Charming: Part I - 1. Chapter One

“—With overfishing causing the mermaid population to decline by twenty-one percent in recent years, many activists are demanding for the expulsion of fishing vessels that utilize harpoons to inhumanly capture these mythical creatures—”

“—And in other news, the fairy population has exploded over the past decade and considered a major pest problem due to their prankster nature, many people are calling for their extermination from many households and—”

“—Are you fairest of them all—”

“—Buy these magic beans today and regrow your hair to its original—”

Lucky turned the dial of his radio once again and switched the frequency to some crappy, but catchy pop song since the last thing that he needed to be reminded of was how sinister and superficial this world was. And as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music, he wondered if this world was any different after witches and other magical creatures were revealed to be real and that magic could somehow help solve all the world’s problems. Then he thought, no, it has not. This world, he believed, was unredeemable and where he was going to would only prove that.

Lucky eventually parked his Steed on a handicapped spot at a deserted parking lot and after taking a handkerchief to wipe clean the horse-shaped hood ornament, he approached the entrance to the bowl-shaped stadium. Nothing looked abnormal about it, except for the fact it was completely flooded. The stadium was abandoned years ago after a new one was built on the other side of the city and when a hurricane blasted through the city, flooding the entire area to the rim, no one bothered to empty it let alone even care.

However, Lucky needed to enter the place and if that witch’s spell really worked, he would be able to with any major problems. So, after taking a few deep breaths and made sure that nothing of value that could be damaged from water was on him, he walked a short distance to the one of the double, glass doors that was the entrance to the stadium and opened it, water spilling right above his ankles.

The cold water stung Lucky like hundreds of needles, but he continued to walk forward and he entered the main lobby of the stadium before closing the door behind him. Venturing through the lobby and then to a flight of stairs that led to the center of the stadium, Lucky took one final deep breath before submerging his entire body into the icy depths. The drastic change in temperature caused him to gasp, but his body soon acclimatized and with a large bubble of air surrounding his head like a helmet, he was ready to go deeper into the abandoned place.

Swimming down the stairs, Lucky then entered the field of the stadium where he once watched a football game with his father when he was only a small child more than a decade ago. However, the once manicured grass was now overtaken by an expanse of seaweed that was at least the length of his entire body. He decided to not venture through it since he did not know what possible creatures lurked through there, just waiting for someone gullible enough that they could have as their nightly dinner.

The place gave Lucky the creeps since the area felt deserted, or diluted of life, but when he turned on his waterproof flashlight and flashed it at random direction, he saw mermaids, real mermaids sleeping on the rows of chairs that tiered the stadium. They were the classic-looking mermaids with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. They must have been beautiful creatures before pollution and overfishing destroyed their underwater kingdoms and now the remainder of their species were homeless and forced to live in places like this as refugees without a home to go back to. And how ironic that these majestic creatures were living in a bowl like a pet goldfish.

They all looked frail and sickly with a flooded stadium not being their most ideal habitat to live in. Lucky felt so sorry for these people, losing their kingdoms only to be forgotten. However, they were not the people that he was looking for, so he continued to swim upward from the field and up the stadium, letting the mermaids sleep in peace.

After a few minutes of exploring, Lucky swam through the stadium’s food court where a seafood concession was located which he believed was where his contact was located. With algae covering the countertops and lights coming through what could be the manager’s office, it must have been the location that he was seeking. Swimming to the door, Lucky saw two male mermaids guarding the entrance, and they looked very formidable with shell-shaped armor covering the human portion of their bodies.

“And who are you?” one of the mermaid guards asked Lucky.

“Yeah, hi. I’m Lucky. I have a meeting with your…associate,” he said, trying to sound confident and professional.

The two mermaids looked at each other and then nodded before moving aside. The entrance was made available to enter and Lucky smiled as he slowly swam through it.

“Don’t cause any trouble,” the other mermaid guard said.

“Noted,” Lucky responded before entering inside the office with the door closing behind him.

Inside was quite a sight. There were numbers of different types of fish swimming by him and it felt like he was in an exotic aquarium. There were also an expensive array of furniture and other mismatched objected placed around the area, all different styles and eras of time. They all most likely came from sunken sea vessels like luxury liners and maybe even a pirate ship.

“Ah, Lucky. There you are.”

