“Bobby, she was only joking,” said Airianna, placing a hand on his forearm.
The instant she touched him, his whole body turned to jelly. His cheeks flushed pink as he let out a shy giggle. “Sincerest apologies, Marina. I tend to forget you are an exception to the teachings of our elders.”
“Bobby grew up in a very conservative family,” said Airianna.
“Nah, I don’t believe it,” I said, smirking.
“It’s true, I’m afraid. My family has never been tolerant of Normals. But, I’m not my family, and I’m fond of you and your American-isms!”
“Aw, you’re sweet in a finicky, textbook kind of way. I like that about you, Bobby. Now, who’s up for a ride?” I asked.
“Nothing scary,” said Troy.
“Oh, good. I’m not one for the robust rides,” squeaked Bobby, rolling his “R’s.”
“Let’s just walk around and ride-shop, see what we’d like to do first,” offered Airianna.
As we sauntered along, I realized the majority of rides were solely for merps. Your fin must be this long to ride adorned every ride’s entry sign. Merps, young and old, entered and exited rides fully clothed; it was a different story altogether while they were in the ride. For example, in The Loch Ness Nest ride, merps must swim past the real Loch Ness Monster and retrieve a sword from her nest. Once they have the sword, they stab a dummy Loch Ness Monster to win some sort of prize. In Waterspout Wilma, they have to defeat all sorts of sea monsters, grab a golden seahorse, and exit before the tips of their fins touch the bottom of the ride.
“I can see why this is a merp-only fair of festive fin fun,” I muttered in awe.
“There are still some rides for you, I promise,” said Troy, pulling me close.
“Did you know, Marina, that each ride was designed and built by either a Fairhair or Ravenflame family?” said Bobby.
“I didn’t know that, my little dictionary with limbs and fin friend. Reckon we should stick to Fairhair rides, then?” I asked Troy.
Smirking, he replied, “Probably smart. Bobby, can you find us a nice, calm Fairhair-designed ride?”
“Unfortunately, there is only one such ride,” he said, pointing to something that looked very much like a carousel. “Not too different from the Normal’s interpretation, I’m sorry to say. The creatures you will ride are enhanced to seem real, though.”
“And they don’t just move up and down,” said Airianna. “They go sideways and diagonal. It’s actually pretty cool.”
“Let’s do it!” I said, eager to try anything otherworldly.
“Off to ride the baby ride, Marina.” Katrina and her gang looked menacing. Dressed in all black with silver chains dripping down their sides, they sauntered up to us. “Did you remember your diaper?”
“Television show. Don’t You Dare Wear. Trendy Threads Channel. Apply,” I said.
Katrina blew me a kiss, waved, and then guided the lot of them out of sight.
“Do you think we should get Marina out of here, Troy?” asked Airianna.
“No. No fear,” I said.
“We’ll carousel it once and leave,” said Troy.
“What about some yummy fair food?” I whined.
“Oh, I don’t think you’d like anything here, Marina,” said Airianna cautiously.
“Why not?”
“There’s a reason we haven’t gotten you anywhere near the food,” said Troy.
“It’s all fish, isn’t it?” I said. “Duh.”
“There are some lovely barbeque crab racks, corn-fish on a stick, cotton candy catfish…” offered Bobby.
“She’s turning green. Get her on the ride,” said Airianna, taking my hand. “Now, the dolphins are the gentlest animals. Here, you take this one, Marina.”
I climbed upon a small, sweet-faced dolphin with wide eyes. “He looks and feels so real!”
Troy, amused, sat atop a seahorse next to me. Airianna selected a manatee on the other side of me, while Bobby opted for a gloomy little turtle opposite Troy. When the ride began, salty sea droplets fell against my lips, and cool breezes caressed my cheeks. The sensation reminded me of riding a small wave. I closed my eyes and indulged my senses with everything I once thought was simply fairy tale fodder. But soon, a different breeze slapped against my face, and the sound of the ocean grew very near.
