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outofherdepthsFor once it wasn't a beautiful day off the coast of Ibiza, Spain, nestled in the warmth of the Balearic Seas. Parents pulled their children off the beach as the winds picked up, hawkers of wares and street foods bundled up their portable shops and trundled away to spend a few hours tucked away in areas the tourists didn't venture, to while away the storm with cheap drinks and hot food. The sunset was lost behind roiling clouds and when they finally parted, rain came down in sheets. It wasn't dark, though, with lightning flickering across the sky and the tourists all agreed that even the storms were gorgeous out here in paradise.
Beneath the waves, the storm announced itself very differently. The water grew dark and colder, yes, the fish swimming by in panicked schools. While choppy waves beat the land above, below them, it was only the sea life that was agitated. Anemone closed their petals, barnacles clung tighter to their rocks, and the mermaids took to their caves and undersea grottos for safety.
...Except for one. Belly full, she had been napping on a rock warmed by the afternoon sun and it wasn't until she awoke, shivering, that she realized the danger. She tried to swim for home, but the frightened fish were like a wall holding her back, so afraid that even her growl of warning didn't open a path through their ranks. There were thousands of them, several different species united for once in their need to get away. They dragged her with them, slamming her against a coral shelf they were small enough to dart through, leaving her dizzy and shaking her head.
That was when she saw what they were fleeing from: a great wall of swirling water and silt from the ocean's bottom. She spotted a shark trapped within, its great body lying limp and injured from the pressure and for a moment, she was tempted to dart over and see if she could pull it free.
And then common sense kicked in. If this underwater storm could injure a shark, what would it do to one single mermaid?
She swam, powerful tail cutting through the water, arms dragging her forward. She caught up with the vast school, swimming through their ranks. But not fast enough.
The storm caught her, a predator made of wind and water and pain, yanking her backwards into its depths. Hundreds of fish came with her, their cries of pain and fear echoing in her mind even as she did the same, broadcasting her distress to anyone within range of her thoughts. But her siblings made no response, not that she could hear over the roar of the storm.
She was buffeted by the water, it slammed into her on all sides, leaving her spinning at times. It was like the water didn't know where it wanted her, so it would slam her to one side and then snatch her back and toss her to another. Up was down, east was west, she barely had enough time for her eyes to focus before she was flung somewhere else. It was a blessing that she didn't collide with anything, for all that she glimpsed the silhouettes of other creatures also being tossed within the cyclone. At those speeds, even she wouldn't have survived the impact.
It was luck more than anything that allowed her to spot the small tunnel. She come closer that a fin's breadth to an outcropping of rock and there, below it, was a hole just large enough to fit through. With maybe a little more luck, it would lead somewhere calm and safe where she could wait out the worst of it and rest. She dove for it, gaining entrance just as another surge of water hit her, sending her flying through the tunnel at speeds she couldn't even guess. There was a brightness ahead that made her eyes hurt, almost like staring at the sun, and she held her arms over her face in a futile gesture of protection as the water slammed her into whatever it was--
And she was gone, leaving the storm and sea behind.
***
She woke up sprawled along a small beach. The mermaid had no idea how long she'd been unconscious, didn't remember anything beyond that white light. All she knew now was that the sand was coarser, rockier, not the smooth white she remembered. She had been out of the water long enough for her skin and hair to dry, even though the sun was weaker than she was used to, shining down brightly but not enough to warm. Cold was a sensation she wasn't much used to and didn't like, she was discovering. Even the water was different; less salty than the ocean she was used to, and darker, not the clear turquoise of her home. She took a few careful steps trying to find anything familiar.
And then stopped, face contorting in confusion as she looked down.
At a pair of legs where her tailfin had been. She blinked down at them in shock, then looked at her reflection in the murky water to see if that also showed legs. It did; two of them. Panicked, she dove back into the water and felt her tail return, scales rippling up her chest and along her spine. Okay, just a temporary thing then, legs for land. Good.
There were stories, of course, of mermaids going to land and spying on humans. But it had been generations since anyone had actually done so...
She needed food. Somewhere to rest. And this chilly water didn't seem to offer much of either. But humans always had food with them. Perhaps she could stay for just a little while, just long enough to recover from the storm before she went hunting for the tunnel that led back to her own ocean.
