Mythos

by Heather McLaren

  Faren and Lola sidled up beside him. “Having fun?”

  “This is unreal.”

  The warm breeze felt good on David’s wet skin, and the water lapping at his body had a wonderful calming effect.

  He glanced toward the Bimini coastline. Tourists swarmed the island, either partying elegantly aboard their fancy boats or noisily on the beaches. But his beach was vacant; the only lights were those shining from inside the villas.

  “Let’s say goodbye to our friends now,” Faren said, patting Lola’s side. “This is as close to shore as they’ll come.”

  David let go of the dolphin’s fin and slid off her side. She left him bobbing along the surface to join the rest of her family. Watching the pod move farther away, a sense of loneliness replaced his exhilaration. He looked over at Faren and smiled. She held Lola’s head in her hands, talking softly before kissing her nose and sending her on her way. It was the sweetest thing David had ever seen.

  The couple ducked underwater and made the short swim back to the coast hand in hand. When they got closer to the island, the embankment rose, allowing David to stand with his head peeking above the surface. This time when he took his first breath it didn’t hurt.

  As much fun as their adventure had been, coming home was also a relief. David’s legs were sore from swimming, and he was exhausted from the adrenaline rush long since worn off.

  “That was awesome,” he exclaimed, flopping down on the sand.

  Faren smiled. “I thought you might like it.”

  She floated a few feet away, swaying in the breaking surf. She folded her hands under her chin and dug her elbows in the sand.

  “The way you spoke to the dolphins was unbelievable. Are they pets where you come from?” David asked. “I’m glad you think that’s funny,” he added with a grin when Faren tried her hardest not to laugh.

  “The Spirit made some of the dolphins our protectors when the islands sank,” she said, giggling. “That’s why certain species don’t swim out to sea too often.”

  It was fascinating how Faren’s explanations filled in the gaps that science couldn’t, and, in some instances, even proved biologists’ theories wrong altogether.

  He gave her a wicked grin. “Has a mer ever fallen in love with a human… before now, I mean?”

  Faren smiled back at him and rested her face on her arms. “According to our legends, a young mer named Ophelia fell in love with a fisherman, and nine months later, she gave birth to the first half blood,” she said nonchalantly. “Legend says this child was different from the rest of us. She had powers unlike any we had ever seen.”

  “What kind of powers?”

  “Our physical laws didn’t hold Breeza back,” Faren said in a matter-of-fact tone. “She could read others’ minds whenever she wanted.”

  “But we can read each other’s minds.”

  “We can only read projected thoughts,” Faren corrected him. When David nodded his understanding, she continued. “And the moon didn’t control her. This made my ancestors jealous, so they banished her from Atlantis. Some think she died at sea; others aren’t so sure.”

  “What do you think?

  Faren waved her hand in the air, dismissing the half-blood theory. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I believe the stories,” she admitted.

  “Why not? If I’ve learned anything over the past week, it’s that anything is possible.”

  “I guess so, but I think the High Council uses the legend to keep us in line.”

  Faren’s story intrigued David. It had everything to make the next blockbuster movie–forbidden love, betrayal and controversy. “What about her mom?” he asked, inching closer. “What happened to her?”

  “Ophelia died in prison,” Faren said. “The legend says she still haunts the shores of the island where she and her human lover met in secret. She looks for him and her child along the shore by day, and then returns to the ocean every night to torment the local fish. Ahhh!”

  David jumped when Faren threw her hands in the air. “Oh, you think that’s funny,” he cried, chuckling. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  He rolled her over and lay on top of her. The intimate closeness immediately put a stop to the humor. David couldn’t help but stare at her delicate features, her dark hair fanned out around her face. “You are so beautiful,” he said softly. “Even when you’re… no,” he corrected himself, giving her a crooked grin, “especially when you’re acting like a little devil.” When she gave him a sweet smile, he couldn’t imagine anything in the world coming close to bringing him the same pleasure.

