Deleted Scene: Travis and Steph Rescued

There was a part in the original draft that lasted into a couple more until now where Travis and Steph were involved in traveling to the ruins. This has been deleted due to how unrealistic it all was. Looking back, Travis and Steph should not have survived the whole ordeal. There were a number of plot holes that came from this scene to that were unable to be properly filled. Enjoy!

A heave for air and Travis could feel the salt water burn its way up his throat, which he expelled from him with a coughing gurgle. He lifted a hand to his lips, slowly wiping it across while slowly cracking open salt crusted eyelids. Silhouetted by the sunset a girl looked down upon him with long hair draped over her shoulders and dripping upon his face. Oddly enough it reminded him of a scene from one of his sister’s favorite Disney movies. “Ariel?”

The woman tilted her head at the implication, “Who?”

Suddenly, a hand gave his face a quick slap, “Wake up ya fool!”

“Ow! Hey! What was that for?!” Travis exclaimed, sitting up.

The surface he sat upon shifted beneath him to which he gripped on for dear life. Looking down quickly Travis found his own surf board floating on the sea in the middle of nowhere. So the attack on the boat wasn’t a dream at all! Nothing, but water all around him… well them since Steph was sitting on the other end of the board. He got his legs out of the water and onto the board, shuffling towards the center in shock. “Holy… ah… oh go…. What happened?! Where are we?” he sputtered.

Steph sat with her knees pulled up to her chin, still wearing her swimsuit with only a thin T-shirt covering it. Her skin showing signs of burns by the setting sun as it highlighted her body to a near silhouette. “We are in the middle of nowhere, boy,” she stated.

“Wh… where is… where is Marie? Dorian?” he wondered with a gulp.

She shrugged, “If I knew I’d tell ya!”

“Oh man!” he exclaimed. “Oh man, oh man, oh man! We should do something!”

“Naw,” Steph remarked, which was not what Travis expected to hear out of her. “I’m sure they’re fine an’ got away. Probably head’n to the ruins place or whateva.”

Travis blinked as he felt what was left of his brain explode in sections, “Probably doing what now? What are you talking about? How did we get on my board? How are we even still alive?!”

She gave a shrug of her exposed burnt shoulders, “God works in mysterious ways.”

“Don’t you—Woah! Don’t you give me that!” he exclaimed, getting on hands and knees which sent the board wobbling beneath them. Travis attempted to crawl towards the beaded haired teen, but stopped when it nearly sent her over. “You know what’s going on; don’t you? You must or you’d be freakin’ out right now too!”

Her pencil thin eyebrows raised high, “Boy I do not freak out. You’re the one freakin’ out.”

“Thank you captain obvious,” the blonde stated. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”

“Well, we’re stuck and… last I checked, we’ve been stuck for some time. It’s gonna to be night soon,” Steph remarked, looking up at the sky as it was turning a light shade of purple and growing darker.

Travis, in turn, gazed heavenward. “We’ll freeze out here or drown, whichever comes first. If we survive both then we’ll starve instead.”

Steph gave a snort, “You’re a ray of sunshine.”

“I’m not just going to sit here!” Travis exclaimed, his mind whirling, trying to find some sort of idea to keep from panicking.

This lead to the thought of trying to get the board moving. So Travis got down on his belly and began paddling his arms through the water as though fighting a great wave to surf. Steph voiced an objection from where she sat, but that wasn’t what stopped him. Something slick brushed across his hand that felt like a very large fish. Travis yanked his hand out of the sea and fell back on his seat again, crying out, “Shark! There’s a shark circling us!”

“Will ya quit rocking the boat?!” Steph exclaimed. “It ain’t no shark! It’s something else.”

“Something… else?” he repeated as his heart only began to hammer even faster. It was becoming difficult for him to breathe now. What could be worse than sharks? He swallowed, “Worse?”

Steph just continued to stare down at the shifting watery surface below. This began to click some small pieces of his brain back together. Moving around so to kneel facing her, Travis asked, carefully, “Stephanie… what do you know?”

A heavy sigh left her, “Look, ya’ll remember that time Marie was pushed into the pool?”

“Yeah?” he replied with his eyebrows raised. “So? I’m a nice guy. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Did you see somethin’ weird? Like… on her neck?”

Travis thought back on the incident. It had all happened so fast, plus Marie did shove him away. Thinking fast also didn’t bring in a clear image. “I think so, why?”

Steph took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth heavily. “That thing ya’ll saw on her neck. Gills. How? Cause she’s half mermaid. Oh an’ Dorian really is her brother an’ he’s got gills too.”

With a dry throat, Travis managed to utter out, “Gills?”

“Yeah,” she remarked. “An’ he’s got a tail too.”

“A… tail?”

“A fish tail,” she added. “An’ it goes where his legs should be. A.k.a. a merman.”

Travis knelt there, staring blankly while trying to assemble the information into logical sense. Aside from the Disney movie and Splash, Travis had little to no experience with merpeople exposure. So to even be told by someone down to earth, like Steph, quickly broke his brain. He shook the rattled pieces of his mind, trying to shake them back into place, but to no avail. Unable to find any logical place to put this information, Travis assumed the next best theory. It was a joke.

