Descendant of the Deep (Siren Song: Book One)

Chapter Two: The Visitor

     School the next morning was torture. Exhausted from my early morning swim , keeping my eyes open during my classes was nearly impossible. I tried to focus, but with such a lack of sleep, it was no use.
     The first few periods of the day passed in a blur of smacking myself with a rubber band every time I felt myself dozing off and actually allowing myself to doze off. Geometry was by far the worst offender.
     "Britta? Are you still with us?", the teacher asked, her lips pursed in an annoyed expression.
     "Yeah... Yeah, I'm listening."
     That was probably the worst lie I'd ever said in my life, as my eyes were half closed when I said it.
     When Geometry ended, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Though the day was far from over, it felt good to be done with math.
     On my way to lunch, however, any sense of relief I had felt previously crumbled when my feet went numb and my legs began to prickle. No. No, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening now! I never felt the Call during the day! I looked anxiously at the exit door. No. I couldn't just leave the school. That was illegal, and who knew what would happen if I got caught. I tried to shove down my instincts, tried to rise above the temptation. I swallowed hard and began walking to the cafeteria.
     But the farther I got from the door, the more I wanted to run back to the water. Why me? Why did I have to be the freak of nature, the girl who had a side of her that only wanted to be in the sea? I stopped walking suddenly, and gazed longingly at the door. I needed to do this, just as I needed to eat and drink. Trying my best to not let guilt get the better of me, I started to inch towards the exit. I looked around to be sure that nobody was walking about. Fortunately, all of the other students were sitting in the cafeteria and the teachers were in their rooms. I snuck out of the school with ease.
The second I was out the door, a salty breeze rustled my ebony hair, and I felt rebellious. Swallowing any remnants of guilt, I began my run to the sea. If I could be back before lunch ended, maybe I could get away with this. If I was a little late, I could say that I was in the restrooms. Of course, my wet hair would be problematic, but there was nothing I could do.
The ocean was several blocks away from where my high school was, so I had to sprint in order to get back on time. I passed several pedestrians on my journey, but I chose to ignore them. The closer I got to the cliffs, the harder it was to think of anything but the water.
By the time I reached the pier, there were beads of sweat on my face. I quickly found a private place to undress (the last thing I needed was wet clothes), only leaving on a black tank top I'd worn underneath my sweatshirt. I hid my clothes in the brush underneath a pine tree and began to scale down the cliff. It wasn't long before I was submerged in salt water.
The change was immediate, as always. My tail formed, and I ducked underwater. I flexed my fins hurriedly, and was preparing to climb back up when something flashed out of the corner of my eye. I whipped around, my heart beating like a drum. When I saw nothing, I chided myself for being frightened. Oh, Britta. It was probably just a bottle or something harmless like that. I began to turn around when my eye caught something more defining: a bronze-colored fin. And a large one at that.
     I slowly backed away. Whatever the thing was, I didn't want anything to do with it. I began to swim up when I bumped into something. I looked up and gasped.
It was a man. His chest was bare and muscled and intimidating. The only thing on him was a golden pendant string around his neck bearing a coat of arms that I didn't recognize. I looked down where his legs should have been and recoiled in shock. A long copper tail snaked down his lower section and his bronze fins floated in the water.
     He was a merman. And he'd discovered me.
     Shit.
     I fumbled for words, my mouth hanging open rather awkwardly. But I didn't have to start the conversation.
     "I bet you thought you could get away with it, didn't you?", he boomed, his low voice vibrating my very bones.
     "N-no", I sputtered, my voice sounding weak and timid next to his deep one.
     "Don't lie to me, girl. You know what you've done. Have you no sense?"
     Confusion raced through my mind. I was uncertain if he somehow knew of my transformations from human to mermaid, or if he thought I was somebody else.
     "Im sorry", I said meekly.
    The merman curled his lip."I'm sorry, sir. You may be a disobedient runaway, but you will treat your piers with respect, understood?"
     So he didn't know. Relief flooded through me, but it was short lived. The merman snatched some vegetation from the seafloor and bound my wrists in a single, fluid motion.
     Panic shot through me. "Hey! Let me go!"
     The merman ignored my pleas. "You know the law. No going in territories populated by humans. Did your curiosity tempt you to venture into the Forbidden Seas, or were you just stupid enough to come here?"
     In order to free myself, I had to lie, and I had to do it quick. "I'm sorry, sir. I lost my way and wandered to close to shore. This is all one big misunderstanding. Can you let me go now?"
     The merman snorted. "Nice try, kid. I've heard that one a million times. So you can either make this easier for both of us  by returning with me to open waters, or you can take the other option. What's it going to be?"
     Desperate, I had to play my last card. " I didn't run away, okay? I've always been here! In fact, I'm usually up there!". I pointed to the surface of the water. " I live with humans, can even turn into one. So please just let me go, and you'll never hear from me again."
     I had expected a shocked reaction from the merman, maybe even an amused one. But nothing like this. His face had completely drained of color, his eyes wide in fear. I was beginning to regret telling him my secret.
     "Did you just say you could turn into a human?"
     " I mean, I-"
     I didn't get the chance to finish the sentence before he pinned me down and knocked me unconscious.