dove around the pincers and grabbed different legs. Two of the otters followed a crab to the tunnel entrance and dragged it back to the fray.
A big, brown otter next to Lilliana picked a piece of white meat from her teeth.
"Well darlin'," the otter said, “I don’t know who or what you are, but anybody who brings a feast like this is welcome to our pod.” She flipped once and swam back to the food.
Lilliana sank to the floor, allowing the clean water to flow across her gills. Her heart was still pounding in her chest and her legs burned from the deep cuts made by the crabs. She breathed deeply and looked around.
Spike was still puffed-up watching the cave entrance. Several otters were backing through the cave opening with two more giant spider crabs in their paws. The crabs she had feared in the cave were quickly becoming breakfast.
The surface of the water sparkled like diamonds as the sun created ripples of light. Morning had come, bringing with it the brightness of day. The otters played and laughed with each other between huge columns of kelp that reminded Lilliana of the tallest trees in the forest. The strands of kelp grew straight up in small clumps and some reached a hundred feet from the floor of the ocean to the sunny waves of the surface.
Lilliana’s seat was close to the cave on a sand-and-seaweed floor. The beach sloped up towards the sky on her left and down towards the kelp forest on her right. Where she sat, she was close enough to the surface to feel the growing warmth from the sun’s rays without it burning her skin. She could almost feel the light pouring into her soul as it surrounded her. Some of the younger otters scrambled to the beach and tackled each other, rolling down towards her feet. Another otter ran towards them with a crab tentacle in his hand, waving it like a sword. Lilliana smiled, laid back her head and allowed her eyes to close.
19. Otters
Lilliana watched the otters playing with the leftover crab pieces. Once a monster and now a toy, the legs of the spider crabs danced in the paws of many young otters. Bubbles churned from above as the otters swam to the surface, jumped on the land and returned to the sea with flips and somersaults. Her leg was throbbing and oozing from the cuts made by the crab. Lilliana bent to look more closely at her wounds.
“You need a bit of a wrap, you do,” said the female otter who had spoken to her earlier. “Let’s put some of this kelp and a little otter butter on to help, alright?” The otter began rubbing some brown mushy material onto her cuts and wrapping it with the sea kelp. Lilliana twitched her muscle as the otter’s claws held the skin in place. A tingling feeling soaked through her leg, making her shiver.
“Thank you,” Lilliana said when the otter finished tying the wrap.
“What made a critter like you come to us through the crab hole?” the otter asked.
“I need to get to King Nereus as quickly as possible.”
“Most folks find the mermaids nicer than the crabs, but then again most folks don’t like Spike as much as we do either.” The otter motioned her head towards the tangled seaweed where Spike was trying to hide. Two young otters were wrestling with a mass of 20 foot tall seaweed looking fervently for something, probably Spike. “That fish is always sneaking through that hole, but he usually does a better job of it.”
“Are they playing hide-and-seek?”
“Oh no, Edge and Cata want to play toss. Spike makes a great ball; they just have to keep getting him wet,” the large otter said off-handedly. “Now what are we going to do with you?”
“Me? I don’t plan on staying long. Did you say that they throw Spike out of the water?” Lilliana caught a glimpse of her little friend cowering under some kelp.
“Not long? Oh yes, that whole king business. Well you can swim to the edge if you can swim, and climb on the beach, if you can climb, then fly to the edge of the cliff if you can fly and jump. Eventually you’ll hit the water so you can swim again. We otters can do everything but fly. That’s why we stay here.” The otter grabbed a floating piece of crab meat with her paw and placed it in her mouth, licking her claws clean of any remnants. “That and the dining is much better on this side of the wall.”
“So I have to be able to swim, climb, jump and fly?” Lilliana asked.
“Well we know you can swim now, don’t we? You just have to learn to do the rest.” She turned back towards the kelp forest. “Cata, you be gentle with Spike now, he’s our friend!”
“Yes Big Mama. We’ll play toss real gentle,” the young otter replied.
