Her world shifted as his feet sank into the sand.
“How far out do we need to go?” His words strained, not from exertion, but what appeared to be melancholy.
“Just as long as I’m near the water, I can make it in.” Her arms held onto his neck tighter, unwilling to let him go.
“Rowan?”
“Yes?” he grunted out as he staggered closer to the crashing waves.
“Thank you.” He was quiet for a while and she wondered if the wind snatched her words away before he could hear them.
Rowan stopped just shy of the water touching his feet as it glided smoothly up the shore, only to retreat back into itself. Both her heart and her mind felt like the ocean. Her mind swelled with the knowledge she’d soon be back in the ocean, but her heart shriveled, knowing this may be the last time she’d seen Rowan.
“You’re welcome.” His eyes bore into hers, trying to express what he felt without words. Rowan rescued her and now, true to his word, he was setting her free.
“Rowan… about the scar…” Meriya swallowed, never breaking eye contact.
“Yeah?” He seemed perplexed by her question.
“It was me.” Her throat felt tight once her admission was over.
“What do you mean? You didn’t give me—”
“No. It was me that rescued you.”
Rowan stared at her, a whirlwind of emotion playing out. Disbelief, shock, and finally understanding. “I knew it! Your fin. That’s what’s been nagging me. You… you had a split in it when I found you…”
“Yes, I injured it on a piece of your boat that day.” The memory of injuring her tail was painful, but she smiled, joy overshadowing the pain as she stared at the man holding her.
“But… my father…” His face fell, fighting back tears, but failing. Meriya reached a hand up and wiped them away. “Why didn’t you save him?” His grip tightened on her and she hissed as pain shot through her battered body.
“Sorry…” He loosened his grip.
“I’m sorry, too. Your father was too large for me to carry and… and it would have been impossible to carry you both all the way to the island.”
Rowan looked away from her, nodding. She could tell he fought back the pain and memories of that night.
“I would have saved him if it were possible. I swear it, but I was only twelve.” The guilt she felt was a peculiar thing. She saved a life that day, cutting the death toll in half, but that missing half hurt Rowan.
“I understand,” he managed to squeeze out.
“I guess… this is goodbye?” Tears welled to the surface.
She’d thought of him so often the past five years, wondering about his health, how well he coped with the loss of his father. She finally found him and now she was going to have to give him up. She belonged to the ocean and he belonged to the land.
Her heart gave one final shove, sending her into motion. With her arms still around Rowan’s neck, she used that leverage to pull him closer, her lips brushing against his. She’d meant for it to be a chaste kiss, but a tingle spread through her lips, lighting her body on fire, which had nothing on the fever raging through her body.
Rowan was stunned by her action, but recovered quickly, smashing his lips into hers. Parting her mouth, she invited him in. This kiss was perfect, unlike her first kiss, she couldn’t get enough of him.
Click, click.
Rowan tensed, breaking the kiss. Slowly, Rowan turned around with her in his arms to find Nick pointing something at them.
“Put the gun down. It doesn’t have to be like this.” Rowan’s voice was calm, but at the mention of a gun, all she could think about were the stories she’d heard on human weapons. This gun could rip her body open. This was a weapon meant to kill.
“You’ve left me no choice.” Nick’s nostrils flared, even in the darkness, she could make out the red blotches of anger marring his face and neck. No, the red wasn’t from anger, it was from where Rowan broke Nick’s nose. Blood covered his face, neck, and shirt. "I already had to take care of your uncle, don't make me hurt you too."
“You son of a bitch. She was never yours to have.” Her body shifted ever so slightly, and she realized Rowan took one small step at a time, backing them into the ocean.
“You’re stupid. That bitch could have made us rich, but you kept her a secret. The world deserves to know they exist!” His weapon swung left and right, adding emphasis to each word.
“You’ll never understand, Nick. She’s a person, too. She doesn’t have legs, but she can talk and breathe just like us.”
Nick’s brow formed a deep V, eyes squinting. “What are you doing?” His voice climbed at the end in a high-pitch panic.
Rowan halted his movements, but the water was already up to his thighs, splashing her as it crashed against the back of his legs. “Me? I’m only standing here.”
“Rowan, I’m not stupid. Don’t. Move!” He aimed the gun higher, right at Rowan’s head.
“We need to get in the water,” she whispered in Rowan’s ear.
He gave her an infinitesimal nod.
“Get back up on the beach and let’s talk about this,” Nick shouted over the roar of the waves.
“Lower your gun and I will. We can talk about this like two adults, but I can’t with a gun pointed at me.” Rowan’s muscles strained from holding Meriya so long.
“Fine.” Nick hesitated, his finger itching to pull the trigger. He’d kill Rowan and take her as his own little science experiment in a heartbeat. Finally, his finger moved away from the trigger and lowered to his side, his chest rising, taking a deep breath.
“Now,” Rowan said to her as he tried to toss her into the water, but she wouldn’t go. Couldn’t. She tugged him beneath the water as a shot rang out, making her ears ring.
