My Mermaid Muse

My Mermaid Muse
by Rebecca Fyfe

I sat down to write but lately nothing came to me as I sat. My fingers tapped the keyboard absently. I almost had an idea of what to write, but it was useless. This was the worst bout of writer's block I had ever suffered through. Where was my muse when I needed her?

Closing my laptop, I made a decision; I was not going to spend today the same way I'd spent every day of the last two weeks, staring at a blank page on my computer screen until my eyes hurt with nothing to show for it.

The day was beautifully sunny and I was going to enjoy it. I dressed in shorts and a tank top, placing my floppy sunhat on my head at the last minute. It was sunny enough that, with my fairy skin, I'd be sunburned within minutes where I was going. The least I could do was shade my face with a hat. I hated wearing sunscreen because its oily feel and the scent always made me sneeze.

It only took me thirty minutes to drive to the beach. The plan was to go lay on the sandy beach and enjoy watching the sea before me. I loved everything about the beach, the sound of the waves as they tumbled to the shore, the salty smell from the ocean, the warmth of the sun on my skin and the cool breeze that counteracted it.

Once I walked down from my parking space to the beach, I realized that I didn't want to just lie on the beach. I wanted to go exploring for tide pools and climb up on the rocky outcropping to watch the waves crashing against the rocks. I was wearing flip-flops which weren't the best shoes for exploring along the rocks, but I knew I'd be careful. With one hand on my head to keep the breeze from blowing my sun hat away, and the other holding my flip-flops in my hand so I could walk barefoot, I picked my way up to the highest of the rocky outcroppings.

Up there, the breeze was stronger and the waves crashed so fiercely against the rocks below me that some of the water's spray reached up and splashed lightly against my skin. This felt like the perfect spot, so I found a rock that had a smooth enough surface to sit on, and I sat. I don't know how long I sat there watching the sea below. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours. I just know that the sea mesmerized me. A sea otter appeared every so often, floating on its back for a moment and then diving back under to come up somewhere else in the water.

That's when I saw her. Well, I didn't know what I was seeing at first. It was the tail of a massive fish, with gold, pink and green scales. I knew nothing like that existed, so I didn't believe what I was seeing at first, but then she came up for air and I realized, seeing the woman attached to the tail that I was seeing something even more incredible than a large fish.

When she dove under the water and didn't surface again, I knew she wouldn't be back. I drove home and sat down to write, full of new ideas, thanks to my mermaid muse.

The Legend of Merkind and the Harpies

picture via DollDivine.com

The Legend of Merkind and the Harpies

by Rebecca Fyfe

Long ago, mermaids could be found in all corners of the ocean. There were different races of mermaids: the dark haired sirens who sang sailors to their deaths, the copper-haired mermaids who watched over the sea and all of its creatures, and the golden-haired sea nymphs who were fascinated with mankind and most often shed their tails in favor of legs and living amongst the humans.

Today, mermaids are so scarce that few believe they ever existed. It's because of the Harpies. Harpies were much larger and stronger than mermaids, but they were very beautiful. Though they had wings to carry them high into the sky and all across the land, they were sea carnivores, preferring to feast on fish and dolphins and other creatures from the sea.

One day, the Queen of the Harpies fell upon a mer-princess, one of the dark-haired sirens and carried her off, feasting on her later that night. The siren's final song, sung in place of her death cries, layed a curse on all Harpies, making them forever hideous and misshapen, with beaks in place of their nose and mouth and claws for their fingers. Their feet became those of a bird of prey.

The Harpies blamed all merkind for this tragedy and their Queen commanded that all of merkind be hunted down and killed. They killed every mermaid, siren or sea nymph that they found, even the children. The few sirens, mermaids and sea nymphs who were left banded together and hid themselves down in the deepest part of the ocean, where the Harpies could not reach them. They are so rarely seen now, that humankind has stopped believing they exist.

But the legend claims that they have lived in a city under the sea, building up their numbers for centuries now, training for battle. And one day, they will rise again and have their revenge on the Queen of the Harpies and her descendants. The legend foretells that mankind will be caught in the middle and will suffer until the chosen human, one with the power of a siren's song, the power over water that the mermaid's possess and a sea nymph's ability to shed or gain a tail, rises to save them all.

