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lydia heads to the surface after a frosty dinner with her parents. they’re not going to last, she thinks as she flicks her tail to go faster. frankly, she’s surprised they’ve lasted this long. putting it from her mind – there’s no use worrying about it, they’ll end up doing what they want – she relishes the feel of the water sliding over her skin and twirls around just because she can. lights from the palace on the cliff flicker over the water – are the humans celebrating something? prince jackson’s birthday, perhaps? not that she cares, she only hopes that there are ships nearby, filled with foolish young sailors, who snort with disbelief at the tales told to them by older, wiser men.
breaking the surface, lydia finds herself close to the rock at the entrance of the cove. its surface is worn smooth by years of harsh waves crashing over and against it. she pulls herself up onto it and arranges her tail more comfortably. she looks around but there don’t seem to be any ships in sight. perhaps she can snare a wandering servant or noble from the palace on the cliff. they are even more foolish than those young sailors. leaning back, one hand on the rock, the other on her tail, she poses seductively – she’s done this enough times to know what those poor boys want – and opens her mouth to sing. the song is a simple one, rolls off her tongue easily, and she begins to brush her hair out with her fingers.
she counts thirty two minutes and twenty four seconds before she hears the sound of oars slapping against the water. a small part of her wishes she’d brought allison with her – it feels so much better when it’s the two of them, grinning at each other as they hold the boy under water, as the life slowly leaves him and he stops struggling – but allison had been in a meeting with her parents and her aunt and, anyway, there had been no time. it’s no use thinking about it now, she tells herself and reaches out with her voice to pull the fool closer.
when he comes into her line of sight, he smiles at her, but not the usual dopey love struck smile of her other victims. this smile is more of a smirk, and there’s a triumphant look in his eyes. he turns his head to look at her and she catches a flash of something brown in his ear. lydia drives off the rock immediately – she’s heard tales about humans who wish to capture merfolk, and she knows enough to heed them – but it’s too late. there’s a flash of pain in her side, where her flesh and scales meet, and then---
nothing
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allison glides through the palace until she reaches lydia’s rooms. she enters without knocking – she’s the only one who’s allowed to do that, lydia screams at anyone else who tries – but lydia’s not there. allison searches each room thoroughly, just as her mother had taught her in lessons – “check everywhere,” victoria had drummed into her daughter’s head at the beginning of every lesson, “no matter how strange or small, check everywhere. understand?” and allison would nod, because that’s what she’s supposed to do even if she doesn’t agree. lydia is nowhere to found.
allison’s not too worried. lydia is always up earlier than she is (she usually waits for you though, a quiet voice whispers in the back of her mind, leaving behind a sliver of worry, but she shoves it aside). she’s probably gone to the surface, or the dining hall, or the stables to see prada. at least the very least, she’s hanging around with those three troublemakers – boyd, erica, and isaac, allison had had to memorise their names in her lessons, as lydia’s parents viewed them as a threat, although a very mild one. allison’s lip curls at the thought of lydia spending time with them and she shakes her head. lydia shouldn’t do that, allison’s told her that enough times but lydia never listens, just smiles at her and promises that she’ll never do it again.
“i can’t help it, they’re so much fun,” lydia always whines after allison catches her breaking that promises.
“and i’m not?” allison always replies, even though she knows the answer. she tries to be stern but a corner of her mouth twitches, betraying her amusement.
“so serious,” lydia says with a pout. she leans over to kiss her on the cheek, much to allison’s surprise, and then she’s off, laughing and flicking her tail in allison’s face.
the noise of the breakfast gong brings allison back and she finds herself touching her cheek. pulling her hand away quickly, even though no one’s around to see her, she shakes her head. she has to get these feelings in check, they won’t do her any good and they’ll only bring her pain in the long run. lydia is a princess, she will marry according to her parents’ wishes – allison can’t help but smirk at that thought, as though lydia would ever let them decide anything for her without a huge fight at the very least – and allison is her friend, her bodyguard disguised as her lady-in-waiting. ever since the golden-hearted prince had been kidnapped nine years ago, every prince and princess of the seven seas had been assigned a bodyguard. the argents, allison’s family, were the best and lydia’s parents wanted the best.
their relationship is strictly business, or at least it should be. but lydia gets what lydia wants and somehow she managed to wriggle her way beneath allison’s defences. allison can’t imagine life without her now. she’s fully aware this isn’t good – her parents would be the first ones to remind her – but it’s not like she hadn’t tried to stop it.
shaking her head, secretly hoping she can shake these feelings away just as easily, allison heads off to find lydia.
the dining hall is loud and busy, with people shouting to be heard over the voices of others, but allison searches every face, just as she was taught to do. lydia’s not amongst them.
allison goes over the entire palace complex. she even checks her own parents’ rooms, and kate’s, even though she doesn’t expect lydia to be there. “no matter how strange,” her mother’s words repeat in her head. the stables are her last destination before she attempts to find the troublemakers. lydia’s not there either. prada leans against her and whickers, hoping for a treat. allison strokes his head absently as she feeds him the treats she keeps in her brown workbag. the trickle of worry that had begun when allison found lydia’s rooms empty is now a torrent. she bites her lip, accidentally gripping prada’s ears too tightly. he whines and she lets him go, moving away from his stall.
there’s no use in panicking right now, she tells herself firmly. since lydia isn’t anywhere else in the palace, she’s obviously with the troublemakers. find them, and you find lydia.
allison swims out of the palace and past the small town surrounding it. she finds them where she usually does, on the outskirts of the town. they’re swimming around and laughing – allison sniffs, she doesn’t see what’s so fun about that – but lydia is not amongst them. panic hits her all of a sudden, almost suffocates her, and she struggles to keep it from her face. she’s just about to turn around and leave – lydia never goes into the town, but maybe she’s there, maybe – when erica spots her.
“guys, look, it’s her ladyship’s knight in shining fish scales,” erica says with a sneer, pointing over at her. allison grounds her teeth. she hates that nickname, for that lydia coined it. in erica’s mouth it sounds embarrassing, awkward, like it’s somehow bad. if it were possible, she’d wring the words out of erica until she’d no longer be able to say them. not that they sound any different in boyd’s, or isaac’s, mouths, but allison’s dislike of erica is greater than her dislike for the boys.
