Just one favor, part 11

“Oh, so many thanks, Rick!” Even as poorly articulated as that sentence must’ve been, it gave her joy to just hear them. One of the few good things that have happened to her, ever since she’s been stuck in that place, for almost a month by then.

Mina, the winter spirit from japan, began to jump of joy when when Rick unveiled the repaired totem from the linen wraps. Silvia had called for Luke and wanted to prepare a special unveiling for the Yuki-onna. It was two days after the storm, the time Rick and the mermaids needed to fix it. There were moments where Rick felt it was an unnecessary effort, rather than simply giving Mina back to the totem, but when she saw Mina’s expression, she knew it was worth it.

“If you took the effort to search for it in the well, you might as well mend it,” Silvia advised. Of course, they let Rick do the honors.

When the time came, Rick sat down on the shore until Mina showed up, accompanied by June and Jason, the two werewolves trotting by her side in their full feral forms. Rick didn’t keep her waiting, and showed her the totem right off the bat. The expression on Mina’s face became one of sheer joy, jumped and hugged the mermaid, planting a cool kiss on her cheek. June and Jason joined into the celebration (even though they didn’t fully understood what was going on) licking and nuzzling her.

An hour later, Mina had to head off, back to the camp to take care of it, whilst June and Jason had to go back to do their patrolling. At least Rick and the mermaids felt slightly happy of their doing. Although, deep inside, Rick new these moments of joy wouldn’t last forever.

“Time for the real magic training,” Silvia instructed, resting her hand on Rick’s shoulder.

“Right,” Rick sighed. She wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect. Partly wondering what was the point, she probably wasn’t gonna be able to do anything in their current situation.

“Now, lets go to the bottom,” Silvia said sliding into the lake.

“Fine,” Rick sighed following her down. The lake bed, was Silvia’s little studio. Full of several old trinkets, desks and shelves. A sunken grandfather’s clock marked almost midday. It was probably the first time Rick had been close to that place since ever. The desks and shelves were filled with scrolls with one or two books among them. Water resistant, one might assume.

Silvia sat on a large stool made out of stone, coiling her tail around it to keep herself from floating away. “Take a seat,” she said softly. Rick nodded and sat herself on another stone stool next to Silvia’s, anchoring herself to it as well.

“Last time I talked about magic, I gave you a pretty broad definition on the subject. I told you that we used an energy called mana that came from deep in us and how we released this energy while singing with it in what we called Spellwording mode. I also mentioned that you were an arctic one with the highest levels of mana of our race.” Silvia recapped pulling a thick hardcover brown book. “Am I right?”

“Yes, it is pretty much what you told me last time. Also I recall you giving me a recap of the story of mermaid magic.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you paid attention back then,” Rick nodded admittedly “You’ve seen Marina and me cast many spells before. I assume you noticed a thing or two.”

Rick blinked and tried to recall “Well, you often cast the words and then keep on singing after it and that the spell is somehow tied with the singing, using hands to make gestures such as pointing or just waving your fingers around.”

Silvia smiled and nodded “You are right when saying that our spells are tied to our songs The gestures often help directing the spell while the finger movements, well, I’ll explain about those later. Mermaids usually cast and then use their voices to modulate the power. For instance, Ignitus, Incandescente,” she uttered hte words and a ball of light popped into existence, floating in the water. “This is a basic spell, when you say the words, the magic comes out with a default intensity, and I can sing my note, pouring more mana into it or lowering the magic it consumes.”

Having said that, she held out a note at a higher note, a la, the white light began to glow brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding to look directly. Then she changed the sound, going from down to a soft do and the ball of light, dimmed itself accordingly.

And with that, Silvia stopped singing, and the ball of light returned back its original intensity. “As you can see, unlike human wizards, who usually adjust the quantity of mana before they cast the spell, we mermaids do so after the spell is casted, that allows us to control and manipulate the spells in anyway we want, this includes, intensity, as you have seen, size,” she said using her voice and hands making a stretching gesture and the ball of light began to enlarge itself to the size of a beach ball and then shrinking it as small as a marble. “Sometimes shape, and other times direction,” she said once again using her powers, making a push gesture with one hand to move the ball of light away from her and then pulling it back.

