Jon glanced back towards the shore, but Damon’s mother placed herself between them and dry land. It was more for show, really. Even with the water only waist deep, running with any speed would be impossible thanks to water resistance, and the mermaid would have plenty of time to stop them with her voice. “Well, I definitely don’t want to die.”
“Ditto,” Cindy agreed. “But how can we leave everything we ever knew without getting to say goodbye?”
“I’m afraid that’s gonna happen whichever option we pick. But I promise I’ll be here for you either way, babe.”
Cindy gazed at her boyfriend with love but also something else. Turning to Damon’s mother, she asked, “Could we discuss something in private?”
The mermaid eyed them suspiciously, but seeing the expression on her daughter’s face, she gave in. “Very well. But don’t take a single step towards land, or I’ll start singing again.”
“We understand,” Cindy replied before leading her boyfriend off to the side. Quickly, they began whispering to each other.
Meanwhile, Damon spoke softly to Sarah. “Look, I don’t want my mom to kill you. Please, become a mermaid so you can live.”
The girl stared down at her hands. “Wouldn’t you have preferred that I become a merman?”
“No,” Damon answered immediately. “I’ve had two forced gender changes in my life. I’d never want you to be put through the same just for me. Just be yourself, and I’ll support you no matter what.”
Having been eavesdropping, Damon’s mother chimed in. “Don’t be afraid to choose either one, dear. It doesn’t have to affect your relationship. Mermaids are not as restricted as humans about most things, especially given that there are more mermaids than mermen.”
Sarah nodded shyly. “Well, I think I’ll have to choose being a mermaid anyway, since I’m actually pregnant.”
It took a few seconds for her words to sink into Damon’s brain. “Wait, are you saying…”
His girlfriend gave him a small smile. “Yes, Damon. You’re a father. Or mother. Whatever. In fact, I was going to tell you tonight with Jon and Cindy there to witness your reaction. That’s why we were going to my house. After setting things up at my place, I would have called you to come over.”
With a splash, Damon’s mother eagerly rushed over to them. Taking Sarah’s hand, the mermaid asked, “Is this true? Are you carrying a child sired by Scarlett as a human male?”
The girl nodded.
Damon‘s mother beamed with happiness, pulling Sarah down into a wet, half-submerged hug. Suddenly, she pulled away, her eyes wide. “This changes things. A lot! That child is of royal blood! My grandchild! That makes him or her the heir after Scarlett herself. Oh, this will cause a great upheaval among the clans.” She waved a hand absently. “Well, no help for it. Even if you had chosen death, I couldn’t give it to you now. You must become a mermaid immediately!”
“What do I have to do?”
“First, you must remove your clothes. Don’t worry about nakedness, dear. Mermaids mostly go around without cover anyway.”
Sarah blushed as she slowly stripped off her garments. Damon understood her embarrassment. While he had seen her naked plenty of times, as had Cindy thanks to sharing showers at school, this would be the first time for Jon. Turning his head to tell Jon to look away, he saw his two friends nearly at the beach. Clearly, they had taken advantage of Sarah’s distracting announcement to sneak away, though rather slowly in order not to make any sound in the water.
Damon clamped his mouth shut to keep from giving them away, but his mother caught his brief expression and glanced over her shoulder.
“Treachery!” She shouted and began to sing.
To her surprise, the young couple kept going. Damon spotted neon yellow plugs in their ears. Cindy always wore them in swimming class, so she must have had them with her along with a spare set to give Jon. With this protection in place, the couple easily leapt the last few steps onto shore and jumped into Jon’s jeep, starting the engine and driving off down the sand as quickly as they could. Seeing her voice having no effect, Damon’s mother screamed in frustration. “You won’t get away and endanger our people!”
To Damon’s surprise, his mother formed a ball of light in her hand and hurled it at the moving jeep, striking the ground underneath. At first, it seemed like her attack had missed, until the vehicle bounced high into the air as if thrown by a giant invisible catapult, its momentum carrying it back over the water. Up, up, up it went, until it was only a tiny shadow in the dimming sky. Then, gravity once more took hold and it started to plummet.
Sarah and Damon shouted in panic. From that height, there was no way Jon and Cindy would survive the impact. Hitting the water would be no different than hitting solid ground, and neither had any time even to put on a seatbelt.
Without thinking, Damon lifted a hand, webbed fingers spread out as if to catch the image of his doomed friends within. Instead, he felt something release inside himself, an energy fed by his overwhelming emotions flowing out into his hand. A ball of light similar to the one cast by his mother materialized in his palm before shooting off to hit the jeep, or more precisely, the occupants inside. High above, Jon and Cindy sat inside the car turned deathtrap, too terrified even to scream. Then, they felt their bodies warm up and begin to change.
Damon watched as two figures shot out of the vehicle’s open doors, bodies stretching out into a natural dive. For a split second, he caught a glimpse of lithe bodies and long tail fins. Had he turned them into mer-people like his mother had done with him? But she had said his power would activate when he was older. How had he done it without even knowing how? And what had he made them into?
Then, the jeep hit with an explosive crash, its body caving in before sinking out of sight. On either side, Jon and Cindy entered with infinitely more grace, cutting through the water like razor blades with nary a splash between them. As the wreckage settled onto the reef below, the forms of Damon’s friends glided back around towards him before surfacing a short distance away. For the first time, Damon could see what his spell had done to them.