The Irangel | Prequel Story |

Chapter 18 ~ The First Merman

A few hours later, sometime after nine, the irangels heard the door open and looked up in surprise. Tori appeared as the heavy door slid to the side, her arms at her sides. She was dressed in a cozy navy blue long sleeve pajama shirt and pants set, her long hair flowing loose.

Justin looked at her in surprise. There was a sad, distant look in Tori's eyes. She didn't look like a powerful irangel; she looked sad and alone, somewhat lost. Almost as if she was the prisoner instead of the irangels.

Tori quietly looked at each of them before she said in a small, sober voice, "I apologize for keeping you locked up like this. I just don't want you to go anywhere." Her voice seemed to almost break at the end, a hidden sob trying to rise and fill her eyes with tears again. She restrained herself, swallowing as she fought to keep her gloomy feelings down, and said in a stronger voice, "I will allow access to the kitchen. I will bring down the walls around your beds, giving you each some privacy. That way you'll all truly have a room to yourself, though you will still have to share the same bathroom."

Good thing the bathroom has twenty stalls in it, Camdren thought, relieved. Including fourteen separate full-size showers with a few nice baths and even a Jacuzzi. Twelve sinks are also very nice. It looks very fancy, sorta like a clubhouse bathroom. She did excellent with designing the bathroom, that's for sure.

Tori's eyes met Justin's for a brief moment, her eyes almost having a pleading look in them for some reason, then she glanced away and turned to address everyone. "I will let you all fly for the first time," she said, the words sounding like magical music to their ears.

Everyone's eyes immediately widened in surprise, then Eamon let out a "Yeeeahhhhssss!" cheer and pumped his fist in the air, followed by Camdren saying "Alright!" and Millian becoming excited and happy, Elisa starting to dance a little as Cole and Keith smiled brightly, and Velo saying, "I don't have wings."

His words stunned everyone. Tori stared at him, completely caught off guard. Everyone's eyes turned to him. Velo took his shirt off, shocking everyone when they saw his bare back with no marks or anything to indicate he had wings.

Tori came over to him, the door sliding shut behind her as she walked. The irangels let her through, too stunned to think of striking at her. She touched Velo's back, feeling it as smooth and normal as a human's back. She took Velo's arm in her hand and stared at his skin shimmer, then looked up and noticed a gold sheen in his startlingly ice blue eyes.

"You're an Iredescent, but you don't have wings," she said, confused.

Something occurred to Justin just then. Astonished, he said, "Maybe he became a different kind of Iredescent. Maybe there aren't just winged Iredescents, but also unwinged Iredescents."

Tori turned to him, realizing he might be right and on to something. Something she'd said to Justin before clicked in her mind, and she suddenly made the connection.

"Irangel is the term I came up with to name former humans who became Iredescents. Iredescents are aliens from planet Iredescent. The Iredescent people look human, but they have wings and sparkly skin. Some of them might even be mermaids and mermen."

Mermaids and mermen.

Tori suddenly stepped back from Velo and said abruptly, "Follow me to the swimming pool. All of you."

The irangels looked at each other in confusion, wondering why and what was going on. Justin began to understand what Tori had in mind. He said to the others in a gently commanding tone, "Come on, let's go. There is something we have to see."

Puzzled, the irangels followed Tori as she led them to the underground swimming pool, hidden beneath a set of stairs near the living room. They all gawked, marveling at the huge Olympic sized swimming pool. "How did she build all this?" Eamon said in awed amazement while Camdren said, "I never knew there was a swimming pool here."

Keith turned to Tori and asked, "Do we have access to here?"

"You do now," she replied, stopping a few meters from the pool. "All yours, Velo," she said, her voice soft yet full of intensity.

Velo glanced at her, his eyes wary and filled with deep confusion. He turned to the pool, tossing his shirt to the side. Everyone watched as he slowly entered the pool, seeming at home there. He began to swim, taking his time to enjoy the pool, having fun swimming and leaping out of the water, and that was when they all gasped.

"Whoa!" Elisa exclaimed while Eamon said in surprise, "He's a merman!"

Justin stared, absolutely floored. While the top part of Velo's body remained the same, waist down he had fins. Ultra-shimmery ultramarine blue fins that ombréd into various stunning shades of blue. His ice blue eyes took on a more intense gold sheen, and his skin shimmer increased to full brilliance. His wet black hair clung to his head like slicked molten volcano rock over a pearly white body.

Tori's eyes never left Velo. She was speechless, beyond amazed to see a different kind of Iredescent. A finned one.

Justin stepped closer to Tori, saying in an aside to her, "So there are two kinds of Iredescents, wi – "

" – winged ones and finned ones," she finished, interrupting him while remaining fixed on Velo. "He is the first finned one any one of us has ever seen."

While they were all staring at Velo in amazement, Cole quietly crept away, taking this chance to escape. Tori hadn't noticed, too busy studying Velo's fins, and the others were just as enthralled at seeing a real live merman.

Sighing in relief, Cole darted out, his footsteps imperceptible as they went up the stairs and into the hallway. He headed for the entrance, the taste of freedom on his lips, as he heard that delicious, satisfying noise that was the entrance sliding open in the ceiling of the storage room, a sound that filled him with pure ecstasy. Cole didn't hesitate for even a second; soon as the entrance started sliding open, Cole extended his wings, feeling his wing muscles stretch out, and lifted, flying out into the open.

The forest air never smelled so good, he thought as he breathed in lungfuls of fresh air. No longer confined, Cole reveled in the free, open space above the trees. He marveled at how wonderful it felt to fly for the first time, to look down and see everything from a bird's eye view.

Smiling happily, a delightful warmness circulating throughout his body despite the cold rise in elevation and increasing altitude, Cole spun around, leaping and dancing in the air, spreading out his arms and wings, letting the moon shine down on his face, his eyes closed, his skin glittering like diamonds. This, this, is true happiness, he thought gleefully.

He swooped down over the landscape, watching his shadow glide over the land, flying steadily. The night air was cold but refreshing, a wonderful chilling delight for him. It was almost fall, the long summer days expiring into cool evenings of incoming change.

________________

Music:

"Electrostatic"
by Enertiasound

________________