It was the light of the moon on a warm midsummer’s night. The light from the round orb in the gem-streaked sky lit everything in a soft glow. A shadow moved along the shore. A young man in his late teens, out late from the party up at the beach house his parents had rented him. His toe irritably kicked at a small pebble from the beach.
“Why did I ever invite Beth over?” he grumbled. “She had to bring her friends, so they brought theirs, and now I have the whole blasted school over.” He threw his head back and stared angrily at the silent sentinel. “And for what?” he shouted angrily. “So I could get to know her?” He dropped his face and flexed his jaws. “She used me.” He admitted. “And I fell for it.”
He started walking, trying to get his temper to cool in the still night air. How could this day get any worse? It had seemed like such a wonderful idea at the time, he thought bitterly. A slick way to get to know her, and it turned out she had a jock boyfriend after all, a hulking dude that thanked him, thanked him, for inviting them all. As if he had! He also bitterly cursed the fact that he didn’t have the guts to throw them out of his house!
There was nothing for it, he supposed, but hope he could get them all out and clean the house spick and span before his mother came back on Sunday, the day after tomorrow. He prayed none of them broke anything, or he would have to either come up with the money on his own or hope he could find an identical one at one of the stores downtown, or he would have some mighty hard explaining to do. He found the last the most likely, and that made him glum. His mother was fair but very strict, and the possibility that she would ground him for the rest of the summer or even a whole year was not outside her ability.
A splashing noise, like someone drowning in the surf, caught his attention. He immediately craned his neck to search and spotted a struggling figure at the very edge of the water. It seemed to be climbing out without the use of its legs.
“Hold on!” he shouted, “I’m coming.” He raced to the figure, slipping only slightly in the loose sand.
When he got to her, for it was a girl, he was out of breath and his feet burned. He would have a rash by tomorrow and would have to walk lightly for days after that, but all the discomfort was pushed out of his mind by what he saw.
The figure was a mermaid! He could clearly see her tail attached at her waist through the net that was wrapped firmly around her. One of her arms was stuck tight against her side, and she was struggling to get farther up on the beach from the water with the other. Her hair glistened with water and was a fantastic shade of green, a sea green that seemed perfect for disappearing completely in the water. Her upper torso was bare except for the net, a small pink nipple winked at him as she twisted frantically around. Her face, beautiful in the classic sense, was contorted with terror.
Her frantic eyes locked onto his and he found himself spell bound by the deep blue orbs, deeper than the sea, and wiser than the stars above they seemed. Her mouth opened and a strange wail emerged from it, twisting and rising slightly before dropping. It took him a moment to realize she was speaking words, but he knew immediately she was asking for help.
“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “I won’t hurt you. Let me try to get the net off.”
He reached for the net, but her wild wiggling and twisting made it impossible for him to get a grip. He cursed as a sharp shell hidden in the rope cut his thumb.
“Calm down!” he said. “I can’t get you out until you calm do?”
His words abruptly cut off as a spear stuck in the sand next to him, quivering. His head snapped to the water where he saw the most horrifying sight he had ever seen. Great monsters with wide bulbous heads, thick scaly skin, a long tail and short legs waded out of the surf. Huge mouths full of shark teeth gnashed hungrily at the sight of the bound mermaid and the surprised human, and they rushed forward. Or rather, tried to rush forward, for their short , stumpy legs were not suited for running out of water, and the most they could manage was a lurching walk.
Not knowing what else he could do, he reached down and scooped up the mermaid in his arms. Her free arm came around and clung to his neck, and her mouth opened in a scream that he ignored. Turning he began rushing towards his bungalow. If I can just get inside, I can barricade the door and maybe find a weapon to hold them off until the police get here! He wasn’t sure how long that would take, but it was the only plan he had. As he ran, he spoke quickly to the mermaid.
“We’ve got…huff…to get to the house. If we get there…oof…we’ll stand a chance.” He paused a second. “And by the way, my name's John.”
It took him only a few minutes to get up to the beach door of the small wooden house. The party was still going in full swing and the bright lights and loud music spilled from the windows. He briefly wondered how it was that no one had called the cops to complain, but he quickly buried the thought and burst through the door, mermaid in his arms and him blowing like he had run a mile.
Head’s turned at his dramatic entrance, and the party-goers fell silent as they stared at the sight before them. From the ceiling could be heard loud moans and a rhythmic thumping, as couples were too busy with each other to realize the sounds below had stopped. The music cut off abruptly, and suddenly people were asking everything at once.
“What is that?”
“John, where have you?”
“Why?”
“How?”
“Who?”
“ENOUGH!” he bellowed. “There’s things out there chasing me! We’ve got to?”
But what they had to do, no one found out. For at that moment, a spear crashed through the glass window and stuck with a thump into the ceiling. Immediately everyone at once was screaming in fright as the shards fell to the carpeted floor. All was pandemonium and chaos! Teens raced across the floor or stood where they were.
