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Maddie had always thought her mom was a marine biologist. Just a marine biologist. A studier of marine biology, if you will.
Curled in the sand far beneath the dock, trembling, Maddie was forced to accept that there was more her mom did than study simple ocean life. Things involving words like genetics, and experiments, and ancient, rarely seen lifeforms.
And now her legs were gone. Just gone. Replaced by a tail she couldn’t stand to look at. Same with the fins streaming off her arms. Gills too—regular air felt too thin to breathe, made her wheezy. Her teeth were sharper. Even in the dark depths, Maddie could see just fine.
Her tears melted into the ocean almost like they’d never been shed at all.
Maddie hugged herself around her stomach, wondering how she would ever have the courage to return to the surface. She couldn’t get her mom’s expression out of her head—behind the apologies of curiosity being taken too far, the spark of fascination in her eyes as she scanned Maddie had sent shivers down her spine.
She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to do.
A commotion on the dock dragged her from her misery. The flippers of divers dangled just above the wavering surface.
Fear spiked through her, and she clumsily pushed off the sandy bottom of the bay and bit her lip ruthlessly to stop herself from screaming at the wrongness of swimming with a tail. She kept slipping up, trying to move legs that no longer existed in opposite directions, and her muscles spasmed with the strain. But if she didn’t think too hard, if she just focused on getting away, then it was easier to swallow back the visceral distress tightening around her heart.
Maddie swam deeper. She wasn’t ready to deal with… all that. She didn’t want to know what they—her mom or otherwise—would do with her. Would do to her.
The cold of the ocean raised goosebumps along her bare arms, but though she registered the temperature dropping, it didn’t feel the same as before. When she’d been human. Now it didn’t hurt or wrack her with shivers or make her teeth chatter.
She stopped after a long while, slipping into a bed of gently waving kelp. Or whatever leafy sea grass it was; she wasn’t the marine biologist in the family.
Tired in body and mind, Maddie curled up again where she hoped they wouldn’t find her. And then, for the first time since her rude (painful) awakening in the middle of the previous night, she slept.
An indeterminable amount of time later, she was roused from her light sleep by a hand resting on her shoulder. It took a too-long moment for her to realize why that was wrong.
She flinched with a gasp, eyes popping open in panic. And she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not that it wasn’t her mom or any other diver looming over her.
It was—it was another mermaid. Merman. Or maybe not even that. His human half was only half human itself.
The stranger had dark scales curling over his shoulders and down his arms and around his sides, trailing off around his chest, which was colored a pale gray. More scale patterns dotted his face, which was set in a frown. His eyes glowed bright blue, matching the light seemingly coming from behind him and, terrifyingly, from the back of his throat when he opened his mouth.
He was also huge. At least double as tall as she was. Had been. She wasn’t sure if her height was the same between a tail and a pair of legs.
The DNA we used in the serum was derived from ancient lifeforms came back to her as Maddie recoiled.
His frown deepened. Long dark hair floated around his head, catching the blue light. He said something in a deep, rumbling voice, but the words weren’t anything like she’d heard before.
Maddie’s eyes welled up anew, and she felt furiously helpless. She wouldn’t be able to outrun—out-swim—this creature if he wanted to hurt her.
He spoke again, leaning forward. She pushed away along the ocean bottom, ignoring her tail. His hands twitched like he wanted to reach for her; his fingers were webbed and tipped with claws.
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” she whispered, which felt so weird in the water but it was different, somehow, from any time she’d tried to talk underwater before. It wasn’t wobbly and garbled. Or maybe it was her ears that had changed.
The creature’s frown lightened in what would be understanding on a human. Did his kind feel emotions the same? Just as quickly, a thunderous anger drew his lip up in a snarl, revealing teeth far sharper than hers. Her body locked up in fear.
He said something else and—and sliced a cut into his palm?
Too-dark blood seeped into the water. The tiny billow of it distracted her, and when the creature reached out, she didn’t react fast enough. His arm scooped behind her back, making Maddie feel very small, and he dragged her closer. She flailed against him, imagining him ripping her throat out with one big chomp of his dagger-filled mouth. But he didn’t so much as bare his teeth when she thwacked him with her tail.
