Falling in Deep Collection Box Set

by Pauline Creeden

  “I know,” I said, feeling the flush in my cheeks. “I know it’s dangerous.”

  She swam up closer to me and looked me deep in my eyes. “With the stakes higher than ever, we would lose both Kai and Finn, and Levi’s deadline would be up.”

  A thought occurred to me then, and it twisted my insides. “Is this is why you turned me into a merwalker?” I asked.

  She sagged slightly, defeated. “Not completely,” she admitted. “I would have turned you into a merwalker regardless, because it’s who you are. Please believe me.” Her gaze met mine, and she searched my face. “I’m begging you, please help.”

  I swallowed and turned my gaze to Ponce, who was looking at me expectantly. He’d been by my side throughout this entire ordeal, even though he started out as an innocent passerby who was giving a lost girl directions. His world depended on so many things at the moment.

  And then there was Finn. Scarred Finn, who had thrown himself into the role of a protector, even to his detriment. I thought about everything he’d done for his people and world, and it made my insides twist with worry.

  Even if I did help out, there would be a lot of risk, even for me. However, could I really stand by when both of my worlds were at risk? When I was the reason why this hadn’t been sorted sooner? When a baby dolphin refused to even eat because he missed his mother?

  “What do you want me to do?”

  ***

  “Are you sure you want to come along, Ponce?” I asked the snapper as we got ready to leave the cell. Nereia and I had discussed what we needed to do to get Oceanus’s permission to deliver the potion. Then there was the matter of Finn, who would want to do it himself, regardless of the risk. It was dangerous, yet it was a risk I was willing to take to save everyone. It was going to be awkward when I saw him next.

  Ponce wouldn’t have it. “If you think that I would abandon you, then you’ve got another thing coming. I’m sticking with you.”

  He glanced nervously at the sharks guarding my cell as Nereia opened the door and swam by. He was a ball of energy, and I appreciated his help.

  “She’s with me, boys,” Nereia called to the guards. “No need to get yourself tangled in a net.” She then cackled like the sea witch she was.

  The sharks moved back as we passed, and one grinned menacingly at me. It wasn’t a comforting smile.

  “Thanks,” I told her as we moved through the corridors up to the first level of the palace. Now that I was completely changed into a mermaid, no one batted an eye at me. In fact, it seemed like they were all avoiding Nereia. She apparently had a reputation that she wasn’t afraid to embrace.

  “For what, sweetie?”

  “For doing everything to save my people.” As I said that, I didn’t know if I meant mers or humans.

  “You’re going to save both of your people,” Nereia said. She turned to look at me, her expression both wistful and sad. “It’s going to come down to you.”

  I caught the significance of her emphasis on the word “both”. While I might not be used to the idea, I did know that I didn’t want anything happening to either the sea or the surface.

  “I didn’t expect to see you out of the prison, Tara,” another voice said, interrupting our discussion.

  My heart pounded and I turned to see Finn lounging in a depression of the walls. His sea green eyes found mine, and he offered me a secret smile. All I wanted was to feel his lips against mine again, and then I felt awkward at the idea of what I was going to do. Of what I was going to do to him.

  Nereia instantly brightened. “Ah, nephew!” she cried, holding out an arm for a hug. “I’ve been worried about you! Where have you been?”

  He pushed himself off the wall and paddled over towards us. I could feel the blush heat my body with every inch he moved closer. He gave his aunt a one-armed hug, although I could tell that he was keeping an eye on me.

  “I’ve been learning things,” he said vaguely, which served to make my cheeks blush even more.

  Nereia looked at him, frowning slightly before wrapping him up in another hug. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “For now,” Finn said honestly, meaning it as a joke.

  I shivered at the thought of him being on display in an aquarium, unable to leave, unable to be understood by anyone.

  “You got the fire flower right?” he asked, changing the subject. “So it’s only a matter of making the potion again and me—”

  She raised up a finger and tut-tutted him. “I want to discuss this with you and your father,” she chided. “Speaking of, we should get a move on, because I still need to make the potion before tonight,” she decided in an ominous tone.

  Not waiting for any more questions, she jetted towards Oceanus’s palace with one, powerful flick of her tail.

  “Hey, wait up!” Ponce cried, shooting off behind her, leaving Finn and me alone, which felt all too awkward.

  “I…I guess we should go,” I said to Finn, the words tumbling out quickly once I recovered enough.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, picking up on my mood.

  “Yeah,” I said unconvincingly. “I had a long night.”

  “I wouldn’t mind another kiss,” he offered with a smile.

  I don’t know if I had ovaries at the moment, probably not, because they would have exploded at his words and his smile.

  His lips touched mine then, and I swooned into his kiss, relishing it. How could someone who didn’t know what a kiss was only a few hours ago be so good at it?

  Now that I found out that I was half-merwalker, there really was no big reason why I couldn’t stay here if everything worked out. Was there a future for us? Could I allow myself to hope that this wasn’t just some sort of fling?

  I’d have to figure it out after we saved Kai.

  “Did you know?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Know what?”

  “That I was half-merwalker?”

