Cora smiled wide like a maniac. “Tell me everything! I have to know exactly how it went; don’t leave out a single detail.”
I laughed a little and nodded to confirm I would tell her exactly what she wanted to know. “I grew legs.”
She gasped loudly and covered her mouth. “You got legs? You have never had legs before!”
“I need you to pipe it down. Any of the mermaids could be nearby.” I moved my hands up and down with my palms flat to tell her to lower her voice.
Cora nodded apologetically.
“I grew legs. He helped me and then we actually visited Neverland. Of course, it took forever for them to dry. It’s a whole new world out there. It was so thrilling. Unfortunately, I still can’t walk because I’ve never used my legs but it was still very different.” I smiled.
Cora opened her mouth in awe. “I am so happy. That sounds wonderful. Now if you can spread that opportunity to the rest of us, that’d be great.”
“I’m going to. I made a promise and I am determined to keep it. I will make sure that the laws change and every mermaid is allowed to have love. It only makes sense anyway. Love makes the world go round. That’s just some saying humans have.”
“Okay, well, keep going. I know more happened. I need to know everything.” She gestured for me to continue.
I took a deep breath. “We kissed. He gave me some clothes and showed me around the island. There was a room inside a tree. I am not making this up. It was incredible. Everything I saw was so different and beautiful compared our world.”
“What is a kiss like?”
“Amazing. It feels weird but nice as well. It’s like everything I ever wanted, to just have the romance that humans have. I am just really amazed that it was different from what I expected. I never planned to use my legs but it’s a lot better than I thought it’d be. I’ll definitely do it again. Mr. Pan is super nice. He helped me out and tried to teach me to walk. It was useful because it allowed us to be together without being caught.”
Cora hugged me. “I’m so glad. Everything will look up for the better.”
I hugged back.
“Well, well, well...” We both heard the voice.
Cora and I both looked at Viviane. Cora grabbed onto my arm.
I sighed. “Viviane, don’t do this. You are hurting yourself. I’m trying to do this for all of us. We all deserve to choose our path.”
“You keep breaking laws and thinking you are off the hook because you’re the queen. How is that fair to any of us? It isn’t. Your position in the kingdom doesn’t give you a free pass on our laws.” Viviane folded her arms.
“Viviane, I am not trying to get a free pass based upon my position. I am trying to give everyone more freedom! I am trying to do what’s best for our society. It’s not fair that I have to populate the entire next generation. I have never had a...vagina before yesterday. Imagine trying to birth dozens of babies from that.”
Viviane laughed and looked at Cora. “Did you never teach her the process of birthing babies?”
I looked at both of them, confused. “What are you talking about? That’s how we birth mermaids, right? That’s how babies are born. That’s how humans do it.”
Viviane smirked and grabbed my shoulders. “No, sweetie, we birth our babies the way fish do. The way humans birth is far too painful and strenuous on the body. You could have ten, maybe. Twenty? Possibly. It’s risky. You’d also be unable to have the entire generation at once. With fish births, you can have hundreds at once. You don’t carry them. The eggs will be put in a safe place until the birth and then they eventually hatch as babies do in eggs. It’s very easy on your body.”
I hadn’t realized how easy the process had been. What excuse did I have now for being against it?
“I want to love. I want to love a man. Is that so hard? I want to be able to love him and raise babies naturally. If I birth babies, I want to be able to take care of every one of them.” I guess I still had arguments to fight for my free will.
“Fish can do that. Fish do this all the time. They have hundreds and then take care of them. You are more fish than human.”
Cora interrupted, “Viviane, she doesn’t know about fish mating but it doesn’t give you a right to lie.”
She faked a gasp. “I would never.”
“You already are,” Cora said bluntly.
Cora grabbed one of my hands. “When mermaids reproduce, they have about a thousand eggs usually. Unfortunately, only around a hundred survive. This is how fish do it. Fish normally reproduce with another fish or with themselves. We can’t do that. We need sperm.”
I shook my head. “No, if I need to use a human man for this, why do I reproduce with the fish method? This is not making any sense!”
Viviane looked at Cora. “You get to explain that one to her.”
Cora growled at her and rubbed her eyes. “We lied. We lied to you about why we need men. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“What are you talking about?” I shivered.
“Well, we do need men for sperm, but using a human to make babies with is...different. You don’t just lure him in and get pregnant. You do need his sperm but it’s a little...”
“Spit it out, Cora,” Viviane told her.
Cora bit her lip. “You have to eat him.”
I widened my eyes. “What? What do you mean I have to eat him?”
