The Dancing Flame
- Gemma
- Sep 14, 2020
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 30, 2020
The ocean calls, magic and mermaids await...
Art by Simone Ford
Adeen looked out at the still water. The deep aquamarine blue was interrupted by swirls of pink and orange, the reflection of the sun slowly rising. The girl, illuminated by a halo of golden sun, was sat down on the stern of a cruise ship, the white railings stopping her from falling down. She swung her legs rhythmically as her curly red hair, courtesy of her Irish grandparents, seemed to glow in the gentle light of the sun.
Suddenly, Adeen's light jade blue eyes widened as a strange feeling washed over her. An overwhelming impulse overcame her, and Adeen had the strongest urge to jump into the crystalline water below. Her hands gripped the white railings, the cold metal biting into her skin.
Come, the ocean seemed to whisper, come.
Slowly, her hands let go.
Despite herself, as though controlled by a greater force, Adeen slipped under the railing. She looked out at the ocean, standing on the edge of the ship. Her pupils grew, her legs shook and her breaths grew heavier as Adeen tried to fight this terrible calling.
Her entire body was straining to jump, to dive into the cool embrace of the ocean below. Slowly, painfully, her arms went above her head, preparing for the dive that would follow. But Adeen fought hard, and her arms, instead of smoothly going over her head stopped roughly at her neck. Her fingers were slowly creeping up, when Adeen's hand accidentally touched the silver necklace around her throat.
Unbeknownst to her, the little silver lock on the necklace was glowing brightly, as if helping Adeen fight off the strange call. It felt warm in her hand, like a lifeboat pulling her back from the ocean. Adeen focused on that feeling, clutching the necklace tightly. Suddenly, with a silent scream, the strange temptation disappeared and Adeen fell to her knees, still holding the silver lock, which no longer glowed. She shakily crawled back under the railing, to the safety of the ship, and fell unto the floor. She was breathing heavily and her forehead was beaded with sweat. Her mind was swirling around, and Adeen had to close her eyes to regain her bearings.
A few moments later, a tall man with greasy black hair walked by. He stopped abruptly when he saw the redhead girl lying on the ground. He straightened his crisp white cruise ship uniform and growled.
"Oi! Adeen! Get back here! It's time for you to work! What are you doing there, slacking off?!" he yelled gruffly. He muttered some other obscenities under his breath, which surprisingly didn't include any curse words (something he deemed immoral).
Adeen opened her eyes, her dizziness gone, and heard the familiar irritating voice of Jared, the Cruise Director. Just my luck, Adeen thought. She rolled over and quickly got up, facing Jared. He was standing there looking at her obnoxiously, waiting for some sort of excuse.
"Sorry, Jared. I was looking at the sunrise and I think I might have fainted." Adeen lied. She wiped her forehead and gave Jared her best smile.
"Well, as long as you're fine." Jared said. He seemed to be wrestling with a thought but after a while he just gave Adeen his infamous I'm-better-than-you smile and walked away.
Adeen dropped her smile as she watched Jared head towards the kitchen. She sighed. Time to go to work.
As Adeen walked towards the restaurant, she took some deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It hadn't been the first time she had felt the ocean's temptation, but it had never been so... powerful.
Whatever, she thought, just focus on the day and don't think about it, in a few hours the ship will be docking at one of favorite ports.
And so, the curly red haired girl began her daily routine working aboard the Fairy Blossom.
Finally, Adeen thought. She had just finished preparing the dining room for breakfast and was walking out of the restaurant. She stretched her arms and checked the time.
11:00 PM.
Perfect. She still had time to get off the ship for a few hours.
Unlike her other fellow waiters, Adeen didn't like hanging out at the bar after her work-shift was over. As she walked down the ramp leading to the port, she took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh salt smell of the ocean. The wind whipped her hair around and for the first time that day, she smiled and laughed.
