“I can’t believe you were so brave,” Dym said when I was finished. “I mean, I can, but I don’t know if I’d have made the same choice you did. Going back in the asylum and all.”
“It wasn’t really a choice. I had to do it.”
“You could have been killed. I apologize again for the sleep spell’s ineffectiveness,” Dym said solemnly. He used his forearms to lift himself partway out of the water. It was almost as though he wanted to take my hand, or wrap his arms around me. “And I am truly sorry about your friends, especially Laura and Rose.”
I swallowed a lump that suddenly appeared in my throat. “That’s all right. I only wish they could have had the future they deserved.”
“At least now, they are vindicated,” Dym said. “And Drawing Down the Moon worked. Guess the protection spell was no match for it.”
“Er, right!” I didn’t know if I should say it was my goddess power that removed the protection. Instead, I motioned to the trees and vines around us. “And can you believe the garden is in full bloom again?”
“It’s not surprising this would happen when there’s a spillover of power. Doing something like drawing down the moon calls upon a great deal of cosmic energy. The excess generally goes to the closest place it’s needed.”
“The garden,” I realized.
Dym nodded. “You probably noticed a smaller example when the garden started coming back to life, little by little, when you were here.”
“You saw that, too?” I guess it wasn’t my imagination. But why does Dym think I carry moon power with me?
“You affect life all around you, Seluna.” Dym grinned his smirky grin. “It’s a bit hard not to notice.”
I tried not to blush. It’s just as hard to remember I’m supposed to be angry with you.
“Not to mention the fact that reflective surfaces act as conduits to channel the moon’s energies. It’s part of why reflections made it easier for you to reanimate things.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “How do you know all this? About the moon and the energy and the conduits? And I never mentioned anything about reflective surfaces making reanimation easier.”
“I told you, Seluna, I’m a student of the moon.” He smiled again and made circles in the water in front of him. “I look at her, study her. Try to predict her every move.”
“Okay, then why did the moon save the garden, but not those poor girls?” I sank down by the pond and dropped the Book by my side. Suddenly, I was saddened by the realization that the other patients could have lived, but didn’t.
Dym stopped smiling and took my hands. The gesture surprised me so much I almost cried out. His hands were wet, of course, and I expected them to be cold. But though they left damp spots on my trousers, Dym’s hands were as warm and caring as any I’d ever held.
“The moon can only work with what it’s given, Seluna,” he said softly. “The garden was alive all along, underneath. But the girls’ life energy was all but gone.” He stroked the backs of my hands with his thumbs.
I took several deep breaths and willed myself not to cry. I’d never had trouble controlling myself before, except the last time I saw Dym. What was it about him that made my emotions crash on top of me all at once?
“If you don’t mind my saying so, I think you should bury them in the garden. I can help, if you like.”
I almost regretted having to pull my hands away from Dym’s to stop the tears from coming. For a moment, I put them over my eyes, which stayed dry.
“They’ll be part of the earth again, and will help the garden grow,” Dym added.
“I don’t suppose their families will come looking for them,” I said at last.
“Sadly, I didn’t suppose that either.”
“But the garden will keep growing, won’t it?” I lifted my head to look at the trees and vines above. “I don’t think I can bear the thought of all this flowering beauty turning back into death.”
“It will if you take care of it from now on.” Dym rested his elbows on the ground. “It only died because Catron let it. Most of us need constant light and attention to live, from one source or another. When we are unloved, neglected . . . when our potential and possibilities wither, evil things take root.”
“I’ll certainly do everything to prevent that from happening here,” I said. A green leaf—green!—fell from the tree overhead, and I turned it over and over in my hands. “But what I don’t understand is why Catron’s psychic said an evil event would occur at all. You’d think ridding the world of people like him and Cutter would be considered a good thing.”
“Because it was Catron’s fortune being told, the psychic saw those deaths as evil and inauspicious for him,” Dym explained. “The outcome of the fortune all depends upon your perspective.”