Lucky turned around to see a man behind a wooden desk with two mermaids, one at either side of him sitting and relaxing on a couch. These mermaids looked nothing like the others he saw sleeping on the chairs. They looked much more colorful with many of their individual scales having a different design like that of human women with painted nails. They were also bare breasted and had an alluring quality about them, but Lucky managed to concentrate his attention on the man who must have been his contact.

“Hi, you’re Octavius, right?” Lucky asked.

“Yes. Yes, I am. Please. Have a seat,” Octavius offered, his hand gesturing to the two mismatched chairs in the front of his desk.

Lucky turned his flashlight off before swimming to the red seat and positioned himself onto it by grabbing the armrests and sitting down.

“I was worried you weren’t going to be able to get here considering the circumstances, but I’m glad you did,” Octavius said, eyeing most likely the bubble around Lucky’s head. “So…do you have what I’m looking for?”

“Yes, I do. And do you have what I need?” Lucky asked as he pulled out a small bag from the inside pocket of his suit coat.

“Indeed, I do,” Octavius said, opening a drawer from his desk and pulling out a rounded piece of glass.

Lucky accepted the glass from Octavius’s hand and offered the small bag to Octavius as an exhange.

“So…this is the item that will help solve all my problems,” Octavius inquired, raising the small bag above his head and examining it from below.

“Yes, it’s soap made from the oil that helped preserve a princess for a hundred years before her prince came to break the curse and lye that was made from the very ashes that another princess was disparagingly named after and where her fairy godmother arisen from,” Lucky elaborated. “That soap will not only help you, but also the other mermaids in this stadium.”

“Well, let’s not get too far there. Anyways, you must know why mermaids originally came into existence, right?”

Lucky nodded. “Yes. According to Eastern European legend, the original mermaids were deceased humans who have been cursed to live in the sea with the attempt to clean their souls that have been dirtied by their sins. And that soap I just gave you will somehow clean your soul and turn you back to a normal human. Correct?”

Octavius smirked. “Mostly. We’re not like fairies, sinless souls who died before proclaiming their faith to God and just float between Earth and the heavens which grant them the suggestion of flight. Regardless, they’re nothing more than a pest who have the ability to adapt to any environment.” Leaning forward on his desk, he then said, “So…what are you planning to do with the glass that are made by my own people’s tears if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Um…let’s just say it’s for a personal project of mine,” Lucky hinted, not wanting to elaborate further as he placed the glass in the same pocket inside his coat.

“Okay. Good.” Leaning back against his chair, Octavius said, “So, I heard you’re marrying soon. The woman with hair longer than the tallest of towers, am I correct?”

Grimacing, Lucky said, “Yes. I’m supposed to…but I think she deserves someone much better than me.”

Lucky did not explain further about how his supposed bride-to-be wanted nothing more than to cut her hair and become the hero of her own destiny, and he greatly admired her for that. She knew what she wanted in life, unlike Lucky who was at a seedy location, basically doing a drug deal for a goal he was not so sure was the right thing or not.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that… Well, if we’re done here…”

Octavius pushed his chair back, revealing his lower body that possessed sparkling scales that looked like studded diamonds on his fish tail. The man obviously cared about his appearance and as he opened the small bag containing the magical ball of soap, Lucky began to feel a weird sensation. It was like his insides were being pulled away from him, and when he looked back at Octavius, he saw a nightmare unfolding.

Octavius’s fish tail began splitting apart into eight tentacles, the diamond-like fish scales actually being armor that covered each limb. He had a very mischievous smile as he climbed onto the desk with his tentacles and latched two of them around Lucky’s arms, restraining him from moving away from the treacherous creature in front of him.

“Now, did you forget that mermaids are just souls, Mr. Charming? Even if I cleanse my own, I’ll still need a human body to survive…and who better than the famous Prince Charming.”

Trying to pull away, Lucky was restrained further by the two mermaids who each held one of his legs as they cackled. Lucky was in full panic mode, breathing heavily as he tried to move, and this inevitably caused the bubble of air around his head to shrink dramatically before shattering into smaller bubbles and preventing Lucky to have any supply of oxygen for him to breathe.

He felt his insides, his soul being pulled further away from the rest of his body as Octavius’s tentacles wrap around his head before his vision darkened and he soon blacked out.

