Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cam put down his fishing gear on the pier with a loud clatter. Well, “put” is a generous word. He let his little hill of bags fall to the ground not caring whether he broke something or not. “Are you guys sure you don’t wanna come with me? Zac, man, come on, you have to want to go fishing, right?” 

Zac eyed the luggage with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know…I’d better stay with the girls.”

“There is a solar eclipse happening in, oh, like 45 minutes,” Ondina chimed in, crossing her arms, “So unless Zac wants to end up killed, or worse, moonstruck during the day, his best bet is hiding in Rita’s basement. Also, he’s getting Poseidon.”

“What? Why me?”

“That cat gives me the creeps, and I told Rita in advance I did not want that thing anywhere near me.”

Cam sighed at their bickering. “Seriously? You act like children more than me!” He shook his head, “Your loss, this is the perfect opportunity to catch big fish near Mako. An unfamiliar environment for the fish makes them confused and slow, which means I have the upper hand on them.”

Ondina and Zac looked at each, then turned to Cam. “Never talk smart like that again,” Zac warned him, “You sound like an evil scientist.”

“Maybe I am!” Cam laughed. 

“Come on Zac, let’s go.” Ondina all but grabbed Zac by the shirt to drag him away from the pier. Cam watched as they said goodbye to Evie, who was manning the store. 

Cam jumped into his boat and pulled his gear in it. Some of the boxes fell on the bottom, opening up and spilling their contents around the young man, which he carefully tiptoed around. “Off to a great start.” He added sarcastically to himself before taking off his crocs. 

And promptly stepped on a fishing hook. He ground his teeth tightly to avoid screaming like a sissy. 

“This better be worth it.” He spoke through his gritted teeth. 

The fish weren’t biting. Not even seaweed clung to his thread. So far, the only thing he caught was a sunburn on the nape of his neck since he forgot to bring either a hat or sunscreen. 

He also lost a lure by swinging his fishing rod too hard and getting the line stuck in a tree on Mako island. 

Oh yeah, the island. There were always great fish to catch there, and they were extremely gullible. Part of why he’d gone today of all days to fish there. 

There weren’t any fish in the water. Or anywhere, for that matter. Cam hadn’t even seen a smelt. Oh to be proved wrong by the astral trajectory of the damn moon. 

The blond man slumped back in his boat. He reeled in his line and placed the hook on one of the rings of the pole, setting it down beside him. 

He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand, looking up at the sky. The moon had begun to eclipse her opposite, darkening the sky and snuffing out a bit of the warmth. 

“Only a few minutes now…” 

What if the eclipse was prime time for fishing? Cam didn’t even let the thought simmer and already got out his fishing pole and was anticipating the awaited darkness. The sun was slowly disappearing, its crescent-like shape becoming more sharp and pronounced. 

A wave of darkness brought about the coming of the wind, picking up as the light slowly faded. 

And when the sun admitted defeat…

Silence. The calm before the storm. The wind slowly picked up again in the obscurity, the waves crashing into the shore with more force. 

Cam turned around in his boat, listening to the lapping of the water at the hull of his boat. He couldn’t see more than a couple inches in front of him, but still threw in his line and waited. 

He didn’t wait long. Almost immediately, his thread screeched as it was pulled down under. Putting all his weight into it, Cam reeled it back, feeling refreshed for the first time that day. He nearly buckled under the weight. It was a big one alright. And it was going to be his. He was gonna cook the head in a nice stew with vegetables and-

The fishing rod swung dangerously towards the ocean, Cam unable to keep it under control. He stood dangerously close to the water’s edge, the boat almost defying gravity with its prolonged practically vertical stance.

The line went slack. Cam sighed, thinking the fish broke the hook and swam away. He relinquished his steel grip on the handle, reeling it in at a leisurely pace. 

The thread suddenly became taut, and it went down even faster than before. Struggling to keep his balance, Cam slipped on the edge of the boat and fell into the water face-first, the rod pulling him under at a frightening pace. In his moment of panic, he hadn’t thought of letting go. 