“Speaking of fortune-tellers,” I looked darkly at him, “why didn’t you tell me these things were going to happen? The girls getting hurt. Me getting hurt. So many innocent people dying.”
“Seluna, if I was shown something I thought could keep you—or anyone—from harm, you know I’d tell you in a heartbeat. But it’s like I said when we first met: psychic abilities can be unpredictable. If a feeling or vision comes, it’s like an unexpected gift.”
“Next time you get a gift like that, do me a favor?” I sighed. “Keep the receipt.”
“Rather difficult, with no pockets in my swimming costume.”
I managed a smile. “Then get a box specifically for receipts at home.”
I thought Dym would smile back. Instead, he looked at me for a long moment.
“Actually, Seluna, the sea is my home.”
I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘the sea is your home?’ No one lives in the sea . . . unless that person is a fish.”
Dym looked at me for several more long moments, a reluctant expression on his face.“Seluna, I have something to tell you.” He pushed himself back from the ground and into the water, then stopped. “Actually, it may just be easier to show you.” He swam towards the center of the pond. “Ah, you may want to stand back a little.”
I had no idea what Dym was about to do, but I got up and moved several feet away from the pond.
Dym took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes.” He sank underneath the surface of the water.
When he didn’t resurface right away, I began to get nervous. “Dym?” I called. Then louder. “Dym?”
Suddenly, Dym came bursting out of the pond, leaping straight up. He made a wide arc with his body before slicing back into the water. Over and over, he flew above the waves, each time landing back with an enormous splash, only to explode out again. Incredible, I thought. I didn’t realize he was such a strong swimmer. But his swimming abilities weren’t the most startling thing. No, that honor was reserved for the lower half of Dym’s body.
It was an enormous fin covered in scales.
I gasped. The blue-green fin was long and agile, tapering into two points at the end. It sparkled brilliantly in the sun. Beautiful. Just like every other part of Dym. I was still gasping for breath when he swam to the shore.
“Dym, you’re . . . you’re a mermaid?”
“Merman,” Dym corrected, somewhat sharply. He shook the excess water out of his hair while I returned to where I’d been standing. “I still have all my important parts underneath these fins, you know.” He rolled his eyes. “Just call us ‘mers’ for short. That’s what we do.” Then his face softened. “I see you’re fairly shocked about my heritage.”
I shrugged and quickly regained my composure. “Maybe a little. But my sister claims to have married a cricket. Stranger things have happened.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “So, when I first met you . . . that bit about you being a shepherd?”
Dym didn’t even blink. “Oh, that? I lied.”
“Wait, that means you were the creature Catron was looking for,” I realized.
Dym made a face. “ ‘Creature’ is rather a harsh word, don’t you think?” He smoothed back his hair and extended his long neck
to look up at me. “Still, I’m guilty as charged.”
“But that also means if Catron had found you, he would have found . . .” My voice trailed off. Dym was looking at me, full of awe, the same way he had when we first met.
“You knew,” I said simply. “You knew what I was—who I was—the entire time.”
Dym’s eyes were shining, and he smiled as though he’d never stop. “Not at the beginning,” he said. “Though I strongly suspected, as I’m certain Catron did. I heard whispers on the wind that Selene—also called Luna—had been reborn somewhere in this area, and my intuition led me to Silver Hill. I couldn’t tell you outright that I was a mer, or that I thought you might be the goddess of the moon. As I said, I wasn’t certain of the latter. Not to mention that professing the two beliefs combined might make me seem a little, well, crazy.”
“Crazy.” I nodded, glancing back at the asylum. “I agree we’re in the right place for crazy. So, all those times you came here weren’t to swim, relax, or thrill-seek? It was to see me?”
Dym nodded. “After a while, I surmised who you were.”
“Why didn’t you tell me I was who you thought I was? When you knew who I was, I mean?” I rubbed my head. This conversation is making me dizzy.
