Tangled Ripples Page 5

  "But like right now, all the words you're speaking can't just be words from there," Gavin said.

  “Our languages have roots in the same place, which accounts for much of it. But even without going to the surface, mermaids still listen to human conversations by swimming past boats and submarines.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “Sometimes another family would share a piece of writing they’ve passed down through the years, too. But, for the most part, mermaids tend to keep those to themselves. So our knowledge can be limited.”

  “It still seems you know way more about people than we do about you,” Gavin said.

  “As time goes on we know less, since we don’t come to the surface now. But I’d say for the most part that’s true.”

  Gavin stopped asking questions as they pulled into a poorly lit gas station sitting by itself on the side of the road. No other cars were in the parking lot and a man sat behind the counter in the empty store, reading a magazine. Gavin went inside while Arista waited in the truck. She watched from her seat as he talked to the man, who turned around and pulled something off the wall to show him. A few minutes later, Gavin walked back outside with the paper from the wall along with a couple of drinks.

  “Here it is,” he said, handing the flyer to Arista through the open door. He stood leaning against the passenger side of the truck as she read it. The wrinkled sheet of paper had a garish illustration of a mermaid in the center of the page. Across the top, in that same neon blue lettering, was the claim to see a real mermaid that Arista had spotted on the billboards. At the bottom of the flyer was a map to Chiarini’s Circus.

  “What does it mean?” she asked, handing the paper back to Gavin and picking up one of the drinks he had bought.

  “Well, the guy at the counter said he’s been carrying these flyers for a couple of months now. Someone came in one day and dropped off an entire stack. Apparently, a small circus set up shop about an hour away from here. Some of the flyers advertise the mermaid, others are for your more typical circus freaks,” he said.

  “Circus freaks?” she asked, before taking another big sip of her cherry flavored soda.

  “Oh, you know… the bearded ladies, a human unicorn, a wolf boy. The usual as far as these things go. Every so often you’ll get someone who’s an actual freak, but usually it’s all fake,” he explained.

  As soon as he said the word fake, Arista frowned and her shoulders dropped in a crestfallen slump. “So you don’t think the mermaid is real?” she asked.

  “Probably not. I mean, yes, I found you… but like you said, if she is real, I don’t think she would be part of an advertisement like this,” he said.

  Gavin saw the disappointment wash across her face. He reached through the open doorway of the truck to hold her chin in his hands, looking into her eyes.

  “If it would mean that much to you, Arista, we can still go check it out,” he said.

  “I’d like that.”

  Gavin nodded in agreement and got back into the truck to continue down the road.

  …

  The directions to Chiarini’s Circus led them deeper into Indiana and away from Chicago. There were fewer lights along the side of the road and the oppressive darkness seemed to envelop them from all sides. The dark night sky extended so far out to the horizon that Arista thought it felt like returning to the water.

  Her mind wandered back to her home. Since Gavin brought up the possibility of her going back, she had wondered what would happen if she returned. It had been a long time since anyone came back after going to the land. Whatever the consequences, she knew they wouldn’t be good — and leaving wasn’t even her worse offense.

  She sighed. As a distraction from the growing pit in her stomach, she wiggled her toes in the sandals from Gavin. Her anxiety was somewhat relieved by thinking her current happiness was worth the sacrifices she had made. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn’t even hear Gavin talking. He laughed as she dazedly turned to look at him.

  “Hey you, I thought you were from the water, not outer space. What are you doing over there?”

  “Well, that’s exactly where I was,” she said. “Back in the water.”

  Gavin looked at her. “Do you regret coming here?”

  “No, definitely not, but it is hard to be here. It’s still so new and strange from what life was like in the water. It’s also different from how I thought it would be. It’s harsher and more abrasive… I mean, the world itself, even beyond the people. Everything is so bright and sharp, even the darkness seems more vivid here. Like I only saw everything through a cloud before,” Arista explained. She drifted off as she looked out the window again.

  “What do you mean beyond the people? What did you expect us to be?” he asked, as he turned onto another winding rural road.

  “Well, I told you about how we were driven to remain in the water. All those stories, and the fact that mermaids who did go to the surface often vanished, turned people into monsters. Older generations tell scary stories, warning the young mermaids of the dangers posed by people and the surface. We grow up afraid and terrified of people like yourself. My grandmother was different. She always reminded me that not everyone tried to kill mermaids or forced us to remain in the water. I grew up with a great deal more hope and optimism than the others. I mean, there are some mermaids who are terrible, so I never thought it was far-fetched to believe there could be good people out there, too,” Arista said. “We all make mistakes — and we can all make amends.”

  “Are there many mermaids around here? I would have thought you’d be out in the ocean where there’s more space. Lake Michigan would be at the bottom of the list of places I’d think to find you,” Gavin said.

  “Well, there are a lot of mermaids, but you’re right, there aren’t too many in the lake,” she answered. “The majority do live in the ocean. That’s where my family lived originally….”

  Arista stopped talking and bit her lip, fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.

