Going home.

The moon shone brightly on the lake. She had always loved this lake, and even though, it was truly beautiful, there was something different about it. But regardless of what was different, it had always calmed the storms that brewed inside her. A flash of silver caught her eye. It must’ve been a fish, she told herself. She sat there a few more minutes when something touched her foot. It almost looked like something was swimming up to her. The moonlight must’ve been playing tricks on her eyes. No, there was definitely something in the water. It reached up and grabbed her foot. It was a split second before it pulled her in. She expected the water to be cold, but in fact it was perfect temperature. It took her a few minutes to realize she wasn’t having difficulty breathing even though the creature was still pulling her down. She tried swimming upwards back towards the shore but the creature was incredibly strong, and she was caught in a current. It felt more like a hurricane. They were headed towards a pearl castle.

She was dreaming, she had to be. There wasn’t any other explanation. The creature had stopped swimming but she was now in the grandest entrance to the most beautiful castle she’d ever imagined possible. She expected her eyes to burn, and her lungs to hurt, but neither of them did. She finally got a good look at her abductor. It was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen. She was going to assume it was a mermaid because of the gills in the cheeks. But this mermaid wasn’t scary like she’d always heard about. She had silver hair that was woven into a metallic braid, her gills were lined with gold, and her tale had golden iridescent scales. She sported several golden bracelets, and a pearl necklace. Her eyes were the most beautiful emerald green possible. “Welcome.” She said, her voice was as if it had been plucked on a harp. “What is going on here?” There was fear in her voice, and she actually hesitated before answering because she was afraid, she’d swallow a bunch of water. Another mermaid, or she should she say merfolk, swam up. He was certainly eye catching. Like her abductor, he had silver hair and golden gills but he also had stunning silver tattoos that snaked across his chest and biceps. “You’ve come home.” His voice was deep and seductive but soothing at the same time. She was sure that she’d heard it somewhere in a dream.

They didn’t say anything more as they guided her inside the castle. She felt as if she couldn’t look fast enough to see all the beauty and grandeur. She’d never seen such beauty. The pearl white walls were adorned with beautiful golden figurines. They were finally in front of a throne that would put the thrones on land to shame. It was carved out of an emerald and decorated with beautiful gems. An older merfolk sat on the throne. She could tell he was older because of the aging in his eyes. “Ariana, you’ve come home.” She put her hands behind her back as she had done so much when she was nervous or scared. “I wasn’t really given a choice. What is going on?” This put a smile on the elder merfolk’s face. “You have the spirit of your mother.” She didn’t know how to answer. She didn’t have a mother. She had been an orphan found sitting on the shores of the very lake they were in. The family who lived near the shoreline had taken her in as one of theirs. If she hadn’t been underwater, tears would’ve streaked down her cheeks. “What happened?” She asked in a soft voice. The elder merman swam up to her and put his arm around her. “You always loved the surface, but one day you never came back. Your mother went looking for you and never came back. I discovered later on that a curse had been placed on you by one of our enemies turning you human until your eighteenth birthday.” This was very overwhelming. “You mean to say I will turn into a mermaid?” He shook his head slightly. “No, I mean you already are a mermaid.” It was then that she looked down. Her legs had been replaced with a fin. She felt her cheeks and realized that she had gills. “Welcome home.” He said as he hugged her.