“No, really, what’s really going on?” he asked.

Suddenly, a head popped up from the water beside them, which gave Travis a jolt.

“Oh good, you are still alive,” the blonde headed girl remarked with a frown. “I guess I should be happy about it.”

She looked no older than about fourteen or fifteen years old with her hair grown long. Draping down to the water and swirling about her tiny, pale shoulders. Her face was heart shaped while here large eyes were the bluest he had ever seen. Even gave off a silver sheen in the setting sunlight. Travis’s breath caught in his throat at how beautiful this new girl was.

Steph gave a snort, “Nice to see ya too. Did’ya see Marie or Dorian down there?”

The blonde shook her damp head, “No, not Dorian, but I did see Kuval rescue his… sister.”

Just as suddenly as the blonde came up, another head burst forth through the water skin. Shaking the water from his mop of red curls that sent droplets flying at them. Turning to the blonde, the red head stated, “Marie is gone!”

“You just said she was with him!” Steph exclaimed at the blonde. “Wadda mean she’s gone? Where’d she go?”

The red head shrugged his freckled shoulders, “I do not know. She said she thought she saw you and went to look for you. I do not know what happened after that. My fin ached… still aches.”

With a snort the blonde remarked, “You are such a fry! I told you helping was a bad idea!”

That earned her an eye roll as Travis began to notice the strange slits on the red head’s neck. If he didn’t know any better, they seemed to really resemble gills. His eyes then glanced at the girl and could see a glimpse of the gills peeking from beneath her long locks of damp hair. The red head turned to argue with the girl, but the words never entered into his mind. When the two strangers had moved, sheen like many tiny scales shimmered from the twilight sun. Even Steph had joined into the argument, forgetting about him entirely.

Unable to take the ignorance anymore, Travis cried out, “Will someone tell me what is going on?!”

All three pairs of eyes looked to Travis as though suddenly noticing his existence.

A sly grin quirked on Steph’s lips, “Sir Tans-a-lot, meet Ariel.”

He turned to the blonde with a blinking stare, “That… that was you? You… no, no way… you can’t be… no!”

In turn, a smile spread upon the girl’s face as she reached to the edge of the board and pulled herself up. Her torso bare, alabaster skin gleaming wet down to the shimmering scales at the hips. Travis inhaled sharply as a large fin slowly rose up behind her, swaying teasingly. His mouth hung open, torn between staying that way and closing shut. One of her webbed hands reached out to touch his knee.

“Would you like me to sing to you?” she purred.

Travis cried out, jumping away from her touch only to find himself falling back into the sea with a splash. Sinking into the dark blue liquid, he opened his eyes to an approaching figure. This one belonging to the red head, who also had a fish tail where the legs should have been. Bubbles flew free from his mouth and Travis floundered to get away, but the merman’s strong arms had him in a tight grip. They rose, breaking through the watery skin with a crash.

He let forth a shout, flailing, “Get off me man! Let go!”

“All right, all right,” the merman remarked, releasing his grip immediately.

Now free, Travis made a mad, near dog paddle for the surf board and pulled himself up. “This is not real! No way is this real!” he exclaimed. “I’m dead! I must be dead!”

“Not yet,” said the red head as he slowly paddled his arms about the board. His body mostly visible above the water, fish tail swaying back and forth leisurely. The torn half of it struggling to maintain the fan shape as he went. He added, “If you both stay out here for too long you will be.”

“Nooooooooo, really?” Steph remarked. “Ya’ll a freakin’ genius! Whadda about Marie an’ Dorian? Wadda gonna do about them? Marie is gone an’ only God knows where Dorian is now!”

“Dorian may be fine,” spoke the mermaid. “I can feel the ocean is happy of his return… he is a merman again.”

“Seriously,” Travis insisted desperately, having not accepted this fully yet in his shattered brain. “This isn’t really happening, is it?”

Steph reached over and gave his arm a sharp pinch that made him yelp. “Still here?” she stated. “Then this is happening.”

Travis considered himself to be a pretty open minded about people and their quirks. Didn’t really matter to him what life styles they are, interests or culture. A person is a person after all, but would a mermaid be considered a person? They are half human, but they are also half fish. He had seen Marie soaking wet before and she didn’t have a tail. There was only that one time at the pool where he thought he saw the gills. Now that he reflected on the idea, Marei did hide her neck a while afterwards.

His mind began to spin. Being a mermaid is not a quick nor a lifestyle choice, interest or culture! Though the logical part of him would argue that she was born this way; it was too busy screaming that merpeople don’t exist. Yet, here were a male and a female swimming around them now. Real, alive, and breathing. This, despite the blaring evidence, was far too unreal. Even so, he tried to keep a clear head and open mind about the whole thing.

“Okay, okay I get it! I get it now, you’re real!” he exclaimed, as his mind was still very frazzled beyond repair.