My serenity quickly vanished when I opened my eyes, and in its place grew terror. All of the realistic sea creatures had hopped off the ride and were now carrying us towards the sea. I frantically looked around for Troy. He was just a few paces behind my little dolphin. Without warning, my dolphin stopped, and within seconds, everyone else joined me. When I allowed myself to comprehend the scene, I nearly vomited. There we were atop our stoic sea creature rides, floating in a perfect line, all facing the sea.
“Troy,” whispered Airianna, “it’s a standoff.”
“I know.”
I could hear Bobby heaving into a paper bag.
“Standoff? Like the let’s play pretend war kind?” I asked.
“More like the draw your weapons kind. When a threat gets summoned from the sea, all creatures, both real and fashioned, are called to duty.”
“Something’s coming, Marina, and we’ll have to fight it,” Airianna clarified.
I really wanted Bobby’s paper bag.
“Could this be Katrina’s smite, Troy?” asked Airianna.
“No doubt.”
“How about adopting the run for your life mentality? Just a simple-minded, gutless thought,” I said.
“Normally, gutless would be the smart option, but we can’t move from our rides. I’ve already tried. The only weapon we have is our brain.”
“That’s highly uncomforting, emphasis on the ‘un.’ Anyone else smell the stink of rapidly approaching death?” I whispered.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Troy said, taking my hand.
As soon as he touched me, I heard a roar unlike any other coming from the dark sea. Wishing I could see something, anything, I leaned forward on my little dolphin. When I did, I sailed headfirst into the sand.
“Here’s a totally unique response to falling on one’s head…dang it and double ouch!”
“MARINA MOVE!” Troy screamed.
I heard skittering behind me. Without looking back, I scrambled up and ran for the manor. I could hear the merps and their animal rides charging ahead, trying to fight whatever came for me.
I crashed to the ground when something wet snaked through my legs and dragged me backwards. “It hurts!” I screamed. Sand buried itself beneath my nails as I tried to cling to anything that might keep me from flying into the mouth of the creature I was too afraid to face.
When I reached for a large boulder, my hands hooked the edge and flipped me around to face my nemesis. Looking down upon me was a massive crab, its shiny pincers snapping furiously across the top of my body. Troy, Airianna, and Bobby fought to reach me, but the creature had other assets: slick chord-like tentacles with thorns on the tips, the very same wound tightly around my legs, holding me in place.
It played with me like food. I twisted and rolled from right to left, trying to dodge the pincers. As I did, I spotted Katrina, watching with glee.
“I won’t let you win,” I growled. “YOU WANT ME? COME AND GET ME! COME ON!” I stayed perfectly still and waited.
“MARINA! NO!” Troy’s voice cracked.
“DO IT!” I shouted at the creature, slamming my fists on the sand.
The creature obliged, sending its pincers down for one final snap. Arching my back, I urged my legs upwards. Implementing my one year of gymnastics training, I flipped over, and the pincers sliced through the tentacles around my legs. Piercing screams came from the monster’s underbelly where, to my horror, a smaller, more agile crab-beast emerged, diving straight for me.
I ripped the lifeless tentacles off my legs, the tiny thorns taking bits of my skin with them, and fled, but something was wrong. My legs felt heavy, and my knees wouldn’t bend. The thorns
must have had poison in them. I could hear the smaller beast nearing. I couldn’t outrun it. Its breath brushed against my heels. Just when I thought all was over, my little dolphin ride slipped underneath me and carried me towards Hambury House.
“Thanks, little one,” I said, patting him on the head. He looked up at me with so much pride.
I had to find Troy. Looking behind me, I screamed, “No. No. NOOOOOOO!”
A long tentacle shot out from the smaller crab and stabbed my little dolphin in the stomach. With terror-filled eyes, my dolphin soared towards the crab, leaving me flying irresistibly forward. I was going to slam headlong into the mansion. I tried to turn and find Troy; I didn’t want the last thing I ever saw in this world to be a solid wall. Though I did find him, desperately racing for me, something else caught my eye.
