I dart after them all as they head to the east. Where is she going? She’s heading directly for the Bermuda Township. But she won’t find help there. As an exile, she has no rights. A mermaid with no rights can’t stand up for herself. No elder would stand up for her either. All this time, I’ve been thinking she’s a bottom feeder, but she’s actually worse. She’s an exile. And exiles have less rights than bottom feeders. She has become a plaything now. Anyone can do with her what they want—without repercussions.
Suddenly, they change direction in front of me. And I’m confused. I follow them, but now I’m uncertain if Verona has a plan at all. She has a spear, and it might be able to help her fight off one of them, but not all three. And not to mention that if an exile kills a member of the clan, they may hunt her down instead of leaving her alone.
The full moon casts silver light through the water. It occurs to me suddenly, that Verona may have a true plan. With the moon in full, she could go ashore. Although the thought makes me feel a modicum of relief, I also fill with dread. We are near the barrier island, not the inhabited one. There would be no one ashore who could help her. No humans, no proxy, no one.
A shout floats back to me in the water. I’m catching up. The turning had brought them closer to my position while I darted ahead. Then I hear a call of distress. Verona. My pulse quickens, and I cut through the current even faster. All my strength I push into my water magic. She heads for the narrow waters, and the going gets tighter through the rocky shallows offshore. I watch Brandeeb’s hand nearly grasp Verona’s tailfin, but she darts quickly between two rocks, and he misses.
Then a sudden beam of light casts a glow toward us, blinding us. The lighthouse. If Verona knew it was there, she may have brought us here to obstruct our night vision.
Ahead of me, one of the Mer curses.
Verona darts closer to the shoreline, among the rock outcroppings. Smart move. She can put more space between her and danger in the narrow passages between the rocks. I follow, my tail slapping against the sand. Suddenly, she darts quickly left through a passage so narrow, the Mer cannot follow. They dive right. I dive with them, and when we break from the dark current, we find Verona sitting still in the waters, watching us.
What is she doing? Did she forget the danger she’s in? She looks as though she is welcoming them to her. The sight of her slows me down slightly, but it speeds up my brother and his companions. Hyena like laughter floats in the current toward me. My heart drops as my brother’s hands reach for her. But his hand stops just shy of her, and his arm crumples towards his body.
“What the–” he yells. Then, flesh slaps against flesh, as all three of them become tangled in a heap.
I slow to a stop, trying to figure out what just happened. My breathless gasps whistle, and I hold my side. Pain shoots through me, and every muscle fibers’ synapses are firing. Finally, I catch my breath and meet eyes with Verona. “What is this?”
I find silken strands, glowing silver in the moonlight, capturing my brother and his companions. They become more entangled the greater they struggle. The thin threads cut into their flesh, causing new wounds to form on their arms and fins. Their frantic cries and curses fill the waters with squeals and chirps. The ropes become more easily visible as they reflect in the moonlight with each movement of the struggle they create.
Verona offers me a shy smile. “It’s a net.”
I roll my eyes. “I can see that much. Did you know it was there? How could you have known?”
She chews her bottom lip, her eyes darting left a moment before her gaze returns to mine. “I noticed it when I was out hunting. It’s easy to see in the daylight, but I knew it would be virtually invisible at night.”
I nod and smile toward the captured Mer. “Stop struggling before your blood and movements attract a shark.”
The struggles in the net slow down, and Brandeeb calls out, “Hey! Cut us free, brother.”
I frown and snatch the spear from Verona’s grasp. I approach the net but stop just before my brother’s face. After leaning back, I cross my arms over my chest. This is an opportunity, and one I should not let go by me easily. “I believe we should talk, brother.”
One of my brother’s hands intrudes between the strands of netting. He wiggles it and makes a fist. It is comical, if he thinks it’s threatening. “What do you wish to discuss?”
