Scales

Eric Baker stared intently at Fiona, his sixteen year old eyes narrowed, not a word spoken between the two. Her bright green eyes were wide, nearly apologetic, her flip flop covered foot tapping on the hardwood living room floor at a speed Eric thought would bore a hole through it. Her damp red hair spilled haphazardly over her shoulders and onto the top of her still wet bathing suit, framing a face which still had some bright green reptilian scales on them.

“Eric…” Fiona started.

“Nope. Not there yet. Still not time for talking,” Eric said, leaning on his hands, his elbows on his knees. The room was too warm. Or he was too cold. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was sitting there in only his swim shorts as he looked at the girl he had known since kindergarten after she partially turned into a lizard.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Fiona’s mother Ellie said, sitting next to Fiona on the couch, holding her daughter’s hand while trying to comfort her. They looked so remarkably similar. The wild red hair, the pale skin scattered with freckles. Though her mother lacked the scales, Eric noted.

“I’m not afraid,” Eric said. “This isn’t fear. It’s…confusion. And shock. Lots of shock.”

“Shock is understandable. I remember the first time I saw Fiona’s mother covered in scales. Though we were in love by then and she was well on her way to becoming Mrs. Hailey, and she gave me some warning beforehand…” Fiona’s dad Mickey said, scratching his chin through his beard.

“Look, let’s come right out and say it! My mom and I are part aliens!” Fiona said, slamming her fists onto the couch, staring at her best friend while wondering if he would scream or freak out. Her parents eyes went wide like hers then as they too looked to Eric for his reaction. Eric shifted his gaze between all three, landing finally on Fiona.

“Yeah. Aliens. Aliens makes as much sense as anything else,” Eric said.

“My best friend is the best!” Fiona cried out, wrapping her arms around him and smashing her face against his, pushing him back into the chair.

“Too tight! Your scales are scratchy!” Eric gasped out. Fiona leapt back onto the couch.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m sorry! I…I’m glad you don’t think I’m a monster or anything. I got excited. Sorry again,” Fiona said.

“Okay! Your emotional swings WILL kill me one day!” Eric said, shaking his head a bit. “So. Aliens. You gonna expand on the little scaly green men thing?”

Fiona’s mother sighed, hoping she could explain the whole complicated ordeal in a way which wasn’t confusing or ridiculous. “Well Eric, like Fiona said, we’re partially descended from aliens. Well, she and I are. Mickey is full blooded human.”

“I want those words in writing,” Mickey said, chuckling a bit.

“Our ancestors came here hundreds of years ago, escaping from a world where a great conflict was raging,” Ellie continued, her slight Scottish accent making the story seem more like a fairy tale than possibly intended. “Don’t ask us what kind, or even the name of our planet. All records of our history were lost.”

Eric hung onto the words, looking closely at Fiona, at the slowly receding scales which had suddenly appeared on her as they relaxed out in her backyard pool only an hour earlier, leading to her screaming and crying, though at the time Eric had guessed it was from pain. He was beginning to understand it was from fear of his reaction. “So all this…” Eric said, waving his hand at Fiona.

“Our ancestor’s forms were originally far larger, more reptilian,” Ellie said. “When they landed in what would come to be known as Scotland, their ship was hidden deep under…”

“Don’t tell me. It can’t be…” Eric said, rubbing his temples as a headache started, knowing where this was going.

“Loch Ness!” Fiona said triumphantly, raising a fist in the air. “You heard right, you’ve been friends your whole life with the source of the Loch Ness Monster legend!”

“The first ones here were able to alter their DNA, make themselves appear like the dominant species on the planet,” Ellie continued. “But occasionally it needs a…well, a kick in the pants. Our DNA begins to revert to our original form. We need to go back to the source of our change, the ship in the loch. The waters there rejuvenate us, allowing us to stay human. We have a medicine to keep us human around when the time comes, but…” Ellie looked sadly at Fiona.

“Mine wore off today for some reason. Which is why…why I started turning into a monster in front of you,” Fiona said, suddenly much less enthusiastic about the word monster.

“Well, I guess this explains your frequent trips to Scotland,” Eric said, trying to laugh off the awkwardness “So I guess now you’re telling me all this hoping I won’t crash out and run to the cops or put you all over social media, right? Or you’re deciding whether to eat me or not.” Eric laughed at his own joke, scratching the side of his head awkwardly before seeing the stern looks on her parents. “Wait, you’re not actually thinking of eating me, are you?”

“God, of course not,” Ellie sighed. “It’s only…we have a strict rule. You see, only women are born to the women of our lineage. A quirk of the transformation it seems. And only two have ever been born from one woman. It certainly helps make our secret easier to keep. But we also have some hard and fast rules in our family, and our biggest is a daughter of the Loch can only tell the man she intends to marry her secret.”

“Oh…” Eric said, nodding. Then his eyes shot to Fiona. “EH?!” he gasped out.

“Holy crap, no, I’m not asking to marry you!” Fiona said, waving her hands as if to ward the thought off. “We need you to understand how intense this secret is! We aren’t planning a shotgun wedding!”

Eric leaned back in the chair, trying to feel the atmosphere of Fiona’s house, a place he knew as well as his own home. The smell of tea, something which somehow smelled of both a chilly English island and a mall store permeated the room. He desperately wanted it to feel normal again. “But it never will be normal again, will it…” Eric said softly.

“Eric?” Fiona asked, leaning in slowly.

“Screw it. You know me. I like weird. I’ve stuck with you this long. So I guess…beam me up, alien girl,” Eric said, his eyes twinkling a bit. He was immediately consumed in a hug from his friend, relief pouring out of her. “Okay! Okay! Watch it with the scales! Still scratchy! Arms like a vice!” Eric strained to say through the hug, his lungs crushed while Fiona was so happy she nearly cried.

Nearly.