I was looking away, actually. I answered her in my mind. What are you doing in here? I tapped my forehead.
“Looking for you, it’s a game. ‘Peek-a-boo’, Ophelia taught me. She said humans play it, I thought you would know it. I heard you were part human.”
Oh, you know Ophelia?
“She’s our teacher, silly.” The girl answered happily.
She teaches you?
“Yup, since forever, probably a whole year.”
And how can you tell what I was looking at? I asked.
“Yuck, you brought that with you. So icky.” The girl paused. “I wouldn’t close my eyes around her by the way. She looks empty.”
Right! I don’t know what he sees in her. Besides the boobs and gorgeous hair. The little girl squished up her face looking concerned.
“Can’t you feel it? She’s bad news.”
Fingernails dug sharply into my arm, my real arm, and I opened my eyes. The sweet little girl was gone, and that awful mermaid was in her place.
“If you were trying to be a voyeur you should have kept your eyes open, little selkie.” The mermaid dragged me along behind her to where she had been sitting with Fynn moments ago. “So maybe not a voyeur,” she sang, “a jealous girlfriend would have piped up, so what, unrequited love? Torturing yourself watching him with someone else?” She turned her gaze on Fynn who stood still, relaxed, leaning against a wall in that James Dean way that reminded me of Oran. At least I knew Oran wasn’t off making out with naked sharp toothed mermaids.
“So, who is she Fynn?” She said his name like she owned it, practically cooing.
“No one who matters to us.” He lifted his lips in that perfect crooked smile that I had thought belonged to me, except he was smiling at her. I stayed quiet, despite wanting to punch them both. “Send her away, she’s spoiling things.” Fynn turned to me as he spoke, staring blankly, straight through me. My heart cracked a little.
“You were already spoiling things, gorgeous. I can tell when a person is looking for something other than a little fun. I was hoping we could get to the fun part first.”
“Happily, but we don’t need an audience.” Fynn turned back to her, smiling.
“Don’t you prefer an audience? I should have known better than to get involved with a selkie without having your collar,” she sighed and turned back to me, “And where’s your sealskin? You wouldn’t happen to have it handy, would you?” She narrowed her eyes and sniffed. “Cause now might be a good time to put in on and run...” she smiled her dagger teeth.
“Gloria,” Fynn began.
“Oh, calm down Fynn, don’t ruin my fun. I was hoping for a replacement. My last girl didn’t work out.” She pouted. “She was dumb. She thought she would try and get away. And naturally I had to stop her.” She spoke while looking at me, putting on a show for my benefit.
“And by stop her you mean,” Fynn spoke, but she cut him off.
“Well naturally, Fynn. Her memories were delicious; she wasn’t making good use of them anyway.” Gloria sighed again sounding disappointed, “Not much of a dreamer though.” She ran a sharp black fingernail down his nose. Her lips puckered in an exaggerated pout as she swam up to me. As she approached me, she repeated the gesture, playfully putting a clawed finger to my nose. “Poor little thing, you had no idea, did you? One thing you should realize, just because I don’t have your collar doesn’t mean I can’t teach you a lesson in manners.” She wrapped her hands around my arms, claws pressing into my skin.
“Are you going to send her away or should I give you two some alone time?” Fynn asked impatiently, his posture the relaxed in boredom.
“Methinks he doth protest too much.” Gloria sang. She continued to hold me firm and looked into my eyes. “Are you a mermaid then? That would be so much more convenient at the moment, because I am feeling peckish.” She leaned in and inspected me with her all-black eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose, her nails pinching the tender skin at the ack of my arm. “Any guesses yet? Do you know me now?”
I only looked at Fynn, worried.
“Aw, how sweet. She thinks you’ll save her, Fynn. You should learn girl, never trust a selkie, not even if you have his collar.”
Gloria placed her lips next to my ear and drew in a sharp breath. A rainbow of color flashed behind my eyes, and a numb sensation settled over me. Gloria smiled.