I shift my eyes towards Verona, but my gaze only glances over her. Embarrassment covers me, because I don’t want her to hear this. The thoughts have been rolling over in my head for the past two days. How can I save her—from her exile, from my brother, and for becoming the plaything that she is right now? I swallow and meet eyes with my brother. “The female.”
An audible click sounds as Brandeeb tightens and relaxes his jaw. The other two in the net renew their struggle with lines of, “Come on,” and, “Compromise.”
“Fine!” Brandeeb shouts, and the other two still again. “What compromise do you suggest, brother?”
I take several deep breaths, preparing myself for what I’m about to say. Then with a sigh, I begin, “I will cut you free, but you must leave this female alone. I want her for my betrothed.”
Four gasps fill the waters around me, including Verona’s. My heart races in the silence afterward. It may have only been a few seconds, but it feels like hours, while no one spoke. Then, a chuckle bubbles up from my brother, and he offers what might have been a charming smile, if it didn’t look so sinister. “Betrothed? What are you saying, brother? You are nearly three years from the day you come of age. Do you think she will wait for you? Who will protect her?”
“I will.”
Brandeeb’s laughter intensifies and fills the currents with their wretched sound. After a few moments, the laughter slows and then cuts off. His sinister smile returns, and he nods. “Fine, brother. Fine. I will not touch your female. Now cut us free.”
Sheepishly, I glance at Verona, but her eyes are wide and staring at the ground. Her hands clasp each other in front of her chest, and she’s chewing her lip again. She doesn’t meet eyes with me, and I’m afraid of when she does. Although I have made my intentions clear, and have chosen her, she still has to tell me that she agrees. What if she doesn’t? I swallow hard trying to clear that thought from my head.
I swim forward and begin to cut to the first strands of the net. I know that we can trust my brothers word as I cut him free. After several minutes, all three of the Mer are loosed from the net. Once free, the three of them surround us. Looks on their faces are cast in the shadow of confusion. They don’t look at Verona at all. Instead, they gather close to me.
Brandeeb lays a hand on my shoulder. “Are you certain this is what you want, brother?”
His voice is more gentle and sincere than it has been in a long time. I don’t know whether he feels pity for me or is just patronizing me until he tells our mother. I speak through clenched teeth. “I’ve never been surer.”
He slaps me on the shoulder twice and then swims a few yards away before turning back around. “Do not stay out here with her any longer. Let her continue in her exile for the three years. I will help you keep her safe provided that you come home.” He shakes his head. “I can’t have you worrying mother at her age.”
I frown and nod at him, still unsure whether he is genuine.
With another chuckle, the three Mer head in the direction of Bermuda.
Chapter 13
“How could you?” my mother screeches, her hands clawing her own chest. Her hair flies about her face wildly in the current, and her eyes are bloodshot red. “Do you think at all? For you to do something so brash, so emotional... I thought I had raised you to be more rational.”
My brother has left me alone with my mother as she berates me for my poor decision-making. I do my best not to look up at her while she continues in her tirade. It was late night when we arrived at our home reef. But the silvery, full moon lights the undersea with enough light to tell my mother is distraught. Reasonably so
, of course. I have no answer for her. But my mind is made up. I want to live with Verona like I had for the past three days for the rest of my life. She grounds me and makes me feel like a stronger, braver Mer. And, for the first time, I haven’t had a stomach ulcer bothering me in over forty-eight hours.
“You can change your mind. We have time. It’s three years. There’s no need to hurry, and while you two are apart, your affection for her will decrease with your distance.” She runs a hand through her hair, turning her back on me for a moment before spinning back around. “Do not see her again. Do you understand?”
There is no arguing with my mother. But I also refused to lie. “I cannot do that, Mother.”
“What did you say?” Her voice raises with each word she spits out.
“She is in exile,” I say, not using her name for fear that it would set my mother off further. “And because of that, she needs protection. I will need to stay by her to make sure she’s safe. Brandeeb said he would help.”