  “My family lived there for generations. We lived in the underwater caves I mentioned earlier. It was never enough for my mother. She would swim farther and farther up through the water, getting closer to the surface. My father would worry and swim after her, convince her to return home.

  “Occasionally, she’d make it all the way to the surface before he could stop her. One day, people spotted her. Even though she swam back under the water’s surface, it was too late. They threw a hooked weapon and it hit her. My father found them dragging her to the surface. He freed her and she swam back down. She thought he was right behind her, but he had hesitated… they killed him.

  “My mother pulled his body back to my family. My grandparents made the decision to leave the ocean that night. I was young, and I barely remember my father. I have only some vague recollections of leaving. We traveled all day and all night. The rest of my family would take turns carrying me on their backs, since I was too young to swim that long or that far on my own. Once we left the ocean, we were in a much smaller waterway, a river I think, until we finally ended up in the lake. That’s where we’ve been ever since. But we’re not alone; there are several other mermaid families there and in the other nearby lakes.”

  While Arista talked, Gavin had pulled the truck over to the side of the road to focus on her story. He unbuckled his seat belt to turn and face her.

  “Arista, I had no idea. I’m sorry I asked you to talk about it,” he started.

  She shook her head. “No, it’s alright. As I said, I unfortunately don’t remember him that well. I have always been more upset over the effect it had on my mother. Even at a young age, I knew she was never going to be the same. I remember her being so energetic and full of life, and that changed overnight. Growing up in the lake, even though she was there with me, it always seemed like she was so far away. She had a long scar down her face, neck, and shoulders from that day when they slashe
d her with the hook. She would sit on a rock where you could see the sunlight hit the surface of the water. She’d sit there, staring at the light and stroking her scar with her hand.”

  “Did you tell her you were going to leave? Does she know you’re here?” he asked.

  “No, she doesn’t,” Arista said with a pause. “I actually haven’t seen her for a long time. She left home one day, maybe fifty years ago or so. We woke up and she was gone. We heard she made her way back to the ocean. It’s been just me and my grandmother ever since.”

  “Wow, that’s too bad, I… wait, did you say fifty years ago? You can’t be, I mean, look at you, you’re… how old are you exactly?” Gavin asked, completely flabbergasted.

  “I don’t know. There’s never been a reason to keep track of time. Some mermaids do, but more as a game than out of actual necessity. I would guess, oh, I don’t know, maybe eighty? I’m still fairly young,” she said.

  Gavin’s mouth parted as he stared unbelievingly back at her. “But you look like you’re only as old as me. Do all mermaids live that long?” he asked, still trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he was hearing.

  “Oh, yes. I’m trying to remember what my grandmother told me — it has to do with being in the water. She said that when we lived on land, our time would speed up. The mermaids who gave up life in the water and lived on the surface aged at the same rate as people. The ones that moved back and forth could gain more time by living in the water. We’re not immortal or anything, but now that we live exclusively in the water we live for a long time. I think the oldest in our family is well over four-hundred and I know other families have relatives even older.”

  “So, now that you’re here,” Gavin began, with a concerned look growing on his face. “Does that mean you’re going to die sooner?”

  “Well, it means that I’m aging in your time. As much as you age in a day, in a year, in five years is how fast I will age while I’m here. When I go back into the water, if I go back, it’ll be like that time will stand still, slow down. I can’t get younger, but it’s like freezing in place for a while,” she explained.

  “Wow, well, speaking of freezing in place, we should find a safe spot to stop for the night. Even if we made it to Chiarini’s tonight, it won’t be open. We should get some sleep and head over there first thing in the morning,” Gavin said.

  Arista nodded in assent, so Gavin buckled his seat belt and started the truck. As they continued down the road, she caught him glancing at her more out of the corner of his eye. They didn’t talk much until they reached the next town. It only had a handful of stores and no hotels in sight, and Gavin said he wasn’t sure where they would find the closest one.

  He drove to an empty parking lot behind a store and parked there for the night. He helped Arista tilt her seat backwards until she found a position where she was reasonably comfortable.

  Gavin turned the radio down low so they could listen to music for a bit before falling asleep. Arista kept opening her eyes to peek at the glowing green numbers on the face of the radio. She couldn’t believe it was that easy for people to listen to music. The twist of a dial was all it took for the strains of music to fill the air.

  Soon Rudy Vallee came on crooning “As Time Goes By” and Arista softly hummed along to the tune. Gavin opened his eyes to watch her.

  “How could you know that song?” he asked in amazement. Arista rolled over slightly in her seat to face him.

  “My father used to sing it to me as I would fall asleep.” She yawned as she finished talking and giggled. “See, it’s making me tired already.”

  “But how did he know it?”

  “He learned it during the war.”

  “A mermaid war?” he asked, with a puzzled expression on his face. Arista laughed in response, running her fingers through her long dark hair.

  “No, well, I mean mermaids helped in the war. I think you call it the World War.”

  Gavin’s eyes opened wider and he propped himself up on an elbow to see her better in the moonlight. “Seriously? How could mermaids have helped?”

