by Kelly, Holly
“No,” he answered firmly.
“You know you’re heartless, cruel, and—”
“Gretchen,” he interrupted, “we’re going in the water.”
“I’m not a mermaid,” she said, each word clipped and colored with anger. He much preferred her angry than crying and broken, so he continued to egg her on.
“There’s no denying what you are.”
“Okay, so what if I am? What then?”
“If you are what I think you are, I won’t waste any more time. You’ll be my wife at tomorrow’s daybreak.” The words slipped from his lips, surprising himself as much as it likely surprised her. Yet as he spoke them, his resolve set the words in stone. She would be his wife.
“You’re crazy!” Her voice rose. “Do you have some kind of mermaid fetish? Well, forget it. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man alive, as handsome as Matthew McConaughey, and as rich as Bill Gates! What happened to fighting for a woman? Or did your long-winded lecture mean nothing?”
“Baby, tonight I fought harder for you than all the other people I’ve known in my entire life—combined. And your mother’s right. I’m the man who loves you. I love you, Gretchen.”
“You don’t love me.” She choked on her words. “You don’t even like me.”
“I thought I already explained myself. Is the problem that I’m human? Would you marry me if I were born of the sea like you?”
Her eyes flickered in surprise. She didn’t speak, but simply shook her head slowly.
“We’ll see, little mermaid.” He paused for a moment before he carried her into the surf and strode out into deeper water.
Gretchen’s heart pounded and stomach churned as Kyros stepped into the surf. Could it be? Was he like her?
No, it couldn’t. This man was about to have the shock of his life.
The ocean water brought the change, like a thousand tiny fins brushing over her body. The water covered their heads as they plunged down into the moonlit sea. Her throbbing hand felt immediate relief. It still hurt like crazy, but it was much better.
She could hear Kyros growl. It sounded like he was in pain. She could feel his arms trembling around her. A moment later, he relaxed.
Cradled in his arms, she couldn’t see his legs. Were they still there? Of course they were. What had she been thinking? There was no way to hide her secret now.
What could she say? She wanted to say, Close your eyes so I can disappear. Or maybe she could say, I know what it looks like, but this isn’t what you think. Perhaps she could convince him he was dreaming.
That was it, darn it! How could she be such an idiot? She could make him forget. And then his arms were gone, and she was floating. She looked up, expecting him to be surfacing for a breath. But he wasn’t there.
A dark shape rose from below. Gretchen screamed. The figure slapped its hands against its ears. Her scream turned to a breath of relief when she saw it was Kyros.
“Hades, Gretchen! Watch the volume.” He had his hands firmly against his ears. He rose higher. She caught a glimpse of his entire body and nearly screamed again. He had a tailfin. A grey tailfin!
“You… you’re a merman?”
He narrowed his eyes as if to gage her reaction to his next statement. She could see his tail curled, and his muscles tensed. He looked as if he were ready to chase her down. “No, I’m not. I’m a Dagonian.”
“A what?” She was taken aback. Her mother never said anything about any creature called a Dagonian.
“You’ve never heard of us?” He immediately relaxed.
Gretchen shook her head. “No. Are you a descendant of Triton too?”
“No, Dagonians descend from Calypso and Dagon.”
“I’m familiar with Calypso, but I’ve never heard of Dagon. Is he Greek?”
“No, he’s a Sumerian sea god. Their union caused quite a stir in both pantheons.”
Gretchen circled him, slowly swimming round, enraptured by the sight. She’d never seen a male creature like him. He looked even larger as a Dagonian than he did as a six-foot-eight-inch human. His arms and chest were well muscled, and so was his tailfin. It was sleek, grey, and his whole body radiated power.
She reached a tentative hand out to touch his fin. It felt like course-grit sandpaper to her fingertips—not unlike shark’s skin. She looked down at her own tailfin. It was soft, smooth, skin-colored, and… she was about to show too much! Kyros’s shirt billowed up. She immediately pulled it down and tied it into a hard knot.
“I have one question I must ask you,” he said gravely. “How old are you?”
She frowned. “I’m twenty-three.”
He blew out a breath and relaxed. “And your mother…?”
“How old is she?” she asked, confused at why he felt the need to know their ages.
“Yes.”
“I’m not certain, but she’s been around a long time—several thousand years.”
“More than two?”
“Yes, at least three or four. Why?”
He pressed his lips together and frowned. “Because two thousand years ago, we were ordered by Poseidon to kill all the Mer. And that order is still in effect.”
Gretchen felt a bit faint. “You’re supposed to kill me?”
His expression softened, and he pulled her closer. “No, gods no. You were not even born when the Mer committed the unthinkable act.”
“What unthinkable act?”
“They mocked Poseidon.”
“What? Mocking someone is a capital offense?”
“Mocking a god is one—especially a god as powerful as Poseidon.”
“That’s… horrible. For the other Mer, I mean.”
“It is what it is.”
“Good luck in trying to kill my mother. She’s not easily entrapped—which is probably why she’s survived as long as she has.”
“Tell me about this mother of yours.”
