by Dee J. Stone
I don’t want to tell him that it won’t be easy. Nowadays, most jobs require their employees to at least have a GED. He’s willing to do everything he can to make me happy. I clasp my arms around him and yank him closer to me, resting my cheek on his bare chest. I don’t say anything. I just hold him close, showing him how much he means to me.
After a few minutes, he climbs on the rock and drops down next to me. “I will miss you terribly, my love.”
My chest tightens. “I’ll miss you more.”
“That is not possible.”
I glance behind me at the dark waves. There is so much life there, so much beauty. But there’s a darkness down there as well. The memories start to play in my head, from the moment I jumped into the ocean to the moment I rescued Damarian from the rebels. My body trembles.
Damarian pulls me closer, running his hand up and down my arms. “Are you cold?”
“I’m okay.”
He tucks me to his chest, fitting me in all the right places. His body temperature is cooler than the average human, but right now, all I feel is the warmth radiating off him. Tears seep out of my eyes. I’ll be worried sick while he’s gone.
“Cassie,” he murmurs, his lips brushing my ear. “Do not cry, my love. All will be well.”
When I turn my head, I realize I’m getting tears all over his chest. “Do you think salt water from tears can cause you to shift?” I joke.
“It pains me to see you upset.”
I shake my head. “I’m not upset. I want you to go home to make sure your family is safe. I need to know how they are doing, too. I’m just scared of what could happen.” Maybe the rebels are lurking nearby, ready to pounce. They didn’t show any mercy when they held him captive, and I shudder to think how far they’ll go to get what they want.
He turns me slightly so that his lips can trek down my neck. “Do not think ill thoughts. I shall have a safe journey and I shall return to you, my beautiful mate.” His lips are lessening the concern crawling in my limbs. I raise my head, and our mouths meet, coming together with a hunger that only the two of us can satisfy.
“If they capture you again,” I say. “I’m dropping everything and coming to get you.”
“Cass—”
“Not buts. If I sense that something is wrong, I’m going to save you.” I place my hands on either side of his face and force his gaze to meet mine. “I need to, Damarian. You don’t understand how much you mean to me.”
He hugs me close. “You do not understand how much you mean to me, my love. If something were to befall you...” His voice cracks. “My wish is to keep you safe.”
“I know. And all I want is to keep you safe, too. But this is the world we live in, and you need to let me get out there and put myself in danger, even risk my life, so I can save the love of my life if I need to.” I look into his eyes. “You understand that, don’t you?”
He nods reluctantly. “Yes, I understand. As much as I do not like it, I understand. And I would behave in the same manner.” With me still in his arms, he rolls onto his back on the rocks so that I’m lying on top of him. “Lie with me for a while, please. I wish to hold you in my arms before I return to the sea.”
I let him. Every so often, his lips skim over my face, my shoulders, my upper chest. He whispers romantic and comforting things into my ear, his hands moving over me, caressing every inch of my body. In these few precious minutes, I forget that Damarian will be entering the dangerous ocean again. I forget that he will be away for a few days. I forget about the rebels and that we might lose our house. All I think about is how amazing this feels, his warm, passionate lips and gentle hands. All I feel is the throbbing in my stomach, the numbness of my limbs. The love that wraps around me like a cocoon.
“Damarian…” His name leaves my mouth in a rasp.
“My sweet Cassie.”
I don’t know how long we lie like this. It’s as though time has stopped and Damarian and I can go on making out and being together forever. But it will start to get light soon and the fishermen will come out, followed by the surfers and then everyone else who wants to spend the last few days of summer on the beach.
“It’s time,” I say.
Damarian turns over so that my back is pressed against the rocks. He brings his hand to my face and pushes away a few strands of hair that are stuck to my wet cheeks. He stares down at me with nothing but raw love dancing in his eyes. “I must shift into a child of the sea to contact Fiske. Will you swim with me in the sea before I return?”
We’ve shared amazing moments together as humans, but when I’m in the water as a mermaid, it’s as though I’m transported to another world. The ocean revitalizes every cell in my body, making me feel more free and alive. All my senses are heightened and I feel a closeness to Damarian that I don’t think I can ever experience on land.
“Of course I will,” I tell him.
Tightening his hold on me, Damarian leaps into the ocean. Our hands seek one another as the burning pain attacks. Together, we flail around in the waves and cry out and cling to each other, drawing on our energies.
My body is thrown upside down as my tail shoots out of the water. I quickly stick it back in. I feel the whooshing of Damarian’s tail a few inches from mine. He wraps his arms around me and swims to the surface.
“You can call Fiske from such a long distance?” I ask. The merpeople colony is very far.
“It is possible he can hear me. But if that is not so, I shall ask the fish to carry a message to him.”
“That’s so cool. The fish are like little delivery men.”
He smiles and dips his head to capture my lips in his. “How I love seeing the excitement in your eyes when you learn of my world.”
I loop my arms around his neck. “There is still so much to learn. Once the rebel threat is over and we can settle down in a normal daily routine, I can’t wait to continue to learn more.”
“Your feelings match mine.”
