The Mer Prince

Chapter 36

Octi's POV

My hospitality was not welcomed.

In fact, I seem to have received a depressed gold-fish in my tank.

He curled up, started at the wall, and then would move to peer outside from time to time. The gold-fish rushed back in at any sign of movement above the water and tucked himself back into my bed. He was like a frightened clownfish in an anemone. In, and out, and back in, and out again, always darting back into bed.

This idle task was no surprise to me. Washington had nets ready, in case the poor mer came too far from my fake rock.

It was a late evening when finally, words were traded between us.

The night started with a splash as a weighted net fired in, and I was there in a flash to tear apart the ropes with my teeth. The weights left fresh bruises over Charley, and definitely bruised his confidence, the mer hiding as I violently attacked the man who fired. The attacker escaped, I returned to the fake rock.

The whole incident opened Charley up. He confirmed he was a male, and then Charley started to ask about outside the tank. I would tell him about what I knew. I knew he wanted to escape.

What side was the ocean closest on?
The far side.

Where were the most nets?
Also on that side.

How many enclosures are there before you reach the sea?
None, I'm the last one before a gate, a road, and a hill down to the ocean.

The increased security out there, I did not tell him about. I was honest to him the whole time, I just did not tell him about the eerie way they knew where you were, the raised walls, the fences before the sea. I did not tell him the way they captured and dragged you back on dry, cracking ground. Someone escaped this eel-hole years before, but I did not tell Charley that either.

Still, I understood why he was asking. He wanted hope. Who would ever want to be in a prison like this? Hope came with the chance to escape.

"Hey, what is your name?" Charley asked, after a long while. He sounded surprised with himself that he had never asked before this moment.

"Runt, is what my parents called me." I muttered, getting blood from under my sharp nails.

"Runt? Do you like that name?" Charley frowned, and I looked to him. The mer definitely heard my hatred for the term.

"Of course I don't." I spoke my mind. The runt is the one to die. The runt is the unfit one. No one can be blamed if a runt dies. The fact I was still living was solely my brother's fault.

"What would you name yourself? If you could?" Charley asked, sitting up. His human eyes were locked onto me.

"Not-runt." I sarcastically answered, looking away from him. "Look, I'm not creative. I'll stick with 'the beast' or 'kraken' or something if you want to call me something."

"I'm not too creative either, but those are horrible." Charley chuckled, then shrugged, "I can list some names though...?"

"Are they human names?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"No thank you. No human names." I cut him off. There was no way I would let myself be called a human name.

This just seemed to encourage him, just to spite me. "Just listen- John, Murray, Nick-"

I groaned, and cut him off again. "Johnmurray. There. Done. You can call me that." I did not want this conversation to continue. This just caused more talk.

"John or Murray? Murray is kind of a last name.... Argus is a species of octopus, I think that should be your last name. John Argus?" He continued to go on, and I just stared at him. He was certainly speaking more, and I liked him speaking. I just wasn't up for him continuously giving me a more and more ridiculous human name.

"Fine, John Argus. I don't see the point in two names." I told him, shrugging and moving over to him.

"Well, most people have three where I'm from. My name is Charles Rosemary Cross... but I recently discovered that those might not actually be my name, and I'm sort of glad." He told me, the relief in his tone evident.

"You don't like yours?" I asked, amused, as I sat beside him.

"The name Rosemary got me teased a lot." He responded, sitting upright beside me.

"Having three names would have gotten you teased anywhere." I responded, looking outside my home again. "What did you 'discover' to have your views change anyways?" I figured this was the best time to prod.

"My dad. The merman." Charley answered, with a recognizable sound of heartbreak and angst. I had little idea on how old Charley was, but I felt like consoling him like a guppy.

"So, your mom is a human and your dad is a merman? That must have been terrifying for her. Humans can't breathe underwater for long." I told him.

Charley sat up, and I nearly growled- this mer was much taller than me. I sat up too, but to my dismay, he had a good few inches on me. "Actually, she was a mermaid, thanks to Ursula!" He told me.

Ursula? I paused, knowing the name, just not knowing where from. "A sea-witch?" I guessed.

"Yes! She's gorgeous. She gave me this tail and she gave my mom one, too!" He told me gladly.

"You might not want to say that too loud." I warned in a lower voice. "Washington would try to get a sea-witch at a moment's notice. Then he would have all the merpeople and octi to experiment on that he wanted." The idea was not comforting.

"Oh, right." Charley frowned. "We won't be... dissected, will we?" He asked solemnly.

"No," I told Charley, looking into his eyes, "they've already had enough to dissect. We are safe- but experiments."

My words were true, all of them, to Charley. There was no room to lie. His face changed in great relief, and then equal horror.

I recalled my first week here. I was not alone.

There was blood.

I became alone.

And that was not my fault.