Chapter 2

It was 4:36 in the afternoon. Dave parked his car about ten minutes ago. Now, he was just staring ahead at the lake and its shimmering waters—quite the comparison to yesterday's darkness and gloom. Nixe Lake didn't often have visitors, but because of today's nice weather, two or three families could be seen having picnics on the grass a bit far off from the dock. A few row boats decorated the water's surface, filled with happy couples being sickly sweet (he resisted the urge to puke). They were sailing near the western side of the lake, closer a dock that Dave didn't remember being anywhere near yesterday. The dock that Dave was more familiar with sat on the east side of the lake in the shade of some trees, rather devoid of any personal company. If he went right now, he could do his little exploration, set his mind at ease, and leave and no one would know anything.

Just get up, Dave, he told himself, still sitting in his car with his seatbelt in its buckle and his hands still on the steering wheel. It'll take just fifteen goddamn minutes at most and then you can go home and forget this ever happened.

Dave peeled his fingers from the steering wheel and released the seatbelt from its buckle, and the metal slapped his face in reply as it zipped back into its place. Dave clutched his cheek in pain, cursing his luck over and over and checking himself in the mirror to make sure he wasn't terribly bruised.

"Well, I'm injured I guess I'll just have to go home and come back another day," Dave said out loud to himself, turning the key in the ignition and backing up. Just as he was about to completely leave his parking space, Dave drove right back into the parking space and turned off the car.

No, fuck this, I'm already here, I might as well get out. Dave pocketed his car key and grabbed the book that he checked out from the library for luck. His fingers found the car door handle and he stepped outside of his car.

As Dave locked his car door and took two steps away from it, he found himself having second thoughts, or more accurately, twenty-second thoughts, and turned around to re-open his door, only to insist to himself that he was already here, so he might as well do whatever he wanted to do before going home. In the middle of his awkward second-guessing and circling, a voice called him back to the reality that he looked ridiculous.

"Hey, are you gonna go or not!"

Dave looked up towards a little wooden booth that was connected to a larger cabin next to the parking lot to see a park ranger trying to contain his laughter.

"Dude, I've been watching you circle around and wait in your car for like twenty minutes," the park ranger had a lisp that caused him to linger on his "s" sounds and he wore glasses that reminded Dave strongly of the old red and blue 3D glasses that he used to wear to watch movies in 2004. "Are you gonna pay for the parking or not?"

"Uh, I—," Dave stumbled on his words, his eyes darting from the park ranger to the shiny handle of his car door. He bit his lip and slipped his hands in his hoodie pocket before walking towards the ranger. He pushed the small mythology book deeper into his pocket before it could slip while he walked. Out of the other pocket, Dave pulled out his wallet and paid the ranger. The ranger in turn typed something into a computer and glanced at Dave as the rusty park computer began to groan and print out his parking validation.

"Did you want to rent a rowboat or something?"

Dave gulped as he remembered his last experience with the rowboat, shivers crawling up his spine as he remembered his face hitting the cold water. "I'll pass on that," Dave said as calmly as he could manage, taking his validation from the ranger.

"Thank god," the ranger sighed in relief and as the computer continued printing out Dave's receipt. "Some asshole left his fucking boat overturned in the water yesterday and I spent like two hours getting the goddamn thing out. I swear to god, if I see that douchebag, I'm gonna tear him a new one."

Dave chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and biting his lip in his discomfort. "Well, hey you know, what are you going to do about assholes?"

And then the conversation paused as the receipt printer began to groan and the paper began to tear. The ranger swore under his breath and started frantically typed as the printer began to start spewing smoke.

"Sorry, dude—all this stuff is a piece of crap," the ranger said, tearing the receipt, which was covered in splotches of black ink, out of the printer. "Seriously, you'd think they'd provide us with enough funds to at least enter the goddamn 21st century." The ranger began pulling chords out of the printer and dropping them lazily on the ground.

"It's cool, I didn't need a receipt anyway," Dave put his hands in his pockets and began to walk away. He paused for a moment and looked at the ranger, who was now opening up the printer. "Say, I, uh… Just out of curiosity, are there any weird stories about this place? You know like… weird history, murders, dangerous creatures… You know, all that weird shit."

The other man flinched and stopped working on the printer, but only for two seconds, before continuing his work. "Why do you want to know?"

Dave's gaze looked onto the ground and he leaned on one leg, scratching his neck with a finger. "Oh you know, just curious. I mean, what's the point of having a place like this without some weird lake without a couple of back stories."

There was a moment of silence and Dave considered just leaving, but something compelled him about the park ranger, who just continued tinkering with the printer, his back turned toward Dave, a thoughtful air lingering around him. The awkward silence was broken when the printer began beeping loudly.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, you useless piece of shit," the ranger hit the side of the printer and it was silenced. He turned back towards Dave as he wiped off his hands with a towel. "You sure you aren't one of those lunatics who believe in mermaids and stuff are you? Think you can nab a quick night with a lake monster?"

