“Well, that was clumsy of her.”
“I always wondered if there was a half-fish version of me swimming around somewhere.”
Narissa’s brain felt scrambled. “It’s very likely. There are rules about mating with humans, but some are too desperate to care.”
He nodded. “I’ve never told anyone before. Folks would think I was crazier than they already do. It shook me up so bad, I ran away and joined the army. You see where that got me. And somehow, I ended up back here, like something was pulling me.”
“How’d you figure out what I was?”
“You remind me of her. It’s in your eyes and voice. No doubt I’m a fool to be here listening to you.”
“I just want to help you.”
“What do you get out of it?” There it was again, that emotionless steel in his voice.
Honesty was her only shot, and the simpler the better. “My job is to invite people to come live in the sea, to become mers themselves.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“You’d be healed, body and mind. You could have a family and freedom from all your problems, even the ones that haunt you deep inside.”
“How?”
“It’s a spell. They ask what you want them to take from you and they will, even memories. Or they can soften the pain—whatever you want. You just need to give them something, a token that shows you’re willing to give up your life on land. And you would still be able to take up your humanity at times and walk freely on land, strong and healthy with both legs.”
He took a long drink of his smoothie and nodded at a passing tourist who dropped a five in his lap. “How long do I have to think on it?”
“Let me take you to the beach tonight. You won’t be committing, just testing the waters. I can introduce you to my world, and you can say no later if you want to.”
This was all true, though saying no would take a crazy amount of will power. But he would want the change. Narissa knew he would, if he just experienced it.
“All right. I’m not good for anything here.”
Smiling because she was both relieved and excited for him, Narissa said, “Do you want to come back to the restaurant with me? That way I can feed you before we go tonight. You’ll need your energy.”
“That suits me,” he said, hoisting himself onto his one leg with the help of his crutches. Narissa helped him gather his things, and walked slowly beside him as they went to her truck. What would people think if they saw her picking up a homeless man?
She drove Stumps back to her uncle’s restaurant. The whole time, she could feel the anxiety oozing off him like a violent storm. Several times, he wiped his sweating brow with the grimy sleeve of his shirt with hands that shook. The instant she put the truck in park, he pulled the lever to open the door and slid out. He grabbed his crutches out of the back and moved toward the beach.
She left him to rest beneath the restaurant’s deck where he asked to wait.
“I like to feel the breeze on my face,” he said softly when she assured him he could wait inside. She wondered if it was actually that he was avoiding the noise and the crowds.
Then, running upstairs to her room where she could have some privacy, Narissa called Brody. He didn’t answer, though, so she laid down on her bed to rest. She’d call him back soon. She had to get him to the beach tonight.
Chapter Ten
The long Saturday slog was finally over. Marshall and Graham had invited River to hang out with them after work, but he was too beat. He planned to head home, but the smell of fried food wafted across to him from the Harbor Walk as he went to his truck, so he followed it into the Pelican’s Nest and ordered a couple of corn dogs and fries. They were used to fishermen and tour workers coming in dirty and sweaty, so he didn’t hesitate to settle on a bar stool to eat them.
As he ate, someone sat next to him and ordered a beer. River looked over and rolled his eyes at Brody. “Getting started on that already?”
“Yeah, dude. I’ve got to warm up for the party tonight. You know it takes at least eight beers before I can even start having fun.”
River shook his head and turned back to his dinner. How do you save someone from alcoholism when they have no desire to be saved? And it was sad because he’d found out that Brody actually had a college degree but had messed up his life with partying.
Just as the bartender set his bottle down, Brody’s phone rang. He fumbled with it and dropped it on the floor. Cursing, he got down and scooped it up.
River had to laugh when Brody missed answering it on time by less than a second. “At least you didn’t break your phone. Just call them back, man. No big deal.”
But as Brody looked at his screen, he made an odd choking sound before he called them back. “Narissa?”
River raised his eyebrows and listened in without a qualm. When your girlfriend calls another guy while you’re sitting right there with him, it isn’t eavesdropping. Narissa’s voice was muffled, but he’d know it anywhere. Brody hunched his shoulders and tried to speak without River hearing. “Aren’t you River’s girl?”
Rolling his eyes, River ate more fries.
Narissa had never shown the least bit of interest in Brody, so he wasn’t jealous, just curious. Why would she be calling Brody? They were making plans—something for tonight, but he couldn’t tell what. When Brody hung up, he reached for his beer and started chugging.
River swallowed and asked calmly, “So where are you going with my girlfriend tonight?”
Brody spewed beer from his mouth and grabbed onto the bar for support as he coughed and hacked it out of his lungs.
“Hey, come on!” the bartender growled, grabbing a towel to mop up the mess.
When he could breathe again, Brody said, “Dude, I’m not going anywhere with her, I swear. She just said she would look for me.”
“Look for you where?”
“At the beach party tonight. But I’ll stay away from her if you want.”
River dropped his hand on Brody’s shoulder and shook it reassuringly. “No, man. I’m cool. Hang out with her if you want. In fact, please do. You know, there are a lot of perverts that go to those things. You can watch out for her.”
