David climbed out of the water, his skin almost blue from the cold, and looked around.
“Bloody brilliant,” he muttered. “typical of them to go off and leave me.”
The cold never did much for his mood. He walked, and shivered, over towards his rolled-up towel on the beach, and was surprised to see a small note, as well as an odd bottle of blue liquid. It had the consistency of shampoo.
He read the note quickly.
“You’re going to freeze yourself through and through if you keep this up! You want to master that style so badly? Use this. Apply it to your legs, it’ll keep them bound. I hear it’s used by most who try their hand at the Dolphin.
~Percy”
“Merman.” David corrected, mentally. He rolled his eyes. He’d never heard of something like this before. “Probably some trick. That lot’ll be laughing about it right now while they sit down to a warm bacon roll someplace! Probably dyes my leg hair or something.”
Still. . . It was a style he was desperate to learn. Heck, maybe more so than winning the upcoming swimming finals! The sheer feel of it would surely be as enchanting and sensuous as he’d always imagined. And he’d done a fair bit of imagining: his cupboard held a secret little compartment filled with mermaid books, models, and all sorts. He cringed at the idea of anyone finding ‘em.
Shrugging, he poured a little of the substance on to his hands, and rubbed it thoroughly into his legs. “May as well. The weather’ll stay like this for days, might as well give it a try while I’m still wet’n’frozen.”
But David froze in a different manner after he was done. His hair hadn’t changed colour, no, but something had. The slime-like feeling the stuff had burrowed into his legs, and up into his body and mind. The oddest, eeriest feeling swept over him like one of the sea’s many chilling waves.
He looked out at the sea, with a feeling of both fear and longing. He suddenly wished to take a dive in there more than ever before, but didn’t know why! Almost unwillingly, he ran at full pelt back into the ocean, submerging himself. His legs felt as though they would’ve collapsed if he’d taken a second longer to do so.
From the distance, Ms. Maisar watched excitedly. She’d have to take notes on what took place.
Under the waves, David’s legs began surging with a feeling both powerful and playful. Energetic. Failing to realise he could somehow draw breath under the waves, he watched his lower-limbs closely. Something, though he didn’t know what, was going to happen. . .