Sirens and Scales

by Kellie McAllen

  “Some younglings woke me this morning by poking me with a stick.” Her voice is hesitant, and she half-laughs afterward.

  I spin around, my frown deepening. “Younglings? You’ve been found already?”

  She nods, slowly.

  I grind my teeth, my eyes darting back and forth on the seafloor. This is not good news. If she’s already been found by youngling children, this reef is no longer safe. They might have been from another township farther south migrating to cooler waters, but they also could have been from our township, venturing out and exploring the area. If they return home and tell the other Mer in the township what they found, it wouldn’t be long before the hunters would come. And capital punishment is the penalty for the Mer exile who stays too close to the clan. I fix my gaze upon hers, grasp her arm, and pull her toward the northeast. “Follow me.”

  I cut through the current as fast as I can, dragging Verona with me the whole time. She doesn’t resist. We go north of the barrier island where the wildlife is, and I take her to the one place I know she’ll be safe. Finally, I release her arm and pull up to a stop. “This is the place.”

  Last time I was here, I covered the cave mouth with stones, now I pull those stones away, and reveal an opening in the rock. “My brother and I found this when we were young. I pushed these stones in front of it, hoping to keep the grotto hidden from others. I’m sure no one will find you here.”

  She shakes her head and her eyes widen. Fear fills them. Her arms cross over her body and she visibly shivers. “No, I can’t.”

  I frown, growing angry. “What do you mean you can’t? This is for your own protection.”

  She shakes her head. “What am I being protected from? If it’s younglings and bullies, I can handle it. I’ve been dealing with ridicule my entire life. What difference does exile make?”

  In my mind’s eye, I think of all the dangerous things a Mer with bad intentions could do to her. Is she really so foolish that she doesn’t know? “You don’t understand anything, do you? In the clan there are bullies, yes. But they are restrained. Your father has his standing in society, and the Elders are there to keep things in check. But out here, you have no one to protect you. If you are found by the wrong Mer, there is no telling….”

  She frowns, her brow furrowing. “I can handle myself.”

  I roll my eyes. “You can hardly hunt with a spear—how will you defend yourself?”

  She glares at me, the fire in her eyes growing in intensity. “Why do you care? What you’re doing goes beyond mere pity. You cannot protect me from others without making yourself an outcast with me. You should never have helped me at all. Why are you doing all this?”

  “I don’t know….” Blood rushes to my face as my heart begins to race. My head spins in a split second of speechlessness. Then my voice cracks, and I whisper, “I don’t know why I am out here helping you. I don’t know why the thought of something bad happening to you makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t know.”

  I need to get away from her. I find myself darting away several feet, but her voice gives me pause.

  “You can’t keep doing this!” Her tone is distraught, filled with emotions. Maybe she really wants me to go for good.

  I clench my jaw and turn back toward her, glaring. “I won’t be returning. Your back is healed enough, and you’ve proven that you’re able to feed yourself. I’ve shown you a place where you can hide if you need it, and there is still some salve left in the shell by the reef. From tomorrow, you’re on your own.”

  Her cold glare suddenly softens and a glimmer of fear flickers within them. Then she nods resolutely. For a long moment, we just stare at each other. I wait for her to change her mind, for her to tell me she wants me to come back, but she’s silent. The sunlight dances on her shoulders and plays in her dark gold waves of hair. Her plain, silver tail barely moves as it grazes the sand on the bottom of the shallow sea. I’m tempted to just grab her and shake some sense into her, but her jaw is set.

  Fine. I nod back to her and then spin round and dart away without another word. Blindly, I race back to the township. No, not just the township, but to the only place I’ve found any solace in days. I pass my home reef and continue to the west. When I reach the cove, I stop dead in my tracks and blink in shock.

  Only one of the beds is occupied. Gabriel is gone.

  I freeze, letting the afternoon sunlight warm my back and shoulders in the shallows. Confusion for this situation and the rejection I’d felt from Verona earlier intermingle within me. A lump forms in my throat. Where is he?

  After my momentary shock, I dart into the cove and pass the nestings to the back, where the healer sits with his medicine bottles. His human eyeglasses sit on his nose as he studies a tincture in his hand. When I rush up to him, he peers over the glasses at me and quirks an eyebrow.

  “Where is he? Where did Gabriel go?” My throat feels constricted, and the words sound groggier than I’d have expected. My emotions have overwhelmed me. I need to calm down. There is a reasonable explanation for this. Reason always prevails. I will my heart to slow down and my breathing to even out.

  The healer’s eyebrow remains quirked as he leans back on his folded tail. “His family retrieved him. I suppose they have taken him to their home reef where they can take care of him themselves.”

  I blink. That is an unexpected reasoning. “They took him home?”

  The healer nods.

  “Are you sure?”

  The healer shrugs. “I didn’t follow them. I didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell me. I’m only using conjecture. They did take the anti-inflammatory medication with them.”

  If Gabriel’s mother has left them, who would take care of him? His father is always in the court working with other elders to make the township better. What they do exactly has never made any sense to me, but everyone seems to think having a leader is important. Stacia goes to schooling each morning and then spends the rest of the day doing frivolous things. Would she really take care of her twin brother herself?

