Aequor Ventus

By Brittany Howard

Zephyrus is weeks away from graduating high school, but she has no idea what she wants to do afterwards. The year is 1958 and most young women go to college to take a home economics course. Her main goal has always been to fit in and stick to the status quo, but being anything but normal makes it hard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669843313

Brittany Howard

Brittany Howard was born and raised in Tulsa Oklahoma, far away from the oceans she writes about. She started this book November 2014 after dreaming the original first chapter. The idea has been changed and further perfected from there. This book is a new take on the mermaid fantasy story that gives a more realistic and less childish feel.

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Copyright © 2022 by Brittany Howard.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/16/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

839987

Special thanks for all of the support I’ve received from

my friends and family. I also appreciate the inspiration

I get from God to continue writing what I love.

Some of the names of the characters in this book are

acknowledgments to my family and friends. They

do not represent their personality or views at all.

The characters only share the same name.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1     No Plan

Chapter 2     Siren Song

Chapter 3     Changes

Chapter 4     A New Secret

Chapter 5     The Accident

Chapter 6     The Disadvantages of Being a Siren

Chapter 7     Refusing Change

Chapter 8     Epiphany

Chapter 9     Party Proposal

Chapter 10   Mind Games

Chapter 11   A Convenient Cover-up

Chapter 12   My Terran Friend

Chapter 13   Sired to Malik

Chapter 14   Fish Out of Water

Chapter 15   Water Life

Chapter 16   A Personal Siren

Chapter 17   Rouge

Chapter 18   Primum Occiditis

Chapter 19   Cursed by a Siren

Chapter 20   Looking Forward

Merrow Tails

CHAPTER

1

No Plan

I was born in the spring on a windy day in 1940. Though it’s usually windy near the beach, my mother, Merliah, always mentions that detail every year around my birthday. I’ll be turning eighteen this Thursday and graduating in two months, and I still don’t know what I want to do after high school. My father, Cleyton, is an architect while my mother, Merliah, stays at home like a good housewife. I’ve always been interested in my father’s line of work.

I’ve helped him on a couple of projects as well. The only problem is that I’m a girl, and respectable girls go to college to take classes like home economics. That’s what my best friend Jezebel Mavis always tells me. I go to school at Lewelling High. At the moment, I’m sitting outside the main entrance waiting to be picked up by my father.

I watch as the car line inches along. I should be on the bus today, but I missed it. I was walking down the back steps of the school to get to the bus line when my bracelet got caught on the railing and broke. The pieces went everywhere, and one of the shells was crushed under someone’s shoe as they walked by me. My mother gifted it to me as an early present before I turned thirteen.

She made the braided rope from some kelp and strung five shells on it. Each shell she had carved had a different design. There were symbols representing the four elements and one shell in the middle with a music note on it, to match mine and my mom’s identical birthmark behind our ear. The music note shell is the one that was crushed into dust. I’m holding the pieces I picked up, in my hand.

I haven’t taken it off since I got it almost five years ago. I almost feel naked without it.

Honk! Honk!

My father drives a small two-door truck. He honks at me again. I quickly gather my bag and head to the truck.

Your mother said you missed the bus. What happened? he asks as I climb in.

He has the radio tuned in to a jazz station. I toss my books in the back seat.

I got a little caught up. Literally, I answer.

He notices the tan line on my wrist where my bracelet used to be. He looks concerned for a brief second, then shrugs it off.

Does your mother know you’re not wearing your bracelet? he asks.

I sigh.

No. I only just broke it today. That’s why I was late for the bus. It got snagged on the railing and broke off, I explain.

Do you have the pieces? Maybe she can fix it for you, he asks, trying to help.

My mother is very crafty. She loves making jewelry, but mostly she loves carving pictures into seashells. A lot of our neighbors like to buy them from her, and Father sells them to his coworkers from time to time.

Most of them. One of the shells shattered under some guy’s foot, I say.

I show him the pieces I have as we pull into our driveway. He sighs as if he is relieved and stressed at the same time.

Your mother is gonna have a fit, he says.

He laughs a bit. I roll my eyes.

It’s just a bracelet.

I get ready to hop out of the truck when he stops me.

Zephyrus, let me have the pieces, I’ll tell her, he says.

I hand him the pieces.

Is she really going to be upset about this? I ask.

He doesn’t answer and just gives me a half-smile. When we walk into the house, Mother is cooking dinner in the kitchen.

We’re home! Father and I announced.

Father goes into the kitchen to greet her while I run upstairs to my room to change out of my school clothes. Jezebel should be here any minute to pick me up, so that we can go to the diner to get a shake. She’s a year older than me and she graduated last year. She is in college now, taking the home economics course. She’s very knowledgeable when it comes to fashion, and the last time I tried to wear my school clothes to the diner, Jezebel made me turn around and go change.