Instead, his free hand rose to her face, his palm flat open. She caught sight of the cut and clamped her lips shut a split second before it was pressed against her mouth. Maddie pushed futilely against his wrist, whining. His hand was so large that he had no trouble holding her head in place, no matter how hard she tried to turn away.
He rumbled wordlessly, deep in his chest—something in her twisted at the sound, and she caught herself before she could relax—and his bright eyes stared down at her with patience beyond her understanding.
Her struggles waned after only a minute. She tried one last time to free her face, but he was immovable as a mountain. He gently jerked his chin at her, expectant.
With nothing else to do, Maddie released the tight press of her lips. She wrinkled her nose at the taste of his blood—it was earthier than human blood, almost sweet the way fresh spring water was sweet, and not much metallic or salty.
His rumble this time sounded pleased, maybe even smug, and Maddie, exhausted, couldn’t bring herself to fight as he pulled her closer still, until she was nearly cradled against his chest. He reopened the cut, which had healed over inhumanly fast, and she glared sullenly up at him as he pressed his palm to her face again.
She wondered if her mom was still looking for her. She wondered if her mom wanted Maddie back, or if she wanted her science experiment back. She wondered what she herself wanted because her mind was one great big tangle of confusing emotions.
Maddie wanted her mom. Of course she did. But she wasn’t sure if going back would get her her mom or Dr. Russell. And she was kinda scared of the latter.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back to the surface. It was, had been, home, but was it now? Were the sun and grass and buildings and cars and schools and playgrounds and video games and restaurants still for her? Would they ever be again?
But at the same time, what other option was there? Where else could she go?
She a little bit regretted running away. This creature was strange and scary in his own way, and she craved the familiarity of humanity. But he hadn’t hurt her. But he still could.
Apparently satisfied with—feeding her his blood? Ew—he lowered his hand and grinned. “Little one,” he rumbled.
She nearly choked with the way she inhaled water, and she tried to push against his chest to get away, but his hold was inescapable.
“Now you understand me,” he said, pleased.
“Let me go!”
“You are young,” he said, ignoring her half-plea, half-demand. “Did the humans steal you?” The anger flashed across his face again. “Did they raise you?” He leaned closer, and she froze in momentary panic, but he only, what, smelled her? Could he do that? “You do not smell familiar. Where are your parents? They must miss you greatly.”
And for some stupid reason, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back—or in this case, snapped the tenuous hold she had on her emotions. Maddie burst into tears.
This was none of that slow trickle as she’d tried to wrap her head around things. This wasn’t the quiet despair and distress that slipped out tear by tear. This was no little cry.
This was ugly sobbing.
The creature made a surprised sound, and then Maddie was being fully engulfed in his massive arms. He held her close and tight, and she didn’t even care because getting a hug after such an awful day felt so nice. She pressed her forehead against his chest and shuddered around her body-wracking sobs.
He didn’t shush her or try to talk her down. He didn’t let go. That thunder-like rumble started back up, which was so weirdly soothing that Maddie couldn’t be bothered by it, merely deciding that was something for future-Maddie to freak out about. She borderline wailed in this strange not-really-man’s embrace, and it was a long time before she calmed down.
He didn’t even look a little frustrated or annoyed when she finally wore herself out enough for him to loosen his hold.
He opened his mouth, but Maddie cut in before he could say anything, “I’m—I was human.” And then, admittedly, she flinched in anticipation of him ripping her heart out, or slitting her throat, or worst of all, dropping her back to the cold sand and swimming away.
He did none of the above. Instead, he tensed slightly and looked her over with narrowed eyes. “Who did this to you?” he growled.
“My mom,” Maddie whispered.
A bitten-back snarl slipped past his gritted teeth. And then he straightened with a hard set to his blue eyes and set out at a brisk pace. Away from the direction Maddie was pretty sure she’d come from.
“Hey! What are you doing?” She wiggled, trying to escape, but he seemed no more ready to release her now than he had been earlier.
“The humans have forfeited you to the ocean,” he said, glancing down at her. “And as the ocean is my realm, they have forfeited you to me. They will not hurt you again.”
She sputtered for a moment. “You can’t just—you’re kidnapping me!”
“I believe the word is adopting.”
“That’s not—!” Maddie wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh hysterically or start crying again. She knew it was utterly ineffectual to pound her small fists against his chest, but it made her feel a tiny bit better. “Let me go.”
