If two hours ago anyone had told Lindsay that she would become a mermaid along with her friends and her crush, get transported to Atlantis, get saved from an Ancient Atlantean death machine by another mermaid and be camping out in the remains of a shop she would have looked at them like they where crazy but that had happened.
“Sorry, I only have a few fish I wasn’t out hunting.” said Ebrah as she pulled four dead fish from her bag and two metal rods.
“So do merfolk eat raw fish?” inquired Barbara as Elizabeth gagged a bit.
“You can, but I prefer to heat mine up.” said Ebrah as she swam over to the corner where a small vent was located. “We are in luck this was a break room of some kind.”
That confused everyone until she opened the vent and a stream of hot water shot upwards from the vent, it was so hot that the water around it began to boil. With care she stuck two of the fish with the metal rods and placed them by the boiling hot water as if it was a fire.
“Geothermal vents?” inquired Oscar in amazement as he swam up beside Lindsay
“Yes, the ancient Atlanteans made pipes to channel the heated water, we use them to heat our homes and heat or food.” explained Ebrah as the fish began to for the lack of a better term back underwater.
“So your American’s I already figured that out where are you from?” inquired Ebrah
“California.” answered James “And you’re from Pakistan?”
“I was.” confirmed Ebrah as she sat on small pile of stones watching the fish cook in the boiling water. “I have been here since I was 12 so I am basically from here now.”
“How did you get here?” inquired Stacy
“My father came back from the market one day with a necklace for me, it was a cheap thing, a piece of black cord with a crystal in the center. Still as a 12-year-old girl, I loved it.” Explained Ebrah “until I tripped one day on the living room rug and when I hit the ground the crystal broke turned everyone in the house to merfolks and transported us here. How about you?”
Lindsay explained the school assignment and how the crystal broke on a fall.
“Everyone not born here has similar stories and those who are born here either their parents or grandparents had that story.” Said Ebrah “We have merfolk from around the world and all walks, well swims of life, new arrivals come every couple of months or so. Once we get to the community tomorrow, they will help you fit in.”
“So there is no hope to get back home?” inquired Elizabeth “To become human again?”
“Not without dying.” explained Ebrah “As for leaving, this whole city is underground but attached to the Mediterranean Sea by tunnels, however those tunnels are destroyed and guarded. Some have tried dig a new tunnel, but I don’t know how far they have gotten.”
“Who taught you such good English?” inquired Lindsay as Ebrah laughed.
“No one, it’s magic.” Answered Ebrah as she moved her hand in the air as bluish energy danced between her fingers. “All merpeople have it, you do to now but until you have some training it is dangerous to you and everyone else. Some more then others but it translates everything you see and hear into your native language. To me you are speaking Urdu, which is the native language of Pakistan, we have a Japanese merman who is with a mermaid from Sweden, both understand each other perfectly just like you understand me and I you.”
“Is that how we are able to read the Ancient Atlantean stuff?” inquired Stacy
“Yes, one of the few scholars we have even thinks that we are all speaking the ancient Atlantean language it is just the magic is twisting it in our mind.” Said Ebrah with a shrug. “I am just a searcher; my job is to come up to the remains of the city search it for useful items and information and try to come back alive. That is what I was doing when I spotted you six idiots.”
“Well…thanks for saving us from that machine.” Said Lindsay
“Not a problem.” Said Ebrah as she pulled out what looked to be mold covered loaf of bread. Using her knife, she cut four pieces off a the bread and then cut it into seven pieces. “Here…eat, the transformation takes a lot out of you.”
“What is that?” inquired Elizabeth
“Basically, a merfolk version of bread, it has some corals, fungus and the like.” Explained Ebrah as she took a bite of her piece. Everyone else looked at it with some hesitation. “Your merfolk now, you will be eating stuff like coral, fungus and sea food for the rest of your lives. Also, it tastes differently.”
Barbara was the 1st; she bit in and began to chew.
“Taste like whole wheat bread.” Announced Barbara as the fish finished cooking and Ebrah shared them with them while the other two cooked.
“Well, we will stay here for tonight. In the morning when the sun orb starts to shin again we can head back to our community without any real danger besides sharks and the like.” Announced Ebrah
“Sun orb?” inquired Oscar “Is that the orb over the pyramid?”
“Yes, it follows the sun on the surface, when it is daylight on the surface it glows and when night falls it fades.” explained Ebrah as she rested against a wall, the whole room was tiny and overcrowded with seven merfolk in there.
“What is your community like?” inquired Stacy
“Well if you imagine an under sea advance civilization then you are mistaken, we live in the remains of this.” Explained Ebrah as she waved to take in the whole city of Atlantis. “And we cannot really leave, this city was built in an underground ocean pocket with tunnels leading out into the Mediterranean sea according to the text left behind. For you as Americans it will be a downgrade but we aren’t hungry, we have homes, we have lives and families. We live happy but simple lives, even under the threat of those machines.”
“I see.” Said Stacy
“I am sure you all have lots of questions, the village council will help answer them when we get there tomorrow but I’ll go over some basics.” Said Ebrah as she eyed everyone in the room. “Don’t leave this room, besides the machines there are sharks, squids and other less dangerous but dangerous animals out there. If you have to use the rest room, use that far corner over there.”
“Ah…question.” Said James as Ebrah eyed him. “How do merfolk use the rest room?”
“All your holes are in the same spots, and yours and the other merman’s dicks are internal now but they will come out during sex if that concerns you.” explained Ebrah bluntly as James, Oscar and the girls blushed a bit. “Just don’t do it right now. I really don’t want to be part of your sex life.”
“Alright, don’t worry.” Said James still blushing a bit, he didn’t want to admit it but he had wondered about that.
“Good, now lets get some sleep, like I said don’t leave this room.” Stated Ebrah “Since I saved you, why don’t you split the watch into pairs.”
“Alright.” Said Lindsay before she realized that James and Elizabeth as boyfriend and girlfriend would take the same watch, her sister Barbara and her girlfriend Stacy would take another which left her and Oscar. She was about to take a watch with her crush, just the two of them alone while everyone else slept. She tried to hide her blush.
“Why don’t you and Oscar take first watch, then wake Stacy and me in about 2 and half hours.” Stated Barbara
“How will we know the time?” inquired Lindsay as Ebrah pulled out something a kin to a pocket watch.
“Here, just make sure you give it back to me, these are very hard to get.” Said Ebrah as she lied down near the heating vent to keep warm. The water was getting colder as night quickly approached, Barbara and Stacy found a spot to themselves also near the heat, while Elizabeth and James found their own spot leaving a final spot for Oscar and Lindsay when they got to sleep. The only other spot in the room was far from the heat and very close to where the bathroom was.
“Well this will be interesting.” said Oscar