The mermaid’s lips stretched to a coyish grin, “It is about time you saw the light.” She drifted just a bit closer to the board, “You know, for a split-tail, you are not that ugly.” This she purred while reaching up to touch his knee again.

“Don’t touch me!” Travis yelped, slapping the cold hand away.

Her eyes grew dark like storm clouds, “You split-tails have yet to change in thousands of years! I have a grandmother who could tell me how our tails would offend you! I see it still does!”

“No need to get your hair in a knot, Charlene,” muttered the red haired one. “He has never seen any of us before.”

“I do not care!” Charlene shot back at the merman. “I am still far more beautiful than any female he may know. Certainly far fairer than that half blood his heart pines for.”

Travis blanched, which earned an eye roll from the mermaid.

“I heard your words on the … boat… thing!” Charlene stated.

Travis shook the broken pieced of his brain; almost hearing the rattle inside. “Look, mermaid--”

“Charlene,” she corrected.

“Charlene.” He licked dry lips, but it could only do so much. “You are pretty, but you’re a mermaid. You, both of you, aren’t supposed to be real. If you’ve really been around all this time; then how come I haven’t seen your kind in museums or zoos or something? Why aren’t you guys at Sea World performing with Shamu?”

The darkness returned deeper and more foreboding than before. “How dare you! You think we are dumb enough to get caught by the likes of you?! Think we are just for show?! You are horrible! All of you!”

With that outburst, Charlene took hold of the other’s arm. “Come on, Kuval, they can find their own way back to land! Let us go find Dorian!”

Kuval blinked, “What? But--”

“They will live!” Charlene insisted and then promptly dunked the merman under, giving a last glare, “Maybe.” With that, the merpeople were gone; leaving barely a ripple behind.

Suddenly, Travis found the water rushing up to meet him again. Floundering his way back up to the board, he exclaimed, “What was that for?”

“Dude, not cool!” Steph remarked, planting her foot upon his head and shoving him back down.

Travis flailed, struggling to get away from her wrath and take in air again. Eventually, she did allow him to come back up for breath. He then pulled back up onto the board. Coughing and sputtering salt water, Travis laid his upper body across the board in exhaustion.

“Shamu? Seriously?! Shamu!” Steph exclaimed from where she sat. “Why’d ya’ll go an’ say that?!”

“I didn’t think it would tick them off!” he argued. “How was I supposed to know?”

Steph’s eyes rolled, “Uh, gee, cause ya’ll try’n to date Marie? Moron!”

“Marie has been to Sea World,” Travis pointed out, grunting as he pulled the rest of his body back on the board. “I should know. We went on a field trip there in second grade.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Yeah, she was hydrophobic then too.”

Thinking back on the memory now, Travis did recall Marie not watching the show with the rest of the class. Wouldn’t touch any of the animals and was only fine when there was glass between herself and the water where it couldn’t get to her. Looking back at other, similar, situations from his past; he could see the mermaid connection now. Swallowing, he glanced over at Steph, “So… did Marie know the whole time?”

A pencil thin eyebrow rose, “You believ’n?”

“Well, it makes sense now,” he shrugged his shoulders. The hydrophobia, gills, refusal to sing and the attack on the boat; all came together. For the most part. “Did she?”

Steph shook her head, rattling the beads. “She didn’t find out til’ recently. After meet’n Dorian.”

“And Dorian…”

“Really is her brotha’,” she finished. “Half brotha’, but still.”

Travis turned his eyes to the water, wondering if Kuval and Charlene were still near. “So… how’d she take it?”

“About as good as you,” Steph replied, eyes staring ahead.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Silence came between them as Travis processed the information. Marie is half mermaid, which made him wonder how it was even possible. When the mental images became too much, he switched focus to current events. Her being half mermaid doesn’t sound too bad if it’s only the gills and singing part of the deal. Not like she was going out to drown people or anything. Plus Marie lasted this long without detection. Even though she is ridiculed by the popular girls, it didn’t mean anything. It’s just that way as is. Plus, Marie is still the same person he had grown affection for. Still beautiful, smart and mysterious; just like he remembered. Yes, Marie is defiantly worth the fight.

“Come on,” he said. “We should figure out how to get ourselves to dry land again.”

Steph quickly shook her head, pulling her knees closer to her chest. “No, no maybe that Charlene will forgive ya an’ come back.”

Travis raised his eyes to the teen girl, “I don’t think they’re coming back. We can’t just float here waiting.”

“They’ve gotta come back eventually,” Steph argued. “Can’t just leave us here when Marie needs our help.”

Never before had Travis seen such passion in Stephanie like this. The determination and concern in her eyes and the insistence on staying put. As admirable of a quality it is, it was also irrational. He shook his head, “What can we do? We’re just two humans stuck on a surf board.”

“I don’t care!” Steph snapped. “I ain’t gonna lose my only friend!”

This gave him pause, staring at the young woman in shock. Viki’s passing was still a fresh wound to her. One that she was allowing to fester instead of mend inside. Does Steph really have so few friends? So few that she would really call Marie her only friend? He took a deep breath, reconsidering his words. It was easier to focus with the merpeople away.