Viviane stepped in and pushed Cora aside. “Let me tell you what we are talking about. Cora is far too slow. You have to eat the man. This is part of nature. Eating him prepares you for the mating process which allows his sperm to match up to your eggs. We usually suggest eating his reproductive organs last. This makes it easier for the process to happen.”
I covered my mouth.
Cora pushed Viviane. “She’s not going to do that. Stop trying to push her into this.”
She glared at Cora and snickered. “You’re the best friend who lied to her all this time.”
“I did it because I knew it would be hard to explain to her. It’s easy for us to accept because we don’t have to eat someone. She has to do all of this. Of course, she doesn’t accept it. This is why we didn’t tell her. She’s the one who has to go through with it.” Cora got closer to Viviane.
I stared at the water with an expression of apologies. “I can’t... You must know I can’t do this. I refuse to eat a man. I will never do that.” I shook my head.
Viviane just stared at me and said nothing. I wish I could read her brain and know what she was thinking.
Cora looked at me. “Sirens do this. They live across the world but they do something similar. They sing to men to lure them in and eat them. Of course, sirens don’t reproduce that way. They just enjoy the taste of man and sirens have a lot of a difference in their DNA structure. They are more monstrous. They aren’t as angelic.”
“I’d hardly call us angelic with the way we run our world,” I mumbled to myself.
Cora looked at Viviane and shook her head. “Don’t do this. Don’t punish her for not wanting to do something we don’t have to do. She deserves to have freedom. She deserves to choose her own life.”
“What about the babies?” She crossed her arms.
I cleared my throat. It wasn’t really useful since my voice still continued to sound hoarse. “I said it before. We can all choose our own. If you guys want love, go for it. If you want babies, have them for yourselves.”
“I don’t want to have children.” Viviane shrugged.
I pushed some hair back behind my shoulder. “Then okay. I don’t want to have that many children. I don’t want to eat someone. If you want to force me to have your kids for you, we will have a problem. You wouldn’t accept this treatment on yourself, so don’t push to allow it to happen on me.”
Viviane smiled at me without any compassion in her eyes. “I don’t care. I don’t like you, Raina. You have betrayed us and I think it’s fair enough punishment to-”
“To control me? To make me eat someone? You don’t like me because I look like this. You don’t like me because I disagree with our laws. Not liking someone shouldn’t warrant punishment,” I explained.
Cora clapped for my argument but Viviane shot her a death glare. Cora put her hands back in the water. “Sorry.”
I continued, “I have never hurt anyone. I have never done anything wrong to anyone. All I’ve done is fall in love with a human.”
Everyone froze at my words. I replayed what I said in my head until I realized why they’d frozen from it. I loved Mr. Pan.
Viviane made a sound of disgust. “You love him now? Great. We’ve really lost you.”
Cora smiled widely. “I can’t believe you’re in love. This is absolutely beautiful.”
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what I could say. My face heated up as I looked at my own reflection on the sea. I couldn’t believe I loved him. I didn’t know how it’d happened but I knew it was true. I was fighting hard just to be with him. Was that not love?
Viviane rolled her eyes. “It won’t matter. You’re not going to get that happy ending you crave. I’ll make sure of it. I want you to know that you are never going to be happy. You will never be with Peter Pan. You are going to eat him and have babies for us.”
“No. I will fight. I could never eat him.”
Viviane came closer. “You will. I will starve you until you can’t control the hunger. I will kill him and make sure you smell his blood. I will make sure you do your job as our queen and eat a damn human to keep our species alive.”
“You will have to kill me before I ever do that for you. If I die, who is your queen? The bloodline dies off. Guess what happens then? No more mermaids who have more fish in them. Nobody will be fit enough to run this sea. Half humans cannot do a good job of running a sea kingdom. You are far too bitter and hook on your selfish desires. You give the mermaids a bad name.” I was surprised at how confident I had gotten in my arguments. Did love build me like this, or was it the support and determination?
I liked to believe it was a good combination of all those things. They taught me to be a better queen.
Viviane slowly swam backward, watching me with intensity. “Just wait, Raina. You will pay and you will serve your designed purpose. There is no getting out of this one.” She swam under and disappeared in the abyss below.
I looked at Cora and took a deep breath. “We have to find Mr. Pan. We need to do something fast. We have to do it before Viviane puts her plan in motion. I can’t lose him and I can’t fail this mission.”
Cora nodded and hugged me tight, holding me to keep me comforted. “Of course, Raina. We will do everything to make sure she doesn’t get her way. I promise to be the friend you’ve always needed.”
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