Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

25.) You Are What You Eat

That word brought up a memory from when Cerastes first came to our village.

"He asked me about that before, if I was a Castor." I mumbled to myself. "Can you tell me about it?" I asked. A part of me though he might reject my question or reprimand me for asking but I wanted to know. The wind blew through the trees, shaking their branches and after what felt like a long time he replied.

"I could tell you more...but you must give me..." His root tendrils stretched out to me like a hand. "blood."

"You need, my blood?" I asked.

"It tells a story." He agreed. The tendril waited patiently.

Answers. He was offering me something I desperately wanted. Something Cerastes couldn't or wouldn't provide. I didn't even have to think about it. I used one clawed finger to cut the back of my hand. The  blood dripped off the side and down to the green root.

"Hmmm." He said, as if he was tasting a new food, trying to decide if it was good to eat.

"Well.. what is it?" The nervousness I felt saturated my voice.

"Lots of Draconian mixed in." He said smacking his lips but the sound came out as a wooden tapping noise.

"I met a dragon husband last year." I explained.

"The newer mix is most likely him, and the children but the Draconian was from both your parents. Theres a little Aquarian that's fresh but the most interesting part is the sheer amount of pure Castella." He trailed off. "You usually only find this much pure Castella in Aquarians... wont be able to make crystallines. To much mixing."

The tree grandpa may have lost his mind. Hes been left to his devices in the woods for who knows how long and now I'm hanging on every word of a crazy person.

"I think you might have been confused." I said gently. "My parents were definitely not dragons." I shook my head without reason since the old tree grandpa was blind.

"Of course not." He agreed. "They just consumed small doses of one for a long period time, like you did until a short while ago."

"No one could eat a dragon." I said frustrated. Defeating one would be impossible.

"As long as you absorb essence that has a significant amount of mana as its base, you could become anything." He disagreed. "Its not necessary to kill something to consume it."

"Mana, Aquarian, Castella I dont know what your talking about." I said sitting down exasperated. "Please tell me in a way I can understand. I just want to know why I'm like this!" My voice broke as I was gesturing to my body. A brown scaled tail and small horns portruding from my head. I was frustrated to tears. I put my head against my knees.

"Child, its alright. Changes are never easy and not always wanted." His body creaked and groaned. "There used to be many different types of beings in the world. One was called Drosera they were a human like in appearance but their nature was that of a carnivorous plant. I took one for a mate and over time I became this."

"You ate your wife?" My face contorted in disgust. Was he just chewing on branches?

"Essence is found in all parts of the body and its easily absorbed through fluid contact." He said clearly. "In my youth, we didn't know about the side effects of intermingling with mana rich species."

The realization of what he was saying hit me like a fallen log.

"Sex. I had sex so now I have a tail. That's your explanation!?" I said rubbing my face in frustration. I had been with my husband awhile only after I left did I grow a tail. I should just finish my task and return to the beach.