The moment his feet disappeared under the waves, the sun came back, shining high in the sky of noon. 

Back on the sea, the boat was rocking without its captain. 

Chapter Text

Cam woke up with sand in his mouth. He spat it out and rolled over, feeling the beach under his fingers. He opened his eyes gingerly and found himself lying on Mako Island. The sun was close to setting, and his boat was still anchored where he left it. About twenty meters from the beach. 

“Are you serious? On my day off?” He complained aloud, grumbling as he scrambled to his feet and sweeped the sand off his shorts. 

He should’ve been a bit scared about the situation. The same thing had happened to Zac nearly a year ago, and he’d never been the same. So, not a good start to begin summer vacation.

Or, well, the week before summer vacation. The more he thought about it, the more Cam was screwed if something fishy had happened. 

Moment of truth, he thought as he stuck his right foot in the water, the toes sinking into the soft sand. He closed his eyes for good measure and waited.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Cam did a little victory dance on the beach, raving about how he’d beaten his streak of bad luck to who-knows-what, his only audience the ocean. He jumped in the water and swam to his boat, got in and checked the motor. Luckily, water hadn’t seeped into the engine and the motor hadn’t suffered any damage, and his parents had not called yet. 

He made his way back across the water while his stomach grumbled. He was coming home empty-handed. 

The sun had already set by the time he set foot in his room. Cam threw his backpack somewhere next to his desk and immediately jumped under the covers of his bed. Even though it was early Friday night, he was already bone tired, despite not having done anything. 

Waking up the next morning was a wildly different story. Cam swayed on his feet, a splitting headache threatening to crack open his skull. He sauntered over to the bathroom with his hand clutching his head blinked at the sudden light in the room. He groaned. It felt like the worst hangover ever, and he hadn’t even experienced one yet. 

Blindly reaching into his cabinets, he pulled out an aspirin and swallowed it whole. The young man then turned the sink knob and splashed water over his face. 

Suddenly, a strange sensation traveled up his spine, like a shiver, and he felt lightheaded. His legs buckled underneath him, but he gripped the sink tightly at the last second to right himself. 

It felt oddly like how Zac described changing into a merman…

Cam immediately looked down, and sighed in relief upon seeing that he still had his two legs. His two very human, very fleshy-

Wait, since when did he have webbed feet?

His head snapped up towards the mirror and he nearly fainted. The thing staring back at him wasn’t him. It wasn’t human. It had the blond hair and pale skin, but everything else was alien to Cam. A pair of fins jutted out of his skin on both sides of his face, each on one cheek, and said skin was covered in a thin veil of scales even under his clothes, rubbing against the fabric in a strange way, catching on the smallest thread. His ears had pointy, jagged edges as well as a green colour and his pupils had become pinpricks and slitted, like a cat’s. Or a snake’s, based on the yellowish sclera surrounding them instead of their normal milky white. Cam brought a hand to his new face, trying to convince himself he was dreaming. The rugged texture his face brushing against his palm did not soothe him whatsoever, and catching sight of the hand’s reflection in the mirror, he almost whined. 

It had webbing in between his fingertips, like his toes, as well as claws instead of nails. The scales were more clustered there too, giving the skin there an almost slippery texture, sort of like a reptile’s skin. 

His jaw dropped. In the mirror, he could see so many rows of sharp teeth it was a miracle he hadn’t stabbed his lip yet. Cam closed his mouth with an audible click, but four canines still poked out. He chose to ignore that part so that he could focus on freaking out over the rest of his lost humanity. 

But first, he needed a towel. He looked around the cramped bathroom trying to find one. Towel, towel, towel…If he waited long enough, would it go away without one?

Before he could ponder that implication further, a movement from behind caught his attention. He turned around and found nothing. Though, now that he thought of it, there was a strange weight on his back…

Ever so slowly, Cam looked over his shoulder, and to his horror, found a long dorsal fin sticking out of his back. And it was huge, with large spikes that could pierce skin with just a touch. And below it…

Heck no. There was no freaking way. 

