Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  I sat overlooking the water, flipping the mermaid charm in my fingers, contemplating a life without my best friend. As the wind blew through the trees, the aged wood protested—aching with me. Did something bad happen? Did her parents find out about her plans for college and move away? What if she never came home? Would I have to go to college alone? The thought killed me.

  My butt fell asleep after sitting on the cold ground. I put everything away except the picture and reburied the can.

  Dejected, I pushed off shore and began the slow process of rowing back. The urge to cry burned in my throat. This wasn’t fair. Who just picks up and leaves their things, abandons their business, and doesn’t tell anyone why for weeks? Was this the insanity of living with an alcoholic? I pulled out the picture and studied it—our happy faces, our innocent joy. How could we be best friends forever now?

  A ski boat zoomed by, the curious onlookers prying into my business. I turned away but had to grab the sides as their stupid waves rocked the boat too hard. An oar slipped into the water. I went to grab it, dropping the picture, too.

  “NO!” I cried and reached over the ledge to retrieve both items.

  Another wave knocked the boat just right and I toppled over into the water. The icy current ravaged my skin like sharp needles, jabbing relentlessly into my body. Everything ached except one part of my thigh where it burned instead.

  I tried to swim but my leg wouldn’t work. Something red colored the water around me. A huge tear in my pant leg revealed the source. Lucky there aren’t any sharks. I laughed at myself.

  Horrified I was able to make jokes at a time like this, I turned around to reach for the boat. I slapped empty water. Where was it? Panic began to take over. And then I saw it. The wind had pushed the boat out of reach. With each passing second, it moved further away. I tried to paddle, but my muscles seized with the cold.

  Forcing myself to calm down, I rolled over and floated on my back. But as I watched the blue sky above and felt the icy water below, reality sunk in. If I didn’t get out of the water soon, hypothermia would set in. I was about to drown.

  “Help!” I screamed, hoping the people who’d just cruised by and caused the accident actually saw me fall in. “Help …”

  Salty, hot tears burned my cheeks and slid down my face into the water.

  This was it. The best swimmer on our swim team had met her match. I was going to join the underwater grave of mobsters in cement boots at the bottom of the lake. Cold seeped into my bones, numbing my hands and toes. Uncontrollable shivers overtook my strength. The desire to keep my eyes open became harder to fight.

  My face submerged.

  I opened my eyes one more time, my last breath bubbling out of my mouth. The light from the sun twinkled in the water as the darkness pulled me downward. My lungs burned for air, air impossible for me to swim to.

  A bright light barreled toward me under the water. It couldn’t be good, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. It’s what everyone sees at the end.

  “I’ve got you,” I heard in my mind. The voice sounded faintly like Fin’s.

  I smiled. Of course my last thoughts would be lying cradled in the warm and safe arms of my unending crush: Fin. What an amazing way to go.

  27 - FIN

  I could have swam in circles of joy when Mr. Gumboot requested smooth rocks for his fence surrounding his algae garden. With pleasure, I insisted on retrieving them and left Kiernan to help arrange the existing collection. With a quick flap of my fin, I secretly slipped back into Tahoe for a little extra curricular rock-hunting adventure. Sure, I was pushing the limits, but hey, Mr. Gumboot asked and my explicit instructions were to please the elder mers. And where else would I find smooth granite stones?

  I returned to the lake with a grin and swam to the shoreline, careful to stay far enough underwater so no one would see me. Of course, Uncle Alaster and Colin were nowhere in sight either. Scanning the bottom, I laughed at the bountiful selection. How would I choose? Heck, it might take me all day to find the perfect stones.

  Hours later, when I finally stopped procrastinating, I found some that were satisfactory. I lugged them back to the gate. That’s when I realized the opening through Tessie’s mouth wasn’t very large.

  Annoyed, I returned to grab some smaller ones to take back with me when a scream from the surface grabbed my attention. One I’d know anywhere. Ashlyn’s scream. Without a thought, I dropped the stones and with a powerful flick of my tail, I shot through the lake like a cannon, only slowing to listen.