Mermaid Magic

I am only sharing an excerpt of this story. It was written on December 31st, 2013, but it was written for an anthology that will be published later this year. I retain the rights to this story, so I will come back and post it in full at a later date, several months after it first comes out in the "Keepsakes" anthology. The "Keepsakes" anthology will be published in May 2014 through  Prince Charming Books (edited by Sally Ogden.) Here's an excerpt of the story. If you don't want to wait until later in the year to read the story in full, purchase the "Keepsakes" anthology when it comes out!

Mermaid Magic (excerpt)
by Rebecca Fyfe

Sienna found herself at the cove again, only it was dark out. Moonlight filtered through wispy clouds above her. She couldn’t remember leaving the house or swimming out here. I must be dreaming, she thought.

A splash drew her eyes to the water. In the dark, she couldn’t see the bottom of the pool, but something near the surface slid past her, gliding smoothly beneath the water. She knelt down to look more closely and noticed a large fin, like the tail of a very large fish. A dolphin maybe? Or a small whale? Maybe even a shark? But how did it get here, in this tide pool that iss so far from the ocean’s waves?

Sienna couldn’t resist reaching her hand out toward the water. It was as if it was calling to her. Just as her fingertips felt the wetness of the pool’s water, a jolt shot through her, like a bolt of electricity, singing through her flesh.

She spasmed with the pain and felt herself falling into the water.  Her muscles weren’t working right, and the water closed over her head. Instinctively, she called out for help and water filled her mouth, pouring into her lungs. Unable to breathe, her chest hurt and her vision grew dark.

Call of the Siren

This was originally written on Imagine! Create! Write! on May 12th, 2012.

art by Robert Fyfe

Call of the Siren
by Rebecca Fyfe

I felt sand under my hands and grating against my cheek as the darkness lifted from my consciousness. My hair was wet and I could feel every grain of sand against my naked body as though I was lying against sandpaper. My head throbbed and I tried to stand but a wave of dizziness washed over me and I lay still again.

I could hear the ocean’s waves somewhere behind me, and the salty tang of the sea drifted by on the wind. I was still at the beach, but how did I end up like this? The last thing I remembered was finding a private section on the beach where I could lay and relax on my beach towel without being disturbed. I’d brought along my notepad and pen and was hoping the quiet would help me find my muse. I had a deadline approaching and a story to write.

Somewhere from the back of my mind, through the fog of a distorted memory, a face swam into view. I remembered seeing someone. He had walked up to me and asked me about my writing. He had wanted to know about the story I was working on. I remembered now! His name was Aigean.

Thinking it might help me work through some ideas, and because, well, the guy was easy on the eyes, I had started to tell him about my story. I told him all about my story about a girl who finds out she’s a mermaid and falls in love at the same time. I told him about the problems I was having with the plot line. I explained to him how I kept changing parts of the undersea world of the mermaids in the story because I couldn’t decide on how I wanted to portray it or on which portrayal seemed the most plausible.

His kind eyes had looked into mine and somehow I found myself spilling everything to him. I even told him all about my fear that my writing wouldn’t be good enough to share, that no publishers would love it as much as I did. Writing was all I had ever dreamed about doing and the fear that I wouldn’t succeed at it ate at my soul.

He’d settled down next to me and listened attentively as I poured out my heart in a way I would never have done under normal circumstances. I hadn’t understood then, why I had opened up so easily to him. At the time, his gentle gaze had seemed to catch me within it and pull the words from me against my will, and yet, as the words came, I realized I wanted to tell him everything.

As I finished telling him about the story I was writing and my fears about being an inadequate writer, I took a moment to study him. The sunlight shone warmly against his tanned skin. He definitely spent time outdoors. His hair was a light brown, full of lighter golden highlights and his eyes were a sparkling blue, or maybe they were green. I hadn’t been able to decide and had compromised by deciding they were teal. His smile seemed genuine enough. And his body was lean and athletic, with just enough muscle to give him a physique I would classify as powerful.

While I studied him, he was looking at me with equal intensity. I wondered what he thought of my long, straight brown hair and pasty white skin. I was pale enough that it would be obvious spending time at the beach, or anywhere in the sunshine, wasn’t something I did often.

