Fins (Transformations: Book 2)

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go, tonight,” Freya warned as they finished work on the day of the next full moon. “After what you did last month, there’s no telling how the Glemorans may respond.”

“They don’t know what I did,” Aria pointed out. “Besides, I’m lucky to have it fall on a Saturday like this. I can stay the whole time.”

“You’re bound to fall asleep,” Freya argued. “If you’re tired and they attack you…”

“I’ll have you there to protect me.” Aria offered her a smile. “Don’t worry so much.”

“Don’t make me worry,” Freya retorted.

“At any rate, the best chance we have of getting clues is to stay close to them. If the twins hid the necklace, they might go back to check on it. If somebody else stole it, we might be able to figure that out.”

“Then I could go and you stay here.”

“Not a chance,” Aria replied. “Two heads are better than one, right?”

So it was that Aria and Freya headed down to the beach that afternoon, where the merfolk and sirens had already gathered. The nymphs had rented out the beach to make sure they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“None of them ever seem to leave the beach,” Aria commented. “Aren’t they curious about the human world?”

“Of course, but it’s dangerous to them. What if they get lost and don’t make it back in time? What if they are attacked by humans? The unknown is terrifying, after all.”

“It seems a shame for them to come to land and not really take part in the human world.”

“They do not understand the human world and are often afraid of things unfamiliar to them. Humans are not so different in that aspect, I believe.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Aria said with a sigh. “Well, perhaps I will be able to show some of them that humans are not so bad.”

“First, you have to convince them you’re not a thief.”

Aria frowned. “That’s true.”

She saw the twins walking towards her and was tempted to run away, but she watched Alizarin being dragged behind them and couldn’t resist the temptation to check on him. She stood her ground as they walked closer.

“Where is my necklace?” Alexander demanded.

Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “If I knew that, I would have already returned it and settled the issue.”

“Stop lying,” Alyssa commanded. “We know you took it. Give it back.”

“Do you really need to keep up this act?” Aria wondered. “Nobody is around to hear.” She glanced behind them at Alizarin. “Well, nobody whose opinion you value. Hello, Rin. How are you?”

“You don’t talk to him,” Alyssa said. “Give us back the necklace, now.”

Aria stared at them for a minute. “Have you lost your minds? I don’t even know what this necklace looks like!”

Alyssa reached for a rope around her neck and revealed a pendant in the shape of a fin, which glowed, softly. “It looks like this. Where is it?”

“I don’t have it.”

“Don’t lie to us!”

“I’m not lying,” Aria assured her. “However, it is good to know what the necklace looks like. It should make my search for it easier.”

“You’d better find it quickly,” Alexander warned. “You will not be happy with the consequences I you do not.”

Aria frowned and glanced again at Alizarin, but he didn’t meet her gaze.

“Tell us where you hid it and we can begin our search there,” Freya suggested.

Alyssa glared at her. “Is an Oceanid truly taking the side of a human?”

“When merfolk behave badly, I feel responsible,” Freya explained. “Especially, when they are accosting my friend while we are trying to enjoy ourselves. Now, if you don’t mind…” She grabbed Aria’s hand and dragged her away from the group, not stopping until they had significant distance between themselves.

Aria looked back at the pair, thoughtfully. “That was a little odd, wasn’t it?”

“How so?”

“Why would they bother with such an act? They haven’t been doing stuff like that, before. Do you think something has changed?”

Freya paused to consider that. “We’ve been assuming they hid the necklace, correct?”

“Of course.”

“We, also, assume they hid it on land.”

“That makes sense if they want to make sure there’s no chance I won’t be implicated.”

Freya nodded, thoughtfully. “Well, what if they went to check on it and it was gone?”

“You think someone stole it?”

“It’s possible some beach-goer saw the thing, thought it was pretty and took it home.”

Aria frowned at the idea. “But that would make it even more impossible to find.”

“True,” Freya agreed. “However, I can’t deny finding some satisfaction in the thought that they have lost the thing they accuse you of stealing.”

“Think you can draw that necklace?”

“Not well. Why?”

“I was wondering if we could put up flyers to see if anyone has found it.”

“We could just write a description,” Freya suggested. “Glowing necklace in the shape of a fin should be unique enough.”

Aria nodded. “It would be worth a try.”

“We could head home and do them, now.”

“No,” Aria replied, immediately. “Not tonight. Tonight, I want to see my friends.”

Freya gave a dramatic sigh. “I knew you’d say that.”

They headed down the beach to where there were already groups forming and people wandering up and down the beach. Aria paused as she spotted a familiar face she hadn’t expected to see there. “Is that…”

“It’s Eric, isn’t it?” Freya said. “Wonder what he’s doing here?”

