Water and Blood

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “But if you aren’t going to be there, then what’s the point?” Mark asked.

  “The party will go on with or without me. Me showing up won’t make a difference,” Sam replied. And it was true. It wasn’t like his father would ask him his thoughts on anything. He never did. Sam was to be the obedient son. That was his role.

  Whitney had her books in her hands now and was walking back past them on her way to her science class. Sam’s class was right next door. Quickly, he reached into his locker and grabbed his own books.

  “You guys will attend, as my father asked. That’s the last of it,” Sam ordered them.

  Sulking, Amber nodded her head. She had no choice when Sam commanded it. That was the only perk of being the head of the guard. Everyone, beyond his brothers and father, had to listen to him. His friends, even though meaning well, would be at the party he was going to avoid. They would be safe, and he would have done his job yet again.

  Sam untangled his arm from Amber as gracefully as he could, hopefully without angering her, and made his way down the hallway after Whitney. She had paused at her friend’s locker. He slowed to stay behind her. He wasn’t sure if he had been caught watching her by anyone, but he kind of suspected a few times she had caught him. It was easier to stay behind to not get caught another time. They took off toward the science building, and he kept pace with them, listening just a little to their conversation. Whitney was unusually quiet, and that worried him. Something was up. He had followed her around long enough to know, around friends, Whitney was never quiet.

  Whitney slipped into her classroom, and Sam slowed down to be able to catch a glimpse from the doorway. She was already seated and staring off into space. Her eyes were distant, as were her thoughts. Sam was getting worried. Could the blood have done something bad to her? Was she feeling sick? He would never forgive himself if his blood had hurt her. He didn’t know what to expect, but at least she was alive. Her heart beat loudly as he walked past the room. She sounded healthy from what he heard, and the color was completely back in her cheeks, but it still worried him. She was never quiet and pensive at school. That was always left at the beach. He had wished a hundred times he could ask her about that, but then it would give away that he saw her there, and she might actually look for him.

  Sam sighed as he turned to his own classroom. The bell was going to ring soon, and he couldn’t just stand in the hallway watching her. The draw of Whitney was as strong as ever. Sam was never going to be with Amber or any other person as long as Whitney was alive, and no one could ever know that was the real reason.

  Whitney was beyond happy for it to be Friday. She needed the weekend, and she needed it badly. Her life had completely turned upside down. Her shower the night before was weird, but as soon as she turned it off and dried off, her legs reappeared. It had been a pain to get that large fin out of the tub to dry it off, but she did it and then had legs again. She really had no clue what it all meant. Mermaids weren’t real. Well, at least everything she had been told growing up had led her to believe that they weren’t.

  Lessons in night human history were required in all the different night human territories. From what she had been taught, there had been merpeople at some point, but they had all died in the war between the night humans that had happened hundreds of years ago. She was certain of it. Yes, werewolves and vampires were real, but not mermaids. Everyone knew that. Well, everyone except her legs that had melted together into a fin when she tried to take a shower. At least she hadn’t completely turned into a fish like she was afraid would happen. She used to be a skinwalker that completely turned into a mountain lion, so anything was possible. Being part fish was easier to work with than being a whole fish, hopefully.

  Why she had changed was the mystery. She needed time to figure it all out. There was no reason for her turning into a mermaid that she could come up with. And she wasn’t craving blood either. All night humans craved blood. So now she felt more like it was just her imagination playing with her. Maybe her blood sugar was low, and it had all been a hallucination.

  She was left with too many questions to pay attention in school. Swimming in thoughts from the night before and trying to remember every little detail from her childhood when she learned about merpeople, her head wasn’t making sense of anything she had been taught all morning. It really was a good thing that it was Friday. She had completely checked out of school mentally already. After lunch, she was sure to not have any more luck with her classes since she was completely preoccupied and those classes were really boring without her mind elsewhere.

  Whitney vaguely listened to her friend Tina fight with her twin brother, Noah. Noah had the same dark hair and glasses as his twin, but stood almost a foot taller than her five-foot-two frame. Luckily their argument was over a comment made in the only class they had together, and Whitney wasn’t taking calculus, so she didn’t need to chime in. Instead, she used the time to glance around the room.

  There was no sure way to become a night human unless your parent was one. Whitney’s mother was a witch, but not a night human. Only a day human could do magic, and since her mother was good—really good—at being a witch, Whitney knew that there was no hidden night human merperson blood coming from her. Whitney’s father was a completely different story. He was a night human, but not a mer. After her parents and a stranger had died tragically, she found out the second man with them was actually her birth father. It hadn’t taken any convincing for Whitney. She saw herself in his face. They looked more alike than she and her mother. She knew nothing about her mysterious father, and there could have been a secret, hidden merperson history. That was most likely not true either, though, since she had already been a night human. You could only be one kind. Whitney was pretty sure there were no hidden mermaid genes from him, either, that popped up over her vacation from the night human world. Skinwalkers and wendigo stayed only with their own kinds, too.

