Fins (Transformations: Book 2)

Aria quickly pulled back with a blush, covering her mouth. “Sorry.”

He cleared his throat, uncomfortably. “It’s fine. We can get back in, now, right?”

“Of course.” Megan stepped back to let them in.

He quickly moved past her and out the front door. Aria rushed after him, guiltily.

“I really am sorry,” she said as she caught up with him outside.

“It’s not your fault.” he tried to assure her.

“But you’re upset, now.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Then what is it?”

He avoided her gaze and remained silent. After a minute, Aria figured it out.

“That was your first kiss, wasn’t it?” she asked. He didn’t reply, but she knew it had to be true. After all, who else would he have kissed? “I am so sorry. I definitely didn’t mean to ruin that,” she told him, “But it doesn’t really count. It was an accident, so it doesn’t count.”

“No?” He looked at her. “Is that what you’ll tell your prince?”

“This has nothing to do with him.”

“You’re not concerned about what he’ll think?”

“Why should I be concerned?”

“He might not want to kiss a girl who kissed a red-tail.”

“Then I wouldn’t want to kiss him.”

“Aria…” He turned to look at her. “What do you want from me?”

“What do I want?” She stared at him in confusion. “I don’t want anything from you.”

“Then why do you do so much for me?” he wondered, “What do you gain from it?”

Aria shrugged. “A friend?”

“You just want to be friends with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You want a list?”

“Stop putting yourself down so much,” Aria commanded, “You are a perfectly nice person and I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with you except their own stupidity.”

“Aria?” Kai’s voice came from the doorway, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Aria told him, “You can go back inside.” She thought for a moment and turned back to him. “No, wait.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him over. “This is the perfect opportunity for you two to talk.”

“Talk?” Alizarin stared at her. “About what?”

“Anything you like.”

Kai took a breath and looked at him. “She thinks we need to get to know each other a little better.”

“Why would we do that?” he wondered.

Kai shrugged.

“You think nobody wants to be friends with you,” Aria said to Alizarin, “But I say that you’ve never given anyone a chance. This is the time for you to let someone get to know you.”

Alizarin gave the prince a doubtful look. “You want to get to know me?”

“You want to get to know me?” Kai retorted.

“You’re going to get to know each other,” Aria stated firmly, “I’m going inside and I expect you to talk and be nice.” The last words were directed at Kai. “Understand?”

“I understand,” he assured her.

Aria looked to the other boy. “Will that be alright?”

He nodded, silently.

“Excellent. This can be your Christmas present to me.” She smiled at them and went back into the building.

Kai and Alizarin stared at each other in awkward silence for a few minutes. Eventually, Kai cleared his throat, determined to keep his promise.

“So the land folk seem to take this Christmas thing very seriously,” he managed.

Alizarin nodded, looking again at all the lights. “She kept talking about gifts. I suppose they all give each other presents, at this time.”

“That seems to be the case.”

Running out of small talk, they stood again in silence, listening to the unfamiliar music drifting out of the house.

“You don’t have to talk to me,” Alizarin said, at last, “I know you don’t want to and I wouldn’t want to force you, after all.”

“Aria wants us to talk,” Kai replied, “She thinks we should be friends.”

“She certainly gets interesting ideas in her head.”

“She certainly does.” Kai smiled at the thought. “Heavens knows where this one came from.”

“She’s a kind person who wants everybody to get along and be happy, I think.”

“You certainly have nice ideas about her,” Kai noted, looking at him.

“It didn’t mean anything,” Alizarin told him, “The kiss, I mean. It wasn’t anything. She even said it didn’t count and it was an accident. You shouldn’t let it bother you.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that.”

“But it did bother you.”

“A little,” Kai admitted, “But I’m not holding it against you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Things just got a little out of hand, I think.”

“So you’re not blaming me?” Alizarin shook his head. “That’s a first.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

Kai stared at him for a moment and sighed. “Aria says I’ve been too hard on you.”

“She’s very kind,” he repeated.

“She is and I don’t know that she’s wrong,” Kai said, “It’s true that I don’t know the first thing about you and I’ve never tried to learn. It’s possible I’ve been unfair to you.”

“You’ve never been particularly unkind,” Alizarin tried to assure him, “You only ever reacted as you thought was appropriate.”

“I’ve made some accusations of you without proof,” Kai pointed out, “I even got rough with you over some presumptions Aria says were incorrect.”

“I did grab her and trap her in a shed that time.”

“But you were following orders. Sapphira put you up to it, so she’s to blame. I mean: what were you to do when your princess gave you an order. I doubt most Valadorans would refuse an order from me.”

“But you couldn’t have known that, so your reaction was understandable.”

Kai stared at him for a second. “Do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

Kai paused as he searched for the right words. “Just…excuse whatever people do to you, even if it’s unfair.”

“Was it unfair?” Alizarin wondered.

Kai shrugged and looked away. “I don’t know. It might have been.”

It was Alizarin’s turn to stare. “Do you feel bad about it?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “Maybe a little.”

