Between the Land and the Sea - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,119
I was raised with the sun and the wind, with the seasons changing. I expected to see birth and death. I would do anything to see Ethan again. There was no hesitation.
“I want to change back. I want to go home, ” I said firmly.
She looked surprised, and a little annoyed, “You will be allowed to return to the others, ” she announced loudly, “But after fifty moons the change back will no longer be possible. You will be giving up a life of eternal peace and beauty, ” she leaned in to stare at me intensely, “AND YOU
WILL DIE. ”
A familiar face came out of the crowd. It was Lorelei, and she looked sad.
“Marina, why don’t you want to be with your sisters? ” she whimpered.
“Lorelei, I’ll always be your sister– only I’ll live on the land. ” She knit her glowing brows together in sorrow, “I wanted to show you my home. ”
“Lorelei, please, ” I said gently, afraid I might say the wrong thing, “I want to be with my family. My human family. I can’t live without them. ” She frowned and I continued, “I have to go back now. ”
Lorelei looked to Naida for instructions. I held my watery breath for a moment, praying she would allow me to leave. Some imperceptible signal passed between them and Lorelei came forward, taking my arm.
“Will you still come to see me? ” she asked.
“Of course, ” I said, “We can go wave riding together. ” Lorelei laughed with delight at the prospect, a chorus of tinkling bells. “Please take me home now, ” I pleaded. She nodded and pulled me alongside her, slowly swimming upwards.
As we started our ascent, I went limp with relief. I hadn’t realized how hard I was fighting to keep a hold of my human side, and I could barely think to move my fin. I looked back down on the glowing chamber as we slowly ascended; it looked like a constellation in the sky.
So I had fifty moons to choose whether or not to return to this watery world. There was no denying the powerful pull of the ultimate return to nature. There was also no denying the power of my love for Ethan. I closed my eyes and saw his face, holding onto the image with all my might.
Our heads burst into the fresh air of a new morning. Had I really been under the sea all night? All sense of time had vanished in the black underwater world, and I remembered that day and night meant nothing to mermaids. Their world existed without the warm rays of the sun moving across the beautiful blue sky, clouds, wind and air. They had only the pull of the moon and the tides to regulate their world.
The whole thing seemed like a dream. I looked down at the delicate webbing linking my fingers and knew that it was real. We swam to the end of the pier and it was odd to see the cement boat from a mermaid’s perspective. I grabbed onto a broken chunk of concrete and started to cough up water. My hands and tail began the now familiar tingling. With each ragged intake of air I started to become more and more human.
I gathered my courage for the unbelievable pain of transformation. Lorelei kept hold of my arm as I suffered the torture of the change back. Every fiber of my body screamed in pain as I looked into Lorelei’s worried eyes through a haze of enormous suffering. I knew that with every fresh wave of agony I was closer to being with Ethan and I bore it with barely a whimper. I felt my legs slice through the water and looked down, relieved to see my human form restored.
Lorelei started to swim me ashore, a melancholy look on her face. The storm had passed, and the pink light of dawn was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. I could see the beach now, decorated with a fresh layer of kelp and driftwood from the storm.
We continued on until I felt the sand beneath my newly formed feet. Lorelei let go of my arm and I turned to thank her. It was a fresh new day, and I felt like I was being reborn. I waded out of the surf and fell to my knees on the sand, coughing until I ejected the last few droplets from my lungs. I felt like the luckiest girl