Hunted

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

So that was how I met Finn. Over the next few years he would prove to be one of the best and most loyal friends I've ever had. He thought I was strange at first, of course, but I think he never really judged me for formerly being a human. In this new world that was cold and strange and so much different from the human world I had known my whole life, he was one of the only constants.

His family, however, was a different story.

I didn't know as Finn dragged me away from the wrecked ship that he would be so understanding of my situation. So as he took my arm and started swimming at a rapid pace toward some unknown destination, I started to freak out.

"Whoa whoa, wait!" I said brusquely and jerked my arm free of his grasp.

He stopped swimming forward and turned his teal-green eyes to me, one eyebrow cocked in a questioning expression. "Yes?"

I struggled to open my mouth and say what I wanted to say. But what exactly did I want? For the past however many days I had been wandering the ocean looking for someone to talk to. And now I had found someone, and he was going to take me to see more of them. But still...

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean... I'm obviously... different and not from around here. Should I be worried?" I asked, crossing my arms and keeping myself in one spot in the water by making slight adjustments with my tail. I shuddered, thinking once again how strange it was that I had a tail.

Finn seemed to not know the answer to that immediately, and his cheerful expression dropped momentarily. "I suppose you have a good point..." he reluctantly admitted in his strange, lilting accent. "I don't think you should be worried though. Most likely they'll just think you strange, like I do." He flashed me a smile, letting me know he was only teasing.

I rolled my eyes and allowed myself a small grin. Then I thought of something. I had so many questions for him before we went to see anybody else! The adrenaline from escaping the killer shark was wearing off and now I was beginning to see sense.

"Okay so I have some questions for you, and they may seem obvious or silly, but just remember I'm human and bear with me," I told him, leaving no room for argument. He was going to answer these questions whether he liked it or not.

"Were human," he felt the need to point out, and at my quizzical expression he expanded on that statement. "You were human, you're not anymore."

"Yes... thank you for bringing that up," I muttered, suddenly feeling the need to cry again. I couldn't look at him for a couple seconds while I composed myself. "So, questions."

"Yes, questions," he quickly agreed, seeming to realize that he was a bit insensitive with that last comment.

"How am I talking to you?" I asked the first one that came to mind. "I mean... everything I know about sound waves and things like that says that talking under water should be... warped and hard to understand."

"Well... I don't know much about that. But I've always been able to talk underwater," Finn laughed.

Hmm, maybe it was a siren thing. "Alright. I thought all sirens had strange colored hair, so why is yours just brown?" I asked, and then quickly added on due to his slightly hurt expression, "Not that it isn't a very nice brown."

"Our hair comes in a multitude of different colors. Brown is one of them," he said succinctly and then gestured for me to fire another question at him.

"I've been swimming for days on my own and I haven't seen a single... fellow siren," I said, cringing a little at the fact that I now had to lump myself in with the group. "Where is everybody, and why are you out here all by yourself?"

Finn's eyes became ever so slightly more guarded as he pondered this question, and his answer to it was carefully thought out before he told me. "I was on a scouting mission for my father. We try to stay away from the Upsiders as much as possible, so if I have any sightings to report, I bring that information to the King."

My eyebrows rose, for some reason surprised that there would be a king. But why shouldn't there be? I tried to force my expression back to neutral so as not to offend the only siren I had met so far.

"As for everyone else, that is where I was taking you before you decided to bombard me with these questions," Finn said, his smile teasing toward the end.

"Oh I have more, don't worry," I reassured him, and opened my mouth to fire another one at him, but he held a hand up to stop me.

"Tegan," he said, and my name coming from his lips in that strange accent of his made me shiver slightly. "Please, I understand you have more, but could you possibly ask me on the way? It's getting late, I need to be back home, and you are coming with me."

The tone of his voice left almost no room for argument, so I mutely nodded and we started to swim in the same direction as before. Being born a siren instead of turned into one must have made him a much faster swimmer than me, because soon I was panting and struggling to keep up. He seemed to realize this and slowed down to a more reasonable pace.

"So how exactly is someone turned into a siren?" I asked once we had been traveling for a solid ten minutes or so in silence.

Finn turned his head to look at me a bit strangely. "You don't know the answer to that? Of the two of us, you're the only one who was not born one."

"I know, but... I just remember being on the beach one moment, being dragged under the water the next, and a lot of pain but... I don't remember exactly what happened. It's a bit fuzzy," I told him, wincing at the memory of just how painful it was.

Finn was quiet for a moment, thinking on what I said. "Well I'm afraid I won't be much help. I know that you must have been bitten, but beyond that I've never met anyone else who has been turned. We try to keep to ourselves."

I nodded. I knew it must have been a bite, but I wasn't sure until now. I wanted to ask why. Why had I been turned? But of course he wouldn't know the answer to that - he wasn't the lunatic who turned me. And it must have been a lunatic, because from what Finn had told me, it hardly ever happened. Just my luck.

I had more things to ask about, of course, but common sense told me that I would be stuck under the water for quite a while. I would have time to ask my questions, and I didn't want to annoy Finn any more than necessary. He was, after all, my only friend at the moment - and I didn't even know if that's what he was. He was nice enough, though.

And with that, we picked up the pace and swam in the direction of Finn's home. He was excited to be getting back, but I was certainly a bit more apprehensive.

*****

Woo, loooong time no update. Sorry about that! Anyways, here's another chapter. If you liked it please don't forget to vote and comment! :)