Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series (36 page)

Thinking impatiently about teleporting back
home, Ian bolted off towards the land, opposite from where he’d
last seen the woodsmen, rather sick of the water by now and just
wanting to get out of it. Seconds later, he reached the shore, and
quickly pulled himself onto the beach, his fish tail swishing back
and forth restlessly. He wanted nothing more than to go home right
now. But he couldn’t do anything to speed up the process.
Hopefully, it were just a matter of waiting and he’d be back to
Shadowcrest shortly; for if he were truly stuck in this world for
good this time, he didn’t know how he could handle it.

Lying on the beach, exhausted and racked with
worry, he fingered the necklace the mermaid princess had given him.
The gold beads felt smooth and precious underneath his fingertips.
Though he’d never had anything to do with jewelry before, this
necklace was actually pretty cool. When or if he ever got home,
which was hopefully soon, he’d have to hide it, as his sister would
undoubtedly snatch it away from him the second she saw it.

Recalling his sister’s obsession with jewelry
and anything out of the ordinary, Ian chuckled briefly, before a
serious thought crossed his mind, forcing him back to more
important matters. If he were to teleport back to the men’s
restroom at Shadowcrest right now in this form, everyone in there
would be terrified of him, thinking that they were seeing a mutant.
To even imagine himself showing up in the bathroom as a merman
seemed too humiliating to be possible. Yet, he knew that if he
didn’t take off the necklace soon, that unlikely possibility could
very soon become reality. He had to do something quickly.

Reflecting over the magical necklace with
intense urgency, too nervous to even care about what the
transformation back would feel like, Ian grabbed onto the necklace
and began to take it off, when his hands suddenly stopped moving as
Taeria’s voice spoke inside his head, asking him politely if he
wanted to remove the necklace.

Startled for a second, he soon realized that
this magic was similar to a recording and that she wasn’t actually
speaking to him. However, that didn’t lessen his fear any, as he
remembered what Rhena had said--that the princess controlled the
necklace. In all likelihood, that meant that Taeria could probably
keep him in this form for as long as she wanted, that he was stuck
as a merman until she deemed otherwise.

His heart pounding faster, he did the only
logical thing he could think of: he told her in the nicest way
possible that he wished to remove it.

As the words left his lips, he waited
anxiously in suspense for her voice to tell him “no”, or “not yet”.
However, he didn’t hear a thing, and after ten seconds with no
response, he took the silence as a good sign, and cautiously
removed the necklace.

A few seconds after the necklace had slipped
over his head, immediately, he felt his body morph into his human
form, his lungs and other organs altering, his tail splitting in
two and then molding into legs, and his old clothes, shoes, and
socks, reforming around him, all completely dry and clean now.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief that he
wasn’t going to be permanently stuck as a merman, Ian pondered over
the startling transformation that had felt even weirder than when
he’d turned into a merman, especially now that he was watching it
happen on land instead of in the water.

Skin still tingling and strangely smelling
like salt water even though it was dry, he slipped the necklace
into his left blue jean pocket, this time burying it fully, as he
stared in fascination at the lovely azure sky fringed with purple,
gold, and red from where the bluish sun was retreating beyond the
horizon.

As he continued staring at the picturesque
sunset, his thoughts drifted to home and he suddenly wondered why
he was here and not one of his friends. He was no different from
them. Anyone of them could’ve been in his same position. And yet,
for some reason, he was here and they weren’t. It made no sense.
Whatever bizarre circumstances or whims of fate had selected him
instead of Eddy, Darien, Jimmy, William, or even Hazel, he could
only guess at.

Just shaking his head at this confusing
situation, Ian turned his thoughts to Hazel and just laughed as he
tried to picture what she’d look like as a mermaid. Before he could
think too much about this though, a beautiful castle-shaped cloud
directly above him distracted his thoughts and brought vivid images
of kings and queens to his mind.

