by M. E. Rhines
He rubbed his palms over his face, shaking his head. “She was tricking you. Can’t you see it? Mami Watta would say whatever she could to bring you over to her side. To get you to put on that stupid cloak.”
“What’s the cloak got to do with anything?”
“The cloak is how she keeps you prisoner! It contains a binding spell that your skin absorbs when she puts it on you.”
I gasped, my face going numb as the blood drained from it. Pictures of the ghostly figures flashed through my mind, each wearing an identical cloak to the one Mami Watta tried to put on me before Lennox tore it away. If he spoke the truth, everything she told me was a lie. A sick, twisted ruse to gain another naïve minion to collect her fortune for her. The witch saw me coming a mile away.
Betrayal sank its claws into me, biting my heart with its sting. Of course she lied. Mami Watta had been a cohort of my mother. Anything less than a demented old hag preying on the weak of heart should’ve been a letdown. The mermaid was exactly what she should be.
“She almost got me,” I realized. “If you hadn’t come after me, I’d be trapped there… just like those poor ghosts.”
“You would’ve been one of those poor ghosts. Her magic would’ve eaten away at you until you perished, but she wouldn’t let you die all the way. She’d keep you around, use you as she needed for all eternity.”
Another sad, devastating truth dawned on me. “So, there’s no hope for me. A stupid part of me still hoped I could go back one day. Take her up on her offer, but there’s no bargain to take. I’m condemned to burn.”
The tight lines on his face softened, and he brought my hand, still clutching to his, to his lips. “You have no reason to seek forgiveness, Angelique. Anything you’ve done, it was because Queen Calypso ordered you to. It is she who will pay the price.”
“It isn’t that simple. There’s a tremendous truth you don’t know about me, Lennox.”
“And I don’t care about it. However terrible you think you are, when I look at you, all I see is someone magnificent and brave.”
“But Lennox—”
His mouth crushed mine, swallowing my protest until I no longer remembered what it was. I leaned into him, soaking in his acceptance and affection as long as I could. He pulled away, only to trail my neck with his hot breath and soft kisses.
“You’re too hard on yourself,” he claimed. “I wish you could see what I see.”
“Maybe you’re just too trusting.”
He shook his head, brushing past me. Reaching back, he intertwined my fingers with his. “You’ll always have the last word, won’t you? Come on. Don’t think I didn’t notice how much you enjoy swimming through this current.”
“I was only trying to catch up to you,” I insisted. “Not that it was difficult. You’re still as slow as a goliath grouper.”
“You only caught me because I let you. Tail or not, you wouldn’t have a chance if I wanted to outswim you.”
“Oh, please. You’re an air breather with clumsy attachments you call feet.”
Lennox waggled his eyebrows and asked, “Is that a challenge, mermaid?”
“You’re daft,” I said with a girlish giggle.
“And you’re scared you’re going to lose.”
I yanked my hand away from his, shooting him a playful smile. “All right, Lennox. You’re on. I’ll even give you a head start.”
“I don’t need a—”
Before he could finish, I took off like a shot. Bolting forward at lightning speed, I zoomed through the tunnel as fast as I could. Microscopic bits of salt and sand collided with my skin with a sharp burn that made me grin. I was alive. Intoxicating freedom coursed through my veins, urging me forward.
When I glanced back, there was no sign of Lennox or his lumbering appendages. It was just the ocean and me. A familiar echo of her waves in the distance sounded like home. The temperature in the water dropped, and I flicked my fork to banish the pins and needles. The farther north we headed, the colder it would get.
A dip in my path sent my stomach lurching into my throat. I squealed with glee, relishing in the feeling of weightlessness as I twirled and spiraled down toward the seafloor. Just before colliding with the bottom, the tunnel veered upward again, and I fought against the impulse to ascend too quickly. Instead, I slowed, taking the opportunity to catch my breath. So close to Finfolkaheem was not the time to succumb to sickness.
