Whispers of Atlantis * Part Seven
How long can we actually stay here asked Sealana a little bored as they all waited below the waves for the perfect time to rise again. She casually swayed her fin back and forth as Melody sat beside her lost in thought as she often was, going over every detail in her head of how they could stay and not get caught.
The mer children seemed just as fascinated with the sea turtles as the humans were, chasing them around and giggling without a care in the world now that they were out of the sight of the boat and any danger.
We can only stay a few days...three at the most which is equivalent to one evening at home andddd we have to account for travel because time starts stretching once we reach a certain part of the Undersea tunnel. After having surface legs for even a short period of time, you can feel the difference as the tunnels shift from the human Realm to ours.
How do you know so much asked Sealana looking at her friend skeptically?
My oldest sister told me before she left for studies in the northern part of the Sea. She returns home next Sea Festival so I'll see what I can get out of her then but I can't promise anything...
The older they get, the more they hide said Shelly, one of the younger mer children as she swam by sloshing water playfully. She, about age 11 thought she was the most advanced in the group of mer younglings not even old enough to attend the 'bestowel of gifts' festival. Their Sea Powers emerged spontanious and sporatic as a result symphoning from their Mer Parents energy until they were old enough to reveal their own 'Sea Gift's that they would eventually harness and master.
Until then, it wasn't clear if it was the child or the parents Sea Magic at work...
Well, today above Sea, they all sat sort of...
Sealana figeted, Melody calculated a new plan and the mer children played carefee because...for a short evening they could visit above and see the human world that everyone whispered about and it would be an evening stretched into three days because time moved faster here! What luck. Thanks to quick thinking and eavesdropping. They might get in trouble later but it would be worth it. The perfect story for Shelly's Sea Diary and quite the adventure for little Loch, Melody's baby brother.
Oh, its never gonna quiet down! We need to lift. We're wasting time said Sealana now pacing back and forth between darting playful mer kids. They didn't mind the wait as long as they didn't have to go back home yet and Melody, she just didn't want to get caught...
We can go up but we need to shift to fit in then we can go further and explore inland...
This made all the little mer children stop in their tracks.
OK. We can do this said Sealana...without getting caught.
Hold hands until we find another spot Sealana admonished the youger ones...a better place to shift.
No spot seemed good enough until they reached an area where she could see more trees in the distance rather than stretches of sand.
The rise out of the Ocean was easy though her skin still felt so tight! Even Melody complained but the little mer kids didn't seem to mind. Any discomfort they felt was eased as Melody and Sealana's Sea Energy surrounded their little bodies naturally bonding them to them. They didn't even fully understand it but their proximity to the children acted as a natural shield as Sea Law spun within all Mer. Any need of the children would be automatically read by the older Mer Younglings. Melody's two siblings naturally bonded to her in the absence of their Parents.
The mer children only felt a second of discomfort before their senses reached out for protection. This may have made it slightly more uncomfortable for Melody and Sealana who now felt the auric fields of all the children but if anything occurred even if the children weren't in eyesight, they would feel it and be one of their greatest defenses against sudden danger.
Melody rose first though Sealana was the most anxious. As foretold, their scale colors completely dimmed almost giving them the appearance of their upper form.
Sealana's hair, golden light brown began to twist and knot into a different style drying as it weaved ringlets of soft curls in a bun on top of her head to finish with coral colored gems clasping her hair in place along with tiny golden seashells that settled on the ends of beautiful combs that would stay there until the next hairstyle weaved itself.
Melody's dark hair tumbled down just below her waist before being pulled up into a bun in the front, on the top of her head with the back left dangling long, straight and free until the seashells decided to add loose soft curls fanning out down the back of her head to sit full around her shoulders. Two turquoise combs sat on the side of her hair bun.
Both Sealana and Melody's scales began to shift at the same time, altering the tops that they already wore back into lightly colored fins that swayed about their bosoms until they appeared as gossamer again. Their lower scales began weaving a pattern upward covering their bosom and the material until a new pattern was set. Capped sleeves weaved around Sealana's arms and slightly longer ones wove around Melody's as the scales disappeared until only small wavy upper body fins showed before material was spun adding shape and volume around the girls upper torso. Their large lower dominant fin began to shorten in length as a brief flash of dim light revealed legs emerging from a wrapping of colorful scales that continued to twine and weave around their form carrying wispy fins that altered into gossamer material until the lower scales met the top ones converging to become full length pants resembling Genie clothing. The colors switched to match their hair combs.
The transition didn't take too long but the pull of energy was strong. Stronger than they could actually bear. All of their leg muscles ached and throbbed as if the swim to reach the surface was now catching up to them.
Sealana felt the pulse of her heart and again the tightness of her skin felt like a tomb causing her to have to take several deep breaths but...she was shifted! She and Melody had their legs...for a time.
Taking a brief moment, she glanced over at the little ones that were with her. They were all shifted! No wonder she and Melody felt so bad.
A mer child's shift was rapid and painless as they expended no energy of their own to transform until they reached the shifting age that was the same for all Mer. Until then, if their Mother shifted, their cells mimicked it for survival above or below Sea.
For now, they would rest hidden on the remote beach, eating the rest of the food that they had stolen before the trek began to see what was above shore and out there...
...out there where lights turned on and music played in the air as strangers walked by carrying and doing all sorts of things.
Whatever it was, they would see it!
Stay tuned...
Mer Adolescents