We pass over coral reefs vibrant with colour but they do nothing to soothe my ragged temper. I’m not really in the mood to talk, but knowing my sister she won’t shut up until I say at least something.
“I’m not happy. Callie… she’s different somehow. She doesn’t need me anymore,” I feel my shoulders sag and my heart sink. The ocean has lost its thrill and as I look around all I can see is endless, darkening blue pressing in on all sides.
“Are you serious?” Azure’s eyebrows pinch together.
“What?” I look at her as her expression becomes angry.
“You’re seriously telling me you have a problem with her, the person you waited all that time for, because she doesn’t need you like some pathetic whiner?” Azure’s fist is clenched, she’s taking long strokes backward in the water, totally erect now as Philippe continues to canter onward, his leathery wings outstretched and beating a pulse. Suddenly I feel her gaze on me, burning into me and I shrink further.
“Yes?” I answer, unsure of how to respond. She’s making me seem ridiculous. She moves forward, slapping me across the left side of the face.
“Have I taught you nothing? You think I need a man? No. Do I want a man? Well… also no. But if I did, I wouldn’t be pussyfooting around.”
“Azure, this really isn’t any of your business,” I sigh, running my hands through my hair. Cole comes into view, swinging his tail to the left and pivoting round in front of me. He looks suspiciously at Azure.
“Everything alright here?” He looks at my sister with a wary glance sideways.
“Everything is fine. I’m just slapping my dumbass brother for being… well, a dumbass.”
“Fair enough,” Cole says it with such a straight face that I almost don’t register with what he’s said. When I do, my head snaps back to the left, scorning him with my stare. He swims leisurely back to the rear of the group.
“Seriously, we’re not in the position to take the fact the people we love are still here for granted, Orion. Just look at those women back there; half of them are widows. Are you and Callie really going to not be together out of stubbornness?” I’m sort of shocked to be hearing this from her at all, when I think about what a state she was in only a few weeks ago. She’s starting to radiate Starlet’s tone and attitude with each passing remark. She has a point, but that’s exactly why I don’t want to talk to her about it anymore.
“Butt out. It’s over,” those two words are out of my mouth quicker than I realise and I wonder if I still believe them. Everything that had pulled us apart is still an issue, isn’t it? Callie has changed, so much so that I almost don’t recognise her when she speaks. She’s so authoritative. When we had first met she was so unsure of everything, except of course the fact that she didn’t want to be looked after. She’s certainly changed, hardened somehow.
“Do you think… that the darkness, made her, you know…”
“Screwed up in the head like me?” Azure finishes my trail of thought, but I give her an unsavoury look before turning to look back at Callie.
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“Did you not see how she reacted to killing Alyssa? I’d say she’s doing okay. She’s strong,” Azure comments and I’m surprised by her words.
“You really think that?” I exclaim and she rolls her eyes.
“Well, not that my opinion means anything, but yes. She lived down there and she’s come back tougher. She’s not so bratty as I remember anyway.” I shoot her a stare and she pokes her tongue out, returning to stroking Philippe’s mane. It’s the calmest I have ever seen her and I think the open ocean is doing her good. I’d heard people say that the ocean could heal the most broken of hearts, and it looks like my sister is slowly piecing hers back together.
We’re a long way from the city, travelling fast and making good pace and the natural world is all consuming as we wade through it. While I would usually be savouring its richness like honey, I can’t help but find everything around me bland; that is until I clamp eyes on the one thing I can’t bear to want. Callie.