“Would you have believed me if I did? What evidence did I have to convince you? Even your own extraordinary abilities weren’t enough to do that.”
I had to admit, Dym had a point. The evidence had been staring me in the face the entire time. I’d just refused to see it.
“And knowing what valuable creatures mers would be to someone like Catron, revealing myself would only have put you in danger. I couldn’t even disguise myself as a mortal at Silver Hill if I wanted to. I have no method of smuggling dry clothes in here, you realize. The only way in for me is through the moat.”
I tried to interject, but Dym wasn’t finished. All the words came tumbling out of him. Like my emotions, I supposed he’d been holding them back a long time. He must have wanted to tell me all this ages ago.
“How was I going to explain not only a trespassing boy, but a naked trespassing boy at an insane asylum? If I showed my fins, they’d definitely know I was a mer. We’d both be in a boatload of trouble then. And I couldn’t very well bring you to my home to ensure your safety. After all, I live at the bottom of the ocean. I couldn’t get a message to Laura’s aunt or anyone else, because I’d have to explain how I knew the girls were in trouble, about the asylum, et cetera. Why I was there when I shouldn’t have been.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “Exactly how would you have been a naked boy? I mean, any more naked than you are now.” I looked down at Dym’s exposed torso and glistening scales. “You can’t walk with fins.”
“Mers have legs on land, when our lower halves are dry,” he said.
“But I still don’t understand why you were so valuable to Catron.”
“It is said that the minds of mers instinctively turn towards the moon, and therefore, the moon goddess. I don’t know if it’s a myth, or if it actually has a basis in science. Let’s just say Catron wouldn’t be the first to try and fish around in there—no pun intended—for some useful gray matter.” He saw the look of alarm on my face. “Not that it’s been done to me,” he said quickly. “But I’ve heard of it happening to others of my kind.”
“That’s awful,” I said softly.
“Indeed.” Dym rubbed his face. “I don’t know what they’d find if they did crack open my skull. Possibly something, possibly nothing. But I selfishly kept coming back because I couldn’t stay away from you. I’m so sorry, Seluna. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Forgive you? But there’s nothing to forgive! It is I who should be asking your forgiveness. For the way I ended it, the things I said . . .” I gestured helplessly.
Dym shook his head. “I knew there was a possibility of your enchanting me, the way Selene did with Endymion the shepherd. I didn’t know if I’d ever reawaken once you made me sleep. Endymion never awoke in the legend, if you recall. But I chose to stay anyway. What else could I do? All mer worship you, Goddess.” Again, that look on Dym’s face that I had never seen on any other boy’s.
“How could I be a goddess and not know it?” I asked.
Dym shrugged. “Many people do not know the power they possess. Especially women.”
“But how did you know about the sleep spell? You can’t expect me to believe you just chose page one thirty-six by coincidence.” I picked up the Book and held it in front of my chest.
“The same way I knew to search for it, and leave it in the secret passage for you to find,” he answered.
My jaw dropped, and the Book nearly did as well. “You knew about the secret passage, too? Let me guess: it’s all part of that family-intuition thing. And by family, I assume you mean mermaids?”
“Mer!” Dym corrected. “And yes.”
“Where did you find the Book?”
“It was behind a few stones in one of the outer walls. How it got there, I’ll never know.”
“How do you even get to Silver Hill and the garden, Dym?” I turned the Book over in my hands. “I mean, now that we’re revealing our innermost secrets and everything.”
“Most people don’t know this about the asylum, but its moat connects to an underground river that leads all the way to the ocean. That’s why no one ever sees me walking along the vast miles of moor when I visit.”
“Because you’re essentially swimming underground.” I wonder if Silver Hill’s founders put the river there. “Still, I can’t believe you came all that distance just for me, over and over. It’s an awfully long journey to the sea.”
“Not for an adept swimmer.” Dym rose up and down on his fins. Show-off. I realized all those times it seemed he was standing in the pond, he’d really been moving his tail underwater to keep afloat. He couldn’t kick off like other swimmers because then I’d see his fins. All the strange, mysterious things he’d been doing were starting to make sense.