  He searched my face for a long time before shaking his head. “No. But it makes sense now why Nereia changed you.” He gave me a lopsided smile. “So that means…”

  Rather than complete his statement, he kissed me again.

  “We should get going,” I told him sadly when our lips broke apart. I could get lost in those kisses, but we did have a deadline.

  I dolphin-kicked my own tail, following after Nereia and Ponce. A second after I did so, Finn was beside me, swimming at his top speed. I did take a little pleasure in that while I was in a flustered state, I could swim faster than him.

  Nereia was already inside when we arrived at Oceanus’s throne room. The guards were waiting idly, grinning like predators at us as we approached. I guess they got the memo from their friends guarding my cell that they should try scaring me.

  Well, it wasn’t going to work. Even if I did gulp a little louder than normal.

  As I passed through the doors, I was shocked to see King Levi—Leviathan, as I now knew him—and Queen Nadia presiding over everything next to Oceanus. If I could stumble and fall flat on my face, I would have. Thankfully, I was swimming.

  After learning about his power over the ocean, Levi intimidated me even more than Oceanus did. Which was good, because Oceanus was not happy to see me.

  “I see you’ve changed,” he scoffed under his breath. “But you can’t take any old grain of sand and call her a pearl.”

  “I’m not trying to be a pearl,” I objected.

  “My son thinks you’re one,” he said pointedly, looking at Finn, who frowned stoically.

  I looked at the mer-king, shocked. Did he know that we kissed?

  “She is a good person,” Finn said, his tone dangerous.

  Levi and Nadia weren’t paying attention to our conversation, fully devoted to whatever Nereia was going to say about Kai. Oceanus shot me another glare before he turned back to them.

  “Do you have it?” Levi demanded of Nereia. “Do you have the fire flower?”

  I could tell that Nereia was loving the attention. She hel
d the room like a performer, a magician, and I was starting to see why they called her a sea witch. “Yes. I wanted to share my news with everyone at the same time.”

  “Must she be here for this?” Oceanus demanded, pointing to me.

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Childish. He was the king of the merfolk?

  “Oh yes, dear brother,” Nereia intoned, her expression very serious. “She’s vital to the entire plan.”

  “She is?” Finn asked, alarmed.

  Oh, Finn. Here was the part that he wasn’t going to like.

  Nereia sighed and crossed her arms across her chest. “Finn,” she said slowly, “I know that you’re used to saving the creatures of the sea, but this time, we’re going to try something different. I’ve already gotten Tara’s permission, of course.”

  Every eye in the room turned back to me, even Oceanus’s. I fidgeted under their gazes, wanting to melt into the walls.

  “She did,” I confirmed, my voice stronger than I felt. I couldn’t even look at Finn’s shocked expression.

  “You can’t be serious,” Finn hissed. “Tara, it’s dangerous.”

  “Less so for me than it is for you,” I answered back.

  Nereia beamed at my words. When she spoke next, she addressed the two dolphins again.

  “As you know, Your Majesties, the fire flower is found deep within Mariana’s Trench. A flower that grows in the most impossible of conditions. And because of that impossibility, it’s perfect for my potion.”

  “Which is?” Levi urged.

  “We’re going to make Kai fly,” Nereia answered like it was the most natural thing in the world. And Tara…” she glanced back at me, her smile brilliant. “…Tara is going to be the one to give the potion to him.”

  “I can do it,” Finn interjected. “I was so close two nights ago.”

  Levi understood, following Nereia’s logic. He nodded along with Nereia’s plan. “You failed two nights ago, Protector,” he said. “Failure is not an option again. Not with my son’s life on the line.”

  I couldn’t believe my eyes when Finn flinched at the barb.

  Levi smirked, satisfied at Finn’s reaction, and turned back to Nereia. “Tell me how this…mermaid…would be able to succeed where our famed protector failed.”

  Well, for one, I wouldn’t be there to distract the protector, I thought sarcastically.

  Nereia gave me a knowing smile before she spoke next.

  “Little Tara here is a special breed of mermaid. I’m sure Oceanus already knows, but she’s a merwalker. One who can travel between the sea and the world Kai is trapped in.”

  Levi and Nadia looked at me, alarmed themselves now at the reveal that I was a merwalker. Great, I thought. Now they think I’m the enemy.

  “You can appear human?” Nadia asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. I met Kai on the surface. I know exactly where he is, and I can get access to him.”

  “She and Kai got along well on the surface,” Nereia added. “She can help coax Kai to make the jump out to the ocean.”

  “Is it a long way for him to fly?” Nadia asked. “Can he make it?”

  The quarantine tank was at least eight yards from the edge, and then there were rocks below to worry about. It was an impossible jump. If he could fly…well, I had no idea how that worked.

  “He can,” Finn interrupted. He was frowning, clearly unhappy. “I can do it.”

  “I can’t risk you being caught,” I told him.

  His jaw clenched.

  Heart pounding, I lifted my chin a little bit. My gills opened to suck in some water, and my mermaid tail kept me righted. Yet at the same time, I was still the human I’d always been.

  I was living the real dream. I was in two worlds. And I was going to have to be a part of them continuing forward.

