Blue

Five.

I stumble out the back door, completely naked, and somehow manage down the path that leads directly to the beach.

There the water is gleaming under the silver light of the moon. The pull I'm feeling toward it is stronger than anything I've ever felt. I can do nothing except shakily step one foot in front of the other until my toes are inches in front of where the waves are lapping onto the shore.

The itching feeling all over my body is knawing. And the only thing that is going to relieve it is to get into the water. I don't know how or why or what is going to happen once I step foot into the surf, all I know is that I have to do it.

I take a deep breath, raise my right foot and place it into the surf. Then the other foot. One after the other until I'm waist deep in the ocean.

The burning sensation started again the second I stepped foot into the water, but it's not uncomfortable now. It feels like the burning of muscles after an intense workout. I can feel it all over my body. The unseen force keeps drawing me out further and so I continue walking deeper and deeper until I can no longer reach the sandy bottom and I have to begin treading water.

Thats when the burning turns uncomfortable. I cry out as my legs are slowly drawn together by some unseen force and I begin to sink, my head going under. I know I should be panicking but I can't think beyond anything but the pain. Something feels like it's tearing rips into my neck. A burning sensation like being standing in the center of a campfire is flaming over my forehead and down my arms into my palms. My legs feel as though they are melting and grafting together.

Thalassa help me!

The pain is so intense that my vision tunnels until soon I can see nothing but black and I slip from consciousness.

~

"Look at him, Ryven. He's special."

"I don't like it, and I don't trust it. We can't take the chance. We need to take him into custody and question him. What if he's an agent from the Sirenians?"

"No. Look at his marks. He is important."

"How do you know?"

"I just have a —"

Slowly blinking my eyes, I open them.

Everything is a dark blue. It's night, but I can still see. I'm underwater. The moon is shining strands of pale light into the darkness. There are beds of sea grass blowing in a lazy current.

I glance down and nearly faint again. Where my legs should be is long tail. It's a mix of blue and silver scales that shimmer as they catch the moonlight. Just like in my dream. It's muscular and honestly really really pretty.

I start to hyperventilate. Underwater. Which is so impossible that it panics me even further.

This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This isn't real. I'm dreaming.

"Hello there. May I ask your name?" The feminine voice that was speaking earlier says.

I snap my head in the direction of the voice with widened eyes. The girl is beautiful. She has long black hair billowing around her, lifting in the current. A silver circlet is settled on the top of her head. Her eyes are large and pale green, actually lightly glowing in the night. Like a pale firefly. She is bare chested, and her lean waist is smoothly grafted into a long pale green tail. She looks to me to be around my age. She's hovering (treading?) under the water right in front of me.

Reflexively, I move back away from her to put space between us. My body and tail instinctively knowing what to do to make that happen.

That's when I see the other...person/merman. His hair is also black. Long enough to curl around his ears but it's floating around him like a halo. His face is perfectly symmetrical, with a strong jawline so sharp it could cut you. His eyes are a dark green, and faintly glowing like the merwoman's. His full lips are set in a firm line. He's beyond muscular. Two golden armlets are encircled on his rippling biceps. An eight pack of abdominals trailing smoothly into an emerald green tail. He looks to me to be about twenty three years old.

He narrows his startling eyes at me, pulling out a wicked looking silver dagger from a sheath that strapped around his waist, "Who sent you?"