at Angie and Stefan. A salmon shark sailed overhead, its silver and ivory body lithe and graceful, a floating dancer moving in tune with the flow and currents.
More concerning, other fish were scarce: salmon, whitefish, pikes, arctic chars.
Her shoulder hit a hard bump, and with numb fingers, she fumbled around to turn her flashlight on. It illuminated a gorgeous, deep sea coral formation, untouched by ocean acidification and warming. It showcased vivid oranges and pinks and reds, fitted like a jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully the coral was smooth. She would have hated to knock off the branch of a spiny one. It would have hurt like hell, and she didn’t want to contribute to Alaska’s collapsing coral reef population.
Tapping her, Stefan gestured in front of him. Humanlike flesh zipped by, with broad shoulders, slender fingers, and a strong back. A tail followed, the shape similar to what she saw in the video and at the docks, its color indiscernible in the crushing blackness.
The creature turned around; a flash of maroon caught in her flashlight’ssoft glow. Angie froze as her mind caught up to what she was seeing.
A merman.
What.
The.
Shit.
Mer were real. She gawped. He looked so human, at least, his top half. All those years she searched and searched, and now, a merman floated mere feet, or perhaps more aptly, tails away from her.
If the rebreather wasn’t stuffed in her mouth, her jaw would have dropped to the seafloor.
After she signaled to Stefan that she was going to follow, Stefan gave her the “OK” hand symbol. Angie pedaled her finned feet faster keeping her gaze trained on the strange mer.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Wanted to keep staring, studying. Admiring. With enough distance between herself and him, Angie lagged behind but kept the merman in sight.
He stopped.
A school of arctic char lounged ahead, and Angie went as still as the rocks surrounding her when a mermaid appeared from the dark, passing through her flashlight’s beam. Her face was golden tan and beautiful, dark hair tied into elaborate braids crowning her head. Stacks of pearls wrapped around her chest and neck like a jeweled turtleneck crop top.
She was breathtaking: a mermaid as depicted in the various fairytales Angie enjoyed reading as a child.
The mermaid’s glittering brown, doe-like eyes caught Angie’s, and Angie pumped her arms to scramble backward.
The creature motioned to the merman beside her. As if by some magnetic pull, the arctic chars followed, and the group picked up speed. Angie followed, but couldn’t get close even if she wanted to. They propelled like darts with each swish of their tails.
No, no, no. She couldn’t look away, but she was going to lose them any second now.
They plunged downward and vanished into the watery void. No matter where she looked, she found no trace left of them, or the school of fish. Her face slackened. They had to be here somewhere. They couldn’t just disappear, could they? Angie stared blankly into the unending abyss.
One thing for certain, the mer were hoarding fish. The big question was, why?
She gathered herself and swam back to Stefan, who gave her a thumbs-up, indicating they should head back to the surface.
Her skin tingled, and it wasn’t from the arctic waters. A pulsing shiver crawled down her spine as she held onto Stefan’s D ring, and they made their gradual ascent.