He had a tail. A turquoise, very scaly, tail. Which was holding one of the towels he so desperately craved, that had been on the banner behind his head prior to his transformation. He yanked it off gracelessly, the tail swishing back and forth as if it’d been happy to have done that service. Cam scrubbed the towel over his face and body rigorously, trying to rid himself of his monstrous attributes. Sadly, he knew it was not the case, and they were merely hidden from view, itching to be let out once more if they disappeared. 

The familiar tingle of magic coursed through his body and washed the monster away. Even so, that creature would return, and it seemed that he was now as compromised as his mermaid friends. Merpeople? He sighed again, a breathy sound to keep him from screaming. Debating how to go about telling the news, he almost didn’t notice his phone alarm going off, but once he registered the sound coming from his bedroom, he rushed into the room and grabbed it, paling. 

He had scheduled a morning date with Carly at the cafe. And he was already late. 

Chapter Text

Carly looked at her watch. He was late. He’d never been late yet, which meant he either overslept, or something had happened. Considering the fact that she’d yelled at him the last time he’d been royally late, profoundly scarring Cam from ever taking his sweet time again, she was leaning towards the latter. 

No sooner than she’d decided to pull out her phone to call him, glancing at Zac and Evie sitting over at a neighboring table, Cam straggled in, looking haggard. With him, showing any of this type of emotion was a bad sign. A very, very bad sign.

“Cam! Are you okay?”

He flinched away from Evie’s call, zoning in on Carly. “Carly, I am so so sorry but we have to cancel, like, right now.”

“Wait, what? Cam, slow down, breathe!” She got up from her chair.

“Breathe,” He echoed, as if the word was foreign.

“What’s going on?” Zac exclaimed, standing up from his table. Evie followed suit. 

“I-uh,” Cam wiped sweat off his brow.

The café was practically empty save for them. The only other person present was David, and he was happily unwrapping the fresh produce, listening to music coming from his headphones, so loud everyone could hear it, but no one brought it to his attention. Still, Cam did not want to have this conversation in front of him, for reasons he had yet to fully comprehend himself, but a gut feeling told him to leave.

Zac saved him from his predicament. “Let’s go outside.” He said.

Cam was immensely grateful for his interruption, getting the chance to unscramble his thoughts and order them around a bit before spitting them out to his friends. 

So first of all, he needed to find a way to tell his friends why exactly he didn’t call anyone after his prolonged stint on Mako island. Right after the eclipse too. 

Oh right, the eclipse. That was a whole other can of worms he did not want to open.

Or a can of snakes, his brain helpfully supplied.

He chased the thought away, but then it dawned on him. He had to tell them about it. Zac and Evie were like sharks, anything he’d say that seemed dodgy enough would warrant their full attention and they would make him cough up the truth until they were satisfied with what they got, running away from the blood. They had good intentions, but it was infinitely better to be upfront from the get-go. Carly was even worse, because she wouldn’t bite or bark, just gave you a sympathetic look that made you feel safe and suddenly your guts were all over the floor, spilled in your haste to appease her. Expecting to see a disappointed face, her calm expression made everyone squirm in shame. Truly, Cam was in Hel.

If Hell had a nice ocean view in the middle of a hot summer day, that is. He stared longingly at the ocean, a sentiment that was extremely new to him. Was this how the mermaids felt all the time? If so, he could relate to not want to meddle with the humans too much. 

“Hello, Earth to Cam,” Zac waved a hand in front of Cam’s face. 

Cam startled, surprised. “I’m sorry, what?”

Zac had the audacity to look affronted. “ You brought us out here, and you're asking us what’s going on?”

“Zac, give him a break, he’s practically hyperventilating!” Evie rushed to Cam’s defense.

“Am not!” Cam replied, feeling his cheeks redden. 

“Okay!” Carly threw her hands up, ready to defuse the situation. “Cam, what happened yesterday? You didn’t come back after your fishing trip, and now you’re panicking. Please, tell us if there’s something wrong.”

“It was the eclipse.” The words were out before Cam had processed them, and now he realized they were all staring at him. “The eclipse…that happened yesterday. The solar one.”