“i’m afraid her ladyship’s not here,” boyd tells her as he shoots a glare at erica. as she drifts closer to them, allison hears isaac mutter, “don’t antagonise her, erica, her ladyship said she’d cut your face off.” her mouth twitches but she forces her face to remain stern. “we haven’t seen her all morning,” boyd continues as erica huffs and crosses her arms.
allison tries not to let her panic show on her face but she ends up chewing her bottom lip and erica notices. “what?”erica snaps and allison’s surprised to see worry in her brown eyes. “what’s wrong?”
“nothing’s wrong,” allison says firmly, not believing a word she says. she turns away from them and heads up, toward the surface. there’s only one place left to check. allison’s hearts pound in her ears. she hopes lydia is there.
the rock at the mouth of the cove is empty. allison presses her face to its smooth surface as a rushing sound fills her ears. lydia’s gone and it’s all her fault – she should have done something, been more vigilant, had someone watch her while she was meeting with her parents. she slips under water and takes a deep breath, and another, and another, but they don’t help. lydia’s gone.
a sound reaches her ears through her panic and she frowns. oars slap against the waves and she looks up to see the dark shape of a boat glide close to the rock.
slowly, allison raises her head above the surface of the water. she peers around the rock, hands gripping its surface, and watches as the boat nears the rock and then stops. the boat’s lone passenger pulls the oars out of the water and looks over at her. his smile is the first thing she notices about him – it’s not the same dopey smile she’s used to seeing on humans. instead, it’s almost kind, let down only by the cruel shape of his mouth. he’s tolerable-looking, for a human.
“hello, little fish,” he says, almost croons. “she did say you’d try to find her.” he slips his hand into his jacket and pulls out a weapon – a pistol, allison recognises it from her lessons with kate, a human weapon, useless and dangerous to the user when it’s wet. he points it at her. “i’m afraid i can’t allow that.”
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“maybe she’s gone to lure some fishermen to their deaths,” isaac says with a languid shrug of his shoulders.
boyd opens his mouth to argue.
“no,” erica says slowly. she’s been drifting over the same spot ever since allison left. her brow is furrowed and she wants to shake these unwanted thoughts from her mind but they’ve slipped in and taken root. no matter how much she drags them out, more of them appear in their place. allison looked worried when she saw lydia wasn’t with them – if erica’s honest with herself, she’d been worried when lydia hadn’t shown up at the time she’d promised she would. lydia’s never late. erica knows boyd was worried too, saw him glancing in the direction of the town, waiting for her to appear. but she never did.
and now allison is worried. erica had expected her to be relieved lydia wasn’t with them, she certainly makes enough of a fuss when she finds lydia with them that it wouldn’t be surprising. but she wasn’t, she’d been worried – uptight, no-fun-at-all allison argent was worried, and that—that worries erica, just a little bit.
“no, she’s obviously up there singing about her forbidden love for her ladyship,” isaac is saying when erica turns her attention back to them. he lays a hand against his forehead and sighs heavily as he flings himself back against the sand. “it’s so forbidden,” he whispers as boyd tries not to laugh, “we can’t.”
erica glares at him. he raises an eyebrow at her and shrugs. “what, it’s true, allison is—” he stops talking abruptly as erica glances up to the surface. she scratches absently at a scale on her tail, work already from past worries.
“i’m bored,” boyd says suddenly, breaking erica out of her thoughts. she frowns at him. boyd is rarely bored. “we should go lure fishermen to their deaths.”
isaac sits up, nodding eagerly. erica bites her lip, unsure. “i don’t know...”
“come on,” boyd tells her with a grin, already swimming toward the surface. he flicks his tail at her. “or have you caught the no fun bug from allison?”
erica can’t help but laugh at the very thought. she and isaac follow after him, making a race of it.
they’re almost at the surface when erica crashes into boyd, isaac colliding with her soon after. “what is it?” she says, disgruntled. a taste swirls into her mouth and she almost chokes on it. there’s blood in the water and it’s not human. she thinks about gagging and then something zings through the water, past her and then isaac growls. when she glances back at him, he’s clutching his shoulder, blood sifting through his fingers.
“come on,” boyd grounds out and his voice sounds hard and full of loathing. he points up and erica sees the dark bottom of a boat breaking the surface of the water. she also sees the flick of pink tail as allison moves to the other side of the rock and out of erica’s sight – why is she still there? why isn’t she swimming as far away as she can? a sound reaching her ears, muffled, coming from above the surface – is allison actually talking to the human? erica shakes her head at the sheer folly of it and follows boyd as he heads toward the boat. isaac follows after them, cursing under his breath.
“i hate capsizing boats,” he mutters.
erica turns to him with a razor sharp grin. “liar.”
isaac rolls his eyes as they ram the boat – it wobbles, so they do it again, and again. “you know me too well.” there’s a splash close by as the boat’s occupant loses his balance – he must have been standing, the fool – and falls into the water. boyd’s the first one to reach him, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him down. a black object glides past erica and then she’s there too, holding the man’s arms at his sides while isaac goes for his legs. boyd and erica are ones to see the man’s life leave his eyes – something isaac is going to whine about later, they both know it – but they all hear allison shout, “no, don’t!”
it’s too late, the man is already dead and drifting down to the bottom of the sea when she reaches them. she stares at them, like she can’t believe what she’s seen. “you—you complete, utter—” words fail her, and she settles for a wordless growl as she tugs at her hair. erica eyes her warily.
“he knew where lydia was!” allison finally manages to say, after some more growling and a few wild gestures at the man’s body. “now what am i going to do?” her voice cracks on the last word and she wraps her arms around herself. erica would almost say she’s about to cry, if she didn’t know any better. she exchanges a look with boyd and isaac. they seem just as shocked as she feels.
“allison,” boyd starts. he actually reaches out for her – erica thinks that’s pretty brave of him, considering allison could tear his face off – but he stops before he touches her. “lydia’s missing?”
allison nods, her arms tightening around herself. her face is paler than it usually is, erica notices, and her tail lashes the water. erica’s never seen her like that before but it starts to affect her – her tail lashes out once but she manages to keep herself calm. she bunches her hands into fist, digging nails into her palms. the pain helps, although not much.
