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There’s a legend that surrounds the Mermaid’s Pool that is located on a mountain ridge near Staffordshire, England. If you approach the pool on the Eve of Easter at midnight, a mermaid would appear and either give you the gift of immortality, or drag you down to your death.
Despite this only being a legend, it doesn’t stop Anise Stilinski from requesting her husband, John Stilinski, to take her to see it as a vacation. She knew that nothing would happen, but just the idea of seeing it made her overjoyed.
Of course, John was interested also, but not at midnight, and with other people around.
Their next destination spot was Formby Beach. They didn’t do much swimming, well, they didn’t swim at all. Just wandered and enjoyed the location. It was calm and something about the place made Anise want to stay there throughout the day.
Night fell and they remained there, despite John’s constant complaining about wild animals and his tired legs; there was a full moon, so they didn’t have to worry about it being too dark to see where they were walking.
That’s when they found her, in a shallow tide pool.
Their first thought that it was a small child that strayed away from a mother that didn’t know where her child was, and that had Anise a little worried, because not only that, they could hear small sniffling sounds coming from the little girl. They approached and were completely shocked to see that her lower body was that of a fish. Moss green scales that reflected blues and purples in the moonlight.
The child had looked at Anise with golden brown eyes that shined with tears. Anise’s maternal instincts kicked in, despite not having a child herself, and she lifted the little girl up and cradled her to her chest.
She couldn’t believe it. She was holding a mermaid child. But where was her mother? Anise scanned the water and saw nothing. There was no disturbance in the water. The child whimpered and clung to her, small hands fisting in her shirt as if holding on for dear life. John was just as worried, close to his wife’s side, his hand rubbing soothing circles on the little mermaid’s back.
Then there was a slight tingling sensation against Anise’s arm and she looked down to see what was causing it. There was no longer any scales or a tail, but little legs that dripped water.
The couple came to the conclusion that if she were submerged in water, the tail would return. Now what about the child? They could leave her here, but even as they tried to place her back down, she wouldn’t relent on her hold of the shirt and even vocalised how she was upset that they would even think of leaving her here.
So the only thing they could think to do was take her home. They bought another place ticket and decided to head home a few days early.
That’s when they welcomed Sydney Stilinski into the family.