When she reached the port, she rented a small canoe from a sleepy man. He stared at her oddly, because going out so late was unusual. But Adeen just smiled and thanked him. She quickly pushed the boat into the water and with a splash! she was off.
Luckily for her, there were no big waves and even in the faint light of the moon, she knew exactly where she was going. She paddled rapidly and the breeze accompanied her around the small islands that dotted the clear blue tropical sea.
Adeen knew from experience which islands to avoid and soon reached a small sandy white beach. She tied her canoe and stepped off, her feet sinking into the white sand. She was standing on a small, abandoned island made up of sand, empty, except for one clump of trees and bushes on the top left.
Adeen laughed with joy, startling a seagull that had been sleeping on a tree. She went to check out the trees and found that some were growing small mangoes.
In no time Adeen had a large pile on mangoes at her feet, but she quickly spotted a nice juicy looking mango right above her. She stood on her tiptoes and stretched her fingers. There! Her hands closed around the mango and she pulled it down.
As if guided by magic, a branch slowly stretched its leafy tentacles towards Adeen.
Quietly it slipped under Adeen's necklace and with a light pull, the silver chain fell to the ground.
The branch quickly retreated, it's veined leaves smiling with satisfaction.
Adeen never noticed the silver chain slip from her neck and fall onto the soft sand. She turned around and ran to the edge of the beach with her arms full of bright yellow mangoes, the necklace forgotten.
A few moments later, Adeen was slipping off her clothes and changing into her swimsuit, illuminated only by the bright moonlight. She took a deep breath, ran and dived into the crystalline water.
The water rushed to her face like a sweet hug from a loved one. Adeen grinned, feeling the warm sea cover her body like a soft blanket.
She opened her eyes and with a kick of her legs, swam towards the coral reef that separated the dark ocean from the turquoise waters surrounding the islands. She came up for a breath of air, her red hair shining in the silver glow of the moon. Back under she went, and she swam with a school of small colorful fish that didn't seem to mind her presence. To her surprise a little octopus even climbed out of its hole to greet her, its tentacles wrapping around her hand. She smiled and petted its squishy head gently, until it swam away from her with a happy gurgle. All was calm and Adeen finally felt herself relaxing as the rhythmic current loosened her tensed muscles.
Suddenly, Adeen felt a stab of pain throb through her body. The pain increased rapidly and Adeen screamed as the torment contorted itself around her. Her arms and legs seemed to be on fire, blazing flames dancing on her faster and faster.
Her silent screams grew and Adeen tried to swim back to the surface, but the ocean seemed to pull her back. Invisible arms wrapped themselves around her, keeping her head under water as Adeen's body erupted in flames.
It was like the ocean's temptation had finally reached her, only this time the urge to swim into the darkest depths of the sea was replaced with a fire that burned Adeen's body and soul.
She no longer knew which way was up or down, she only knew the burning sensation of the pain of the firestorm.
Adeen was about to black out, when a soft whisper echoed in her mind like a saving grace.
Let go.
Breathe.
Let go.
Breathe.
Let go.
Breathe.
The words repeated themselves over and over like the gentle lapping of waves. Adeen was close to passing out from the agony and torture when she took a deep breath. Slowly, she calmed herself down, despite the flames that curled themselves around her limbs. She relaxed her body, muscle by muscle and closed her eyes, letting the currents sustain her.
Let go.
And that's what she did. She released herself to the ocean, letting herself go. Looking back Adeen never knew how she did it, but in that moment she no longer was Adeen, but simply an ember burning in the dark embrace of the sea.
Adeen slowly opened her eyes.
The fiery pain was gone and in its place was... relief.
Despite being underwater, Adeen didn't feel the urge to go up to the surface and breathe. Her lungs felt strong and the rest of her body didn't hurt. Adeen checked her arms for burns, but didn't see any. Her hair wasn't singed and her swimsuit was still intact.
Maybe it was just a panic attack or something, Adeen thought.
Right in that moment, Adeen noticed that her legs felt... different than before. Adeen looked down and a silent scream escaped her.
