Page 56 of Blood of the Sirens
No one had ever looked at me like that before, human or otherwise.
“I trust you, Merrick. If you tell me it’s safe, I’ll go back with you. Just … maybe give them a bit to calm down first?”
His bright turquoise gaze glowed in the semi darkness of the small cave.
“I … yes, if I sneak you in and we have my father’s protection, I believe you’d be safe.” He bit his lip. “I want to believe you’d be safe. But you are right. We should wait. Or I should go back first, to ensure they have calmed down.”
I clasped my hand in his. “All right then, we’ll go back.”
Calypso scoffed. “Leave, then. It is so tedious how history repeats itself. Your ancestors trusted their mers, and look whathappened to them. You have a chance to save yourselves, and you squander it. Stupid males.”
Calypso’s laughter followed us even as we dove back into the water and out through the tunnel.
Merrick and I swam in silence as he headed back toward his clan. I felt numb with fear and anxiety. Along the way, he kept pointing out things in the water, and showing me how to make small adjustments with my tail and webbed fingers to change my speed or trajectory.
It all felt odd though—as if it were happening to someone else and I was merely a spectator observing. It was clinical and automatic, with no joy of discovery or feeling.
Merrick was scared. And if he was scared in his home in the sea, then I should be terrified.
EIGHTEEN
Jesse
It tooka few tries to get out of the cave’s tunnel system, so absolute was the dark. In the end, Merrick and I had to keep our hands entwined so we didn’t lose each other. But the fresh current won out eventually, and we were able to find our way toward the light of the sun.
I had so many questions for Merrick, as I’m sure he had for me, but we swam in silence. Fear and tension radiated from him, and I didn’t know what to do to make it better. I was still reeling from my own shock. I was a fuckingmermaid, though they didn’t seem to call them that here.
Sirens.
The ocean was beautiful from my new perspective; the sunlight filtered down into the shallow edges of coral reefs and rocky cliffs, throwing light into dancing geometric patterns that swayed with the tide.
Merrick guided me into a tangle of tall, black weeds, andstopped. “Stay hidden in the weeds. I’ll be right back. I need to get something.”
He zipped away before I could protest, skimming along the bottom of the seabed with a steely determination.
My anxiety skyrocketed as he swam out of sight and didn’t return. I tried to tell myself to take a few deep breaths, but I ended up accidentally inhaling water down my throat, and spent a few minutes hacking and coughing it out.
Right, gills.
I focused on my surroundings, calming a bit as I went still, and small schools of fish started to dart around me, nibbling bits of food off the nearby coral and the long strands of seaweed. A large crab scuttled across the sand, leaving a small trail in its wake.
Then abruptly the fish scattered, and Mr. Crab scrambled away, leaving a swirling trail of sand in his wake. I glanced up as a large shadow fell over me.
Shark.
I grabbed at the roots of the kelp and lowered my body to the sandy bottom, curling my tail so it hid the iridescent, shining bits.
Some help that would be; sharks worked off scent, not their piss-poor eyesight. Where the fuck is Merrick?I was both glad he wasn’t here and cursing him for leaving me alone.
The drama was short lived as the shark continued on its way, clearing my patch of seaweed by several feet and swimming off.
I guess he wasn’t hungry.
My hands shook as I peeked my head over the kelp. My tail twitched and jerked as if the new muscles there wanted nothing more than to be able to shoot through the water and get us away.
The shadow returned, and I ducked again on instinct.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.