My eyes were nothing special either. I had hazel eyes, a mixture of brown and green, but mostly they just looked brown. My lips were thin, but my body wasn’t. I wasn’t too plump, but I had a good twenty pounds more on me than I needed, and I was overly curvy. I wondered why he was talking to me at all.

But he’d only smiled at me and took my hand, pulling me to a standing position. He’d asked me, his voice deep and mellow, if I wanted to swim in the ocean with him.  I didn’t want to admit to him that ever since I had seen a dead jelly fish on the beach as a child and been told about its ability to sting, I had been afraid of entering the sea. It was a foolish childhood fear, and his voice, asking again, felt like a warm heat moving right through me, calming any fear I had, making me want nothing more than to follow after him as he walked into the ocean’s waves.

At first, we only let our feet get wet as the gentle swell of the waves reached out to us lazily and tickled our toes. But his hand tugged on mine to take me further into the water. And I couldn’t seem to stop myself from letting him pull me into the ocean after him. I didn’t want to stop him.

That’s all I could remember. How had I ended up from there, just entering into the ocean with him, to here, lying naked on the beach, waking up from an unconscious state? Had a wave captured us? Had I somehow hit my head? My head hurt and Iwas feeling dizzy. That made the idea of having hit my head seem more plausible. But where was Aigean?

Thankfully, there was still no one around or my nakedness would have been entirely too embarrassing. I cautiously lifted my head, hoping the movement wouldn’t cause the dizziness again, and spotted my clothes sitting further up the beach, away from the trickle of waves.  I was just lifting myself to my hands and knees when the water from the gentle waves reached my feet again.

That’s when things became very strange. My body started to tingle as if someone had just zapped me with a really low-powered tazer. My legs slid back into a prone position, but I managed to keep my upper body lifted onto my hands. This only helped me to see more clearly when my fingers started to grow webbing between them.  I didn’t have time to freak out about that though, because I could feel other changes occurring.

My entire lower body became super-heated. I should have been on fire to feel this kind of heat, but I looked down at my legs and there was no fire. As the water reached ever higher across my feet and legs, I noticed the changes that were occurring. Scales were appearing one by one on my legs. I didn’t feel them appearing other than that overall heat, but watching them was amazing. They appeared as if by magic. The skin underneath held a bluish tint that was soon covered by the scales as they started to encroach on more and more of my body. Eventually, my legs began to meld together into one, and my mind finally kicked in and told me what was happening. I was getting a tail, and not just any tail either; I was getting a mermaid’s tail.

So much about myself had changed.  Even my already-long hair had grown longer. I felt around my face and didn’t notice any change, but my ears were different. They felt pointier.  And I had some sort of openings on either side of my neck. Gills? I wouldn’t have believed any of this if I wasn’t experiencing it first-hand. But how had this happened?

The tide was slowly coming in, and I knew I would be able to swim out into that ocean, would be able to breath under the waves. But where would I go? I was all alone in this. And just as I thought those words, I heard him call to me.

Aigean! He was singing something soft and soothing. The melody called to me, and I moved myself deeper into the waves, wanting to get closer to his voice. As the water enveloped me, I found myself gliding easily through it. I followed his voice, but despite the allure of his call, I realized I didn’t want to just follow him around. I wanted him to come to me.

With the ease of someone born to it, I started singing. I’d never heard the song before that came so easily to my lips, but I felt its magic as it reached out towards him, ensnaring him as surely as he had ensnared me. I could feel him moving through the water, closer to me.

No, I wouldn’t be alone.

A Seaside Christmas - a short story

This was originally posted on Fairy Magic Gifts on October 21st, 2013.

art by Rebecca Fyfe

A Seaside Christmas
by Rebecca Fyfe

Rose dragged her heavy suitcase from the car to the beach house. Sadness pulled at her thoughts for a moment, but she brushed it aside.  This would be a wonderful Christmas. So what if she was alone this year?

She’d rented this little house that sat on a beautiful beach and she was determined to enjoy this small vacation. Jack had been all wrong for her anyway. The fact that he’d broken things off with her in a text message instead of facing her in person was proof that he wasn’t the type of man she wanted in her life anyway.

Rose left her luggage just inside the door and stepped back out onto the front porch. She took a deep breath, smelling the salty air. This was just what she needed.

