Rose’s mouth was a gap as she looked at the blue energy which gathered around her boyfriend’s hands, fear built up in her heart and on her face. Maybe it was her face or his own fear but he closed his hands as the energy started to fade and then disappear.
“What the fuck was that?” inquired Taylor
“By the seas themselves…there…there is only one possible answer, he is the missing prince.” Said the mermaid doctor as she swam forward and came almost up into Nate’s face. Nate pulled back and was about to punch this mermaid’s lights out when his friends, including Emeko surrounded him and moved between him and this now very excited mermaid.
“Explain.” Ordered Rose in a voice which anyone would obey.
“If I am right, then he is the missing Prince Cain of Vapocada.” Said the mermaid as she looked at Nate who just looked at her confused. “Vapocada is one of the Nine merkingdoms in our world, not the largest kingdom but by not the smallest either, your Uncle wasn’t happy when you where born and it dropped him in the line of succession, so he got rid of you. Everyone thought he killed you…guess the bastard couldn’t bring himself to kill his nephew so he transformed you into a human and sent you to the human world.”
“No…” said Nate. “My name is Nate and my parents where druggies which is why I was taken by CPS and raised in the system.”
Everyone of his friends, minus Rose, Sam and Taylor looked at him a little bit surprise. Even Sam and Taylor looked surprise, they knew Nate was an orphan but not the full story. Nate had always kept that part of his life very private only Rose knew the full details about being sent from one foster home to another and never really having a family.
“No…your parents are the King and Queen of the Merfolk Kingdom of Vapocada and you are the missing prince who was kidnapped.” Countered the mermaid “I will have to run a blood test to confirm, luckily I have some so I don’t need to take anymore….but if you are Prince Cain then this will be wonderful news and the whole kingdom will celebrate.”
Nate just looked at her not knowing what to say or even what to think.
“So do you think the island came to him?” inquired Denjo as everyone looked at him and then at the mermaid before looking at Nate.
“It is possible, the island is magical and is linked to the royal lines…it may have wanted to bring the missing Prince home.” Stated the Mermaid “No matter, I need to get to work and get testing.”
With that she turned and swam toward the bent door, already some other merman and mermaids had come in and where busy repairing the door. Within minutes four merman where at work fixing the door and adding new markings to it. Everyone watched as the markings where finished and glowed for a moment.
“There that should hold against anything.” Said a merman with pride as they swam out, leaving the former humans behind stunned.
“You…you are a merman Prince?” inquired Taylor
“No…this….this can’t be real.” Said Nate not sure what to do or even what to think. “My parents where druggies which is why I was taken from them as a baby.”
“Or was that a cover.” countered Mike
“This changes nothing, Nate is still Nate and….” started Rose
“This changes everything, if that mermaid is to be believed then the island only appeared to get Nate and it is his fault that we are in this mess.” Countered Sam as he glared at Nate. “I don’t fault you fully for it, you had no idea but the truth is that it wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t decided to come with us.”
“And it was your idea to invite him.” Countered Taylor as she glared at her boyfriend. “This is no one’s fault.”
“Maybe we can use this to our advantage…if Nate is this missing prince maybe we can get them to send us home?” inquired Kelly
“They will not let a member of a royal family whom they had just gotten back to go back to the human world.” Stated Mike
“Besides…say they let us go back…how would we explain that Nate is missing?” added Stacy “We can’t say…he was turned into a merman, no they would think we killed him and we would end up in jail.”
“I am not leaving Nate, so forget that idea in the first place.” Stated Rose horrified at the idea of even leaving Nate behind.
“It was just an idea.” Countered Kenny “We had to consider it.”
“Consider it dead.” Growled Rose as she got in Kenny’s face.
“It’s alright…we have all been through a lot.” Stated Nate, “Excuses me….I need to think for a moment…maybe more than a moment.”
With that Nate turned and swam away from the group to the far side of the chamber and to the top most slab which served as a bed for those being transformed. Everyone of them noted that even though Nate was the last to wake up, he seamed to move with the greatest of ease in the water, everyone else was still figuring it out but it looked almost second nature to him.
“I am going to go be with me boyfriend, you all can figure something out.” Hissed Rose as she swam up and found Nate sitting on the edge looking down. She swam up and sat beside him.
“I would ask if you are ok…but.” started Rose “I know you aren’t.”
“You know it is strange, part of me actually wants this whole thing to be true.” Admitted Nate “I mean even though I was told that my parents where horrible part of me wanted to know about them but I never wanted to look down that rabbit hole in case the stories where worse then what I expected. But if I was kidnapped then…”
“Then that changes things, it means they never abounded you or were even horrible parents, you where stolen from them.” Stated Rose as Nate nodded as she put her arm around her boyfriend’s back. “Not the change you where expecting when you went on this trip.”
“No…not at all…” stated Nate before he paused and looked at Rose a little confused. “What change did you expect to happen?”
“Nothing.” Lied Rose as Nate looked at her. “Fine…I guess it doesn’t matter really anymore, but you need to work harder on where you hide stuff.”
It took a moment for Nate to realize what she meant.
“You found the engagement ring I bought you.” Stated Nate
“Yes…and I actually picked it out.” Added Rose as Nate looked at her even more confused. “You asked Taylor to help you right?”
“Right.” Confirmed Nate. “She said she would look around and then come back to me with a few she thinks I would like. Did she tell you?”
“Yes and no.” admitted Rose with a playful grin, she and Taylor had promised never to tell the boys about this but she knew this was getting Nate’s mind off the revelation about his possible parents which was good. “Sam…Sam asked me to help find a ring for Taylor and we ran into each other by accident in the jewel store looking at rings. So we each picked our rings out and then had you two get them, I only figured you would ask during this trip because you brought the ring with you.”
“Damn…” laughed Nate before he put his arm around Rose and pulled her close. “I had a table for at this 5 star place on our last day of this vacation when we were on land, everything was planned out.”
“Well plans change.” countered Rose as she put her head on his shoulder. “By the way the answer is yes.”
“I wasn’t asking, this isn’t the most romantic place to ask the women you love to marry you.” Said Nate his one head resting on top of hers, their new tails moving back and forth a bit like their legs would have been.
“Who fucking cares about that, or some ring the answer is yes.” said Rose as Nate chuckled a bit as the two of them sat in silence and thought about what the future had in stored for them and their friends.