“Do not get your brother involved in this.” She shakes her head vigorously, a few water bubbles escaping her nose as she blows them out in exasperation. “He needs to get involved with the bottom feeder less than you do. Where you are breaking the vows of a promised life-mate, your brother is stepping in to fill that gap.”
I swallow back a vicious remark. I do not need her to be mad at me about how I judge Stacia or my brother. What I need right now is peace. And though there’s a part of me that just wants to agree with my mother in order to gain that peace, I know that is not lasting. Lasting peace only comes from being honest with myself and doing those things which are not going to give me an upset stomach. So for now, my mother will just have to deal with it. “Yes, Mother. I understand.”
“If you understand so well, why did you get yourself into this mess? I cannot get you out of it, but I’m going to ask you one favor. Please do your mother one favor.”
I feel as though I’m going to regret it, but I say, “What do you need me to do?”
“Do not speak to her. Not until the time comes to announce your engagement. Give it one year, then I will reconsider how I treat your future betrothed. A bottom feeder? What is the world coming to?”
My gaze meets my mother’s in surprise. Will she truly accept it? Maybe my mother is more reasonable than I ever thought. Maybe all this time that I’ve allowed myself to do those things which were dishonest to my heart, all that I had really done was give myself ulcers instead of harming anyone else. Maybe peace can still be found even while I am doing those things which make me happy instead of everybody else.
“Go to your nesting. I am tired, and I will have much hardship to face come morning.”
I nod her direction and then dash toward my nesting, my heart filled with the excitement of my mother’s partial approval. It is more than I expected—more than I had even hoped to gain. My heart beats wildly in my chest, and the morning sun could not come fast enough for me. What I need, what I want right now, is to see Verona.
THE NEXT MORNING, I go to see Verona’s father. I have no urge to go to schooling and to study. So instead I decide that I will keep my unspoken promise to Verona, and be sure that her father remains okay. When I reached the cove, three of the nestings are full. The healer is helping a couple in their nestings side-by-side. One male, one female. And then of course, there was the father whom I had come to visit. Across the expense between their nestings, the couple reach out their arms and hold each other’s hands.
I frown. While the healer talks to the couple, I settle in the sand next to Verona’s father. Verona’s father continues to look in the distance calling her name, and while I sit there, I hear him say many of the things that I heard from Verona about fear and other issues over the past few days. Her father must’ve been a wise man. How did he ever end up becoming a bottom feeder?
“Verona?” the old man whispers as he continues looking in the distance. He never really talks directly to me, or the healer, but he did talk directly to Verona every time. It makes me feel that maybe he does recognize her, even though he seems programmed to say the same thing over and over by his dementia.
I sigh and glance over at the healer and the couple in the nestings. The two of them continue to look at each other in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. And why do they feel the need to touch each other in this manner publicly? They seem close, perhaps brother and sister, or maybe life-mates? None of the life-mates I’ve ever known show this level of affection. Something inside makes me desire that kind of relationship.
They are too busy for me to discuss things with them, so I decide to leave. The sky overhead is blackened by storm clouds. I feel that it’s about zenith, but I’m uncertain. As I pass by the schooling reef, I find it empty, but voices carry on the current.
“But, I’m lonely,” a whining female voice carries to me. The familiarity of the sound quivers my stomach and freezes me in my tracks. Stacia.
“You’re always lonely,” a familiar male voice answers from over the ridge of the reef. Brandeeb. “When are you going to get over being without your invalid brother?”
She lets out a long, loud sigh. “If only he’d never been injured. Twins are not meant to be so far apart.”
“You and your father sent him away, and now you’re salty about it?” My brother chuckles. “He’s ashore with the full moon last night. No changing that now.”
“I know it’s too late, but it doesn’t make it hurt less. In fact, it feels more permanent now.”
Gabriel went on land? Like a bottom feeder? I shake my head. No, not like a bottom feeder. Gabriel’s family is influential enough to have a proxy. So he wouldn’t be going on land alone, like a bottom feeder. Instead, he would have humans whose sole job was to take care of and protect Mer who go ashore.