Like a flash of brilliant white lightning, a man, his arms outstretched, soared astoundingly fast down a sparkling golden path from the heavens. With barely inches to spare before hitting the wall, he cupped me in his arms. I hid my face in his grayish robes, too terrified to see my final moments. I waited for the finale of my life to ring in my ears, but nothing came…no striking sound, no pain, nothing.
“You’re safe, sweets. Open your eyes.” His tone and heavy Australian accent sounded playful and, admittedly, very sexy.
“Where am I?” I asked, looking around the elaborately decorated room.
“The dreadfully musty study of Hambury House. Could use a little sprucing.”
“Who are you? Where are you?” I asked, rubbing my watery eyes.
“Manakel, an angel of the ocean. And I’m directly above you, Bluey.”
“Oh!” Floating above me was a being so beautiful, I could hardly breathe. His skin shimmered like new fallen snow, his eyes glowed like amber, and the lushness of his auburn hair beckoned to be touched. His face was a work of art, chiseled to perfection. “You’re an angel…with gray wings.”
“What keen observation skills you do have,” he said, his dazzling wings fluttering behind him.
“Since when are angels snarky?”
“Different levels of angels, Cherry Blossom, and I’m not exactly heaven sent.”
“Whatever. You saved me. Death by wall wasn’t exactly my ideal way to bow out, so thank you.”
“Ah, yeah, I’m just the knight in shining wings, aren’t I? I woke up from a fantastically satisfying dream to save you from a wily little cartoon death. How the angels of death must quiver.”
“Hey, if you didn’t want to save me, why’d you bother?”
“I had to save you, Marina, the Siren Savior,” he said. “You see, Savior, we have a future, you and I.”
“Future? What future? You’re dead.”
“Watch a little more sci-fi, sweets. Even the dead can live...and feel.”
“So, what’s this future you say we have?”
“It’s Mystery Myth Theater for us, Savior. Could be friends, maybe enemies…or something more closely resembling a satisfying sweat.”
“Aren’t horny angels against angel law or something?”
For an angel, he certainly had a devilish smile. “I should go. Your friends are coming, and I don’t fancy a wing-to-fin row tonight.”
“Wait! Please, don’t leave.” If I so allowed, panic could easily take over my body at the thought of him leaving. It must be some angel energy thing.
“Yearning for me already? Thought it would take longer,” he said, diving down by my side. “You might be happy to know that your little dolphin ride has been recovered by its maker, Bobby Boring Bubblestone. He’ll restore him to form.” Manakel ran a finger down my jaw. “I’ll be near.”
With a caress of his hand against my cheek, he left, soaring straight through the ceiling. I absentmindedly touched my face; I could feel the warmth of his hand still on my skin. Quite lost in thought, I heard the creak of a floorboard nearby.
“Who’s there?” I asked.
Before he could answer, I saw a man, maybe in his early forties, with dark brown hair and eyes, staring at me from an open bookcase.
“You promised to learn the truth. Heart before hormones. You didn’t see me. I don’t exist,” he warned, disappearing behind the bookcase.
No sooner did the strangely familiar man close the hidden passageway than did Troy storm through the door. Cuts and bruises covered his face.
“Marina!” He fell to his knees by my side, kissing every inch of my face.
“What happened to you?” I asked, gently brushing my hands over his wounds.
“Little monster take down.”
“Are you okay?” asked Airianna, taking a pillow from the couch to put under my legs.
“Happy-happy, without the joy-joy. I knew there was a reason why crabs make me puke.”
“I need to treat your wounds. Those thorns have venom that can slowly…” Troy stopped suddenly when he hiked up my jeans to survey my wounds.
“Okay, look of unsettling horror can disappear any second now,” I said, alarmed.
“Your wounds…they’re gone.”
“It must have been Manakel,” I said.
“Who did you say?” The fear in Airianna’s voice startled me.
“Manakel. He saved me from a wall-induced brain crushing. I think he caught me and we ghosted right through the wall, if that makes sense. Why the freaked out frowns?”
“The sea angel hardly ever appears to humans,” whimpered Airianna.