“I’m worried about her too. You may not like it, but I am,” he said, slowly. “But, we did what we could and now we need to survive. Marie wouldn’t want us to take unnecessary risks just hoping we’d be able to help. We need to find land.”

Steph took in a deep breath through her nose and held it. Silently, she sat there, unmoving and holding to that air. Almost like a kid throwing a tantrum. Just as Travis was beginning to think she would sooner pass out; she freed the breath. A heavy sigh left her in defeat.

“Fine, any ideas?” she asked.

That was a good question. Another shake of his head and Travis replied, “I don’t even know where we are. The boat just… I dunno, steered itself over here somehow. I just let it.”

“Heh, yeah about that,” Steph remarked. “That was us. We ‘all were trying to get to the ruins. Ya know, to help Fish Boy. So we all stuck a magic compass thingie on the boat to take us here.”

At this point, Travis was ready to believe just about anything she said. “Okay, but the boat is trashed,” he reminded. “The compass thing is gone. Magic or not.”

“Guess again Tans-a-lot,” she stated. Tucking two fingers between her breasts, Steph revealed the compass.

This magic compass looked like a broken hand off a clock. Except this was carved out of bone from what he could tell. He almost found it hard to believe such a small thing steered the boat this far. Somehow in the chaos Steph got it from the boat.

“Cool,” Travis said. “Uhhh… how does it work?”

“It’s magic,” Steph explained. “Ya’ll just attach it to whateva ‘an tell it where to go ‘an it’ll go.”

Sounded simple enough. “Think it’ll work on a surf board?”

“We could try. There’s still some sticky craziness still on this thing. It was stick’n to my ladies.”

Travis turned his eyes away before they could go where she would smack him. “Okay, if it’s sticky enough it should work. Give it here.”

She slapped the compass into his waiting hand without question. Travis then worked to peal it free, nearly taking off his own skin from his palm with a yelp. “Gah, what is this stuff?”

Steph shrugged, “I think carrot top said its jelly fish guts or somethin’.”

Travis scrunched his face in disgust while his stomach gave a lurch. “I’m gonan pretend you didn’t just tell me that.”

“Ya asked.”

Trying not to focus on what the adhesive actually was, Travis adhered it to the front of the surf board. He tugged at it to be sure of its grip. It didn’t budge. A nod and he turned to Steph, “Now what?”

“Now ya’ll tell it where to go. ‘An since we all don’t know where we are, might wanna tell it ‘land’,” Steph suggested.

“Okay… anything else?” Travis implied.

Steph shrugged, “Touch it?”

Sounded simple enough again. So he placed a hand upon the stem of the arrow. Steph reached around from behind and did the same. Glancing at her a moment, he implied, “Ready?”

“Ready,” Steph nodded.

Travis gulped, unsure of what he had gotten himself into. However, there was no turning back now. “Okay, compass… take us to land… please?”