  The voice came from somewhere in the bay. Without a care for who might see me, I raced underwater. I found her lifeless body, slipping under the waves.

  In one swift motion, I cradled her fragile frame and burst onto the shore, phasing as soon as my skin found the sunlight. Holding her against my body, I turned up my internal heater to warm her blue-tinted skin.

  “Ashlyn, open your eyes,” I said and rocked her, watching the water steam off her skin, but she wasn’t breathing. I pulled her tighter into me, giving her a gentle shake. “Come on. Wake up.”

  She lay there, lifeless in my arms, the minutes ticking by, her life ebbing away. I panicked. The mer power behind my breath would save her, but our lips touching would seal me to her forever; our souls would intertwine. She’d want for me always and become immune to my powers to erase her memories.

  “Ashlyn, please wake up.”

  She wasn’t responding. Death’s fingers were wrapping around her soul. I couldn’t wait any longer for a miracle. I couldn’t let her die. A world without Ashlyn in it, even if she wasn’t mine, would be a travesty.

  I pressed my lips onto hers and exhaled. The heat from my immortal kiss warmed her from the inside out, pinking up her skin. With the next breath, something inside broke free, flowing into her and making me care deeper than I’d ever cared for anyone. She had to live. Then she coughed, a tiny sweet cough that melted my fears. She’d survived. Barely.

  I clutched her to my chest and patted her back, helping the water escape from her lungs. With a quick glance, I scanned the tree line for onlookers and didn’t see anyone. I was naked, holding a drenched-to-the-bone girl. Quite an awkward situation. I kneeled down, holding her against my body with one hand, and took out my shorts with the other. Thank goodness for Velcro.

  Ashlyn began to shiver and lulled her head around on the crook of my arm.

  “Shhh …” I whispered, tucking her back into my side once I was clothed. “You’re safe. Just stay with me. Fight.”

  Her words garbled off her tongue, recalling the events prior to her falling into the water.

  “I fell … fire … it’s burning.” She feebly reached down toward her leg and that’s when I saw the blood. Blood everywhere.

  “Oh, no.”

  I inspected the wound. A clean slice ran right across the side of her thigh. She needed medical attention quickly. Gently, I tore the rest of her pant leg off and tied it above the wound to stop the bleeding. I removed her sopping wet jacket and shrugged into it. I turned up my internal body heat to see if I could dry it out and put it back on her. I looked down. My choice of board shorts and ill-fitting girl’s swim team jacket looked—interesting.

  I trudged up the hill to the Rangers station and braced for the reaction as I walked through the door. My entrance caught the tall, lanky, slightly-graying man on duty by surprise. He glanced at me, then at Ashlyn, and then at my wardrobe malfunction.

  “Uh—” Theories to what really happened danced across his face—most of them dark.

  “She’s hurt. We need to call nine-one-one.”

  He kept staring at the water mixed with blood dripping on the floor, a deer in the head-lights.

  I sighed.

  “Forget you ever saw me and the next five minutes,” I spoke in my native tongue and waved my hand over his face.

  The Ranger’s eyes went glassy as he sat down, the mer playing tricks with his mind. I rushed inside and found a first aid kit, a cot, and blankets. I
put Ashlyn’s coat back on her, dressed her wound, and wrapped her up in the blanket, tight like a burrito. I knew I should take off the rest of her wet clothing, but I couldn’t do it, not wanting to violate her in any way or injure her leg further. She was shivering uncontrollably now, which was a good sign but difficult to watch.

  I palmed through the Ranger’s things and found some pants and a shirt. Not my size, but I put them on anyway. On the radio, I called for help.

  “We have a young woman, unconscious. At the Fannett Island Ranger Station. She fell into the lake. Please send an ambulance.”

  “Yes, sir,” someone crackled on the other end of the line. “Right away.”

  I went back to Ashlyn, smoothed her damp hair, and kissed her temple. “I’m sorry. I have to go. You’ll be okay. Help is on the way.”

  “Fin?” Ashlyn’s eyes fluttered open. She took two deep breaths and stopped shivering for a moment.