“Yes, we know.” Zac crossed his arms.

“I know you know,” Cam repeated sarcastically, mirroring his best friend’s stance. 

“Then what, Cam?” Carly continued with her questions, hoping she could calm him down before they would start arguing like children. 

“I-I don’t know!” He cried, looking down towards the pier, looking at his own boat tied to it, “Even if I did know, I’d have no idea how to explain it.”

Zac sensed his friend’s distress but mistook where it was coming from. “Let’s go down to the pier then. Retrace your steps, walk us through all of it. Your boat’s still there, right?” 

The blond tensed, and responded after a moment of silence. “Okay, yeah, let’s go.” He said, all bravado gone from his voice, his face pale. 

The trip from the terrace to the docks usually took less than a minute. To Cam, each second felt like hours listening to the heavy silence that befell their group. The sun shone down on them ironically, considering Cam was marching towards his impending doom, scratching at his sunburn like a maniac. The last time he’d gotten one a couple months prior, it hadn’t hurt this much, so why did it feel like his skin was falling off?

“Well, we’re here,” said Carly, stopping at the edge of one of the docks. Cam’s boat, tied to the ledge, stood unmoving, the water lapping lazily at its hull. 

“Cam?” Evie prompted. 

Cam took a deep breath, then started speaking. “Alright, so the reason I was freaked out this morning,” he began pacing, “Well, still am freaked out, not that it makes much of a difference, is that…okay, so you know how-”

He slipped on the wet wood of the pier and lost his balance. He fell into the water with a splash. 

Of course this would happen, he thought morosely. Which was rapidly replaced with the realization that he could breathe underwater. He opened his eyes in wonder, taking in the sea he’d never seen so clearly before. Even though it was full of silt, it still didn’t make Cam any less enraptured by it. 

He tried moving towards one of the shells on the ocean floor, much more colourful than he’d ever seen, but a strange sensation made him pull away. It felt like his legs had fused tightly. That must mean-

Reluctantly, he looked at the long tail trailing behind where his legs should’ve been. It began at the waist and went on for nearly five feet. He let out a gasp, bubbles flowing out of his mouth. 

It was a very slim tail, lacking the powerful muscles mermaid tails had, resembling that of a snake. Again, snakes. It was as if he’d turned into the loch Ness monster. The tail was a dark green, its scales shimmering in the light but stopped near the end, where two seafoam green fins flapped gently in the current. He tentatively touched it, and was surprised at the smoothness of it. If only his friends could race him-

Oh wait, his friends.

After nearly a minute, Cam finally surfaced from his impromptu dive. Carly and Evie rushed to the edge, reaching out a hand to help him get out of the water. The blonde girl noticed the fins on his cheeks first and jerked her hand away to cover her mouth. Evie froze, shocked, mouth gaping as she held her extended hand in the same position. Cam took it, clasping his own webbed one in hers. “So I guess water is going to be a problem for me too.”

“Cam!” Evie snapped out of her stupor and dropped the fish- like hand back in the water. “You-Did you do this on purpose?” 

“No!” Cam reacted, shaking his head, appalled that she thought so low of him. “I didn’t want this to happen! I don’t even know how it happened in the first place, I just fell off my boat during the eclipse and, next thing I knew, I was on a beach!”

“Which beach?” Carly asked, aloof. 

Cam knew why she was taking it so well. She wasn’t, but needed to pretend she was. To help resolve the situation without panicking, since it was the only way things would get done. He had to respect it. Though, he could already smell the distrust coming from the bomb he was about to drop. 

“Mako island?” He seemed to shrink in on himself, head bowed.

“Mako. Of course it’s Mako.” Evie began pacing herself. “Out of all the places you could’ve chosen-”

“It wasn’t a full moon! How was I supposed to know?” Cam shot back, parting the water with his hand. 

Carly looked at him with an incredulous stare. “The solar eclipse which even the mermaids didn’t bother to mess with and you went there anyways? Did you think it would be a good idea?”

