Secret's Out

It was a sunny Saturday morning in Australia and Zac Blakely was looking forward to spending a relaxing day doing whatever he wanted. Most Australian teenagers his age would probably choose to go to the beach on a day like today, but Zac wasn't most teenagers and the activity he had chosen wasn't at all typical. This was because, unlike most teenage boys, he was a merman and he had powers he had yet to learn to control completely. So today, Zac was in his bedroom with the door closed, focused intently on a glass of water on the desk across the room. Zac closed his eyes and began focusing his mind on making the water rise out of the glass in a snaky tentacle-like shape. With a gesture, the water began to rise from the glass, but just then there was a knock at the door, startling Zac and causing the water to fall abruptly back into the glass.

The door opened and Zac's father, Doctor Robert Blakely, stepped inside. He immediately spotted the water glass sitting on the wooden desktop. "Zac, what have I told you about open glasses of water on wooden tabletops?" his father chastised him. "Dad, I need that. I'm thirsty," Zac protested. His dad took the glass from the desk and started to take it away, and Zac realized he'd never be able to practice if his dad took the water away, so he grabbed for it and in the process some of it spilled on his arm! Zac turned pale and rushed to the bathroom to wipe off the water before the ten seconds were up and he transformed in front of his father! "Zac, it's just a little water," his dad called, wondering why his son was in such a panic. He got to the bathroom door and found it closed. Just then he heard a grunt and a thump. He started to open the door and Zac shouted "No, Dad! Don't come in!"

Robert opened the door anyway, though, worried that Zac was hurt, and was astonished at what he saw. Zac sat in the middle of the bathroom floor vainly trying to cover up a long blue fishtail! "Zac, what in the world?!" Robert asked, unable to believe he was seeing this. "Dad, I can explain," Zac said, sounding panicked. And explain he did, starting at the beginning and ending with the present, naturally refusing to reveal certain details since it wasn't his secret alone. When he finished, Robert just sat there, not sure what to make of this. Finally he asked questions of Zac regarding the powers Zac had mentioned having, prompting a demonstration. He promised to keep Zac's secret and those of any other merpeople he discovered, and Zac was glad he didn't have to hide his powers and his tail anymore. All was well in the Blakely home for the time being.