Gazing at the cloud with interest, Ian
grinned, remembering the party on Monday when Hazel had teased him
about reading too many fairy tales and he’d denied it. What would
he say to her now, though? His life
was
a fairy tale. He’d
seen things that people only saw in their dreams; he’d tasted
delicious food that kings served in royal palaces; he’d smelled
scents that would make perfumers pay a fortune.

Not to mention, he’d also been turned into a
merman, a creature straight out of fantasy, and had been to a
magnificent underwater city reminiscent of the fabled city of
Atlantis. Like it or not, his life was never going to be the same
again. He’d just have to accept it and move on, hoping that he’d
never have to face the Elayans, the elves, or the woodsmen
again.

Smiling faintly at how he’d somehow managed
to escape from all of those wicked groups unharmed, he calmly
watched a flock of bright purple birds making an interesting circle
formation above him, before a sudden inspiration hit him, and he
lowered his eyes to the ground, scanning the beach for any
interesting seashells he could bring home as souvenirs.

While sweeping his eyes across the sand,
noticing several weird seashells, he caught sight of a brown
speckled green crab about twenty feet from his shoes, scuttling
towards him quickly and eyeing him with its two big eyes. Seeing
its large pincers snapping back and forth angrily, Ian hastily
picked himself off the ground and turned to move away from this
spot, when his left shoe brushed against a hard dense object.

Curious, he immediately stared down at his
feet, where he saw a small stone container lying near them.
Stooping down, he picked it up, turning it over curiously in his
hands. As he gazed at the outside of the circular container that
showed a detailed image of a beautiful mermaid applying
cream-colored lotion to her face, he instantly remembered this as
the gift that Rai had given him. It must have fallen out of his
tunic when he’d transformed back into a human.

Smiling, not knowing what he’d ever do with
it, yet greatly hesitant to leave behind such a rare gift which
used to belong in the princess’s own collection, Ian slipped it
into his right blue jean’s pocket, and then just stared into space,
as an uneasy feeling clawed its way into him: he’d left without
ever saying goodbye to Taeria or Rhena. How could he be so
insensitive? If he were ever to come back to the merfolk kingdom
again, he may be in for a rude awakening.

Rather distressed at how he’d overlooked such
a common courtesy after all they’d done for him, he felt something
large crawling onto his foot and glanced down hurriedly, right as
one of the crab’s enormous pincers tore into his tube sock and
grazed his skin.

Startled, his heart suddenly racing, he shook
his left foot around repeatedly, until the crab finally released
its tight grip on him and flew through the air, landing feet first
on the sand like a cat. It wasn’t at all happy and looked ready to
charge at him again.

Without any time to check if his ankle were
bleeding and how badly his sock was torn, Ian darted away from the
crab, running feverishly across the beach, until it was only a tiny
green speck in the distance.

Feeling that he’d be safe for at least a
couple of minutes before the aggressive swift-moving crab found him
again, Ian crouched down on the sand, shoving away thoughts about
his inconsiderate attitude towards the mermaids, and relaxed. But
his rest quickly faded away, as an unusual thought forced its way
into his mind: why did he still taste vanilla cream and almond
extract in his mouth? Hadn’t he drunk the blue punch over an hour
ago? Sure the flavor had been powerful, but it definitely shouldn’t
have lasted this long.

Racking his brain for answers, growing more
anxious by the second, he noticeably shuddered as he discovered
what had caused this long-lasting flavor. Princess Taeria’s
peach-colored liquid had somehow magically altered his punch,
causing the flavor to remain for who knows how long. No wonder the
mermaids had looked so giddy when he’d drunk it.

Frightened at this realization, he felt
himself bombarded by thoughts: what if his breath always smelled
like this? what if the flavor never died away? Sure, there were
obvious advantages to this, but they were meaningless to him right
now. All he could think about was how to prevent anybody from
finding this out. For, if his breath always smelled like this, it
wouldn’t be long before people took notice and started commenting
on it. And that was the last thing he needed.