  Time froze. Everything inside me ached to kiss her for real, to finish what I’d started. My blood would heal her leg and we could run away somewhere and live together, under the waves in peace and solitude.

  She managed a smile. “I knew you’d come.”

  My throat hitched. Could she actually be awake? Should I screw everything and take her with me? Her voice was nothing but a whisper, but then her eyes rolled back and she started shivering again. She wasn’t lucid; she couldn’t be. And since I couldn’t erase anything further from her mind anyhow, I had to take off before she woke up again.

  Each time I’d mind-wiped her in the past tortured me so deeply—to watch her fade underneath a blanket of confusion. She’d never remember this moment anyway, but her sweet voice and leaving her here was going to haunt me forever. I hoped since she didn’t know what had happened, she’d be unaffected.

  The Ranger’s groan interrupted our moment. Dude was coming back around and I had to get out of there. The choice to leave her with the clueless Ranger took every bit of energy I had.

  Just outside of the door I heard him say. “Oh, sweet Mary. Where’d you come from?” and then, to my relief, he called for the ambulance again, oblivious to the fact that one was already en route.

  I groaned and headed back to the lake.

  28 - ASH

  “Ashlyn, please wake up, sweetie.”

  My mom’s voice bounced inside my tired brain. Everything ached. Beyond my closed eyelids was a bright light, too bright for me to want to look at.

  “Ohhh,” I moaned.

  I brought my hand to shield the nuisance and found something taped across my skin, hindering me. Beeps and other whooshing noises coupled with the antiseptic smell were more hints we weren’t at home.

  “Mom?” I groggily choked out and opened my right eye a crack.

  “Oh, my heavens.” She grabbed ahold of my tethered hand. “Yes, honey, I’m here.”

  I looked around the strange space, apparently a hospital room. My weighted body felt detached as I attempted to sit up. “What happened?”

  “Just lie still,” Mom said and put her hand on my shoulder. “You … apparently had an accident and fell into the lake. The Ranger found you before it was too late and brought you to the Forest Ranger Station. They were able to warm you up and stop the bleeding until the ambulance could arrive.”

  “Bleeding?” I reached down to my leg and felt a mountain of gauze.

  “Yes.” Her hand trembled. “You’re going to be okay though. They’ve patched you up. You’re good as new.”

  “New?” I mumbled. I felt nothing of the sort. Thrown out of a moving car and run over was a better description.

  “Look who’s awake,” a blonde nurse in pink, Hello Kitty patterned scrubs said as she pulled back the curtain and walked into the room. Before I could answer, she popped a thermometer in my mouth and replaced the bag of fluids running down a tube into the back of my hand. She checked my temp reading, wrote something in my chart, and smiled. “Very good. How do you feel?”

  “Tired.”

  “I bet. You’ve been through a lot, but the fast work from the Ranger gave you the best chance for recovery.”

  “Ranger?”

  Fuzz lined my brain and impeded any memory beyond my excursion to the island. The past came in short movie clips: the coffee can of treasures, rowing back to shore, the bitter wind, the picture floating into the water. I never wanted to be that cold again. For the first time ever, water terrified me. With a vacant expression, I looked toward Mom.

  “You fell into the lake, sweetie, and cut your leg pretty badly.”

  My hand went to my mouth to hide my embarrassment. Then I froze. The warmth of my lips felt different—tingly somehow.

  “I remember,” I mumbled, part in acknowledgement and part to make sure I hadn’t been dreaming.

  “Where did you manage to fall in, honey?”

  My gaze met hers. Worry stamped unforgiving grooves into her skin, creating small fissures. Gray hair mixed with brown lined her temples like weeds in a pristine lawn. What if something bad had happened to me?

  I glanced down and played with the tape on my hand. “I don’t know …”

  My nurse gave Mom a reassuring look. “Well, you’re almost back to normal. I’ll give your doctor an update. Maybe you can go home today. How’s that?”

  Mom sighed, the kind that sounded like a huge boulder had been lifted from her chest. I willed the nurse to stay, but she squeezed my blanketed foot and walked out the door instead.