“So, not a selkie then. Perfect.” She turned to Fynn. “I hope you won’t mind. Most mermaids aren’t dumb enough to come wandering in my home. And bonus for you! I’ll consider her as payment for whatever it is you want Fynn, after I’m done.”
“Gloria, don’t.” Fynn’s body was tense now, his eyes tight.
“If it makes you feel better you don’t have to watch, and she won’t even feel it. You can come back tomorrow for our little chat.”
“What are you?” I finally found my own voice.
“Honestly Fynn, dear, where did you find such a complete idiot to fawn over you? And if there are more where she came from, please send them my way.” Gloria touched her lips but kept her eyes on me.
“She’s a Syphon. She feeds off of memories and hopes.” Fynn answered stiffly.
“And dreams,” Gloria added, winking at me, “and I could smell your delicious little daydream from across the room. What a fantastic imagination you must have.”
The reality of the danger I was in was quickly becoming apparent, but I was frozen in place afraid to pull against the sharp nails around my arms.
“And what about nightmares?” I asked, hope blooming as her expression soured. “Cause I’m full of those.”
“Those I’ll let you keep. I’ll just work my way around them.”
I closed my eyes briefly, reaching out for help, looking for Ophelia. I found a purple haired little girl.
“I told you she was empty.” The girl spoke.
I need help, get Ophelia. I thought and opened my eyes again. Gloria stared, interested into my eyes.
“What are you?” Something like understanding, or concern swept across her smooth features. She looked back at Fynn, her lips curling into smile. “This one is full of dreams.”
Fynn took a step forward and she clicked her tongue at him.
“I wouldn’t.” She shook her head and he stopped, he looked at me intensely and blinked slowly. The action caught my attention and I closed my own eyes.
Fynn?
“Nightmares, Cora.” His answer briefly touched my mind before he disappeared.
I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see. I felt a tugging sensation on my mind, colors flashed, and I saw Fynn standing on the seal rocks, he smiled stepping toward me and began melting away, dust blown in the wind. Part of a dream that I couldn’t quite remember.
No! A small voice yelled from somewhere in my mind.
Lumbering black figures swirled around me, a red glow emanating from the empty depths of their eye sockets. I felt my body slump against the wall, limbs numb and mind terrified. Malice and fear poured around my mind and I felt my body sobbing somewhere in the distance, before me lay and endless pit of fear and malevolence. Somewhere in the distance a woman was screaming, a horrible tortured cry of agony, maybe it was me.
Again, a pull came, tugging on my mind and colors welled up only to be pulled away dust scattered on the wind, and vaguely I knew that I had lost something.
Give her nightmares, Cora. Nightmares. I had nightmares. So many. I reached for the most prominent in my mind. I nightmare of my childhood. A fiery volcano eruption as I watched my feet rooted to the ground, unable to run. The heat was intense and sweat dripped down my paralyzed form. Creatures of bone and burning gore climbed on awkward limbs out of the glowing red swell of lava. Looking for me, and I knew I couldn’t hide. I took all this and pushed it out ahead of me, feeling instinctively for the hollow void that was so close.
Another nightmare. Another. Monsters real and imagined. Heat and claustrophobia and terror of unnamed things. I pushed it all into that void. The
horror of it began to drown me. So much hopelessness and not only my own. Creatures slithered and writhed alongside my own demons that came in an unending stream from somewhere outside of myself. The sound of distant screaming continued unabated.
I began to feel weak, frozen by the fear. My mind began to close off and blackness swirled at the edges of my mind. And I wanted it, I reached for the oblivion.
“It’s ok, Cora.” The small voice came again. “It’s only nightmares, they can’t hurt you.” The little girl patted my shoulder and I felt numb. “The handsome boy will keep you safe, he’s real.” And then the mergirl was gone.
{MISSING SYMBOL}
Music poured around me as I floated weightless, surrounded in white. The world around me was shapeless, wisps of white fog and blurred figures in the immeasurable distance. Slowly, I became aware of myself, of my own body and existence. I wore a flowing white gown and my hair was down, rolling around my shoulders, I felt angelic.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Fynn’s warm voice came from behind me.