“So what? I mean, sure, he’s a little cocky, with a sprinkle of snark, and a downpour of horny, but…he saved my life,” I reiterated, expecting some sort of gratitude from my boyfriend for the angel who saved his girlfriend’s life.
“He only appears to humans under three circumstances,” said Airianna, as though reciting from a handbook. “First, if the human has been chosen for a future quest, the angel shall rescue. Second, if the human is marked for a specific death other than the one threatening him or her at present, the angel shall rescue.” Airianna looked worriedly at Troy.
“And third?” I inquired.
“If the human is the breathing destiny of the angel, said angel shall rescue,” said Troy through clenched teeth.
“Breathing destiny?”
“It means the angel marks the human as his living soul mate,” said Airianna.
Chapter Fifteen
Under the Sea
April: Spring is in the sea
Monthly Life Caption: Going Deeper
Mood: Dumbstruck
Eating: More of the same—junk.
Music: Indie
Friday afternoon: Official start to spring break. Ever since the fair and Manakel’s little cameo, Troy hasn’t wanted me to be in plain view of the clouds. In an effort to keep me an indoor girl, he has quite literally used every excuse imaginable, even inventing some along the way. After his last attempt to hold me under house arrest—when he pretended to have a concussion after faking a fall off the top of the cliffs near the lagoon—I demanded to know why he was so bothered by the winged one.
Cuddled together in our cave on a particularly blah day, Troy reluctantly agreed to tell me about Manakel.
“Manakel’s officially known as the angel of all seas,” said Troy. “He’s saved many lives, including those of fellow merps.”
“Saving lives doesn’t exactly scream bad guy.”
“I don’t trust him,” he said flatly.
“He’s an angel! If you can’t trust an angel, who can you trust?”
“You met him. He’s not a heavenly angel, Marina.”
“I’m pretty sure he came down to me from the clouds, Troy. Isn’t that home sweet heaven?”
“Yes, but he doesn’t live in heaven exactly. You’ve heard of earth angels, I assume?”
“Ooh! Ooh! It’s like the song from my favorite time travel movie where Michael J. McAwesome plays the guitar and starts going all invisible man and…I’ll shut up.”
Troy smiled and shook his head. “Manakel is an earth angel. Earth ange
ls travel between heaven’s waiting room and earth.”
“So he lives in, what, the luxury hotel of the puffy white clouds?”
“Basically, yeah. It’s all a little mysterious, but they exist to help humans. Occasionally, they’ll love humans, sometimes too much.”
“Meaning what?”
“If an earth angel finds his or her earthly soul mate, they may claim the earthly soul as theirs. If that happens, the angel will either become human to be with their soul mate, or allow the human to die.”
“You mean an angel would let their human soul mate die, just so they can be together in heaven? Kind of lessens my regard for hotel-dwelling angels.”
“There are conditions. Higher powers won’t permit an angel to watch their chosen human die unless the human is marked for a horrific ending on earth. So, in a way, the angel would be sparing the human a lot of pain and fear,” he said, stroking my hair.
“So, which is it? Have I won a trip for two to a luxury cloud getaway, or did the wheel of misfortune spin me a horrific death?”
“I don’t know. I mean, the more he sees you, the greater the chance he will choose you. I don’t want him taking you from me,” he said.
“I’m yours, Troy. And I don’t favor feathers—they tickle. Besides, I’m pretty certain the physical aspects of a relationship with an angel would go against heaven’s rules.”
“Actually…”
“No way!”
“Because they’re not permanently in heaven, and could possibly return to human form, they can engage is some physical acts,” he said, curling his lip. “This is why I need you to come away with me for spring break.”
Whoa! Where did that come from? “Go away with you? Where? We can’t leave the borders of Saxet Shores, can we?”
He grinned slyly. “I can.”
“I’m intrigued,” I said. “But, really, what difference would it make? He’s an angel. He can see me wherever I am.”
“If you’re in his sight. Spring break is an ideal time for Manakel to lure you outdoors, watch you, contact you, try to decipher if you’re his soul mate. You’re on the forefront of his mind. I can sense it.”
FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) Page 16