Stressed out, feeling hopeless, he suddenly
remembered something he’d overlooked, which made him feel way more
hopeful; he hadn’t tasted the vanilla almond flavor when he was
eating the other food at the banquet, meaning that perhaps the
taste magically went away when he had other food in his mouth,
before reappearing once the food was gone. Hopefully, that were
true. He could work with that. If he were always chewing gum, which
he already carried around with him almost everywhere he went, then
nobody would be the wiser.

Letting these thoughts encourage him, Ian lay
back on the beach and rested, waiting impatiently for the bright
flash of light that would take him back to his world, as mixed
emotions of terror and excitement etched themselves onto his mind.
Though he really wanted to go back to his world, something told him
that if he did, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Something told him
that his friends would never view him the same way again.

Stiff as a robot, Jimmy kept looking at his
dirty hands, then at his plate. Every so often, he took a sip of
water from his straw. Then he forked a small piece of chocolate
cake into his mouth. All was done rigidly, mechanically. He’d never
had a worse meal in all his life. And it was all Ian’s fault for
inviting girls.

Eventually, after listening to the girls
whisper among themselves for over half a minute, likely about him,
he’d had enough. Turning to Eddy, he mumbled, “I’m gonna wash off
my hands.”

“Go ahead--I’m not stopping you,” replied
Eddy, smiling, biting into a crispy slice of cheese pizza; he
looked to be enjoying himself immensely. Though Jimmy didn’t share
his feelings, he did envy him for being able to be so at ease among
the girls.

Departing from the table, as Eddy refocused
on the girls’ conversation about the latest romance novel Tianna
was reading, Jimmy headed straight to the men’s restroom. Upon
reaching it, he pulled open the door and looked around the room for
Ian. But there wasn’t a soul in sight; all four of the stalls were
empty. The only sign that Ian had been here were the flooded floor
tiles near the sink, the drain working overtime to take the water
away. Apparently, Ian had generously applied the water to his
barbeque-soiled clothes. Yet, strangely enough, Ian wasn’t anywhere
in sight. This baffled Jimmy, as logically, Ian should be drying
off his clothes now. But obviously, he wasn’t.

Scanning around the dry part of the bathroom,
just in case he’d overlooked something, Jimmy returned to his
thoughts, as a jolt of thunder shook the room:
Perhaps I missed
him on my way...

A scythe cut through his mind as a flash of
bright light blinded him, terrifying him beyond anything he’d ever
experienced before. Was the world about to end? Was he dying? Was
he being abducted by a UFO?

Breathing in short hollow gasps, he saw the
light dissipate through his closed eyes, as a warm breeze blew
through his curly black hair. Terrified more than a sailor about to
strike an iceberg, he pressed his hands to his heart in agony.
What’s going on? Where did this wind come from?

Trembling, he just stood there, eyes
completely shut, listening intently for any alien sounds or voices,
expecting any minute for his life to end.

After half a minute, though, without anything
happening, curiosity won over his fear and he flashed open his
eyes, instantly overwhelmed by what he saw. Somehow or another, he
was in a forest glade, surrounded by enormous blue-barked trees
with silver-colored leaves and four foot tall prickly bushes that
were swarming with unfriendly looking red beetles.

Taking a step away from the beetle-laden
bushes, he shook his head in awe. There was no logical reason why
he should be here right now in this forest resembling something
from a fantasy book. It would’ve been amazing enough to have simply
teleported out of the restaurant, but to find himself in a
completely different environment was downright staggering.

In all appearance, he’d finally lost his
mind. He always knew that it were possible, and Jack Lane and Wally
Sherman, two of the worst possible bullies that his mind could
conceive, had already told him countless times that he was out of
his mind. Perhaps they were right....

He swatted at his forehead, his thoughts
snapping back to the present, causing a lizard, which had decided
to parachute onto his face, to tumble through the air, making an
annoyed screeching sound. Shaken, Jimmy watched as the black
spotted, foot-long green intruder crept back into the foliage,
beginning its ascent up a nearby tree, perhaps trying to reenact
its previous diving maneuver. Well, it wouldn’t get to.