“Yeah?”
“I’d appreciate it. Where did you say it was?”
“Right out there,” he said, pointing with his thumb back over his shoulder. “Word is that it’s going to be in front of the Pelican so people can buy their own drinks.”
“So, you’re literally just hanging out here drinking till the party starts?”
“Yeah.”
“Even though it probably won’t get going for like four more hours?”
He grinned at River, completely unashamed. “Oh yeah. But I think the band will get here before then.”
“Sure. You came for the music.” Shaking his head, River finished his dinner and chugged the rest of his soda, slamming it down on the counter when he was done.
“Yeah, you’re such a big drinker,” Brody said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
River laughed and stood, scrubbing the top of Brody’s blond head with his knuckles. “I have better things to waste my money and time on.”
Brody’s expression fell, and he took another swig. “Maybe if I had a girl, I could give this up.”
“You might want to try it the other way around, man.”
With his mind full of questions, River walked quickly to his truck and went home to shower and change. Completely exhausted, he flopped on the couch and put his feet up. Willing himself to relax, he finally drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, he glanced at his phone and saw that it was after eight o’clock. Rubbing his eyes, he stood and stretched. As he walked outside, a surge of adrenaline rushed through him, bringing him fully awake.
The night seemed ominous somehow, like the tension before a storm. With all his senses on high alert, River hoped he was just imagining things. Regardless, he was determined to get some answers about Narissa tonight.
Tw
enty minutes later, he parked his truck close to the Pelican’s Nest and headed down to the beach. A band played pop music, and strings of lights stretched from the Pelican’s decks down to poles drilled into the sand. Tiki torches burned haphazardly around the beach, and a crowd of people moved and danced and laughed among it in a knot of chaos. How would he ever find her in all this?
River looked for Narissa and Brody in the crowd, but not for long. This wasn’t Narissa’s style. In fact, he couldn’t figure out what she was doing here at all. If she’d actually come, he’d bet anything she’d distance herself from this mob before too long.
Giving up on finding them at the party, River walked away from the mass of light and noise into the comparative darkness of the night. The sky had deepened to navy blue and the half-moon hung over the horizon to the east, a halo of pale light around it. The moonlight helped him find Brody first, since his blond hair almost glowed in its light. There were a couple of dark forms next to him, and he suspected one was Narissa, but he couldn’t tell. Hanging back, he peered into the shadows, not wanting them to see him yet.
Was he a creep for spying on them? He wrestled with the question but shrugged it off. He was only here to make sure she was okay and figure out what she needed help with. And, he admitted to himself, to find out why she hadn’t invited him to come.
After a few minutes, the dark person next to Brody stood, and he knew immediately that it was Narissa when the moon shone on her white sun dress. It billowed in the sharp breeze coming in from the gulf as she walked toward the water. Brody followed her, awkwardly. He was obviously drunk. Then a third figure, a man, stood awkwardly, supported by crutches. They moved slowly but surely down to the water’s edge. Once there, the man stood between Narissa and Brody, leaning on them for support as he threw the crutches back on the sand and faced the water again.
There was no way they were going in for a swim. The waves were too high. Red flags had been flying all day and it was even worse tonight. Maybe they were just going to put their feet in the wet sand.
Silhouetted in the moonlight, they moved forward, though slowly because of the person River now realized was Stumps, the homeless man Narissa had taken food to. Soon they were up to their knees, and River ran toward them, determined to stop them—to talk them out of whatever craziness they intended. A wave rose up, blocking them from view for three seconds as River reached the water’s edge. Then they were gone.
Frantic, he kicked off his shoes and ran in after them.
The water was cold, and the waves hit his knees, then his hips as he ran in. When the water was up to his waist, he dove forward through a cresting wave.
In the dark, the water became a soulless, black entity instead of the friendly blue world he loved. He couldn’t see anything except the occasional silver shaft of moonlight shining down on the water that surged around him, glinting off the surface.
Disoriented, he stopped and treaded water, trying to judge the distance to shore. He could just make out the white surf but couldn’t tell how far away it was. He looked toward the lights of the party, desperately looking for a source of help. Would someone see what had happened? River doubted it. Finding them was up to him.
“Narissa! Brody! Can you hear me?”
When no one answered, he turned around and around, looking for any disturbance in the water—anything that might be a head breaking the surface. Nothing. Where were they? River dove in and swam again, straining to feel any movement in the waters around him. When he struggled to make progress, he knew he’d found a riptide.
It sucked at him, pulling him further from shore. River swam along with it, working only to keep his head close to the surface so he could catch a breath. His heart convulsed. He didn’t doubt his ability to beat this thing, but he knew the chances of the others making it were slim. Even if they broke free, they’d be disoriented and too exhausted to make it to shore.
Then hands closed around River’s waist, tugging him sharply backwards out of the current. He struggled frantically to break free of the grip and nearly broke away, then more hands with long, bony fingers closed around his ankles. They pulled him down relentlessly, no matter how he fought to swim up again. Soon he lost track of how deep they’d pulled him and his lungs burned for a breath. He curled himself over, trying to push the first attacker away as he pried at their grip. If he didn’t break free soon, he would drown.