  It didn’t make any sense. I find myself turning about and heading toward the exit of the cove without saying a word. Behind me the healer harrumphs, but doesn’t correct me either. As I pass Verona’s father, I glance at him just to make sure he’s all right. It makes me feel better that even while his daughter is gone, he’s being taken care of. I nod and exit the cove. Once I’m outside its boundaries, I cut through the current once more, heading directly for the Elder’s reef.

  When I get there, I find Stacia and another Mer standing close together. Momentarily, my heart leaps in wonder. Had he recovered? Was it Gabriel? Then I realize the build isn’t quite right, no, in fact it’s familiar. Brandeeb, again? I set my jaw and continue toward them. Stacia’s eyes meet mine, and for a moment they widen in surprise before they narrow into a glare.

  I nod her direction. “Where’s Gabriel?”

  That really throws her for a moment. Her half-lidded eyes widen once more, and she blinks several times before she realized what she’s done and gets hold of herself.

  My brother turns around. “What? You’re not even going to say, ‘Hi,’ little brother? Shouldn’t you at least show the Elder’s daughter the respect she is due?”

  One of my claws bite hard into my palm as my fists clench. I glare at him. “I have no interest in formalities. I’m just here to find out where Gabriel is.”

  Tch. Stacia clucks her tongue and rolls her eyes. “Why do you care? What reasonable explanation is there for you to be here right now, asking about my brother?”

  I narrow my eyes at them both. They are standing too close together, and their behavior is too familiar. Finally, I glare at my brother. “What are you doing here?”

  Brandeeb shrugs. “None of your business.”

  My jaw aches from how hard I clench my teeth together.

  “Actually,” Stacia says with a smile, “the same goes for Gabriel. He’s none of your concern either.”

  I blink, my eyes stinging. None
of this feels right to me. I’m not sure what is going on between Stacia and my brother, but it seems like they are getting awfully familiar with one another. I shouldn’t be surprised. Upon my rejection of her, my brother was bound to step into my place. The joining of our families for the sake of status and power has always been a major component in the pushing of Stacia and I together. But why would they hide where Gabriel is? I glance about their reef. Unless there is a hidden cave somewhere in their territory, I cannot see Gabriel anywhere. I call out, “Gabriel!”

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Stacia yells back at me.

  The Mer in the surrounding reefs all shoot glances our direction, some of them begin murmuring, but I don’t care. “Gabriel!”

  “You are making a fool of yourself,” my brother admonishes me, gripping my bicep with his claws. This time, I’m certain he’s drawing blood.

  Fool? I still don’t care. “Gabriel! Are you here?”

  “Shhh!” Stacia steps in front of me and then hisses through her teeth, “He is not here. Stop making a scene.”

  “Where is he then?” I shove my brother off me, but his claws rake gouges into my skin. He releases me with a chuckle, shaking the blood from his claws in the current. My arm stings and the scent of blood fills my nostrils.

  Stacia rolls her eyes again, releasing an indignant sigh. “He’s with my mother. Satisfied?”

  Hadn’t Gabriel said he didn’t know where his mother was? Did this mean they’d sent him to another clan? Did they not care what happened to him? Nothing Stacia says seems right. But what am I supposed to do? My arm aches from the wounds my brother inflicted, and I cover them with my hand. “Where is your mother?”

  “I don’t have to tell you that. I’ve already told you more than I should have. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  I blink at her. “Why all the secrecy?”

  “That’s quite enough,” Brandeeb says, his voice growing into a deep, menacing growl. He grabs hold of both my shoulders and turns me about. “She’s been more than patient with you. Now it’s time for you to go.”

  He pushes me away from the reef and then slaps me in the back with his tailfin. My back stings from the strike, and I’m pushed through the waters for several feet. When I come to a stop, I turn around. What’s the use? Was this a fight worth having? I shake my head. I’m being stupid and overly emotional. I head toward the cove to see if the healer has more salve for my wounds.

  11

  One month later…

  At zenith, I cut through the current and head out toward the reef where I’d helped Verona. In the past few weeks, she hasn’t been there, but I check each day anyway, to make sure no one is hunting for her there, that she’s left no clues to her present whereabouts, and the clamshell of salve remains hidden and at the same level as before. I’m relieved when I find things in the same order as I’d last left them.

  I pull up from placing the clamshell under the reef and release a deep breath of sea water, letting the light of the sun dance upon my face a bit with my eyes closed. I swim upward, toward the surface a bit, when I hear a chuckle behind me. My eyes snap open and I spin in the direction of the sound.

  “How boring, little brother. You come all this way each day just to spend time on a foreign reef and play in the dancing sunlight?” Brandeeb isn’t alone. He has a friend with him, Kellum, his usual lackey. Kellum’s eyes are small and set close together, his teeth have been filed to sharp points by chewing on coral.

  Nasty habit, but a popular one among the Mer our ages.

  I glare at them both and slump a bit to the side, hoping to give them what they asked for, a bored expression. “You know what’s even more boring? You two having nothing better to do than to follow me.”