“I don’t know.” Aria had stopped walking and stared at him. “The nymphs rented this beach, right? There shouldn’t be anybody here they’re not aware of, in that case.”

“That’s right,” Freya agreed. “Shall we go see what he’s doing?”

Aria hesitated, but her curiosity got the better of her. “Can’t hurt to ask, I guess.”

The pair walked over to him and Freya called out, “Hello, science boy.”

He jumped at her voice and turned to face her, confusion writer all over his face. “Freya?” He looked behind her. “Aria? What are you doing here?”

“Took the words out of our mouths,” Freya replied. “We know people here, you?”

“I’m meeting someone.” He looked at his cell phone. “I have a friend, meeting me here, soon.”

“A friend?” Freya raised her eyebrows. “Anyone we might know.”

“It’s doubtful.”

“It’s more likely than you might think,” Freya told him. “We come here every month.”

He paused. “Every month?” He looked at them. “What do you do here?”

“There are parties,” Aria explained. “Freya and her cousins are in charge of them, so we come to have fun. Why would your friend want to meet here?”

“She has friends here, too. We hung out here a couple of times.”

“She?” Freya caught the word, quickly. “Now, I’m really curious.”

He frowned and looked at Aria. “I’ve only met her a few times.”

Aria forced a smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. It’s fine.”

“Right.”

There was a drawn-out silence between them until Aria heard someone calling her name. Her smile became less forced as she saw Echo and Kai walking towards them.

“We weren’t sure if you would come,” Echo commented as they came closer. “We’re glad you did.”

“Very glad,” Kai added before he noticed Eric. “We’ve met before, right?”

“We have,” Eric agreed. “We went to the aviary. You’re Aria’s friends.”

“That, we are,” Kai replied with a smile. “What brings you here?”

“I’m…meeting someone.” It was clear his gears were turning, but he wasn’t ready to say why, yet. “Do you all come here, every month?”

“Every month,” Freya answered on their behalf. “I’m still curious about your presence, though, Eric. We haven’t seen you here, before.”

“Well, I haven’t seen you, either, so we’re even,” he retorted. “To be honest, I’ve only been here once, though. I met someone and she brought me here.” He looked around. “She should be here, soon.”

“And her name is…”

He hesitated a moment longer before answering, “Angela.”

“Dark hair?” Freya asked. “Penchant for white dresses?”

He nodded. “You know her?”

“A bit.” Freya looked at Kai and Echo. “She’s friends with Astrid.”

“Ah.” Kai looked at Echo, but nobody was prepared to ask the question on everyone’s minds.

Finally, Eric took a breath and asked, “You’re mermaids, aren’t you?”

Aria jumped at the question and looked at him. “What?”

“Obviously, you’re not,” he said. “I see you all the time.” He gestured towards Kai and Echo. “I meant you two. I’ve only met you once and it was right after a full moon night, wasn’t it?”

They exchanged a glance and didn’t answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He looked at Freya. “You’re not as subtle as you think and I already know Angela’s a siren.” His gaze fell on Aria. “Have you transformed into a mermaid, then? I guess that would be a dream come true for you. It would explain your weird friend, too.” He turned back to Kai and Echo. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Kai assured him before looking at Aria. “He’s a smart one, isn’t he?”

Freya placed a hand on his shoulder, briefly. “You’ve received Astrid’s blessing, haven’t you? I can feel it. Have you transformed?”

“Freya,” Aria warned.

“He already knows,” Freya pointed out. I expect Angela showed him plenty, so what difference will a little more information make? Echo and Kai are merfolk, for the record.”

“I did transform,” Eric answered. “I became a siren. I’ll become one again when Angela gets here.” He looked at Aria. “You could change with us. You wouldn’t believe how incredible it feels to fly for real. It’s so much better than anything I’ve tried before.”

“You seem happy,” Aria noted. “Even so, I can’t fly off, tonight. I have a situation I’m trying to deal with.”

“Can I help?”

“Probably not,” Aria replied. “I told you about the necklace I’m trying to find. Well, it belongs to these bratty twins who framed me for stealing the thing and I can’t safely transform into a mermaid until I return it.”

Eric frowned. “Why would they do that?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well, what does it look like?” he asked. “I can keep an eye out for it.”

“When you’re flying?”

He considered the point. “I’m not going to be flying all the time. You said you didn’t know what it looked like before. Have you figure it out?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t know if you could help. We actually might already have a plan for finding it, so…”

“You do?” Kai looked at her. “When did that happen?”

“A few minutes ago,” Freya said. “We’re still working out the details. We were just hoping for some fun, tonight.”

Kai smiled. “We’ll see what we can do about that, then.”

Eric checked his phone and looked around.

“Something wrong?” Aria asked.

