Definitely not the Little Mermaid

So this is my life now?

Chapter Five

I wasn't entirely sure why the twins were in my room. I also wasn't sure why my alarm kept going off. It was Sunday. I'm supposed to be allowed to sleep in, right?

"What do you two want?" I asked groggily, removing the edge of the blanket from my head and squinting at the boys.

"Mom and Dad are in the living room, talking to Laiken," responded Gareth frantically.

"Also your alarm keeps going off," added Austin.

That jerked me awake, my eyes widening in horror. "Mom and Dad? Living room? Laiken?"

"Wow, you really need to learn to construct sentences Cave Girl," Austin said, a grin on his face.

I spared him a withering look. Didn't he understand how awful this was? If our parents found out about Laiken being a merman, they'd either dub themselves insane and resign the rest of their lives to a villa somewhere in the mountains or they'd get all their science buddies to arrive and start dissecting the slightly annoying but probably harmless merman.

"They can't find out about Laiken!" I hissed, slipping on my fuzzy slippers. I hurried out of the room, followed closely by the twins. Gareth was busy trying to turn off the alarm clock. It was eventually thrown against a wall as we raced down the stairs.

"WAIT!" I screamed, tumbling into the living room. Our parents lifted their heads to stare at us. Laiken tilted his/its head curiously to the side.

I quickly righted myself and panted, "It...He's an idiot."

"Darling," Mom sounded vaguely annoyed as she rose and came over to us. She drew me into a hug. The twins awkwardly sidled over to the couch and sat on either side of Laiken.

"What's the matter?" Mom asked gently, petting my hair.

Okay, that was good. Neither of our parents were freaking out about Laiken, which meant he/it probably didn't tell them anything. That was very good.

I sighed and pushed away, "Nothing."

"Come and join us sweetheart, we were just discussing a few things with your friend here," called Dad.

I went with Mom and sat next to Dad. Laiken silently appraised me, his/its eyes widening in surprise at the state of my hair. I kicked his/its knee testily. The merman quickly dropped his/its eyes to the floor and pulled his/its legs up.

"We were just telling Laiken here that we'd gladly let him stay by us until his parents come back into town," Dad nodded.

I turned to him, brows furrowing in mild confusion.

"His parents are out of town, remember?" chorused the twins in a not at all suspicious way. I turned to them. Did they seriously think that our parents wouldn't find anything suspicious about that?

Apparently they didn't.

Shortly after that, Mom and Dad left for work once more and the twins went to walk the neighbour's dog, leaving me alone with Laiken. Not for the first time, I wondered if I was dreaming or something.

How did I end up with a mythical merman in my house anyway? What part of that made any sense? Weren't merpeople supposed to be fake; like Bigfoot or healthy fast food?

"I'm hungry," Laiken drawled, shifting slightly on the couch he/it was on. I regarded the merman warily and rose.

"I'm not making breakfast. I'm going to go take and shower and get dressed because I'm going out with friends today," I declared. That was a small lie. I wasn't going out with friends, but I was having a friend over later.