  Inwardly, my heart is racing. They followed me to the reef. Now they know where it is. If the younglings had told someone from our clan about finding the Mer on her reckoning here, and these two had heard about it, they might suspect the real reason for my visit. I swallow the lump forming in my throat while I continue to harvest the anger within me so that I do not show any fear.

  Kellum’s laugh is like that of a hyena. I’d hate to spend much time in that laughter each day. Brandeeb chuckles as well. “Touché, little brother. But still I wonder, what the draw is to come here so much. It makes me wonder if we’re just coming on a bad day. Maybe if we come again another time, we’ll see something different… maybe something less boring? Hmmm?”

  I catch my jaw tensing and do my best to relax it. Better to show boredom and tedium than to let them see they are getting to me. If they realize that much, they’ll also realize I’m hiding something.

  “Who’s to say that I come to this reef every day? I go lots of places. Mer tend to do that, you know? We explore the sunken Spanish galleon nearby, keep an eye out for schools of tuna, divers. The usual.” Am I making as much sense as I hope to? My only defense right now is to appeal to my brother’s reason. If I can make up a reasonable excuse for being here, perhaps he’ll buy it.

  Brandeeb narrows his gaze at me. I think I’ve taken my sarcasm just a little bit too far. He lunges forward and grabs me by the shoulder, whipping me into a headlock. His pheromones reek, and there are other pheromones as well, female ones. Stacia. My stomach lurches at the heady, intermingled scent. He rubs the top of my head with his knuckles so hard, stars spark in my vision, and pain shoots from the top of my head down the back of my neck. I bite my lip and try not to cry out, as it only encourages him. The pain intensifies, but he finally lets me go with a frustrated growl.

  “Behave, little brother. Know that others are watching, and not just me.” He nods toward Kellum, and the two of the head back toward the township.

  I rub the top of my head, trying to spread the stinging sensation out of it. My eyes remain trained on the direction they’ve gone. It’s not safe for me to continue toward the barrier island and check on Verona. I would only lead them to her, as I did the reef. Even though they appear to be gone, they might have stayed nearby to see what I would do. If I leave this reef too quickly, it would also give them the hint that I had been doing something I shouldn’t have.

  My afternoon decided, I sink toward the ocean floor and lie in the sand, facing the surface and the sun. The light is too bright and forces me to close my eyes. Still the red of the sun pierces through my eyelids. I rest an arm over my eyes, coming down off my adrenaline high. I settle into myself now that I’m no longer faking the emotion, or lack thereof, for my brother’s sake. The scars on my arm from my last encounter with him and Stacia are rough over my sensitive skin. My head still aches, partly from my brother’s knuckles, but also from the intimate scent I’d caught on him. He and Stacia were already at that level in their relationship? My stomach lurches again. It’s not that I didn’t ever care for her, but I’d always known our relationship didn’t make me happy. It was still three years before she was permitted to join in a life-mate ceremony. They should be waiting to be joined together in monogamy before being joined physically.

  I’m settling in to the sand deeper and trying not to think about it anymore. After several minutes, my breathing becomes more even, and I slip off to sleep in the sun.

  The next day, I watch my brother and his friend until they leave to go somewhere of their own accord. Relieved that they had no intention of following me, I cut through to the reef once more, as I do most days. I decide that I’ll hang out there for a while just to make absolutely sure I’m not followed before I move on and go to Verona. Maybe today, I’ll approach her and at least give her a warning instead of watching her from afar.

  Clouds cover the sun overhead, so it’s hard to tell how much past the zenith it is when I approach the reef. Then I hear a deep male voice on the other side. Brandeeb. “Well, what do we have here?”

  My heart stutters in my chest. He was waiting here for me? I had been a fool to think I’d outsmarted him. I frown, trying to control my facial expression again, and take a deep breath, read
y to swim over the reef and answer him when he continues. “What are you doing here, bottom feeder? Do you not know your place? Your skin shows no evidence of dwelling on land.”

  Verona. I sink to the sand, my heart racing a million knots an hour. How? Why was she here? No.

  I hear her cry out in pain, and I leap up again, ready to barrel over the top of the reef but decide it’s foolish to rush into a situation blindly. I start to creep around the side of the reef, so I can see what’s going on.

  “Your pathetic excuse for webbing still unites your fingers. So why, oh bottom feeder, have you returned so near to Bermuda?” My brother holds her hand up before his face, while she struggles to pull it away. She winces in pain and stops resisting, her gaze dropping to the seafloor. Her shoulders drop in defeat. “I… I… it was an accident.”

  A deep bellowing laugh bursts from Brandeeb’s throat, his eyes flashing with malice. Another Mer stands behind my brother, and though I cannot see his face, I can tell by the way his dark hair dances in the current that it’s Kellum. Kellum shakes his head and places his hands on his hips, his hyena-laugh breaking free. “An accident? Your birth was an accident. How could this be an accident?”

  Suddenly, Verona struggles harder against my brother’s grip. My fists tighten in response, and I taste blood in my mouth from where I’ve bitten down on my lip too hard. But instead of breaking free, she only manages to get her other arm caught by my brother. Verona squeals and struggles even harder. Then she stills, her face contorted in pain, and her brows pinched in apology. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”