A lurch and the board reared up on it’s end. The two passenger shaving to hold tight to the board to keep from falling into the water. Then with a slap, the board hit the surface again and sped into motion. Rocketing across the sea like a speed boat. Travis clung to the board for dear life while Steph had a death grip on him, screaming in his ear. Ohne they went with eyes closed tight; not knowing when this journey will end.

~~~~~~

Steph wanted to scream, but instead her jaw was clenched so tight that it hurt. She was far too afraid to look to see where the compass was taking them. Water sprayed all around them in great waves, spewing from the sides of the board. Whether it was day or night, neither of them truly knew since both of their eyes remained clenched shut. It was growing more and more difficult to hang on to the slick material of the surfboard. The teen clung to Travis so tight that it her nails dug through the shirt and into his skin. Before they knew it, the ride abruptly ended.

Thunk!

The tip of the board buried itself deep into the sandy land mass, flipping its passengers head over heels into the air. Steph was the first to hit the ground with Travis following after with a painful thud. Both moaned, but it was Travis who was worse off. As soon as Steph had realized who was lying on top of her, she gave him a nasty elbow to the gut to get him off. He gave a yelp, rolling off onto the sand, holding his newly bruised side. While the young man was writhing, Steph scrambled to her feet, slapping the sand off her bare legs.

"Dude, where are we?" she exclaimed.

Travis gave a shuddering cough as he got up to his feet. "Dude, did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Shut-up," she snapped.

It looked like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean when Johnny Depp was left on a deserted island. Only with far less trees. On the one side there were many large rocks, while trees were placed rather sporadically throughout the white sand. The sun was high, marking it to be sometime in the afternoon. The compass must have taken them across the ocean all night. Due to the intense ride and the fear of flying off, Steph didn’t feel as tired as she should be. Instead, she trudged through the sand, just trying to get her bearings while Travis came stumbling along to her side.

"Dang… what is this place?" he gasped.

"I don't know… but what I do know is… I really don't want to be here right now."

Turning away, she trudged across the sand, running a hand through her beaded locks of hair. Her stomach grumbled for nourishment that was unavailable to them. Well, now they were no longer stranded on the ocean, but without food, then they are no better than they were before. "Maybe… I should have specified…"

"Dude, what the heck was that earlier?" Travis demanded suddenly as though reality had just hit him. "The board and… the compass thing… what else are you not telling me that I should know about?”

Whirling around, she snarled at him, "Look, there are things bigger in this life than you!”

A sudden burst of salt water interrupted any further questioning that may have wanted to come out of Travis's mouth. From the waves rose an actual orca, snapping its massive jaw at her. Steph jumped back from it, falling back hard on her butt. Travis swore as he flew back to avoid the teeth, falling beside her. Just when they thought things couldn't get worse, a second orca raised its head out of the water. Astride each whale was a merman, armed and not looking very pleased to see the two humans on their island.

"O…okay… I… I… believe you…" Travis stuttered, staring at the mythical creatures.

"That's great, now run!" Grabbing the blonde young man by the collar, she yanked him up to his feet.

Together they dashed across the sand, sandals flying off their feet. Running in bare feet actually made things somewhat easier, but did not take away the discomfort of the hot sand burning them at each step. They tried to keep as far away from the edge of the shore as possible, but the trees and rocks proved to be horrible obstacles for them along the way. Quickly growing desperate to get as far away as possible, Steph threw herself against the smooth surface of the palm trees. Finding what foot and hand holds she could, the young woman pulled herself upward. If they could reach the top, then they'll be safe.

Fortunately, Travis was smart enough to follow her lead, hugging some tree himself. Water drenched the two humans making it more difficult to climb. The mermen must have realized this rather quickly as the sprays soon became waves pounding against their bodies. Looking back for a moment, Steph could see that the whales were backing off into the water, rounding around and sending the water at them in waves.

"Crap! I forgot how smart orcas are!" Steph frustrated, nearly losing her hold on the tree.

Another onslaught sent Travis losing his grip and falling back into the water towards the waiting mermen. The one closest to the flailing young man, grabbed him up by the back of the shirt, aiming the trident he held to the boy's chest. Before the merman could even think to stab the point of the weapon into human flesh, Travis swung his leg as much as he could. His leg connected with the merman's waist, sending him sliding off the slick back of his steed, taking Travis with him. However, even without its rider, the whale was still dangerous, still coming after Stephanie with its partner.

It wasn't long until another wave hit, sending the young woman slamming her head against the hard bark of the tree. Now dazed, her hands slipped from their holds and she fell into the cold, churning liquid below. Tumbling head over heels backwards, Steph was taken up by the other merman. Struggling in his grip on her T-shirt, she slid out of it, sinking away and kicking her legs rapidly to get away. She spun nearly avoiding getting hit by a large, black tail, her lungs burning. Paddling her arms as fast as possible, Steph managed to break the surface, gulping in deep breaths.

"Travis!" she screamed. "Travis?"

The young man popped up, coughing and gasping for air. Before Steph could attempt swimming towards him, hands from below pulled her down. Taking in a quick inhale of air, the young woman soon found herself face to face with one of the mermen guards. Behind the mer-guard, Steph could see that Travis was also brought under. Both humans struggled, wriggling about in the death grip the mermen had on them. Around them, the orca's circled, watching and waiting for their next meal to come. Two juicy humans, coming right up, Steph thought. No! her mind screamed. Yet, despite her efforts, all were failing with every second of precious oxygen not being replenished into her lungs. Her muscles began to burn as consciousness slowly slipped away from her mental grasp. This was it, another life or death situation leaning towards the death side. So much for being a normal teenager like she had planned.