“how long?” isaac says quietly.
allison opens her mouth and then licks her lips. “since last night, i think,” she replies. her voice is strong, it never wavers, and she slowly pulls her arms down to her sides. “don’t worry, i’ll save her.”
erica snorts, she can’t help herself. allison glares at her. “how?” erica drawls, examining a nail. absently, she notices the red crescents her nails had left in her palms. when she looks up, she knows her attitude is pissing allison off because allison is grounding her teeth, the sound of it almost audible. she smirks and the sight of that turns allison’s glare up a notch. she knows she’s not helping the situation, but it’s better than concentrating on the sick, apprehensive feeling that’s twisting her stomach into knots.
“no, that’s a good question,” boyd interjects, shooting a glare of his own at erica. “and i think we can help.”
allison turns to him, eyes wide. “how?” and there’s such naked hope in her voice and on her face that erica has to look away.
boyd and isaac grin at each other. “the sea witch,” they say in unison.
erica groans. great. just perfect.
-------
scott wakes up, tangled in sheets, and immediately grabs for the knife under his pillow. “who’s there?” he says quietly into the darkness but he’s pretty sure he knows who it is. stiles is asleep at his side – as the silence continues, he turns onto his side and smooches his face against the pillow. the sound of the sea crashing against the cliff makes him yearn for something he can never have again. but he’s so used to that feeling, he just pushes it aside and pretends to forget about it. clutching the knife – clumsily, no matter how much stiles teaches him – he stares around the room.
a shape – scott curses his human eyes – slowly pulls away from the deeper black of the corner and steps forward. scott sighs and replaces the knife under the pillow. “derek,” he says tiredly.
derek says nothing. as usual. scott sighs and rubs his face with both hands “i thought you were going to stay in beacon hills.” not expecting an answer, he continues. “how did you get in here?” his eyes flick to the window, which faces the sea and opens onto a sheer drop. there’s a path down to the shore – scott made sure there was – but it doesn’t lead anywhere near this side of the palace. the walls of the palace are smooth, with no handholds or footholds to be seen.
derek doesn’t answer that question. scott shivers. it’s creepy, how derek can get to him anywhere. he shouldn’t be surprised, not now, but he always is.
“what do you want?” he asks, too tired to care anymore. he just wants to go back to sleep. why can’t derek just leave him alone?
“i need your help,” derek says quietly.
scott freezes, hands bunched in the sheets. this is new. derek’s never asked for his help before. eventually he swallows thickly. “what for?” he says warily.
derek shakes his head – obviously he’s not going to be forthcoming now, why isn’t scott surprised – and beckons for him to follow as he heads to the door. scott sighs and slips out of the bed, pulling on a pair of breeches and a shirt. he’s just writing stiles a note – he worries whenever scott’s out of his sight – when stiles mumbles against the pillow and turns over, blinking sleepily.
scott freezes again. stiles yawns. “where are you going?” he asks.
scott hesitates but eventually decides it’s better to tell him. “it’s derek.”
stiles is instantly awake, falling over himself as he hurries to get dressed. “i’m coming with you.”
“no, stiles, you—” scott starts, even though he knows it’s useless.
stiles holds up a hand. “i’m coming with you,” he says as he tugs his boots on. scott hates boots, he never wears them no matter how much stiles and his father plead with him.
“fine,” scott sighs and heads out the door. derek’s waiting for him in the hall. he glares at stiles as he stumbles out of the room behind scott.
“i’m coming,” stiles hisses at him. derek just raises an eyebrow, a hint of a sneer in the corner of his mouth.
“now that’s sorted, where are we going?” scott whispers.
derek nods and then beckons for them to follow him. stiles rolls his eyes at derek’s back and mumbles something that scott doesn’t quite catch. he grins anyway.
they follow derek out of the palace, now silent as the grave after that night’s celebration, past the guards – it’s good stiles is with them, actually, his father being captain of the prince danny’s guard, although they’re mostly success because derek does know all the little secret passages, scott can almost sense stiles making a note of them behind him – and down the cliff path that leads down to the little beach at the bottom of the cliff. it’s hard going, especially in the dark, and that reminds scott of something he’d almost forgot – he hates legs. although he supposes it’d be harder with a tail. the wind whips his hair into his face, slapping him this way and that, and he hopes it won’t be long now. the smell of the sea is in his nose and he breathes it in deep, again and again, gulping it down like stiles does his father’s whiskey.
he feels giddy – he’s so close, the sea is right there, but it’s bittersweet. there’s no going back, he knows that. he’d tried, that first year, only to almost drown every time. before, water filling his lungs was normal, but now—now, it means death. stiles had his dad lock scott up after the twentieth time. “it’s for your own good, scott,” stiles had said firmly as his father had turned the key in the lock. scott had shaken his head and slammed himself against the door but there was nothing he could do.
when he’d calmed down and stiles had finally let him out, scott had thought wistfully of finding a witch but it was impossible. stiles kept too close a watch on him now.
scott steps onto the sand and walks toward the sea without meaning to. stiles stumbles down the path behind him, cursing loudly, and grabs scott’s shirt. “no, don’t,” he says, still worried scott will leave him after all these years. he tugs him in the direction derek’s walking, along the base of the cliff.
scott sighs and turns his gaze away from the sea.
it doesn’t stay that way for long. it’s a long walk, or at least it seems like one, and the sea is right there. scott can’t help but look at it. he makes no move to get closer but stiles still keeps one hand bunched in his shirt, just in case. the sea is calm, waves lapping happily at the shore, and scott wriggles his toes in the sand as they walk. derek is only a shadow up ahead.
it seems like several hours have past by the time they finally come upon a wooden hut built against the side of the cliff. it’s been battered and worn by the sea wind but it looks sturdy enough. derek glances back at them – scott’s amused to see him tapping a foot impatiently and slows down a little just because – and waits until they’ve caught up.
when they have, he opens the door to the hut and walks in. the hut has two rooms; the living area and kitchen make up one and a door on the right leads off to what scott thinks is probably the bathroom. he wonders if this is where he’s been staying. derek beckons them impatiently and scott puts it out of his mind.
derek walks toward the door on the right and opens it. scott and stiles follow him, stiles’ hand tightening in scott’s shirt. when scott turns to look at him, he sees stiles’ face alight with excitement. scott can’t help but smile, and he’s still smiling when he enters the room.
it vanishes when he takes in the bathtub and the mermaid lying in it. her green-scaled tail lashes against the tub and water splashes over the sides, onto the floor and the wall. scott breathes out, his heart beating faster, and tries not to stare. at his side, stiles makes a noise.
the mermaid glares at them. “get away from me, humans!” she snarls, her hands gripping the sides of the tub as she tries to rise. she ends up slipping back – the downside of having a tail, scott thinks – and decides that glaring at them in the hopes that they’ll eventually burst into flames is the better option.