Rick could only stare in surprise at the simple display of magic and nodded. “Okay, that was kinda cool. Like operating a radio, right? Volume, channel, um…” she trailed off upon seeing Silvia’s confused glance.

“I’ve had little experience with human devices. But imagine this as a… a pipework system. The Light ball is one of the basic spells most mermaids can cast. And I want you to practice with it.” Silvia instructed, simply letting the ball of light vanish and fade out.

Rick nodded and repeated the words, making the small ball of light pop into existence. “Very well,” Silvia praised, “I can see you’ve practiced like that for a while. Now, just after you said the words and as long as the ball of light exists, you’ll feel a small tug coming from it, right?”

The mermaid looked at the little ball of light. “Yeah, I think I do, barely,” she added.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t apparent at first. That tug is your spell feeding off off your energy. It might take a day or two before your run out of energy to support it. You can have multiple spells active at the same time, but it will just tire you faster. I want you to close your eyes for a while and focus on that tug, it will allow you to manipulate the spell.”

For the next two hours, Rick kept trying to get a feel of the link with the spell. Unlike previous times, this was the first time she ‘directed’ the spell making her voice quiver when she tried to raise it.

“You never had singing or music lessons?” Silvia asked.

“No, I never… All I know is to play the guitar,” Rick said.

Despited that Silvia proved herself as a very patient teacher, something Rick secretly appreciated. Every time she noticed a mistake or  doubt in her actions, she would step in and offer advice. The rest of the time she tried to remain silent letting Rick try.

Before soon Rick had mastered how to increase or decrease the intensity of the illumination spell, “Usually if you raise the note during a spell, you might be required to hold that note for as long as you need said intensity.” She noted “Imagine a thick valve that regulates the flow of energy, the flow is so strong that it needs you to keep a grip on the valve so the right ammount of mana can go through. Eventually, you’ll be able to learn a couple of tricks that’ll help you jam said metaphorical valve when performing spells,” she said glancing at the grandfather’s clock. “Well I think that would be all for today.”

“Really?” Rick asked, half relieved as she dispelled the light ball spell. “Why, where are you going?”

Silvia uncoiled herself from the stone stool and let herself float up “I’m gonna go and grab some fish, probably meet up with Marina… That reminds me, I have to teach you how to catch a fish on your own.”

Rick uncoiled himself from the rock and headed up to the surface as well, it is then that she notices a large bird-like figure flying over the sky, “Silvia look,” she pointed out.

“That must be Megan,” she sighed somewhat annoyed, “Ill talk with her,” she muttered surfacing.

The brown feathered harpy dove down and landed on the rock close by the waterfall, carefully. Her talons clicking on the stone’s surface with utmost care. “Hello, Sil. What’s up?”

“You,” Silvia giggled.

“Very funny,” she spread her wings just to show off their full wingspan, which spread almost two meters apart. “So, what’s new around here?”

“Not much, I was just teaching Rick some basic magic,” Silvia said while Rick sighed.

“Ah, got ya.” Megan nodded. “Does this have to do with the Master’s latest meeting?” She asked.

“No, not really, although that did have a bit of an impact on Rick,” she sighed, reaching to stroke her back.

“Okay… Also, where is Marina? I haven’t seen her wandering around the river as usual, is she in the tunnels or in bed?” Megan asked looking around the lake.

“She’s around,” Silvia shrugged “As I said, I’ve been teaching Rick all morning, I didn't have chance to keep tabs on her.”

“I see,” Megan sighed before shrugged ”Oh well, ill be heading back to my surveillance. Say, Silvia would you and Marina care for a game of Ghouls, pixies and sasquatches later tonight?”

“Sure sure,” Silvia smiled.

“Rick you too can come.” She added before spreading her wings “Later,” and with that she batted her wings to push herself into the sky.

Silvia sighed before turning to Rick “Well, Rick. I have to get going. Take a break for now and we’ll continue the classes tomorrow morning,” she said “Until then you have the rest of the day for yourself.

