Mother let it grow longer than she should, fascinated by my strands of gold.
“Someday.” I heard her whisper, holding to the hope that my voice would sound out soon. If it did, I would be a Caller, and there would be no more cutting. My hair would grow to a gorgeous length, and Mother would comb and braid it lovingly.
The Calling Days were filled with ritual. The beautiful braids would be loosened, combed through and shined with ground pearls. The mothers would whisper sacred words to the Callers, and those sacred daughters would swim up until the light broke through the surface and beyond.
Only the Callers had long hair, and they were proud of it, some more prideful than they should be. Their lengthy tresses were beautiful, and they were enticing to the men they lured, they said, stroking their strands in front of us shorn Untried and Lessers.
Our clan had rarely more than seventeen Callers. My four sisters came into their positions early, each possessing the melodic, high-pitched voice of our now retired mother. They would have their own families soon, and the eldest of my sisters was already mated to the strongest male of our tribe.
Only I was left untested, and Mother grew more anxious with each season. I was rare, she said, me with my golden hair among the naturally dark-haired merfolk, and my large eyes the color of sea foam. My breasts were plump and hips wide to birth young.
Mother made a list of males for me, some of them with exceptional status among our kind, but I could only be mated if I were a Caller. The females without a voice were little more than servants – Lessers.
My family hadn’t produced a Lesser in four generations. Then again, I was adopted. Once a human, pitied and turned. Some wagered against me, and even my own sisters held doubts, but never Mother. To her, I just needed more prodding and a little more time.
“Ia!”
I heard her voice a world away, could sense the excitement in it.
“Ia! Come here, now!”
I stopped fumbling through my crude hair, and gathering my composure, I swam in the direction of her voice, following the current and a few wayward schools of small fish, thinking that perhaps I should snack before I approached her.
She found me before I could give it a second thought.
“You are Calling.”
My jaw slacked open. “Tonight?”
I had not been made aware I would be tested, had not been practicing as I should.
“Of course, child,” a low voice from behind me answered, and I turned to face shining eyes highlighted by deep wrinkles at their corners. Our High Mother, Queen of not just our tribe, but our entire clan.
I stumbled over proper forms of address, instead choosing to lower my head to show some reverence. Her hand lifted my chin, and my gaze met hers.
“You have seen twenty-five years come late fall. That is close enough,” the High Mother said, her eyes narrowing as she studied me.
“Mother, is this what you wish as well?” I asked, hoping for support in delaying this, but found only a sigh as a response. Mother seemed hesitant to answer me, pausing before she answered, and considered the gaze of the Queen in our midst as well as the looks of the people that were gathering around us.
The High Mother raised her eyebrows as she turned her attention to Mother. It was foolish to deny the High Mother.
“Two ships have been spotted,” Mother replied to me. “You call, or you fail and the young mermen find another beauty to pine for. Our High Mother is right. You are of age, and it is time.”
“Good,” the High Mother said. “I was hoping for more interesting activities besides the usual mating ceremonies. A test is always full of excitement.” She winked at me with a smile on her lips as she turned to leave with her entourage. “And surprises. Always full of surprises.”
Mother bit her lip and clasped her hands in front of her as she turned to join the High Mother’s entourage, then swam away, leaving my thoughts to chase the shrinking iridescent green of her fins. Chattering jolted me, and I found remnants of our voyeurs studying me, some haughty, certain of my failure, and others stressed. The faces of the Lessers were lined with worry.
No one who had truly lived life at the bottom ever wished it on others.
I did not cry, at least not where anyone would witness. I turned and fled in the direction opposite my mother, my tail flexing as fast as it could go, propelling me through the depths until the light grew incredibly dim.
I took refuge in a dark grotto, long abandoned by life. I had found it as a small child, fleeing the insults and jeering of my peers, and anytime I found my life overwhelming, my future forlorn, and my choices stolen, I retreated to my silent sanctuary.
This day was darker than others, and the entrance to the cave sat before me, a gloomy mouth opened wide. Instinct told me to leave, to seek my family, but I knew they would bring me no comfort. Tracing the ancient drawings of the humans along familiar walls always brought peace of mind to me, brought my thoughts to an arena of ‘what-ifs’.
What had this place been, long ago, to the humans? It hadn’t always been underwater. Humans cannot breathe as we can, nor do their eyes see through the dark depths.
I swam in, my eyes adjusting to the change in light, the faint glow of the depictions warming up the atmosphere around me. I wound my way around the sharp edges of the ceiling to my favorite spot, a deep area with figures chasing enormous land creatures, and even a drawing of fire, yet another mystery of my birth-world that I had never experienced and had only seen from afar.
What would it be like to be as I was born – human? From what I had seen, the people above the surface were free. They ran, and walked, and laughed on the beaches. Lovers entwined themselves under the stars. Surely, their days were filled with sunshine and love, and such a people would treasure each other, and there would be no Lessers among them - Would there be?
I questioned Mother about their world often, and her answers would always fall to the story of my birth, and how my father had chosen death for me, but I wished to believe that it was because a part of him knew my true family awaited me beneath the waters, a family that could mend my frail, human form.
