A Handful of Secrets

Prologue

Streaks of crimson and yellow shot through the sky and skimmed across the surface of the calm water where the ocean stretched out infinitely before me. The sand beneath me was cool to the touch as I sat on the beach in the little sandy cove that I liked to call home, but the light breeze that drifted lazily around me wasn't uncomfortable. I was in no hurry to move. I wondered idly what other people were doing right now; it was still early really, and I suddenly envied each and every one of them. They were all going about their lives without having to worry about running out of time; without having somewhere to be by nightfall.

I looked up then and sighed as I watched my time running out before me like seeing sand fall through an hourglass. Wriggling my toes in the sand beneath me and revelling in the feeling of it, I committed every detail of the grainy texture to memory. My sister told me that I should be thankful for the time I got, and that I should make the most of it during the sunlight hours. I tried, I really did. But I longed to be able to stroll down this beach after nightfall, to wake up the next morning in bed and start the day like every one else did. One day was all I got; I'd had to learn to deal with that fact.
Whether it would ever be enough though, was another matter entirely.

As the sun sank low enough that it had almost disappeared completely behind the horizon, I let out another sigh and lifted myself from where I had been sitting for the last half an hour. I waded into the incoming tide filled with defeat. My long gypsy style skirt billowed out around me in the crystal blue water and I felt the shiver run up my spine. The water was still cold at this time of year and in my human body I felt the chill. I didn’t worry about taking off my skirt; my Aunt Elsie would find it when the tide washed it up onto the shore. She would check the beach in the morning; there'd be more than just my skirt, though mine would probably be the only one if she had already done a sweep of the beach. I was the only one out this late; there'd only been four of us today anyway. Next time would be better.
I stood in the water, fending off the chill that crept across my skin, and thought of the others. They'd be long gone by now, back in the depths of the ocean where we belonged. A laugh escaped me; 'belonged', as if we were all the same and should just accept it. But none of them were drawn to the shore like I was; there were plenty of them that hadn't been ashore this month, the weather still too cold for them. But I always came; I spent every minute I could on my feet, on land.

The full moon had already appeared and hung heavy in the sky as the sun finally slipped behind the horizon and I felt the familiar tingling threading its way through my nerves. The white hot prickle of the fire inside me tore away my human body and I pitched forward just before I would have fallen, splashing into the water and disappearing beneath the surface. The strong muscles of my tail propelled me through the water as I slipped free of my skirt and resurfaced, wanting one last look at the beach before I went back.
Ripples chased each other away from me as I broke the surface and I smiled to myself, safe in the knowledge that the beach would look just the same this time next month, but that it looked totally different with someone else's perspective.
To me, the sandy shore line, the huge rocks that lined the edges of the beach, the cliffs that stood protecting the cove from the world, and the rickety old pier with its peeling white paint and cute little railings were the gateway to freedom. The beginning of an adventure. But to a human who stood on that same beach, staring out across the ocean, they saw the edge of the world; a barrier between them and the deep blue sea.
If only they knew that there was a whole other world below the surface that they barely knew anything about. The sea didn’t hold the freedom that they saw, it was as much of a cage as the shore line was, they just didn’t realise it.

I ducked back under the water, having already broken the rules; I knew I shouldn’t be surfacing once I'd transformed. It was too risky. So, with a final shake of my head and a strong push of my tail, I threw myself into the journey home. Dismissing the pain of leaving behind the beach, I concentrated on feeling my body cut elegantly through the water. A school of tiny yellow fish joined me for part of my journey and I smiled as they swam around me, flitting through the water with their own graceful glide.
When I finally reached the border to The Kingdom beneath the ocean I paused, as always, and took in the view. As much as I longed to be on land, I had to admit that down here was pretty awesome. You only had to take one look at the magnificent city to know where Plato had gotten his inspiration from; although the Royals would still argue to this day that no human had ever even gotten close to The Kingdom, never mind seen enough of it to create their own world from it.

A mystery if ever there was one; though I just called it home.