Brandeeb sighs. “Fine, baby, I’ll make you feel better. You won’t be lonely as long as you’re with me. Come on, let’s go.”
I sink into the sand trying to digest everything I just heard. Because Gabriel was an invalid, they sent him ashore at the full moon? It makes me wonder if Stacia had been lying when she told me before that Gabriel was with his mother. No one knew where his mother went. Was it possible that she had gone ashore as well? How often did Mer go ashore and stay? Maybe this was why I had never seen a handicapped merman before. Which island would the proxy be on? Was Gabriel in Bermuda? The Outer Banks of North Carolina? Or one of the barrier islands in Virginia or Maryland? Would he go as far north as Long Island or Canada? My world suddenly didn’t seem so small. Overhead, lightning struck, brightening my surroundings in a surreal, shadowless glow.
A shiver runs down my spine, and I leap into the current. I swim through the rest of the township with my thoughts occupied. I find Kellum and Wade together, and they nod to me conspiratorially as I pass and continue northeast.
My mother had told me not to speak to her, so I stay at a distance and watch her again. I am so tempted to break my promise every time I see her face. Emotions I’m not supposed to have overwhelm me. Either way, I can keep my distance, and accept this as my life, because I know it’s temporary.
Chapter 14
One year later...
At zenith, it had become my habit to swim northeast and find Verona. I came several times a week, usually, but I hadn’t been able to get out to the barrier island for three days. She doesn’t know I watch her, but every chance I get, I do. I know that she often sleeps in, because she stays up late watching television through the window of a house on the occupied island of Chincoteague. So, when I can’t find her on the shoreline of Assateague today, I don’t panic right away. Instead, I wait.
Waiting can be difficult, especially when you’re not a very patient person. Today is significant though, because I am finally allowed to speak to her. We are both of the age to be legally betrothed, allowing Verona to return to the township as a member of my own family until our marriage.
After waiting a short bit, I approach the rocky shoreline where she usual
ly resides. I find her trove of collectibles that she had stored in a dry area of the rocks. When I break the surface of the water again, it takes me a moment before I can will myself to release the last of the water droplets of life from my lungs. When I take the first breath, my body racks with coughs, trying to dispel every last molecule.
On the shore, brown and white horses collect in a herd. I have even watched her interact with them. Excitement tingles my skin, as well as nerves. Because we have not spoken in over a year, I worry. Although she knows my intentions, I never was allowed to ask her for hers. Mer are not forced into marriage; we get to choose our life-mates. I have chosen her, but will she choose me?
I cannot imagine a reason for her to do so.
I scan over all of her things, and everything appears to be in the same order as I had spied months before, not much new. One of the first things I would love to have her do is get rid of that ugly sweater she had begun wearing in order to stay warm when she spends time with her top half above the surface of the water. I wait a few more moments, but she is still nowhere to be found. The sun is beginning to set, throwing orange hues across the blue sky. A breeze blows and picks up my wet curls. That’s a new feeling. And it’s one that makes me smile.
After I sink back below the surface, I allow the bubbles to escape my mouth and rise to the surface once more. The sweet ambrosia of saltwater enters my lungs with its soothing pressure. I swim along the coastline, keeping my eyes open for where she might be, but it’s no use. First, I decide to go north and find the cave where she had helped me recuperate. The narrow passage to the bioluminescent cave doesn’t feel so small, or the path so long. The cave itself seems to expand forever, and I called into it, “Verona?”
Her name echoes off the sides of the wall, and that in itself makes me feel nostalgic. Nothing in the cave seems to have been touched since the day we had left it together. Satisfied, I head back out of the cave, and then I decide to cover the opening once more with stones. They will help me to know whether she is there or not next time, and it just seems to be right. Once finished, I head south again. Darkness has fallen. And now the worry begins to set in.
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