Her mom and her sister had pleaded with her to spend Christmas with them, but she just couldn’t face them right now.

Jack and Rose had been together for two years. Two days after sending her that final text, Rose had run into Jack Christmas shopping at the local mall. He hadn’t been alone. Rose wondered how much the stunning blonde woman he’d had his arm around had played in their break-up.

Shaking away the unpleasant memory, Rose went back inside to unpack. She noticed right away that the landlady had put up a small Christmas tree in the living room, with tiny sparkling pastel lights and silver and blue ornaments. Now she understood why the landlady had asked her if she celebrated Christmas. Rose smiled at the kind gesture. Despite her mood this year, Christmas was still Rose’s favorite holiday.

Rose poured herself a glass of wine and went to sit on the beach to watch the waves as the sun set. She stayed there until the moon appeared over the horizon before deciding to call it a night.

The next morning was Christmas day, and, even though Rose had chosen to come here and spend Christmas alone this year, she still awakened wishing she’d gone to her mom’s for Christmas. Christmas wasn’t meant to be spent alone.

 A knock on her door surprised her, but even more surprising was the ruggedly handsome man standing on the other side of her door.

“Uh, hello? May I help you?” Rose tried not to stare too hard at his bare chest. He was lean but well-muscled. His light brown hair reached just above his shoulders, a little longer than she usually liked in a man but somehow suiting this particular man. His attire consisted of nothing more than a pair of swim trunks.

“Come with me.” He held a hand out for her.

Rose knew she should take a step back but instead she found herself reaching for his outstretched hand. His voice was soothing.

He smiled. “I won’t bite.” He pulled on her hand, leading her towards the sea.  His rumbly voice reminded her of the sound of the ocean. She could feel herself calming as he spoke. He gently reached for her hand, his big hand dwarfing her small one. 

Rose felt herself nodding and started walking with him, her hand still in his. As they neared the water, he spoke again.

“Do you believe in magic?”

Rose shook her head.

He reached his other hand out toward the waves that were lapping at the beach. The water, right in front of her eyes, began to rise and twist and shape itself into the shape of a foamy horse galloping along the waves.

Gasping, Rose turned rounded  eyes on him. “How did you do that?”

“Do you believe?” he asked her again, a smile lighting his face.

Rose nodded, unable to find any words.

He faced her again and trailed his hands up and down her arms, sending a trail of tingles up and down them. “And what about destiny?” he asked her, his face suddenly sober, his eyes serious.  “What about soul mates? What about love?” And then he kissed her.

Rose’s first instinct was to pull away, because she hardly knew him and she wasn’t in the habit of kissing complete strangers. But instead, she found herself melting into his kiss. His arms encircled her, pulling her up against his body, and she felt as if her own body was igniting with a slow, pleasurable burn.

He gently pulled back from the kiss, releasing her from his arm, but he held her hand again.

“Come with me,” he repeated, gently pulling her towards the water. His voice wrapped around her like a warm cloak, and she couldn’t pull her gaze away from his. She didn’t want to look away, even if she could.

All that mattered was right now, his hand in hers and his voice calling her to him.

She didn’t really even notice that they had entered the water and were waist-deep in the ocean until he started to change. Scales formed along his legs and traveled up almost to his waist. His legs melded together and a long, shiny fin formed at the ends of his joined feet.

Right before her eyes and only taking an instant from start to finish, he had transformed into a merman. His arms encircled her again, pulling her close. He looked into her eyes.

“Tell me you choose love. Tell me you choose me.” There was an urgency to his voice.

His hypnotic pull on her faded, and yet, even without it, she felt drawn to him. Dream or not, Rose wanted to stay in his embrace. It felt as though she belonged there in his arms.

She lifted her hands and cupped his face. “I choose you.”

He leaned in to kiss her, and, as their lips touched, she felt a zap of electricity shoot through her body. When the kiss ended, she had a tail and fins too.

Instead of feeling shocked by her new mermaid tail, Rose felt a sense of rightness, as if she’d been meant for this all along. She knew exactly how to move with her new body.

“Will I ever see my mom and sister again?” she asked him.

“We’ll visit at Christmas.” He reassured her with a tender smile.

He lovingly took her hand in his once more, and, together, they swam out to sea.