  Then again, there was one more very slim chance of a way to become a night human—night human blood. Whitney had heard of this, but she had never actually seen it. The skinwalkers were born, not changed, but other night humans grew their clan by changing people, or so she had been told. While she lived mostly outside of the politics, she had heard her share over dinner conversations about it. That, too, was a problem, though. From the little bit she had heard, the person changing had to know, and be willing to change. Along with that, you needed powerful night human blood. Not everyone in the clan could change someone, only the people on top. Was it possible she had met a strong night human mermaid that had put a spell on her, and who forced her to drink their blood and change?

  Whitney rifled through all her recent memories. She really had no idea how else she could have become a mermaid the night before. She considered calling her friends back home, but then thought against it. Her best friend was mated to the clan’s beta, who was next in line for alpha. He would have no choice but to tell the alpha, and then she would be in for the treat of finding out what they did with night humans that shouldn’t exist. Yes, Whitney wanted to go home, but she didn’t want to go back as a prisoner or to a science lab to be studied.

  Being raised a witch made Whitney a very cautious person. She couldn’t think how someone would have been able to change her without her knowing. Changing a person into a night human took blood, and Whitney was sure she had never drunk blood as a day human. Some people would use night human blood to heal since it could heal a day human from most injuries, but she had never been hurt or even to the hospital in her life before. There was no way she could have accidentally drank blood.

  “You think, just because you are a stupid boy, you should save me,” Tina complained to her brother, pulling Whitney out of her thoughts as her braid whipped around her head and smacked into Whitney.

  Tina’s words resonated in Whitney’s mind. Her head snapped up, and she glanced across the lunchroom. She might not have drank blood on purpose, but there were five times that she could count where
she was unconscious long enough that someone could have given her blood. And there was only one person that someone could be. Across the lunchroom, a pair of golden brown eyes stared back at her as the girl next to him chattered away to him. Sam was watching her.

  His eyes were always unsettling to Whitney. The color was brown most of the time, but it always seemed like if she stared long enough, the brown color would get lighter and actually turn a bit blue-green. This had unnerved Whitney the first time she saw it happen, and she tried not to look too long at him, afraid that her overactive imagination would be correct. Now she didn’t avert her gaze. He was the key to it all. She was certain of that.

  Sam’s eyes never left Whitney as she stared back at him, trying to understand her own thoughts. He was possibly a night human. He probably wasn’t the only one, but he was the only person alone with her long enough to have fed her blood. She wasn’t sure she believed it. Who had ever heard of a male mermaid? Weren’t mermaids ‘maids,’ after all?

  Someone leaned down in front of Sam, blocking Whitney’s view of him.

  “Is Prince Sam still giving you crap about saving you?” Tina asked quietly from beside Whitney. She had been staring and didn’t notice that the argument between Tina and her brother was done.

  “No. But I still owe him meals,” Whitney added. That’s it! She could invite him to dinner and throw some water on him. Then she’d be able to tell.

  Whitney picked at her food and pretended to not be keeping tabs on Sam. Throw water on him? That idea wouldn’t work. She had already seen in him the water on more than one occasion. He was her swim instructor. He didn’t have a fin. But maybe he knew who did. It wasn’t uncommon for day humans to be able to get ahold of night human blood if you knew the right people. He could have night human blood on hand to save people when he was life guarding. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t one of them; he might know one. Whitney had to talk to him.

  “Hey. You could always buy him McDonald’s and give it to him at your swim lesson next week. That’s dinner, right?” Tina suggested, thinking Whitney’s disappointment was from owing Sam dinner.

  “Yeah, you won’t use up your first paycheck that way,” Trudy chimed in from across the table. She was always good about ignoring the guys sitting with them, and even better when Tina was fighting with her brother. They were more like sisters than friends.

  Whitney smiled at her friends. It was a good idea, but she couldn’t wait until her next swimming lesson. She needed to talk to him now.

  “Who’s that with Sam?” Whitney asked as casually as she could.

  A dark-haired stranger that looked similar to Sam was standing next to him in the middle of the lunchroom. Whitney didn’t know all the people at the school, but she was sure he wasn’t a student even though he seemed like he could fit right in.

  “Sam’s older brother, Tim,” Trudy replied. “You think everyone does what Sam wants, look at how they are all waiting to do anything for Tim. It was much worse two years ago when Tim was in school. Sam isn’t even an ounce of bossy compared to his brother.”

  That was the first compliment Trudy had given Sam. Most of the time Whitney’s friend didn’t talk too nicely about him. Maybe that was part of her fear to speak to Sam in front of everyone. Normally she wouldn’t care what her friends thought, but with being new, she was just happy to have friends and fit in.

  Tim spoke, and Sam’s face turned to a scowl. Everyone around them was watching Tim and Sam even though Tim didn’t seem to notice. Sam put a hand up to stop Tim from talking more and walked away. Tim smiled at the people at the table and followed behind Sam as he left the lunchroom. Whitney didn’t want to let Sam out of her sight. So far she figured that he wasn’t a mermaid, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t the one who turned her. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure Sam had something to do with it.