“We’ll even play catch!” the other otter said as he maneuvered a puffed-up Spike out of Cata’s hands and towards the surface. Spike was as big as a summer melon with spines all over his body that did not seem to deter the otters. His eyes caught Lilliana’s for just a moment before he was swept to the surface and out of sight.
“Are you sure he’ll be okay?” Lilliana asked.
“No problem, he does this all the time. That fish can hold his breath in the air almost as long as I can under water. Which reminds me, time for a breath, care to join me?”
“No, thank you.” Lilliana put her hands to her gills. Would they even work out of the water? No. Of course not, gills only work under the water. Images of dry fish washed up on the beach came to Lilliana’s mind. What would happen to her as she climbed out of the water? Would she have to hold her breath like Spike?
The otter nodded and swam to the surface where she paused for a moment, fussed at the young otters and swam back down to Lilliana.
“I don’t get it. You have fur on your head and your legs look like one of those noisy ship people, but you have gills like a mermaid without a tail. Why don’t you turn blue and sink like the ship people?”
“I grew my gills when I got in the water,” said Lilliana.
“That’s mighty convenient don’t you think? I’ve been swimming in this here ocean for years and I still have to get to the sunshine to take a breath. Is your leg better?”
“It stopped hurting.” Lilliana pulled back the seaweed to get a better look at her wound. Her skin had joined together and where there had once been a deep gash from the crab’s claw, there was now a thick pink scar. The smaller cuts were completely healed and her skin was smooth.
“My leg looks much better,” Lilliana said.
“Good. Now it’s time to see if you can grow lungs as fast as you grew gills.” The large otter was under Lilliana before the words had registered in her brain. With several short bursts from her strong furry legs the otter pushed Lilliana to the surface and began barking to the other otters. Soon there were several otters around her pulling her up the beach and far away from the safety of the ocean. Lilliana felt cool as the breeze tossed her wet hair and penetrated her clothes. The strong sunlight hurt her eyes.
“Is it dead?” an otter asked.
“No Edge. We’re just seeing if she can breathe. Where’s Spike?”
“Ooops!” The otter ran to a spiny blob on the shore and casually tossed it back to the sea. Lilliana could only hope that this time there was no Cata to catch him and try to toss him back. She willed herself to breathe through her nose, but she was too frightened. She lay still on the beach holding her gills with her hands. They were still there, right under her ears on the sides of her neck. They hadn’t disappeared yet, which meant she still needed water to survive.
“C’mon squid. If you can’t breathe we’ll get ya back to the water. Right guys?” Hoots and howls came up from the crowd of otters.
Squid. That’s what cousin Thud called her. Why did the otter call her that? Lilliana opened her mouth to ask the otter and as she tried to pull water over her gills, they slapped shut and tight against her skin. She couldn’t breathe! There was no water, no air in the water for her. She gasped with her mouth and felt a pain in her chest. She coughed up saltwater onto the beach and got on her hands and knees. With every breath she took in there was a torrent of water that spewed out of her mouth and lungs and stomach. Time and a
gain she would breathe and retch until she felt like she could not possibly go on. Finally the heaving stopped and she lay on her back and closed her eyes. She could feel the sunlight warm against her cheek and smell the clumps of seaweed drying on the beach next to her. She could smell. It worked. Lilliana took a deep breath through her nose. Her chest was still a little sore, but the fresh air in her lungs felt so good.
“I’m all right,” she said, getting up on her elbows to look at the otters who were still gathered around watching her.
“That was so cool!” Edge said getting closer. “Can we throw her back in and see if she does it again?”
“No we can’t. She has to go see the king. Why don’t you and Cata go get her something to eat?” The big otter was already shooing the younger ones away. There was a general groan, a shout of “You’re it!” and the otters scurried back to play in the kelp forest.
“Thank you,” Lilliana said.
“Think nothing of it. Those young otters will be talking about this when they’re older than I am.” The otter turned from Lilliana to groom her fur.
“I don’t think we’ve officially met, I’m Lilliana.”
“I’m Poundrock,” the otter said, “But most just call me Big Mama.”
“Incoming!” yelled an otter and two large spiny urchins landed and rolled beside Big Mama. One was brown with short