Alizarin continued to stared at him in silence.

“Something wrong?” Kai demanded.

“People don’t usually feel bad about stuff like that.”

“People do stuff like that a lot?”

Alizarin looked down at his damaged wrists, thoughtfully. “They do what they think they need to do.”

Kai saw the marks on his wrist and took a step closer to him. “Don’t you ever get angry?”

“Angry?” Alizarin shook his head and dropped his hands to his side. “What would be the point?”

“People get angry all the time for less than that,” Kai replied, “Besides, red-tails are supposed to be temperamental, anyway. Also, I heard you often get into fights.”

“I can’t speak for other red-tails and I don’t know what you heard,” Alizarin stated simply, “But I’ve never really felt I had much to be angry about. Why would I?”

“You don’t feel like you’ve been mistreated?”

“By who?”

“By who?” Kai thought about that a second. “Your parents, the twins, the princess…I’m sure there are others.”

“They’ve never done anything so bad to me.”

“The princess does things she knows can get you in trouble. Your parents lock you away and treat you like you’re nothing. Alexander and his friends beat you up and burned you.” Kai looked at him. “Doesn’t that bother you?”

“I can’t say it doesn’t bother me,” he admitted, “But what would anger accomplish? I would still be tied up in my room. They would still punish me for misunderstandings. Being angry wouldn’t change that.”

Kai was speechless for several seconds as he stared at the other boy, feeling that he saw him for the first time. “You have an amazing amount of self-control.”

“Do I?” Alizarin wondered.

“There, you are,” a familiar voice said. Sapphira walked over to the boys with Idun following behind. “What are you doing here?” The question was directed at Alizarin.

“He was kidnapped,” Kai said, “It was no fault of his own. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

The princess stared at him for a minute and nodded her understanding. “You should know better than to do such foolish things.”

“You’re right,” he agreed with a smile, “I was just angry with the twins for accusing Aria and I did this to get back at them. Please, offer my sincerest apologies.”

“Very well. May I have a moment to talk to him, now?”

Kai looked at Alizarin, who nodded, then shrugged and went back inside.

“Have you been hurt?” Sapphira asked when the prince was gone.

“I’m fine. Aria wouldn’t hurt me.”

Sapphira pursed her lips as he said the girl’s name. “Are you sure about that, Rin?”

He frowned, but didn’t look at her. “You shouldn’t call me that.”

“Are you giving me an order?”

“Just a suggestion,” he assured her, “It might be deemed inappropriate for you to be calling me a nickname.”

“But you let that land girl call you by it.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

He paused as he searched for the right words to explain it. “You are far above me in status. It is better to maintain your distance as you always have.”

“Are you suggesting she is on the same level as you?”

He thought about that for a second and shrugged. “Aria is outside the rules of our system. She has no status, so she cannot be above or below any merfolk.”

“Do you like her?”

Alizarin looked at the princess in surprise. “She has been kind to me. Why wouldn’t I like her?”

“Do you like her more than me?”

He stared at her, once again looking for the right words. “You know the situation is different, princess, but you are the most important person in my life.”

She continued to frown, but she didn’t look quite as upset. “You would do well to remember that.”

“Yes, princess.”

“What’s going on in there?” she asked, nodding to the house.

“A Christmas party.”

“Christmas?”

“It’s a human thing,” he explained, “Do you want to go inside?”

She stared at the building and shrugged. “The Valadoran prince is in there, so I might as well.” She headed up without waiting to see whether he would follow.

“If you say so, princess.”

Freya found Idun outside the building as she returned to the party. “What are you doing here?”

Idun smiled at her. “That mermaid princess seemed upset to be separated from her friend, so I fixed it.”

It took Freya a moment to understand and she sighed. “You brought Sapphira here?”

Idun nodded.

“How did you know where we were?”

“I can always find you, Freya. It’s a benefit of us being connected.” She touched her necklace.

“Almost nine hundred years and I’m still not very good at that.”

“Not everybody is,” Idun assured her, “So I see you got some new jewelry.”

Freya looked down at her ring. “I’m surprised you noticed.”

“It’s pretty. I always notice pretty things.”

Freya smiled at that. “It was a Christmas present.”

“From Aria?”

“No.”

“Another human friend?” Idun cocked her head. “How many do you have?”

“Don’t be melodramatic, Idun. I can have human friends without it being a big deal.”

“If you say so.”

“Shouldn’t you be heading back to the party?”

“As should you.”

“I’ll be there, soon,” Freya promised, “Just let me stay here with Aria a while longer.”

“Just a little longer,” Idun agreed, “You’ll have to return to us soon enough.”

Freya managed a smile and nodded. “Soon enough.” She watched Idun go before she headed back inside.

“I don’t dance,” Sapphira was telling Ashley.

“Don’t be so dull,” Megan whined, “This is a party, after all.” She looked at Aria. “Tell your friend she should dance.”

Aria shook her head. “I’ll pass.”