  “We need to talk about your gifts,” Faren reminded him. She gave him a quick kiss.

  “Okay, I’m listening.” David rolled to the side, but kept his eyes trained on hers. He was excited to hear about his new abilities. He felt like a kid at Christmas. Every one of his new-found gifts was a carefully wrapped package waiting for him to open it.

  “You’re no longer human, not like others of your kind,” she explained. “You’re not a mer or a half-blood, but something else altogether. I guess you could say you’re between species.”

  “Between species.” Repeating it aloud didn’t help clarify anything. It only made David sound like a confused parrot.

  “As soon as we fell in love I gave you some of my gifts,” she said. “Some of these abilities will get more powerful as time goes on, like your speed and strength. You’ll never be as fast or as strong as a full-blood, but they’ll increase ten times greater than that of the average human.”

  Greater than the average human. David felt like a superhero.

  “You’ll never grow a tail, but your thickening skin will allow you to withstand colder water, and your lungs have developed the ability to collapse so you can dive deeper.”

  “Can I disappear?”

  “No. You have limits. Unfortunately, as you found out last night, repelling sharks is another gift I didn’t give you.”

  There it was! The question surrounding the tiger shark was no longer a mystery. Faren was the deadlier animal.

  “You saved me,” he exclaimed. “The sea demon, the shark… that was you.”

  “You needed me.”

  “This is great. Why were you afraid to tell me?”

  Faren’s smile faded. “I saw the way you first looked at me.”

  “Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry. You caught me by surprise,” David admitted. “But I’m still here, aren’t I? And more in love with you than ever.”

  “You’re here now, but for how long?” A look of sadness settled over her lovely features.

  “I’ll never leave you. I love you so much.” David took her in his arms, happier than he had ever been. “Can’t you feel my love? Isn’t it obvious?”

  “I can feel it.”

  David brushed the hair from her face so he could look into her eyes. “You’re everything I’ve been searching for as far back as I can remember,” he said in a low voice. “The time we’ve spent together has been like a dream. I didn’t know I could care for someone so much, but you’ve showed me what true love is, and I’m grateful for that.” David wanted to cry from the avalanche of emotions bombarding him. “I’m grateful for you.”

  When Faren leaned up against him, he relaxed. Things felt right when she was around. Fish or not, there was no doubt she was the one he had been waiting for his whole life.

  “Faren!”

  “Who’s that?” David gestured toward the man floating on the waves. He could see the dread in Faren’s eyes when the stranger called to her again. “Is that your dad?”

  “Yes, I have to go,” she said. “I promise I’ll come back when I can. Until then, be careful when you go outside.”

  Faren kissed David on the cheek. “I love you,” she whispered and dove beneath the surface of the water.

  David stared hard at the place where she had vanished, too distraught for words. If there was a chance he would never see her again, this moment was as good a candidate as any. Even though he h
ad never met Faren’s father, her reaction to his sudden presence told David he would not approve of their relationship.

  When some time passed, he stood and made his way up the beach. Before going inside, he looked back at the sea. His heart pounded, and his stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels.

  “I love you, Faren.”

  * * *

  Faren dreaded her father’s reaction to what he had just witnessed. Would he be angry or concerned?

  “Faren Sands!” he shouted. He drifted near the sea floor; Faren could see his irritation in the way his ashen tail whipped the seabed. “What are you doing? I allow you to swim wild, but this is going too far! What were you thinking?”

  Well, that answered her question. He’d be angry.

  “I know you’re eighteen, and you think you have all the answers, but this kind of behavior has to stop right now.”

  “How did you know where I was?” She hoped she wasn’t pushing her luck with such a bold question.

  “When I couldn’t find you, Luna told me you left the city,” he said. “I had to wait for the High Council to lift curfew to come find you. She didn’t tell me why you came to the surface. She told me she didn’t know.” Atticus folded his arms across his chest and scowled. “Was she lying?”