Somewhere far behind, Lennox’s voice caught up with me. I stopped swimming and lay on my back, allowing the current to carry me. My chest rose and fell, my gills flapping rapidly to catch some oxygen. It had been ages since I let myself swim so uninhibited, since I allowed myself to lose my tensions in the bubbles I left behind. Stretching my fins never felt so amazing.
Lennox appeared over me, his body floating parallel to mine. Ragged breaths swelled the veins in his neck, but his smile stretched from ear to ear. Sunlight beamed from the ocean’s surface, illuminating us as if we were the only two creatures adrift in the whole sea.
“You,” he breathed, “are perhaps the quickest fish in existence.”
I laughed, content and carefree. “And don’t you forget it, Fin-man.”
“We’re almost to Finfolkaheem.” He pointed forward, and I rolled to swim upright again. “You see where the current ends?”
A massive, albeit blurry, shadow of a castle was visible just beyond the swirling tunnel. “I see it. It’s gigantic.”
“The castle is, yes. It has to be. It’s where we all live.”
“Are you going to close the current now? Or should we just crash through the end of it?”
“I’d better dissolve it slowly. Keep in mind how dangerous it is, okay? I don’t want to lose you after coming all this way.”
I nibbled my lip, biting back a smart smirk. “Perhaps I should carry you this time. We might land a little softer.”
“Very funny.” He grabbed my shoulders. “Just hold tight, would you?”
Little by little, the vortex around us fell apart, growing unstable until we dropped out from under it. We tumbled down, but I had the advantage this time. My powerful tail had seen me through hurricane forces, riptides, and even Mother’s tirades. I was confident it would not fail me in the wake of something as trivial as a disintegrating, magic-made current.
Lennox’s grip on me loosened, so I whipped around, tucking my arms around him to hold his weight tight against me. We twisted through the water, making small whirlpools behind us as we spun toward the bottom. I countered our direction, flipping my tail in hard circles the opposite way. The muscles in my torso started to spasm, but I fought hard against the water until we came out of our spin and slowed to a stop just before we collided with the sandy bottom.
Lennox’s face swayed and distorted in front of me. I shook my head, trying to regain my equilibrium. “You see? Not even close to as bad as last time.”
He tugged at my neck, bringing me against his body and burying his face in my hair. “Actually, I’d call it more thrilling than the usual terrifying. I think I’ll bring you with me on all my adventures.”
My face warmed at the prospect, but the inner part of me knew we neared the end of the road for us. We were in Finfolkaheem, which meant it was only a matter of time before Lennox and I parted ways forever. I inhaled the scent of him, determined to memorize it before I pulled away. When clear of the distraction of his embrace, I looked around.
Monstrous icebergs floated above us, slicing above the surface like mountains. A few fish scurried by, each one bright and illuminated by the same internal fluorescent light that glowed inside Lennox. The water around them seemed darker than in Atargatis, and the sea creatures offered a flit of brightness in the black around them. As a school swam in the distance, I marveled at the colors, shocked to find each one a different shade of blue or silver. It was what I didn’t see, though, that made my eyes widen.
“Where’s the castle?”
Lennox craned his neck, glancing where the tunnel h
ad just been. “Looks like we overshot it a bit. We’re just a bit north of the kingdom. Shouldn’t take us long to get there.”
“Should you surface first?” I asked, desperate to find a reason to prolong the inevitable. “I’m sure you’re worn out after keeping the current open so long.”
He nodded exaggeratedly, as if playing along, then spun in place to take in our location. “Good idea. I know the perfect spot, and we’re close. Come with me.”
I shook my head, fear keeping my tail in place. “I can’t surface. Not again. Remember what happened last time? Those humans almost had me for breakfast.”
“Nothing like that will happen this time, I promise. Trust me.”
His words softened my resolve. I owed him an inkling of faith after everything he’d done for me on this journey. “All right, Lennox. You’re in charge. Lead the way.”
