“Well?”Blake hedged.Marin blinked at him before he adopted that mischievous smile.
“Well?”he repeated, voice soft and sweet.“Are you going to kiss me or not?”
“Only if you’re okay with that,” Blake replied, shifting his weight from side to side.
“I would be fine with that,” Marin told him.
Flushing, Blake turned his head, brushing up against Marin’s cheek.Although it looked soft and warm, it felt like the rest of the boat—a little bit squishy and damp.Blake wondered how sanitary this was going to be.
As Marin turned to face him, Blake closed his eyes and pressed their lips together.
It was exactly like he imagined it would be—the cool, sculpted fiberglass surged against his mouth and for a moment Blake wondered if he actually was having an extended hallucination.
But without warning, Marin’s mouth began to change.Where it was once sturdy and sculpted, it became warm and pliant, lips splitting as he gasped.There was a ripping noise akin to someone tearing off a bandaid and Marin surged into Blake—and then away from him as he fell onto the slide with a hollowthunkand slid down into the half-drained splash pool.
Celeste stared down at the now very alive merman face-down at their feet, wincing.
“Well, I didn’t thinkthatwould happen.”
5
Monday, August 1
(Day One)
Marin proceeded to brush his great curtain of pastel hair out of his eyes and look up at Blake and Celeste in turn.
“Oops,” Celeste said, tone flat.
“Well this is a new development,” Marin said conversationally, giving his fin an experimental flip.
“AHHHH!”Blake exclaimed, not conversationally.It took him several seconds of being possessed by his freeze reflex before his brain managed to force quit “freaked out” and jumped straight into “problem solving mode”.
“Oh my God, are you okay?!”Blake asked.He jumped off of the bowsprit and onto the slide.He ran down its length, falling onto his knees beside the merman—the actual merman—who was now sitting in the splash pool without a care in the world.Blake’s hands fluttered around Marin’s shoulders nervously as he checked him over for injuries.“Are you hurt?You fell a long way, I—”
“No, no—I’m fine.”Marin shook his head.“Just a little stunned is all.”
Blake let out a sigh of relief, letting his hand fall upon Marin’s shoulder and squeezing it in reassurance.Satisfied that all was well with the merman, he immediately turned his ire onto Celeste.
“And what do you mean ‘oops’?!He could have brained himself!Did you know this would happen?!”Blake demanded.
“I’m fine,” Marin insisted with a sheepish smile, although he was drowned out by Celeste.
“Yes and no!”they admitted, throwing up their hands.“I honestly thought he was a normal ghost or something!Really, I only wanted to mess with you and get some extra cash.”
“What’s going on?What happens now?”Blake asked, glancing rapidly between Marin and Celeste.The merman pulled himself up into a sitting position, resting his chin on his fin like it was his knees.For now he seemed content to sit and observe the chaos at hand.
Celeste crossed their arms over their chest, propping their chin up on the L of their fingers, appearing thoughtful.“I mean, I guess this proves he really is a pygmalion; if you kiss one, then it’ll come to life as whatever kind of creature they were depicted as,” they began to explain.“And in order to retain that form, that means you have four days to uh.Meet a few requirements?”
“Meet a few—?!”Blake sputtered.
Marin blinked, looking pensive, “What do you mean bythat?”
“What will happen if I don’t?”Blake continued.“And why didn’t you think this was pertinent information to tell me?!”
“Like I said, I thought he was a ghost!”Celeste defended themself, glancing down at their watch.“Look, it’s half past one on August first.That means you have until this time on the fifth.You’ll have plenty of time to—”
“TOWHAT, Celeste?”Blake said, flailing.“What are the requirements?!What happens if I don’t meet them when the four days are up?!Is he going to be okay?!”
