Caviotos

Chapter Two

Some people were born to walk on land and to never venture into the water. Carrie was not one of those people. Carrie loved to swim. She didn’t know if it was because she was half mermaid or not, she just knew she loved it. Unlike mermaids in The Little Mermaid and Aquamarine, Carrie did not keep her hair down. She kept it in a ponytail to avoid it moving in front of her face when she swam.

 

Now, there is something you should know about mermaid bodies. They mature faster than mundane bodies. Carrie was only 12 years old and her mermaid body was almost mature. Her body was nearly covered in red scales. Her breasts were covered by a salmon red and darkened until they turned into the crimson color of her tail. Even though she was a mermaid, Carrie, just like a human, would sometimes admire her tail. Sometimes, while in the water, she would perch herself on a rock and outstretch her tail, just to look at.

 

Carrie was busy admiring her tail when she saw a bright light illuminate her crimson tail. Carrie looked up and squinted against the light that was hovering over the sailboat. The light didn’t hover long. A minute or so later, the light continued on its journey. Most people would dismiss the sudden brightness as a sun flare, but Carrie knew better. The bright light was Lauren. And Lauren only stopped flying for two reasons: to know what time it was and to know when dinner was.

 

Mike’s face flashed in Carrie’s mind. The poor kid, she thought. Mike had no special ability. He could not swim. He could not fly. There was no way he could share the same feelings Carrie and Lauren felt. As Lauren flew and Carrie swam, Mike sat on the deck of sailboat, alone. Amanda was usually too busy talking to her military boyfriend on Skype to keep her youngest child company. Once she had asked him if he wanted to play cards, but Mike said he was already playing a game: See-If-I-Can-See-Carrie-Before-See-Can-See-Me game. So he sat on the deck, staring into the water, waiting for Carrie.

 

Carrie hated imagining Mike playing this game. It filled her with sadness and her throat closed. She knew the only way to breathe and feel less guilty was to go visit her little elf brother. Carrie got up off of her rock, put her hands to her side, and moved her tail up and down, swimming up to the underbelly of the boat.

 

 

 

Mike sat at the edge of the sailboat, kicking his feet. He was leaning forward, looking for Carrie. He had a feeling today was the day he would find Carrie. But he had not found her yet. 3 hours of playing this game and all he saw were his own yellow eyes staring back at him. But Mike did not care about the back pain he would feel once he straightened his spine, he did not care that Lauren and his mother thought the game was useless; all he cared about was finding Carrie.

 

Mike looked up as he felt a sudden heat over him. He squinted his eyes to protect them from a hot and bright light. Above the sailboat was a bird, or rather, the shape of one. Lauren. Her hair was red fire, and so was her body. Protruding from her back were two fiery eagle wings, both of which were flapping to keep Lauren from falling onto the boat.

 

“What time is it? When’s dinner?” Lauren yelled.

 

Mike looked at his watch, and then at his phoenix sister. “It’s 4:30. Dinner’s at 5.”

 

“Thanks!” Lauren turned away from Mike and flew away.  

 

Mike felt cold once Lauren was gone and he had to blink spots away from his eyes. When he figured blinking didn’t work, Mike started rubbing his eyes. That’s when he lost his game. As Mike was rubbing his eyes, Carrie hoisted herself up onto the deck of the boat by her arms. She was almost on the boat when she slipped off. She said a curse word under her breath and hung on to the deck, which was a few inches above the ocean. Mike heard his sister’s curse and immediately ran to help her. He took her arm and pulled. He did not have any strength, and his sister was twice as heavy as he was. It took teamwork before Carrie could finally grab onto a pole next to the deck and hold herself as she sat down.

 

“Thanks,” Carrie said. She wrapped her arm around the pole tightly to avoid slipping off.

 

Mike sat next to his sister. “You’re welcome. I was looking for you again.”

 

“Were you now?”

 

“Uh-huh. I almost found you, too, but Lauren blinded me and I had to rub my eyes. I would have seen you if I wasn’t blinded.”

 

Carrie smiled as an evil plan brewed in her head. She leaned close to Mike. “You know what you should do next time?”

 

“What?”

 

“Splash her.”

 

Mike leaned back and a horrified look covered his face. He looked at Carrie as if she had murdered someone. Carrie had forgotten to never make jokes around Mike. Water on a phoenix would cause the phoenix terrible pain, and too much of it would kill the phoenix. Light elves were happy and hated mischief and evil, so this was not funny to Mike in any way, shape, or form. 

 

Carrie looked at her tail. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Carrie looked at her tail. Another image entered her mind. This image was of her legs and her pink painted toes. Carrie’s tail split down the middle. Her scales started vanishing, spearing as though they were absorbing into her skin. This process of turning from a mermaid into a human took about a minute and left Carrie naked. Mike had the decency to turn his head and close his eyes as soon as Carrie’s tail split.

 

Mike still had his eyes closed when he handed Carrie a towel to wrap herself in. 

 

Carrie wrapped herself in the towel. “Okay, I’m good.”

 

Mike opened his eyes. “Can I ask you something, Carrie?”

 

“Anything.”

 

“What’s it like to have a special ability?”

 

Carrie blinked. She could not really answer this question. She had to think about how to answer. Being able to grow a fin was not really a special ability, well at least not to Carrie. “Well…It’s like…It kinda feels like…Well…”

 

“That’s okay. You don’t have to answer right now.” Mike stood up. He looked down at Carrie. “Cherry soda?”

 

“With ice, please.”

 

“Okay.” Mike was about to walk away when he decided he had one more thing to say to Carrie. He smiled. “Carrie?”

 

Carrie was looking at her toes. She looked at Mike when she heard her name. “Yeah?”

 

“I don’t care if I have a special ability. This may be me or my elf talking, but I am just happy that I have a family that cares about me so much and gets along so well. I mean, what other family do you have a water dweller and a fire dweller? Those were enemies when mythical creatures lived freely. You and Lauren changed that. I’m so lucky to have sisters like you two. And a Mom who – even though she’s a human – cares about us and provides for us as much as she can.” Mike got on his knees and hugged Carrie tightly. “I love you Carrie.”

 

Carrie wrapped an arm around her brother. She was glad he finally walked away so he would not be able to see the tears in her eyes.