The man slammed his fist on the counter. "Fakes?! You think they're fakes?" he waved the just - developed black and white pictures in the man's face. "I took these thirty minutes ago!"
The man with the wild, pale hair had come into the news station repeatedly, always babbling fantastic stories of mermaids and mythology and, essentially, driving any respectable persons away. The newsman shuffled through the pictures of a mermaid leaping out of the water and sighed. "Mr. Salis, I'm sorry, but we just can't put these out. My manager always told me to not put any . . . mythical things in the -"
"Mythical? I saw her with my own two eyes!"
"Um . . . yeah." The newsman looked unimpressed. "I'm sure. And by the way, you might want to think about buying another camera. That one's really outdated."
Mr. Salis growled and clutched his old-fashioned camera to his chest, and muttered, "Fine. Then I'll do it myself." As he walked out of the store, he observed a little blue Sedan rolling out of the parking lot.
The newsman rolled his eyes as he went back to typing on his computer. Crazy old man.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The ride back home was very different from the one coming in.
I stared mournfully out the foggy car window, watching the Kentucky hills flash past me, and regretting the moment I stepped into the car.
We rolled northward, farther and farther away from the sea, and with every mile I felt worse. I would long for the ocean, and then be disgusted by it, and long for it again. I started to say something to my dad, but a sharp pain struck my leg and I cried out. The car swerved to the left, but soon righted itself.
"What's wrong?" he said, alarmed.
"I don't know, I . . ." I looked at my leg, and three shiny scales grew right before my eyes. I gasped softly. "More scales."
My dad pushed the pedal a little harder.
I waited a few more minutes and said, "Dad, I feel awful."
He put his hand on mine. "I know, sweet pea. We'll be home soon."
"I don't want to go home. Take me back."
He frowned and shook his head.
"But how could going home possibly help me?" I pushed.
"Your aunt. Your aunt can help."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"No. You can't." Asaphis's sea foam - colored eyes twitched in irritation as she wrote a recipe on a tattered scroll.
Sapphire hissed in frustration. "But mother . . ."
"I will take care of Charlotte! I have the most powerful siren voice in the ocean! Unfortunately you inherited your father's singing." Asaphis spat out the word. "I remember when I was with him. I would sing him the most beautiful songs as he would watch in awe. He would try to sing them, but he had a terrible voice." she glanced at Sapphire. "Just like yours."
She sighed impatiently. She didn't come here for this. "I can do it, mother. I've already practiced -" Sapphire cut off.
"Practiced what?" said her mother.
Her daughter just twirled a piece of her blue and dark brown hair, floating angelic in the water, and stared far above at the beams of light coming down to the murky depths.
"You . . . you gave her dreams, didn't you!"
Sapphire smiled faintly but didn't look at her mother.
Her enchantingly beautiful face flushed with anger and her maroon tail flicked from side to side. "I told you to let me handle her! You need to get back to your mermaid studies, attracting human men and such things."
"But mother, I was at the library a while ago, and I found out that humans having the dreams turns them more quickly. It makes them long for the sea."
"Ah. I suppose . . ." she admitted reluctantly, and rolled up the scroll and gave it to Sapphire. "Here. This is for you to do. The ingredients to the potion will turn you into a human. You must gather the right ingredients and drink it on shore. Transport yourself to Charlotte and do not fail. Find a way to bring her to the ocean and I will do the rest."
Sapphire nodded. "Thank you, mother." she swam away.
Asaphis let herself smile for the first time in years. It was shocking when she discovered Charlotte wasn't a mermaid. The kingdom always needed New Ones, and she knew Charlotte had great power. She saw it in her eyes. But her change had eventually started. And soon she would have both of her little girls with her.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hope you liked the three perspectives! Thanks for reading.
_pure_imagination_
