She was wondering what purpose this tunnel of light had to her ancestors when a hand tapped her on the shoulder.
“Lazarus!” Esme said, feeling like she had been caught in a daydream.
“Sorry. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” he chuckled.
Esme did not return his laughter. She looked up at the handsome merman, her eyes brimming with tears.
“You didn’t, don’t worry,” she said and tried to smile. “But . . .” she began, but stopped.
No, she wasn’t going to tell Lazarus about her vanished kingdom. She’d keep it to herself. She couldn’t quite believe it yet, anyway.
The notion of such an event still baffled her. Her mind roiled as she imagined different explanations, but none of them seemed likely.
Instead, she only grew more and more confused. And if she couldn’t figure it out, then surely this stranger wouldn’t understand it, she decided. So she wouldn’t tell him about it. But, like Nixie had so coldly put it, she was homeless now and maybe staying with him was her only option. She was attracted to him. He was interested in her, and seemed caring enough, she guessed she had nothing to lose.
“But?” Lazarus interrupted. His eyes shone with compassion and gentle curiosity.
“My father died!” she burst out, wiping a tear from her face.
Lazarus bent his head down in acknowledgment of this sad news, unable to utter an emotional response. Lazarus struggled to communicate sentiment. Although he felt emotions, it was hard for him to talk about it.
“I’m sorry!” he finally said.
Esme’s flinched. She felt as if Lazarus’s words held no meaning. Polite, but thoughtless, emotionless.
“You don’t have to apologize,” Esme mumbled. “I just didn’t expect it. It also means I am now without a home.”
She waited for his response. Not knowing if he would shelter her or reject her, kick her out into the current.
“I bet,” he whispered.
He considered of her predicament for a moment. She was homeless. He was becoming besotted with her and the idea of not having her near him was beginning to drive him crazy. What better way to fix that than to have her by his side? How could he turn down this opportunity that had fallen in front of his fins?
No, he couldn’t leave her out in the cold waters, just for some other handsome merman to snag her in his net. He’d never allow that. She’d stay right here with him! He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Well, you could stay here with me,” he proposed, hoping she’d say yes.
He knew she didn’t have any other options. Her entire life was in tatters due to the tragic circumstances of the last day, but still he feared that some part of her would reject him and say no.
Esme didn’t answer him. She just stared, willing for him to touch her. She yearned for that feeling of safety and comfort that came over her in his warm embrace. The feeling that told her that she didn’t need to be anywhere else.
Lazarus looked at Esme quizzically. He smiled. “Oh, I know what you want!” he guessed, moving closer to her until their bodies were only inches apart.
He lifted her chin up, studying her face. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked up at him. She didn’t know where to look.
Lazarus placed a firm finger to Esme’s lips as he whispered, “You can come with me. I’ll take good care of you.”
Esme was taken aback by his invitation.
Lazarus smiled as she uttered no words. “Come one. What’s the worst that could happen? You and me will rule the world together under the blackest of seas.”
He pulled Esme close to him, tracing his finger across her heart space. His breath trailed down her neck and the warmth touched her skin, filling her with waves of excitement.
She pictured Lazarus getting on his knees, giving her incredible pleasure!
He smiled again as he felt her visionary image pulsating across to his mind’s eye. Despite Lazarus’s slow coming emotions, he was a diamond in the rough, hiding his own treasure trove of secrets.
Caressing her chest, his two fingers slid down to her most sensitive organ, her heart. As he reached his destination, the sensations across her chest became hotter, like this dazzling merman had descended from the sun.
“I’m too young for you,” she breathed as Lazarus’s hot breath moved down her body.
“Oh, come now! That doesn’t stop us,” Lazarus chuckled.
Esme stopped to think. She was only sixteen. She would be seventeen in a matter of months, but she was a lot younger than Lazarus.
She considered the prospects of such a companionship. Staying with a lover as mature and bold as Lazarus could be deadly for her, but then maybe it would prove her only way out of her fated destiny. She didn’t seem to have any other choice.
“How old are you?” Esme questioned. “And tell me the truth.”
“I’m twenty-nine,” he said, looking amused that she had even felt the need to ask him.
Of course she needs clarification, he thought. How silly of me!
Esme looked at him dead in the eyes. Her body trembled at his nearness.
Lazarus returned her intensity, smiling as he pressed himself into her chest, gently caressing the top of her chest with his lips. Imprinting his mark onto her soul with the warmth of the kiss.
Esme pulled away from him and folded her arms.
“And the nature of our connection would be purely physical?” Esme posed, sensing that Lazarus’s intentions were focused on her body and not much else.
“It can be whatever you please,” he said.
Esme thought about that. What else could she do? Her choices were either stay and be the queen of a vanished kingdom or accept Lazarus’s intriguing offer and live with a merman she had only just met.
What was a girl to do?
Lazarus was a mysterious yet interesting individual, and while she hardly knew him, here he was throwing her a lifeline when she had very little else being provided to her.
“I must go,” Esme said. “I can’t make a rational decision when my mind is so clouded.”