She said that she wouldn’t be caught dead with me in my school clothes. At that time, I felt hurt at what she said, but I suppose I understand. She does have a reputation to uphold. Going to the diner after school together is the only time we get to spend together anymore. So if changing my outfit is what it takes to spend time with her, then that’s what I’ll do.

I see her from the window as she pulls onto my street. I run down the stairs to meet her outside when I hear Mother and Father quietly arguing in the kitchen.

Well, I’m glad it’s broken, Merliah, it’s about time she— he is suddenly cut off by a car horn out front.

Beep! Beep! Jezebel honks at me.

They stop talking. Mother comes around the corner.

Leaving already? she asks teary-eyed, but still smiling.

Yes, Mother, did you need anything before I go? I ask.

No, darling, you go on ahead. Just be on time for dinner and don’t ruin your appetite, she warns.

Okay, I’ll see you later, I say.

She hugs me tighter than usual before I go.

Beep! Jezebel honks again.

Love you! I say on the way out.

I run to Jezebel’s neon green car.

Hurry up! I’m meeting my boyfriend after this. You know how he gets when I’m late, she says.

I’ve never met her boyfriend, but she told me about him once or twice.

Sorry. I missed the bus today and got home late, I tell her.

So, anything new since yesterday? she asks.

She smiles as we pull out of the driveway. Jezebel is wearing a flower-pattern head scarf, black cat’s eye sunglasses, and white driving gloves. We’ve been friends since the third grade when she moved here from Hawaii. Jezebel has three older brothers, and I’m an only child. I think Jezebel sees me as a younger sister, which might be why she is so bossy.

She has always been very popular and often keeps me from making a fool of myself in front of others. Before she went to college, we used to do everything together. We would go to the theater and watch the serials on Saturdays, or we would take walks along the beach, and sometimes, we would have time to study together at the library. There aren’t many things we have time to do together anymore other than going to the diner for a milkshake or going to the pharmacy for a soda. If we didn’t hang out after school like this, I don’t think we’d ever get the chance.

I remember how we first became friends. A boy named Malik had been dipping my braids in the pen ink on his desk during class. The teacher always claimed he was innocent while I was just clumsy, but Jezebel saw that it was Malik.

She helped me wash it out in the bathroom, and we’ve been friends ever since. Malik has always been a pain. His antics got worse after I turned thirteen. My mother would always tell me to be nice because he was going through a lot back then. His father had been admitted to the looney bin up the hill. No one knows why Malik’s father suddenly went crazy.

Now, Malik has a real bad boy reputation around school. He even smokes. I wonder how things would be different if his father hadn’t gone crazy. Maybe he would be more bearable. This school year, I would have had to deal with him myself if it weren’t for my other friend Effie.

I have four classes with Malik and two classes with Effie. She isn’t normal like Jezebel is, which is why I think I like her as a friend. Jezebel gives me advice and keeps me grounded while Effie is the kind of friend who is spontaneous and encourages me to step out of my comfort zone. Effie is a free spirit, and I really love that about her.

Sometimes, I wish they could meet, and we could all be friends together, but Effie and I have never really spent time together out outside of school like Jezebel and I have.

Nothing new here, I say.

I smile at her. Jezebel’s father and uncle work at the radio station together. That’s why she moved here in the first place. She told me that her uncle offered her father a job at his radio station and they’ve been here ever since. She gets her love for the radio from them.

As we pull off onto the road to get to the diner, we sing along with the radio together. Jezebel has the top down in her car. The ends of her headscarf whip wildly behind her. I hold my hands on the top of my head to try and keep my hair from getting crazy beyond repair. When we get to the diner, she parks away from the entrance.

Zephyrus, look, she says.

Jezebel discreetly points to Malik and his crew. They are parked near the front entrance.

Oh great, I say.

Just ignore them, she tells me.

Ignoring Malik and his crew isn’t an easy task. Aside from the snide comments and ape-like behavior, they’ve been known to tussle too. Jezebel fixes her headscarf, then adjusts the seam of her stockings.

Ah! she gasps as she looks at me.

What? I ask.

Your hair . . . it’s horrendous. No, you can’t go in with me like that, she says.

She opens her purse and digs through it. She hands me a compact mirror.

Look, she says.

She digs deeper into her purse. I open the compact and take a look. My hair doesn’t look so bad. Maybe there are a couple of hairs on top that are out of place, but all in all. I look fine.

Here it is, Jezebel says.

She pulls out a hairbrush.

Turn around. Let me fix it. I don’t want to be seen with you with your hair like this, she says.

I turn around to let her brush my hair out. She starts from the top and tugs the brush downward.

Ow, I tell her.

Really, Zephyrus, I just don’t understand why you keep your hair so long. How do you manage? she asks.

I shrug. My hair hangs flatly halfway down my back.

"Don’t shrug. I’d rather