A Secret Mermaid - Daughter of the Gods

Chapter Three

When I woke up my head was pounding: a crippling pain that left me breathless as the fiery pain flickered and roared through my veins. Then my family's faces came into view.

Terrific.

I saw their worried features, concern carved on their faces, and immediately, I had a flash of guilt ripple through me.

"I think she's waking up!

I felt gentle hands cup my face, and an anxious, concerned, and upset voice reach my ears, bringing a symphony of other voices as well.

"Sereia?"

"Oh... You're right - she is waking up!"

Voices and sensations surrounded me, my five senses on high alert. Noise drilled into my brain, light slipped through the cracks of my eyes, and I could feel feather-light touches and gentle embraces. It was all too much, too loud, too bright... and there were too many questions swirling around my head. Questions I didn't want to think about, much less answer, such as: What happened?

"Sereia?"

Jae. My twin. His full name; Jae Indigo Liam Mason Kar (Don't know what my parents were thinking when we were born), sprang and slithered to mind. I need to go to him. Strength poured through my limbs, letting my skin tingle. Jae. Meir. Alton. Dad. Lila. Caleb. Aunt Soph. Uncle John. They missed me. My family loved me. I needed to survive.

I opened my eyes, a mistake, that left me with another crippling round of pain.

Shocked gasps rocked my world, shaking the earth, tearing away my ability to breathe. What? Overwhelming voices, shouting questions that I couldn't answer, greeted me, along with shocked cries and stuttering. I sat up, another, bigger, mistake.

"What?" I croaked, rubbing my eyes. I had... fainted. Why? Because I didn't look like myself anymore. And I had revealed that to my family. Great.

When my mother died, my father was left with six children in his hands, a falling-apart family, and greedy depression eating at his mourning body. So he decided to move in with his twin sister and her husband and her five children. Twins ran in the family, (I was a twin myself) so that was part of where my big family came from.

"Sereia? Are you okay?" Lila's (my cousin's) voice was sweet and soft, but it was these times that my body fell into fight or flight mode, and I scrounged my brain for any possible and reasonable explanation. But the problem is, I was drawing up a blank. The only options I had were terrible ones.

Option 1: Tell my family the truth... Yeah, no. I didn't even believe what happened. They would lock me in a loony bin.

Option 2: Lie, lie, lie! Mmhh, What lie do I tell? That I put strangely colored contacts on? I didn't wear contacts.

Option 3: Run as fast as my (now opaque, and iridescent) legs will take me. Okay, so I had eighteen people on either side of me, surrounding me. I don't think that will work.

I was stuck. What on earth was happening, I thought, my head cluttered, and swirling with questions. I woke up in pain, found out my features had completely changed, fainted, visited my mom in some sort of weird dreamland, and woke up to my entire family gasping and shouting.

This is so not how I imagined my sixteenth birthday would go.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine."

I could feel the relief wafting through the air, coming from my family, my family's features sagging with calmness as I reassured them. I was an empath, meaning I was someone who was highly aware of the emotions of those around them, to the point of feeling those emotions myself. Empaths could see the world differently than other people; I was keenly aware of others, their pain points, and what they need emotionally. As a result, I could read people easily and be very sensitive, with the littlest things, (sunlight, books, physical touch, a hug, swimming) boosting my mood, or dimming it.

"Good, now you can tell me, Chica, why did you faint, and what the hell is with your... everything!"

"Don't blow a gasket," I wanted to sass, but I knew that would probably make things worse. I already could see my father's pinched, worried face and wondered when the macho-man, overprotective dad routine was gonna kick in.

"Chica, what are you going on? What is going on! Your eyes, your hair, your skin! Are you pranking me, is this a prank? This is such a prank! Is this a prank?"

I twirled a strand of hair between my fingers, twisting into a semi-braid, then unraveling it as I started pulling it into a bun, then down again. Up and down. It was a quirk of mine.

"Um, what?"

"Are you okay?" Jae whispered, his voice sounding hollow, and I quickly nodded yes.

Jae was my twin brother; almost as protective as my father, and I couldn't help to wonder why he wasn't over dramatically flipping out as he knelt down next to me. His eyes were red, revealing that he had been crying. Finely-boned, with chiseled features, high cheekbones, violet eyes, and long thick black eyelashes, and heart-shaped lips. His hair was a light black color and his skin was pale, like mine, before I... changed. He could make everyone, girl or boy, swoon, but right now he just looked worried. Guilt poured through my veins and I winced. He had been the one to shout my name when I fainted and fell.

I didn't deserve that concern. I didn't deserve to see someone that worried over me. I didn't deserve it. I sat up, wincing. Rustling branches drew my attention to the kitchen window, which showcased a harvest of trees; each still as brilliant green color, even in the middle of September. I knew as the months went on they would soon be showing off gold and orange flashy colors, and felt a little thrill zip through me at the thought of fall. Summer was my least favorite season, thanks to the trips my family took every year to the beach. Besides being painfully reminded of my mother every turn I took (Summer was her favorite season, and the beach was her favorite place), being near the water meant I was forced to be on guard.

I couldn't have another incident.

"I'm all right guys. Now, what happened?"

Authors Note - So, I might have lied - I said in the next chapter Sereia will discover she's a mermaid and we meet her large family - and we did meet her family, but I decided to give you a short and sweet chapter, introducing her family, with a major cliffhanger. I will be updating Thursday/Friday and at the top of each chapter I will add some of my favorite music (I personally concentrate much better while listening to music and I also like listening to music while reading) and for today, I decided to give you a sad song about a powerful woman who rises up from the ashes, against the odds. Hope you enjoyed and liked my story! Bye!

I'd appreciate a vote or comment though if you think I, my story, and my writing deserve it.

If you would like to, please add this story to your reading list/library so you can get notifications every time I update, and a vote or comment, or share, if you do enjoy my writing, would be amazing.

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