by Angela Blake
Livy took a deep breath and then told them both about Sandra coming to see her and telling her to stay away. Even as she told the story, she began to feel a bit foolish. It was such a classic cheesy romance plot. Other chick comes to stake her claim on the heroine by claiming to be engaged to him. It was every soap opera she’d ever watched. Not that she would ever admit to watching them.
“Oh my God,” she said even as she finished the story, “She totally Abagnaled me.”
“If that means she duped you then I have to agree. Didn’t you think to even ask Tane first?”
“I did wait for him to call me. He didn’t.”
“Didn’t you leave your phone in Honolulu?” Gill piped in.
“I did,” Livy said looking slightly shamefaced, “But I have an office number.”
“Does Tane know you left your phone or does he think you’re sending him to voicemail?” Nikora asked.
“We don’t even know if he’s calling!” Livy protested.
“So are we going to sit around biting our nails or are you going to find out?” Nikora challenged.
Livy covered her face with her hands, rubbing up and down in agitation.
“What should I do?” she asked the room in general.
She felt something hit her hand and looked up to see Nikora holding out her phone.
“Call him,” she said.
Chapter Seventeen: Broken Telephone
“Hi mom,” Tane said into his phone.
“It’s not your mother,” Livy’s voice drifted down the line, sounding tired and sad.
“Livy.” He said perking up, “You left your phone here.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Obviously I forgot it.”
“I thought we were supposed to talk.”
Livy sighed.
***
Tane had searched the entire house but there was no sign of Livy. He found one of the bedrooms was in a state, unmade bed, things all over the place, and figured this was where she was sleeping.
“Maybe she went out and forgot her phone,” he said to himself as he descended the stairs, “In which case she probably won’t be long.”
He waited for three hours but she wasn’t back yet so he went back upstairs to check her closet. That was when he noticed it was empty. There were not clothes anywhere, not in the closets or a bag.
“Did she leave already?” he wondered. According to his mother, she was in town to see him. So why would she leave without doing that? Was it because of the guy? The surfer dude? Did she meet him and forget about Tane.
A curious pain zipped through his chest at the thought, leaving a strange virtual bruise over his heart. He reached up, rubbing at it absently as he went back down to the kitchen and collected her phone. If she wanted it back, she would have to find him. Just in case she came back, he left a note.
***
Three days later, he hadn’t heard a single word from her. He went back to his grandparents’ digs after class to see if she might still be there. From the looks of the place, no one had been there since he had left.
“Okay so she just…left,” he murmured to himself feeling completely confused at this turn of events, “Or something happened to her.”
The pit of worry in his belly grew and his next stop was the police station.
“Can I help you sir?” the guy behind the counter said.
“Uh yeah, I think that er, I would like to report a missing person?”
“You’re not sure?”
“I uh, well she’s not from here. She comes from Maui and she left her phone in the place where she was staying.”
“Couldn’t she have forgotten it and gone home without it?”
“Um yeah sure but…she had unfinished business and I just don’t see why she would go without a word, and without finishing it.”
“Okay here’s what we’ll do. You fill out a missing persons report and we’ll look into it.”
“Thank you.” Tane said as he took the form he was handed. He filled it out and handed it in wanting to ask what next, really insist that they put every effort in finding her. But he didn’t have the right words.
The next day they called him to report that Livy had taken a plane to Maui on Tuesday and as far as anyone knew she was alive and well and showing up for work.
“Oh, thank you,” Tane said feeling a tad stupid. He wondered if they’d told Livy about his filing a missing persons report. It would be so embarrassing if they had.
There was a knock on the door and Tane stood up, going to peer through the key hole to see who it was. Sandra was standing outside the door, a brown paper bag in her hand.
“I come bearing food!” she shouted through the door as if she knew he was there.
Tane sighed opening the door for her. He was getting a little tired of Sandra ubiquity. Everywhere he turned she seemed to be right there.
“Hey,” he said tiredly.
“Hey you.” She held up the bag, “I come bearing gifts.”
The greasy smell of French fries filled the room and Tane reached for the bag, “thanks,” he said peering inside to see a burger in addition to the French fries, “Don’t suppose you have a milkshake somewhere?” he murmured.
Sandra laughed, “Sorry. I could whip you up some if you have ice-cream in your freezer.”
Tane shook his head, “No ice cream but plenty of ice and lemons if you wanna attempt to make some lemonade.”
“On it,” Sandra said promptly and Tane watched her go in surprise. He had mostly been joking. Her eagerness to cater to his every need was kind of disconcerting. He heard her open his fridge and rifle around in there. Shrugging resignedly, he plopped down on his couch and got the food out. He wondered for a moment if he should wait for Sandra before starting to eat but he was hungry. He picked at the French fries, and then picked up the burger and took a bite.
“Mmm, delicious.” He said.
“It’s your favorite from that restaurant you like,” Sandra said from the doorway.