——

The day after, Rick had her second lesson, though didn't went as smoothly as the first. This time, they met up at the shore of the lake. “Today you’re gonna make the water dance,” She announced.

“Water spells usually include the word Aqua at the beginning of it, by saying it you are already establishing what element you’ll be using for your powers.” She casually instructed, moving her hand up and raising her voice, making a geyser appear in the middle of the lake reach five meters up into the lake.

Rick stared in awe, and somewhat excited about doing that himself.

Even after some minutes of trying, Rick began to have trouble actually feeling the bond with the body of water. “Even little mermaids have a hard time to learn this kind of tricks.” She watched as water slowly began to amass itself, creating a small mound. “You’re less than two decades old, right?” she asked.

Rick blinked during the small pause “Yeah, I’m eighteen,” she admitted.

Silvia flinched, “Sorry,” she muttered.

Rick sighed and looked at Silvia “So, will I learn a spell that might at least give me legs?” she asked hopefully while changing the subject.

Her teacher shook her head “Sorry, Rick. Mermaids, on their own, can’t really cast transformation spells of any sorts.” she saw when Rick slumped her head to look down in sadness, but still went on. “They are experts casting mental and primal spells, elements.”

“But how did you change me?” Asked Rick.

“We performed a ritual. “The blessing of the blue spirit” is an especial ritual that is performed through the usage of some special glyphs, herbs and magical stones and pearls. And soon I think we’re gonna be running out of supplies.”

“We compensate the lack of variety with potions and ritualistic enchantments. We could use these to give you legs, or make you a man, but as I said, I don't have the materials, and even if I had, the mark of Kael seems to resist any sort of transformation effect.”

“I see…” Rick sighed, thinking for a second that she must have a chance. She frowned and looked at the mark branded on the side of her torso.

“Finally, there are also enchantments, mermaids have a natural ability to sense and cast lingering magic, that helps them use it to cast more complex  and stronger enchantments than the human ones, as well as more long lasting, if not permanent,” Silvia said. “Our barrier spells lasted two years.” She looked at Rick and clapped “enough with the break, close your eyes and try again.”

Rick rolled her eyes and sighed, “okay fine.” She resigned to get back to her arduous training.

——

Just like the day before, Silvia let Rick go by midday, heading over to who knows where. That same day she didn’t see Marina around either, which partly made her wonder.

A week ago, being alone in the river wouldn’t have minded her mostly because she was mad at the two mermaids. But now, she found herself wondering where the two girls had gone to.

Rick spent a good time of the day swimming down and up the river before sitting down on the shore, probably later Silvia or Marina would show up to tell her lunch was ready. She pulled herself up the shore of the running river, at the point where she could overlook the secret trapdoor, one she designated as her preferred place.

She spent most of her time resting there, looking up at the sky. Her mind began to wander back, as to how she used to gaze into the heavens with her dad, spending some time together with him. That happened the last time they went on hiking. “I hope he is okay,” she muttered.

“Hope who is okay?” said Mina’s voice coming in from behind her.

Rick sat up right away, turning to face the white skinned woman clad in a simple tunic with her loose black hair resting over her back, just like most days. The only difference though, was that since yesterday, she was now sporting a smile, despite the situation working on.

“Mina, hi,” Rick sighed stretching, idly reaching to adjust the bra. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing okay,” she said with her accent. “Who you hope is okay?” she asked again, gracefully falling to her knees by Rick’s side.

“My… father,” she said after a couple of seconds of hesitation. “I’m just… worried.” She said, deciding not to dwell on much. Her own words made her think about her friends and her girlfriend. They should be graduating school around this date and leaving over for college… Shaking her head, she tried to get her mind in the current matters.

Mina hesitated for a second, and fumbled between her sleeves “Rick, I wanted to properly thank you again for what you did,” said Mina producing a three long thin, silvery dark string. “I searched house and trunk. Found old Koto and thought you might want the strings for instrument.”

Rick gasped seeing the strings. She thought of refusing them for a second, just because she didn’t even knew if she had the right to fix something that wasn’t even hers. She ended up accepting the strings, partly because she did not want to be rude “Thank you Mina,” she said softly.