Deep in the darkness of the waters filling her thoughts while it worked to enter into her body, she heard something. It was soft at first, but gradually rose in power as though a warm beam of light was reaching up to her. A choir of voices resonated in the air, singing a haunting, yet mesmerizing song. Tenors and baritones harmonized, but melodically clashed creating the tone other worldly. Who were they? What was going on? Her mind questioned. Steph opened her eyes to see the orcas behaving strangely, stopping their circle around them, and beginning to move in almost a dance to the singing. One of them twirled in the water happily, then changed course. It opened its great mouth and headed right for them. With a cry of alarm, the merman who held her was caught in the whale's teeth, releasing his hold on her.

With a mind too far gone to react to this advantage, Steph began to drift further away from the surface. Perhaps death wouldn't be so bad. After all, the madness would stop with all this merpeople business. For all she knew, this was all just a bad dream anyway. Yeah, that's it, she thought, a bad dream. I'll wake up in my bed and this will all be over. Down the young woman sunk; closing her eyes to enter into peaceful rest, not even noticing the arms that grabbed her from behind to lift her up again.

Something wet slapped her gently on the cheek. "Hey, hey dark human, you need to wake up!" a male voice urged.

"Did you make sure to get all of the water out of her?" another male voice inquired of the first.

"I think so."

"Try again, just to make sure."

Limply, Steph felt her body rotated to her side as a hand slapped at her back. Water expelled from her mouth, he body wracked with a coughing spasm. Returned to lying on her back, light fully pierced through closed eyelids. Blinking in the sunlight, Steph found two faces looking down at her. Both were young men, one with red hair and another with blonde. Water dripped from their locks of soaked hair onto her face, but they had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The blonde smiled down at her, the sun gleaming off his bare torso behind his head, creating a halo.

"Hey, she's awake!"

Panic hit her quickly, sending her jumping to her feet, screaming. Vertigo then came along to strike her back down to her knees. Holding her head, Steph collapsed with a moan.

"Careful, dark human," cautioned the red head. "You took in a lot of water. Don't move around too much just yet. Rest."

It wasn't until Steph had looked up again when she realized that the two men were not human. Two mermen sat on the sand, tails curled around themselves and staring at her in concern. Swallowing, she dared to look further down the beach to find more mermen scattered about. A couple of them were tending to a comatose Travis. A quick glance at the mermen there and she could see Dorian was not among them. Yet, one sight did make her heart leap in her chest for joy.

"Steph! You're alive!"

"Marie!" Steph exclaimed, forcing herself to her feet and stumbling into Marie’s hug. "Marie! I thought ya’ll was dead!" Tears flowed down her cheeks as the swarm of emotions from the past few days had finally caught up to her.

Marie was sobbing out of joy as well, "I thought you were dead too! I'm so glad you guys are okay!"

“I know!” Steph practically shrieked. “Girl! There was no way we should have survived that! No way!”

Marie laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes, “You wouldn’t have if we weren’t around. We were swimming along trying to find our way back to the ruins, okay? We saw these merguards coming here with a prisoner and then this surf board comes out of nowhere and hits the island. Before you know it there you guys are with the guards trying to get you. The mermen sang and made the whales kill their riders and each other. That’s when we got you guys out of the water.”

Steph tried to speak but could only set free breaths of air. Taking a quick moment to think over her words, she remarked, “Dang Girl! We shouldn’t be alive!”

“I know!” Marie exclaimed.

A scream from Travis quickly interrupted their laughter. The surfer crab walked back rapidly away from the mermen who had revived him. "Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!" he exclaimed.

"Rather jumpy, isn't he?" remarked one of the mermen sitting near the two girls.

Letting her go, Marie jogged to his side, trying to calm him down. After explaining that everything was fine and that the mermen were friends, Travis began to settle. Instead, he just sat there with a stunned look on his face. All of this seemed to be more of a dream to Steph than anything even though she knew Dorian. However, Dorian was a merman so briefly in the time she had first met him wounded on the beach. Now with so many gathered before her, it just seemed surreal. Yet, at the same time, watching her best friend interact with them so calmly brought a sense of peace. Marie knew these fantasy creatures like family; therefore, they were okay in Steph's book.

A merman with a pearl colored tail and hair that matched Marie's, surfaced from the water and pulled himself onto shore. "Marie, I have spoken to the prisoner," he said.

Marie turned to him and walked towards the new merman with Steph following close behind. “What did he say?” she asked.

The merman settled on the hot sand, curling his tail around and replied, “The guards brought him here after we left the holding place. He was in charge of the guards protecting the place and so for his failure, Nemesio ordered his execution.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Steph exclaimed, waving her arms about wildly. “Execution? As in, kill him? Here?”

The merman nodded, “This is Blood Island. This is where merpeople are brought to die. Your coming distracted the guards from beating upon the prisoner. So we were able to rescue and question him. They have not taken Dorian, so we know he is not around here again.”

Steph shivered visibly, “I knew there was somethin’ all creepy about this place!”

"We are ready to head to the ruins at a moment’s notice," one of the mermen assured. “The prisoner has agreed to lead us back where you were found. From there we shall have to find our way to the ruins.”

