“You reallyarelike me!”Marin’s stunned expression broke into an overjoyed beam.He stepped up to Noel, looking excited enough to hug him.Noel shrank into himself, turning his head away in embarrassment.“Are there more people like us?What kind of powers do you have?Are your teeth always like that?Are we—sorry.”
Marin took notice of Noel’s discomfort, stepping out of his personal space with an apologetic smile.“Got a little carried away.”
“It’s okay,” Noel replied, his voice growing quieter.“Uhm.To answer your question, it’s only my family in the area.Most merpeople live closer to the sea or large bodies of water for… obvious reasons.”
“Your wholefamilyis—wait.Mermaids arereal?”Blake asked, his jaw going slack in disbelief.Marin was practically vibrating beside him, eyes twinkling with delight.
“Clearly,” Noel confirmed, pulling at the decorative safety pins on his mask.“How could you not know?”
“As you saw, I’m not exactly your typical merperson.”Marin chuckled.“I’m something called a pygmalion.It’s a carving that can be brought to life with a kiss.”
“We thought that the only reason he’s a merman is because he was made in its image,” Blake explained.“I had no idea they were real outside of that.”
“It’s not exactly common,” Noel explained.“It’s a recessive condition, so it can be rare in families that have inter-married with humans or other creatures.”
“Other?”Blake repeated—this conversation was one shock after another.Up until twenty-four hours earlier, Blake hadn’t even beenawarethat ghosts or mermaidsactually existed—the revelation that there was evenmorecould launch him straight into space.
“Yeah, I have a cousin who’s half-dryad,” Noel explained, as if he were telling them about an interesting upcoming weather event.“It’s not entirely rare.We tend to keep it quiet due to unwanted attention.”
“I can see why,” Blake said—Noel’s existence alone would have the tabloids chomping at the bit:Local Goth Trades Piercings for Scales!“Don’t tell me anyone else from our friend group isn’t human—Jace isn’tactuallya werewolf, is he?I know his last name is Wolf, but he’s always leaned into it a little hard—”
“No, he’s just a furry,” Noel dismissed him before continuing to address Marin.“To answer your earlier question, I really don’t have any powers out of the ordinary.Just the typical things like transforming in water and making people pass out when I sing—I found that out the hard way in preschool.”
For a split second, Blake was preoccupied by the mental image of a tiny, goth toddler surrounded by the sleeping bodies of his classmates before coming to a sudden realization.“So wait, when Matt said your singing is relaxing, that means…”
“I helped with his insomnia while we were in rehab, but I haven’t let him know about… well, about me,” Noel told Blake as he glanced over at Marin, wary.“I don’t know if you knew what you were doing in the karaoke booth, but I don’t appreciate you knocking him out.For one, Matt could have hit his head, andtwo,that sort of stunt in public is particularly suspicious.”
No concern formepassing out then, huh?Blake thought, bitter.Noel continued to speak to Marin.
“Icantransform my lower half into other creatures while I’m in the water—though it can be a little dangerous,” he swept his tongue over his serrated teeth.“I have trouble controlling these as a result of staying transformed too long in the past.I have to make a real, concerted effort to make them appear human when I take my mask off in front of other people.Not all merpeople can learn how to do those types of transformations at will, and even fewer can pull them off without lasting repercussions.Parts of you—like my teeth—can get stuck and you can even be affected by animal instincts.It usually happens when—” he cut himself off, settling for: “I’d… really advise against it.You can stay in your normal ‘fish form’ without any complications, however.”
“Is there anything else you can teach me how to do?”Marin asked, placing a hand upon his own chest.“Or maybe you can introduce me to some of the other merpeople in the area?”
“I think that would be okay…” Noel said, taking out his cell.His eyes flicked over to Blake.“Uh, you got anything going on tonight?We can use the indoor wave pool—that’s where I usually swim, since I can delete the security footage afterwards.I can teach you everything I know, Marin.”
“Really?”Blake frowned, stunned.He’d never expected Noel of all people to make such a generous offer.
“That’d be great!”Marin nodded, still delighted.
Noel looked up at Marin, squeezing the sides of his phone.“It’s important to stick to places where you can control who gets to see you.Try not to swim anywhere public.You need to be careful, all right?Don’t let anyone else see your fins or hear you sing.That unwanted attention I mentioned earlier… it can be pretty serious.”
“How so?”Marin frowned.
“Is there something specific we should look out for?”Blake inquired.
Noel finished texting and pocketed his phone.“It’s not terribly common anymore, but merpeople have been… we’re hunted for our fins.”
“Hunted?!”Blake balked, resisting the urge to throw a protective arm around Marin.To his credit, Marin only looked alittledisturbed.
Noel nodded, expression grim.“There are some places in the world that believe that eating a merperson’s flesh can heal mortal wounds—even grant immortality.”
“Jesus,” Blake hissed with a sharp shake of his head.He grazed the back of his hand against Marin’s, hazarding a glance towards the merman at his side.Marin’s expression was clouded with concern—but he still looked a bit too calm for someone who had just learned that they were consideredexotic meat.
“I’m… I’m not even sure if the immortality thing is true, but…” Noel screwed up his face, looking halfway between frightened and sick.“Be careful who you entrust this information with.Better safe than sorry.”
“Yeah that’s…” Blake couldn’t tear his eyes from Marin, who was starting to look pensive.“That’s a good rule of thumb.Thanks, Noel.”
“No problem,” Noel replied, refocusing his attention on the hem of his shirt.“I’ll uh.I’ll see you in a few.I need to wash off my makeup before I get into the pool.”
