Chapter 1
From far, the two looked like they were having a normal, intimate session between two females. The younger one of the two seemed to be splashing around in the lake while the elder one looked on encouragingly. If one didn't know better, they'd thought she was trying to teach the younger one to swim. However, one should know better, especially if they were staying near the Rainy River, that even in the early spring of April, the temperature of the water in the lake was freezing. Upon a closer look, one would find, in surprise that a young girl was drowning and the woman beside her didn't seem to want to help the poor child.
"Mummy... please... I can't do it... I really... don't want to..." struggled the child, gasping for air but swallowing mouthfuls of frigid cold water.
"You must," replied her mother. Only if one comes really close, one would see but might choose not to believe his or her eyes for the woman in question was standing on the water surface as if it were as hard as the riverbanks.
"Mummy!" shrieked the little girl and went under. The frigid water had numbed her limbs such that she could no longer struggle to keep afloat. Sighing to herself, the woman disappeared into the water, as if slowly melting away, to finally rescue her daughter.
When they submerged, the child, surprisingly did not look pale but was rosy cheeked and sparkly eyed as she was carried by her mother.
"Are you still cold?" asked the mother kindly. The little girl shook her head. Her dark brown hair seemed dry and bouncy and she had a missing tooth when she grinned. The woman smiled and placed a hand on her daughter's cheek. "Dahut..."
"Dahut... Dahut... Dahut..."
At the call of her name, she slowly surfaced out from her sleep. It seems she had been dreaming again.
***
Dahut woke with a jolt at her mother's call. She was having that dream again; of watching herself learning how to breathe underwater. It felt odd to watch herself like that, and almost cruel in the way she couldn't help the poor helpless girl who was herself. She was sure her mother knows about the dreams but she had been silent and understanding. For more than 20 years, her mother had not pressured her to awaken her powers and she suspected that her mother had given up.
"Dahut... I made your favourite for breakfast today- French toast. Coffee's already on the table," said her mother when she came into the kitchen. Her mother was beautiful even at 40 years old, although she doubt her mother was really 40.
"The spring crowd's here... shouldn't you... be at the lodge?"
"When you own something, you make sure you have other people to run it for you," her mother said with a smile. "Lissy's already there making sure everything's alright. She's making a hearty Full Irish today for the guests. They'll be leftover if you want."
Dahut eyed her mother suspiciously. Dahut knew that her mother knows she didn't like the lodge much because it was too close to the water. Her phobia of water was something of a disgrace for the Lake of the Woods community which thrived on fishing, boating and all things water related.
After kissing her mother on both cheeks, Dahut headed out to her bookshop; the only one in Morson village. Pleasure Bound was her pride and joy. She had started the shop with only a few book titles mainly about fishing and boating but had eventually extended to include all sorts of children books as well as adult fiction. Her mother had been very supportive all the way although Dahut knew that she would prefer her only daughter to run the lodge with her. Recently, she had suggested opening a small cafe in the bookshop so that customers could read and relax over a cup of coffee or scone. Dahut had been thrilled. The works for the cabinet, chairs and tables were already underway and Dahut was really excited to start baking to fill the cafe with homemade goodies.
"Hey Dahut," greeted Jack, the carpenter she hired to model her cafe. He was a little surprised to see her in so early but smiled nonetheless with his tool bag slung over his shoulders.
Dahut nodded in acknowledgement and smiled back. She and Jack had been to the same high school and college but because of her shy personality, they had never crossed paths till now. Dahut remembered her high school days so vividly that it still hurts to remember.
She had been the subject of gossip and bullying throughout her high school days. Her school mates were always teasing her about her phobia of water and at times others would hurl abuses at her or insult her mother.
"Jack... I'll be outside for awhile... I want to get some air," she croaked. The air was indeed fresh and she soon began walking nearer towards the water's edge. It was her mother's request that she built her bookshop overlooking the water. Indeed it made her jittery at times just to look at the lake but she had endured it for the past five years. She had planned to use the open area outside her shop as an alfresco area for her cafe. It would provide a beautiful view of the lake and the surrounding trees.
It was then that she heard a few voices calling out her name. Turning around, she saw Amber,Lucy and Tom walking towards her.
"Heyo mermaid!" Tom called out to her. Dahut felt a rush of fear creeping up her face. He had been calling her that ever since high school and ever since then he had always tried to drown her.
"What? Not gonna say hello to your friends?" said the other two women.
"Hi... what... what are you all doing here? My shop's not opened yet..."
"We were passing by. There's a couple of campers over the clearing there. We've been hired to take them boating in awhile. Wanna join?" said Amber.
"Ah... I'd rather not..."
"Thought you'd say that..." sneered Amber. Then Lucy spoke. "So your mother's still luring other people's husbands to her lair?" Dahut dropped her gaze to the ground. Her mother had once dated Lucy's father just after Lucy's parents divorced. At that time they were both so young but she could still remember Lucy's mother screaming at her mother, calling her a husband stealer. When he had drowned in a boating accident with her, everyone had blamed her mother for causing his death even though the police had declared it an accident.
"Give her a break Luce... she's too dumb to talk. Hmm, since we still have some time, why don't we play around some?" said Amber. Tom gave her a wink.
In a blink of an eye, Tom had gathered Dahut in his arms and was carrying her to the water's edge.
"Here you go mermaid, back where you belong!" he said and dumped her into the water. Even in spring, the water was still cold and the chill numbed her limbs almost instantly.
"Please, Please help me!" she shouted but the trio had already left, laughing as they headed towards the clearing.
Hush my baby... close your eyes and focus on breathing...
She could hear her mother's voice; the same one that always spoke to her each time someone had dumped her into the water. However the cold was getting to her and she began struggling once again.
"Hey!" she heard someone shout. She thought she saw someone jumping into the water but she could no longer think or see.
"Hey, hey... hold on to me... Jesus it's fucking cold!" said her rescuer. She couldn't see the person's face but from the body now holding her close, she guessed it to be a man. His hands were strong around her waist and he was swimming towards the shore.
Then it happened.
An invisible barrier suddenly came up, forcefully pushing the two apart. The man landed on land but Dahut was back in the water, at a deeper depth this time. Her body could no longer feel any sensation by now and she slowly began to sink into the water. She thought she heard the man shouting at her but her mind was completely blank...
Then she felt it- The burning pain at the side of her neck; almost tearing at her throat. Then she felt as if her bones were starting to break. The pain was excruciating that she screamed but her sound only came out as a bubble in the water.
Suddenly she opened her eyes and all was quiet and she was breathing. She glided through the water, as if she had been swimming all her life. She passed by a school of fish and they all greeted her. Dahut opened her eye in shock, and then tried to laugh. However, this time, she could hear her own laughter, not a bubble like a before.
"Welcome back Undine... We've missed you."
"I'm not Und..." she tried to explain but they had swum away. She continued swimming before realization hit her- she was swimming! Something she had never done before. She started panicking when she saw the changed state of her hands and feet. She started to scream and kept swimming upwards towards the surface. As she reached the surface she felt breathless and felt like choking as she grappled for air. Like a fish on land, she felt like dying. Then she lost consciousness.
***
Tristan had wanted to dive back into the water to search for the drowning woman but there seemed to be a force field preventing him from even going near the water. Worried, he had rushed to the nearest lodge to request for help. The owner of the lodge told him not to worry but to wait at the water's edge. Help will come soon, she had said.
When he got back to the lake, he saw the young woman floating on the water surface, as if dead. This time, when he dived into the water, there was no barrier but he didn't think about it much as he scooped the woman out of the water.