“Oh,” Tane said not knowing what to say, “thanks?”
“You’re welcome,” Sandra replied with a huge smile.
She brought him his lemonade and then sat and watched him eat. It was creepy.
“So Sandra,” he said searching for words to ask what he needed to, “Are you seeing anyone?”
“What?” she asked sharply, brow lifting in surprise.
“Are you seeing anyone? I feel like I monopolize your time a lot.”
Sandra stared at him mouth open, “I…thought we were…”
Tane put down his cheese burger, “Thought what?” he asked cautiously.
“I just…I mean we’ve been spending so much time together. We enjoy each other’s company right?”
“Um yeah I guess we do but Sandy you know I’m not interested in you like that right?”
Sandra took a breath, “So how are you interested in me?”
“How? I guess like a friend,” Tane said.
“But it’s not like you have a girlfriend or anything so why can’t we…?”
“Can’t we what? There’s no we, Sandy, is what I’m trying to tell you.”
“But why not?”
Tane sighed, “Because…I’m pretty sure I’m in love with someone else.”
He realized what he was saying even as the words were leaving his mouth. It was as much a revelation to him as he assumed it was to Sandra. Turned out his father had been right after all.
***
“So it looks like there was some sort of misunderstanding,” Livy said over the line.
“Oh yeah, you came to see me then you left without seeing me.”
“I was…misled,” Livy said.
“Misled by…what?”
“Not what, who.”
“Huh?”
Livy sighed, closing her eyes as her face flamed. Tane couldn’t see her but she
was still embarrassed at being tricked, “Um, some girl came to see me and told me to get lost because I was interfering with your relationship. I paraphrase of course.”
“I beg your pardon?!?” Tane squeaked.
“Yeah um, that girl that was at your place. Sandra? Yeah well, she kind of implied that you were engaged.”
“Engaged?”
Livy cleared her throat, “Yeah I know, shame on me for believing such obvious crap. In my defense, I was not in my right mind.”
“Are you ever?” the words came out automatically without thought as did the smile on Tane’s face. But maybe now wasn’t the time.
“Ha ha. Anyways, that’s my story.”
“Um so your story is you left town without talking to me about whatever you were planning to talk to me about because some random girl came and told you to?”
“When you put it like that…” her voice was sardonic and maybe slightly ashamed. Tane couldn’t have that.
“Mistakes were made. On both sides. Let’s put it behind us?”
“I am in favor of that.”
“Cool. So…what did you come all the way to Honolulu to tell me?”
There was a hesitation on the line.
“Umm, so my mother and sister are here too. Can we maybe talk about this another time?”
Tane’s eyebrows rose in surprise and peaked curiosity, “Sure. I think I can come by this weekend if you’re free.”
“I’ll make time.”
“Excellent. See you Saturday.”
“Okay bye.”
“Bye Livy.”
He hung up a smile on his face and a feeling of lightness in his chest. He hadn’t realized how heavy the burden of heartache was until it was gone. That was until he remembered what Sandra did.
“Engaged?” he asked the empty room in disbelief. He thought back carefully on his behavior trying to think if he had ever even gone down on one knee to tie a shoelace maybe or pick up a rock in front of her. Something she might have misconstrued. But nothing came to mind. He had never even kissed her. Why would she think…?
Tane shrugged, wondering if he just didn’t understand women.
“Should I have a talk with her…?” he mused to himself wishing that there was someone he could talk to about all of it. His father wasn’t scheduled for shore leave for three months and this wasn’t a conversation they could have on the phone. This might have been a good time to have some best friend type of person.
In the absence of that, he decided to go for a swim.
***
He dived into the water, going ever deeper because the beach had been empty at this time on a weekday and he just wanted to connect with that other half of himself. He felt a tiny pop as his gills manifested and his pace increased now that he had a fin instead of legs. He swam around, not knowing if he was looking for something or just enjoying the freedom of having this. The last time he’d done this, Livy had caught him red-handed and that brought about the whole slew of misunderstandings they were going through. He swam deeper, unconsciously keeping an eye out for any merpeople. They probably wouldn’t come out if they saw him but he missed the connections he’d made. He wanted to keep it open.
‘Hail Tane’ a disembodied voice said and Tane looked around to try and identify the source.
‘Hello, who’s there?’ Tane called back and then grinned to himself at the cliché line. It’s what every victim said in every horror movie just before they got killed.
‘Can’t you guess?’
‘If I could guess I wouldn’t be asking.’
‘What has one fin and a job in the Navy?’
‘Dad??’
‘Hi.’
‘How?’
‘You called for me.’
‘And you heard me?’
‘It’s a thing that we can do. Communicate over distance.’
‘How?’
‘Nobody really knows but it’s thought to be something to do with the water carrying thought waves.’
‘Huh. Maybe I should do a thesis on it.’