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allison’s only met the sea witch once. her mother had taken her to visit her since she was also on the threat list – above boyd, erica, and isaac, but not too near the top. allison remembers the shock she’d felt when the sea witch – her name, victoria told her, is morrell – had the audacity to tease her mother, who – she still can’t believe it, even though she was there and saw it with her own eyes – had actually smiled. allison can barely remember the rest of the visit, still too surprised to take in anything else, until her mother tugged her arm near the end. morrell had taken her hand and said, “it was nice to meet you, allison, i hope we see more of each other.” her smile was enchanting and allison couldn’t help but return it, shyly.
her mother had snorted. “i hope not,” she’d muttered. morrell had surprised allison again by chuckling, as though she thought victoria had made a rather funny joke.
this time, her mother’s not there. allison shivers as they get closer to the mouth of the cave and forces herself not to wrap her arms around herself, no matter how comforting she finds the gesture. her mother had said it made her look weak. kate had agreed in private, although at the time she’d laughed at the suggestion. so allison keeps her arms at her sides and follows boyd. erica is on her left when she turns her head to try and distract herself. she seems to be scratching at several scales on her tail. allison finds herself wondering why and shakes her head. if she spent too much of her time thinking about the reasons for any of erica’s behaviour, she’d be here for years and lydia would still be gone.
allison realises she’s wrapped her arms around herself. she pushes them out in front of her instead, almost forcefully, and uses them to swim faster, almost overtaking boyd. she slows down before she does, though. she doesn’t want to be the first to enter the cave.
isaac speeds up, grinning – he seems almost eager, allison thinks – and overtakes them both. he laughs and flicks his tail in boyd’s face. boyd takes that as the challenge it is and accelerates, coming up behind isaac and pulling him back by the tail. isaac squawks, grabbing for him but boyd whizzes past, laughing, too fast for him to catch. “oh, it’s on,” isaac mutters.
allison meets erica’s gaze and they both sigh. kids.
it takes allison a second to process that she and erica have actually just agreed on something. it’s not something she wants to think about now so she files it away. the black gaping maw of the cave is directly in front of them now – boyd and isaac have already entered it, allison can hear them laughing and shouting – and she finds herself hesitating. but erica is there and she can’t look weak in front of her of all people. so allison takes a deep, hopefully calming breath, feels the water rush into her lungs, and enters the cave, erica just behind her.
it’s not long before they reach the main cave where morrell lives. something on the walls glows, giving off an eerie light that makes the shadows look frightening. morrell is sitting with someone allison assumes is another sea witch. where a tail would be on merfolk, or legs on a human, there are large tentacles of deep, black smoke. the other sea witch is smiling as he takes a bite out of a seaweed cake – allison curses, she’d forgotten they were morrell’s favourite. she should have gone back to palace to get some but she knows it would have lost them more time.
boyd and isaac are sitting with them, chatting quite happily. allison has a feeling they’ve been here many times before. from the sour look on erica’s face, she gathers erica knows that and has never approved.
morrell glances up from her discussion with the other sea witch, boyd, and isaac and spots them both hovering nervously nearby. “allison!” she says cheerfully, gesturing for them to come closer. “the boys here have been telling me about your unfortunate situation.” as allison and erica draw near, she turns back to boyd and isaac.
“so, let me see if i’ve got this,” she says as the other sea witch watches her with barely concealed amusement. “princess lydia is missing and you drown – accidentally,” she adds with a smile when boyd starts to say something, “the human responsible, before he was able to tell you where she was. is that right?”
with a collective sigh, boyd and isaac both nod. morrell looks over at allison and erica for confirmation. allison nods, keeping her face blank, and she supposes erica does too. “i see,” morrell murmurs, tapping her fingernails against the rock underneath her. “how can i help?”
allison starts to speak and then closes her mouth. she has no idea how morrell could help, other than somehow bringing lydia to them via magic and that seems slightly worse than impossible. she glances at boyd and isaac, since it was their idea to come here.
“we were thinking you could give us legs so that we can search for her,” isaac says eagerly, almost too eager, and boyd lays a hand on his arm.
morrell nods slowly. “there is a price, of course, as you both know.” she shares a cryptic look with the other sea witch. she sighs heavily. the other sea witch looks pleased.
“it turns out that my colleague here, deaton, is looking for someone too,” morrell says through gritted teeth, as though each word is dragged out of her by force.
at the mention of his name, allison stares at the other sea witch. she’d heard about him from her grandfather. the golden-hearted prince’s mother had pleaded with him to personally search for her son and he had finally acquiesced, asking only that she leave the search to him and no one else. it had been an unusual request and considering that deaton’s search was still ongoing, even after ten years, her grandfather had thought he had somehow been in on the kidnapping. then again, he’d never liked sea witches. allison’s father had said he was very biased in that regard, and also the worse for drink, and that she shouldn’t listen to him. still, it’s the first thing she thinks of when she looks at deaton now.
“the golden-hearted prince is here?” allison says slowly. out of the corner of her eye, she sees erica glance at her, eyes wide in a suddenly pale face. isaac makes a noise like he wants to ask a question but boyd squeezes his arm, silencing him.
deaton smiles, his gaze never leaving her. “on land, of course, where i cannot go.”
“so,” morrell interrupts, glowering at deaton. his smile widens and he takes a bite of the seaweed cake in his hand. she eyes him and then turns back to allison, looking from her, to erica, and over to boyd and isaac. “i shall grant you legs so that you may search for the princess. in return you must find the golden-hearted prince and bring him back to the sea.”
“how long do we have?” boyd asks the question like he’s done it a million times before.
morrell taps her chin. “hmm, a day.”
erica gasps. “that’s too short,” she growls. “they could be anywh—”
morrell holds a hand and erica croaks, slapping a hand over her mouth when she realises she can’t speak. allison looks at morrell with new respect. she’d wished she could do that sometimes. “they are close. he is merfolk, he cannot resist the call of the sea for long. and the human couldn’t take her far, not with her fighting him every inch of the way.”
allison grins at the thought. she’d known all the little tricks she taught lydia in secret would come in handy one day. she turns and finds erica smirking and she wonders suddenly whether erica had taught lydia ways to defend herself too. that thought leaves a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. she imagines them sparring together, like she and lydia had done at night in lydia’s rooms. a wave of jealousy hits her and she grits her teeth, her hands curling into fists at her sides as she tries to control herself.