With our hands interlocked, we swim deeper into the ocean. I spread my other arm out and enjoy the wonderful feeling the ocean brings me. It’s like every molecule of the water caresses my skin.
Damarian stops. “We need not travel further. If there are rebels swimming about, I do not want them to touch you.” He holds me close, protecting me. I want to tell him that I’m fine and don’t need him to constantly protect me, but I know he wants to do this, and honestly, I love it. All my life, I had to take care of myself because Mom was busy working. It’s nice to have someone to lean on and it feels good to have someone who truly cares about me.
“Damarian, if you’re ambushed by thirty rebels, Fiske and a few more sharks won’t be enough.”
His thumb rubs over my knuckles. “I will be all right. The sea is my home, my love. I will not allow rebel filth to keep me away.”
I know I need to trust that he can take care of himself, and most of me does. But I can’t shake off the thought that the last time he was traveling from land to sea, he got captured. It’s a guilt I’ll carry around for a while, that he got captured because of me. Because he was warning me to stay out of the ocean.
“I shall attempt to communicate with Fiske,” Damarian says.
He closes his eyes and touches the side of his face. A few seconds later, they open and he shakes his head. “Perhaps there is too much distance between us.”
I hold out my hand. “Maybe your fish telepathy or whatever can be amplified if we join our energies.”
When our hands are linked, I close my eyes and wait for our minds to be linked, too. I don’t know if this will accomplish anything, but it’s worth a shot. Weird things have happened to us before, when our hands, minds, souls or whatever were connected. Flora told me that the bond between mates is like no other. It’s deep, made of intense, eternal love that can’t be broken easily. I don’t even know what else we can do. I can’t wait to find out.
Images race through my mind. I don’t understand them at first, but then they start to make sens
e. The ocean, the many different sea life, all passing by in a blur. It’s as though I’m surging through the ocean at an extremely fast pace, zoning in on sharks as they whizz by.
The images come to a halt and focus on a small great white shark patrolling the entrance to the merpeople colony. I recognize him immediately.
Fiske. Damarian’s voice echoes in my head.
The shark stops swimming and raises its head. Yes, Damarian?
Cassie and I require your assistance, if you are willing.
Certainly.
It may be wise to ask others to accompany you. I fear rebels are swimming about.
Understood, Damarian. We will meet with you shortly.
The connection is cut. I open my eyes and look at Damarian. “That was crazy! Can all children of the sea do that?”
“I suppose only those who are mated are able to.”
Wow. When Damarian first told me that merpeople mate for life, I thought it was amazing. Imagine being committed to someone forever without the fear of him eventually leaving. But now I’ve learned that there’s so much more to being bonded. There’s an understanding between us that we never question, and we can connect in a way that’s beyond the physical and emotional. It’s beyond this world.
Something pops out of the water. Fiske. Two other sharks pop out, too, another great white and a bull shark.
Damarian. Cassie, Fiske’s voice says in my mind. I almost forgot how it feels, like something scratching the inside of my head.
Damarian swims forward until he’s floating right in front of the baby great white. I follow. There’s something…odd about the expression on his face. I glance at Damarian, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Fiske’s eyes move to mine for a few seconds before he turns his head to the left. I follow his gaze. Another shark emerges out of the water. A much larger great white with the most intense eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Shoney!” I yell as I dash toward her and throw my arms around her, ignoring the rough skin that’s scraping my bare arms. I squeeze her to me and squish her and kiss the top of her head. I’m so happy to see you! I’ve missed you like crazy.
When I joined the rescue party to look for Damarian, Shoney was assigned as my shark. We didn’t get along at first, but we learned how to communicate and depend on each other. She saved my ass more times than I can count.
How are you? I ask.
I am well.
Her voice. How I’ve missed it. That’s great. And the colony? Are the children of the sea safe?
She looks at Fiske. He looks at her. They’re quiet. The two other sharks just bob in the water.
What’s going on? I ask the same time Damarian says, Has there been an attack?
Fiske nuzzles his nose in Damarian’s hands. There has been a minor attack on the Sapphire clan. Only five rebels. They were killed immediately. There were no injuries.
Damarian lets out a relieved breath. What is the reasoning for sending such a small army?
Maybe they were just looking for something. I swallow. Or someone.
The king, queen, and Callen believe it is not something to worry about. Syren has asked me to tell you that you do not need to return to the sea if you do not wish. They are able to tend to the threat. Our numbers grow stronger as the days wear on, and Syren is certain we will eradicate these rebels once and for all.
My whole body deflates like a balloon. The merpeople are safe.
Damarian swims over to me and takes my hands. “Cassie, is it all right that I travel home nonetheless? To ascertain that all is indeed well?”
I comb my fingers through his hair. “Of course. And if I didn’t have to deal with things on land, I would join you.”
His tail wraps around mine—the equivalent of giving me a hug. Heck, it feels much better than a hug. “I will return as quickly as I can.” His lips graze across my jaw.
“Don’t go meeting other human girls.” It’s an old joke between us.
Damarian’s mouth lifts in a smile. “Never.”
I go over to Shoney and take her fin, leading her to Fiske. Then I take both their fins in my hands. Please take care of Damarian. He means the world to me, and it would kill me if something were to happen to him.