  Everything depended on this. Before all this, I had never really believed in mermaids. Now, it was time to start believing in myself.

  “I’m doing it.”

  ***

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  Finn grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. I swayed, feeling a little disoriented under his intense, sea green gaze.

  While Nereia was busy mixing the ingredients together for the potion, I was left trying to prepare for a mission that felt huge and beyond my control.

  “I do,” I told him gently.

  “This doesn’t affect your world,” he pleaded, searching my gaze.

  “It does,” I said. “It affects both of my worlds. Yours and mine. Ours.”

  A thousand different emotions crossed his face all at once, from conflict to deep concern.

  “I don’t want you getting hurt,” he pleaded. “You had nothing to do with this.”

  Despite myself, I wanted to laugh. “That’s not what you believed the first time you met me.”

  His brow furrowed. “That’s not fair.”

  “I know,” I said. “I have to do this, Finn. I promised Kai that I would, and I can’t let this war happ—”

  He pressed his lips against mine, giving me another one of his fin-curling kisses. After only four kisses, he was getting better. This time, he explored more of my mouth and held me to him, like he never wanted to let me go.

  I melted into it, my eyes fluttering closed. His arms came around my back and brought me close to him, skin to skin, kissing me like a lover for whom the world is ending.

  The kiss lasted a long time.

  When he finally did break the kiss, he looked at me intensely, begging with his eyes for me not to follow through with this. He caressed the side of my face, making my skin tingle with his feathery touch.

  “Don’t go,” he whispered.

  “It makes sense, Finn,” I appealed to him. “I know where he is, I won’t get caught.”

  “It’s my job, Tara.”

  “I would never forgive myself if someone found you. You would turn into a spectacle for humans. They’d cage you. Dissect you. And the news reporters would descend on you like a pack of sharks.”

  His brow furrowed, and I realized that he didn’t know what news reporters were. “They would expose you and this world,” I continued, indicating the broad expanse of Thalassa. “You’d never get any rest. It’s too big of a risk for you.”

  The muscle in his jaw clenched and unclenched, and I could sense that I wasn’t going to be able to make him see my point.

  “If you fail, Levi would attack the surface.”

  I shook my head. “I won’t fail.”

  “How do you know?” he demanded.

  I allowed myself a grin. “Because I can pretend to be a better human than a mermaid.”

  He gave me a sidelong glance and a short chuckle, which he covered behind his hand. “How do you do that?” he asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Make everything make sense and not make sense?”

  I leaned into him, playfully looking up into his eyes. “I learned from you. Nothing has made sense since I met you.”

  He pulled me into his embrace again and kissed me. And this time, he didn’t pull away.

  Chapter 10

  Not sure of what the etiquette was for entering rooms, I knocked on the door to Nereia’s chambers. She had told me that as the sister of King Oceanus, she had her own quarters in the lower levels of the palace, not too far from my prison. After the meeting with Levi and Nadia, she had holed herself up here to create the potion.

  “Nereia?” I called.

  “Come in! Come in, Tara,” came her voice from within.

  I opened the clam shell door and with a quick flick with my tail, entered her chambers. Even though most of the palace was light and airy, Nereia’s rooms were dark and gloomy, much like my prison last night. Every nook and cranny in the cave was filled with shells, coral, sand dollars, and even human artifacts like empty plastic bottles and pieces of shipwrecks. More of those weird glowy plants lit the space, although I felt like my eyes could never fully adjust to the dim light.

  Ne
reia was perched on the equivalent of a desk, mixing things into something that roughly resembled a cauldron. Beside her was a red, seven-petaled flower that glowed with red, orange, yellow, and blue colors. The fire flower.

  “This dark place looks a lot like the place where you healed me,” I told her wryly, crossing my arms. “When I first woke up in this world.”

  It seemed like such a long time ago.

  “You don’t need much light when you’re working on instinct,” Nereia said without looking at me. She grabbed a pestle and ground the ingredients together into a paste. After a minute, satisfied with her work, she glanced at me. “You looked scared.”

  “I am,” I admitted. “But I know I can do it.”

  She smiled wistfully at me. “I have complete faith in you.”

  I nodded with my head towards the flower on the table. “Is that the fire flower?” I asked.

  Nereia picked it up and looked at it like she had never seen it before. “Yes,” she said reverently. “The rarest bloom in the world. Possibly even more rare than merwalkers like yourself.” She carefully placed it into the cauldron and began folding it into her potion, each movement measured and precise.

  My fingers played with the mermaid pendant around my throat. Long ago, it had set me on this course to bring me here now. Perhaps it was always meant to be that I would end up here, that I was always meant to save Kai.

  And meet Finn.

  The thought comforted me. No matter what happened from here, I knew that Dad would be proud of me.

  Nereia scooped up the concoction and gently wrapped it within a bed of kelp. She secured it with a knot and hefted the small package, no bigger than the palm of my hand. She gave it another once-over and nodded with pride.

  “Finished,” she said.

  “That will make Kai fly?” I asked incredulously. It didn’t look like much.

  She grinned at me secretively. “All you need to do is feed him this like you would a fish, and he’ll surprise you. Like you’ve surprised yourself.”