The Mer Prince

Chapter 11

Charlie's POV

I'm drowning. It's not an uncommon dream for me to have, but that's the thing. I'm above the water, looking down at the ocean's waves below me, at someone bobbing along in them, and I'm screaming a name, my arms reaching out to below as red starts blossoming like a flower from the person below. I'm stuck, and I'm choking on air, my lips are dry, my legs stuck together- no, they're a tail. Long and orange and shimmering, I have a tail, and it's painfully stiffening, drying. There's a loud vibrating wumf wumf wumf sound, the water below getting farther and farther away from me, my throat hoarse from yelling and my vision blurring, blurring....

I open my eyes and hazily blink them, feeling like salt is weighing on my eyelashes. Which it might be. I see a chest, and I blink again, the toned muscles coming into focus. Scars litter the skin, which is visibly a very slight shade bluer than mine, definitely not human, but then again it faintly registers I'm not human either, and I carefully reach my hand out, my marine biologist mind carefully making guesses at each cut. Three run across the torso- I trace my fingers along them and guess a fishing spear or trident caused that. Then there's a few net scars beside that on the smooth curve along the side, where a net undoubtedly buried itself into the struggling being trying to escape, and there are some scars so fine they could be surgical, while others are jagged like dragged across coral. Then reality decided it'd dawn on me.

I yanked my hands away from the bare chest, trying to move back and finding an arm around me to keep me from falling off whatever it is we are on. "Done looking at my chest?" The merman asked, a eyebrow raised, which instantly made me jealous. I couldn't raise my eyebrows individually like that. But even my jealousy couldn't help the red that flooded my cheeks.

"S-Sorry!" I stuttered, the mer looking surprised still with a raised eyebrow at the word. "I-I-"

"It's alright." He cut me off calmly, releasing me and sitting up, working some odd process and getting off the bed with ease, despite the fin. I looked down at the bed, eyes widening as I tested it- sea sponge. A giant, living, sea sponge. I slept on it. With the merman. How did that happen..?

I looked at my tail again and was yet again amazed- and a little disappointed- with it. It was just like the one I had in my fuzzy dream, which all I could recall was this from. There wasn't some fish-lip thing around my waist where the tail turned to chest and vise versa like I had seen in My Little Mermaid, and the fin was solid at the end. The tip of the fin moved as if I were wiggling my toes, and besides the depression of yesterday, I beamed happily at it, turning myself so my fin was half off the bed and not attempting to try the complicated working that the blue guy did. I just shoved myself up off the bed and hoped for the best.

I flopped up a little and started working my tail, one powerful breath righting me with powerful water-filtering lungs. I was amazed at how it all worked, putting a hand on my chest and taking breaths, wanting to do tons of research and find out how this all worked, why it worked- everything!

"Ahem." The blue guy was standi- floating! By the door, expressionless and watching me. Oh lord I must be so weird to him. Here I am goggling over my own body and tail and he's been floating there, probably had to put up with my cuddling tendencies, and thinks I'm some odd human-turned-mer prince. Next thing you know he'll be looking at me weird as I brush my hair with a fork!

I turn red and swim tipsily forwards, use to kicking separate legs and now having to deal with this! It's awesome to have a tail but I'm clumsy and end up head butting the merman in the chest! "Sorry! Sorry!" I quickly apologize, trying to get upright and finding every little breath of air I take lifts me and letting out air lowers me, only successfully confusing myself as I struggle to breathe as well. Aw crap I can't do this! This is too complicated! I do human things, not mer things!