She’s among the mermaids, smiling and laughing. She’s a good ruler, or so it seems. Despite her time with the Psirens the mermaids seem to like her. They trust her, even though she’s young, inexperienced, and naïve. They can’t help but listen when she speaks, respecting her. The new her is more compassionate to the pain of others than I’ve seen before. She’s less impatient with the mermaids who I know she once considered shallow and is trying her best to get to know them better. I think back to the fire in her eyes as she turned, spinning to a halt before facing Alyssa. She had killed her, single-handedly. I wonder if I would have done as well with all those tentacles, which she had unbelievably outwitted without any help at all. I had known her death had affected me, but maybe something inside her had snapped at that moment too. Perhaps she felt as helpless as I had, and she knew the only thing that could keep her truly safe was knowledge, strength of will, and physique. Not me. Had I made her feel so terribly weak by locking her away, adorning her with jewels and love bites, staking my claim? Maybe I’ve sold her short all along. Maybe, just maybe, she’s stronger than I thought. Maybe, after everything I’ve tried to do to keep her safe, I’m the weak one, for not being able to let her go.
CALLIE
The mermaids are really starting to get on my nerves. It’s been a long, empty journey so far and it would seem that the demons we are all so afraid of are nowhere to be seen. I wonder if it’s because the threat of the Necrimad rising into our dimension is pulling them elsewhere, or maybe we’ve just been lucky. The mermaids, despite the lack of a threat are all clutching onto their crude weaponry, as though their very lives are held within the rotting wood boards slammed through with fishing hooks, crude bone daggers and primitive spears.
“I’m tired…” Skye whines for the thirtieth time this hour. Even though I’m no longer fuelled with dark magic I can’t help but think about gagging her.
“My tail hurts…..” Alannah picks up where Skye leaves off, starting up the complaining brigade all over again.
“This is so boring…” Rose pouts.
“Are we there yet?” Emma joins in. I clench my fist and Sophia shoots me an irritated glance sideways. With that I lose it.
“Oh. My. God. Can you all just shut the hell up?!” I yell back at them. They stop swimming, recoiling backward from my pissed off expression.
“Well, sorry we aren’t all into playing warrior princess!” Rose retorts.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” I put my hand on my hip and sit back into an erect position in the water.
“Some of us actually did what we were supposed to, Callie. Some of us stayed at home, married a warrior, and took care of him like Atargatis intended! We didn’t need to go getting ourselves into trouble for attention,” she snarls the insult and the rest of the group back up slightly.
Wow girls, thanks for the support.
“Jeez, and here I was wondering why it took feminism so long to get anywhere. I guess now I know,” I spit out. She looks confused. I can tell she has no idea what the hell I’m talking about.
“She’s only saying what we’re all thinking, Callie,” Skye looks up at me, dark circles around her eyes.
“And what’s that?” I ask them with a cocked eyebrow.
“Maybe if you’d have married Orion, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Maybe if you had just said yes like you were supposed to, then Orion wouldn’t have been off trying to win you back. Maybe he could have spent more time preparing the army,” Alannah sighs and the three girls look at me, half-guilty, half-angry.
“Right,” I don’t want an argument. Instead I decide to move from the group. Their eyes follow me as I swim, tight lipped, past them and toward the rear of the travelling procession. I always did prefer the company of men anyway.
“What you doing back here then?” Cole asks me. The sun is beginning its descent toward the horizon and the water is turning a happy orange in its glow.
“Mutiny is afoot,” I roll my eyes and he contorts his sculpted lip into a grimace. His onyx eye scales make his blue eyes pop. I look at his scales in more detail than I ever have before, it’s true, they’re black like a Psiren’s, but they have this oily blue sheen coating them, making him utterly unique.
“That bad?” He asks and I shrug.
“They think it’s my fault that we’re here. They say if I’d have said yes to Orion when he proposed then we wouldn’t be in this mess,” I sigh and he looks serious, the orange light is making his black scales look like they’re on fire.
“Do you believe that?” He takes another powerful stroke with his tailfin, surging forward.
“I don’t think it matters what I believe. They’ve already made up their minds about me.”
“Don’t forget, Callie, that they’re grieving. They’re looking for someone to blame. Death does not come easily to those who have been lured with a promise of forever,” his face is stony, each of the lines definite and harrowed. Suddenly I realise: Jack isn’t here.
