Nalu: The Siren's Song

Chapter 5

   We follow the mermaid deeper and deeper into the fog until it is so thick we can no longer see her. "Lucy!" I call out but get no answer. I try again but still do not hear or see a thing.
   Then out of nowhere I hear a voice singing a sweet, almost magical song, but it is not Lucy. The voice is higher and is not as sweet as hers.
   Again I am lost in a trance and absentmindedly start sailing towards the new voice. It gets louder and louder, closer and closer until someone yells my name, snapping me back to reality. "Natsu!" I hear Lucy shout.
   The song plays faster and louder than before, but I fight the urge to follow it and I turn back to where Lucy is. "You have to be careful! We don't want to run into any other sirens." She says. "Come on, we are almost there."
   We soon pass the fog I can see a small island covered in vines and divine greenery. Lucy leads us to a hidden cove on the side of the island. "There's an underwater passage over here we have to go through." She says.
    "Stay here, Happy, we'll be right back." I tell my cat before jumping into the water with Lucy.
    "Ready?" She asks as she gently grabs a hold of my hand.
    "Ready."
   We dive down underwater and swim through a narrow passage. Lucy swiftly swims so fast that I would lose her if it weren't for her strong grip on my hand. As roughly a minute straight of swimming passes, I can feel myself running out of air.
   My lungs grow heavy as my vision starts to get cloudy. Lucy looks back at me with a slightly worried look and quickens her pace. Just as I am about to loose my breath, we finally reach the surface of the air pocket in the underwater cave  and I desperately gasp for air, filling my empty lungs.
   After I recover the oxygen in my lungs I hoist myself out of the water onto the dusty stone floor and look back at Lucy. "I can't go on land." She sighs.
    "Then I'll help you." I say, placing one arm under her tail and the other around her waist, picking her up out of the water.
    She gives me a small smile before saying, "The celestial stone is through that passage." She points to a long, narrow tunnel with bioluminescent algae painted upon its walls.
   The passage leads us to a spacious cavern illuminated by dim streams sunlight cast down by thin shafts in the stone ceiling. One beam drifts down and hits a blueish-white stone, highlighting it with brilliant light. A calming, majestic white aura seems to be radiating from the stone in the center of the room.
    "Take me to the stone." Lucy tells me.
   I slowly stride further into the vacant cavern. As I step into the white aura surrounding the celestial stone, it starts glowing. Looking down at the mermaid in my arms, I find Lucy's necklace glowing as well. Carefully, she reaches out and touches the precious stone. It lets out a blinding light that shines so bright I have to close my eyes. Lucy lets out a sharp scream as everything goes white.
   Once the light fades away, I look down to see that Lucy has changed. Instead of a shiny, golden tail, she has legs and instead of seashells, she is wearing a short, honey-yellow dress. I reach for her necklace and this time it comes off easily.
   Glancing at Lucy, I can tell that she is just as surprised by her new pair of legs as I am. "I didn't expect this to happen." She says softly.
    "It isn't that bad when you get used to it. Do you want to try walking?" I ask. She nods her head and I slowly lower her down.
   At first she is a bit wobbly, so I take hold of her forearms and help guide her in taking a couple steps. As she eventually gets used to walking, she lets go and takes a few steps on her own. "Look! I'm doing it!" She announces happily.
   Suddenly, as if by a delayed reaction from the celestial stone, the room starts shaking and a giant stalactite loosens and falls down towards Lucy. "Watch out!" I yell as I push her out of the way, the pointy rock landing just a couple feet away from us.
   Lucy's eyes widen in fear. "The Queen is onto us!" She shrieks slightly. Quickly, I get up off of Lucy and help her to her feet. Clutching her hand tightly in mine, I sprint out of the crumbling cavern, pulling Lucy with me.
  "Swimming will be a lot harder without your tail so just hold your breath and hold onto me!" I instruct as we reach the entrance to the ocean and leap into the water. Lucy wraps her arms around my neck and I put one arm around her waist.
   I swim as fast as I can while we both fight the panicking feeling that comes with the feeling of air slowly escaping our lungs. As we finally reach the surface, we both gasp for oxygen like it had been days since we last had a breath of fresh air.
   Happy starts purring happily, glad to see we made it back, as we climb onto the boat and licks our faces repeatedly. Once he calms down, I set sail. We need to get as far away from here as possible.
   I steer the sailboat back into the fog and I can see Lucy tense up nervously. Setting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, I give her a toothy smile. "Don't worry, we'll be past the fog in no time." I assure her. But she doesn't seem all too convinced.
    "What if they find us before we can escape?"
   Placing one hand on her check, I lift her face towards mine so her chocolate eyes are staring into my onyx ones. "Trust me, I'll keep you safe, I promise."
    She nods her head. "Okay."