The sea seemed to darken as she thought of the past. “I don’t remember a whole lot. I was eight years old when I left. Today was the first time I’d ever been back in the sea.”
“You could stay away?”
“Oh, yeah. That was easy. I didn’t want to remember anything from my life before. Although, I do still feel the ocean’s pull. I guess that’s why I’ve always chosen to live near it.”
“I can’t imagine wanting to leave the sea for good,” Kyros said. “Just these last few weeks have been torture. I hate living on land.”
“Why do you do it?”
“I…” He hesitated. “I’m a soldier. It’s my job to guard and protect.”
“You’re guarding…” Gretchen’s eyes widened as she realized what he was implying. She looked him up and down. Kyros was about six foot eight inches tall on land, Xanthus about seven feet, and each of the others no less than six-six. “Xanthus is a Dagonian too, isn’t he? And the others? Straton, Pallas, Drakōn, and Amar?”
“Yes.”
“Oh man. Xanthus is sooo overprotective. He brings Dagonians out of the water just to protect his wife. But…” The wheels were turning in her head. Sara confined to a wheelchair, but now she was miraculously not. “Is Xanthus a god?”
Kyros’ eyes widened in surprise, like she’d overlooked the obvious. “No. He’s a Dagonian, although thanks to Triton, he is immune to the mermaid’s voice.”
Gretchen scowled. What was she missing—something about Sara? What was she missing about her best friend? The friend she’d thought she’d known. The friend who’d been like a sister to her from the moment they’d met. Then it hit her.
“Sara’s like me,” Gretchen blurted.
“Yes.”
“But why was she in a wheelchair?”
“Not all mermaids have legs on land. In fact, it’s a rare gift.”
“My mother has that gift.”
“Which is probably why you do too. You inherited it from her.”
“But Sara didn’t? And she lived on land anyway. Oh my gosh. She was terrified of the wat
er. What happened to her?”
“I truly have no idea.”
“I need to go to her. I have to talk to her.” Gretchen started to swim back toward shore.
“Hold on.” Kyros snatched her hand and pulled her back. “Before we leave, I have to take care of your wound.”
“What? Here?”
He chuckled. “Where else?”
He closed his eyes and drew deep breath in through his nose. His eyes snapped open. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He darted off like a rocket. And then he was gone.
A dark shape moved in from behind and brushed her back—a lemon shark. It gave her a jagged-toothed grin. A sleek blue shark came in on her right and swept past her. It took only minutes for sharks to come in on every side.
“Have you guys been hiding?”
She’d barely asked the question when they scattered. Kyros emerged from out of the dark water with seaweed clutched in his hands. “Here.” He pressed it down on her wound, packing it in and around on both sides. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt too much. “This should speed up the healing.”
“Sharks don’t like you very much, do they?”
“What?” he asked, looking around.
“You like sharks, don’t you?”
Kyros frowned. “I’ll have you know, sharks are one of my favorite sea creatures.”
“Hmm. How come I don’t believe you?”
“I promise you, I love shark.”
“Good.” She smiled.
He wrapped a long, flat leaf around her hand and tied it in place. He let go of the extra weed—they drifted, floating away.
Gretchen frowned. “What about your wound?”
Kyros shrugged. “It’s not that serious.”
“Not that serious? You had a huge knife go clear through your leg.”
Kyros shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”
“We still need to take care of it.” Gretchen swam around, snatching the weed from the ocean water. “Men,” she grumbled under her breath. She looked down at his fin and searched for the cut. When she saw it, she gasped. When his legs formed into a fin, it must have warped and stretched the skin around his injury; it was now long, jagged, open flesh. Not serious, my butt.
“There’s not enough seaweed to cover this,” Gretchen said.
“This is not a weed. It’s called Nori.”
“Whatever it is, there’s not enough.”
“Gretchen, anything you put on it will get messed up when I get the horrid legs back.”
Exasperated at not being able to help Kyros, she exclaimed, “Well, forget it. When we get back, I’ll pour alcohol on it and call it good.”
“You’re angry,” Kyros said, surprised.
“I’m not angry; I’m frustrated.” She blew out a breath. “I’m sorry; it’s not your fault. I just hate not being able to fix things.”
“You don’t need to fix me, Gretchen. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I’ve done it for a hundred years.”
“A hundred…! Oh yeah, you’re immortal too, huh?”
“Too?”
“Like my birth mom.”
“Why do you call her your birth mom?”
“Because she’s not my real mom. A real mom is someone who loves you, takes care of you, and sacrifices for you. I have a real mom—a mom who loves and cares for me. She lives in Miami.”
“She’s human.”
“The best human alive.”
“Does she know what you are?”
“If you’re talking about me being a mermaid, then no. When I turned my back on the sea, I never looked back. I did everything I could to forget what I was. But my mom knows what’s inside of me. She knows my heart, through and through, and that’s the most important part.”
“She sounds like a special woman.”
“She is; she’s the polar opposite of my birth mother.”
“What do you know about your birth mother?”
“I know her name is Aella.”
Kyros jerked to a stop. His eyes were wide pools of darkness.
