The Siren Queen

Chapter Eight

It really was not that surprising that even a little old mer-lady like Greta was stronger than Nerissa. Due to her human heritage on her mother, Queen Melinda's side, the Crown Princess of Pacifica was considerably more physically feeble than probably any other mermaid or merman under the sea. Once they were inside the grotto and Greta had released her grip on her, Nerissa briefly tried to seize hold of the red-painted boulder covering the entrance, but it was too heavy for her.

The cluttered cavern that Greta called home was dimly lit by phosphorescent plants. It was similar in both size and layout to a studio apartment in the human world. Greta rambled on and on irrationally, while pacing through her grotto.

"I had a daughter named Nerissa, my sweet Riss-Riss, who foamed more than three hundred years ago, during the Great Sea Plague...I had a husband too, for a while, who also foamed from the Plague, but I am so old that I can no longer remember his name...well, who cares about him, anyway...? Romantic love is overrated, is it not...?". Nerissa had no idea what the best way to respond to any of that was.

"You truly are my daughter..." declared Greta. "Somehow...you have come back to me, my Riss-Riss...". She kept looking back and forth between Nerissa and the big, beautiful watercolor portrait that hung on one of the walls of the cavern.

The striking resemblance between Nerissa and the mermaid in the portrait could not be denied. The maiden in the portrait's hair was a slightly darker auburn tone and her eyes were a deeper blue hue, but they both had fair skin, delicate and narrow facial features, and pastel-colored mermaid tails.

"No!" Nerissa exclaimed, shaking her head. "You're mistaken...!". She had heard it said before that when merfolk were all alone in the Wilderness for an extended period of time, it can greatly effect their mental health. In spite of everything, she actually pitied Greta a little bit.

"No...I do believe that the Goddess of the Sea has blessed me with another chance..." Greta insisted. "Nerissa...it has to be you. The scales, the hair, the eyes...you are the spitting image of my sweet Riss-Riss...". The elderly mermaid's voice trembled, her gray eyes filled with a desperate hope.

"No..." repeated Nerissa simply. She was quite unsure of what else to say.

"Even your name..."

"Nerissa is a very common mermaid name..." stated the Princess of Pacifica. It was in fact right up there with Marina, Pearl, and Coral as one of the most frequently given female names in Pacifica. When she inherited the throne, once King Poseidon foamed, her regnal name would be Queen Nerissa the Fifteenth. One reason why she liked being called by the nickname "Rissie" is it made her feel unique in a sea full of Nerissas. "It's just a coincidence that I have the same name as your late daughter, and look sort of like her..."

"Play along...for now, Rissie". A telepathic message from Stormer suddenly came into Nerissa's head. "Trust me...I have plan...when time is right...help you get out...once her guard down" She questioned to herself if temporarily "playing along" with Greta's delusion would do the troubled old mer-woman more harm than good, but she trusted Stormer.

Greta swam over to the kitchenette in the corner of the cavern. "For dinner, I shall make seaweed pasta with clam sauce..your favorite, Riss-Riss..."

Nerissa had to admit that a hot, home-cooked meal, after subsisting on seaweed and raw shellfish for days, sounded absolutely wonderful, though she still hated the idea of manipulating a mentally unbalanced old mer-woman. "Sounds good..."

The seaweed pasta was indeed delicious. Following dinner, Greta tenderly brushed Nerissa's long, wavy, titian hair with an antique golden comb.

"Time for bed, my Riss-Riss..." Greta said, pointing to the SeaSatin-upholstered sofa in the middle of the grotto. "I will not let you go...you shall remain my child forevermore, as innocent as my precious blood red sea-roses..."

Although the sofa was assuredly more comfortable than where she had been sleeping for the past few nights, Nerissa didn't sleep much better that night than she did the night before her Ascension ceremony, which now seemed like an eon ago to her.

Greta awakened at daybreak. She then went outside into the sunlit sea, in order to tend to her beloved garden. She chatted to her many plants as if they were her doted-upon pets. "Good morning, Howard..." she cooed to the Venus Jellyfish Trap.

"Get ready..." Stormer messaged Nerissa cryptically, as she floated off of the sofa.

All of a sudden, the strong black sea-stallion charged into the large red rock that blocked the cavern's entrance, knocking it down to the ocean floor with a swift kick of his powerful, curly tail. Greta was too busy obliviously taking care of her garden to notice, at least at first.

"Now!" Stormer telepathically communicated urgently. Nerissa swam out of Greta's grotto, and vaulted onto the giant seahorse's back.

"Riss-Riss...! Wait...! What are you doing...?!" hollered Greta, once she registered what had just happened.

"Knew had to wait...till she was gardening..." Stormer explained to the Crown Princess of Pacifica as they rapidly rode away from Greta's garden. "Had feeling...she'd be distracted then...". Nerissawas surprised that the aged mermaid did not even bother chasing afterthem.