Rowan cried out as they were pulled beneath the waves, but she barely heard it. She felt the Ocean rejoice as Her lost mermaid finally returned. Tendrils of water snaked around Meriya, pulling her into Her depths. Remembering her gills hadn’t previously worked in the pool, she panicked, thrashing at her throat until she realized she could breathe.
A calm, like she’d never felt before, enveloped her. The Ocean welcomed her home, wrapping her in its cool embrace. She could feel Her joy and exuberance, those feelings caressing her like a motherly hand. Exhilarated, she breathed through her gills, deep and relaxing.
“Rowan–” The rest of her words lodged in her throat. Where was Rowan? Turning in a three-sixty, she couldn’t find him. He was right behind her, right? The Ocean should have brought him to safety.
Oh no.
“Rowan!” she screamed into the void in front of her. “Where are you?”
She tried to swim toward the beach, but her fins were still gone and her hands were of no use in the swift current.
One of those currents swept around her, gliding over skin and scale, bubbles flying everywhere. She swirled amidst a whirlpool of activity until unconsciousness claimed her.
Meriya had been away from Her cool waters for far too long. The healing process would take some time. Scales would need to be mended, fins regrown. She’d almost lost her to land, but She’d been able to snatch her back in time to reverse the process.
The Ocean placed her within a patch of soft corals, cushioning her body, and working her magic.
She received a nudge from the Ocean, urging her to wake up. The time came for her to return to her kingdom. Meriya stirred, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and stretching.
When she looked down at herself, new amethyst scales winked back at her, and her fins floated lazily in the water. She had her tail back. Relief filled her to bursting.
Her elation was short-lived as a sob broke from her lips. Rowan. Where was Rowan? He may have been injured and she needed to find him and save him, but the more she fought against the Ocean’s grip, the more she realized she could never go back.
Breaking free of the Ocean’s grip momentarily, she raced to the surface, breaking through
with enough speed to arch out of the water. Her eyes scanned the water and beach, but Rowan was nowhere to be seen and it was no longer nighttime. How long had she been out while she healed?
He needed to be alright. She’d find out if her family was okay and then she would return and look for him, no matter the consequences.
Hanging her head in grief over something she wasn’t sure she’d even lost because he’d never truly been hers, she swam in the direction of home. She’d check her house first before she went to the palace.
All around her were large, black, porous rocks. Larger chunks of debris stuck out sporadically as she roamed. The submarine volcano wreaked havoc on the ocean floor, raining terror down upon her world as well as shaking it up. Cracks along the ground ran amuck.
Her home didn’t fare any better. The large structure once constructed out of dead coral and shells was nowhere to be found. In its place was a fissure, littered with volcanic rock on either side of the large crack.
Meriya peered over the edge, seeing nothing but darkness below.
Clutching her chest, she mourned the loss of her home and possibly her family. She may never get to hear Jovie’s laugh again, sneak midnight snacks with her, or have her follow her to school. No more stern looks from Tandy as she tried to play the role of mother, even though she already had one. Her brain wouldn’t even let her process a life without her parents. Though her father was stern in her upbringing, she knew deep down he only tried to raise her right.
The palace would have answers. They would have cataloged survivors and started making repairs. She’d check there next and hope for the best.
29
His heart wouldn’t slow down to a normal rhythm, his adrenaline pumping as he realized not only had he been shot, but Meriya got sucked into the ocean without him, away from him.
He’d lost her, but he’d freed her. That small measure of relief was dwarfed by the fact she was the same mermaid who’d rescued him five years ago. Even when she was right under his nose, he didn’t realize who he’d found, until it was too late.
Coughing up salt water, he tried to keep his head above the waves, his eyes trained on Nick, staring him down. He winced as he pushed himself up. The bullet ripped a small hole in his abdomen, the salty ocean water doing nothing to lessen the pain.
“You’ve ruined everything! We could have been rich!” Nick sounded like a broken record as he ranted about how Rowan had wronged him. The gun pointed at him wasn’t an easy sight to ignore, but he’d already been shot once. He had nothing else to lose.
His uncle treaded lightly through the sand behind Nick. Rowan kept his eyes trained on the gun while he managed to stand. Every wave battering his calves caused him to tense his stomach muscles to maintain his upright position. The action only caused him more pain.
“I’m not going to argue anymore with you about this. She was a living creature and didn’t deserve to be a sideshow freak. Give it up.” Pressing a hand over his wound, he hobbled up on the shore, Nick’s gun following his progress.
Sirens wailed in the distance and he couldn’t help but smile.
“You called the cops?” Nick accused.
“No, I didn’t call anyone.” He held his hands up in surrender. “Even if I had my phone on me, the water would have fried it.”
“You’re lying!” He jabbed the gun in the air at Rowan, indecision creasing his brow.
“When would I have had time to call the cops?” Blood continued to leak out of the wound in his abdomen, turning his shirt pink as it mixed with the water already saturating the material, so he pressed his hand back to it, crying out. “They…” he breathed through the pain. “They probably heard you fire your gun. Where did you get that thing anyway?”
Nick didn’t answer Rowan’s question, quickly holstering his gun, he spun around to run, only to be confronted by Uncle Terrance.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Uncle shouted as a steel pipe collided with Nick’s head, knocking him out cold. He dropped the pipe and dusted off his hands. “And I was the one who called the cops.” His Uncle looked smugly down at the unconscious Nick.
