Songs and Fins

by B. Kristin McMichael

‘You’re in the water?’ Sam asked incredulously.

  ‘Yeah, it feels nice,’ Whitney replied, still unsure what he was up to, but obviously, he had seen inside of her head to know what she was doing.

  ‘Get out of the water now and promise me that you won’t come back into the ocean without me around,’ Sam told her. Another silent oomph made it known she was still distracting him.

  ‘But what if I can’t talk to you again?’

  She had tried over a dozen times to talk mentally with him since she had come on shore earlier. Nothing worked until now, and she had a feeling the singing of the water wasn’t its only magic.

  ‘That makes a lot of sense, but I still need you to get out now. There are things you don’t understand, and it’s safer if you stay out of the water unless I’m there. Please promise me you won’t go in the ocean without me.’

  Sam was now pleading, which was strange for Whitney. He was always so self-assured, and went with orders more than not, so pleading seemed out of character. Whitney found it odd for him to be begging, but her confusion quickly turned to anger. She needed his help. He had turned her into a siren, and now she knew nothing about being one.

  ‘Please, Whit. Don’t make me beg. Stay out of the water, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know on Friday when I come to do the concert. I promise.’

  While she wanted to argue more about it, a strange sensation came over her. It was like a cold shiver that told her something was going on. Sam would get his way, but it wasn’t because he told her to stay out of the water; her inner senses were telling her to. Sam was going to think he won and continue bossing her around, but Whitney wasn’t about to defy her inner sense. It had kept her out of trouble on more occasions than she could count.

  ‘Fine,’ she replied. ‘But you will have to keep that promise.’

  Whitney could feel a sigh of relief from him as she stepped back out of the water. Without him in her head, she was truly alone again. For a brief moment, she had felt whole, and now it was gone. She moved back enough so that the coming waves wouldn’t touch her and sank down into the sand. Why did life have to be so complicated? First, she was a night human but didn’t fit in with her clan. Then she was a human who was unknowingly friends with night humans. Now she was a night human again and still didn’t fit in. When was life going to stop throwing her curveballs? She just wanted a nice happily ever after. By the looks of it, she wasn’t going to be getting one of those.

  “Do you come here for the sound of the waves or the view of the sparkling water?” a deep voice asked from beside her.

  Whitney didn’t look up as she scanned the water.

  “I come here to be alone,” she replied, still staring at the water for any sign of her new merfamily. Why was Sam so insistent she get out and why did she feel the need to leave the water? Was there something dangerous in there?

  “Ouch,” the guy said as he sat beside her. “My sister said you were having some problems with your friends, and I suppose that would make just about anyone grumpy.”

  Whitney finally turned to the unknown guy. Sitting down he was taller than her by almost a whole head. He had to be at least close to her old friend Owen’s height of six foot three inches. His dark, almost black, hair was pulled back into a short ponytail which made his crystal blue eyes stand out completely. While his sister was full of color from her hair to the various tattoos, her brother was dressed only in black to go with his black hair, and aside from the eyebrow that was pierced, there was nothing about him that said dangerous like his quiet sister.

  “Sorry, it’s been a bad day,” Whitney said, apologizing for her snippiness. She didn’t need him to say he was Jade’s brother; she could see the familial resemblance in the shape of his eyes and the curve of his mouth.

  Jade’s brother was new in town and truly didn’t deserve her anger directed at him. He wasn’t the one keeping her boyfriend from her, or making her friends ignore her.

  “I completely understand. That school isn’t the most welcoming, and if I found a few friendly faces that have now ditched me to start over, I’d be completely mad about it, too,” he told her. Obviously, he was well informed. “I’m Jax, by the way. Jade’s awesome younger brother by a whole eleven months.”

  “You’re a junior then?” Whitney asked, still scanning the surf. Nothing was there. Sam really wasn’t in the water nearby like she hoped he was. She turned to Jax as she tried to hide her disappointment.

