Chapter 20

TWENTY

Jesse

The old city was odd and a bit tragic, but still cool. The buildings were made from some sort of mixture of coral, shells, and stone, and were mostly all intact from what I could tell after digging through the bioluminescent plants clinging to everything. A quick swim offered me an accurate picture of the town’s layout. Or what I supposed was a town. Since travel wasn’t limited to one ‘plane,’ there wasn’t a need for roads or meticulously straight rows. The buildings made a circle around each other, spiraling out from the largest, most ornate dwellings to the smaller, more sparse ones on the outside of the spiral.

Start with the biggest and baddest, obviously .

I swam into a large opening toward the top of the biggest building, shielding my eyes against the bioluminescence to try and orient my sight better to the darkness. Once past the outer layer of plants and algae, it was mostly dark with only some of the glow filtering into the structure.

Even though the building was tall, there weren’t ‘floors’ like human buildings. Small platforms jutted out from the walls, from where I was all the way down to the sandy bottom. Floating down slowly, I could see where it made sense. When you didn’t have gravity to worry about, space could be used horizontally and vertically. Barnacles and coral covered every surface that didn’t have the glowing algae on it. If there were items left over from another time, the ocean had already taken care of reclaiming them. Strange lumps were everywhere on the walls and platforms, indistinguishable now from the structure itself.

I settled on the bottom, my tail kicking up sand in frenzied spirals. I stared at both for a moment, mesmerized.

You’ve got a freaking tail! It’s gorgeous!

Bunching unfamiliar muscles, I gave an enthusiastic THWACK.

“OW!”

Pain shot through my new tail as I thwacked a little too hard and banged it off a large mound of calcified coral. A large hunk of coral drifted to the sand, dislodged from the larger mound. Curious (but mostly wanting a distraction from my throbbing, painfully stupidity), I picked it up, studying it closely.

At first glance it just looked like another hunk of hard coral, grown over an object left alone for hundreds of years. But … not quite. Instead of being covered all over by coral, it was covered on both sides with clear spots down the middle—as if the coral grew around two separate objects and not one.

A hinge! It was a box of some kind!

I banged the hunk against the wall.

CRACK.

It broke in half, falling to the sand. Peeking out from the opening was a simple, white necklace made of delicate sand dollars. Gently I picked it up in my fingers, marveling at the untouched white of the shell.

Funny how people went nuts over these things, when all sand dollars were just exoskeletons bleached white by the sun.

But they were delicate, and the fact that one had lain here protected for all this time meant something. Was I the first of my kind to touch it since its last owner?

I’d just about decided to see what other treasure lay nearby when I scented blood in the water. I turned and high-tailed it out to open water.

“Merrick! Oh my god!”

The necklace sunk to the sand, forgotten.

Merrick swam toward me at an odd angle, trying desperately to stay in a straight line but failing. Dark blue blood trailed behind him from his face and chest, and his gills fluttered and danced as they worked much too hard to pull oxygen into his body. His movements reminded me of catching a fish who swallowed a hook too deep, and watching it twitch and die on the surface after you tried to throw it back.

Fear seized me in a chokehold.

“Who did this? Was it the other guys? Was it because of me?”

His eyes rolled back in his head as I caught him, steadying him against me as his lips moved, but no words came out.

“What? What is it?”

His eyes met mine, full of regret. “Swim.”

My gaze lifted behind him, a dark shadow filling the void as a bunch of mers followed his blood trail like a shark seeking its next meal.

Rage flooded my veins, burning out my fear as I let the indignation rise. These weren’t the same mers who had attacked me on the boat, but it might as well have been. How dare these guys think they can just have me and fuck them for attacking Merrick. I’d slit my own wrists before I willingly went with any of them. I didn’t care if their whole fucking species died forever.

They advanced on us, and I screamed my fury and anger at them. A harsh, shrieking sound erupted from my throat, vibrating my entire body as I shook with the force of it. Merrick passed out immediately in my arms, and the advancing horde of mers jerked back like I’d simultaneously slapped them all. I pushed harder and screamed louder. Their hands went to their ears as they bent over in obvious pain.

Good.

I wanted them to feel it all for daring to interrupt my life and claiming it as their own.

Carefully, I set Merrick down on the sandy bottom and advanced toward the mermen, taking a large breath and screaming again.

They scattered like frightened minnows, still clutching their heads.

I sank back down to the ocean floor beside Merrick, feeling empty and hollow. My anger had burned its way through my body and now nothing was left but sorrow and fear. Merrick needed help, but he’d already used his jelly stuff on me. I had no idea what to do and then the choice was taken from me.

I smelled him before I saw him approach.

My mouth opened to scream again, but I slammed it shut when I recognized the sea witch’s little zombie mer. Calypso’s zombie mer.

He stared at me with those cold, black eyes, detached from everything around him.

“You! Take me back to her. I need help. Merrick needs help.”

He blinked once, then shot forward. I moved protectively in front of Merrick, but the odd mer simply pushed me aside and gathered Merrick in his arms as though he wasn’t nearly the same size he was.

I supposed underwater things weren’t as heavy.

He swam off.

“Wait!” I called after him, that same warble of distress bleeding through my voice. Merrick had called it a distress call earlier.

The mer flinched for a moment, then kept swimming. I raced after him.

Merrick wasn’t so keen on trusting Calypso, but we didn’t have a choice. We needed somewhere safe where sharks or other predators wouldn’t follow the blood trail, and he needed medical attention, which I couldn’t give.

I prayed she’d help us.

“Darling, you’ve returned! And brought our wayward siren back to us. What’s happened?”

