Page 53 of Magic Potions and the Merman's Lure

The cool water laps at my wet suit as I wade deeper to the point where I can comfortably dive underwater and bring my legs up to kick off. I feel a little ungainly—like a baby whale flopping around, learning how to swim—but I manage to pick up a sort of rhythm that allows me to catch up with Gryn where he waits for me. He smiles at me under the water, the stretch of his lips and sharp teeth illuminated by the luminous spots visible along his scale pattern along his face as well as his glowing eyes. He doesn’t wait for me to respond but rolls quickly through the water and speeds forward, leaving me little choice but to follow him. I turn on my flashlight and follow after him. Although the water at this depth still has a high visibility due to the time of day, we are descending deeper the farther we go from the shore.

As expected, the water gets murkier the deeper and further out we get. My grip tightens on the flashlight, and I loop the strap more securely around my wrist. I sure as hell don’t want to lose it. The light glances off Gryn’s scales as he swims ahead of me, pulling me along through the water with far more ease than I would have had swimming solely on my own. Rocks rise from the gloom, and schools of fish dart by, catching the light of the lamp as they scatter at our presence. It is a little scary not knowing what could potentially rise from the depths at any moment to attack but I keep my breath as even as possible and my muscles loose so that we move quickly and with as little exertion as possible. While I have the spare tanks to use on my way back, I still need to conserve my air as much as possible so that I don’t risk running out before we return to town. With the increasing depth, every breath is becoming more work and I’m using more oxygen as a result. I anticipated this. Hopefully Gryn wasn’t wrong about how close the talaxi bed is. Although I know that Gryn will give me the kiss of breath to save my life, I would rather avoid it.

No reason to aggravate Ro more than he already will be.

My thoughts linger on him as we swim, wishing it was him pulling me through the sea, the pale silvery hue of his tail flashing among the dancing flutter of his pink and red fins. If it was Ro, he would be looking back to check on me and reassure himself that I am okay. I didn’t realize until now while watching Gryn power forward without so much as a backward glance, how attentive Ro is in comparison.

I’m also aware of the fact that we are still descending. There is less life visible around me. Fish are becoming less frequent. The temperature of the water is starting to get a little uncomfortably cold despite the insulation of the thicker wet suit made for colder water. I scan the rocky seabed and shiver in a way that has nothing to do with the wet suit. It all looks so alien that I might as well be floating in space over the craters of a lonely asteroid. I don’t know how Aquanas can enjoy living in such a desolate place. I wish I could ask Gryn but regardless of his own abilities to communicate underwater, my breather makes it a little difficult for me to shout over at him. Speaking of which... I tie the end of the rope I’m holding around my waist so not to lose it as I check my air gauge. Crap. It is not only well beyond the point of safe return but is beginning to get low.

I hope to the gods that we are almost there.

I give an experimental tug on the rope and just ahead, Gryn slows and rolls in the water to peer back at me. I tap my tank, signaling that I’m getting low and then gesture to the surrounding rocky slopes in a silent query.

His fins spread wide, his dorsal fins lifting alertly, and he nods. A musical wave washes over me, and I know he is singing or speaking to me even if I can’t, for the life of me, make any sense of what exactly he’s trying to communicate. He nods again, however, and I decide to take that as an answer to my question.

We are almost there.

Spires of rocks rise in jagged formations just ahead, looking like some ill-fortuned place where an evil sea-witch would live and evil monsters lurk, waiting to eat anything that passes between the rocks. Surely, we aren’t going there. I groan around the mouthpiece as Gryn heads directly for the larger gap between the needle-like structures that loom larger and larger as we close in. Apparently, we are.

I trust Gryn, but I can’t help but feel like I’m being dragged straight into the jaws of oblivion—or through an entrance straight into the underworld. There isn’t anything comforting at all about my surroundings as we draw up to the edge of them. I shine my flashlight into the darkness beyond the jagged teeth. The light doesn’t penetrate far enough to show much outside of an impression of smaller rocks rising in a silent threat beyond. Nothing appears to be growing on the rocks as far as I can tell and no fish dart between them. If it weren’t for the fact that we need this stupid pearl, I would be saying to hell with this.

My eyes flick nervously at the gap as Gryn stops just before it. He rolls to face me and waves me forward. I am to go on from here, alone. He had warned me beforehand, but my heart still sinks as I stare ahead. I check my air gauge and sigh inwardly. There should be enough to make it. Just beyond here it will flatten out to a sandy bed where the pearls will be nestled. So long as I don’t run into any trouble and return quickly, I will have enough air.

I could turn back, too. I know the option is there even though I wholeheartedly reject it. Even if Ro has decided not to claim me, there is no ignoring our connection. I cannot let him suffer from the effects of the supplement. He is so damned stubborn; he would rather make himself sick out of consideration for whomever he mates than do as his kind have always done. Idiot. Sweet, wonderful, idiot.