  “A lot of magical creatures aided in the war effort. The Nazis were well aware of magic and wanted to capture it for their own benefit. They created a new race of vampires to help in that quest. I don’t know much about it, but they were called blutjagers, or Blood Hunters. Instead of desiring humans, the Hunters were drawn to the magic we have in our blood.”

  “Like how you said the birds may be after your necklace because they’re drawn to your power?”

  “Yes, exactly,” she said, picking up her necklace and twirling it between her fingers as she continued. The bloodstone twinkled in the little bit of evening light. “The Hunters helped the Nazis track down all kinds of magical creatures including mermaids. We had no choice but to fight back. The flying creatures, like pixies and fairies, helped guide airplanes. Some gnomes and other land-based creatures helped sneak troops around on the ground. The mermaids helped where we could in the water. My father guided friendly submarines to safety and lured enemy subs into hostile water.”

  “I had no idea,” Gavin said in a hushed tone, surprised by the whole story.

  “Many of the magical creatures survived. But the Nazis also managed to alter some of the creatures they captured, like they did turning vampires into blutjagers. They transformed other creatures into gremlins and hell beasts that worked for the Nazi cause.”

  “That’s crazy. How have we never heard any of this before?”

  “I think few people knew about it. Many of the leaders did, but it wasn’t widespread. Some creatures, like the fairies, also cast spells to make people forget about their involvement. For the most part, the mermaids kept their role a secret.”

  “So if your father didn’t work directly with people, how did he learn the song?”

  “By swimming close enough to the submarines, the mermaids could hear the people's music and songs. My father learned that one so he could share it with me and my mother."

  "That's amazing," Gavin said.

  “Once the war ended and magic was safe, the mermaids isolated themselves even more than before. That’s when many families completely forbid anyone from going up to the surface. Although most people remained unaware of us, mermaids had renewed worries about being hunted. Plus, mermaids like my father returned from the war and told stories about the weapons people created. Many mermaids were afraid they’d be used against us.”

  “I had no idea there was so much more out there in the world,” Gavin said.

  “There’s a lot for both of us to learn still,” Arista answered.

  They both laid there listening to the music, lost in their own thoughts, and it was awhile before either finally drifted off to sleep.

  ˜

  { Chapter 7 }

  Arista awoke the next morning to Gavin shaking her back and forth.

  “Are you ok? You’ve been yelling for a while. You must have been having a bad dream,” he said.

  She furrowed her brow. She didn’t remember much of it, only flashes of images. A man with frightening red eyes dressed all in black, beckoning her to come towards him, then disappearing into the surrounding water. A skeleton with chains holding it to the ground. Then, groups of birds swooping down onto her.

  She relayed what she remembered to Gavin. “Well, the birds make sense,” he said. “The rest of it is just dream nonsense.”

  Arista wasn’t convinced. It was hard to shake the feeling that it meant a lot more.

  They drove down the street to find something to eat at a small diner. It took some time for Gavin to explain everything on the menu and for Arista to pick something. All the food sounded delicious and she was excited to try something new, besides being incredibly hungry. This was the first big meal she had eaten since coming to the surface.

  “I’ve had water to drink, but I haven’t had much to eat. I didn’t think about it much until now. I wasn’t hungry until we came in here and I smelled all this food,” she s
aid.

  “This may sound like a stupid question,” Gavin said. “But what do mermaids eat?”

  “Well, we eat a lot of plants, like seaweed, but not fish.”

  “Really? Are they your friends?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked Gavin, laughing. His cheeks burned red as she continued to giggle.

  “Well, can you talk to them? The movies we watch always show mermaids talking to fish and being friends with them,” he said.

  “No, we’re not friends with them. They just ignore us. I have to imagine it’s like the animals up here. Out in the ocean, sharks can come after us for food like they do everything swimming in the water. So, no, we don’t talk to them,” she said, still laughing at the idea of talking to a fish. “People don’t understand anything about us, do they?”

  The waitress returned then, leaving a stack of pancakes in front of Arista. Gavin leaned over and poured syrup on her plate as he answered her question.

  “No, I guess we don’t. Anybody who has ever claimed to see a mermaid is considered crazy. And that’s merely seeing a mermaid. I don’t think anyone has ever said they talked to one, or asked it questions. It’s all been left up to the imagination,” he said.

  Arista ate her first bite of pancakes and considered that while she chewed.

  “That’s funny,” she said finally. “We have always passed down the stories of why we have to remain in the water and how dangerous people can be. And people forgot about us and turned it into nothing more than a story.” Arista shook her head, wondering how that could even be possible.

  Gavin let Arista try his eggs, but she didn’t care for those as much as the pancakes. She especially loved dousing them in the sugary maple syrup. After they ate their fill, they returned to the truck and got back on the road to find Chiarini’s Circus.

  …

  The directions on the flyer weren’t helpful, so they relied on signs posted near the side of the road to guide them. Some were easy to miss, but as they drove closer the signs became larger.