We headed south, the seafloor below us mostly barren save a few spots of bold seaweed bursting with artificial colors—purples, blues, and reds as bright as Lennox’s hair. Just like the fish and the Finfolk, they used bioluminescence, lighting our way in an otherwise midnight terrain.
A rock wall interrupted the open space, and we followed the edge of it until we came across a massive opening. “What’s this?” I asked, rubbing my thumb along a carving at the entrance, barely noticeable through the thick moss that had grown over it.
I scrubbed away the green, revealing a man with two eels wrapped around each of his legs. He carried a wide oar with a knife just like Lennox’s attached to his trousers.
“My family crest.”
I eyed the image closer, my curiosity morphing into a need to know more about the man depicted in front of me. He was a part of Lennox’s heritage. Knowing this Fin-man meant knowing Lennox, too.
“This is your home?” I asked. “But I thought you lived in the palace?”
“I do. Everyone does. It wasn’t always that way, though. This is where my parents lived before King Odom made it so.”
“I don’t understand. You said Fin-women lived on land. On Hildaland.”
“And she did. That’s why this place was so perfect for us. Here.” He held out his hand. “Let me show you.”
He led me deeper inside, into a wide cavern. We swam up to break the surface. The closer to air we got, the more the moonlight exposed the terrain. The seafloor sloped up, running aground to meet a pebble floor with moldy straw scattered about. Nestled in the corner, a large stone slab was covered with an even layer of hay and topped with a cloth, reminiscent of something one of Mother’s humans had with him. It was called a blanket.
Over our heads, stars twinkled through spotty holes where the ceiling had collapsed some time ago. A bold, bright moon shone, cut off by the jutting mountains around it. More rock formations surrounded us, the length of them extending above and below the water, part of land and sea.
When I examined it closer, I realized the carvings on the dry sandstone told the story of a family—a Fin-man, half in and half out of the water, greeted a woman who stood on dry land. A tiny Fin-baby swam at his side. Little Lennox. To me, it was obvious they’d brought the worlds together with their love. They triumphed over circumstance, determined and steadfast in their commitment to one another.
Lennox pulled himself on shore, stretching his legs as he breathed in the fresh air. I watched him, fascinated with the way his stiff gait transformed to a fluid, thoughtless walk the longer he paced the length of the room. It wasn’t until he stuck his head out of the cave that I realized there was a man-made window in the center of the stone fortress that blocked us from the human evils outside.
His breath clung to the ice air around him, spewing a puff of fog when he looked back at me with a content smile. “I’ve never brought anyone here before. I usually come here when I need time alone.”
My heart quivered at the admission. “I’m glad you saw fit to introduce me to your sanctuary. Did you grow up here?”
“I didn’t live here long before the king called on us to serve. Word got around about my ability to control the currents with such a strong hold, and he demanded I come train with him and his sorcerers. We didn’t have much of a choice, I’m afraid. Otherwise, I’d probably have stayed here forever.”
“Your parents stayed here?” I dunked beneath the surface to catch my breath.
“At first,” he started when I emerged again. “Later, my father joined the army as well. He was killed in his first battle. Funny, he spent most of my childhood preaching against the bloody battles King Odom waged on nearby clans. Then when the food ran out… Hunger is a funny thing, I guess. It makes creatures behave in ways they never dreamed they would.”
“But your mother…”
“We’re not sure. She just… disappeared one day. I think it was too hard to be left alone on land. King Odom forbade females to live in the water once they came of age. Mother didn’t have any choice but to watch from the outside.”
“That must’ve been lonely for her. With everyone you love below the surface, just out of reach.”
“My mother used to sit at this window for hours while my father went fishing. I’ve come back a hundred times, always foolishly hoping I’d find her sitting here, waiting for us to return to her.”
I swished my tail, inching toward the shoreline. With some effort, I dragged myself up to sit on the rock ground. My fork dipped in and out of the water, spraying beads of moisture onto my skin. This marked the very first occasion I’d exposed my full tail to dry land intentionally, and it was against every rule in the book to do so. But my need to comfort the Fin-man I loved pushed my shame aside.