Dave's mouth twitched at the ranger's amusing inquiry. "'Course not—I was just curious," Dave said, pushing his book further into his pocket again, shielding it from the park ranger's view.

The ranger snorted and threw his towel, which was now covered in ink, into a bin. "Who knows," he said simply. "This like is like a thousand feet deep—you'd have to be pretty fuckin' stupid to try and find out what lives here."

Dave tried to read his expression, but the ranger's glasses blocked any sort of expression from Dave's view, so he just nodded and forced a smile, despite his urge to pester him for more. "Thanks…" Dave's eyes darted towards the ranger's name tag, which sat on his left breast pocket, "Sollux Captor."

Sollux only waved in reply and turned back to fixing his computer and printer. Dave turned away from him and started walking toward the dock. A chill ran up his spine as he stepped on the first plank of wood leading out to the dock. He didn't get to appreciate it much when he was running away the other day, with the rain blinding him, but now he saw that the dock was very long and rather narrow, with sturdy, wooden rails on the sides. These rails had rather large gaps between them, probably for people who needed to dock their boats. At the moment, no boats were even remotely close and the ports were empty. At the very end of the dock, the rails made a corner and then had a large gap right in the middle, which was where Dave had climbed up the other day.

Dave ran a hand through his hair nervously and wiped a bead of sweat the was dripping down the side of his face as he approached the end, expecting the hand to pop out at any moment. However, when Dave reached the end, there was nothing to be found—nothing that even acknowledged that Dave was even nearby, except for a broken oar that floated close to the edge of the dock. It seems as though Sollux had forgotten this particular part.

As the oar drifted a bit closer to the dock, Dave felt a pang of guilt for tipping his boat and causing the oar's demise. And for the umpteenth time that week, he could hear Rose nagging him again to do the right thing. However, the thought that some sea monster could be lurking in the waters waiting for him held him back.

Dave crouched at the edge of the open part of the dock, gazing into the water, only to see his reflection staring back at him. He reached over the water cautiously and paused as his hand was only an inch away from the water. There was no reaction from anything underneath, so Dave splashed it a bit before jerking his hand back quickly before anything could grab him.

The repeated lack of response made Dave felt incredibly silly. Of course there was no stupid monster down there—what is he, five?

Dave sat back and brushed his hair out of his eyes, the lake water that still clung to his skin kept his hair from popping back in front of his eyes as he repositioned himself so that he was at the edge of the dock, leaning over the water precariously, his reflection gazing up at him once again and his sunglasses sliding down his nose, slightly. Dave pushed his glasses up before taking hold of one of the wooden posts next to him with his left hand, scooting closer to the edge so that his knees were slightly off the dock. He slumped forward and reached for the piece of the ore that was closest to him, his fingers still gripping the post tightly as he stretched his arm out towards the water. His fingers met the broken end of the oar and a sudden gust of wind caused it to scratch him.

Dave reared back in pain and put his finger in his mouth, sucking at the blood and swearing under his breath. He looked at his finger and saw drops of blood gathering at the wound, which surrounded a rather splinter from the wood piece. Dave picked the splinter out with his teeth before continuing, and reached out towards the oar, using his middle finger to nudge it closer before grabbing it and making sure not to touch it with his finger, whose blood was now trailing down his skin and falling into the water in small drops, making a web-like spidery pattern against the water before dissolving completely.

Figuring that the other half of the oar was a bit far for him, he decided to use his newly acquired stick to attain the other, reaching out with the stick, his blood still rolling off of the tip of his finger in small droplets and dripping into the water, causing a momentary clash of red and blue-green on the lake's surface before dissolving completely.

After three minutes of reaching, Dave began splashing his stick around in frustration as his shades slid to the tip of his nose, threatening to meet the same fate as his previous, coveted shades. Dave reached out further and was finally able to nudge the other piece of the oar closer to him, sighing in relief as the oar drifted closer to the edge of the dock. He relaxed his arms and began to lean back, when he suddenly felt something pulling ferociously at his oar and he felt his body lunging forward.

The oar slipped from his grasp and he swung his body around to grab at the dock's wooden post and he watched as his oar slipped beneath the water, only to bob up again ten feet away from him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dave whispered to himself in irritation. He was pulled away from his moment of frustration by the sound of the other oar being pulled under the water with a "pop!" Dave's blood ran cold and he launched himself away from the post as quickly as he could, his shades flying off his face and bouncing off the wood of the dock before skidding off the side and falling into the water. Something fell from Dave's pocket in his scramble and he looked back only to see two hands clutching the dock. The fingers curled as the creature pulled itself up onto the dock and Dave froze, still in a weird position from his desperate stumbling and crabwalk away from the dock.

A mass of black hair emerged from behind the dock as Dave scrambled to his feet, still staring at the mysterious creature in a mix of caution and curiosity. A bead of sweat rolled down his neck as he realized that the mass of black hair was connected to a human upper body, which perched itself on the dock. Dave got ready to run for it when he realized that the creature had a tail—a jade green fish tail, that replaced its legs. The creature's hand moved towards its face and created a part in its hair that it pushed away and tucked behind an ear. The creature looked at him and Dave's heart stopped when he first saw a pair of large, green eyes staring at him with a mix of surprise, curiosity, and mischief.

