Definitely not the Little Mermaid

He's a What?!

Chapter Three

There were hazy figures above him. One of them was screaming something. He wasn't entirely sure why he couldn't hear them. He blinked twice and opened his mouth to ask them if they could speak up. Water rushed into his mouth.

Webless hands broke through the water's surface, reaching for him. They curled around his shoulders, pulling him from the water.

Laiken blinked. Air infiltrated his lungs, forcing him to cough up the water.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" a loud female screamed in his ear. Laiken pulled away, blinked rapidly.

Oh right, he was in a bath. He inhaled, blinking some more. The panicked face of Angelica swam into view as the water left Laiken's eyes. He could make out the twins standing behind her, their eyes locked on something else.

"You...you...have...huh?" Angelica straightened up, her eyes also travelling down. Laiken decided to see what everyone appeared to be staring at and followed their gazes.

Their eyes were locked on a giant fish tail protruding from the bath. Laiken stared at it. It moved. He screamed, scrambling up against the back of the bath. The tail followed him.

"A giant fish ate my walking thingies!" wailed Laiken. The tail started thrashing wildly, causing the water to splash on everyone and everything. One of the twins made an annoyed sound while the other let out a high pitched squeal. Angelica remained motionless, eyes locked on the fish's tail.

Laiken let out a worried whine and tried to stand. He couldn't. He slipped back into the water. He tried again and the result was the same. The boy let out a panicked wail and threw himself halfway out of the bath.

He landed on his hands in front of Angelica. Twisting, the boy's eyes widened as he realised that his walking thingies weren't eaten by a giant fish, they were the giant fish.

Well, the lower half of a giant fish at any rate. Laiken stared.

His mid-drift unexplainably morphed into scales and a fish tail just below his belly button. Laiken watched as the tail flicked up. He lifted his eyes slowly up to Angelica and the twins.

"Help?" he asked pleadingly.

Angelica turned desperately to the twins, an emotion Laiken wasn't familiar with on her face. She started anxiously twirling her hair around her finger as she spoke to the twins in a soft voice. Laiken watched her.

One of the twins silently left the room while the other grabbed one of Laiken's arms. Angelica seized the other and they lifted him up and lowered him gingerly back into the bath. Then the girl squirmed uncomfortably and hurried out of the room. Laiken swivelled his head up to the remaining twin and found him staring at the fish tail.

"So you're like...a merman?" asked the twin after a pause.

Laiken considered this. He didn't think he was a merman. He was obviously a fish-person. However, he was pretty sure that fish-person wasn't an acceptable term with these strange webless people. He nibbled on his lower lip while he thought. Wasn't mermaid the normal term?

"I'm a mermaid," he said finally, nodding proudly.

"And you didn't know?" the twin frowned, eyebrows scrunching together.

"Nope," Laiken shook his head rapidly. The tail thrashed, sending water spilling over the edge of the bath. Laiken let out a mewl and pushed himself up, trying to get all of the giant tail into the tub.

"That's..." the twin trailed off, eyes passing over the tail once more.

"Cool," he declared suddenly.