Stellaluna

Mermaids

Evangeline

I woke up in bed to Selene petting my head, gently moving the hair from my eyes.

"Good morning, dear. How are you feeling?"

I sat up, stretching, and noticed I was dressed in an oversized t-shirt. I pinched the fabric and Ryders scent drifted off of it. I pulled the collar and peeked under- yup, still wearing my clothes thank goodness.

Selene eyed me, smirking.

"Had some fun last night did we?" She teased, giggling when I swatted at her.

"No. No we didn't. I passed out and I guess Ryder brought me up here?" I mused, trying to remember last night, and blushing as images of my face pressed against his chest surfaced.

"Noooo? Sure looks like something happened.." she sang, dancing away from me, laughing. "Come come, it's time to get up, and you need a bath." She walked into my bathroom and made herself at home. I huffed and followed after her.

"Selene, I'm perfectly capable of bathing myself." But she just scoffed and waved her hand, summoning me to the bath. I stripped, being sure to show her that I still had clothes on under the shirt, and stepped into the bath that she had prepared. She sat on the edge behind me, and stroked my hair.

"Evangeline... why didn't you tell me?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You never told me how bad it was. I could have helped you all these years."

"You helped me plenty, more than you even know. And it's not bad. I was just so used to hiding, I think, that even after I found Sarge I just didn't know what to do." She used her magic to summon a brush, and gently began running it through my long locks. "Don't feel guilty for something you had no control over. You can't change the past."

"When did you get so wise, little dove?" She sighed.

"Probably when I disappeared in the lake for three days to watch everything that has ever happened in it since it was created," I answered smartly, and was swiftly rewarded with a thump on my forehead. I laughed and splashed her, until she was just as soaked as I was.

"Tell me, what was it like?" She put her head in her hands, laying on her stomach on my bed after we had both dried off and changed.

"It was.. like it always was, and also completely different. Before, I could tap into the waters history, and it was like skimming through a book. Random, one page at a time. Now it is like I can see the book as a whole, pick any part I want to read." I explained,

"And the... the ghosts?" She whispered, "do you summon them? Is it some sort of necromancy ritual?" She asked carefully, looking down at her hands.

"No, there is no ritual, no spell."

"Then how-?"

"They have always been there. I think it is kind of like..." I thought about how to explain it. "Think of scrying. You use water, or some kind of liquid right? It's like a looking glass, you never leave where you are, yet you are able to see and communicate through the other side. But for those the dead, their looking glass is the water they had last touched. And they get lonely, they watch over us, from where ever they are, but nobody answers their call. I think that is what this ability is." I finished. "But I am still figuring it out, that is all I know as of right now." She nodded slowly, thinking,

"Is it any water?" She asked, looking back at the bathroom.

"No," I laughed. "Like I said, it's like answering the call."

We soon left, going to the library to meet Hypatia. Selene Immediately went to Sarge's side, to check on him. Hypatia had gotten a bed put in for Selene and him. I walked over and grabbed his hand. He still had not woken.

Hypatia had me train with trying to break into their minds, after I refused more training at the lake. That was something I had to do in my own time, I felt. I was able to push into Selene's mind several times, one of which she happened to be reliving a certain memory she'd had with Sarge, making me want to set my whole head on fire. Hypatia was more difficult. I managed to break through a couple of times, but only to find she had built a wall within her mind. A secondary defense. I managed to chip away at it once, and caught a glimpse inside. I saw her as young girl, standing on a cliff, overlooking an ocean, all alone. But I was quickly shoved out. She seemed shocked and slightly angry that I had gotten in.

"I think we need to work on your defense. You will keep me out of your mind to the best of your abilities." She demanded. And then I felt a pressure in between my eyes. I gasped, and stepped back, trying to cover the spot. But the pressure only increased. It wasn't like mind linking. This felt like someone trying to pry my head open with a chisel and mallet. I felt her break through with a pain I was not prepared for. It was like long sharp fingers were now trying to grasp at my memories. She caught one, and I saw myself and Amaris running through the snow on the way here. Then us Eating the mountain cat and experiencing it's life through his blood, Then another, and it was saying goodbye to Sarge and Selene. Where I had stumbled upon a random image in her mind, she combed through mine with a painful precision. She was going back. She wanted to learn all of my secrets. I saw we were now in that Northern city, and I was cornered by those jerks. At this rate she'd reach... no.

I didn't want anyone to see those memories. I didn't even want to see them. I pushed, my anger giving me sudden strength, I grabbed blindly trying to find something to steady me and I felt the cold air around me touch my face. I could feel an almost cool wave rush through my mind and flush her out.

I suddenly got my vision back and Hypatia was sweating, looking surprised. I looked down and saw I had grabbed a hold of a decorative tree by her desk. Except now it was dried up, dead. Hypatia waved her hand, sitting on a couch.

"Its okay, I never really liked that one anyways. Sorry to have frightened you, little one. But attacks are sudden and fierce. I think you will be okay if you were able to block me out." She laughed breathlessly.

"So that was on purpose? You weren't trying to hurt me?" I eyed her, still suspicious.

"No child," but she was looking at the dead tree, the troubled look back on her face. She gestured her hand and a ball of soil floated up, and plopped itself on the table in front of her. "I am curious though. In the past you've grown things, correct?"

I walked over and sat across from her

"Yes, but I haven't in a really long time. I don't even know how I did it back then. I just did them."

"Exactly! You didn't think, you just acted on a necessity. Try here. Grow something."