  Mom kept looking at me with her deep blue eyes, her powerlessness threatening to choke me. I almost burst into a monologue of a million sorrys when my nurse came back in the room. I held my breath.

  “I almost forgot your lunch.” She put a cafeteria tray on my bedside table.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled and decided to wait on spilling the truth of what happened. My stomach hurt from hunger and I lifted the lid covering the plate. Palatable fragrances of macaroni and cheese, and steamed broccoli hit my nose. At least the food looked better than the bland cafeteria crud they fed us at school.

  “I’m … I’m going to go call your father,” Mom said and left the room.

  I nodded, wanting to be alone. My guilt would keep me company.

  While I ate the first couple of noodles, my brain fought to remember the details of what happened to me after I fell into the water. A Ranger dragged me out of the lake? How could that be? I’d been so far off shore. The memory was there, murky like the bloody water I’d almost drowned in. Blood. That’s right, lots of blood. I’d heard a voice. A male’s voice … like Fin’s. Only melodic. And a light—a beautiful light. An angel?

  A knock at the door interrupted my brainstorm.

  “Uh, sorry to intrude. I just got off work and wanted to stop by.”

  I smiled at the graying gentleman in front of me. He wore a button down shirt and dark green slacks. A gold park emblem on his lapel tipped me off.

  I set down my fork. “You’re the guy? The one who saved me?”

  “Well … not really, Miss. Someone brought you into the back room of the station without my knowledge … and left. I called the ambulance once I saw your condition. I wanted you to know. They deserve the credit.”

  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with amnesia.

  “Oh?” His version of the scene ran through my head and I pressed my lips together. They tingled again. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Good day.” He tipped his hat and left.

  Mom passed him on her way back in the room.

  “Was that the—?”

  “Yeah.” I shoved a peach into my mouth, unsure how to explain what his role was in my daring rescue. “He’s the Ranger.”

  “I wanted to thank him.” She darted back to the door and scanned the hall. “Sir? Sir!”

  “Mom!” I called out, hoping to stop her before she made a fool of herself. I tried to get out of bed, but my leg protested in pain, forbidding any sudden movements. “He doesn’t wan
t the attention, Mom!”

  She didn’t come back—her voice echoing down the hall. I slapped my forehead.

  What a mess.

  29 FIN

  FIN

  With my blood pummeling through my veins, I slipped back into Natatoria unnoticed. A group of mermaids, tittering and giggling, swam past moments later chaperoned by an annoyed merman displaying the gold Natatorian insignia strapped to his bicep. He gave me a glare that might suggest he’d seen me return, until one of the mermaids told him to be nice while she winked at me.

  I wanted to laugh. Suddenly, they seemed as appealing as an old woman. Ashlyn was the only one I wanted to look at and be with for eternity—petting her soft white skin, gazing into her enchanting green eyes. Thoughts of tangling my hands in her red curls and bringing her lips to mine grappled with my being. How could I have left her with that incompetent Ranger? Was she okay? Did she make it to the hospital in time? I knew she was still alive, at least.

  Wracked with grief, I hurried home to find it empty. Mom and Tatch were still at the palace, but would be home soon enough. Maybe I could tell them what happened. After all, Dad had kissed Mom under similar circumstances.

  Ashlyn’s sweet lips and tender body in my arms wrapped around my mind. With one kiss, everything had changed. All I wanted was her—forever. I had to be with her or I’d go mad.

  I phased into legs and sprawled out on the couch, wishing for a TV show to pass the time. With a groan, I pounded my fist on the granite arm of the couch. A searing ache of longing replaced the initial high when I’d promised myself to her. Now our distance rubbed salt into my soul. Why didn’t I just heal her with my blood? Then I’d know she was all right.

  When I heard Mom and Tatch talking outside, I got up and hid in my room.

  “Fin, are you here?” Mom asked after entering the house. She sounded distressed.

  “Yeah, in my room.”

  I clenched my jaw. There was no way I could handle another minute without knowing if Ashlyn was okay or not. I had to get back on land before the sun set and double check. I marched into the living room, ready to spill my guts.