"That's great," Marie sighed with a frown pulling tight on her lips. "Why you talking to me like I’m leading this thing?"

“Leadn’ what?” Steph jumped in. “How many fish boy’s ya pickin’ up before ya’ll find the right fish boy? Yeah ya’ll got close but this dude ain’t Dorian.”

“Who is this?” the merman asked from where he sat. “How does she know about my son?”

Marie turned to the merman and replied, motioning to her, “This is my friend, Steph and the stunned, blonde guy over there is Travis. They’re friends of mine. Steph, this is the guy in the photo kissing my mom, just without the beard”

After everything that happened in the past twenty four hours, Steph wasn’t sure if she even know what photo Marie was referring to. Even so, she thought back, wracking her brain to make a connection somewhere. Eventually finding the image somewhere in the confines of her broken mind.

"Wait? Dad?" Steph blurted, with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "He's your dad?" she demanded, pointing a finger at the merman before her.

The merman gave a nod, "And Dorian's father as well. I go by the name of Mysar."

All words were lost as Steph uttered a choking sound. Her mind swirling with this new information that wasn’t truly new. After all they did know that Marie and Dorian were related and there was the photo of Mysar. However, it’s different to actually see the merman responsible for her best friend’s existence. In a fairly short time the relationship found a positive connection in her brain, which then reacted to a negative realization.

“You! You’re the one who played pimp on Marie’s mama! Dude! You think ya’ll can do that an’ get away with it? You’ve got anotha’ thing commin’ ‘an I don’t care what you have to say about it!”

Without thinking, she gave his tail a swift kick, which only seemed to hurt her more than it hurt him. Though the merman did yelp, meanwhile she tried to stifle a wince. Steph hobbled back, straightened and jabbed a finger at the merman, declaring, "Dude! You are so lucky I don't know where to kick to really do some damage!"

"We haven't time for this!" Mysar insisted fiercely, rubbing the spot where he had been kicked. "I did not leave her; I was taken from her. Also, I did not know she was carrying Marie either until recently. As much as I would like to learn more details of my daughter’s life; every moment we waste is time Nemesio gains."

"We need Dorian," Marie argued.

"We still don’t know where he is?" Steph asked, snapping out of her daze.

Marie gave a sad shake of her head.

"We didn't see him either," replied Steph.

"The ocean is vast and Dorian is just one merman," Mysar pointed out. "I was able to speak to him in dream recently, but I have not been able to connect with him since. Something must have happened."

"Why is that?" Steph asked; walking to stand to the merman's other side. "I mean he’s just a kid to ya’ll guys. What makes Fish Boy so different from the rest of ya’ll?"

Looking up at the dark skinned girl, Mysar explained. "It is because he is very young for one who has experienced what he had. He became human for a time. For a little pearl to experience so much outside of his world like that and come back to us, makes his song stronger than any merman."

"So… Nemesio…" Marie began to imply, but Mysar finished the sentence for her.

"She wants the dreamweaver's song."

As though her brain wasn’t broken enough, Steph could almost hear the cracking as the remains split in two. “Ah… o… oh okay. Imma not even gonna ask what that is, but it sounds important. So whatcha ya’ll gonna do?”

“We are going to find my son, of course,” Mysar replied. “He has the pearl and will need Marie to break the curse. Humanity is required and I think, all things considered, Dorian is covered in any possible meaning behind it.”

“And we’re going to trust a mer guard that was about to get killed for us escaping,” Marie added, clearly not fully comfortable with the idea. “If I’m the one leading this thing, I think we need a better way to get back there.”

“How?” Mysar pointed out. “You told me about the lost of both the compass and the telescope. If we had the compass, that alone would be a great help.”

The bikini dressed teen quirked her lips to a grin and said, “Aquaman, I got the answer to ya’ll’s prayers. Give me a sec.”

Trudging through the hot sand, Steph meandered her way back to where the surf board had landed. She kicked at it to get the thing to unstuck itself from the sand so to get to the compass attached to it. It took some effort, but eventually the board did fall flat with a puff of sand. After some quick digging, she located the compass and yanked it off. Running back, with effort, to Mysar and Marie, she held up the compass like it was a trophy.

“Ta da! Here ya are! One compass that’ll take ya anywhere ya’ll need to go!”

Marie made a cry of delight, “Steph you rock my world!”

“Darn straight, Girl!”

“Give it here,” Mysar insisted, reaching with an outstretched, webbed hand. Once done, he examined it a moment between his fingers before turning to another merman. “Quick, get me the strongest sea weed you can find for me to weave to a bid! We need to hurry.”

The other nodded and dove into the sea.

"Girl, do ya’ll really haveta do this?" Steph frustrated to Marie. "This is life or death! Ain't no way I am going to lose my only friend!"

Marie sighed wearingly as she stood waiting for her father to finish his preparations. Having weaved some seaweed into a rope, Mysar was working on binding the compass to his wrist. She looked at her dearest friend to reply, "We've gotten this far already. Also, we knew the risk in helping Dorian in this mission. It's to be expected."

"I didn't expect this!" Travis shouted from the background.

Marie bit her lip while Steph rolled her eyes, whirling around on the surfer in frustration, "Dude! This ain't got nothing to do with you!"

"Of course it does! It has everything to do with me! You guys dragged me into this madness without me knowing!" Travis argued right back, getting into Steph's face. "I am a part of this whether you like or not. In case you haven't noticed, the mission sunk my family's boat! You're stuck with me now."

Muttering a few chosen words, she turned away while Marie attempted to mend things.

Taking Travis aside, Marie spoke to him calmly, unaware that Steph could hear them.

"I don't blame you for being upset about all this. It was wrong for me to use you the way I had and I am so, so sorry. Words can never fix all the damage I have done, but know this… I love my brother. He has grown very dear to me and I want to help him in any way I can. This means I'm going to have to leave with Mysar to do it. The rest of the mermen will take care of you and Steph, they promised me this."

