1 The Enchanted Reef

Across the world and through the oceans, a maiden mermaid named Liriope peered out at her colony's reef from inside her coral cave. The enchanted reef, deep inside a gorge at the bottom of the ocean, was home to the Nereids, an ancient and magical merfolk. Their reef was nothing like the ocean reefs close to the surface. Those reefs thrived because of the world's sun. This otherworldly reef was a series of interconnected pathways, constructed with diamonds and crystals imbued with magic, brought there a very long time ago. Its magic glow sustained all the living things who called it home and kept their colors vibrant.

In Liriope's cave, the drifts of seaweed draping her doorway and ceiling swayed in the current. The same bright neon anemones that lived in her cavern walls also scattered the surface of the colony's reef she gazed upon while waiting for the return of the Wrens. They were the colony's fiercest protectors, and Liriope loved watching them return from their surface missions. The young mermaid's honey brown hair floated listlessly, dancing with every move she made, for she couldn't keep still. Her long pink and golden tail flipped and flapped with her anxious mood. She did not like waiting.

She sighed and scanned the shimmering waters. It was always the same while she was waiting for the Wrens. They had been gone for many weeks and if they did return that night, it would be any minute now. It was late and she should be getting her rest, but she didn't want to miss their arrival, it gave her a chance to peek at the host they brought with them. A human host, though they were always wrapped in spelled saltwort and turtle weeds, she still loved to get a look. Liriope was taught the wrap preserved the humans and allowed them to live and breathe underwater for long periods of time. Living so close to the Incubation Centre, the place where newborn Nereids were hatched, the Wrens always swam by her window on their way to perform a host's transmutation.

Waiting impatiently for a glimpse, she grabbed a small bone blade and the serpentine sculpture she started in class. Repetitiously, yet carefully, she stroked her blade back and forth while her mind began to wander. She longed to be a Wren; to swim to the surface unharmed, to see the land, talk with humans, and bring one home as a host. It seemed like such an exciting lifestyle, dangerous even. But she never left the reef. No maiden could, except for the Wrens. The young were told it was for their own protection, that the surface and its animals were too dangerous.

In school last year, Liriope curiously asked her teacher how human hosts were found. She was told official Wren business wasn't to be discussed in class at the King's command, but if she was truly interested she could apprentice as a Wren when she turned thirteen. She sulked back then, knowing she'd have to wait another year.

"I don't want to lay eggs for the rest of my life." She declared one day. "I want to know more about what else the Wrens do."

Her teacher shrugged her off. "No one knows what else the Wrens do but the Wrens, you could always ask one of them if you're so curious." The other students in the room gasped, looked to Liriope to see what she would say. They knew never to approach a Wren, especially a female, not if you wanted to keep your wits about you. Everyone knew Wrens could look at you and steal your memories if they wanted to. So no one ever dared approach a Wren.

Liriope didn't believe it, she also wasn't afraid. She would not accept that they could be so cruel. After all, it was the Wrens who brought new life to the Nereids, and she had just turned thirteen last week.

A group of Wrens suddenly appeared in her line of sight. Liriope's eyes widened. She flung her sculpture on her bed and dove for her window. As she watched them approach, she knew she would never believe they were dangerous. They were serene, both male and female swam together, glistening in the light of the jeweled coral. The human host floated along with them as if by its own power, wrapped in its special green casing, like a cocoon. She had seen many processions like this before, each left her feeling awestruck.

The Wrens eyes glistened like the diamonds sparkling throughout the reef, their tails luminously swayed up and down, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. Liriope was jealous of every female's curve, every pearl inlay, and every golden lock that flowed behind them, sometimes longer than their own bodies. The males were just as beautiful, with shorter hair and more muscular builds, their hardened gaze drifted over Liriope's window and she held her breath.

Then she noticed something clam colored and odd dangling from the green folds of the host's wrap. Is that an... arm? She thought. The school had all the young study both land and sea creature anatomy. They also learned how to protect themselves from different predators if need be. That included humans, like what type of water suits they wore and how to disable them. Yet she felt ill at ease, she never saw a host exposed like this before. Had they been in a hurry? Even the Wrens themselves looked different, their expressions scornful, angered, not the look of delight that Liriope came to expect.

She saw something next that shook her to her bones. As the procession turned to enter the Incubation Centre, the host circled around to reveal an exposed face. Though instead of the healthy, plump, pink human face Liriope would expect to see, there were two grey and bloated eyes staring blindly, as if about to burst. The lips were blue, the head itself looked damaged, part of the skull had come loose.

It was then Liriope screamed for the first time in her very short life.