  “Nope, senior. Jade has a September birthday, and I have August, so we’re in the same grade. She’s never really liked that, what with being the older sister and all, but I think it’s fun. People assume we’re twins all the time when they find out. She hates that.” Grinning, Jax leaned back and put his hands in the sand. He was much more talkative than his sister.

  “So where did you guys move from?” Whitney asked, keeping the conversation going. Jade was too quiet to get much out of her beyond discussing their school’s wacky fish obsession.

  “Here, there, and everywhere. I don’t think we’ve lived in one place more than eight months. My mother’s job keeps us jumping around.”

  Whitney thought about that a bit. Eight months and a new place wouldn’t be fun. She had started over only twice in her life and hated it each time. Heck, it took at least eight months to get used to somewhere. He would never have a place feel truly like home at that rate.

  “Jade said you moved here last year. Where’d you come from?”

  “I used to live on the West Coast, near the Washington-Oregon border in a little town you’ve probably never heard of,” Whitney replied. She still didn’t like to share where she was from in case people asked more. While she wasn’t part of the night humans there, she still felt loyal to them. “Been here just over a year now.”

  “Your parents travel for work, too?” he asked.

  “No. My parents died. I moved here to live with my aunt.” Whitney was used to telling the story. There would always be a bit of a ping of sadness when she said her parents were dead, but she didn’t shy away from it.

  “Oh, sorry. I’ve heard it stinks to move away from home,” Jax replied as she knocked the wind out of the conversation. Jax didn’t deserve that. He was really easy to talk to, and something about him just felt like he was a friend already.

  “I moved there when I was a teenager, so while it was my home, it felt more like a second home. I get the whole moving around thing,” Whitney continued the conversation, and Jax almost sagged with relief about not killing it.

  “So West Coast …” Jax tapped the sand, his fingers sinking right into the yellow bits. “Yetis. That's where yetis live, right? Meet any yetis while living there?”

  Whitney stared at the water to avoid giving anything away. Yetis were make-believe, but then again everyone thought shapeshifters and mermaids were also, and those were real. If she wanted, she had the fin to prove it. Jax might have been hinting that he had heard about the night human world, but he smelled as appetizing as any day human. She wasn’t really a pro on telling the difference between day and night humans, but if she went with her stomach, she’d have to guess day human. If he knew about the night human world, she didn’t know how he knew. And if he didn’t know, she wasn’t about to be the one to tell him.

  “Nope. Never met a yeti, but I suppose my best friend’s uncle could be mistaken for one if he went out into the woods. Uncle John is enormous and sports a full beard for winter. If he was blond instead of brunette, I could completely see it.”

  Whitney smiled at the thought of John as a blond. He had been her best friend’s guardian, and she knew him very well. Again, she felt too comfortable with Jax and had to change the subject off her old life before he asked too many questions she couldn’t answer.

  “And of course, everyone knows that yetis aren’t real, but then again, I also never met Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny either, and I think they’re supposed to be all over the place,” Whitney replied. That was a safe enough answer. />
  Jax nodded along and smiled as she answered.

  “I dunno. My mother always said Santa Claus can’t be seen, but is always there watching me be bad.” He took the bait and moved the conversation away from a past that she had no way of explaining.

  Whitney laughed. Her mother had said the same thing growing up. Whitney could remember that threat was good for months leading up to Christmas.

  “So no yetis and no parents. That sounds like a boring life,” Jax continued prying into her life without giving anything away about himself.

  Whitney shrugged. She couldn’t give too many details, but if she kept it vague, she would be fine. At least she hoped. “I had two best friends—Cassie and Owen. I’m really not a big fan of being popular and having a hundred friends. Two were enough for me. Until this morning, I had four here, and that was great.”

