The Last Scale - Chapter IV.

Tereza Končelová

When I woke up again, the change was glaring. I wasn't in my cell anymore.

It seemed that I was standing still, but the water level above me rippled, suggesting that this place was actually all in motion. My shipping container was elongated, very tight, but open, as if it wanted to give me as much freedom as possible despite its limited dimensions. I slowly raised my head above the water, but the opaque material of the container was too slippery, so very soon I fell back to the bottom.

From the left, a grunting sound came. I had never heard it before, but it somehow made me feel very relaxed. I tried to prop my hands against the low walls carefully to see my companion. There was a pleasant duskiness in the room, which gave me back a little of my long lost courage.

"Hello!" A small, plump woman sitting close to me smiled, as if she was watching over me. She was the one who injected me. The corners of her mouth were raised up, little dimples in her cheeks, her eyes glowing. "So you finally woke up, Ignis?" I jerked as she spoke. She noticed that and visibly unsettled. "Sorry. I didn't want to scare you!" She tried to make slow, deliberate movements, and her melodious voice softened. No, she wasn´t attempting to hurt me.

"Hello," I imitated the first of the words she said. I assumed it was some kind of a greeting. I knew it was risky to reveal my communication skills in front of her, but for some reason I trusted her.

Her pupils went wide. "You... You speak!"

"I..." I wondered how to express myself. My vocabulary was limited, and each of the sounds I tried to get out of my throat sounded strangely rough and dim. "A little. I... Listened to the Whites. "

"You tapped the scientists' speech?" An undisguised amazement radiated from her. "Oh my God, I have to tell the others immediately!" She was about to stand up, but then she remembered something. "Do you feel better? Did they hurt you a lot?"

I couldn't do more than a weary nod. I let her choose what from her two questions it was answering.

She looked at me thoughtfully. "We tried to free you as soon as possible, but they didn't want to give you up. You're different from the rest of your kind. It was believed that all the mermaids with colored tails had been exterminated long ago... The survivors are hiding at the seabed, using bland brown as a camouflage, you know? Nature itself is trying to protect you." My heart began to beat faster. My speculations were true, I'm not alone in the world! "Although organizations like ours are slowly coming to power, people in general are still symphatizing with the hunters more. Your scales are an eternally sold-out product no matter how high the prize is given to them..." She gave me that expression of joy again. "But now you are in no danger, Ignis. Do you like your name? We didn't suppose you can talk, so we chose it for you... It means light or a flame."

I tried to mimic her cheerful expression. Straighten up, pick up the corners of my mouth. It pleased her.

"Maybe you're confused about the sudden change in the environment... We'll take you to a reservation. We'd like to check that you're all right before we let you go home."

There were countless questions in my mind, but one of them reliably beat all the others. Where the home is for me?

Edited by DV