“I’m sorry. About Jack.” It hurts me to think of Cole being alone. He had been one of the first people I’d met as a mer, he served around the clock and always put the needs of the Crowned Ruler before his own. He didn’t deserve to be alone.
“Do not be sorry. Jack is alive,” he replies, smiling sadly.
“How do you know?” I feel curiosity stir within me.
“I just do,” he doesn’t give any more information than this, but leaves his reply shrouded in mystery. I remain silent for a minute, giving myself space to breathe.
I look around at my surroundings; subtle changes are starting to catch my attention. The temperature has become slightly chilly and the ocean fauna is changing slowly too. I can see shoals of large salmon and porpoises becoming visible more frequently, and more green vegetation on the seafloor too.
“Hey, where are we?” I ask Cole, breaking the silence.
“We’re nearing the Gulf of Alaska, I think. Those fish over there are Chinook Salmon, they’re pretty popular around here.”
“That’s why it’s so cold. I thought it was the mermaid’s frosty attitudes starting to get to me,” I laugh at my own joke and Cole gives a tired smile.
“You really need to unify them, to give them strength. They’re all we’ve got now.”
“What, shared hatred for me isn’t enough unity for ya?” I crack a joke but this time Cole doesn’t smile. His expression stays serious as the sun falls behind cloud and shadow is cast across his face.
“I’m serious. If we have to fight off a demon, Psirens… anything, we need a group that can work together effectively. They need someone to lead them.”
“You think that’s me?” I exclaim, half laughing.
“It could be. But you hanging back here with me and the mute isn’t going to help your case,” he laughs at this, his face breaking a smile once more as he shoots Ghazi a look out of the corner of his eye. I wish I had his faith. Somehow he is still as cheery as ever, somehow he knows Jack is still alive out there somewhere. I nod in reply, thinking about him and I marvel at his strength to keep going when everything is falling apart.
“Thanks for the advice, chief,” I give a fake salute and he rolls his eyes, peering out into the sea as the movement of a nearby porpoise catches his attention.
I sigh, I guess he’s right. I need to get a handle on the maidens before anything else can happen. We need to work together if we can ever hope of seeing Oscar and Starlet alive again.
I move forward towards the maidens, nervous after the revelation that they’re blaming me for the fall of the Occulta Mirum.
“I’m sorry I snapped earlier,” I say boldly, the chill of the water making hairs on my skin rise. Skye, Alannah, Rose, Emma, Fahima, and Marina all look up surprised. Sophia smiles slightly at me, giving me a knowing look.
“We’re sorry, too. We didn’t mean to gang up on you,” Skye apologises and looks like she might cry.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I move forward and put my hand on her shoulder as the group stops once more. Azure and Orion move further away from us on Philippe, not noticing the halt in our momentum. I look into Skye’s eyes and then up and into the faces of each of the maidens. The one thing I notice, that I hadn’t seen behind all their bitching and moaning, is clear to me now. Fear. They’re all scared out of their minds.
“It’s not okay! Everything is ruined. Everyone is dead!” Skye begins to sob. I grab her and pull her into my scaly chest, her shoulders heaving in despair. The rest of the maidens start shedding tears too.
“Don’t cry. You’re all just in shock. A lot has happened. You haven’t had time to grieve,” I try to stay calm, stay logical.
“We haven’t even had a funeral. Jason died and I haven’t even said goodbye,” Rose whispers this shocking truth and I watch it rattle through her like a storm.
“This is why we need to support each other,” my arms are still clinging to Skye’s shaking body.
“No more fighting,” Sophia whispers, sniffling. I think back to Atlas’ funeral, the amazing vocal tribute that had been given by these women. Their voices had seemed to collectively soothe everyone who watched their ruler turn to sand.
“We can’t have a funeral right now. But… we could sing. You guys sang that amazing song for Atlas. It made me feel, I don’t know, peaceful. I think we should do that now.” The girls nod, smiling at me through their tears as I release Skye. I look down and see diamonds being moved from beneath us by a thick and cold current.