Said little moments, granted Rick some small peace of mind, and at least provided her with a healthy distraction. As the day transpired, Rick got summoned back into the lake by Silvia and Marina to do another job. This one was to dispel the magic they casted on the trees, to untangle them and return them back to normal. As usual, Rick took the job of providing the girls with the mana to cast the spell.

The next day, Silvia kept working Rick over the control of the water spells and such, while providing a couple of helpful hints as to how Rick’s training would go on. “Your affinity is Ice, no wonder you have some facilities with water.” Rick did his best in the training and tried to focus but much like a young kid longing for the school break, she was looking forward for midday so she could fix the instrument.

This time, Rick accomplished more than last time, though not by much, but still, Silvia called it progress, and assured her it was a matter of practice.

As the time came for Rick to swim freely around again this time, she headed straight to the river, for a second she had hoped to try to follow and find where were Marina or Silvia. But it was pointless, the two mermaids disappeared from sight.

She spent the rest of her evening at the shore of the river, testing the strings Mina had given her and confirming they were waterproof, or at least resistant, and then tried to fix the coral motif guitar she had found down in the trapdoor.

“How does this work?” Rick asked looking closely at the instrument, trying to figure out how the object was arranged and where exactly could the strings be tied in. She had played a guitar and even learned how to tighten the strings, this couldn’t be so hard. After a couple of minutes, she was finally turning the knobs on the curved tip of the instrument. “It seems perfect now,” Rick mused to himself and ran her hands down the strings, creating a sweet and soft chord, resounding through the woods like a high quality harp.

Making the music there felt almost addicting (mostly because it was one of the few things she could do with her time), even if she wasn’t making the greatest melody of the world. Soon, it became easy for her to play the notes as she recalled her guitar lessons. This “guitar” was a particularly delicate instrument as it demanded pulse and soft fingers, from what Rick could tell.

She spent a great deal of time there, wondering if whether she should show this to Marina or Silvia. “Would they be surprised of what I found?” Rick thought out loud, her eyes closed as she tried to get a better mental pictured better the music. In the void of darkness, she could feel the music echoing around her, helping her creativity and easing her thoughts “Would they be mad that I rummaged through their stuff… or happy that I fixed it?”

Rick felt something stir. A sensation she could barely explain, a tingle at the back of her neck, that reminded her feeling one has when they feel they are not as alone as they might think. Rick’s eyes shot open in an instant and she saw Marina, looking at her from the river’s shore with an unmistakable expression of shock.

She couldn’t help to stare back at her, swallowing nervously, unsure of what to say to board the subject to explain the situation.

Marina was the first to break the ice. “Where did you get that?!” she asked rather suddenly as she pulled herself over the shore.

“M-Marina, let me explain. I found this in a trapdoor underneath the riv-”

“Did you bust the lock in there?! Who let you take it?!” she said, her voice almost like the hiss of an angry cat as she reached over to try to take it. “You shouldn’t have touched this,” she whispered, in a rather somber tone, somber enough to make Rick’s imagination fly.

“The closet I found it in, had one of the doors busted. W-why? Is it cursed or something?” she asked staring at Silvia. She had never seen her this altered before. Her eyes were narrowed into an almost deadly glare while her teeth were gritted, barely visible between her ruby lips.

Her face was flushing as she clutched the coral guitar like a precious possessions, her eyes were closed tightly as she held it to her chest, a tear slipped from her eyes, mixing itself with the water that still scurried from her body. She was crying, in grief.

“Is it yours?” Rick found himself asking, before thinking. “Marina?”

Marina surveyed the instrument for a short time with a longing gaze, reaching up to rub her eyes “You fixed it,” she said at last. “You mended the strings,” she whispered running her fingertips down and making them sing softly.

“I wanted to repair it. Mina gave me the strings,” she said before again asking. “Is it yours?”

“No… this used to be Alita’s,” she whispered.