“Not wrong, exactly,” he said. “I just thought she’d be here, by now. We were supposed to meet thirty minutes ago.”

“Could she have changed her mind?” Kai wondered. “Sirens are notoriously flighty.” When the others looked at him, he added, “No pun intended, I swear.”

“I don’t think she would,” Eric said. “I don’t know her that well, but she doesn’t seem to have a problem showing up. Also, she seemed excited about meeting up here.” He avoided looking at Aria.

“We could go ask Astrid,” Freya suggested. “If anyone’s seen Angela, it will be her. Angela’s one of her favorite sirens, after all.” She looked around the group with a playful smile. “Don’t tell the other sirens, though.”

“I guess she’ll be at the main party,” Aria commented.

Freya nodded. “She likes to hang out with the other nymphs.”

“I’ll stay here,” Eric said. “I don’t want her to show up and think I didn’t.”

“We’ll be back soon, then.” Freya took Aria’s hand and led her away with the two merfolk following behind.

“I’m okay,” Aria told her when they were out of Eric’s earshot. “Honestly, I’m not upset about him meeting another girl.”

“I’m sure you’re not,” Freya replied. “I just want to drag you along behind me for a while.”

Aria laughed. “Whatever you say.”

Kai and Echo chose not to comment on the subject and the group soon made their way to the party. Several of the merfolk watched them as they walked through to the nymphs.

“Aria,” Idun said as they approached. “We haven’t seen you here in a while.”

“Well, things have been a little crazy,” Aria explained.

“At any rate, we had a question for Astrid,” Freya cut in, turning to the aurai. “Have you seen Angela? There’s a rather anxious boy waiting for her on the beach.”

Astrid frowned. “She should be there, already. She left to meet him close to an hour ago.”

“Are you sure?” Aria asked. “Is it possible she wandered off somewhere?”

Angela shook her head. “Angela is one of the most reliable girls I know and she was really excited to see him. She would have headed straight there.”

Aria considered that. “Maybe, there was a misunderstanding about where they were supposed to meet.”

“But Angela didn’t bother to transform,” Astrid said. “She could have flown up and found him if that were the case.”

“That would make sense,” Freya agreed. “Well, maybe, she’s there, now. We might not have any reason to worry.”

“Maybe.” Astrid thought for a minute. “I’d like to go and see for myself. I’m probably being paranoid, but I have an ominous feeling about this.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Freya assured her. “We’ll go with you.” She looked back at Kai and Echo. “Keep an eye out for her here?”

“Sure,” Kai said. “No problem.”

Freya led Astrid and Aria outside to where Eric was still waiting on the beach.

“Any luck?” he asked, hopefully.

Aria shook her head. “We were kind of hoping she might have made her way out here after we left.”

“She hasn’t.” He looked at Astrid. “Do you have anywhere she might be?”

Astrid fell silent and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she turned to the other side. “I sense her, a little. She’s this way, I think.” She began walking in that direction.

“You sure?” Freya asked, following.

Astrid frowned. “I know this isn’t my strongest talent, but I can sense my sirens well enough.” She stopped and closed her eyes again before continuing on. After a few minutes, the four of them came to a complete stop near some storage sheds. She looked around. “She’s near here. I’m sure of that.”

“Okay,” Freya said, walking up to one of the buildings and frowning at its padlock. “I don’t think she’d be in one that’s locked, do you?”

“Well, I don’t know how she would manage that,” Astrid admitted.

“Maybe, somebody else managed it for her,” Aria suggested as an unpleasant thought crossed her mind. “If the twins were upset about our little prank at Christmas…”

Freya stared at her as she understood. “They blame the sirens.” She looked again at the sheds. “But they don’t have access to padlocks. They wouldn’t even know how to use one…”

Astrid was silent as she listened to them and continued to look over the sheds. Suddenly, she ran towards one on the far end, which had a few heavy stones in front of the door, but no lock. She began moving the stones and the others helped, making quick work of the task until they were able to open the door. What they found inside, caused them all to freeze in horror.

Angela was there, sure enough. Her wrists were bound and blood dripped down her arms. The source of her wounds was made obvious by several feathers, scattered on the floor of the room. She was gagged by a strip of cloth, tied tight around her head. She was pressed against the back wall, having clearly tried to move back when they opened the door. Her postured gradually relaxed when she saw who was there.

Eric was the first to move, rushing in and untying the gag before moving to the ropes on her wrist. “It’s okay. I’m here, now.”

“Eric…” She threw her arms around his neck and held him close as she began to cry into his shoulder. “I was afraid you wouldn’t find me.”

He hesitated for just a moment before he pulled her closer, holding her, gently. “You’re safe, now. I’m here.”

She continued to cry as he held her and the sun began to set, bringing a painful overture to what would prove to be a dangerous night.