Drown With Me

You push open your bedroom door while drying yourself off from your shower, eager to get off your aching feet after a long day's work behind the bar. You throw off your towel and lie back in your bed, taking a chance with your slightly-damp hair on the pillow. The window's wide open to counteract the cloudless night's lingering heat. You tune out the sounds of the many crickets chirping outside; or at least, you try to.

As much as you'd like to rest right now, you just don't feel sleepy at all. Perhaps you could relax with a book? Nah, nothing on the shelf grabs your interest. Fall asleep watching a movie? Nope, screw trying to pick one. Mix yourself a drink? Hell no, you've done enough of that for one day.

With a sigh of exasperation and boredom, you sink deeper into your pillow and let your thoughts wander. Your recent encounter with Adagio has been lingering in the back of your head for hours, but now that you have nothing better to do, your mind sets on trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her - surrounding them.

Thirty-year-olds that look and act like they've just turned eighteen. Two of them seem to be obsessed with learning "charms" or "charming" or some other magical nonsense. One of them seems to be focused on just swimming around in your pool. Whether that's magic or just eccentricity is anyone's guess. Personally, you don't bother with magic; it's a rare thing in this world, and whenever something magical does happen, it's usually for the worse.

With a sigh, you hoist yourself out of bed, ready to close the curtains and call it a night. Suddenly, the faintest movement from outside the window catches your eye. You look again; getting a clear view of your pool bar in the moonlight, from the bar's counter to the water itself, and you could've sworn you caught something moving on the water's surface. Trespassers, no doubt. Probably some party animals that think the pool's open-all-hours.

You root around in your bedside drawers for your flashlight; it's best to play it safe, despite how luminous the moonlight is. You also quickly put some shorts on before leaving - you just came out of the shower, after all.

*******

"Hello?" You say aloud. Honestly, you don't expect a reply; you just hope whoever's here will scram if they hear you.

The thin beam of your flashlight drifts over the upturned stools of the bar, and plays across the rippling surface of the pool's water. Yes, someone was swimming in it very recently. At this time of night, the water's usually dead still.

"I know you're around here," you call into the darkness. Again, nothing.

Hold on; if someone was swimming here, they must've left a trail of water when they got out. Your flashlight scans the poolside, hoping to catch the reflection of a puddle. There's nothing. Not a single droplet.

But if the pool's water is rippling, and there's no sign of anyone leaving the pool, that means...

Your stomach tightens into a knot. They're still in the water.

The pool has built-in lights under the water, but the light-switch to turn them on is behind the bar. It'd be foolish to walk past the pool in order to see in it while you're holding a perfectly serviceable flashlight.

Dreading every step, you shuffle closer to the pool's edge. You aim the flashlight directly downwards, letting the beam piece the black water's surface. A sense of panic hits you in the stomach; you were right. There's someone down there, at the very bottom of the pool. And they aren't moving.

You can't get any more detailed than that - the water's surface isn't calm enough. While your mind draws a blank, your instincts kick in and your body starts to move by itself, quickly clasping the flashlight between your teeth. Without a second's hesitation, you find yourself diving into the pool.

You silently thank your past self for springing for a waterproof flashlight; the bright beam penetrates the cool, dark waters as you sink lower and lower. Despite the taste of chlorine and the blur of the water, you start to make out more of the poor victim the closer you get to them.

Female. Somewhere between a teen and a young adult, you think. Purple, one-piece swimsuit. Punk-ish spiked wristbands. Blue hair in a ponytail. Pale blue complexion. Is that Sonata Dusk!? She's motionless. Her eyes are closed. At best, she's unconscious. But at worst...

You try to wrap an arm around her waist, with the intention of pushing off from the bottom of the pool with your feet and swimming right back up. As soon as your hand brushes against her, however, she convulses as if she's recoiling in shock. Her eyes whip open and you even hear a short, muted yelp of surprise from her. A burst of bubbles spew from her lips. One pale-blue hand covers her mouth, while the other tries to thrash against you.

Her flailing arm takes a swing at your head. She misses, but her spiked wristband catches your cheek. You feel a faint nip of pain, trying to ignore the unsettling red that swirls in the water around you. Suddenly, a flash of fire burns from inside your own head. Every nerve in your body seems to numb, and for a moment, you forget which way is up. Through your haze, you see the reanimated girl pushing off from the pool floor herself, making a fast beeline for the surface. You wisely follow suit before your own lungs start to ache.