No, no, no, no, Adeen thought, this can't be happening. You're just imagining things.
She closed her eyes and reopened them, but it was still there. She pinched herself, she hit her head, but it was still there. Adeen tried to take it off but it was like trying to take off a limb.
This thing was stuck to her.
She had a tail. A tail.
And no legs.
For the first time, Adeen noticed that her eyes weren't burning from the saltwater, her ears weren't popping from the pressure, her skin wasn't becoming wrinkly and she seriously didn't need to breathe air.
Oh god. Oh my god. I'm... I'm... a mermaid!, Adeen thought.
Slowly, carefully, she tried moving her tail. It followed her commands, moving up and down. She tried swimming, and to her surprise it was like second-nature. She had no problems swimming and soon Adeen was doing flips and dives in the water.
She eventually came to a stop when she noticed that wrapped around her stomach were silver chains. They were thick and on the end of them was a silver sun, with a golden, ruby like gem. Adeen tried pulling it off, but it didn't budge.
She touched the gem and as her fingers closed around the sun, a surge of power went through her. For a moment, Adeen saw fire, and felt her body burn with flames. She quickly let go with a gasp, and the feeling disappeared.
Automatically, her hand went to her necklace. But this time, instead of feeling the familiar coldness of the silver lock and chain, her fingers found nothing.
No, no, no, no, Adeen thought, panicked.
Her hands wrapped around her neck but the necklace was gone. Adeen gasped and for the first time that day, tears swelled in her eyes. She turned around and swam frantically to the bottom of the sea. She looked through the corals and on the sand for an hour, but finally understood that... the necklace was lost. The last piece she had of her mom was gone.
Years ago, her mother had put the necklace around her eight year old daughter, making young Adeen promise to never take it off. Then, her mother had disappeared, and the authorities decided she had abandoned her daughter. Adeen was thrown into countless foster homes, becoming just another girl with a dead dad and a runaway mother.
Adeen shook her head, clearing her mind from these haunted memories. She swam towards the little island, even though she knew that it was pointless. With an effort she managed to sit on the beach, her tail flopping into the water. She noticed how beautiful it was, yellow, orange and red scales, like the heart of a fire.
What am I going to do?, Adeen thought.
Nobody cared about her and nobody would notice if she just disappeared. She was completely alone, a feeling Adeen was familiar with.
She sighed and lied back in the soft white sand. The moon was slowly disappearing, and the first rays of the sun were shining on the horizon.
Wait, Adeen thought, how much time has past?!
She checked her phone, but the battery was dead.
"Oh crap." Adeen muttered. She knew she was late if the sun was rising. Jared would be so mad.
Adeen laughed, imagining the man's face when he saw her with a mermaid tail. Sometimes, you just have to laugh.
Adeen looked down at her tail, and gave it a hesitant poke.
Nope. Still part of me, Adeen thought with a sigh.
She decided to look more closely at the silver chains and the sun that were wrapped around her stomach. As she looked at the silver sun she noticed that there was writing engraved in the metal. It was in a language Adeen didn't recognize, but somehow she could understand it.
"By the power of the flames and the sun, let my heart burn, let me return home and give me command of the Fire." Adeen said out-loud.
Nothing happened and Adeen laughed tentatively at herself. Reading those words had felt...ominous.
All of a sudden, Adeen saw her body erupt in flames. She felt no pain but she quickly let go of the sun. The fire kept burning.
Then, to her surprise a wave of flaming colors surrounded her, and before she could do anything they engulfed her. Adeen's entire body seemed to be wrapped in flames and colors and she had to close her eyes tightly as the colors brightened and gave one last loud flare.
The light slowly faded, revealing a white island with a clump of mango trees towards the top. A pair of shoes and a pile of mangoes lied near the water. Near them was a strange circle of gold words that marked the otherwise pure white sand.
The red haired mermaid that had been there a moment before was gone.
To be continued...
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