Slowly, Dym stopped his body from rising and falling. “Seluna, I wanted to ask you, what will you do now that you’ve defeated Catron? I can’t imagine you going back to live with your family.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them. “I’m not sure. It’s all just been too much. I need some time to think. I thought I’d live at the asylum for a while.”
“Live here?” Dym made a face like he’d tasted Silver Hill food for the first time. “Why would anyone do that?”
“Well, I’d make a few changes, obviously. Besides, there’s a certain mer who visits for midnight swims. One I’ve grown especially fond of.” This time, it was Dym who blushed, and I enjoyed a smug sense of victory.
“And I have a feeling this battle isn’t over,” I continued. “The last time I saw Catron, he said I’d stop at nothing to complete my mission. Then he mentioned something about ‘others coming for me.’ ”
Dym looked alarmed. “Others? What others?”
“Beats the devil out of me.”
Dym leaned his head closer. “You know, you might have told me this before. I’m only now finding out you might be in peril. Again.”
I pursed my lips. “Well, excuse me if I was distracted by someone revealing himself to be part fish. Besides, I don’t care. Let them come, these ‘others.’ Let them all come. I sorted out Catron. I wager I can sort out anyone else who challenges me. In the meantime, I’m pretty much head of the asylum, and I’ve got some interesting plans for it.”
“I admire your confidence, Seluna, but do be careful. Of course, I will help in any way I can against these new threats, whatever your plans may be.”
My expression softened. “Hopefully, we won’t see them for a while, if at all.” I knelt down to get a closer look at his face. “And thank you, Dym. You are kind beyond words.”
We looked deeply into one another’s eyes. Dym and I were so close, our lips were almost touching. Suddenly, he coughed and jutted his chin towards the Book.
“Y
ou know, I flipped through more than a few pages of that compendium before putting it in the staircase. But there was one part I didn’t understand. It shows a boy smiling, looking up at the moon.”
I knew exactly which part Dym was referring to: it was Queen Sophia’s story of the moon goddess and her lover.
“Do you think it could be us?” he whispered. The sunlight filtered through the trees, making beautiful triangular patterns on his face. I could only imagine my face looked similar.
“I think it must be,” I breathed. Maybe that explained the swaying feeling I had when I first met Dym. Is it because I knew him in other lifetimes? Am I the sand to his sea, the moon to his tide? If this is what falling in love feels like—again—it’s enough to make one dizzy. “Perhaps that was the real reason I used the sleep spell to protect you, even though I was furious you wouldn’t help me.” Dym opened his mouth to speak, but I put my hand up. “Now, I understand why you couldn’t, of course. But maybe, subconsciously, I knew we were destined to be each other’s loves. It’s funny, though. You’d think we’d get tired of doing this over and over. Coming back down, having to relearn everything.”
“I don’t know, Seluna,” Dym replied. “A thousand lifetimes with you may not be enough. After all, the moon is the heavenly body of mystery. Endlessly fascinating.” At first, I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me. Then he said the next part so softly, I could barely hear him.
“Why do you think I’ve worshipped you all this time? I think I loved you even before I was sure you were a goddess.” This time, I knew he wasn’t teasing.
“And imagine, I thought you were just a boy in a pond. Dym, I think—no, I’m sure I love you.”
“I have always loved you, Seluna. Always.”
He leaned closer to me, his eyes hesitating. Finally, he pressed his mouth fully against mine and circled my waist with his arms. His whole body was wet, soaking my clothes. But I didn’t care. I threw my own arms around his strong shoulders. Finally. I kissed Endymion. His lips were warmer and sweeter than I ever could have dreamed. Through him, I tasted salt on the water, felt light and shadow on the waves. I kissed and kissed him as a thousand oceans moved back and forth between our souls.
Myths & Magic: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection Page 147