“Okay… on my count,” Alannah as the head of their singing group wipes the oily tears from her cheeks. “One… two… three.”
May your arms envelop us,
as you caress the ocean deep.
You are but a rolling wave,
You do not sleep.
May you mirror the stars,
as those you touched are weeping.
You are but a still reflection,
but I know you’re not sleeping.
May your new life be bountiful,
as the secrets oceans keep.
You are but the song of whales,
You do not sleep.
May your soul be returned,
the sand of your body now sweeping.
You may be back by her side
But I know you’re not sleeping…
The harmonising voices rise, reverberating through the water and pulling at me. I can feel their loss, their hurt and it’s crippling to behold.
I feel something stir in the water and I turn. Philippe is at my spine, nudging me. I turn and caress his nose gently, enjoying his horsey noises.
“What’s going on?” Orion looks at me, clueless.
“They’re scared, Orion. I said that they should sing to make themselves feel better… They need to grieve,” I whisper, not wanting to interrupt the melody, but the mermaids don’t seem to notice. They continue to sing, trying perhaps a little harder now that the Crowned Ruler is present. They move, rising like their pitch towards the surface of the water, swimming in synchronised circles together.
“That’s…” Orion starts, searching my face for something before he sighs and smiles at me, “A beautiful idea. Well done.” I beam, feeling pride wash over me, a warmth that fights back the chill of the water. It makes me realise that I do really care what Orion thinks, whether I want to admit it or not.
The mermaids continue to sing and that’s when I notice something that I’d never seen before. Sea life is starting to move toward them, encircling the group. The porpoises join in, clicking and popping in excited song, while fish swirl around them in shoals that flash silver in the darkening light, and sea lions playfully dance in intricate patterns that look like Celtic symbols from below. I’m looking up at the maiden’s singing out their pain in belting, sweeping notes and that’s when it happens. A voice… a voice inside my head.
Help.
I blink, shaking my head. I wasn’t going to be victim to Titus’ poisono
us influences again.
Help.
There it is again. It doesn’t seem malicious, it seems scared. I shake it off.
Help.
An insistence growing louder this time, coming closer.
“Whoa!” Azure cries as Philippe whinnies, bubbles flying from his nostrils in a flurry of terror. Orion swims upward, dismounting the animal immediately. That’s when I see what he’s spooked by. A humpback whale is heading for us, swimming at high speed. As it moves its hulking, crustacean covered mass toward us I hear the voice again, but this time it’s so loud I cover my ears.
HELP.
As the whale passes over us it slows, turning.
“Callie’s what’s wrong?” Orion asks as Azure steadies the Equinox, whispering in its ear and patting its mane, attempting to keep it calm. The mermaids have stopped singing and the rest of the animals have darted into the blue shadows of the distance. The whale inches closer. I rise to look into it’s dark, beautiful eye.
Help.
The voice whispers to me this time, velvety soft and I gasp, my eyes welling with the thought of a gift so precious it makes my heart stop just thinking about it.
“I think…” I whisper, not looking at Orion, transfixed by the majesty of the animal before me. “This whale needs help.”
“What do you mean?” Azure asks, speaking softly toward me, trying not to spook Philippe as the mermaids gather around.
“It… it spoke to me,” I exhale dreamily as the giant eye of the humpback blinks. Nothing in this sea of voices ever ceases to amaze.
CALLIE
The whale is bigger than any marine mammal I’ve yet encountered as a mermaid. Now I think about it, I really haven’t seen that much of the ocean since I turned. When I had first become a mermaid, Orion had wanted to keep me close and after the first Psiren invasion was unsuccessful nobody had wanted to venture far out of the city either. I’m astonished by how different it feels to swim, undulating next to such a massive animal, whose weight alone causes massive shifts in the water around it.
The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Page 34