“Are you angry with her?”
“Sometimes.” He shrugged. “But I understand why she abandoned us. To her, I’m sure it felt like we left her.”
“I’m certain she’d love to see you again. Imagine never knowing what became of your son. She’d be so proud of you, Lennox. You’ve become something of a celebrity in your own right.”
He picked up a pebble and tossed it, skipping it along the water’s edge. “Maybe. At any rate, I didn’t bring you here to bore you with my sad childhood stories.”
“Then why did you bring me here?”
Lennox crawled over to me, his shark-skin britches scraping again the stone floor. The sound made my stomach clench with a primal need to have him closer. He reached out, catching one of my curls and tucking it behind my ear.
“Because this place is important to me. And so are you.”
I flicked my tongue over my lips as he closed in. “It’s almost as if our worlds meet in this very room, isn’t it? This place makes me think there’s at least a little hope for us.”
“Uh-uh.” He pressed his mouth against the corner of mine, teasing my hunger. “I wish there was. It’s getting late. We could stay for the night, enjoy as much time as we can salvage. Maybe the morning light will show us the way.”
“Lennox…” His name left my tongue, feeling familiar, velvety, and perfect. “Do you love me?”
His breath hitched, and he withdrew to sit on his heels. My heart hammered in my chest, waiting for what seemed like an eternity while he observed me, conjuring words I wasn’t sure I was prepared to hear. What if he doesn’t?
“You can tell me the truth,” I assured him. “I don’t want to hear a lie.”
The muscles lining his jaw flexed. He jolted up, making me flinch before diving head-first into the water. I leaned forward to peer down, but the darkness swallowed up even the blue of my fork. A pale, glowing hand shot up from the depths, latching onto my tail. It tugged, yanking until my weight slid on the slick surface. A startled scream built in my chest, creating a cloud of bubbles around my face as I submerged.
“Lennox!” I splashed at him. “That wasn’t funny.”
He swooped into me, pushing my torso with his shoulders deeper and deeper until my ears popped. Not a speck of moonlight reached us, but Lennox lit up the sea with his inner light, the warmth of it chasing away the chill on
my skin.
When we reached the bottom of the cavern, he slipped a finger under my chin, tilting my head back to look at him. “I nearly sank a ship for you. When you acted like a fool and got yourself abducted by an evil wretch of the sea, I came after you. I told you the first day we met, Angelique, I’m not in the habit of rescuing the ocean’s unfortunates.”
A lump lodged in my throat. My hands and tail trembled until even my breath shook. “I remember.”
“Of course I love you. Would I chase you around the ocean like a lost seal if I didn’t?”
“Oh, Lennox.” I cupped his face in my hands to pull him down until our lips met. The heat from his internal warmth seared my freezing skin, and I let the burn consume me. The kiss stirred the magic deep in my core, awakening a terrifying, exhilarating truth. Every fiber of my being knew this was right—that Lennox and I were meant to be together. If only we could convince the fates.
“Tell me there’s a solution,” I begged. “I can’t let you go.”
“If there’s any conceivable way, on land or by sea, I will find it.”
“King Odom won’t allow it. I think he’d sooner have my head than lose you from his army.”
“My allegiance is to you now, not my king. I choose you. He will protest, and I imagine he will threaten death, but I promise you… As long as I am breathing, no harm will come to you.”
“Myrtle will protect us. She has a weakness for tragic love stories. In fact, she used her magic to give Fawna and Pauline legs so they could follow their hearts.”
“The princesses? I heard she sent two of Calypso’s daughters to land, but I thought it was to keep them safe from assassins.”
I shook my head and said, “No. Pauline fell in love with a human. It was Calypso’s end, as it turned out. Our situation is far less complicated.”
“Still, if we sought refuge with Queen Myrtle, I have little doubt King Odom would send his army to Atargatis. Even with Atlantis fighting alongside your clan, I’m afraid much blood would be spilled in the name of our love.”
