She was surprised that second early morning
when an explosion of human-like proportions went off in the deep end of the
pool. Storm was thinking about her sisters and how she’d meet Jack properly
during the ‘merging’ class they shared after French Literature. It would be the
first time she’d speak to him as a real girl. Storm didn’t anticipate they’d
meet even sooner. After Storm had finished her laps, Jack dived into the far
end of the school pool, barely making a splash.
Instantly, Storm climbed out of the wet.
She couldn’t risk letting her love see her swim underwater. She’d been enjoying
swimming in circles, she’d even become used to the chlorine and began spreading
her glamorous tale out under the fluorescent lights just before Jack had dived
in. He too, needed to practice. That was the truth. He needed to be faster and
stronger in his human form if he and Sara were ever to beat Lavinia at her own
game.
Lavinia and the powerful Minchin sisters at
a neighboring school had grown in stature. They’d already had a close call at
homecoming. Lavinia’s conjuring had improved; it was almost as good as Sara’s.
Lavinia still hid her banned cell phone and checked it whenever she needed
answers to secret questions. Jack and Sara needed to build a small army to challenge
Lavinia’s power.
Meanwhile, Storm needed to resume human
form before Jack noticed her tail. She dripped at the edge of the pool as her
legs reformed the instant the lower half of her body was exposed to the air. But
the change exhausted her. Her face went pink, then slightly blue – she could
feel the coldness running in her veins and exhaustion in her transforming
muscles. The undetectable changes made her gasp for breath.
“Are you okay?”
Jack looked into her face.
“Hey, don’t I…?” Her eyes looked familiar. But it couldn’t be.
Storm shrugged him off quickly. He
couldn’t see her like this – hair wet and breathless, tail whirling underneath.
This was how she’d first looked to him and he was sure to remember. She wanted
him to see her as a real girl; he’d never be able to love her as a scaly, shiny
creature of the sea.
Storm pulled herself up through the water,
her tail transforming as she emerged into air, never giving Jack even a glimpse
of her scales. He smiled at her. Storm hurried to the changing rooms without so
much as a “hi.”
It had been a strange introduction.
When new students arrived, their talents
weren’t announced. It was up to the student to ‘share’ when they were ready,
according to the guidance officer, Mrs Styles – a ‘fashion victim’ according to
Lavinia. Her mean girl trainees would take notes on their tablets and report
back to Lavinia that afternoon, but Lavinia didn’t really need their help. Via
her smart phone, which told her everything, she considered herself streets
ahead of almost everyone else in school – except perhaps Jack and Sara. She’d
pretended she wanted a truce with them – but it had all gone pear shaped in the
school gym after homecoming. Now they were openly hostile. After her
suspension, Sara just acted like nothing had happened. Around them, she even
pretended she’d given up her wicked conjuring on school grounds.
Sara and Jack didn’t trust Lavinia after
she’d tried to kill Sara – or at least keep her in a deep sleep for a hundred
years. The plan had backfired but over lunch, Lavinia was not deterred. Her new
followers - Rapunzel Jones and Reddie Hood - were ever eager to listen to all her news.
Lavinia realized followers were better than
friends. Already, she was wary of the new girl, Storm. Lavinia, too, had
followed her to the swimming pool. Lavinia had spied on Storm and seen her
luscious mermaid tale. Storm was too weird even for Lavinia.
Over lunch, she told Reddie and Rapunzel to
“be careful of the freak show.”
“Which one?” Reddie asked, eager to please.
Her home life wasn’t too great either.
“The new one – she’s amphibious.”
“Wow,” Rapunzel said, trying to hide her
awe. They’d never had an amphibious student at Sloan Select. She’d heard about
them at Venice Beach High, though. Amphibious humans had been nearly wiped out
by all the vampires. Mermaid blood, which was blue, was a sweet elixir to
bloodsuckers.
Arriving part way through the semester put
Storm at a disadvantage and Jack was determined to speak with the new girl
during lunch. He didn’t want her to sit alone. Besides, Sara had a vision. In
this vision, they were all friends.
Jack had been serious about Sara – or
seriously in love with her – since the first time (in Sara’s trailer one night)
they’d changed a rock to water and back again. They’d also grown up together in
the children’s home where they were discovered in in East LA. They trusted each
other implicitly; though Jack wanted to take things further, Sara always held
back and kept him at a safe distance. Jack knew Sara wasn’t ready to trust
anyone just yet – especially a guy who could shape shift from human to cougar
and back again.
Still, they needed another friend to add
to their group since Lavinia had been building an army against them. Lavinia and
her new friends, Reddie Hill and Rupunzel Jones sat eating lunch together and
plotting the Sloan Select Tournament of Skill – something Lavinia said would, “separate
the sheep from the wolves.” Lavinia liked Jack more than a lot. It was a
constant source of irritation to her that he and Sara were continuously
together.
The Tournament of Skill was scheduled to
begin in one month and all the students attending the ‘gifted and talented
schools’ (eight schools in total, including Venice Beach High) – were due to
take part. Venice Beach High hosted many covens of vampire teens (including the
Minchin sisters) and they were not known for playing fair. Lavinia had been
networking for weeks now.
Meanwhile, Jack and Sara were sure they
needed to get a larger team together. Sara had even dreamt they needed a third
person. Jack had tried to explain his mermaid vision to Sara but she joked that
he was delusional prior to her dream. Now she was sure the third member was
coming. Even though he was a shape-shifter and Sara had her own incredible
powers to merge and change objects and people, they both knew the existence of
mermaids was only speculated about in children’s stories. Still, Sara knew she
and Storm would be friends; maybe even besties.
That night, as Storm lay in bed listening to
the ocean in her mind as she tried to sleep, she remembered the stabilizer
pills her foster mom had recommended.
“These will prevent you from changing. When you’re in water, you’ll stay
human. But remember, you’ll have to teach yourself to swim again. ” Storm got
out of her bunk and took a pill. She knew that once she’d started the process
of stabilization, it would be impossible to turn back. In order to have the boy
she loved, her change had to be complete. Jack Hunter was worth it. Storm knew,
deep inside, he was her dream.
Real life had taken over that first week on
land. School, homework, swim practice and a glimpse of him every morning filled
her days.
Storm only had one foster brother – he was nine
and slept next door to her. Her foster parents were nice – they were used to
dealing with “specific needs” students, as they put it. Storm’s specific need
was water and no matter how many pills she took, she knew she’d never stop
craving it. That Thursday night, Storm drank an entire glass of H2O with her
pill then pulled out the classic novel, Les
Miserables, assigned for French homework.
Les
Miserables was a huge story that her French teacher told her was maybe too huge for a sixteen year old to
read. It wasn’t required reading but Storm liked to read about Marius, the
young revolutionary. Storm wasn’t a fan of Cosette – the girl who’d won his
heart without doing anything to deserve it, except existing. It had occurred to
Storm, as she read under the covers, using her torch (her foster mom had
warned her to get more rest) that she
was in danger of becoming the Eponine in her own story. Eponine was the girl
who loved Marius from afar but who, in the end, always looked on from the
sidelines. Eponine was the girl who never knew she was worthy of being loved,
the girl who was cast aside.