“Fynn.” I spun to face him. The white expanse pulsed with light and colors burst and faded back to white. He smiled, his perfect bright smile. He was beautiful. His tan skin stood out against his white linen shirt and slacks. I stared for a moment, taking in the scene, before I remembered his question. “I- I’m not sure. It’s kind of pretty here.” I ran my hands down the soft dress. “Like a dream.” I spun around distracted by the way the fabric moved, curling and spreading as if we were underwater. I looked up and saw Fynn again. I had forgotten he was there. “Oh, Fynn.”
Again, the fog pulsed with light and color. And his smile brightened further.
“I’m glad you like it. I thought you could use a break from the nightmares.”
“Nightmares?” I couldn’t think clearly, I couldn’t focus. “What nightmares?”
“If you’ve already forgotten then don’t worry about it now.” He cooed, stepping closer to me. “Don’t worry about anything.”
And I didn’t. My mind wandered from Fynn’s smile to the airy fabric of my dress and around and around. Fynn stood still, silently observing, a peaceful smile of his face.
“Fynn,” once more the clouded world vibrated with color and light, “where are we?” I watched around me as the colors faded to white.
“We’re in a dream, my dream. You needed a break from your own mind for a minute. This is a safe place for that.” He answered.
“Oh.” It seemed to make sense and I didn’t question it. I began dancing in circles, watching the way my dress swayed and spun. I reached out to Fynn and took his hands. The light and colors flashed again but didn’t fade away. I pulled him in a circle and made him dance with me. The swirling colors danced around us in time with our movement. Fynn played along, spinning and twirling me around him. I watched him as we danced, I couldn’t remember ever seeing him so happy, but in truth I couldn’t remember much at all. I could only focus on this moment, on what was happening now. I didn’t mind it; I was content to enjoy now.
“Fynn,” I spoke, and the colors swirled around us all the more vibrantly, “what are all these colors?”
“You haven’t made sense of them?” He asked standing still, no longer touching me and the world around me returned to a cloudy white expanse. I looked around me, trying to decide. Fynn reached out and touched my cheek, the blaze of colors sparked up, pinks and oranges. He dropped his hand and again it went white.
“Fynn?” His name barely left my lips and again the rainbow of colors danced. I smiled as the colors briefly continued. “This is your dream, you said?”
“Yes.” Concern lined his eyes.
“I like it. Can we stay here?”
“For a little while longer.” He twisted a piece of my hair around his fingers and the colors returned. I took his hands and spun once more watching the waves of color and my rippling dress as the colors bounced off of it. He spun me around and a distantly familiar song began to play around us. I tried to remember where I knew it from, and as I tried, I remembered a moment, what felt like ages ago, watching Fynn sing on a stage surrounded by an elegantly dressed audience. His mouth turned up into a smile as he dipped me low before pecking me on the lips.
“You’re safe now.” He spoke without lifting me out of the dip, his lips only an inch away from me.
“Safe from what?” I giggled, confused.
“Safe to wake up. You can wake up now.”
{MISSING SYMBOL}
He pulled me up to standing in the dark room of the cave. The memory of the sweet dream was still clear in my mind, but my surroundings were strangely foreign. Fynn looked intently in my eyes, but he couldn’t hold my gaze as I tried to assess my surroundings. The limp body of a vaguely familiar mermaid lay feet away. I stared intently at her, her eyes were closed with a tortured look on her otherwise beautiful face.
“Who is that Fynn? What’s going on?” I turned back to look at him, and relief washed over his face.
“You know me?” He began to smile.
“Of course, I do. I asked who she is… was.” The last word a whispered question.
“She is the syphon who just tried to…” He trailed off for a moment and looked pained. “What were you doing in here? You could have been hurt!” I was caught off guard by his quick change of mood. And the fact of the matter was, I couldn’t quite remember.
