Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

break anything of mine? I went to my room, but knew I wouldn’t have time to look. Scales had already begun to appear on my legs. I slid out of my jeans and sat on my bed. My tail burst from my skin like magic and I wondered what Ash would really think of my fishy side. The time spent living as separate species would make for an interesting relationship.
    I slid across the floor and maneuvered down the stairs. Mom was testing out the new tap, while Dad moved to fix the filter.
    “ Son,” Dad called out, waving a wrench in his hand, “I like her.”
    “ She is something special.”
    Mom dangled a vial filled with essence on a chain for me to see. “I can’t wait for the day she officially becomes one of us.”
    I exhaled, relieved she grabbed some before we left, but felt a pang of dread after spending such a great time with Ash’s family.
    “ One thing at a time, Mom,” I said quickly. “I’m not in a rush to take her away from everyone who loves her. Don’t you remember what it felt like to leave your humanity? What would you think if I chose the opposite? To become a man instead?”
    Her smile pulled into a frown; a tear glinted in her eye. “I’m sorry, Son. You’re right.”
    “ It’s not an easy decision,” I dropped my eyes, “for now she’s going to finish high school and go to college. It’s near the Atlantic in Florida. And once she graduates, things will change. You guys managed it.”
    Mom looked to Dad with a faint smile on her lips. “Yes, we did.”
    He swam over to her and hugged her shoulder. “You endure much to be with the one you love.”
    Mom sniffled and I swam away from them, over to my floating lounge chair, needing to escape the tension. Dad had reattached the arm to the seat.
    “ Thanks,” I said and tested it out by relaxing back and closing my eyes. All I wanted was the hour to pass quickly, so I could call Ash and not feel pressure to make these tough decisions.
    “ How Colin managed to break so much stuff in such a short time, I’ll never know. Why I’m even bothering . . .”
    I sat up at the sudden silence. “What do you mean?”
    Dad sighed. He crawled into the closest floating lounge and paddled over to me. “Since we’re going to be leaving, I don’t see the point. Mom and I are planning to get out of here once I wrap up the business and our finances. Florida is actually where we’d planned to go. It’s close to home base.”
    Home base. I’d forgotten about the mer safe house for runaways Dad had set up a while back, unbeknownst to the King.
    I ran my hand through my wet hair. “Badger gave me an earful while you were gone—”
    Dad laughed lazily. “I’m sure he did.”
    “ You didn’t tell Tatch and me anything about anything . . .” My cheeks burned. “It was quite embarrassing at times.”
    “ Well,” he scratched his belly before Mom swam over and handed him a beer from the tap, “ever since you were little merlings, I’ve been contemplating leaving the colony. I didn’t want you too attached and interwoven into a life that I’d have to uproot you from. And with Phaleon in control, it’s become too unstable. The so-called secret mission I was on was actually to find his runaway daughter and he didn’t want anyone to know.”
    “ What?” I laughed under my breath. “Wow. Now that says a lot.”
    “ Yeah.” Dad chuckled, too, while Mom handed me a Coke. “And I wanted to bring you along, but I needed you there for your mom and your sister. I had a feeling Phaleon would twist things around to his advantage in my absence somehow, but—” he groaned and slapped the water “—Azor stealing Tatiana’s promise should have gotten him stripped of his fin. If it were anyone else—”
    “ We’ll get her back,” I interrupted.
    “ I know. But I can’t help but think this is all my fault. I should have talked with her earlier, let her go to home base when we had the chance. She, of all people, shouldn’t have to endure Natatoria. All she craved was human life. She constantly got in trouble for gallivanting all over with Ashlyn and staying out ‘til the last minute. Have you seen her room? It’s covered in posters of human boys and her bookshelves are filled with those gossip magazines. I just thought we’d have more time.”
    Mom swam up and touched Dad’s arm. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Fin’s right. We’ll go back and get her. I’m sure Azor is treating her fine.”
    I gritted my teeth to keep from