But more than that... I love him. If I can do this for him then I will.

I meet Gryn’s eyes and nod before kicking forward and swimming by. At this depth, everything feels harder now that I’m swimming alone, far more than I was prepared for in my diving class, though the instructor had spoken of the higher water pressure as one goes down. My lungs hurt a little as if I’m running a marathon with every laborious breath I take. I swim between the spires and emerge in a labyrinth of threatening stones rising like daggers on all sides and beneath me. The barrier here is clear. I can feel the magic roll through me as I pass through. The energy is a siren’s song that brings forward incredible longing as well as a terrible dread from deep within me in reaction to it—like I’m staring into the mouth of death and want nothing more than to plunge into it despite the terror and awareness of death drawing near.

My heart thuds rapidly in my chest and I know I’m breathing too fast due to my fear, despite my best efforts to control it. The light from my flashlight wobbles ahead of me, casting strange patches of light of shifting shadows. My hand is shaking too damn hard to keep the light focused and steady.

The water shifts and rolls as if something large has passed nearby, causing my heart to leap painfully as my chest squeezes in panic. I kick my legs, spinning in the water as my hand snaps up and I slash the flashlight around me. The light bounces hard and for a moment I swear I see something long drifting among the rock just beyond the beams. I squint as I stare at it. It is not moving. There’s nothing there. Just a strange shadow.

Come on, calm down, I scold myself. I refuse to have a heart attack and die here.

I turn forward once more, determination settling deep within me. Just a little farther.

The light from my lamp penetrates less and less the farther I swim as the rocks seem to close in, drawing in tighter all around me. I thank the gods that I’m not claustrophobic but it’s still unnerving. I’m forced to use my hand and opposite arm to push through some of the narrower gaps between the stones until I am suddenly stopped by what appears to be a massive wall of stone. My gaze runs along its surface nervously until my gaze lands on a small tunnel. It is more than large enough for me to squeeze through.

Okay, no sweat. I’m not going to pretend that isn’t utterly terrifying, but at least the space provided isn’t tiny. Two people could probably swim side by side passing through it, but it’s still a tunnel that could lead anywhere and contain any number of unseen dangers within it.

I shake my head stubbornly. I’m just wasting my oxygen debating it.

Slowly kicking my legs, I guide myself with one hand on the wall to the edge of the tunnel and pull myself inside. My flashlight bounces along the walls of the tunnel as I make my way through. Unlike the rocks I passed through previously, the tunnel is relatively smooth like something might have once bored through at some point in the past. Like the other rocks, no sea life clings to it. Something moves faintly in the near distance, and I focus my flashlight on it as I slowly swim closer.

It is dull yellow-green in color and moves on a current like a gently swaying flag. I frown at it in surprise and reach for it with my other hand, gripping the tough fibrous substance between my fingers.

Kelp?

I push forward on the plant and the entire stalk sways sharply, bending as it yields to my weight. I push my way out of the hole and slide into a kelp forest. My eyebrows raise as I peer around and swim forward through the plants. This is unexpected, but then again, Gryn is going off what he’s heard second hand from the females in his family as to the landscape of the talaxi beds. They may even differ to a degree from place to place for all any of us know.

Despite being a hindrance to swim through, there is something somewhat reassuring about the presence of the plants. The magic feels denser here as it builds in a quiet, shimmering song of life that thrums through me and settles deep into the pit of my stomach, taking root there. I press my hand to my belly at the strange sensation for a moment.

How weird.

The kelp forest comes to an abrupt end when the seabed suddenly dives downward into what looks like a bowl scooped out of the center. Rich, dark sand fills the inner space and among the sand, rising up like embedded gemstones dotting the surface, are the milky purple and pink colored talaxi pearls. The pearls themselves vary in size. Some are newer and not much bigger than the tip of my thumb, others are larger than basketballs. I give a larger one a long look but shake my head, settling on something smaller, closer in size to a softball. Dislodging it aside, I don’t think I want to attempt carrying a pearl of a size that will be more difficult to keep ahold of.

My choice made, I remove my flashlight’s loop from around my wrist and secure it to my diving belt before diving down to the bed of pearls. Magic radiates strongly here, rippling through me in a constant current. Every bit of me reacts in awareness to it, my own magic shifting and moving in response to it. It is not unlike when my magic rises and merges with Ro’s, but so different. There is an erotic element when I’m with Ro and his magic is twining with mine. Here... it feels like a mother’s hug and soothing hands holding me close. My eyes flutter closed for only a moment as I drift in that sensation and my fingers mindlessly rake around the pearl. I am moving almost mechanically, everything within me moving in harmony with the magic of the sea.

---