They were encased in silence for a moment as Dave's eyes ran over the girl's features and stopped at her lips, which she kept biting as she gazed at him in thought. Finally, the lips parted and a sound came from it.

"You did not run away this time!" her lips curved into a smile that Dave took as kindly. He did not reply, and only left his mouth agape in disbelief. It wasn't until the girl let out a giggle that Dave realized just how ridiculous he looked. He shut his jaw and coughed into his hand.

"Well, I- uh," Dave scratched the back of his neck and bit his lip nervously. The girl gave him a full grin and he noticed that she had two rows of very pointed teeth. He gulped and felt his Adam's apple moving up and down as she ran her tongue over her teeth and lips. I am so dead.

"You ran away last time, you know," she continued. "It was very funny—you put up a very good fight! You even got me right here." The green-eyed girl looked at him with an unusually bright expression as she moved the hair next to her ear away from her face to reveal a rather large purple bruise that sat right next to her eye.

"Oh, I, uh," Dave winced as she let go of her damp hair, which fell back into place. "I'm sorry, I guess?" When he finally realized what he said, Dave shook his head in frustration. "Wait—no, you just said you almost got me. Hell—that means you almost killed me!" Dave grit his teeth, regaining his stature. "I don't owe you a sorry—I take it back."

The way the girl's expression seemed to change from one of curiosity to one of shock and confusion surprised Dave as she looked up at him rather innocently. "Well, what was I supposed to do? I have to eat somehow."

"E-eat?" Dave's eyes flickered back to her razor-sharp teeth, which were now just barely hidden behind her lips. "What?"

"Yes, eat," she tilted her head to the side and swung her tail back and forth. "I heard humans are quite the delicacy!"

"'Delicacy?'" Dave repeated in disbelief. "We're people you can't just eat us. What is this, Cannibal Holocaust? That's not even—"

The girl frowned and crossed her arms. "Well, I see humans eating fish all the time, but apparently that is okay for you!"

Dave opened his mouth to retort only to remember the delicious seafood restaurant that he, Rose, and John visited just the other day. "Touché."

The mermaid grinned proudly and splashed around the water with her tail, reveling in her triumph. Dave stared at her in disbelief as she stroked her hands through her black hair, which was so long that it brushed against the dock when she moved her head. Water clung to her skin and hair and rolled down her face when she blinked. Her fingers were connected by a thin webbing that seemed green whenever she held her hands in a certain way.

"—is this?"

Dave's heart skipped a beat as she called him away from her thoughts. He felt a lump in his throat when he saw her examining his book with immense curiosity. "I'm sorry?"

"What is this?" she repeated, opening the book to the first page. "Is this yours?"

"I. uh—" Dave pushed the thought of explaining libraries out of his mind. "Yeah, sure. You probably don't know what a book is."

"What are you talking about, of course I know what a book is," the girl narrowed her eyes at him. "I know how to read too, you know." She closed the book with one hand and held it to her chest. "Well, this is mine now," she grinned,

"Wait—you can't do that!" Dave argued. Walking towards her, forgetting the fact that she was potentially dangerous.

"Do you want it back?" she thumbed through the pages, gazing up at him through hooded eyes, her lips curved up in a smirk.

"Hell yes, I want it back!"

"Then, you have to let me eat you," the girl smiled, leaning forward. Dave stopped in his steps as he saw her hand creep dangerously towards him. He stepped back.

"What kind of deal is that? This isn't 'Deal or No Deal.' You're not Howie Mandel out to turn me into a broke ass loser," Dave glared at her in frustration. "Besides, you're like some sort of Disney mermaid princess shit, how are you supposed to bring a book underwater?" Plus, Rose is going to kill me if I so much as fold a page corner, Dave added mentally.

"Suit yourself," she replied simply, lowering herself back into the water. When her entire body, minus her head disappeared behind the dock, she looked back up at him and waved the book. "Are you absolutely sure?" she grinned.

"Why don't you just give me the book and we can both be on our way—no murder, no cannibalism—," Dave reasoned desperately.

The girl only giggled before disappearing with a splash. Dave swore loudly as the water was flung onto him unceremoniously. He shook his hands and wrung as much water as he could from his shirt.

Rose was so going to kill him.

A/N: Voila! Dave and Jade's first meeting! It was rather short and a little OOC, but hey, when you first meet someone, you don't really show them your true personality, right? You know, especially if they want to eat you or vice versa. Also, introducing Sollux disgruntled the park ranger! What part will he play I wonder...?

I must apologize for the long wait! I've been really busy with school and whatnot plus I rewrote parts of this chapter several times before being at least somewhat content, so you'll have to excuse my tardiness. Hopefully, since spring break is coming around, I can update again sooner, but I won't make any promises! Anyway, thank you and please leave a review!