Mermaid 35

Cordelia had seen that bright flash many times. The unintelligent fish darted toward it thinking it was the sun on the scales of a friend. It wasn’t; it was metal. It would shine until the water turned it brown or green.
She should ignore it, swim away, but she was so angry that was impossible. She swam under the cylinder and flicked her tail up, out of the water.
From just below the surface, she could see it fly through the air toward the boat. Cordelia had heard humans speak before. They communicated the same way merfolk did, but it sounded strange, nothing like the merfolk language. She couldn’t hear their words clearly under the water, but she did know it was louder and sharper than before. She laughed at how she had scared them and swam away.
Where was the other end of this break? The farther she went, the more certain she became that this was a lake. A lake like the one her mother lived in.