‘Maybe you should.’ Tane could hear the amusement in his father’s voice.
‘So what’s got you so spun out?’ Tipene asked.
‘Just…turns out I am in love with Livy.’
‘And this is a bad thing?’
‘No. I think she feels the same.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘Everything.’
There was a ripple of amusement not his own, across Tane’s mind.
‘Okay, why don’t we start at the beginning?’
‘I don’t know what to do about our secret. What should I say to her? She’s already asked me about it once. It’s gonna come up again.’
‘I guess it comes down to respecting boundaries.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I don’t know the Pieras as well as you and your mother do. But in terms of having enough decorum to respect your boundaries and realize that there are some things you can’t share…do you think she can do that?’
Tane really thought about it.
‘Mom.’ he stopped swimming as the realization hit.
‘What?’
‘You think she might suspect don’t you? But she doesn’t ask.’
‘We’ve lived together for twenty five years. What kind of relationship would we have if she was completely oblivious?’
‘So…what? You just have an unspoken agreement?’
‘Well…first we had a lot of fights about whether I was cheating on her or if I really loved her.’
‘And you just kept all of this to yourself?’
‘It’s none of your business!’
Chapter Eighteen: God of the sea
Livy tried to absorb what she had just heard. She stared at the woman sitting in front of her, trying to discover any sense of whether this might be a joke. She was definitely an odd character, of the sort she would likely have crossed the road to avoid on a normal day. Her name started with an 'M' - Maite, she thought. Once she started in with her story, Livy had forgotten everything she had said in introduction. Now she was torn between laughing, crying, screaming, and calling for the police.
"I do assure you, Liviana, that what I have told you is the truth," she added, likely sensing her unease.
"It's just all so fantastical, ma'am. Never in my life have I heard such a tale." She frowned at her, trying to understand why she would waste Livy’s time in this way if it wasn’t true. She’d had her suspicions about Tane but never in her wildest dreams had the word mer crossed her mind. Those were fairy tales and myth…weren’t they?
"Would you require a demonstration? It is not common practice for us to provide evidence of the existence of our world to outsiders such as yourself, but you would need to provide the salt water."
She stood up and Livy followed her to the bathroom where she filled the tub. Livy ran to the kitchen to get some salt and then the woman stripped no hint of embarrassment about being naked in Livy’s presence and entered the tub. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she never would have believed it. A long fin streaked with all the colors of the rainbow replaced the woman’s legs. The colors made her dizzy, they seemed to be moving, undulating, shifting under the water like they were alive beneath the woman’s silver scales. The rest of her sat easy, stormy grey eyes watching Livy’s reaction.
“Who are you really?” she whispered.
“My name is Tangaroa and you are in love with one from my realm.”
She stared at her.
There was a long pause before she said anything. "So, you're telling me that Tane is one of...you?"
"Yes, Liviana, it's all as I've told you. The man that you love is the son of a mer and a human. He can never tell you of his heritage and you can never speak of it. If you do, you risk death for everyone that you love."
"I see..." Livy was staring at the fireplace. None of this made sense. It was a fair
ytale, to be certain. And yet, here was evidence that her story may just ring true. "Is that like, a threat or..?."
She flashed Livy a half-smile.
"It is nothing but the truth. If humans know of the mer, it will put their existence in danger. I am tasked to protect their existence. And so I would have to rid the world of the threat."
She rose from the bath, fin seamlessly becoming feet.
"Why did you tell me this then? Why didn’t you leave me ignorant?"
”Because you are his mate.”
Livy opened her mouth to tell her that nothing was set in stone but then closed it again. If this…being was who she said she was, she had more knowledge on the issue than Livy did.
“What do I do?” she asked instead.
“Nothing.” Tangaroa said.
And then she disappeared.
***
Livy decided to go and see Nikora. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be her. the god had said that Tane was the son of a mer and human. Considering that Tane’s father worked in the Navy while his mother had known parents, she was betting that Nikora was the human parent. And if she was Tipene’s ‘mate’ the way Tane was hers…then surely this being had visited her too long ago. It was a working theory but Livy knew she had to tread carefully. If Nikora didn’t know anything then telling her anything was putting her life in danger.
“Hi.” She said into the phone.
“Livy, nice of you to call. Nervous about tomorrow.”
Livy opened her mouth to say no but then figured it was as good an excuse as any, “Actually yeah. Very nervous. Can we talk?”
“Sure. I got milk and cookies.”
“You always know the right things to say,” Livy said forcing a light tone into her voice.
“Well, that’s why I’m the mom.” Nikora replied.
“See you soon,” Livy said and hung up without saying goodbye.
***
She knocked on the door, peering in nervously when there was no answer.
“Nikora?”
The older woman came walking down the hall, watching her with concern.
“Why are you knocking? Get in here.” She said.
Livy stepped into the house with relief. She thought Nikora would be mad about her hanging up on her but she seemed unfazed.