“I was swimming.” The words came slowly as I tried to remember, I closed my eyes trying to squeeze the memory out. And there it was. “Oh! Oh, I got separated from Zoya and Shea and I figured I could do a little exploring on my own. I just happened on this cave and I found you. And you two were…” I trailed off at that memory blushing and feeling a little angry at the same time.
“You didn’t ‘just happen’ on this highly secluded cave, Cora.”
“What are you suggesting Fynn! That I followed you here somehow? That I wanted to watch you making out with someone else?”
“No! No, Cora. She’s got a lure. You’re misunderstanding me. I wasn’t accusing you of anything. As if you could follow me if I was avoiding you.” His mouth quirked in a crooked smile like he found the thought almost amusing. “I was explaining. It wasn’t chance that you stumbled in here. She has an ability to attract that is fairly unique among the mer, but it works almost the same way as the songs can, getting humans to do what they want. Maybe the pull wasn’t as strong, but you’re not immune. You shouldn’t be down here alone Cora, there are still so many risks, you’re not safe here.”
“Please, tell me where I would be safe, Fynn.” My blissful ignorance gone.
“Home. You’d be safe if you went home.” All his annoyance left his face as he said this, as if he realized something for the first time as he spoke the words. And my frustration at the whole situation cooled as immediately as the words sunk in, chilling me to my heart. Is that what he wanted? What about the whole dream? What had just happened? I had so many more questions, but after hearing him say that, I was afraid of what he might say. Did he want me to leave? It was one question I couldn’t ask out loud yet.
“What happened?” The words were barely audible. “How come she wasn’t able to do whatever it was she was trying to do?” My eyes kept away from his, afraid of what I might find there. “Or did she? What did she take?”
“Nothing, or very little. You had help, Cora. And entirely too many nightmares. Ophelia, and someone else. Who’s the little girl?” He asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “She saw what you needed and helped to overpower Gloria. And it was becoming too much for your mind… You were slipping away in it. They finished up while I kept your mind somewhere safe. She was flooded with nightmares. Gloria consumes happy memories and dreams, and now she’s being consumed by nightmares. Yours, and theirs. She’ll be occupied by them for some time, but still, we should leave sooner rather than later. You’ll be safe from her as long as you don’t come near her cave again, even she has to follow certain rules. As long as you don’t find h
er flitting through the open ocean looking for sailors or by wandering into her home, you will be safe.”
Safe. It brought back his words from a moment ago. You’d be safe if you went home. There were dangers all around me here, constantly. Should I go home? Would it be worth it to give up this new freedom for the promise of safety?
“Let’s go then. I’d rather not be here when she wakes up.” I decided to focus on other questions for the moment. “And don’t think I’m going to forget about the whole, you kissing the sea monster thing. You will be explaining that to me later.” I smiled at him, teasing, trying to lighten the mood.
“Not today, Cora.” His eyes shifted nervously as a half-smile crossed his lips.
“More secrets, Fynn?” I narrowed my eyes on him and he rubbed his hands over her face and then through his hair.
“So many secrets, Cora.”
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Chapter Five
Fayre
On the far side of the island there was a lagoon that at times was popular among the mermaids. Once, a long time ago, my ancestors would sit on the rocks there to lure the sailors in. It was an old practice and had gone out of fashion with the rise of our current King. He had some notion of maintaining good relations with the humans.
It was pleasing to see the awed look on Dylan’s face as I led him into the inlet. There was a waterfall that crashed down the tall cliff side into the pool. I pulled myself out of the water and onto one of the boulders that circled it. I posed myself like I had seen those mermaids of long ago in our art, feeling wistful.
Dylan smiled mischievously and I felt my pose had been successful, but instead of pulling himself up onto my boulder he turned and began scaling the cliff side. My heart rate began race.
“Careful!” I called out. He said nothing, only turned back to flash me a smile before continuing up. I watched anxiously as his small toes perched on even smaller bits of rock that protruded at irregular intervals from the cliff face. He crawled up the wall of it like it was an easy thing, but that didn’t calm my breathing. I watched as small stones crumbled away under his feet clattering away down to the ground, a few finding their way into the water.
Then We Fly Page 9