John ignored them and looked out the window at the rapidly approaching things. They would be at the bungalow in less than a minute. He hoped that they would have trouble with the flight of stairs that led up to the patio, but with the surprising strength they had displayed, he had no doubts that they could make it up there.
Turning back to the crowd, he saw Terry the football player standing on the stairs and staring at the wriggling mermaid on his couch. He was dressed only in a black pair of briefs and socks. Behind him, he could see the raven haired Beth peeking behind him. He didn’t think she even had socks on at all. But now was not the time for looking.
“Terry!” he shouted. The football player’s eyes jerked to him. “Give me a hand! We’ve got to barricade the door!”
Terry didn’t hesitate, didn’t ask questions. He ran down the stairs like he was on the field and grabbed the thick wooden table that was covered in beer bottles and red cups. John grabbed the other side and with a heave, they lifted it up and carried it over to the back door and rammed it tightly against the door frame.
And not a moment too soon! No sooner had the table been pushed against the door then point of a spear appeared through the wood. There was a window next to the door, and John peered anxiously out of it to spy one of the monsters clambering up the stairs, empty handed. His red eyes glinted angrily as he saw John peeking out of the window.
Realizing that the window, though of medium size, was plenty large enough to let the creatures come in, he turned to see Terry had apparently already thought the same thing. He was trying to wedge the dining room table against the other window with the aid of a couple of the players of the team. ‘Mark and Larry’, John thought.
Looking for something of his own, he spotted the poker lying next to the fireplace. Seeing nothing to block his window with, he grabbed the poker and took an experimental swing with it.
This will give them a headache or two! If they think they can just break into my house, they’ve got another thing coming! John set himself grimly. He was about to be in for the fight of his life, for a girl he had just met, against things that were pure fantasy come to life. It was, he reflected in the last moment, a very strange night.
The first creature crawled through John’s window, bellowing something in its foul language that sounded like corpses rotting. John swung the iron poker with all his strength, bludgeoning the creature on its flat head right between the eyes and behind the mouth. The sharp points dug in and the thing spasmed twice before growing still. John wrenched the poker free, making its black blood drip from the wound.
He could hear the smashing of the others against the bungalow door, and on the other side he could see Terry and his friends braced against the table as it bobbled from the force of the blows against it. He wondered briefly if he could help them, but he spotted movement from the corpse and turned to see it being pulled from the window. He readied his poker just as two heads popped up from the sill.
He swung the poker, knocking away the two spears the creatures had jabbed at his ribs. Fueled by rage, John gave a fierce bellow and cracked one of them on the head. It slumped back, dead or stunned John couldn’t tell. The other brought its spear back and jabbed at his heart. John twisted at the last second and the spear cut a line of bright fire against his chest instead. Shocked at the pain, John redoubled his swing, landing a blow on the shaft and causing it to break in half. The creature stared in surprise at the stump of its weapon until the second blow collapsed its eye. It fell from sight with a horrible gurgle.
John heard, rather than saw, the door splinter beside him. The door folded right over the top of the table, smashed in half. Four of the creatures scuttled through on their legs, jabbing. Terry and the others leapt back from the spears, and the table fell away from the window, allowing the other two to come in. They were about to be overrun!
At that moment, John saw the mermaid. She was lying helpless on the couch, her hand outstretched to ward away the beasts, eyes full of fear. They were going to kill her, but he wasn’t going to let them!
With a curse he had heard his father speak once only, he took three steps and leaped. He arced over the first creature, who tried to stab at him but missed. Landing on the back of another, they collapsed on the remains of the door.
Quick as a flash, John was back up. He laid about him with the poker, howling madly. Spears shattered at his blows and the things backed away in fright and pain. They spread apart, trying to encircle him. John darted in wherever he spotted an opening, jabbing with the sharp poker, or swinging it like a club. The things used their spears, and a couple without grabbed what appeared to be razor sharp coral clubs from belts that encircled their waists.
He was completely surrounded now, and the creatures hissed and gurgled at him, clearly preparing for a last push. John set himself.
“Come and get me, you ugly mother?” John roared.
The creatures came warily closer, weapons clasped in their hands. They were going to end this annoying threat once and for all.
A shout from behind them made everyone’s attention turn towards the front of the house. Terry stood framed at the hallway that led to the front door. A butcher’s knife was in one hand and a chair leg in the other. He was dressed in jeans, though he still had no shirt, a cut over one eye and a terrible snarl on his face. Behind him stood the rest of the football team and some of the cheerleaders, as well as a small number of their groupies, clutching kitchen knives and chair legs, curtain rods and broom handles. Beth was beside Terry, holding a skillet and a determined look on her face.
For a heartbeat everyone stood in frozen tableau, then one of the creatures made a grab for the mermaid and John smashed its tail with the poker. As it bellowed in pain, Terry led the charge into the fray. The front creatures disappeared under rush and the others quickly turned tail and struggled to get out the windows.