You break the surface of the water a moment later, tasting the cool night air. Sonata's already beside you, clinging to the pool's ladder. You can hear her loud, heaving breaths and the occasional splutter. The pain in your head is gone, as if it were never there. Your hand brushes the cut on your cheek - the bleeding is a lot less serious than you thought. Perhaps the water made it seem more dramatic?

Once you have your own breath back, you drop the lit flashlight by the poolside and paddle over to her.

"Are you okay, Sonata? For a second there, I thought you were-"

SMACK! Sonata's outstretched palm slaps you across the undamaged half of your face. Hard.

Ow.

"J-jerk!" she wheezes, still trying to steady her own breathing. "I was... going... for a... new record..! I think I... swallowed something back there... tastes like rusty salt."

"What the hell are you talking about?" you rub your sore cheek, "Why are you using my pool in the middle of the night? Alone!? That's just reckless!"

The girl pauses for a moment, waiting for her lungs to settle. "Don't call me reckless. I can take care of myself! Don't let the other girls tell you I can't!"

"That's not what I meant," you retort. Sonata heaves herself up from the ladder, turns around, and sits by the pool's edge, dipping her legs in the water beside you. The nearby flashlight catches Sonata's hair, making it gleam pleasantly. And sure, it catches her swimsuit too, but now's not the time for that sort of thinking. Focus. "Why are you even here, Sonata?"

"Apnea training," she says curtly.

"In the middle of the night?"

"I didn't get the chance to do it during the day, did I?"

Of course, you remember now; Adagio stormed off after you turned down her experimental advances, so the Dazzlings left early in a huff.

"So why this pool in particular?"

"I'm used to this one," she shrugs. "I like it."

"And you couldn't apnea-train in a bathtub back at your place?"

"Bo-ring."

"Maybe, I dunno..." you think for a moment, "You could try swimming in the ocean? That'd be interesting."

Sonata scoffs, and folds her arms. "Sure, because diving in the ocean all by myself and at night is sooo much safer! Who's the reckless one now, Mister Reckless McReckless with a side of dumb?"

"Rude," you chide back at her; it seems to be the only language she understands. Letting go of the poolside, you lie back in the water, drifting in thought for a moment. The stars are as bright as always in the cloudless summer night. "Do you really like swimming that much?" you finally ask. "Enough to sneak into someone's pool at night by yourself?"

"It's not the swimming, really," she replies. "It's the remembering."

"What?"

Sonata tuts to herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to understand."

"And what if you explain it to me? Gimme a chance."

"Why should I?" she tilts her head. "Most people wouldn't believe me."

"Come on, Sonata, magic was recently discovered in our world, I think we're all a little open-minded these days."

"Hm," she places a finger on her lips quizzically. "I'll tell you, but only if you let me use the pool after hours from now on."

Sonata getting free reign of your pool? That sounds... actually, not as bad as Adagio or Aria. In fact, you decide to weave that into the bargain.

"Only if the deal works for you, okay? The other two girls can't swim with you."

"Deal. They say memories are a waste of time anyway." And with that, she scoots forward with her butt, and plops back into the water. After a moment, she surfaces with a smug grin on her face.

"So?" you encourage her, "Your part of the deal now. Why does being underwater help you remember stuff?"

She giggles. "Here goes nothing. The reason for that is..."

Suddenly, you find her swimming much closer to you than before. You back-pedal in the water until your back touches the side of the pool. She swims ever-closer, placing both hands on the pool's edge either side of you. Part of you wonders where this sudden show of intimacy is coming from, but then again, why ruin the moment?

Her eyes gaze deeply into yours. Her lips part, and her face inches closer and closer. Without thinking, your lips part as well, ready to kiss-

And then she leans into your ear instead; "...I miss having gills."

Wait, what!?

With a cheeky bout of laughter, she pushes herself away from you, drifting out of your reach. First of all, what a tease! Second of all...

"Sonata," you ask dumbly. "Were you a mermaid once?" Man, saying that out loud felt stupid.

"Nope," she says without a care. "Good guess, though."

"Well, what were you? What are you?"

"Doesn't matter," she taunts. "You let me use the pool after hours, I tell you why I like swimming. That was the deal!"

"Y-you just can't leave me hanging like that!"

"Can and will."

"Ugh. Fine, be that way," you grunt, pulling yourself out of the pool. "I'll figure you out eventually though."

"I'm sure you will," Sonata chimes happily, floating across the surface. If Adagio was half as cheeky as Sonata was right now, you'd just ask her to leave. But she's not Adagio. Far from it. Perhaps a more friendly approach is in order.

Picking up the still-beaming flashlight, you amble towards the bar. "Since you're using it at night from now on, I guess I'll turn the pool-lights on."

"Thanks."