***

Lucky coughed and water spilled out from his mouth before his body was positioned on the side by a pair of warm hands. He continued to heave water from his sore lungs as he heard a deep voice asking him if he was okay, and the answer was no, he was not. He was still confused about was just happened and when he laid on his back again, he saw a man with wet, dark hair, a scruffy face and furrowed eyebrows.

“Are you okay?” the man asked again as he pushed Lucky’s blond hair from his forehead.

Lucky just groaned and coughed the last remainder of water from his lungs.

“Can you hear me?” the man asked, placing a hand on Lucky’s jaw and tilting his head from side to side.

Lucky pushed the man’s hand away and rasped, “Yes. I can.” Coughing again, he then said, “Who the hell are you?”

The man scoffed. “The name’s Zev, and I just saved you from drowning down at that flooded stadium by that octopus-looking witch. What were you doing there?”

The events of what just happened quickly came spilling into Lucky’s mind and he groaned again as he slowly sat up, his clothes completely soaked from his trek into that hellhole. “That bastard, Octavius, tried to take my body as his own after I handed him an enchanted piece of soap that was supposed to cleanse his soul and turn him back into a human.”

“Well, I guess that’s the reason why he had his tentacles all over you.”

“What were you doing there? You’re obviously not a mermaid,” Lucky questioned.

“And neither are you,” Zev noted. “But to answer your question, I can hold my breath for a long period of time and if you haven’t noticed my police uniform yet, I was in the stadium to check and make sure there were no illegal activities happening there. Then I came across the seafood concession and found you drowning as that mermaid attempted to have his way with you.”

“What happened to Octavius?” Lucky asked.

“I drew my gun at him and he let go of you before escaping. I would’ve swam after him, but I couldn’t have left you to drown.”

“Well…thank you, for saving my life.”

“It’s my job. Just don’t do something that reckless again. What was your purpose at that flooded stadium filled with refugee mermaids anyways?” Zev demanded.

“None of your business,” Lucky said, crossing his arms in defiance.

“Well, it is my business because I’m arresting you for doing an illegal deal with a witch,” police officer Zev said, taking a pair of handcuffs and forcing Lucky onto his feet.

“What? Are you kidding me?” Lucky exclaimed, stunned that he was being arrested after his near death, out-of-body experience that he was still recovering from.

“Does it look like I’m kidding,” Zev said, snapping the handcuffs around Lucky’s wrists. “You have the right to remain silent and anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”

“You can’t arrest me!” Lucky said as he struggled under Zev’s strong grip.

“Yeah, yeah. I know your type. Too royal and rotten to believe that you and other princes can do any wrong. Save me the tantrum.” Zev explained, as he patted his hands on Lucky’s clothing in search of any contraband.

“No! You don’t get it! It was just soap! And it’s not even drugs I was given! It’s just a piece of glass. I swear!”

“You mean this?” Zev asked, opening Lucky’s suit coat and taking a handful of what appeared to be dust from what used to the glass made of mermaids’ tears.

“What—No—That’s not drugs!” Lucky shouted, shocked to be tricked by that sea witch.

“Whatever you call it, it’s now evidence. Now, come on! I’m taking you to the station,”

“Oh, God. Fuck my life!” Lucky cried out. “My father’s not going to like this.”

“Yeah, well with the amount I just took out from your pocket alone, I don’t see any of your daddy’s money bailing you out,” Zev said as he held Lucky by the shoulder and directed him to a nearby police cruiser.

“That’s not what I…never mind…”

Lucky, with his bowed down, was silent as he was put into the back of Zev’s police cruiser. He was very uncomfortable with the handcuffs around his wrist and his suit still soaked and dripping, let alone that he was arrested and most likely going to spend the night in jail until his father somehow managed to bail him out. It was supposed to go so smoothly, with him acquiring the glass so he could begin to recreate what was necessary to make his father proud of him, the original Prince Charming. But he fucked things up, as usual and now he was going to have to be confronted by his father and he much rather have drowned at that stadium than be encountered by a very mad king.

And as Zev started driving through the empty streets with only a car passing by every other minute, he looked at Lucky through the rearview mirror and Lucky saw his furrowed eyebrows that pitied him. However, Lucky was going to need more than pity if he was going to surviving being killed by his father who most certainly get away with it, unlike what Lucky just did.