  Jax appeared genuinely shocked. “I guess I assumed you were one of the popular crowd …”

  “Because I have blond hair and blue eyes along with my killer tan?” Everyone assumed that about her. It was nothing new, but there was no way she was ever going to fit in with Amber and her crowd, being a night human or not. Whitney had no time for people who were rude, controlling, and beyond fake. It wasn’t fair to label everyone in the popular crowd that way, but for Amber, it was head on.

  Jax seemed a little embarrassed, as he now used the ocean to avoid meeting her gaze. That made Whitney turn the internal chuckle she had into a full laugh that was bubbling to get out. She never found it offensive that people assumed wrong about her. It actually amused her, and here Jax was again judging her by her appearance. Whitney had a feeling that was why Jade felt so familiar as soon as they started talking, because she was judged by her appearance also. They had the same problem. The tattoos and multicolored hair had everyone assuming she was one way when she wasn’t.

  “Ever heard the phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’?” Whitney teased.

  His cheeks flushed a little. Yes, she hit the nail on the head with that one. Whitney smiled even wider. It had been a long time since she could just kid around with a guy. Tina and Trudy were great, but girls were so much different than guys. And Noah and James were part of their group, but not quite the same. James was Tina’s twin and very protective—he didn’t take joking around well—and Noah was way more reserved. Whitney had adjusted to her new school last time, and a big part of that was Owen. She missed him almost as much as she missed her best friend, Cassie. Being able to sit and joke with Jax was making her miss Owen terribly.

  “Yeah, I get that. My sister complains about that a lot,” Jax finally told her.

  “I bet she gets it all the time. By the way, she’s really sweet,” Whitney added, moving the conversation back to him.

  Jax nodded. “I was worried about this school. We’ve been to others that are a lot more welcoming. With this one, it is like everyone is in their own little cliques, and there’s no getting in. We had a tour last week, and I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to be a fun school. Jade doesn’t make friends easily in a friendly environment; these types of schools are horrible for her.”

  Whitney couldn’t imagine what it was like to move around so much. Perhaps that was the reason Jade was so shy. Had she ever had a forever friend? Whitney had Cassie. Even though she lived across the country now, Cassie would forever be her friend. Whitney had gone back several times since she had moved, and it felt like nothing changed. Everything around them changed, but their friendship never would. It killed Whitney to not be able to tell Cassie about being a night human again. She hoped that maybe someday she could tell her since Cassie had let her know that she was actually part night human herself.

  “Do you go back to the same places ever or is it always new places? If not move back, more like a visit, get to see your old friends?” Whitney hadn’t been back to her friends since Christmas last year, and there was no way now she could go back. It was possible they would know immediately that she was a night human.

  “Yeah. There are three towns we head back to between new cities. We own houses in each of them. That feels more like home when we go back, but it doesn’t make up for the months all over the place. You can’t keep friends in a town you see once every three years or so. Everyone changes too much. I mean, who stays friends with someone since kindergarten when they live in the same town anyways?”

  Jax’s life sounded way more complicated than most, and he seemed to be making the best of it. Whitney’s problems of getting her friends back seemed trivial compared to moving around so much and starting over all the time. She couldn’t imagine life without a true friend or two.

  “So enough about that. What do you guys do around here when you aren’t in school? I get the whole ocean thing, but if you couldn’t tell by my wonderful tan, I’m not quite a sun and surf person.”

  Jax was almost as pale as a lot of night humans Whitney had met over the years. If she wasn’t able to smell he was a day human, she would have guessed he was a night human first.

  “I work, and that’s about it. Without parents, I have to make my own spending money.”

  “I get the work thing. My mother makes us help her at her job to earn our spending money. ‘Working builds character,’” he said in a very gruff, authoritarian tone.

  Whitney giggled, trying to picture Jax’s mother by his imitation. He made his mother sound really tough.

  “I heard there’s a local band here in town that tours the state.”