Travis sighed, shuffling his feet in the sand in contemplation. "Just be honest with me on one thing."

"Sure, anything," Marie agreed.

"Did you really want to go out with me? If you didn't have to help your brother, would you have still gone out with me?" he asked sounding more desperate than Steph ever expected to come out of the guy.

She hesitated, probably wondering how she did feel about this boy. After all, Marie didn’t date much in general. Steph knew it was because she didn’t trust men. Not that she could blame the girl after what her father had done. Even though the merman did say it wasn’t his fault, he still was absent for eighteen years of his own daughter’s life.

Marie played with her nails a bit nervously, "Travis… going out with you… has made me wish that I hadn't spent so much time in the library. Maybe we could have gone out sooner and with less life or death situations."

Travis paused, taking her words into consideration for a moment, "So… I'm not just some ‘boy toy’ to you then?"

"No," Marie insisted with desperation leaking into her tone of voice.

"Then let me help you," Travis insisted gently. "Now that I'm mixed into this whole mess, I'm not just going to stand back and watch from the sidelines! No way!"

Marie brought a hand to her forehead, running her fingers through damp, stringy hair. "Travis… I appreciate the offer, but there isn't much you can do."

"What? But Steph can?" he argued, pointing at said girl who gave Travis a glare.

"There isn't much that she can do at this point either and she knows that!" Marie shouted right back. Stopping herself before she could further the argument, Marie held up a hand to keep him quiet. "Listen, before you start yelling at me some more. I am not leaving you out because I don't like you or because you are a ‘boy toy’. Which you are not! I am doing this because this is the way it's to be done. You and Steph can't survive underwater for very long and I can."

"Yeah, I know, you have gills and its okay" he assured a bit calmer than earlier. “There has to be something we can do.”

With arms folded tight against her chest, Marie turned back to Steph where she could see the wheels in her head turning. “Well, there are some guys hanging around my house that helped us get the tools. We made a deal with them and they’re probably driving my mom nuts right now. When you guys get back, watch over them. The leader is Calder and there’s only so much control he has over them. Also, see if you can get Ari too. Tell her she’s going to be able to come back home again for real. Okay?”

Steph gave a two fingered salute, “Ya got it, Girl!”

Travis nodded in agreement, “Better than nothing.”

"Great, that works!" Marie declared with a clap of her hands and then turned to her merman father again. “How are we doing?"

"Just about done," Mysar assured. "Just securing the compass now and then we'll be on our way."

"Good," Marie replied with a nod.

Steph stood straighter when it looked like Mysar had the tool secure enough before taking Marie aside. "Girl, ya’ll don’t have to do this. Couldn’t they ‘all handle it from here?"

With a heavy sigh, Marie shook her head, “No, they can’t do this without me. Humanity is needed and I’m the only humanity that can survive this and knows what’s going on.”

For the first time since Viki’s passing, Steph bit her lip to fight back the tears she felt coming from her fears. “Girl… ya know we can only survive for so long before it’s over. What if we’ve used up all our get outta jail free cards ‘an our time is up?”

Marie, in turn, swallowed, “I try not to think about it. But sometimes, now, when I do get scared, I think of Viki. She believed in me, in you, in Dorian… without any doubt. Full faith in us even we were going to give up on ourselves. I… I don’t want to let her down.”

She sniffled, running a hand across her nose and then eyes, “Girl, don’t you make me start! We gotta job to do ‘an y’all better come back, ya hear?”

“I hear!” Marie laughed as they hugged each other tight. “I hear! I’ll see you again soon. Hold down the fort for me.”

When parted, Steph gave her friend a thumbs up, “You’ve got it, Girl! Find fish boy, make sure he's okay and go save the world."

"Right!"

"Marie," Mysar beckoned. "I am ready when you are."

Looking to her father, Marie turned to go, but then paused. Turning back, Marie looked over at Travis who stood staring down at the sand, forgotten. Glancing at Steph, she shrugged in response and then motioned to the guy. Granted, she didn’t like him all that much, Steph could see the care Marie grew for him and it should be honored. So, taking the sign as the okay, Marie did approach him and threw her arms around his neck. This startled him, but like any guy in love, he welcomed the show of affection and returned it gladly. With the proper good-byes now said and done, Marie jogged to stand beside her merman father.

Her friend paused, looking to the number of mermen that were gathered to help. All now looked to her from the sand and in the water, eager for the next stage of adventure to begin.

"All right," Marie announced. "You all know what you need to do and where you need to go. Four of you are going to take Travis and Steph back to Corona Del Mar beach where Calder will be waiting with his crew. There you’ll fill them in on the plan and keep them occupied until the curse is broken. I’m sure you’ll know when that is. When it’s all over, all of you can go home to your families again. Dorian will change your lives for the better. To the way things were supposed to be. Good luck to you all and we will see each other again soon."

The mermen gave a cheer which made shivers go up and down Steph’s back. She never knew Marie could be so good at motivational speaking and even found herself clapping along with Travis. Together, they watched her arms wrap around Mysar’s neck, being careful of his gills.

"Ready?" Mysar implied, glancing back at his daughter.

"Ready," she replied.

With that, the merman vanished beneath the waves in a flash of white. Soon most of the other mermen followed close behind with only the four remaining. Holding her own arms tightly, Steph gave another shiver, looking at the young man beside her. “When this is all over, ya’ll better treat her right.”

Travis turned his eyes to her and cracked a small smile, “Or you’ll kill me, right?”

“Darn right I will, Boy!”

Then, for the first time since the attack, Travis threw back his head and laughed and Steph could not help, but join.