The merman nodded and Esme swam off, her tail softly bobbing as she disappeared into clearer waters.
7
Esme swam slowly towards Nixie’s dwelling, feeling anxious as she lingered between the green seaweed fronds that grew abundantly in between the dark masses. Lime green vines stuck out among the black that protruded around the entrance to Nixie’s home.
Esme felt like she shouldn’t be coming here. Nixie had already informed her that the palace, along with the reality she had known all her life, was gone, but the mysterious question as to why remained.
As Esme peered through the door, the widowed Nixie sat regally in her clam shell with a delicate arrangement of tiny potion bottles arrayed around the room.
If Esme wasn’t in such dire straits, she would’ve left right away. Nixie was indeed a spiritual being, but she also had a hidden side about her, something quite unknown. But Nixie was the one you could call on if you had a complex dilemma as she possessed the resources required to fix all kinds of problems.
As Esme hesitated, she noticed the black wood rotting in the walls of Nixie’s home.
She had come here many times and yet this was the first time she had laid eyes on it. It seemed symbolic as a sign of things no longer being what they once were. The rotting wood enthralled her, filling her head with thoughts of death. Its rancid odor filled her nostrils. The whole room seemed imbued with darkness and death. It was intoxicating.
If Esme could help it, she wouldn’t have stayed. Being around Nixie felt more like a curse than a blessing.
Nixie saw Esme come in and already knew why Esme had sought her out.
“It’s that man, isn’t it?” Nixie chuckled.
Esme didn’t know how to respond. How could Nixie know when she hadn’t uttered a word on the subject?
“Yes. It is,” Esme said.
A sullen pause filled the atmosphere.
�
��How did you know I came here about the man?” she asked.
“It’s always about a man, dear,” Nixie replied. She looked like she had dealt with many similar situations in the past.
“Why else would you come back here when we don’t have any connections any longer?” Nixie said.
Esme didn’t understand what Nixie meant by that, but she felt the room grow colder as she and Nixie looked at one another.
“Oh,” Esme said, not really knowing what to say as her heart began to race.
“So . . . let’s get to the real reason you came gliding into my halls,” Nixie said, almost asking the question but not quite saying the words.
Nixie wanted this dull conversation to be over. Esme was already irritating her by coming here for romantic advice. As far as Nixie was concerned, she and Esme had no reason to converse.
Esme took a breath. Her heart was pounding away. She tried to think of how best to tell Nixie of Lazarus’s unorthodox, if not bizarre, proposal.
“Lazarus . . .” Esme began.
Nixie murmured, “Lazarus. The charming merman you met?”
“He’s made me an offer, well, a proposal,” Esme said, not sure how she was going to explain the details.
“And what did he offer you, dear?” Nixie prodded, eyeing the young mermaid as she gathered herself.
“He wants me to rule with him, in his world,” Esme said.
Golly, that was a lot easier to get out than she’d thought, Esme reflected.
Nixie held her icy composure.
Nixie looked at Esme. The young girl seemed to be like a ripening fruit that had barely begin to awaken into the alluring being she could be.
If this ripe fruit was handed to this merman so frivolously without due care, chaos could ensue within Esme.
That chaos could be fun, Nixie thought, a snide chuckle hiding down in her throat, wanting to escape and echo throughout her dim halls.
Nixie held her glee in check as she had something much more important to say to the lovesick Esme.
“What an interesting proposition! And how do you feel about such a dalliance?” Nixie asked.
“I’d be okay about it. I’m not in love with him but maybe I might grow to be in time,” Esme said. “We do have an attraction. I don’t know if that’s enough, but he has deemed it to be. He was the one to make the proposal. Maybe what Lazarus is offering is more fitting for me than remaining alone.”
“You know that everything could tumble into darkness now that your father is no longer with us?” Nixie said.
“What do you mean?” Esme exclaimed.
Nixie lowered her head in a formidable gaze. “I am not the one to share such information, but there is someone you can visit for guidance. An oracle.”
The coldness grew again around Esme.
“I knew this day would come, child! I don’t want to be abrupt, but now that our dearly beloved king has left these waters, you and I won’t be able to carry on as we used to. Too much has tumbled for us to be what we were!”
A perplexed frown settled over Esme’s face. Yet more words that she didn’t understand coming from her stepmother. She wondered what had caused the sudden change in behaviour for her stepmother to be so cold towards her.
Moreover, Esme was hesitant about visiting an oracle. She didn’t really believe in the existence of magical worlds, so the concept was quite lost on her.
Nixie continued, noting Esme’s silence.
“Sheba is a wise woman who lurks around our seas. Perhaps she can assist you further, for I cannot,” Nixie finished sternly.
Esme glanced towards Nixie, her predicament in mind. Perhaps she ought to seek out this wise woman. Maybe then she could find the answers she sought.
Lazarus rested on his seaweed bed, his eyes closed as he lay lost in thought.
Esme was at the forefront of his mind. Thinking so continually about a girl was a new experience for him as normally he wouldn’t be so focused on someone as he was with Esme.
