The Nereid and the Teenager

Connor had always been closest with his mother. When he was younger, it was something society would label as being a ‘mommy’s boy’, but I think it’s just that they had more in common. I worked long hours at my job, which probably didn’t help, but it wasn’t just that; it was a bond. I actually recall that being the downfall of my relationship with my own father, as having too much in common made us butt heads more. But it was different with the two of them.

After the car crash that killed her, Connor was changed, and I was desperate to know how to help but fated to be an outsider in his recovery. He has therapy, yes, and the therapist said they had made some good progress so far. He said not to worry about him, the boy was resilient, he had strong friendships with others at school, and he would make it through his grief eventually.

It was difficult to not be able to talk about her with Connor, though. I went through my own grieving process with my own therapist, had my own time off from work as he had time off from school, but even when we were both at home, we were alone. It hit me, as I kept trying to find a way to break the ice, that most of my conversations involving Connor had either been with his mother present or simply her telling me about our son’s day.

When Connor said he wanted a salt-water tank for his birthday, it was a pretty cool gift to buy, though in the back of my mind I did worry about his attentiveness to it. Teenagers go through phases, which is natural, but it can leave pets behind. I figured, though, that worst came to worst, we could sell it and the contents to another more avid enthusiast.

But it never happened. Connor spent hours painstakingly keeping the tank clean, buying exactly the right creatures to ensure a healthy environment for those who lived there. He put so much time into it that I actually became concerned his schoolwork would fall by the wayside, but when the next report card came in, everything was just the same as always. He struggled with history, was great with science, and the rest was average.

Then I started noticing changes. He became, honestly, more vibrant. He had a liveliness to him that he hadn’t used to have, at least not since his mother had died. He smiled more, had more energy behind his voice when he spoke about the creatures in his tank. And then it started to develop further; he began to do more research on ocean wildlife. It was like he’d been given a purpose.

He even started talking to me about it, almost as if he needed to share his excitement with someone, wanted to share his passion. Connor had never really had a clear career goal before, even among his various hobbies and interests, but there seemed to be a direct line forming between where he was now to where he could be in the future. The ocean was something he wanted to study, but beyond that, something he wanted to care for. Something he wanted to save from pollution, from coral bleaching, from plastics found in the bellies of fish.

Even though we were far from close, we did usually have dinner together, so we had some basic conversations on a daily basis. It tended to be the same answers, of course. School was good. Friends were fine. Nothing particularly interesting that he’d learned that day. Etcetera. But one Saturday evening, he was unusually quiet, and I became concerned.

“Everything okay?” I asked as he picked at his chicken.

“Hm? Yeah, why?”

“It’s just…you seem quiet.” Connor smiled. “What is it?”

He looked up at me. “I’m not gonna keep this secret for long, so I may as well tell you. You know what a nereid is?”

“Um…some sort of…is it a parasapien?”

Connor shook his head. “No, it’s actually fae, not related to us at all. They live in water.”

“You been learning about them at school?”

Connor pursed his lips against a smile. “There’s one that visits the tank.”

I blinked, then narrowed my eyes. “Come again?”

“You want to see?” He stood up, walking toward his bedroom, leaving me to scramble after him.

“Connor, a nereid is…it’s human sized, isn’t it?” I managed. “How could it possibly-”

“They can manifest from any water source similar to their native habitat. And, dad, it chose my tank,” he whispered as we entered his room. There was a glow behind his gaze, a pride unlike anything I’d ever seen in him. “It’s like I took such good care of it that…I don’t know, I guess it sensed something about it and got curious.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I followed him up to the large tank, populated by rocks, coral, anemones, and of course, some fish. He carefully removed the large, weighty lid, placing it aside on the floor. “Tell me if you’re pranking me right now, Connor, because-”

Connor let out a whistle, short and sharp. There was silence, then I noticed some bubbles appearing as if from nowhere and out from the water poked the head of a pale green humanoid.

I won’t lie; I let out a yelp of astonishment and backpedaled.

Connor, of course, laughed. “Dude, chill. She’s friendly. We, uh…we go swimming sometimes.”

“You-” My gaze darted back and forth from my son to the creature in his tank, its head now fully out of the water, cocked a bit to the right, looking me over. “You go swimming with this thing? I mean, is that safe? Is it-”

“It’s totally safe,” he assured me. “I mean, there was one time she got us out of there real quick, and I’m guessing there was a shark or something on its way-”

“A shark?” I barked. “Where did you go?”

Sighing, he shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s where she lives, I guess.”

“How do you- How do you get there?”

Pursing his lips and looking a bit awkward, Connor shifted his weight back and forth. “Well,” he said slowly. “We kind of…teleport.”

The reply stunned me into silence. “Come again?” I managed.

Connor sighed. “This part’ll probably freak you out-”

“Oh, this part is going to freak me out?”

“She took my hand one time and just sort of…pulled me into the tank,” Connor said. His expression was somewhere between laughter and a grimace. “I mean, I panicked at first-”

“No shit!” I cried.

My son blinked at the rare sound of a curse from his father’s lips. “But it was fine. We were just in the middle of the ocean somewhere. It was…” His gaze grew far-away. “It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen,” he murmured. “I was just…with her, I didn’t need to surface for air or anything, and she knew how I was feeling, nereids are empaths, so she kept me calm, and she showed me her home. But…”

His gaze grew solemn and, despite my rising anger, worry for his emotional state pushed itself to the front of my mind. “What?”

“It’s…dead,” Connor said quietly. “The reef, her home. It’s dead, Dad.”

Something in his voice, in his face, caused a pang of sadness to hit me in the chest. “What do you mean? Like bleaching?”

“Yeah, but not just that; there’s an astonishing amount of litter there, just little scraps of everything you can imagine, from plastic to Styrofoam to rubber and it’s so sad.” Connor’s gaze drifted back to the nereid, which was still examining us inquisitively. “I think that’s why she found me. Found my tank. She knew I cared. I’ve got to do something,” he told me. “I’ve got to help her. I’ve got to help all of them. It’s like if someone came and completely trashed our house, and we still have to live in it. There’s nothing she can do. There’s nothing any of them can do.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t like this,” I admitted, meeting his gaze, which proceeded to turn confrontational. “You could get stuck out in the middle of the ocean, you could die, literally, so I will allow one more visit-”

“But I haven’t-”

“Let me finish,” I insisted. He clamped his mouth shut tightly. “So…we’ll do one more visit. To figure out where it is.”

Connor blinked in confusion. “What?”

“We’ll get a water-proof satellite GPS, you’ll take it with you, and you’ll figure out where her home is.” I shrugged. “If you want to help her, you need to have a place to start, son.”

At that, he lunged forward and grabbed me in a hug. I let out a hard oof of air and then immediately grabbed him back. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d hugged. The thought brought tears to my eyes and I held on as long as I could, right up until I felt him let go.

“Thank you, dad,” he whispered. I nodded, smiling, and ran my hand over his head of thick brown hair, identical to mine. Connor walked over to the nereid, smiling. “We’re gonna find out where you are,” he said softly. “We’re gonna help. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna help you.” He reached out and the creature gently took his hand.

And with a whoosh of displaced air and water, Connor disappeared into the tank.

“Connor!” I shouted, lunging to the edge of the tank. “Connor!” I let out a huff, clenching and unclenching my fists. “It’s fine, he’ll be fine. He’s done it before.” I shook my head. “All right, so…two more times, Connor. That’s absolutely the limit.”

I proceeded to slowly back toward his bed, sat down, and anxiously awaited his return.