Of Different Waters

Same as last time. The exact same thing. Ronan couldn’t breathe air, not at first. The water was expelled from his lungs and then he passed out. Rebecca watched the shallow breathing of her son.

There was a gasp and coughing.

“Oh. My. God.” Someone breathed. She turned around to see the boy, Jacob was up.

His family quickly came over and embraced him, thanking Rebecca over and over again for helping to save him. But really what had she done? Held the life vest for Ronan while he went and saved the boy.

Her son had saved Jacob, not her.

She noticed that although his family was focused on him, he was focused on something else. Ronan. There was a look of wonderment on his young countenance as he gazed at his unconscious savior.

Rebecca looked to her son and her heart plummeted down to hang at the bottom of her lungs. It was really happening. There on Ronan’s arm. Scales.

They were beautiful blue scales on his arms and lower back that developed a flesh colored hue right before they morphed with his skin. The transition from flesh to scales was beautiful. And frightening. It had been so long since Rebecca had seen them, and she knew without a doubt the saltwater was the reason they were visible. The man had not been lying to her all those years ago, saltwater was speeding up the transformation.

She glanced around, hoping that no one besides her and Jacob had seen the scales on Ronan. Everyone on the boat seemed too preoccupied with Jacob to notice the other boy.

Everyone but the captain.

He was staring at Ronan.

She saw him mouth a word. A word that made her blood run cold, “Mer,” before he was away from the wheel of the boat and striding toward them in a hurry.

“That boy,” he growled pointing at Ronan.

Oh god, here it is, Rebecca cringed.

“He can rest in my cabin until we get back to the docks.”

”Oh.” Rebecca saw no harm in that, so she watched as the man picked up her son and carried him below the deck of the ship into his private quarters. He then came up with an empty plastic cup. He grabbed a bucket from somewhere in the ship and threw it over the side of the boat to collect some ocean water. Then he pulled it back into the boat and quickly filled the cup with seawater before disappearing below again.

And just like that, the fisherman emerged from the bottom and resumed his place behind the wheel. Rebecca knew he had helped her son but she didn’t like the smug, knowing smile he flashed in her direction. It clearly said he was on to her little secret. They resumed the trek back to land.

~ODW~

Ronan awoke with a killer headache and an incredible thirst. He looked around and realized he had absolutely no idea where he was. Must still be on the boat, he decided as he felt the gentle rocking of the waves. Passed out again, he sighed. This… condition was getting a little out of hand. Maybe he should talk to his mom about it, find out what was going on. Maybe there was some kind of genetic thing that he didn’t know about.

And then he saw it. It was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. A cup of water. God was he thirsty. Ronan ripped it out of the cup holder and wasted no time in gulping down the contents of the cup.

It tasted amazing.

He was still thirsty, but it definitely took the edge off.

It was at that time that Ronan realized that he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. This realization was made largely in part by him scratching his arms, and looking down when he felt the scales again.

He sighed. Nothing he could do but wait for them to go away on their own, until he knew more about them, he supposed. So he tugged his shirt on and was very grateful for the long-sleeved coverage. His scales were covered completely.

“Oh my God,” he suddenly realized, “that kid.” He didn’t know what happened to Jacob after he passed out. Was he even alive? He needed to know.

Jacob hadn’t been breathing and then…

Ronan was pretty sure he had shocked the kid in the chest right before passing out. He buried his head in his hands, letting out a shaky breath. Please let him be okay.

A door opened.

“Ronan?” His mother’s voice rang out.

“Yeah,” he answered hoarsely.

“We’re almost at the docks.”

He sighed and carefully made his way up to the boat’s deck, right as the boat reached the dock.. He assumed he’d be greeted by either really angry or really happy people. But he didn’t quite expect to get tackled by a very wet child.

“Thank you for saving me,” Jacob whispered. He tugged Ronan down to his level and whispered even softer, “And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your scales. It’ll be our secret,” the kid gave him a big smile before joining the rest of his family on the dock.

Ronan followed his mom off the boat. Jacob’s family waved her over to talk. “Come on Ronan,” his mom waved for him to follow her.

But Ronan had already decided he needed to thank the captain. Sure the man seemed a little rough around the edges, but he had let Ronan use his personal living space. He told his mom to go ahead without him and then went to thank the man for the water and the resting area.

Spotting the man adjusting one of the ties holding his precious boat to the dock, Ronan went over. “I, uh,” Ronan began awkwardly, “wanted to thank you for letting me use your bed… and the water.” Ronan had been told it was polite to offer a a handshake in cases like these, so he extended his hand to the man as an extension of his gratitude.

The captain gave him a calculating glance before reaching out to shake Ronan’s hand. It was a solid handshake, and Ronan, feeling that it had lasted the appropriate amount of time went to pull his hand away only to be yanked forward roughly. The fisherman used his other hand to push up Ronan’s shirt sleeve.

“I knew it,” the man muttered eyes locking on Ronan’s scaled. He then grasped Ronan’s hand with both of his and spread Ronan’s fingers apart searching for… “Webbed fingers too,” the man muttered.

Ronan’s eyes went wide. When the hell had he gotten webbed fingers?

Holy crap.

He wasn’t turning into a fish he was turning into a frog. Wait, frogs don’t have scales. Okay, so maybe a swamp, er, ocean monster. Or something.

Wait, how had the man known that he would have webbed fingers? The man pulled Ronan closer. “I know what you are,” he whispered harshly, sending spittle flying into Ronan’s face.

Ronan thought about saying, Really, well would you clue me in? but instead just settled for casting the man a confused look. If the guy knew what was happening to him, Ronan would love to hear his explanation. But instead the guy pulled a business card out of his pocket that said his name telephone number and home address. “Ever wanna talk, you come to me.” He was gone before Ronan could ask him anymore about… anything.

Ronan slid the card into his pocket and went over to his mom. “What’d he give you?” the woman asked curiously.

“Just some coupons,” Ronan lied.