  “No, nobody knows.”

  “And that’s the way it’s going to stay,” Atticus said in a huff. “You’re never going to see that boy again. Do you hear me?”

  Faren looked away.

  “You will do as you’re told, young lady!”

  She still refused to look at him.

  “Faren!” he shouted, taking her by the shoulders. “This is over.”

  Faren pulled away, turning on her father. “No, it’s not!” she cried. “I love David, and he loves me. I will have this one thing.” Her eyes were angry slits. “I won’t let you take it from me, I won’t!”

  She closed her eyes on tears and swam away from him, as fast as she could. She fled punishment, and the fury in her father’s gaze. She fled the blinding, crimson hurt in her own heart. She was so tired of Atlantis, with its rules and suffocating strictures – it’s lack of love and understanding. David was so different, his world so bright and wonderful. She would have swum any distance to be with him, leaving Atlantis forever if she could.

  But she couldn’t, so she swam without direction, away from everything. All around her, the ocean teemed with life, with wonder. But not in her world. Her world was bleak and pointless. Faren could still see the pain etched so deeply into her father’s handsome features. She could still hear the feelings of betrayal in his thoughts. Of loss. He was thinking of her mother.

  And somehow that hurt more than her own pain. She started to turn back when she saw something that made her stop. A short distance away, she saw Suri holding a small, struggling seal–a young selkie. As the defenseless seal/human hybrid fought her, she tried to rip his white and black speckled sealskin from him. She pulled and tugged as the tiny being kicked his little flippers and thrashed his body from side to side. Suri smacked him in the head and watched him go limp.

  Faren narrowed her eyes and plowed into the demon, knocking the animal from her grip. Her fixed stare warned the fiend against the danger of returning to her helpless prey. Suri’s eyes fixed on her, and she lunged. With her fists balled up and her eyes locked on the dangerous beast, Faren braced herself for the collision.

  Something flew from out of nowhere and slammed into the sea demon, knocking her away from Faren. The two struggled, blending into the other. The sea demon did her best to subdue Atticus, but his flailing tail made it nearly impossible. His long salt and pepper hair floated around them, hiding their faces.

  Faren swam over to the unconscious selkie. The first thing she noticed was his feet sticking out from beneath the flippers hanging loose around his ankles; she hurried to cover them. Faren knew how close this enchanting animal had come to being the sea demon’s next victim. If Suri had been able to rip the selkie from his protective pelt, he would have drowned.

  Faren cradled his body in her arms and hurried back to the surface. She carried him to a decaying shipwreck grounded along the shore and tucked him inside the vessel above the waterline. When she was sure he was out of harm’s way, Faren swam to her father’s aid.

  Suri held Atticus tightly in her tentacles, delivering crippling stings. Faren latched onto the sea demon’s back and dug her fingernails into the soft flesh of her face. When she drew blood, Suri howled in pain. Her shrieks resounded through the water like those of a dying animal.

  Atticus took advantage of the chance Faren had given him and swung his tail hard. He smacked Suri solidly in the chest. The monster’s eyes bulged, and her mouth flew open.

  Then Faren saw more sea demons rushing toward them.

  “Swim,” Atticus commanded. “No matter what happens don’t look back.”

  Faren launched away but didn’t get far before one of the monsters tackled her from behind. Then the beasts were swarming the pair from all sides. No matter how hard Faren fought, she couldn’t get free.

  “No, get off me!” she screamed. She looked up to see two monsters pummeling her father while Suri held him. “No, Daddy!” Faren cried. “Leave him alone!”

  Atticus fought with all he had, kicking the beasts with his tail and writhing beneath the savage beating. It was obvious the demons were prolonging his suffering as long as they could; they weren’t going for an immediate kill.

  The dolphins glided toward them from the surrounding depths like giant missiles. The sea demons let go of the mers and braced for the dolphins’ charge. Despite their determination, they were no match for the giants.

