Choices Affect Everyone COMPLETE

Chapter 6

Ten minutes later, Minerva returns. "All ready. Now you just need to sign the contract." She holds out the pen.

Muriel stares at it, wondering if she made the right choice.

"Come on, little princess; we don't have all day."

She swallows and takes it and signs it.

"One more thing."

Muriel cries out when Minerva takes the pen and drives it into Muriel's finger.

She presses it against the page so that her blood makes a tiny spot. "I needed some of your blood for the part where you can't tell the prince or anyone that you're a mermaid.

"You could have mentioned that before," Muriel whispers, holding her hand to her chest.

Minerva just smiles. "Come closer. I need to receive my payment before you get what you want."

"How does this work?" Muriel asks, swimming forward.

She grabs Muriel's throat in one hand, and her tentacles restrain her arms and tail. She squeezes Muriel's jaw to encourage her to open it. "Just hold still." She uses her other hand to keep her mouth open.

Muriel gives a muffled cry when one of her tentacles shoots into her mouth and partway down her throat. She shakes as all the airflow is cut off.

A second later, Minerva pulls her tentacle out of her mouth and lets her go.

Muriel swims back a little, holding her throat, coughing. She goes to yell at Minerva, but nothing comes out. She rubs her neck, starting to shake. She looks over to see Minerva holding a shell.

Minerva smiles. "You just asked for the transformation not to hurt." She holds up the shell before tapping it. The sound of Muriel softly singing comes out. "Excellent, such a lovely voice." She sets it aside, and the singing stops. "And now for you to be human. Are you ready?"

Muriel shrugs.

Minerva smiles and holds out a small biscuit looking thing. "Eat up."

Muriel stares at it before slowly taking it. Part of her regrets her decision, but she can't go back now. She takes a nibble but nearly throws up.

"I never said it would taste good. Shove it in your mouth and get it over with."

Muriel swallows and does as she's told. She covers her mouth, resisting the urge to throw up. As soon as it's down, she clutches her stomach. She bites her lip as pain shoots down her spine and into her tail. She tries to take deep breaths but finds it's not working.

"Yes, sweetheart, you should probably go find some air because humans don't breath underwater," Minerva says, her tone indicating that she's amused by the whole thing.

Muriel swims towards the dry area where humans can come down, pulling herself onto the rock. She takes deep breaths, and small cries would have escaped her open mouth if she could talk. She grips tightly onto the rock as the scales on her tail feel as if it's moving. Although it doesn't fully hurt, the feeling of her tail splitting in two causes a few tears to turn down her cheeks. Her entire body feels itchy as her green skin changes into a human colour. The neck of her neck stings as her gills disappear, and her nails and teeth have a dull ache as they lose their point. Even her insides feel as if they're changing a little.

Five minutes later, the pain, the aches, the itching stops. Muriel hasn't moved; she continues to breathe hard. She blinks a few times as she finds her vision cutting in and out. She finds it's much darker than it was before.

A moment later, her eyes roll back, and she falls still aside from her light breathing.

"Philip!" Caleb yells as he hurries after him. "Where are you going?"