“Oh my God, Zac !” Evie remembered, her eyes widening, not letting Cam defend his intellect (or lack thereof). “We have to get you out of the water now -”

Cam opened his mouth to ask, but something slammed into him hard before he could, knocking his head back underwater. He twisted around to get a good look at his attacker, but only saw a blue tail circling him. He turned around, trying to find Zac’s face and snap him out of whatever violent frenzy he’d gotten himself into, but the merman was faster; he slammed into Cam’s chest with his tail, knocking the wind out of him. 

He sucked in a breath, pain exploding across his midsection, but doesn’t let himself sink. He could use this to his advantage. He grabbed Zac’s tailfin with both hands and pulled. Zac thrashed in his grip, the tail slipping between his fingers, but Cam didn’t let go. He muttered a quiet apology and dug his claws in the appendage, feeling Zac tense under him, and swam back up to the surface. He dropped the tail right after breaching the surface, shaking the water out of his hair. 

Zac’s head followed a couple seconds later, breathing heavily. He looked at his adversary, brows furrowed. “Cam?” He said incredulously, more for confirmation than an actual question, “I thought you were another dragon.”

Evie looked down at both of the sea creatures. “We need to go to Rita’s.”

Chapter Text

Cam wasn’t really sure how their former principal was going to help. She was a mermaid, that was true, but he doubted that she’d be able to resolve his predicament.

Well, he’d been wrong before. 

The house, he’d expected, with the ocean view and books littering the walls. He scoffed. But when the secret passage opened, after Zac pulled on a book about mermaids on the shelf, Cam immediately changed his tune. The grotto was filled with riches and gems and everything he thought was myth, relegated to Alibaba’s cavern of wonders. He looked at it all with something close to awe, and came close to touching a gold coin on a table, but Evie batted his hand away, shaking her head. Cam pulled his hand away, discreetly rubbing the thief essence on his shirt. 

A loud splash broke him out of his thoughts. He looked towards the pool. Two mermaids got up on the ledge. Rita came out of the water first, followed by-Ondina.

“What is he doing here?”

“What is she doing here?”

Cam and Ondina huffed at the same time. The mermaid rolled her eyes, curling a hand and began drying the water stuck in her scales. “I live here, obviously. Which one of you idiots,” she pointed at Zac, then Evie and Carly, “decided he was welcome here?”

“Something happened to him during the eclipse, and now he’s part fish whenever he touches water,” Zac, ever the loyal friend, proclaimed. 

Cam was about to protest, wheeling to face his blabby friend, when a huge blast of water was dumped on him, soaking him from head to toe. “What-”

He saw Rita’s outstretched hand slowly relaxing and he sighed. Going up against mermaids who had control over water was not one of his brightest ideas, especially when he was standing right next to a pool connected to the ocean. 

The strange tingly sensation he’d felt that morning suddenly invaded his entire being, but instead of falling down, having assumed the original transformation in his bathroom had been a fluke, he remained standing. Huh. A soft gasp escaped Riat’s lips, though she appeared more concerned than anything else. Ondina’s eyes were wide, shock practically rolling off of her in waves. 

Cam had never been self-conscious in front of others, but the awkward silence was too much even for him as he began rubbing his elbow to give his hands something to focus on. And ow, the bone was much sharper than he’d expected, so he pulled away, facing the scrutinizing gazes all around him. “What?’ He finally asked.

“Oh dear,” said Rita, as if that explained everything. Cam did not like her tone. The you-have-made-such-a-terrible-mistake-I-can’t-even-begin-to-tell-you-what-you-did-wrong tone. He’d never been a stranger to the tone, but it was the first time it was making him actually nervous. 

“Is that-bad or extremely bad?” He joked, trying to lower the tension in the room. Even to him, his jest sounded weak, as the former principal approached him, disregarding his personal space to poke and prod the scales on his arms, his fins and his lizardly tail. Her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets, but she remained silent throughout her inspection. “I see,” she whispered, not sounding sure at all, stepping away from Cam, a hand on her chin. She didn’t speak further, just stood there deep in thought. 

“Rita?” Evie’s voice was tinged with unease. 

