The Mermaid and the Werewolf: Adella’s Tale

As the Current Flows

Adella followed the cliff for what felt like days, just thinking about Baron. How was she going to control Sortas? She still felt fear but it was like something shifted. Something in the bond shifted. She could feel his sadness, his regret and it made her feel a little stronger. Almost giving her a slight curl at the edge of her mouth.

Not paying attention to her surroundings was first mistake. Her second mistake was not following her instincts. She felt a hard yank on her tail and then pain ripped through her, almost recalling the feeling of being captured by the squid. She looked down to see what had her and she saw sea weed wrapped around her fin and then saw it was an octopus

that was trying to pull her in.

It looked old, with pieces of its flesh pealing off, then she felt a thick rubbery tail slide around her waist. The only thing that she could think about was to protect her child. She felt the tail squeeze her and she stopped struggling. She looked up and watched the ocean fade away into darkness. She had no idea where she was going, why she going there. Her only thought was to protect her baby at all costs.

Then she was still, she could feel her hair floating around her, the ocean coldness kissed her skin and she felt her tail being released. But the thick rubbery tail held her tight.

“There, there my little mermaid.” She heard this dark sinister voice in her head. “Where do you think you are going, my pretty?” This voiced asked.

Adella stayed silent. Mostly because she had no idea where this voice was coming from.

“I need you down here. It’s time we had a little mermaid luck down in the darkness.” The eel brought himself nose to nose with her. His empty black eye looked into hers. Then he shoved her in a cage, an old lobster net of sorts. She barely fit and was bent almost in half. Then he dropped the crate down into the depths of crevasse. The pressure was emence for her. She sucked in as much water as she could as her crate rolled down the wall and landed on a shelf, luckily not all the way to the bottom.

After the water settled around her and her eyes adjusted she could make some sense as to where she was. She was in the darkness, where wild things grow without hinder. Mermaids don’t do well in complete darkness.

She saw strange fish come to look at her, some had big huge teeth, some had giant eyes, some were clear with something that sparkled inside them. Adella found these intriguing, but it didn’t make her want to stay. One of them floated its way over to her. Inside her head she heard a small whisper of a voice. “Are you a real mermaid?”

Adella could only look at it.

“You can talk to me here, just think it.”

“Like this?” Adella gave it a try. She knew she would never get out the there if she didn’t make some friends.

“Oh yes!” The tiny voice said.

“What is this place?” She asked

“It’s the darkest place in the ocean. Aren’t you here to help us?”

“How am I to help you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Adella was just silent looking at the sparkles floating inside this iridescent fish.

“Light. We need light and we heard that if we had a resident mermaid it would come.”

Now Adella understood. She seemed to being about whatever was needed around her and that was what they were hoping for. Her heart went out this small little fish, but she had no idea how to help anyone.

“I don’t know how to make things happen, they just happen. I do know one thing. I have to be happy in order to bring good things. Sitting in this net like a dead fish isn’t helping my situation.” Adella began to struggle against the ropes around her, but to no avail. The strange little fish left and Adella felt so alone and afraid. She had decided to go back to Baron. She wasn’t sure how she was going to face Sortas but she knew she had to. A deep sadness flowed through her at the thought of never seeing him again.

Baron

Baron had gotten back to his homestead and had a meeting with Pax and a few of the other people. It was determined that they would build another house for all of them to live in. They called it a pack house. His current house was off limits to anyone and could only come with an invitation. He wanted Adella’s scent preserved as much as possible. It was the only thing that helped to dull this deep burning pain in his chest. He had found some random hairs of hers and kept them in a safe place. Then he could touch something that was actually her when the pain got so bad.

Baron worked along side his pack to help them build a house and furniture to make it comfortable. They hunted the forest around them together and began to mesh as a pack. Baron felt a bit better about taking this Alpha role with the help of Pax, who explained what he understood to be the higherarkey.

They had a made along table so they all could fit to eat together. It had been several months since Adella had taken to the sea. Baron often found himself down on the small inlet beach they originally found out she was a mermaid in. The rocky cliff offered protection from the wind and it was quiet and he could just listen to the waves splash the rocks and lap up on to the beach. It was his way of being close to her. Leaving it alway made him overwhelmingly sad, but he had to get back to the pack. He felt a duty toward them.

He sat at the head of the table eating dinner when he felt something through the bond. He hadn’t felt the bond in a while. It was a feeling of overwhelming sadness that overpowered the lonely feeling of wanting him. He felt that she was stuck somewhere and wanted to get back to him. He immediately got up and left the table and walked outside where he could be along. The stars hung in the sky above him and he noticed that there was no moon.

He found a place to lay in the grass and just quieted his thoughts. He had been practicing speaking to Pax through his bond with him. He wanted to try with this. The bond between them had been so quiet and now he could feel it again. He could feel through all the constant pain of not having her here.

He closed his eyes and really focused, sending thoughts back to her. How badly he wanted to talk with her. To apologize, to beg forgiveness. He was going to grovel in front of everyone if she ever came back, to show how important she is to him. He had it all planned out, it was a lot of what he could think of. He focused on her, he let her face float into his minds eye. Her big teal eyes, her long white blond hair. It pained his heart to look at her and not be able to touch her, but it wanted that connection as he reached out.

Then he gently reached out with the bond. He sent feelings of love, desire and yearning through the bond. ‘Please Adella.’ Were the only words that he could think of. He hoped it reached her and gave her what she needed to come back to him. He prayed to God that he could bring her back to him. It was all he wanted in life, just her. He drifted off to sleep in the field under the moonless night with the stars twinkling above. She danced through his dreams and for once it wasn’t the sight of her diving into the ocean. She was dancing and laughing around the fire. She was so beautiful to him.

He woke up to a baby horse sniffing his face. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see such a thing. He didn’t even know there was a baby horse but he supposed that is how it goes. He sat up and the foal back up in fear and then approached again letting curiosity get the best of him.

Baron watched him for a moment, his eyes were blue and he was very black with a single little star on his forehead. He was perfect, with straight legs, a beautiful head and a strong back. He noticed that his mother wasn’t far and Baron stood up. “Good job. He is a handsome boy.” He walked up and stroked her neck. She seemed to not care about the compliment as she stood there.

Baron felt good today, better than he had since Adella disappeared into the ocean. The sun was out but not too warm, it was time to start planting food. It had been months since Adella was lost to the sea. It still hurt but he figured he was getting numb to it. At least he was starting to dream about her not have nightmares of theirs last encounter. Sortas and Baron worked hard together to bring the pack together. They were like a well oiled machine now, Baron never forgave him for what he did to Adella but he was able to work with him in any other capacity. He made his way back to the pack house, he preferred it there with other people. It was breakfast time.

Adella steadied herself against the cliff, sometimes a giant current would come through and she hated getting caught in it. The chain collar around her neck was so unforgiving. It had been months and nothing had changed.. The eel would come and beat her but he didn’t understand that mermaids needed to be happy in order to let their magic work. She did her best to hide her abdomen from him when he came, she was going to protect this child with her life. It had been months that she had been down there. She would have thought it was forever but she could tell time with her baby growing inside her. She feared that her baby, not being 100% merperson, might not be able to survive under water.

The current finally let up and she was able to just rest on the cliffs edge. She closed her eyes and prayed to God for something to help her. Some way to escape this terrible existence. She heard an ever so gentle ‘tink’ next to her and there was a shiny knife.