Page 26 of Entangled

“Tell me again, Mother. What is this wagon used for? It has a bad stench.” Merrow looked over her shoulder to see shovels and rakes in a dirty wagon that looked as if it had never been cleaned.

“Every two weeks, a gong farmer comes to the castle at night to clean out the castle’s garderobes,” her mother explained. “We were lucky to have snuck out the hidden entrance and found the wagon while the farmer stopped to relieve himself.”

“Gong farmer? Garderobe?” She looked back again and realization hit her. This was the man who cleaned up the human feces. “Eeeew.”

“Humans have different ways of doing things since they live on land and not in the sea,” answered her mother with a giggle.

They took a road in the dark that led to the Masked Sea. As soon as Merrow smelled the scent of water, she couldn’t help her longing to be in it. “I want to stop and swim,” she told her mother, not able to control the urge. “I long to be in the water again and feel as if I’ll die if I don’t do so right now.”

“I understand.” Her mother stopped the wagon at the beach. “You have been out of the water for a while and it’ll help you regain your strength if you at least go for a fast swim.”

“Thank you.” Merrow smiled, already feeling better.

“Daughter, I don’t know if I ever told you this, but undines need to swim at least every few days. If not, we become weak and will die.”

“How can that be?” asked Merrow. “Do you go swimming that often?”

Her mother chuckled. “Nay, Merrow. I haven’t been in the water since the day the portal brought me to Mura.” She looked out over the water and in the reflection in her eyes from the moonlight Merrow saw a deep sadness within.

Her mother’s story was horrifying to Merrow. Without her life in the water, or experiencing the feel and taste of it, she knew she would perish, just like her mother said. “Then why aren’t you dead by now?” she brashly asked, needing to understand this completely.

“I am still alive because I married a human and gave up my life as an undine. I no longer need to be in the water at all.” The sadness did not disappear.

“Oh, Mother! That is awful. Don’t you miss the sea?”

“I admit that at times I still wish I had my tail and that I could swim underwater for hours at a time. But what I miss the most is your father and all my children.” Dee put her arm around Merrow as they walked to the sea together. “There is a shorter way to get to the castle, but I wanted to come down this road to be by the sea once again. Plus, I did it for you, daughter. You need to go in the water now.”

“I will,” said Merrow, hurriedly undressing until she stood there naked. “Come with me,” she begged, holding out her hand. “I will protect you, and you can at least experience the sea once again.”

“Nay,” said Dee, shaking her head. “As much as I want to, I am afraid I cannot. Over the years of being landbound, I have grown to fear the water and everything I once loved.”

“Afraid?” Merrow chuckled this time. “Mother, this is the sea. Our home. It is where you bore fifty children, and raised them. It is a place that you always loved. How can you fear it?”

“This is not our sea, Merrow,” her mother reminded her. “We are on Mura now. This is the Masked Sea. It is quite different. It doesn’t feel the same. Now go. We don’t have time to waste. We must find your sisters before King Ravenwolf does, if what you say is true. It seems the man only wants my children in order to be able to control them and to feel powerful in his own way.” Sadness washed over her face once more. “I see now that King Ravenwolf is no different than his uncle in the least.”

As much as Merrow wanted to talk more with her mother, her desire to swim and feel her tail again was calling to her. She couldn’t ignore it. Stepping up to the water, she let the waves wash over her toes. It felt cool. Invigorating. Inviting.

Unable to hold back any longer, she dove into the water, feeling her shift swiftly happening beneath the waves. When she surfaced, she once again had a tail. It felt so damned good!

“I will be right back,” she called out to her mother who was still standing on the beach. Merrow dove beneath the surface, swimming lower and lower, studying the fish and underwater fauna that was so different than that of her home.

She smiled and reached out to pet a dolphin passing by. Her long hair floated in the water around her. Wanting to explore more, she swam farther and lower, forgetting all about time. Then she came across a spot that seemed to be moving and shimmering. It swirled in a circle almost creating what looked like a tunnel. It was then that she realized it reminded her a lot of the portal that had brought them here.

Her eyes grew wide as a portal opened wider and wider until she could see someone peeking out from the other side. It was her brother.

“Nerites!” she called out to him. He floated through the portal and approached her.

“Merrow, I have been searching everywhere for you. Father is furious that you took your younger sisters to the Mystic Reef and now the three of you have disappeared. Thankfully, I saw what happened and told him about it.” He looked around. “Where is Melite and Galene?”

“Nerites, how did you open the portal?” she asked instead of answering his question.

“Father was able to open the portal. He lent me his Calling Conch to use since he said that was what we needed in this situation. I remembered the vibrations of the water of the place you disappeared, and those vibrations led me here.”

“It is so good to see you, brother.” She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

“Lead me to your sisters,” said Nerites. “The portal will not remain open for long, and I can only use the conch shell to call upon it once every few days.”

“Galene and Melite are not here in the water,” Merrow told him. “They are landbound and at a castle. Mother and I are headed there to rescue them.”