“I was afraid of this,” the elder mermaid confided, “I’ve heard of this happening, long ago.”

Cam’s scales itched and wasn’t that an unpleasant sensation. He scratched at his arm, the skin stubbornly staying in place, making the itch impossible to relieve. The apprehension in the grotto was palpable. 

“A sea serpent,” Rita’s voice cut through the silence.filling the cave, “An honorary kin of Loki.” 

Ondina and Mimmi covered their mouths. Not even a gasp escaped their lips this time, the blood leaving their faces. 

“Loki…Like the guy from Marvel?” Zac asked, face scrunching up in confusion. 

“Zac, please,” Rita tutted disapprovingly. “Loki, first and foremost, is what you may know as a god.”

“Greek mythology!” Evie snapped her fingers in realization. 

“Not quite,” Rita corrected, “But you are on the right path of thinking. Loki belongs to Nordic cultures, found in regions such as Scandinavia. You might be more familiar with what we called those that believed: vikings.

“Though not as well-known in other parts of this westernized world, Norse mythology is a big part of mermaid culture. And that is mostly because we are taught that it is real. I’m sorry to bring this upon you so suddenly, especially you, Zac, I had hoped you’d have more time before the council and I, with Nerissa’s permission, decided to tell you, but this is too dire of a situation not to. The legends are real. I do not know about other myths, but Nordic gods are very much watching us, in flesh and blood, waiting for Ragnarok. 

“Now, Cam, come here,” she beckoned him over, staying an arm’s length away from him,”This brings us to Loki: god of mischief, lies, and cunning deception, he is one of the main inspirations behind your modern day ‘pranks’. But he was also the master of metamorphosis, an unusual power at the time, that had only the Giant’s illusions as brethren. If my theory is correct, corroborated by what the Elders have heard from their Elders, then there should be a change. Cam, get in the pool.”

“Uh, me?” Cam pointed a clawed finger at himself.

Zac rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “If you want, I can push him in.”

“Traitor.” Cam whipped around to narrow his eyes at his best friend.

“I wasn’t the one who went out fishing during an eclipse and turned into a fish,” The dark-haired young man countered. “You brought this on yourself. Sorry.” Zac was decidedly not sorry, a childish grin plastered on his face as he shrugged. 

 Cam grumbled, but complied, popping his knuckles and neck before jumping in, making sure to splash water on Zac. He surfaced immediately, long emerald tail dragging lazily across the surface. 

Zac flicked his wet hand at him, sending droplets of water flying into the pool. His damp hair clung to his head, making him look like a drowned rat. Cam snickered. Zac smacked the ground impatiently with his tail, the other mermaids backing away to avoid getting splashed. “You’re annoying, you know that, right?”

“Someone has to be,” Cam countered, resting his arms on the ledge. He looked over his shoulder, flexing his tail, gazing at it, entranced by its glimmery sheen. The sleek fins caught the light of the grotto just so. A little while ago, Cam might’ve even dreamed of having a tail for himself, but those days were long gone now. He knew just how dangerous it was to live with a tail, no matter how powerful mermaids were. In truth, he wouldn’t even be bothered if he had to give it up. He didn’t need magic to be happy; his life was magical enough.

Cam drummed his fingers on the jagged rock of the ledge. He turned around, looking upwards at the former principal’s face. “So what now?” He asked. 

Rita exhaled sharply. “I continue the story,” she said, “This is proof enough that you are what the legend entails. Water was not symbolic only to mermaids, but to vikings as well. To disregard the sea would be to disregard your life. It is no wonder that the waters in nordic countries offer a path to the seas of the giants, another of the nine worlds. Right now, Earth, or Migard, has been your only vantage point. Jotunheimr, or the world of the giants, is the closest to find, after Niflheimr, however, we do not interact, almost not at all. 

“We honor the jotuns, giants, in modern English, they let us use the waters, but no one crosses into the veil that separates our two worlds. Younglings are never told about it. Only when a mermaid-er, or a merman reaches twenty-seven years of age are they given the locations of the thin wall between realities. None of them decide to investigate it, though, no matter how curious they are. Simply because those who seek out the path never come back, only their corpses with the tide.”