Once more she breached the surface and pulled herself onto the shore. Once again, her scales rippled, this time vanishing as her fin turned back to human legs. She was skin from forehead to feet and she once again shivered in the cold. Picking a direction at random, she started to walk. It couldn't be too long before she found humans, right? They practically swarmed the beach every day.
They had to be around here somewhere.
[Establishy!]
Beneath the waves, the storm announced itself very differently. The water grew dark and colder, yes, the fish swimming by in panicked schools. While choppy waves beat the land above, below them, it was only the sea life that was agitated. Anemone closed their petals, barnacles clung tighter to their rocks, and the mermaids took to their caves and undersea grottos for safety.
...Except for one. Belly full, she had been napping on a rock warmed by the afternoon sun and it wasn't until she awoke, shivering, that she realized the danger. She tried to swim for home, but the frightened fish were like a wall holding her back, so afraid that even her growl of warning didn't open a path through their ranks. There were thousands of them, several different species united for once in their need to get away. They dragged her with them, slamming her against a coral shelf they were small enough to dart through, leaving her dizzy and shaking her head.
That was when she saw what they were fleeing from: a great wall of swirling water and silt from the ocean's bottom. She spotted a shark trapped within, its great body lying limp and injured from the pressure and for a moment, she was tempted to dart over and see if she could pull it free.
And then common sense kicked in. If this underwater storm could injure a shark, what would it do to one single mermaid?
She swam, powerful tail cutting through the water, arms dragging her forward. She caught up with the vast school, swimming through their ranks. But not fast enough.
The storm caught her, a predator made of wind and water and pain, yanking her backwards into its depths. Hundreds of fish came with her, their cries of pain and fear echoing in her mind even as she did the same, broadcasting her distress to anyone within range of her thoughts. But her siblings made no response, not that she could hear over the roar of the storm.
She was buffeted by the water, it slammed into her on all sides, leaving her spinning at times. It was like the water didn't know where it wanted her, so it would slam her to one side and then snatch her back and toss her to another. Up was down, east was west, she barely had enough time for her eyes to focus before she was flung somewhere else. It was a blessing that she didn't collide with anything, for all that she glimpsed the silhouettes of other creatures also being tossed within the cyclone. At those speeds, even she wouldn't have survived the impact.
It was luck more than anything that allowed her to spot the small tunnel. She come closer that a fin's breadth to an outcropping of rock and there, below it, was a hole just large enough to fit through. With maybe a little more luck, it would lead somewhere calm and safe where she could wait out the worst of it and rest. She dove for it, gaining entrance just as another surge of water hit her, sending her flying through the tunnel at speeds she couldn't even guess. There was a brightness ahead that made her eyes hurt, almost like staring at the sun, and she held her arms over her face in a futile gesture of protection as the water slammed her into whatever it was--
And she was gone, leaving the storm and sea behind.
She woke up sprawled along a small beach. The mermaid had no idea how long she'd been unconscious, didn't remember anything beyond that white light. All she knew now was that the sand was coarser, rockier, not the smooth white she remembered. She had been out of the water long enough for her skin and hair to dry, even though the sun was weaker than she was used to, shining down brightly but not enough to warm. Cold was a sensation she wasn't much used to and didn't like, she was discovering. Even the water was different; less salty than the ocean she was used to, and darker, not the clear turquoise of her home. She took a few careful steps trying to find anything familiar.
And then stopped, face contorting in confusion as she looked down.
At a pair of legs where her tailfin had been. She blinked down at them in shock, then looked at her reflection in the murky water to see if that also showed legs. It did; two of them. Panicked, she dove back into the water and felt her tail return, scales rippling up her chest and along her spine. Okay, just a temporary thing then, legs for land. Good.
There were stories, of course, of mermaids going to land and spying on humans. But it had been generations since anyone had actually done so...
She needed food. Somewhere to rest. And this chilly water didn't seem to offer much of either. But humans always had food with them. Perhaps she could stay for just a little while, just long enough to recover from the storm before she went hunting for the tunnel that led back to her own ocean.
Once more she breached the surface and pulled herself onto the shore. Once again, her scales rippled, this time vanishing as her fin turned back to human legs. She was skin from forehead to feet and she once again shivered in the cold. Picking a direction at random, she started to walk. It couldn't be too long before she found humans, right? They practically swarmed the beach every day.
They had to be around here somewhere.
[Establishy!]