“and,” morrell adds, bringing allison out of her thoughts, “when they find her missing and you gone,” she points at allison, “they’ll send kate argent out to look for you. two days and a night is how long deaton and i can keep them occupied before they notice.” she smiles at allison like she’s doing her a favour. allison groans inwardly. in her panic at finding lydia missing and then being attacked by her kidnapper, she’d completely forgotten about her family and how they would react when they found her and lydia missing. she shudders at the thought of her mother’s rage, how lydia’s parents would quiver beneath it and promise her anything to bring their children back.
“that’s fine then,” boyd says quickly.
“a day, sounds good to me,” isaac adds just as fast. erica stays silent, still under morrell’s silencing spell, but allison notes that her lips are pressed together until they’re white.
they all look ill, probably at the thought of kate. if kate had been there to see their faces, allison knows she would have laughed that quiet, soft laugh of hers that always makes allison shiver, almost afraid of her own aunt.
“i’m glad,” morrell says, the quirk of her mouth telling them that she’s amused by their reactions. beside her, deaton finishes his seaweed cake and reaches for another. she wriggles on the rock, her black smoky tentacles swirling around her. “now, this may hurt a little bit,” she says, raising her hands.
“wait!” erica shouts, somehow free of morrell’s spell. everyone looks at her in surprise, except morrell. she just sighs heavily again. erica takes a deep breath once she’s got their attention. “what’s your price for keeping lydia’s parents and the argents distracted?”
boyd and isaac exchange a look, their eyes wide.
morrell presses her lips together. “i thought you’d never ask.” she sighs again. “fine.” she gives them a bright smile, showing teeth. “one of you must stay with me once you get back.”
“which one?” allison asks warily.
morrell gives allison her sweetest smile now, no teeth. “oh, that’ll be a surprise.”
“as i will also be involved in this part,” deaton interjects, sounding amused, “i will reveal the surprise and say she’s stuck between boyd and isaac here.” he gestures at them languidly. boyd and isaac share another look. this one, allison can’t decipher. from the annoyed look on erica’s face, it seems she can.
morrell gives him a sour look. “you’re no fun,” she says with a pout.
“how long?” boyd asks quietly.
allison can tell morrell is surprised by the question – the way her smoky tentacles thrash for just a fraction of a second is a dead giveaway, especially for someone trained by the argents.
“oh, a year,” morrell says coolly. she shrugs, like she doesn’t care. “maybe two. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
boyd glances at isaac, who seems to nod his agreement. “we’ll stay with you,” boyd says. “both of us. we’ll stay.”
“no!” erica cries, rushing forward but allison grabs her, holding her around the waist. she struggles for a moment, battering her tail mercilessly against allison and then goes limp in her arms. suspecting it’s a trick, allison keeps a tight hold on her for a moment longer and, when erica seems to given up, slowly releases her.
“no,” erica says, softer this time. boyd and isaac rush to her side, their movements disturbing the water enough that the rest of the seaweed cakes tumble down onto the sand. deaton makes a noise of complaint. allison’s too busy watching as boyd and isaac encircle erica, boyd pressing his face into her hair, isaac burying his nose against her shoulder. and erica looks so unbearably sad, allison realises, something that feels like guilt squeezing her heart. she pretends that she’s not looking at them, or that she cares, and schools her face into an expression of cool disinterest. her mother and lydia make it look so easy because allison knows that there are several cracks in her mask.
“are we going to do this or not?” morrell asks brightly, clasping her hands together.
allison opens her mouth to answer but it’s erica, glaring at morrell over boyd and isaac, who says, “we’re doing this.” surprised, allison glances at her. erica meets her gaze stubbornly. “for lydia,” she adds.
“for lydia,” allison agrees.
“aww,” morrell says, directly their attention back toward her. she smiles when they all look at her. “that was lovely.” she raises her hands, fingers spread wide. “a word of warning,” she adds sweetly. “this might hurt.”
allison gasps as a rush of something – magic, she thinks giddily – washes over her. it prickles, like when her arm had fallen asleep with lydia lying on it, but it doesn’t hurt. and then it does, so much, like she’s being stabbed with a thousand and one of kate’s knives. it feels like someone’s trying to cut her tail in two and she opens her mouth to scream. water rushes in and this time she chokes on it, coughs, but that just makes it worse as it burns down her throat and into her lungs. she thrashes her tail but it’s gone, there’s now two strange limbs in its place – legs, she thinks and for some reason she feels like giggling. her vision starts to go black and she barely feels it when boyd grabs her around the waist and pulls her out of the cave and up, up, up to the surface.
-----------
lydia watches the three human warily. she’s afraid – so afraid, what if the kidnapper comes back, what if they’re here at his request, to gawp and poke at her, where is allison – but she doesn’t show it, at least not where they can see it. her hands quiver against her sides in the water but her gaze is direct and stubborn, for all that they have the upper hand.
one of them she’d seen before, the other two were strangers. one of the strangers stares freely at her breasts, she doesn’t know why. she hates her kidnapper for removing her sea shells, humans have such weird ideas about nakedness, like you owe them something. the other one takes a few steps toward her and removes his shirt. she freezes as he leans over and wraps the shirt around her, covering her breasts from his friend’s gaze. they look at each other – warm brown eyes meeting cold green – and lydia frowns. she recognises him, at least she thinks she does. her eyes search his face – it looks older than it should, it has been ten years, his hair is longer – but, yes, it’s him.