The human body was a weak one, indeed. Those I feasted on were grotesque creatures, with rough beards, blackened teeth, and tough skin. Wide, fearful eyes, too. I would wonder if I would have been as they - rough, rotten, and fearful of my death. I would hold on longer to them than I should, studying them, watching their mouths open as they gasped for air and their eyes widen with the realization that I would not be saving them.
It was painful to sink my teeth in, to feel the life of them spurt forth and drain down my throat, but it was necessary, no matter how I longed to help them to the surface, and no matter the pity I held for a creature that I could have been. Survival, my mother named it. It was my survival as opposed to theirs.
Tonight, too, would determine my fate. It would cement my place in our tribe, in our clan, in our kind. Should I fail, I would serve and be one of the silent ones that looked on the young Untried with furrowed brow.
“You will succeed,” the masculine voice next to me whispered, the movement of his words bubbling in my right ear as a strong finger played with a strand of my shortened hair. Smooth, deep, and haunting, his voice made most of the females giggle and sigh.
It grated down my spine.
“Hello, Ro,” I said, flat and irritated.
“So this is where you come to hide.”
My hand jerked up and wiped away the water leaking from my eyes. I had been crying, and he’d seen me. I pushed away from the wall and floated back into an open space.
“I am more than capable of catching you,” he said.
“Is that a threat or a poor attempt at seduction?”
He laughed, and the smirk he gave me was evidence of both.
He had been after me since I had grown into a young adult, my curves and breasts blossoming. Ro was quick to make his intentions known, and as the youngest, strongest guard of my clan, he would have
his pick.
I had been flattered, taken by the handsome merman with that gleam of lust in his eyes. His words, his compliments, enveloped me. If only I’d call, then I would be mated, be his for the rest of our long lives.
It was a dream readily crushed when I found him thrusting against one of my tribe’s unwilling Lessers.
Fattened by a grand feast, most were asleep when a small cry, quickly silenced, roused me. I left the safety of my sisters and swam around our grotto, curious. Turning the corner of an older structure inhabited by Ro’s family, I saw them and stopped, frozen, clinging to the wall next to me.
I couldn’t remember her name. Many Lessers lost their names when they assumed their positions and instead took the names of their family. She was a year or two older than me, a more recent Lesser, with vibrant, short red hair that was now grabbed up to the scalp, forcefully, in one of his hands. The other hand greedily squeezed her breasts.
Tears streamed down her face as he grunted and groaned, slamming against her, and the sand of the floor blew up with the twitches of their fins. Harder, quicker he moved, her face tightening in pain under him until his head threw back, and his mouth opened in an ‘O’.
Gathering herself, she took the moment to escape from beneath him, feeling the slack in his grip.
He rebounded, caught her before she could move. “I’m not done with you.”
His face darkened again, and the hand still holding her hair pushed her head down past his chest and abdomen. My hands balled up into fists, and I started to move toward them, determined to defend her as best I could. A hand grabbed my shoulder, stopping me before I could step from the shadows. It was my sister, Liliana. Her eyes were wide, and she shook her head as she held a finger to her lips to silence any intention I had of voicing my dissent. After a moment, she pulled me to her, and we fled, having stayed as long as we had only due to my state of shock. It was akin to watching a shark tear at the limbs of one too slow to flee their death.
I was unknowing in the ways of mating, let alone abused mating. It terrified me at first, the fear evident on my face each time he neared, much to his confusion.
Then I became infuriated, especially when I saw his abused Lesser, swollen with young, banished to the growing reef for the duration of her situation. It was shameful, hurtful when her matriarch passed judgement, and the Lesser said nothing, not a word for her own defense.
I opened my mouth, but words failed me too as the realization hit me that no one would believe her.
Or me.
Or both of us.
Charming Ro had set himself up as the ideal merman, the destined Premier Guard of our tribe, and perfect mate. His great-grandmother had been a High Mother – a Queen – and his mother and father were among the elite of our tribe. His ancestry alone afforded him far more reverence than he deserved. To insinuate he raped a forbidden, chaste Lesser, would have been laughable and insulting, and I knew it as truth in the depths of my being. I would’ve taken the same disbelieving position as everyone else had I not seen him. For the first time in my short life, I understood – in its entirety – what Lesser truly meant, and it shook me to the core.
I’d been the receiver of many a cruel act from not being mer-born, but even I was regarded as above the Lessers.
Now, here he was.
Ro. Half propositioning me. Half threatening. His face and posture screaming that he’d do the same to me as that poor Lesser if he could get away with it. He might even try here if I angered him enough.
I smeared a smile across my face. “I need to be alone, Ro.”
He shrugged. “You are worried that you will fail.”
“What is it to you if I do fail?”
He moved closer, pressing himself to me. “It would be in your best interest if you don’t, but,” he paused, choosing his words. “I have never been one for restrictions.”
I glared at him, my thoughts returning to that horrible night.
“You know I saw you.” It slipped out, and half of me hoped it would shake him up.
