Chapter 7

 

“I wish I had a tail,” I said, only half serious. If I could sprout one temporarily, it would certainly make mounting this sidesaddle a bit more… comfortable. It would also help me maneuver. I was able to glide through the water with the speed of Michael Phelps and the grace of a synchronized swimmer. Much improvement over my aquatic life heretofore as doggy paddler and belly flopper. Still, compared to the Merfolk, I was something of an oaf. A tail… would be helpful.

Joni smiled. “Unless you find a way to harness Fomorian magic, magic based on the elemental properties of water… I’m not saying you couldn’t. I mean with Isabelle’s power…”

“She refuses. Says it isn’t worth the risk.”

“And she’s right. I once shifted into a dragon by accident. A part of that instinct… it never left me. Shifting doesn’t just change your shape, it affects your mind.”

I scrunched my brow. “And since my mind is clearly in my ass, shifting a tail would be catastrophic.”

Joni detected my sarcasm. “I see your point.”

Doesn’t matter anyway, Isabelle said. I can’t give you enough of my magica to do it unless I have the reins.

I sighed. “No matter. Isabelle says it takes too much magic to shape-shift, and she can only give me limited quantities unless I let her take over.”

Joni pinched the tip of her chin. “Good thing I’m a siphon and can amplify the magic for you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “That would really work?”

“Not sure how long you’ll be able to hold the shift since I can’t keep the magic going strong indefinitely. But I should be able to amplify the magica enough to allow you to shift for a few minutes, at least.”

I nodded. “Well that’s something. I mean, if we’re in the middle of a battle and I need the extra agility that a tail provides…”

Joni smirked. “Still, using a mer-tail takes some practice. Swimming with one is kind of like learning to walk for the first time. And three days is already pushing it to get you wyrm-worthy.”

I nodded. “Well, good thing we got here early, before the new recruits arrived.”

Joni patted the wyrm she intended me to ride—it was incredible how, so long as she was around, these creatures demurred like perfectly trained show dogs. Of course, I didn’t have any clue how they’d behave if she wasn’t around. I wasn’t at all eager to find out, either.

“All right, Annabelle. You and Isabelle ready to try this?”

Might as well be…

“She’s as ready as she’ll ever be. I am, too.”

Joni smirked. “All right. Isabelle, just don’t hold any of the good stuff back. I won’t need much, but the more you can let Annabelle channel, the better.”

Got it…

“She understands.”

Joni nodded. I opened myself to Isabelle’s magica. I didn’t have to inhale when I channeled it—but for some reason I always did. At least at first. It just felt like the right, instinctive thing to do. A slight tingle spread across my brow and I could see the green glow emanating from my eyes illuminate the waters around me—it had a pretty marvelous effect underwater, something I couldn’t often see in normal circumstances, especially if we were in a lit room, or outdoors during the daytime.

Joni inhaled—though I suspected her inhale was more integral to her siphoning ability than it was to my casting. The green glow that had filled my eyes before now consumed hers.

Joni grinned. “Ahh, I forgot how good this kind of magic felt… so pure… so much life in it…”

I nodded. I didn’t have much experience with other flavors of magica. Even the powers I wielded through the various aspects of the Lao which I had been granted wasn’t like this. Those abilities didn’t run off of magica, or mana, or whatever the hell it actually was that Isabelle drew upon to channel her abilities. I just liked the word magica, seemed sufficiently mystical to me, so it’s the term I ran with.

Joni extended her hand toward my legs. “Just relax,” she said. “This is going to feel… unusual.”

I giggled. “It tickles a little.”

Joni nodded.

“Don’t fight it… I know the instinct is to jerk away, exactly like if you were being tickled. Try to lean into the feeling.”

I laughed and accidentally snorted. I covered my face with my hand, as if trying to force the piggy noise back inside. I could feel my bones soften, the skin of my legs stretch. It wasn’t at all painful. But it was the oddest sensation I’d ever had—other than the time when a guy I was dating stuck his tongue in my ear. He thought it would turn me on somehow. Instead, it just felt like the worst wet willy I’d ever experienced. And it felt weirder, believe it or not, than this… this wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. It tickled, yeah. But not so much that I couldn’t bear it. After the first few giggles, it took no effort at all to simply let the transformation happen.

To watch it happen with my own eyes was quite a sight—just imagine seeing your own legs meld into something else, as if they were play-dough.

But I could never make anything at all this impressive with play-dough. My play-dough sculptures… well, they kind of resembled Pauli. I could make play-dough snakes. That was about the extent of it. I wasn’t the most creative child on the planet.

I moved my new tail—which I have to say was an experience of its own, when you’ve lived your whole life with two legs, accustomed to moving them independently.

I kicked—like I thought I would if I had my two legs stuck inside a fake Mermaid costume. My body immediately flung backward, forcing me into a backflip in the middle of the water.

Pauli was laughing out loud. “I don’t think that’s how you do it.”

“Ya think?” I asked. I looked at Joni, who was grinning widely.

“It just takes small, subtle movements. You don’t have to use so much force.”

I nodded. I tried again, a more subtle kicking motion this time. I felt my body move one direction.

“Now the other way,” Joni said. “You always have to keep yourself in balance.”

I flipped my tail fin the other way—the two movements together seemed to balance me out a bit as my body moved forward.

“Now, just back and forth, no more one way than the other. Remember, keep yourself in balance, unless you want to flip, or turn.”

I flipped my tail back and forth and felt my body propel through the water. “I’m doing it!” I shouted. “Woohoo! I can really go!”

“Now try to turn!” Joni shouted.

I tilted my body slightly and gave my tail a hard flip the opposite direction I intended to go. Too much. I corrected the opposite way.

“There you go,” Joni said. “You’re getting it!”

I flipped my tail a few more times propelling myself back to where I started.

“Not bad for a first-timer,” Joni said. “My first time with a new tail didn’t go nearly so well.”

“Sounds like there’s an entertaining story behind that statement,” I said.

Joni chuckled. “Let’s just say a double backflip into the behind of a whale won’t get you a perfect ten even if you stick the landing.”

“How do you stick a landing if you don’t have legs?”

“That wasn’t the end of my body I stuck my landing with…”

I laughed. “I’d seriously give up half my trust fund to see that.”

“I’m sure it would be money well spent. Agwe still hasn’t let me live that one down.”

“Should I give it another go?” I asked. Fluttering my tail around, causing my body to spin like a tornado.

“No time,” Joni said, nodding a few yards away. About a dozen Merfolk were approaching. Toward the front of the group were two I already recognized—Shelly and Finn. Joni looked in my eyes. “Isabelle, I’m talking to you.”

I hear her…

“She hears you.”

Joni nodded. “The shift took well. If you just allow a small bit of magica to go into it, you should be able to hold this form for longer.”

Tell her I’ll try. Never done anything like this before, so I’m not entirely sure how much it takes to hold.

“She said she’d do her best,” I said.

Joni nodded. “Very well. If you’re serious about joining the wyrmriders, you can’t have any special treatment. I need you to get in line with the rest.”

“Sure,” I said.

“It’s ‘yes, La Sirene,’” Joni said.

I rolled my eyes.

“When we’re training, that is how you must address me.”

I smirked. “You got it, General.”

Joni sighed. “I guess that will have to do.”