“you’re him,” she says, softly so the others can’t hear her. “scott.” he smiles, for a moment, so wide and carefree and happy, and she can see why they call him the golden-hearted prince, it’s there in that smile.
his friend, the rude one who stared at her breasts, makes a noise. “scott?” he says, his voice too loud. scott’s smile changes, becomes softer and less real somehow, but it’s still there when he turns to look at his friend. they gaze at each other for a moment and scott’s friend slowly relaxes, like scott has reassured him about something.
scott turns his gaze on the other man – her kidnapper called him derek, she remembers. “why did you bring us here?” he asks, his voice harsh, almost a growl. lydia sees his hands curl themselves into fists. “where is he?”
derek shrugs, his face mostly calm, but his eyes dart toward lydia and then back at scott. “he hasn’t returned.” his eyes flick back to her again. “and he couldn’t change her.” there’s what looks like a smile tucked in the corner of his mouth but when lydia blinks, it’s gone as though it was never there. “it frustrated him.”
scott’s friend snorts. “i’ll bet.”
scott, though – scott is looking at her with confusion, his brow furrowed, he’s almost frowning, but there’s a spark of hope in his eyes and the way his lips part, lydia recognises the signs from all of those times she’s been close enough to allison that they might kiss. “he couldn’t change you?” scott whispers, and there’s the hope, naked now not just bits and pieces.
lydia frowns. “change me?” she rubs her arm where he’d stabbed her repeatedly (thirty four times, to be exact) with a needle. she remembers his curses increasing after each injection, as though whatever he’d been hoping for never eventuated.
“turn you human,” scott tells her. a flash of pain crosses his face and she realises suddenly, the way she hadn’t really before, that he was no longer merfolk. he was human, he walked on two legs like the other two humans. like her kidnapper. her breath catches as she grasps what he’s saying. her kidnapper had meant to turn her human. she feels a vicious pleasure at the memory of all those taunts she’d thrown at him when he cursed her, or at his expression, mouth wide open, gaping like a fool, when she’d managed to slap him full in the face with her tail. he’d had to have derek hold her down as he tried to administer another injection, she’d struggled so hard. the floor of the room is testament to that, so slippery-wet with water its occupant have to step carefully or risk falling. how red he’d become when she’d yelled at him he wouldn’t get away with this, whatever it was he’d been trying to do wasn’t working, screaming at him over her fear that maybe this meant that he’d end up killing her.
she stares down at her tail, trying to get her feelings under control, and then she looks up at scott, at his sad smile, twisted and bitter, and it hits her. where he failed with her, he’d succeeded with scott. it hurts to look at him but she does anyway. she hesitates and then reaches a hand out for his. his lips part and his smile is happier even if his eyes are still sad, and he reaches for her too.
it’s a surprise when his friend slaps her hand away. “no,” he says, glaring at her jealously as he hovers beside scott.
“it’s okay, stiles,” scott says. he sounds tired.
“no, it’s not,” his friend – stiles – snaps. he looks at scott and there’s some naked feeling in his eyes. “she’ll take you away from me.”
scott sighs and bows his head. “stiles, please,” he says softly.
stiles shakes his head, fast and loose, like he’s going to shake it right off his neck. he lunges for the pistol – lydia remembers allison showing her a picture of it in the sand of her rooms – on the table in the corner, a move that surprises even derek, and points it at lydia. lydia freezes, trying not to move. the fear is back, rushing through her head, but she keeps her face perfectly blank. stiles’ hands shake as his finger finds the trigger but his gaze is steady. “you’re not going to leave me, scott,” he says, and his voice is steady too.
scott takes a step forward and stiles swings the gun to point it at him. his eyes are wide, his face a dead white, as he stutters, “no, scott, don’t. let me, please.” he pleads with him even as scott takes the gun from his hand and drops it on the wet floor. lydia feels a surge of relief as the pistol hits the floor but doesn’t let herself express it out loud. that would definitely be a bad idea, calling unwanted attention to her presence. “no,” stiles says once more and then he’s silent as scott puts his arms around him.
lydia has no idea what's going on. she hopes allison gets here soon. humans are weird.
-----------
erica wakes up, vomiting water into the sand beneath her cheek as someone turns her on her side. she stares up at the blue sky once she’s finished coughing up her lungs. she sits up and looks down at the two limbs that used to be her tail. they’re ugly, nowhere near as beautiful as her beautiful blue-and-green-scaled tail, and the things on the end of them – is she supposed to, what’s the word, stand on them? they don’t seem very capable.
beside her allison wakes up with a gasp, coughing water just as erica had done. erica sighs and pushes her gently onto her side, pushing her dark hair out of her mouth so she can vomit freely. she caresses allison’s hair absently, humming softly, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin, and then she hears the sound of laughter coming from far away – she’d recognise boyd and isaac anywhere – and stares at her hand. realising what she’s doing, she stops humming abruptly and pulls her hand away. she hopes fervently that allison hadn’t noticed – with any luck, the glare allison sends her way when she sits up is just because they’re so close.
boyd sits down next to her and throws some clothes at allison and then hands some to erica. “put these on,” he tells them as isaac flops down next to him, grinning. erica stares suspiciously at the piece of clothing in her hands, trying to work out how to put it on.
“what is this?” she says petulantly, throwing the thing at her legs. the feeling as it settles over them is weird, sort of like it would be with her tail, but some of the fabric slips between the legs and the sight of it makes her stomach turn. when she looks to her right, allison seems to be much the same predicament. it makes erica feel slightly better. but only slightly.
boyd and isaac grin at each other. “a dress.” isaac adds, smirking, “they’re what humans wear, sometimes.”
erica raises an eyebrow at them – they don’t seem to be wearing them – but it’s allison who asks, “why?”
“because it makes them feel pretty?” boyd shrugs, like well, they’re human, what can you do. erica supposes that’s a good enough reason – it’s why the shells covering her breasts are a hot pink and not, say, a plain back like allison’s. isaac nods, as if he can hear her inner monologue and is in full agreement, and bites into something red and round.
allison sighs and tries to figure out the dress again. erica watches her, a smile on her face, and allison notices. she glares. “i’d like to see you try,” she says hotly. her cheeks slowly turn red as she struggles with the dress, and she bites her lip, hard, when isaac starts to laugh. erica glares at him, on principle, even though she kind of likes this look on allison. she has a feeling he’d laugh at her just as hard, if not harder, so she ups the power of her glare.
his laughter peters out and boyd snorts. “okay, fine, we’ve had our fun,” he says, moving to kneel beside allison. he takes the dress from her hands and does something with it that erica tries to figure out, and then he’s putting the dress over allison’s head and allison’s arms are coming out of two other holes in the dress. boyd sits back as allison pulls the dress over herself, lifting up to pull the dress down over her legs.
erica fares marginally better when she puts her dress on but she still needs a little help from isaac, much to her dismay and allison’s amusement. she glares at allison and pokes her tongue out but that just makes boyd and isaac laugh too.