I looked at the dirt doubtfully. There wasn't even grass or anything. No, I needed to remember my lessons. I would never get anywhere thinking like that. I thought very carefully, and then held my hand over the dirt. Nothing happened.

Keep trying, don't think!

Easy for you to say! Amaris laughed in my head.

I gave myself a little shake and willed the flower I'd picked out to grow. I felt the now familiar flow of my power travel down my arm and to my hand, where it gathered and fell in a single, slightly shimmering drop, onto the pile. I raised my hand green sprouted from the soil, growing into a stalk, then blooming into a thick, three headed flower with golden pistils-the center of the flower- and luscious faintly glowing white petals.

"Wow!" Selene breathed. "Is it a lily?"

"Its Amaryllis." I said smiling. Amaris purred in my head, in awe of her namesake flower.

It looks like me too!

Yeah, its for you!

"Amaryllis Belladonna, and it looks like you've created a new species." Hypatia inspected it. "Impressive," she admitted. "What will you call it?"

" 'Amaryllis Nata Lunae,' for my wolf."

That's beautiful, Evie! Thank you!

"It's just beautiful!" Selene echoed.

"I'll plant it in the garden, child. I think we've trained enough." Hypatia said, dismissing me.

I left, still feeling pretty proud of my self, and ran right into satan himself. Goddess, I could not catch a break. I bounced right off his hard chest, but this time he caught me by my elbow. I looked at him in surprise and he shoved me to the floor when he saw who he had caught.

"WHAT THE F*CK?" I yelled, jumping right back up. He looked at me in disdain and pushed past me. Oh. Hell. No.

I grabbed his arm and yanked him back, looking up at him.

"First of all, f*ck you! Secondly, why are you such an a**hole?! And third-" I punched him in the stomach, wiping the smug look off of his chiseled face and bringing him to my height. I turned to storm away but he grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, his long fingers wrapping around my throat.

"That was rude. Do not ever lay your filthy wh.ore hands on me again." He growled. I pushed him away from me, but he came back, glowering down and trying to intimidate me.

"What are you talking about you, d***k"

"Don't act all innocent. I see right through your poorly constructed facade. A weak little rogue girl comes from the woods, spends all her free time with the alpha, goes 'missing' and then seduces the alpha? Your ploy is obvious, mutt," He scoffed. I had to just laugh at him.

"You're f*cking delusional. You're the one here for no apparent reason!"

"My business here is of no concern to you."

"No, you know what? I take that back. You aren't just delusional, you're also an idiot." I shook my head and walked past him. He really must be sick in the head to come up with suck paranoid stories.

What an a**hole!

I know! Probably has nothing better to do than to pick on unsuspecting girls wandering the castle.

I just want to sink my teeth into him! Amaris thought viciously.

Weird way to phrase that, but yeah! I really could use another chance to beat him up. Think they are training outside toda-

I suddenly was pulled back again and pushed against another wall. He was back for round two I guess.

"Hey!" I yelled and tried to knee him in the balls, but he slid his leg between mine, effectively pinning me back with his body. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look in him in his deep, emerald green eyes. For just a moment, I stopped breathing. Then he leaned down and his lips crashed into mine. His were warm, and firm, but soft as pillows. His hands moved to cradle my face, and found their way in my hair, pulling me closer and tilting my head a bit. I gasped in surprise as he pulled my hair, and he slipped his tongue between my lips. I couldn't help the small moan that escaped me, as I tasted him. His tongue, so sure and forceful, skillfully left my head spinning. I bit it gently, as it left me, and he sucked my bottom lip in his mouth and pulled away. The look in his eyes... He was looking at me like his favorite snack, and he was starving. He backed away from me, slowly, like he didn't want to.

Wait, why is he leaving?

Even Amaris was dazed. But then his face changed. Back was the cold hearted smirk. He patted my cheek.

"I guess I was wrong, you aren't the alphas sl.ut. You just wh.ore yourself out to anyone who walks by don't you." He laughed, but it was like a bucket of ice water being dumped over my head. What the f***k was wrong with me? I rubbed my mouth with the back of my hand. And turned to run when a flash of black blurred past me and straight into Sebastian. I looked in time to see Thomas on top of him, beating the s**t out of him. He stood up, and without looking at me, dragged him off by the back of his shirt.

What just happened?

I.. I don't know.

With nowhere else to go, I went to the lake. I sat on the silvery gray sand shore. I did not cry. I wouldn't allow it. So what if my first kiss had been taken by that di.ckwad. I just didn't understand why he hated me so much. Or why he even kissed me in the first place. Or why I had f.ucking sat there and kissed him back like a f.ucking i***t girl. Ugh! I threw a stone across the lake, watching it skip zero times before sinking down.

You know what? f***k it. Once again, I stripped down, to just my underwear and shirt and walked in the lake, diving once I got deep enough. I swam as deep as I could and twisted around, watching the light beams shift as they played with the rippling surface.

"Let gooo," a voice whispered in my ear

I jerked my head and saw the little boy from last time and screamed. Oh sh.it my air! He laughed and I realized I wasn't drowning.

"What the- am I a mermaid?" I asked and he giggled again.

"Nooooo" he laughed. "Oh are we playing pretend? Can I be a mermaid too?" He did a flip in the water excitedly.

This wasn't like last time, I could feel the difference. I was just swimming with a ghost boy in the lake. It had already shown me what it needed to. I guess I really did have an affinity for water.

"Sureee," I said. It was just like talking with air. How weird. I decided to just go with the flow.. of the water.

You've got to be kidding

I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!

Amaris rolled her eyes and I went about playing with Billy.