The name rang in Rick’s head. Alita used to be the third mermaid in the lake, the one who passed on but. “Alita was my friend.” Marina began with a burdened voice “She used to be a helper here at the lake, along with Silvia and I, back when lady Anivia Eshter, was alive. She was a beautiful swamp mermaid, little skilled with magic, but made it up with a fierce yet sweet attitude. She was an expert potion maker and a talented singer. The three of us were the best friends around and everything was perfect. But that was in the peaceful old times.”

Rick sat back and awaited a long time in silence for Marina to relax just a tad “w-what happened to her?” she whispered.

“Elliot happened… Once Lady Anivia died, the changes began to take place. Those employees with enough sense, fled within the week of her death. We were the idiots who decided to stay. But we stayed became we were together and secretly rooted for Madame Rita Esther, Anivia’s mother to take the grounds and family business under her wing. That did not happen though. Instead, Elliot took hold of the place and branded us. When he began to use the marks we saw and felt the pain they could inflict. Still, nothing broke down Alita’s will,” she said softly pulling a string from the coral guitar and letting it resound.

“Alita was reckless… strong willed and a fighter,” she muttered with a mild smile, with almost a sob trapped within her words. “Valiant one might say, but impatient. She would not stand or let anyone to be subjected to Elliot’s devious plans. In a matter of weeks, she hatched a daring plan that would put all of our lives into danger but the reward would’ve been freedom,” she sat on the shore, playing two more notes.

“The plan was simple. Luke, Anya, and… Bradhin, was to take the children, along with Kristel and get everyone out of the forest, while Alita, Silvia, Mina and I were to cause some indirect troubles on the plan. Some fires in the southern forest, a sinkhole in the western clearing. At about that time, Ferilia and the werewolves were to try to open the gate that connected the lake to the sea. We were to rush over to Kristel’s grandmother, Rita or one of lady Anivia’s friends for asylum, or even her late husband’s friends and family and then go to the authorities to show them the mark as soon as possible. If one of us made it to the authorities, then it would’ve being worth it.”

“But the plan failed, drastically. Silvia stayed back, preparing the glyphs and scrolls to create the sinkhole. I tried to tell her we should wait, talk with Silvia to see how preparations were going “I don’t wanna talk, I wanna head out,” she snapped at me. Alita and I went ahead. It was a trap. The moment we arrived to the lake our marks acted up and we were forced up out into the clearing where we were greeted by master Elliot and his escorts. All of them standing by the shores of the lakes, they forced us up out.”

““We have gathered you here, in order to discuss your treason plans,” said the master with his most cooly voice, trying to hide the frown on his brow. He turned towards us “What was your plan? To ignite a breakout from my facilities, flee from my mansion and protection?” he asked a nasty smirk on his face that just seemed to chill my blood. “Who planned this?” he demanded.” she took a long pause, almost chocking in her sobs.

“Alita stepped up and claimed “I did it,” For that, master Elliot applied the ultimate punishment the mark of Kael could provide and I saw… Alita, my friend, holding her head and screaming in pain, the mark glowed red,” she tried to get the words out ““What are you doing to her!?” i cried. The bastard didn't answer, his eyes were closed in deep focus as he recited words I couldn’t understand. When the change was over Alita laid down on the shore, in a catatonic state. Master Elliot, visibly drained from having used that spell, stumbled back and allowed his entourage to carry him out.”

“I approached Alita, asking her how she was, or what did he do? She just… looked at me with a confused expression and whispered “I-I’m fine,” she said back then, but I doubted that. We went back to the lake to find out from Luke that they were caught earlier that day, and were forced to see how Master Elliot did something similar to the centaurs. Alita wasn’t the same ever since, something had changed, something began to stir in her for some time. She became more and more distant with the time, barely spending time with Silvia or me. It wasn’t until we were summoned to play host for some of the master’s friends, like those you saw a couple of days ago. One of the guests insinuated to her, and to my surprise, she didn't reject her, instead, Alita stared at him with a longing look and asked him if he had wanted a blowjob, the next momen… I-I couldn’t believe what I saw back then,” she said, her hands curling into fists.