He shrugged again as though it were a casual comment, nothing serious in its implication.
“I thought as much. Your behavior, your sudden dislike of me. I suspected that might have been you, hiding behind that corner,” he leaned in, his lips tickling my earlobe. “Caller or Lesser, either way, you are mine. Do not forget that.”
He grinned as he backed away from me.
I shuddered. “Why me? Why not one of my sisters, or one of the ones who adore you?”
His head cocked to the side as he considered it, searching for an answer.
“Why do you deny me?” Hurt crossed his face for a brief moment before that all-too-slippery sneer tugged at the corners of his mouth again. “It makes me crave you all the more. Good luck tonight, Land-born. I will see you after.” He winked, the glow of his purple mer-eyes paling as he backed away, and then he swam off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
He will not have me. If I am a Caller, then I shall choose someone else. If a Lesser… I’ll leave. I’ll be forgotten, Forsaken, but at least I will not be his.
My hands tightened into fists at my sides as I swam back home.
Chapter 2
“He swims strong, one of the fastest, and I have no doubt his sons will offer great protection as he has for his family.” Mother’s voice held excitement when speaking of Ro, her focus shifting back and forth between my sister and me.
“Ro does fight well,” I was always careful to compliment Mother’s choices when she started beaming about the formation of our own families, even more so when she made us listen to her.
Liliana rolled her eyes as she smiled. She was as beautiful as all mer-born and had been tested already, declared to be a mother as soon as she’d selected a mate. Her call was strong; she’d claimed two ships in her first year alone.
She was once the top choice for Ro’s family. His mother had flattered her incessantly over her beauty and great talent, but much to everyone’s surprise, Lili refused to select a mate, instead choosing to take her first season as a Caller to bring honor to our family. I had wondered in those days who she was holding her heart for, who she was waiting on, and often questioned why she never seized the opportunity to profess her love. Liliana kept her desires as silent as her opinions. Not even our mother could read her, and our sisters were unable to drag a word out of her.
It was a pleasant surprise to have her as my Call Giver – the one who would instruct me, and ultimately, test me. She smiled as she held my hand, encouraging me, but I could see the concern in her eyes too.
After all, voices were inherited.
We surfaced side-by-side, and I was lost in the light. Although the sun was sinking below the horizon, it was blinding and beautiful. Our kind surface so rarely when we are not Callers, and I remembered the relaxing warmth of the sun on one of our annual visits.
I kept my sight fixed on the descending sun, enjoying the heat from it on my shoulders and face, wishing I could’ve had the day up here. I could hear the other Callers surfacing at our backs, giving us some distance and a little privacy.
“We’ll have to stay in deeper waters tonight,” Lili’s voice was soft, gentle, and high. It soared when she sang, and yet sounded like a small child’s when she spoke.
I nodded in reply, still studying the sun in its waning majesty.
“We will have a storm tonight. A bad one.”
She pointed to the north, where the sky was already blackening with ominous clouds. “The ships will be here soon.”
I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head to the side, confused. I saw nothing but the shore in the far, far distance that looked to be enveloping the sun with each passing moment.
“I can hear them, Ia,” she said. “You will too. It’s a taught ability, and necessary for all Callers.”
I lifted my hand out of the water, watching the droplets run down my skin, back toward their origin. “Do you think I have it in me?”
She looked
away for a moment, surveying the other Callers that were surfacing. “I hope so, Ia. I would not wish being a Lesser on my worst enemy.”
“I wasn’t aware you had any,” I smiled, half-heartedly.
She huffed a little, eying me with irritation. “You need to take this seriously, sister.”
I looked down to the depths, unable to see our home and Mother.
“I will not be a Lesser, Lili.” I refused to say more. She knew what was on my mind, and her mouth fell open.
Leaving.
Forsaken.
“You do not mean that, Ia.”
I sighed, feeling the weight of the discussion on top of the mounting anxiety for my test. “I do, Lili. I would rather be a feast for sharks than be locked in servitude to the likes of Ro.”
The name took her aback. She swam closer, those beautiful features of hers contorted with concern. “Why him?” She paused. “Why do you believe you’ll be serving him as a Lesser?”
“He is determined, absolutely determined, to mate with someone in our family,” I said. “He will be our family.”
I felt the shudder roll through her, and could see the drop of her face as she acknowledged the truth in my words.
My mouth opened to ask her of her thoughts, but all I could push out was a syllable before she interrupted me, covering my mouth with her hand.
“Listen,” she whispered, her gaze traveling to a far off place. “Do you hear them? The ships?”
My focus shifted to my ears, but all I could hear was the movement of the sea around us and my own heartbeat. Thunder sounded, startling me, and my concentration went to the building storm ahead.
I shook my head.
She looked back to the other Callers who, visibly, were hearing the same signs as she. “Tonight, Ia shall call for us,” she yelled to them. “It is the first of her tests.”
“So may she call,” they replied in unison.
“May Great Mother give Ia a voice with which to bless us, with life, that we may have life.”
“May it be so,” they replied.
Falling in Deep Collection Box Set Page 16