  “Not fair,” Noah complained to their other friend, James, waving his arm and knocking over his water.

  It was strange. Whitney could have sworn that she heard the water swoosh in the air as it made its way to the table and toward her. Without hesitation, Whitney stood up quickly before any of the water could touch her and accidentally make her grow a fin.

  “I’ll go get more napkins,” she suggested, hurrying away and avoiding the close call.

  She had experimented the night before and found the fin only appeared if the lower half of her body got wet. Right now she was in her school skirt and would easily have wet legs if she hadn’t moved. Actually, she would have had a wet fin.

  As she turned the corner to the lunch line supplies that were stacked neatly and had all the extra paper towels, the voices of two people arguing grew louder. They weren’t in the same hallway, but around the corner. Whitney crept forward; all her years in cat form were very helpful in keeping completely silent.

  “So what if you don’t want to come home? He wasn’t asking you,” one voice said.

  “If Dad wants to give an order, tell him to come here and do that. Until then, I’m busy,” the other replied. Sam was the second person talking.

  “He hasn’t been here in years. That’s what he has us for.”

  “Are you sure? I figured he had us because he can’t seem to keep everyone safe on his own, and it’s easier to sacrifice a son than lose his throne.” Footsteps sounded as one of them seemed to be walking away. They halted before Whitney needed to find a place to hide.

  “He’s heard a rumor you plan to revolt, that there are several more blues who plan to skip the party.” Tim’s voice was soft but harsh as he spoke. “You are playing with fire, little brother. I’d advise you to not go down that road. Father can forgive almost anything, but if you plan to overthrow him, you’d better hope I’m not alive when you do.”

  “Thanks for the advice, but you might want to be a bit more worried what father might have heard about you,” Sam replied back as harshly as his brother. “Just because I’m not home doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on.”

  A loud laugh made Whitney jump and almost give away her sneaking around.

  “Ahh, little brother, you’re so much fun. I can’t wait until you move home. It will be just like old times.”

  Footsteps sounded again, and this time, Whitney grabbed the napkins and fled back around the corner. Hurrying over to her friends, she discovered the water was still on the table but not dripping. Whitney tossed the napkins on the water.

  “Thanks,” Noah said, giving her a sheepish smile for his klutziness as he wiped up his mess.

  Whitney nodded and tried not to watch as Sam came back around the corner behind his brother. Tim had a smile plastered on his face as he walked over to Sam’s table and sat down in Sam’s seat. Sam wasn’t in the same jolly mood. Whitney caught Sam’s eyes before quickly looking away. She wasn’t close enough to see for sure, but they didn’t look brown. Sam was hiding more secrets, and she was sure he was the one that knew what was going on with her. Now she just needed to get him alone and force him to tell her what he had done to her.

  Whitney made up the worst excuse about needing to use the restroom just to get out of the last five minutes of class. Her face was flushed red from embarrassment, especially since she didn’t really need to go at all and never had needed to bad enough to interrupt class! Instead of heading to the bathroom like she asked, she grabbed her books out of her locker just in time for the bell to ring to end the day. Without saying good-bye to anyone, Whitney hurried off in the direction of Sam’s locker. Passing him on her way, she tried to not look at him and give herself away. She turned the corner near enough to peek around, and then pretended she needed to search through her backpack.

  Students passed Whitney and didn’t take notice of her there as they ran from the school, a typical Friday afternoon. She kept her spot where she would see Sam again as he passed. Sure enough, ten minutes later, Sam walked right by. Whitney kept tabs on him and followed him out of the school. She was relieved to see Sam not head toward the parking
lot. She hadn’t thought about what she would do if he just took off in a car after school. She didn’t have a car, and it would be impossible to follow him on foot. Thankfully, he was still walking with his friends

  Whitney kept her head down as her cousin texted her to tell her he was leaving without her. She responded that she would get a ride home later from a friend. She really didn’t care if she had to walk home. She needed answers and wasn’t letting her only source of them out of her sight.

  Sam and Mark went around the school together and walked off the school grounds. Whitney kept pace, but stayed hidden as she did so. She had no idea where they were going. There was nothing that direction out of town besides a few warehouses, but she didn’t care. She needed Sam.

  The boys talked as they walked, seemingly like they were in no hurry. As they turned and headed toward one of the warehouses, Whitney stayed outside the chain-link fence and crouched behind the old board with the address on it. Peeking around the corner with her phone, she watched as Sam and Mark walked onto a waiting bus. They were only on the bus for a few moments before they stepped back off. Whitney had no clue why a large bus was sitting outside a rundown building, but it was something she planned to look closer at. Once they exited and walked into the building, Whitney didn’t hesitate to move closer to be able to hear them if they came back outside. She hid behind the bus.

  They weren’t inside long before a car pulled up to the warehouse and their friend Leo stepped out of it. He went inside where Sam was. Whitney waited, unsure if she should try to go in or wait for them to come out.

  The door to the building slammed open, and the guys came back out. She could hear them as they talked. She was in a much better spot to figure it out now.