“You’ve heard of her?”
“Yes.” His voice was hard and cold.
Gretchen swallowed.
“What else do you know?” Kyros asked.
“I only know what happened to me personally. I don’t know what she did while she was away. She kept me hidden in a cave. I spent most of my time in a large, air-filled pocket with a rocky shore. My only entertainment was playing up and around the boulders and swimming in and around the cave. What she didn’t know is, while she was gone I would watch the humans on the beach. I would dream I was human, that I was part of a human family. That was, until she caught me.”
Kyros’s eyes darkened. “What did she do?”
Even now, Gretchen didn’t like to talk about it. “She…”
“Go on.”
“She got me a playmate.”
Kyros scowled. “A human?”
Gretchen nodded. “She brought a little girl into the cave to live with me. The girl was about my age, seven or eight years old. At first, I thought it was the most wonderful thing my mother had ever done for me. But the girl wouldn’t play with me. She spent all her time crying. I did everything I could to try to comfort her, coax her into being my friend. I offered her gifts of seashells, pearls, and the most succulent fish… Nothing seemed to help.”
“Looking back, I should have returned her to the shore. I was just so starved for attention. I desperately wanted a friend.”
“What happened to her?”
“My mother happened.”
“What did your mother do?”
Gretchen shook her head as her lip trembled. “The humans came searching for her. So my mother gave her back to them, but not before...”
“Before what, baby?”
“Before she drowned her.” She choked on the words, tears leaking into the seawater.
Understanding mixed with pity passed across Kyros’s face. He pulled her into his arms and said, “I’m sorry.”
Gretchen wrapped her arms around his chest and wept. These tears were long overdue. The events of that day were so horrendous that she’d repeatedly pushed them from her mind. But now they came back fresh—her heart breaking at the memories. “I wish I could go back and change the past. I wish I hadn’t been so selfish.”
Gretchen held tight to Kyros’s chest. His warmth filled her, surrounded her body and penetrated her heart. She cried until her tears were spent. Finally, she pulled away from Kyros and sighed.
“I’m sorry. I’m not usually a crier.”
He caressed the side of her face. “You have nothing to apologize for. It was a terrible thing your mother did.”
“I could have saved her.”
“Gretchen, you were a child yourself. You didn’t know what your mother would do. It’s not your fault.”
“I know. My head understands perfectly, but my heart can’t seem to accept it. I guess that’s why I’ve tried to devote my life to protecting others.”
“Yeah, you do tend to rush to take care of people, but I think the child you once were is still in you—wanting love, acceptance, and someone to take care of you.”
She looked into his eyes, wanting so much for that someone to be him, but her track record was against him. When it came to men, no one ever stayed.
“So,” Gretchen said. “You know all about my mother. She’s a heartless witch with a special place in hell waiting for her. I’ll bet you don’t want to marry me now.”
He shook his head. “Gretchen, you are not your mother.”
“Sometimes I worry I am.”
Kyros frowned. “You are nothing like your mother.”
Gretchen cracked a weak smile.
“She kills without hesitation or remorse,” he said.
“Don’t I know it,” she mumbled. The images of the past clouded her mind.
“You have more compassion than anyone I’ve ever met,” Kyros told her.
Gretchen could hear his words
, but her mind was elsewhere—deep in the recesses of a cave.
“Gretchen?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Hm?”
“What’s wrong?”
She gave a sad laugh. “You’re asking that question while we talk about my birth mom?”
“There’s something you haven’t told me.”
“I don’t know how talking about it will help.”
“Ignoring things rarely makes them better.”
She looked up into Kyros’s face. He looked forlorn. “Tell me about it,” he said.
“Aella has a cave—hidden deep in a maze of tunnels. I discovered it just before I left.”
“That cave is the reason you left, isn’t it?” he asked. “It wasn’t the human girl.”
Gretchen nodded.
“What’s in that cave?”
“Bones.”
“Bones? Of who? Of what?”
“Mermaids—young ones.”
“How young?”
“Children. Babies.”
Kyros shook his head in disbelief. “They could only be her own children.”
“That’s why I left,” Gretchen said. “I knew it was only a matter of time before I joined them.”
“I’ve never heard of such wickedness,” Kyros said. “Makes sense, though, in a twisted, evil kind of way. She’s got to be paranoid about being discovered. Offspring might eventually leave her. And if they were discovered, it would only be a matter of time before they were traced back to her—which is exactly what happened with you. You left her, and now we’ve found her. And this gives us the reason why she wants you dead. But there’s something I don’t understand. Why would she keep having children?”
She sighed, struggling to remember. “She was cruel and indifferent, but she was also needy. One day, she would be mean and spiteful; the next, she’d be crying on my shoulder.”
“What would she cry about?”
“She never told me.”
“That is a mystery.”
Kyros had Gretchen on his arm as they staggered into the office of a tiny, sky-blue, clapboard motel in Somerset Village. Gretchen leaned heavily on his arm, with dark circles shadowing her eyes. She looked exhausted. Still, she gave a friendly smile to the man at the desk.