Rowan sank to his knees in the sand, unable to stand any longer. He sat back on his heels, waiting for the sirens to get closer. His world swam by in a blur of beiges and greens from the blood loss. The last thing he remembered were EMT’s running out as he collapsed to the sand.
Sirens woke him up again, a screeching sound grating on his nerves. He groggily opened his eyes to discover the culprit, a machine next to his hospital bed.
A nurse in scrubs covered in cats rushed in and extended his arm. “You put a kink in the IV and made the machine alarm go off.” She patted his hand and then pressed a series of buttons, shutting the alarm off. “Keep it straight if you can.”
“How long have I been out?” His throat felt raw as if scoured with thirty-grit sandpaper.
“Two days.” Turning back to him, she took his vitals. “You lost a lot of blood. How you feelin’?”
“Like I’ve been shot and slept for two days?” His laugh came out more of a cough. The nurse poured him a cup of water and he drank it down greedily.
“The bullet went clean through and the doctor was able to get the bleeding stopped.” She took his empty cup, refilled it, and then set it on the bedside table. “You’re lucky, had the shot gone more to the left, it could have hit one of your lungs.”
Yet, all he could think about was whether Meriya was better now. She’d looked like death that night, her eyes sunken, hair thin and lifeless just like her. Would the ocean heal her like she claimed it could? The concept was hard to grasp, but then again, he’d spent the last week or so with a mermaid, so anything was possible, right?
When he got out of the hospital, he’d go looking for her. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was alive and well, no matter how much he couldn’t be a part of her life.
30
Wreckage lined the path on either side of her as she worked her way through the rubble to get to the palace, finding carnage the likes of which she’d never seen. Houses lay decimated, large rocks and debris littered the ground, the coral that once graced the ocean floor was but a thing of the past, either covered in hardened lava or lost into the depths of the cracks zigzagging the area.
What the volcano failed to destroy with its missiles of destruction, the earthquake finished off. Buildings lay in ruin, collapsed from the shaking of the ocean floor.
The possibility of her family surviving became grimmer by the second. Not a soul was seen along her journey. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to become one with the salty water surrounding her. She would not, could not cry until she found out the truth. There was no reason to mourn the loss of her family and friends until she found out their fate.
Coming over the crest of the hill, she looked down upon the palace, watching merfolk busily pulling rubble and looking for survivors. The cooling effect of the ocean prevented the lava from traveling too far, but She could only do so much to protect her charges. The projectiles and earthquake managed to strike with a vengeance. Once proud, black spires lay smashed into sharp, razor-edged shards.
She covered her mouth to stifle a cry. The kingdom was reduced to nothing. The words Cayson spoke to her tugged at her heart. If what he claimed was true, this was her kingdom, not just her home. Rebuilding would take forever. Would they be able to obtain enough obsidian to make the palace as glorious as it previously was?
Moving down the hill, she watched closely, looking to see if anyone she knew was around. Her shoulders slumped, and she released a breath when she didn’t spot Cayson. She wasn’t quite ready to face him yet. She needed time.
The merfolk amazed her with how well they worked together. No one took notice of her yet, but soon the crowd parted, and she froze in place when a familiar face came into view. She’d yet to notice Meriya, her eyes set on the task of dislodging a stone.
She was alive!
Which meant perhaps the rest of her
family was okay. Maybe they’d been able to escape the house in time and find some form of shelter. Hope welled up inside her, full to bursting. She choked out a sob of relief, which caused her sister to turn.
Jovie looked up, eyes rimmed red from crying, and Meriya’s hope fizzled, deflating her. Those sad eyes widened, finally recognizing her sister.
She left the stone where it lay and dashed to Meriya. Before she could brace herself, Jovie collided with her body, arms ensnared her and forced her to the ground.
“You’re alive! You’re alive! You’re alive!” she chanted, peppering kisses all over Meriya’s face. Her arms were trapped at her sides as Jovie’s lips assaulted her.
“Jovie! Let me up!” She struggled against her firm hold. Jovie finally relented enough for them to right themselves.
“Where have you been?” she chastised Meriya. “I’ve looked everywhere, even the shipwrecks! When I couldn’t find you, I thought… I thought…” she broke down into a puddle of sobs and once against crushed Meriya against her.
“Jovie?” This time her arms were free. She squeezed her sister tight, reassuring Jovie she was still there and not going anywhere soon. Then she asked the one question she dreaded the answer to. “Where are Mom and Dad? Where’s Tandy?”
Her sobs grew increasingly louder once she posed the question, confirming her worst fears.
She pulled Jovie at arm’s length, looking her over, her eyes pleading for Jovie to deny it.
All Jovie could do was shake her head, averting her gaze. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and then whispered two words which would crush Meriya. “They’re gone.”
“How do you know?” She gripped her shoulders tighter.
“They were working at the palace that day.” She stepped out of her reach and pointed to the disaster before them. “Look at it! There isn’t anything left!”
Sirens and Scales Page 394