Twisting, he grasped out with his hands, trying to grab hold of their air tank. Only a diver with gear could be down this far and still be towing him deeper. Instead of a tank, however, his hand brushed against bare, rough skin. Long hair wrapped itself around his wrists like tentacles, and he yanked hard to free them.
Then the arms at his waist clenched down, forcing him to expel the last of his air. It was over. He couldn’t fight anymore without air. River’s head throbbed and his eyes burned red as his body screamed for oxygen.
Where was the peace they said came with drowning? He knew he would black out any moment and longed for the relief as his lungs burned and spasmed.
The long, bony fingers let go of his ankles, then grabbed and clawed their way up his body as if he was a ladder. They reached his throat, then his mouth. Gripping his cheeks, they squeezed, forcing his lips apart so that water came in. Maybe they were trying to hurry the process. The pain was so great he could almost be grateful.
But as water rushed through his throat and lungs, a crazy thing happened. His lungs expanded and contracted. Water rushed out and back in as if he was breathing. It burned like fire, but the heavy, dizzy feeling in his skull subsided. Surprised, River opened his eyes. Though the salt stung his eyes, he was amazed to see a galaxy of stars floating in space around him.
Surely, he was dead.
But then his eyes and lungs adjusted, and he realized the hands gripping his arms hurt.
Not dead then.
And the glowing dots were not stars. Some of them were inches from his face, and though they lit the water around with a dim, blue-green light, they were no bigger than jellybeans.
Coming back to himself, River looked to his left and saw the strangest creature. Her hair was loose and tangling in the current as she swam, still towing him. Her skin shone like silver in the dim light, and her whole face jutted forward, though her nose was practically non-existent. She turned to look at him, her eyes huge above severe cheekbones. He followed the line of her body and saw silvery flashes of scales on a long tail. It was oriented like a dolphin tail, and she flicked it in an up-and-down motion to move forward in the water.
Convulsed with terror, River dug at her fingers, prying them off his wrist. He pulled free and swam away, but the second creature, another mermaid, barred his way. She appeared out of the gloom as he turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his face to her hard, cold chest.
He fought them as they tugged him deeper, ever deeper, with star flecks swirling around them. They pulled him into a tunnel, the walls of which were lined with more of the blue light and had strange symbols glowing gold on the walls.
Changing directions, they swam up with him instead of down, and their heads broke the surface after only a few feet. Shoving River up with their hands on his butt, they pushed him up onto a rocky ledge. He coughed and puked the water out of his lungs, gasping in the air, though he had survived so far without it.
The mermaids spoke in high, rough-pitched voices. One of them said, “He so pretty. All muscle. Look at the hair of him.”
He drew back and met their predatory gleam only inches from his face, watching him with fixed, excited eyes.
“He make lovely babies,” the other said.
Panicked, River jumped to his feet and scrambled backward until he hit a rock wall.
“You come with me, man Lovely,” said a sly voice behind him.
He saw a dark-haired creature that looked very like the mermaids but stood on legs with an odd gown clinging to her bony figure.
“Where to?”
“The sa
nding chamber. My legs are such perfect, yes?”
He glanced at her knobby, shaky knees, but knew better than to disagree. “Er, yes.”
“The Mother gave me them tonight.”
River had a hard time understanding her odd speech patterns, but when she waved her hand forward, he knew to follow her through an opening in the rock wall.
They emerged into a huge cavern. All around on the rocks, mermaids sat or reclined, with their attention at the end of the chamber. Rock shelves lined the luminous walls, heaped and overflowing with objects like stop watches, women’s lockets, teacups, and countless other things. Large crystal stalactites hung like pendulous chandeliers from the ceiling, faintly glowing like moonlight.
None of it made sense to him—no more sense than being able to breathe water or the existence of mermaids. He was ready for answers. And where were Narissa and Brody? And Stumps? His eyes flashed to the group gathered at the far end of the room as the fish girl announced, “She bring more.”
From the back of the room, Narissa turned, staring with horrified eyes when she saw him. Her skin paled until it was nearly the same color as her white sundress, which clung in wet, transparent swaths to her legs. She didn’t say a word, however.
River’s chest rose and fell as he breathed the dank, thick air, his brain scrambling to make sense of things. Walking forward, he looked over the others as puzzle pieces clicked into place in his brain.
Next to Narissa stood a tall woman who dominated the room. Her red hair flowed down to her hips in waves, and her eyes were large and slanted. With a broad brow and narrow chin, her features were more regal than beautiful, but power emanated from her like electricity before lightning strikes.
Brody and Stumps stood before her, apparently fascinated. Narissa touched his arm, and River looked briefly down at her, then shook off her hand. She was part of this. He knew it.
“Brody, are you okay, man?” he asked.
“Yeah. The trip down here was crazy though. I thought I was high. But I’m not, am I?”
“Not unless I am too.”
The Lovely Deep (The Mer Song Trilogy Book 1) Page 7