“haha, very funny,” she mutters and tries to push herself up onto her legs. there’s a moment, crystal clear, where she’s standing and looking down at the others and then those horrible legs give out from beneath her and she tumbles to the ground, getting a mouthful of sand and the boys’ laughter in her ears for her effort.
“i’d like to see you try,” erica tells a smiling allison as she tries to rub sand from her tongue, throwing her own words back at her. allison sniffs, her nose high in the air – obviously she thinks she can do much better than erica. she pushes herself up, just as erica had done, and erica feels a second of triumph as allison falls faster than she had before she realises that allison’s about to fall on top of her. she tries to scramble away but that requires moving her legs and that’s just kind of not happening so she ends up with allison sprawled over her, pushing the air from her lungs with whoosh. allison tries to sit up, spitting erica’s hair out of her mouth as she does so.
“just be thankful that’s not sand,” erica says tartly as allison glares at her.
and then it’s like a cloud rolls over her face, though there’s not a single cloud in that blue, blue sky, and she scrambles quickly off erica. somehow she’s standing – through sheer force of will, erica can see the way she shakes and the way her legs tremble as they try to hold her up – and then she leans down to give erica a hand up, though erica hadn’t ask for one. they both totter on the ends of their legs – allison’s face goes white at the effort of holding up both herself and erica – but then they slowly become more steady. it’s too slow for allison though, she growls with frustration every few seconds, even as she holds erica’s hands tightly with both of her own.
eventually allison lets go, almost without warning, and for a second erica feels as though she’s lost something. probably balance, she thinks as her legs shake beneath her. but they don’t collapse, which is a relief, she’d prefer not to go through that whole situation, with allison growling her frustration in her ear, her hands gripping erica’s so hard erica felt that she couldn’t let go if she tried. no, she doesn’t want to repeat that. ever again.
she moves the bottom of one of her legs, slides it across the sand, and then without thinking she lifts the other leg. she feels herself begin to fall, heaves a huge sigh, and then squeaks as boyd pulls her close and helps her to stand. she turns and sees isaac doing the same for allison, and then she turns her attention back to her legs.
“okay, now, one foot after another,” boyd says, slowly showing her how to do with his—feet, did he call them? she supposes it’s quicker than ‘bottom of the leg.’ she wonders if the weird squarish things on the end of the feet, the things that curled through the sand, had a name too.
“how do humans do this every day?” she hears allison grumble, and erica finds herself in full agreement. she doesn’t think she’ll ever understand why anyone would want legs, when they could have a tail, and the sea. a longing hits her so hard she gasps for breath and stumbles, only staying upright because boyd is there to hold her up.
the sea
she turns back to look at it—the sun shines on its surface, waves lap the shore, eating at the sand, it’s so beautiful and it smells so great and she wishes she could be back in it, dive back in, shed these legs and take back her tail—
“no,” boyd says softly in her ear. “not yet. remember, we’re here to look for lydia and the golden-hearted prince. remember.”
erica takes a deep breath, inhales salty sea air and the longing’s still there, still strong, but there’s a purpose now, for her being here. lydia. and the golden-hearted prince, she supposes but she’s never met him. a memory of lydia appears, of lydia, angry, tumbling through the water as boyd and isaac laugh on the sidelines, the way she’d raised her head and rushed at erica, pushing her down onto the seabed. the smug satisfaction in her voice when she’d said, “i win,” and then the shock on her face as erica flipped her over and slid out from beneath her. and the longing for the sea becomes a little less because there’s lydia to rescue, they need to help lydia return to the sea with them.
erica nods at him and they turn to face allison and isaac. “where do we start?” erica asks.
allison starts to speak before she looks at isaac, and then over at boyd. “well?”
boyd and isaac look at each other. “there’s the palace,” isaac says slowly.
“i think there’s a hut that’s closer,” boyd replies. erica, tucked against him, watches him smile, his eyes lighting up at some memory she wasn’t privy to because she’d always refused to visit the sea witch with them. “remember, it’s where we stayed there...” he trails off as though he realises he and isaac aren’t the ones there, finishing lamely, “remember?”
isaac nods quickly and pulls his arm tighter around allison. “yeah, that’s not too far here,” he says, his voice louder than normal. allison eyes him like she’s never noticed how weird he truly is until now, and then she turns back and catches erica’s gaze. they both shrugs. boys.
they begin to walk along the shore, in the direction of the hut, slowly at first but picking up speed when allison and erica start to get used to their legs and feet and, boyd tells them, the weird round things at the end of them called toes. soon enough, they don’t need boyd and isaac to support them. sometimes erica will stumble and she’ll reach out, fingers grasping for something to hold, and it’ll be allison who grabs her and keeps her upright til she’s got her balance back. they pull away as soon as erica does, of course, touching each other makes them feel weird and it’s just not the right time to look to close at why.
it’s probably the whole being human thing. no wonder erica’s always hated humans, she thinks bitterly. when she gets back to being merfolk, she’s going to lure so many sailors and fishermen to their deaths the silly humans are going to make up a legend about her.
they reach the hut to find its door wide open. allison peers inside, slowly beckoning them forward as she steps into the hut. erica follows her, and then boyd, and then isaac. it doesn’t look like there’s anyone there - erica takes the time to get accustomed to walking on the hard wood floor – but then she hears the sound of quiet voices coming from a room off to the right. from the way allison, boyd, and isaac are acting – each have a finger pressed to their lips as they slowly move toward the door – she assumes they’ve heard the voices too.
a floorboard creeks under her feet and she winces. allison whirls to glare at her, pressing the finger harder against her lips. erica glares back, sullenly. it’s not her fault, she’s never walked on wood before!
a human emerges from the room – tall, brooding, sort of a nice mouth, she’d kiss it if she had the time – and his eyes widen as he takes them in. he’s about to open his mouth but allison is on him before he can, pressing fingers against his neck that make his eyes roll to the back of his head and his legs collapse beneath him. it’s done so quickly and quietly erica can only look on in awe. allison glances up and sees them staring and her mouth quivers, a tiny barely there smile shows itself, and then it’s gone, covered over by allison’s normal stern and oh so serious face.
allison turns away from them and heads to the other room. erica doesn’t see anything but she hears lydia exclaim, “finally, allison! i thought you’d never get here!”