We assure you that we will not let him out of our sight, Fiske says.
Shoney bobs her head. He will not get harmed under my watch.
I stretch my arms and close them over the two sharks. Thanks.
They nuzzle their noses into me.
After patting their heads, I make my way to Damarian. We face one another, our tails stroking each other’s. Tears build up in my eyes, and I bite down hard on my bottom lip, but that doesn’t help.
Perhaps we shall give them privacy, Fiske says.
The four sharks disappear beneath the surface.
Damarian holds out his arms, a pained look in his eyes. I dash into them and our arms wrap around each other and our mouths seek each other and our hearts yearn for each other, and our tails are wounded so tightly I feel my pulse beating down there.
“I shall miss you terribly,” he murmurs between kissing my forehead, my eyes, my nose, my lips.
“Me, too.”
He grips the back of my head as he pulls my mouth closer to his. We want to make these kisses last forever. “Please do not yearn for me,” he says. “I do not wish for you to be upset.”
“That’s not really a possibility.”
“My love for you has no bounds, my sweet Cassie. It is as vast as the sea, reaches lower than the Deep. You own my heart. For all eternity.”
“Ditto,” I whisper, pecking his nose.
Our limbs are still tightly coiled around one another. Neither of us wants to let go. But the sky is starting to get light, and the sharks resurface. I put my hands on Damarian’s face and lift it so my eyes bore into his. “Have a safe trip, my merman. And if you come across any rebels, kick their asses for me.”
A strained smile spreads across his lips. “It shall be my pleasure.”
He reluctantly tears his arms from around me and his tail releases mine. He dives into the water. I expect to see his head peek out a few seconds later, but instead, he leaps out of the ocean and bounds toward me, his arms locking around my waist as he plunges into the water. When we’re a few hundred feet under, he spins us around, around, and around, like we’re on a carousel. We’re creating a whirlpool in the water. As we spin faster and faster, the background changes. I see rainbows. That must be due to the moon shining on our tails. It’s beautiful.
Damarian stops and cradles me close to his chest. “Farewell, my love.” With a final kiss on my lips, he goes to the sharks. I watch them swim away, until they’re out of sight.
My heart lurches and a hard swallow makes its way down my throat.
The sun is starting to rise. I need to get back. I dive into the water, but all of the sudden, my body freezes. I can’t move, like I’m paralyzed. My arms float above my head and my tail flaps around in the waves. My ears ring as pressure builds inside them and everything I see has a green tint.
Voices whisper in my ears.
The only thing I can move is my mouth. I try to call for help, but no sound comes out. I watch helplessly as ocean life continues to move on around me.
What’s going on?
Something races toward me. It’s so far that I can’t make it out. And the water is murky. Is it a rebel? A shark? I try to thrash my arms and tail, but they don’t budge. A silent scream bursts out of my mouth.
When the thing is a few feet away from me, I sigh in relief. It’s a dolphin. It stops right before me and stares at me. I try to talk, but once again no sound leaves my mouth. Help me, I beg in my mind.
It nudges its beak into the side of my neck. It feels familiar, like this dolphin has done this to me before. Then I remember that this is one of the dolphins that led me to the merpeople colony. It nudges the side of my neck again, and all of the sudden I can move. The pressure is gone, my vision is back to normal, and the voices disapp
ear.
“Where did you come from?” I ask.
It squeaks and flaps its flippers.
My body starts to sink. I’m so tired.
The dolphin nudges its nose into my rib and flaps its flippers again. It motions toward its dorsal fin. Giving it a grateful nod, I grab hold of it. It swims toward the beach.
“How…how did you know I was in trouble?” I ask.
It—well, I suppose I should start referring to my new friend as a he—doesn’t answer. He just continues swimming toward land. When we get there, I ask him to bring me to the rocks. I heave myself onto the sand. I’m so weak. It feels like a one-hundred-pound ball is attached to my fin.
The dolphin remains there until I’m safely on land. I look back at it and wave. “Thank you.”
My pleasure, it squeaks before submerging into the water.
I reach for my bag of essentials and take out my towel. I’m shivering, which must mean I’m really freaked out, because merpeople don’t get cold. I wrap the towel around me and rock as I think about what happened to me. It’s like I was possessed or something.
What the hell is going on?
Chapter Eight
I dig my toes in the dry sand as I watch Leah ride the waves. Even from all the way back here, I see the exhilaration shining in her eyes, hear her squealing in delight. I laugh with her as she wipes out, cheer as she nails a high wave. I swallow back the lump in the back of my throat.
As a group of wet kids runs past me, shrieking and splashing water everywhere, I quickly clutch my towel tighter around me. I miss everything. Swimming in the ocean as a human, surfing, not constantly having to worry if salt water will hit me. As soon as these thoughts enter my head, I shove them out. I don’t regret meeting Damarian and falling in love with him. I don’t regret sleeping with him and changing into a mermaid. I don’t regret entering the ocean and seeing all the sea life and meeting his family. I’m thankful and grateful for everything that’s happened to me. Yet, my human side still yearns to be fully human.
I shake my head as I toss away any negative thoughts.