“After that disgusting meeting, I confronted Alita and asked her what happened. She looked at me confused and in a sweet voice she told me “I just wanted to make things better for the master,” she said, sounding proud of what she did, only then Silvia and I realized what that monster had done to my dearest friend.” She sobbed, now visibly crying. “The punishment became crueler when we realized that Alita was not entirely gone, but going. She would get these intervals of lucidity, where she would realize what her mind had been doing. Those instances, however, began to be shorter and shorter with every moment.”

“Most of the times, over the course of the week, she would look at us like total strangers when she noticed how we weren't entirely in favor of the master’s actions or ideals and like a slut and submissive girl for him and his business partners, act like a bitch towards Silvia and I… The other times she would break into tears, holding her head and trying to will herself back to normal. Spellcasting became impossible for her because whenever she tried, she would find herself unable to say the words or slipping into her other personality… She kept on crying in the nights, saying she she didn’t knew for how long she could handle it. Her words became more and more incoherent. “The link… I can see colors,”, “He is inside of me and I was in his mind!” and in her lucid moments, she began to lash in the water, as if fighting with something invisible. Silvia did all she could to try to dispel the marking’s effect, but Silvia didn’t knew what to do and we could not rely in Alita’s potion making prowess to solve the problem.”

Rick reached to place her hand on Marina’s shoulder and the black haired mermaid broke into tears, “Alita heard us! She must have heard Silvia and me, talking on river shore.” She pointed at the other end of the river “Silvia suggested traveling to the sea, coming up with an excuse that might force Elliot to get us permission to leave. Head to the ancient Bermuda library, in hopes of finding a specialist or a book that might have helped us purge the mark. The servant Alita had become, took over and showed herself out. “I’m gonna tell the master what you are planning!” she demanded accusing us only to hold herself again. My heart jumped when I saw Alita struggling for control only to briefly regaining.”

“With a desperate yet sad look on her eyes, she swam down the river and both Silvia and I followed.” She said, trying to control her tears “She… must’ve have prepared it beforehand. Tied to a rock that jutted out from the edge of the waterfall was a rope with the other end around her neck. We arrived just in time to see her give both of us a longing and sad stare. “I can’t continue,” she told us.” She said hugging the guitar

“I didnt knew why she did it, why didnt she surrendered herself over to us. Maybe, she hated idea slowly losing her mind… Maybe she refused to let herself go, she might’ve even done that to protect both Silvia and I. Regardless, it ended with her jumping off the edge. The fall is about twelve meters tall and the rope was seven meters long… Elliot didn’t dwell on her death for long, barely sighed annoyed,” And with that, she fell into deep silence, reaching up to dry up her tears, rubbing her eyes softly as her hand ran down the guitar’s curved surface.

To Rick, this was a new facet of her she hadn’t seen before, deeply affected by the story, the woman who she considered the toughest of the two mermaids was now in a vulnerable state. Be it because of her empathy or the deep sadness the story narrated or because of her new body, she felt herself close to tearing up. She approached and slowly rested her hand on Marina’s tail. Her intention was to hug her, but the coral guitar was in the way. “This was her favorite instrument,” she said quietly “I gave it to her as a gift… I… I am happy that you fixed it.”

“I just did what I could. I didn’t knew those belonged to her.” Rick said softly trying to pull herself towards the river.

“Rick… I’ve been trying to ignore this ever existed. Tried to keep it at the back of my mind for as long as I could,” she said “I think Alita would’ve been happy to let you borrow her instruments but I am just not that ready to let go. You have talent for the instrument, for it is the melody you produced what brought me here… You can keep on using the coral guitar,” she said handing it over and then reaching between her breasts and the leathery fabric of her bra, producing a small antique key and passed it onto Rick .

“What is this?” she asked, inspecting the key. It was a classic one. Some parts of it were green where the gold paint had been scratched off. The shape, though, reminded her of closet inside the trapdoor.

“This opens Alita’s locker.” Marina sighed cleaning herself and changing back her attitude, “one of these days I’ll have to ask Maelon, Frank or Luke to fix that door and lock.” She muttered to no one in particular before looking at Rick “But now, there wont be any secrets between us now, you have the right to know more about what we’ve been through here. Impossible or not, we wont let the same thing happen, to any of us…”