  Whitney knew exactly who he was talking about. Sam’s band was supposed to be a secret, and from what she heard, non-siren weren’t told it was Sam and his friends. It was easily well-known around school about Sam’s band, but they always kept it to a rumor to keep their identities secret. No one outside of the mer had an idea that it was really Sam and his two friends, Mark and Leo. Everyone knew the band and their songs, even if they didn’t know it was Sam, and they were more than a little proud of them.

  She gave a fake surprise look. “And where would you have heard that?”

  Jax shrugged. “I hear there’s a concert this Friday. I think Jade would like it if you came with us. Rock music at night is way more my style than surfing the waves.”

  Whitney smiled. She already planned to go, but with new friends, it would be even better. And trying to picture Jax surfing was making a new giggle want to burst out.

  “I think I can do that. I already have Friday night off from work to see my boyfriend.”

  “You mean the boyfriend Jade is convinced isn’t real?”

  Whitney pouted. It came off weird when she told Jade about Sam being her boyfriend, but not anything more. How could she tell anyone where he lived and where he was? He was supposed to be at school. Whitney hated lying, but even then, there was too much to make up a story about. In reality, she should have thought more about it. She was going to blame her lack of a better response that everyone in the school already knew where he was as her reason why she never thought of a better excuse.

  “Sam is real. I promise.” And now she had the perfect excuse to show why he wasn’t around.

  “Jade figured you got asked out one too many times and had to make an excuse to keep the guys away.”

  Now that did make her laugh out loud. She hadn’t been asked out once since she had been at her new school, and for that matter not once at her old school, either. Sam was the first—and now it seemed only—boyfriend she was ever going to have.

  “Far from it,” Whitney replied once she stopped laughing.

  Jax seemed shocked, which made Whitney grin.

  “High school boys are chickens,” she told him, and this time he laughed.

  “I’ll have to admit that’s true.” Jax grinned.

  “Good. Now that we have that covered, let’s hear about what you think of the school, because Jade and I compared notes and found the same things strange.”

  Whitney turned to an easy conversation, but it wasn’t like it she felt forced to talk to Jax. He ha
d this air about him that made her want to talk to him, and it was fun. She spent the last year unable to say things to her friends because she was scared of offending them, but now she could say what she thought. New people in town weren’t as scary as everyone around her acted. It was refreshingly nice, and she couldn’t wait to get to know Jade and Jax a bit better. She had her own problems to solve, but at least being friendless wasn’t one of them.

  CHAPTER 3

  Sam watched from his spot in the ocean. He was sure Whitney and the guy with her couldn’t see him, but he could see them, and it was making him mad. To say sirens had a bit of a jealousy streak was an understatement. Just the thought of her talking to strange guys made his blood boil a bit, and he knew he had to keep it under control. He had nothing to be jealous of, but he still couldn’t help it. This particular guy was driving his need to intervene to its highest ever. At that distance, he should have been able to talk to Whitney mentally, and it was driving him nuts that he couldn’t.

  ‘Get away from him now,’ Sam screamed mentally. She tossed back her head and laughed again. His message was obviously unheard. ‘Whitney, please leave him now.’ Again, she didn’t seem to hear him.

  Sam was frustrated, wanting to walk on shore and whisk her away. It was too bad his father still had total control. As the king of the siren, his word was law. And since he told Sam he could only go back to shore with direct permission, Sam couldn’t will his body to comply with what his mind wanted. He never really wanted to be king and take over, but his father was making Sam feel the need to be in control further day after day.

  Helplessly, Sam watched from the water as Whitney sat with the dark-haired boy. He didn’t know the guy’s name, but he knew exactly what he was: a hunter. He was one of the reasons Sam couldn’t stand to have Whitney out of his sight. People like him killed the siren for sport. Okay, it wasn’t for sport, but it did feel like that. The hunters killed merpeople because they could. While Sam knew the siren, in particular, feed more than once on people even though they shouldn’t, he felt that the hunters were just as bad. They killed without knowledge of anyone’s crime. To them being a merperson was a crime. While some mer were guilty, not all drank human blood, and none of the mer ever drank from children.