He’d had girlfriends before but they didn’t captivate him. They didn’t fill him with that desire, that vibrant fire urging him to go within himself, to change, to be better, not like Esme did. This was something very new to him.
Lazarus didn’t understand their magnetic attraction. He couldn’t get his head around the emotions he was experiencing. He tormented himself over and over, and used his own soul power to fathom why he was so drawn towards the young woman.
He hadn’t been in love before but something about this mermaid entranced him. He couldn’t figure out whether it was that glistening pink hair, those dominating eyes, or maybe it was her beautiful, locked up, but precious heart.
Lazarus was puzzled because such a union was surely doomed. He had always believed that two merpeople had to be one of the same, and he and Esme weren’t.
Esme was sweet, virtuous, and light, whereas he was connected with the darker forces of the ocean. He dared not reveal that fact to her for fear that she would swim away faster than the current that swept between them.
I don’t think I can be good, he said to himself. How could she want me when I am nothing compared to her beautiful goodness? It’s true, she doesn’t know the sordid details of my tortured past, but the trouble with the “days gone by” is that some day they come back to haunt you.
Perhaps he should be honest with her and show her the darker elements inside him. But then she might come to fear his very name.
Lazarus had done some terrible things that would be unthinkable for a merman of his age. He was still in his prime but he had a life back home that he’d rather sweep aside under his carpet of seashells. He didn’t want others to know about his past, especially Esme.
At the time, he had felt justified in avenging himself on those who had wronged him, but now Lazarus realized that he could have dealt with it in a more noble way. He had aligned himself with a fire of rage and terror that had built up within him. Ultimately he discovered that revenge solves nothing. It didn’t bring him peace or clarity.
He had once ripped a fin off of another merman in a vicious fight over a lover. The terrified mermaid had witnessed Lazarus’s violent behavior and immediately dashed away. He never saw her again, and so he had nothing to do but contemplate his mistakes.
He had moved away from those beings, choosing to reside in a darkened hole at the bottom of the ocean. He spent his life in solitude but still had to smother the lingering temptations of darkness.
Now, upon meeting Esme, a spark in him had awakened. He was attracted to her, compelled by her beauty. But he was not sure if he could be redeemed from his past actions.
Esme didn’t know much about Lazarus since they had only just met, and certainly had no idea about his dark past which limited him in his own mind. Thus he was blocked from seeing the good in himself and acting on it.
However, she would soon have to be told all about Lazarus’s wild self that lurked just beneath the surface. How long could he hide so much from her?
It would only be a matter of time before she would find out the gory truth. Lazarus would either be his own undoing or Esme’s. If he wasn’t careful, perhaps he would ruin them both.
8
Esme was careful as she swam past the crevasse for fear of the gigantic dead sea monsters, their creepy, mangled tails showing what they once were, as they hung about in between the weeds.
These monsters had once been merfolk but now they were forced to be a gruesome creatures, forever wailing, but their cries fell on deaf ears.
She kept her wits about her. The current was beginning to feel rough. It tore at her she got closer to the cobalt-blue waters of the deep.
She mused that it was likely designed this way. These fiery blue currents rapidly encircled anyone who dared to get close to them.
The ocean was a mighty force. Almost omnipotent, it nearly knocked Esme off course.
A dark blue vortex approached. How had she not seen it before? It was glaring at her, whipping the currents ever cl
oser. To it, she was just another pitiful mermaid praying for her survival.
If it could be heard to speak, it would have said, “Come, sweet thing, let me devour you. Let yourself be sucked into your doom.”
And she knew it to be true. This powerful vortex could swallow her up at any time. It whirring away at her, laughing as she used all her strength to get past it unscathed.
It’s just a place, she thought. It’s just a horrid, awful place. Once I get there and get what I need from Sheba, I can leave without a care!
But Esme knew she was approaching treacherous territory. The sea’s atmosphere filled her with dread.
Finally, she was near clear blue light. It shimmered brightly through the water; she could just make out the sun’s rays from the world above.
She poked her head up as she swam farther and reached the water’s surface, her head bobbing up as her body remained underwater.
She hesitated, knowing she should not venture into the air, for she was a mermaid and it was tricky to survive out of the water. Unless she wanted to die a very hot and dry death, it was dangerous for her to be above the surface. Luckily the sun was low in the sky so she would be safe for now. When it moved, she would find herself in some boiling temperatures.
She lifted herself out of the water, enough so that she could see, but her tail was still saturated in the shimmering ocean. She reached around her neck, pulled at a gray satchel, and slipped out a most wondrous seashell. It was white in color, expanding at the core in hues of pink that reminded Esme of the blossoming pale pink corals that grew on the seafloor.
Esme pushed the seashell to her mouth and blew into it with such a force that an echo sounded out across the lagoon, and sent ripples across the water. A figure in white made its way forward, crossing the lagoon and getting closer by the moment.
Esme watched as the figure neared. Her glistening white dress flowed all the way down to her ankles, gracing a long slender body with dramatic flair. She wore a glowing headpiece, complete with a silvery white crystals embedded in its center. Icy white hair delicately tumbled down to her waist.
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