“It’s why the pod sticks together, with all their rules,” Ondina said. 

“Precisely why your little endeavor to stay on land was so poorly received,” Rita added, “Because if you break one rule, more are to follow. I’m sure you understand the capital importance of never crossing into Jotun waters.”

“Yes.” Her pupils’ voices echoed in unison.

“Which is why,” she continued, “We’re going to ignore it and go there.”

“What?” Zac exclaimed, “You just said-”

“I hadn’t quite finished my explanation, Zac,” Rita cut him off, “You’ll have to bear with me for a while longer, I’m afraid. 

“Now, water and Loki. These two don’t seem, at first, even remotely connected. But they are.Deeply so, because of the god’s children. One of them, in which case. Jormungandr. The world serpent, as long as the seven seas, patrolling them for eternity. Cam, did anything pull you into the sea during the eclipse?”

“Uh, yeah, a big fish caught my hook. I tried to reel it in, but I fell in instead.”

“Why are we only hearing about this now?” Zac demanded.

“I was busy! Panicking, getting new appendages, then someone attacking me…Which I’m still not over, getting doused with water,” Cam counted on his webbed fingers, “It takes a toll on a man.”

“Cam,” Rita brought his attention back to her, “That, was not a fish. That was Jormungandr himself. Usually he never attacks civilians, preferring to stay hidden under sand banks, but this has happened before. Long, long ago, but the timeframes match. Our pod, a lot younger than it is today, witnessed a sailor being forced to walk the plank, his shipmates threatening to burn him with torches. He swam to us seeking aid for his ailments: the man had fins and claws and a tail that disappeared when the water receded. He was told to find the northern mermaids, who specialise in darker magic, such as curses. He was never heard from again.”

“I always thought it was a hatchling’s mertail,” Ondina whispered meekly, failing to look Cam in the eye, and immediately turned her head away, “I would’ve never thought it to be real.”

“Never thought mermaids were real, yet here we are,” Carly shrugged. 

Rita cleared her throat. “That wasn’t the only thing that happened. I went and gathered information from many legends while in the pod. Ones that don’t get told to little mermaids. Supposedly, a giant serpent rose from the sea after the sailor’s departure, devouring any and all mermaids after stripping them of their powers to grow his own. The pod huddled behind a secret outcropping of rocks for weeks while the serpent raised havoc. It was defeated on the night of the full moon, by another of its kind, much smaller than him. The tiny figure leaped and struck the water snake using never-seen-before magic and turned it away, back to Jotunheimr. The figure vanished afterwards. 

“So that means…” Evie trailed off.

“Cam must hunt the beast down, and send it back to its own world. Or, at least, the head part of it.”

“ How ?” Ondina gesticulated wildly, “He doesn’t know the first thing about being a mermaid, has tried to hurt us in the past, and don’t get me started on the magic-”

“Hey!” Cam’s protest fell on deaf ears.

“I hear you, Ondina. No doubt had Mimmi and Sirena been here, they would’ve added to your list. However, we must follow the legend, it would be unwise not to do so. When is the next full moon? Two, three days?”

“Two.” Evie confirmed after looking at her phone screen.

“Since when do you act according to the legends?” Ondina muttered, crossing her arms. 

Rita held her gaze unflinchingly. “Since they are our only hope.” She looked around, waiting for anyone to want to disagree before continuing. “Cam, you must familiarise yourself with the ocean, but avoid combat with your enemy. Steer clear of Mako and the area around it. But you will have to face the beast alone.”

“What? No, we’re helping,” Zac argued.

“No. It is far too dangerous. Cam must do it alone, for Jormungandr feeds off the life force of mermaids.”

“I don’t care. We’re going.”

“ No. That is final, Zac,” Rita fixed him with a glare that left no room for arguments, “I am not letting any of you die or get hurt other than the strict necessity.” 

“Will killing-I mean, sending the thing back, will it turn me back to normal?” Cam asked. 

“I genuinely do not know. In this case, you must hope for the best.”