“No.”
“You can’t just take me like this.”
“I can and I have.”
She glared up at him. He glanced down with a twitch of amusement in his cheek. She was tempted to bite him, put her newly sharp teeth to the test.
“How about a deal?” he said before she could decide where.
She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled silently.
“You will be my guest in my kingdom for a full moon cycle. At the end, if you wish to return to the surface, I will bring you back. If you do not, you stay.”
It didn’t sound like much of a deal. “What’s the catch?” she asked, suspicious.
He shook his head, chuckling. “Only that for the cycle, you do not attempt to escape, or hide away, or lash out. You must give my kingdom, and me, a fair chance.”
There was no obvious trap. She was already hopelessly lost, and trying to get back alone, with her luck, wouldn’t go well. He seemed… nice, she supposed, and it couldn’t hurt to at least try to learn more about her new species. All she had to do was treat the next month like a vacation, and then she could go hom—back to the surface. If she wanted. And why wouldn’t she want to?
(Why would she want to?)
“Fine,” Maddie decided. “Deal.”
He grinned down at her, his wicked teeth all on display. It didn’t scare her that time. “And what is my guest’s name?”
“Maddie. What’s my kidnapper’s?”
With a full, deep laugh, he answered, “Godzilla. I am called Godzilla, little one. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
One month. Easy. She’d be heading for the surface in no time.
• • •
“Do you know what today is?” Mothra asked Maddie as they wove seaweed and coral and shells together.
“Um… no?” Maddie said absently, her focus on trying to copy the movements of Mothra’s graceful fingers.
She felt Godzilla’s warm presence behind her a split second before his hands came to rest gently on her shoulders. She’d grown—painfully quickly—since acquiring her tail, so while she was nowhere near as large as him or the other Titans, she was at least a little less comically small compared to them. Probably close to eight or nine feet long.
“It has been a full moon cycle since I brought you here, Pup,” he told her. “As per our agreement—do you wish to return to the surface?”
The absurdity at the thought of doing so struck her before the surprise at how quickly time had passed. She lowered her messy seaweed and blinked down at her tail.
It didn’t upset her anymore. Neither did the fins she sported on her arms and down her back. They were all a pretty mixture of purple and red with more recent blue accents. Similarly blue spots had started to grow on her upper arms, across her face, and along her back fins. It was the same blue as Godzilla’s eyes and star-fire and the jagged plates jutting from his spine. She’d given him a knowing look back when her freckles first started glowing, but they hadn’t actually talked about it.
Maybe he hadn’t just been being dramatic with the whole the humans forfeited you to me thing.
She tilted her head back to look up at Godzilla. He hadn’t been wearing his crown when he found her, and as always, it drew her eye. It was made of shimmering crystals and iridescent shells and wicked teeth, all on a foundation of coral and bones. Pendants of opal and sapphire dangled from all around it, wrapped in wire and accompanied by crisscrossing chains. They floated lightly in the currents sometimes, like Godzilla’s hair, and it made him look just a bit more otherworldly than his scales and teeth and eyes already did. Mothra’s crown looked similar, just a bit smaller, and with turquoise and emeralds as gems instead.
“Well?” Godzilla asked softly, looking at her upside down. “Do you wish to leave?”
“No,” Maddie whispered, not even having to think about it. “I want to stay.”
With you, she wasn’t quite bold enough to add. Yet.
His grin blossomed into something fiercely happy, and he ducked down to press a kiss to her forehead. Releasing her, he pulled back, and Maddie lowered her head with a giddy little smile. She didn’t spare a second thought to the surface or her mom.
She looked to Mothra, who had her hands clasped beneath her chin. Her shimmering wing-like fins were fluttering excitedly behind her. Her glowing aqua eyes glittered with joy. “I am so glad, my child,” she said. She leaned over and cupped Maddie’s cheek. “I don’t think I could bear to lose you.”
She pressed into Mothra’s palm, feeling very warm and fuzzy inside.
Maddie startled slightly when a new weight settled on her head. The cool tickle of metal brushed against her skin. Dangling silver chains wove through her dark hair in the rippling current.
Godzilla swept her up with a rumble. His hugs still engulfed her. “I had a feeling you’d say that,” Godzilla said, quiet but oh-so-pleased. “Welcome home, Pup.”