The madness was upon them, however. The creatures wouldn’t get away without a fight! Two made it as far as the door frame before they were grabbed from behind and brought down. A third jabbed at Terry with a spear, and grunted as the running back’s swing cut the head off. The creature slithered out of the door after hurling a club that knocked into the football star’s head, stunning him.
The bungalow was now quiet except for the sound of panting from the fighters. John glanced at Terry to see him trying to brush Beth’s attentive fingers from the wound on his head. Their eyes met and John nodded gratefully. He was surprised to see Beth’s clothes soaked in blood, and the frying pan she had been wielding sporting a large dent in the middle.
John only had eyes for the mermaid on the couch. Someone had cut the net, and she was now sitting up, deep blue tail swishing nervously as she shyly looked up. Her hair was mussed, and tumbled in fetching curls down past her neck, and her dainty hands were clasped on her lap. She was, John thought, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
He approached her. “Can you talk?” he asked slowly. Everyone stopped to watch.
“Y-yes.” She whispered, acutely aware of all the eyes on her.
Myriads of questions flickered through his mind. He settled on, “What’s your name?”
“Muriel” she hunched, as if expecting a blow or curse.
John couldn’t help himself. His hand reached out and brushed her cheek, making her jump and blush. “Muriel.” He repeated softly.
A grunt behind him brought him back to where he was, and now it was his turn to flush. “Ah, um…could you tell us…um, what were those things that were chasing you?”
“Yeah, and why they were here, and how come they attacked us?” Beth demanded as well. She stood angrily behind John, her eyes narrowed at the mermaid.
The girl dropped her head in her lap. “They were after me. Their called Glorgles, and they work for the Sea Sorceress. She holds us enslaved to her will, and makes us work in her mines and farms, growing food and smithing metal for her armies. My father told me that one day it would all be different, that one day we would be free. The Glorgles found out and…” She stopped speaking, distraught.
Faces glanced at one another, uncomfortable in the face of the obvious grief of the mermaid. The tale had a sense of unreality to it, as if it should be happening in countries far away and not in their backyard.
Muriel took a deep breath and continued. “I swam. I couldn’t help him, and I just grabbed my sister and swam as fast as I could away. The Glorgles caught up to us, however, and they grabbed my sister before I could stop them.” She pointed to her arms and tail, where John could clearly see scratches and punctures, showing how hard she had fought. “I narrowly escaped by swimming past the forbidden shelf and making along the rough water. I made it just off your shore when they found me and netted me. I had no place to go but the land. I knew it would mean my death, but it was better than going back.”
Beth suddenly threw her arms around the startled mermaid and clutched her tightly.
“It’s going to be fine, now.” She told her. “We’ll keep you safe.”
She looked up and saw everyone gawking at her. Her brow grew thunderous as she realized the mermaid still wasn’t wearing anything. “Turn your faces away!” she barked in a tone that brooked no argument. Everyone quickly turned away, except for the women who moved in close.
“Okay.” Came the call. John turned around and stared. The mermaid had been dressed in a Born to Ride T-shirt and her hair had been hastily smoothed down with fingers, and she gazed in wonder at the warm blanket that had been wrapped around her tail.
Beth nodded as if confirming something to herself. “That’s all we can do for now. Girl really needs a brush though, and more than one set of clothes!”
“Ah, Beth…” John started to say, but she rounded on him.
“Not another word John! The girl has had enough. Can’t you see how tired she is after her swim! We’re all tired.” She added looking around at the assembled. “We should get some sleep and figure out what to do tomorrow.”
A few heads nodded, and Beth’s groupies unsurprisingly added their vocal support and went so far as to applaud such level thinking. She silenced them with a glare and quickly gathered several of the girls to carry the mermaid upstairs and let her sleep in the tub with some warm water to “get the chill off” as she put it.
John had a horrible thought that she might dunk the poor mermaid in a tub of hot water without thinking, but when he started to say as much the look she shot him was enough to close his mouth with a click. He watched as they bustled the mermaid up the stair, leaving the men below.
John started as he felt Terry’s huge hand clap him on the shoulder. “Come on, man.” He urged. “Let’s get some bags or something across the window and reset the table against the door.”
John nodded. “We should probably, I don’t know, set some guards or something. You know, in case they come back?” He was tired now, and couldn’t seem to think straight anymore.
Terry nodded. “That sounds like an excellent idea.” He told John heartily. He took a look at John’s face and laughed. “But not you. You’re so tired you’re most likely to fall asleep as I look at you! Go lie down and I’ll stand watch.”
John thought for a moment, bed sounded wonderful, but he wouldn’t get any sleep until he was sure the house was barricaded tight. So, despite Terry’s protests, he helped move the debris away from the window and cover it with bags. Someone found some plywood outside at the front of the house and they brought that in and screwed it across the door and window frames. Unfortunately, the pieces weren’t big enough to cover the whole frame, and gaps showed at the top and bottom, but it was the best they could do.
Satisfied, Terry finally sent John to bed. When John mumbled that he was fine, Terry picked him up like a football and carried him to bed as he protested weakly. Once on the pillow however, John quickly fell into a dreamless sleep