  Faren watched their protectors tear the demons limb from limb. They chomped down on the creatures, breaking bones and tearing tentacles apart. The sea was murky from the clear liquid oozing from their wounds.

  Atticus pulled Faren away from the battle. She welcomed his touch with tremendous relief.

  “Faren, are you okay?”

  “Yes, but where is Lola?”

  “I’ll check on Lola. Wait here.” With that, Atticus raced back to battle.

  Faren felt a chill and turned to see a surviving sea demon floating near, watching her.

  He was staring at her hand.

  “Where did you get that?” he hissed.

  Faren froze, watching the creature for any movement, not answering.

  “That’s the Ring of the Ancients! Where did you get it?” The monster grabbed for her hand with lightning speed.

  Lola swam in, knocking him fifteen feet through the water. She bit into him and shook him from side to side. While the creature shrieked, the dolphin swam away with his ravaged body dangling from her mouth.

  Faren looked down at the ring and brushed her fingers along its surface. She thought back to the talk she’d had with the woman in Alice Town and realized she needed to pay the island mystic a visit–the sooner the better.

  Atticus swam over and hugged Faren tight. With trembling arms, he took her by the shoulders. “Why did you do that? You could have been killed?” Before she could answer, he pulled her close again. “Thank you, baby,” he whispered, his thoughts still quivering. “You saved my life and the life of a child. You’ve made me very proud today, and very worried,” he added. “Please do me a favor,” he said. “Promise me you’ll never take on a sea demon alone again… I’m begging you.”

  “I had to. I couldn’t watch a child die.”

  “I know. That makes you the good mer that you are. But I still need your promise.”

  “I promise, Daddy.”

  They swam over and took the selkie from the wreckage.

  The child was alive, but his expression was blank, his body motionless.

  For the next several minutes, Faren and Atticus talked to the boy and massaged his face and hands. Nothing worked. The child remained silent, withdrawn and still.

  The selkies emerged in a massive herd, staring at the pup in Faren’s arms. The
nearest one swam over and looked down at the innocent being. She nudged him with her nose, doing what she could to rouse him, but he still didn’t stir. The selkie touched the child’s face and looked up at Faren again. Faren could see the heartache in her large dark eyes and knew this was her child.

  As the solemn selkie watched her child with such sadness, he twitched. Then he opened his eyes and looked around. He gave Faren a grateful glance she would never forget and swam into the flippers of his mother.

  Before they retreated into the open ocean, the mother looked back at Faren and Atticus and cooed her intense gratitude for the courageous rescue of her child. Along with the rest of the seals, she slipped into the waiting depths.

  After the selkies had gone, Atticus wrapped his arm around Faren’s shoulder. “Let’s go home,” he said.

  As they made their way back to Atlantis, dolphins followed them like steadfast bodyguards with Lola leading the way.

  Chapter 8

  Hall of Documents

  AS DAVID AND FAREN MADE THEIR way to Madame Isadora’s house the following morning, Faren told him about the rescue of the selkie child.

  “Selkies. Wow. What are they like?” David asked, his eyes lighting up. “I’ve heard some legends.”

  “They’re our shape-shifting cousins to the north,” Faren explained, giving him a brief, grateful smile. Her eyes went back to studying the unkempt houses lining the street they found themselves on. “Our legends say the Spirit created them to be an inspiration to humans… a mystery they could rely on to expand their imaginations.”

  “That was nice of him,” David laughed. “Our legends say they’re natural-born clowns.”

  “There’s some truth to that. “Faren wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked. “Some say the Spirit made them to make people smile and laugh.” There were happy shouts as a neighborhood child hit a home run in the field across the way. “They’re similar to dolphins,” she said. “They have to remind themselves to breathe underwater–it isn’t automatic–and they can live in warmer climates for long periods of time. They also have a scent similar to ours that repels predators, and in human form, they have piercing eyes that change color with their moods.” In her head, Faren counted down the house numbers. 27, 26…