Sapphira remained silent, even as they called her Aria’s friend. Freya was glad that she had enough sense not to fuss at this party. She walked over to the princess and smiled at Ashley. “She’s a little shy. Can you give her some space?”

“Alright,” Ashley said as she walked away, dragging a random boy into the dancing.

Freya looked at Sapphira. “You wandered into a human party and refuse their customs.”

“I don’t dance.”

“Because you’re not good at it?”

“I never said that.”

“You don’t need to be embarrassed.”

“I’m not.”

“You don’t have to be perfect.”

Sapphira didn’t respond to that.

Freya smiled and shook her head. “Suit yourself.” She headed into the living room, dragging Aria into a dance as she went. She decided she would have to make the most of her time with the human, however little it might be.

“It’s almost midnight,” Eric noted, glancing at his watch. “You about ready to fly away?” He didn’t know what she was planning, but he couldn’t wait to find out.

“Almost,” she agreed, looking him over. “Take off your shirt.”

“What?”

“Your shirt,” she repeated. “Take it off.”

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I’m not taking off my shirt.”

“Why not?”

“Seriously?”

“I’ll have to cut off your sleeves, then.”

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise!”

He gave a brief laugh. “You’re a little crazy, aren’t you?”

“Isn’t everyone?”

He shrugged and looked around to see that there was no one close enough to see them. “Will I like the surprise?”

“Definitely.”

Taking a breath, he unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off. “What now?”

She stepped closer and spoke softly. “Close your eyes.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “Why?”

“Surprise.”

He hesitated just a second longer before he obeyed.

“Have you ever thought about how it would feel to have wings?” she asked, running her hands over his shoulders and down his bare arms.

“Occasionally.”

She laced her fingers in his and lifted his arms with them. “Imagine it, now.”

He looked at her. “What?”

“Close your eyes!”

He shut his eyes again and sighed. “Fine.”

“Now, imagine your arms are wings,” she commanded, “Feel the feathers sprouting out of your arms. Think about how it would feel to have the sea breeze blowing through them. Can you picture it?”

“Yeah.” His voice was soft and dreamy.

“Keep thinking about it. Picture it in your mind. Feel it becoming real.”

He focused on the thoughts and feeling. He imagined he could actually feel feathers coming from his outstretched arms. It felt so real, he was reluctant to open his eyes and break the spell.

“You’re doing well,” she told him, “You can open your eyes, now.”

He took a breath and forced himself to obey, expecting to wake from the dream. However, he didn’t need to be concerned about that because, as he opened his eyes, he discovered that there were, in fact, brown feathers sprouting out of his arms. They had become large wings and even his arms were covered in feathers. Only his hands could be seen at the end of the wings.

Eric stared at them, too shock to react, at first. Finally, the image settled in and he let out a rather unmanly scream. “What is this?” He shook his arms, trying to shake the feathers off. As he flapped them both, he realized his feet were no longer on the ground. He stopped flapping, immediately and dropped back down. “What did you do to me?” He looked at Angela and saw that she had white feathers coming from her arms.

“Are you surprised?” she asked with a smile.

“Did you drug me?” he demanded, “You and your friends drugged me, didn’t you? This is a drug dream.”

“It’s not a dream.”

“It has to be a dream,” he insisted, holding out his arms, “This just isn’t possible!”

She placed her hands on either side of his face and he felt her feathers brushing against his neck. “Eric, listen to me: this is not a dream.”

“But it’s not possible,” he argued as he stared at her, “It just isn’t possible.”

“And yet it happened.” She didn’t even try to argue the possibility. She just focused on the reality. “It happened.”

He looked down at his wings again. “This is real?”

“It’s real,” she agreed.

“How?”

“Magic.”

At his stunned expression, she giggled and kissed him. “It’s magic. Just accept it.”

“But I’m a scientist,” he said, “I can’t believe in something so impossible.”

“Well, obviously not impossible since it happened,” she pointed out.

“But it can’t happen.”

“But it did.”

“I can’t just accept that.”

“Why not?” she asked, “Isn’t this what you wanted? Why can’t you just be happy about it?”

“Because it shouldn’t be happening.”

“So?” She smiled at him. “Who cares what should happen? All that matters is what is happening and that is you getting what you always wanted.”

He stared at her a moment longer before looking back at his wing. He gave it and experimental flap and felt the wind pushing up into it.

She backed away slowly, still smiling at him. “Go on and give them a try.”

He flapped his wings, slowly, and felt himself lifting off of the ground. After a few seconds, he stopped and took a breath to steady himself. “Is this permanent?”

“No,” she replied, “You’ll go back to being human tomorrow evening. Well, you can turn back sooner, if you want.”

“What about you?”

“Well, I will remain like this. I can only turn human on the night of a full moon.”

“Why?”

“You ask that a lot.”

“A lot of things are confusing right now.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” she admitted, “But the answer is a bit long. I thought we might fly together for a little while before I had to get into complicated explanations like that.”

“But you’re not…human?”

“No,” she answered, honestly, “I’m what you might call a siren and, for tonight, you are, too. I believe you humans would say…merry Christmas.”