erica enters the room just in time to see lydia point at one of the two humans in the room and announce in her princess voice, “remove that one from my sight, allison.” she sniffs. “he was very rude and pointed a pistol at me, look, there it is on the floor!” lydia, still with her tail intact, lies full length in a large white bathtub and continues to look as haughty as she did when she first approached erica, boyd and isaac, arms crossed over her chest, nose turned up. now, erica knows it’s mostly bravado and that lydia’s seriously relieved to see them but probably doesn’t want to show anything but the haughty facade to the two humans.
allison’s about to do the finger neck trick to the human who had offended lydia when the other one grabs her wrist and shakes his head. “please, don’t,” he pleads, his brown eyes so earnest they almost convince erica. they’re enough for allison to hesitate and glance over to lydia, who grumbles something like, “fine.”
the human lets go of her wrist, and then allison snatches at his hand, gripping it tightly between her own. “you’re him,” she says, and her smile is bright and happy as she looks from the human to lydia and back again. lydia nods slowly.
erica looks closer at the human and she can’t help but gasp and press a hand to her mouth. this human – or perhaps he only looks like a human, like they do at the moment – he’s scott, the golden-hearted prince. “well, that was,” she stops before she says easy because it wasn’t – not for scott, who had spent ten miserable years as a human, and not for erica who would be losing her two best friends because of this search. she doubts morrell will allow visiting hours, somehow. the other human, the one lydia doesn’t like, glares at her for some reasons, like he knows why she’s there, and steps a little bit closer to scott. boyd and isaac gasp behind her and the human turns his glare on them.
there’s a groan from the human in the other room as allison tells scott, “we’re here to take you home.” her eyes are soft as she looks at him and it – or perhaps the words – tug a smile from his mouth. the human at his side mutters darkly.
lydia snorts from the bathtub. “i suppose i’m going to be staying forever.” she heaves a put-upon sigh. “you’re a terrible lady-in-waiting, allison,” she says spitefully, but there’s no real heat to the words.
allison immediately turns her attention away from scott. she walks over to the bathtub and lydia reaches up to wrap her arms around allison’s neck. allison slides her arms into the small amount of remaining water in the tub and underneath lydia, hauling her out of the bathtub with a harsh grunt. she takes a step back, trying to get used to lydia’s weight, and erica notices she’s about to slip before she really does. erica’s there between one second and the next, trying not to slip herself, and she slides her arms around allison’s waist, helping her to keep her balance.
lydia flutters her eyelashes. “my heroes,” she simpers.
allison grunts. “you’re heavy.”
lydia glares at her. “no need to insult me.”
when she realises she’s no longer needed, erica steps away, trying to look everywhere but at allison and lydia. boyd taps her on the shoulder and she turns to him with relief. “the human wants to come with us,” he says.
erica looks over at them, bringing her attention to their argument just as it ends. the human looks sullen but resigned, scott looks sad and happy at the same time. “you promise i can?” the human asks, and erica worries for a moment that he thinks he can actually come with them. isaac catches her eyes and shakes his head – his face is closed off and his eyes dart toward the human slowly getting to his feet with a groan just past the doorway. erica wonders briefly what this has to do with that human but puts it out of her mind.
scott doesn’t smile as he grips the human’s shoulder, and there’s no warmth in his eyes. “i said so, didn’t i,” he says. it’s not a question. the human nods – there’s an almost eager look on his face – and then they both look around and see that everyone is watching them.
the human’s face crumples suddenly, that eager look gone, and he grabs scott by the arm. “please,” he begs. it’s obviously a last ditch effort and erica can tell he knows it won’t work, but he tries anyway. “don’t leave me.”
scott hugs him tightly and then lets him go, all it what amounts to several seconds. and then he’s walking past boyd, isaac, and the other human standing in the other room, and out of erica’s sight. lydia in her arms, allison takes a step forward, almost slips, and erica’s there in an instant, wrapping an arm around allison’s waist. together, they walk out of the room, and then out of the hut, followed by boyd and isaac.
erica forgets to let go of allison until they’re out of the hut. she pulls away quickly and allison, who’d apparently become used to her presence, stumbles backward, lydia squeaking as she jumps around in allison’s arms, almost tumbling out of her hold. erica moves forward immediately and takes her original position, arms around allison’s waist. allison seems to relax against and lydia gives her a fleeting smug smile from beneath allison’s chin but she could have imagined either of them, really.
scott’s standing at the edge of the shore, the waves lapping at his toes. he looks back at them and there’s something that looks like fear in his eyes. “that last time i did this, i almost drowned,” he told them frankly.
isaac slaps him on the back, grinning broadly. “but now you have us,” boyd says, slinging an arm around his shoulders. the smile that slowly appears on scott’s face is so bright to be almost blinding. erica has to look away, accidentally burying her nose in allison’s hair.
“okay,” scott says as erica pulls her face away quickly. “let’s do this.”
and they all walk into the sea together, leaving their clothes in a haphazard pile on the sand.
as erica slips beneath the waves she thinks she hears a bang – or perhaps it’s a pop – come from the shore, but she’s probably just imagining it. and anyway seconds after that lydia zooms past, followed quickly by scott, whooping and laughing, carefree as they race toward the palace.
beside her, allison shakes her head. they share a look as boyd and isaac speed past. erica can’t keep a straight face for long. she stares at allison for as long as she can – a few seconds at most – and then she’s grinning, all seriousness melted away, and flicking her tail as she speeds up and after the others. the sound of allison’s surprised laugh behind her makes her giddy and she blames it wholeheartedly for the way she reacts. erica spins toward her as allison tries to overtake her, bumping into her and breaking her momentum.
“i hate you,” allison says through gasps for breath. the water in her lungs must feel so good, erica thinks. it certainly feel great to her.
erica grins. “no, you don’t,” she says primly, speeding up so she can flick her tail in allison’s face.
allison giggles, pushing her away, and then stops abruptly. when erica glances back, allison looks surprised somehow. she gives erica a strange look and erica’s about ask, well, something when isaac yells from somewhere ahead of them, “stop dawdling, you two, think of the celebrations we’ll get when we return, the conquering heroes!”
the moment between them gone, allison snorts. “he does realise we haven’t been gone very long, right?”
erica shrugs. “he will eventually.”