#ethan001

Chana knew it was an extreme move but then again the lights and cameras of Hollywood were tiring to deal with all the time. It wasn’t like she could go home to the Appalachian Mountains. There was nothing there for her besides a house falling in on itself and a father that drank away the little they had. Of course it was different now that she was an adult. She could always fix up the family home and she could support herself but no. There was nothing for her there. Instead a small town in Georgia sounded a lot better. Ethan had mentioned it a few times and it did sound better than home. Her next movie was being filmed in Atlanta anyway.

In her heart she knew she would have to see him eventually. It was a small town. It wasn’t like she could hide. It was only a matter of time before news spread about her buying a house here. It was better that she faced him on her own terms without running into him on the streets. Waiting until school was out, she slowly got out of her car once the parking lot was almost cleared. After finding his room number, she stood outside his door. Breathe in. Breathe out. She could do this. Stepping inside the classroom, she looked around before spotting him. “Hey…” Her ex-husband.

Petra knew it was a little odd, wanting to sit in a park while still in her work clothes. She knew she was probably would make her nice dress pants dirty, and her mother would probably have a heart attack, but the day felt nice enough for the season, and she didn’t want to end up cooped up in her apartment. Not even to go back and change. “Do you mind if I share the bench? I want to soak up these last few daylight hours.” She grinned. “I have got cider I’m willing to share.” Someone had brought it to work and she had heated it up and slipped it in her thermos.

Exercise had become an important ritual in Joseph’s live, he needed it to feel like he was functioning on full power. While studying for his entrance exams into law school he had taken up boxing, finding it a good way to relieve stress and to keep himself motivated when piled under books. It was a hobby he had kept going ever since, so when he first moved to Oceanside he sought out a decent boxing club to practise in. Faces had become familiar and he had started to make casual friendships with some of the patrons. None more so than Ethan Andrews, who he had struck up a frienship with rather quickly. Lately though he had seen less and less of Ethan, so he sent a text suggesting they met up at the club and he was happy when he turned up. “I don’t think that bag is scared of you,” he joked, a smirk rising on his features. “Your form is really off Andrews.” To prove his point he took a swing at his own bag, causing it to ricochet.

Eli was back. She had no love for the man, but no hatred either. He was entirely neutral to her. A little bit of a loose canon, if she had any opinion, but so long as he respected the chain of command, including his brother’s, then she had no problem with him. When he’d gone missing, she’d felt nothing. If it was a cruel thought, it was nothing new. 

She prepared for people’s deaths the day she met them. 

It made everything easier. When they lost someone to tragedy, when the tough calls had to be made regarding their own, if she kept in mind that no one was eternal, it was easier to deal with their endings. And while she hadn’t written Eli off when he’d gone missing, the chances of him coming back the same, or even a sliver of the same, had been thin. She hadn’t had much hope. But again, that was nothing new. 

The quiet footsteps behind her were the only thing that gave him away. And even though they were alone in the living room, she still kept her usual professional front up. There was only one room in this house where she let it down. One room where she believed in privacy. And it wasn’t her bedroom. 

“Max did well,” she said as she continued to clean her guns, so he’d know that he hadn’t snuck up on her. “I wasn’t sure that Mitchell hadn’t just sent him as a joke. But he proven capable. Of this, at least.” 

She looked down at her new legs, disgusted with them. Sure, they looked beautiful as did the rest of her body, but it wasn't really hers. She was never born with legs, and never desired to have them. She was a mermaid, and that's what she wanted to be at that exact moment. She was tempted to jump into the water and see if its touch would transform her back into her true self, but she knew it wouldn't. She could hear her father's voice in her head, echoing as if he were in her thoughts and not millions of miles away at home. You won't be able to return home until you learn the true meaning of friendship, of the kind of love that friends have for one another. Nothing can bring you back home until you've done so. From now until then, you are banished from the Kingdom of Castille.

Perfect.

She looked around at her surroundings, surprised that nobody seemed confused as to why she was laying down on the boardwalk and not even attempting at getting up. She was lucky to have some sort of covering around her, shielding her naked body from spectators. She couldn't imagine if she were sprawled out on the walkway for everyone to see. Not only would she be exposed to anyone who walked by, but it would just be annoying. She wasn't in the mood to deal with perverted human boys gawking at her beautiful body.

Her problem was that she needed to find a place to stay, clothes to wear, and somehow learn how to pass as being human. If only it were easier said than done.