The sea witch’s voice was laden with sympathy, twisting with alarm as she took in Merrick’s bloody and beaten form. I coughed and hacked as I broke through the surface of the water to ascend into her cave, my lung expelling small bits of water as my body struggled to adjust from gills to lungs.

Merrick’s body seized as it broke the surface, the odd-looking mer struggling with the transition from water to air. It was awful watching Merrick’s body contort and hack as he switched to lung breathing while unconscious.

Hopefully it was something that got better the more you did it.

“The mers attacked him. I don’t know why. I—”

“My dear, sweet child. I tried to warn you. But I understand you wanted to hold out hope. ”

Calypso’s tentacles stretched out before her, guiding her down off her self-styled throne and down to me at the water’s edge. One tentacle reached out and wrapped around my shoulder in what I guessed was an attempt at comfort. Instead, it just felt cold and constricting, the texture of her suckers abrasive and slimy.

“Can you heal him? He was only trying to protect me!”

I didn’t care about who was right and wrong. I needed Merrick to be OK.

Calypso hummed, using her tentacles to turn this way and that. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve healed anything, but something could be arranged.”

The odd mer growled beside me and I jumped, forgetting he was there.

Six of Calypso’s tentacles raised in the air, questioning. “Is that so? Well, well, well …”

“What?” I demanded, a bit tense since Merrick continued to bleed in front of me. “Are you going to heal him or not?”

The tentacle around me tightened for just a moment before releasing me and slithering back to Calypso.

“Caspian seems a bit off balance. Go take a rest, dear.” Calypso watched fondly as the strange mer huffed and dove beneath water, disappearing into its inky depths.

“Of course I will heal him, my dear. Magick doesn’t come free, though. Using so much will weaken me and leave me unprotected.”

I jerked. “Oh. I … Well, I don’t really have anything. What would you like?” I thought of the necklace I’d found back at the siren shrine, wondering if she would have wanted that. Part of me had hoped she’d be able to heal him, but I guess it made sense she wouldn’t do it for free. No one would do it out of the goodness of their heart where I lived either.

Calypso’s eyes brightened as if Christmas had come early. “ Don’t have anything? Don’t be ridiculous! The first siren in nearly a thousand years only needs to bring herself!”

She stared at me expectantly.

“Uh, so what exactly does that entail?” I asked.

Her tentacles were reaching out toward me, but she held them back. “Oh, nothing too serious. I wish to study your magicks, and to do that I’ll need to keep you by my side. Together we will learn about what has been lost, and do your foremothers justice by learning all we can.”

That didn’t sound too bad. In fact, it was very close to what I wanted to do anyway. Except for one part.

“So by ‘keep you by my side,’ I’d have to stay here. I can’t go back home?”

Her face twisted in disgust. “Home? This is home my dear. You are a siren, not some filthy human. Why would you want to go back there, with all their garbage and disease and trash that litters our oceans and slowly poisons them as well as us?”

It wasn’t a false argument, but it was clear I wouldn’t be changing her views on humans anytime soon.

And Merrick was still bleeding.

“Yes, fine, you can study me, just fix him!” I acquiesced, desperate to get her to finally shift her attention to Merrick.

“You will allow me access to your magicks in order to better understand them, and in return I … fix your mer,” she repeated slowly.

“YES,” I grit out, impatient.

Her grin was predatory, which really should have been my first clue something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

“Done.”

She hissed and the world exploded in a wash of bright magick.

Several things happened at once. My throat swelled as if I were having an allergic reaction. My hands flew to my neck, my human instincts set to panic even though my gills still worked just fine, pumping oxygen into my body. Calypso made a yanking motion at me, and it felt like my insides were being pulled out , and I threw up a golden ball of light.

My mouth opened to protest, but no sound came out.

Calypso laughed as the ball of light flew toward her. I dove toward Merrick, putting my hands over the worst of the wounds on his chest to try and staunch the bleeding. The sound of her voice warped and changed until it was my voice laughing at both of us.

Oh fucking Little-Mermaid-Christ.

Did this mean I had to stab her with a ship through the chest to make everything all right again? Was I going to turn into some sort of gross shrimp thing now?

I tried to focus on Merrick, but it was hard to do anything when your own voice was laughing at you. I gesticulated wildly at him, ordering her silently to fix him. She’d promised.

“Oh, right. I suppose so.”

I backed away warily as she slid toward us on black tentacles, her body twisting and morphing the closer she got. One by one, her tentacles disappeared, giving way to one smooth, long muscle with two fins at the end—a tail. A suspiciously purple tail, I couldn’t even squawk in protest as she transformed into a passable copy of me before my eyes, though never before had I seen my eyes narrow, or my lips twist that way in a sneer.

It was horror on a level I’d never even thought possible. I knew I’d never again see anything as simultaneously disturbing and enraging.

Until she leaned down to Merrick and lovingly nuzzled against him like a kitten, murmuring into his ear. “There’s a good boy. Let’s fix you.”

That wasn’t even the worst part—all of that I could handle. But Merrick’s head tilted to the side, and in his pain and delirium he turned and saw her—me—and gave such a happy, wistful smile that my heart broke.

“Stupid boy,” Calypso growled.

Her light, sensual caress on his shoulders became a rough grab, her sharp nails biting into his skin.

His dopey, contented expression morphed into one of agony and confusion. He thought I was causing him pain. He thought I was the one hurting him.

I’d kill her. I’d rip off each tentacle and make a new necklace out of them.

I’d—

More murderous thoughts were cut off as black ink spread from under her palm over Merrick’s skin, sinking into every wound on his body. My heart beat painfully in my chest, and I blinked as I realized I was feeling light headed. My gills worked furiously as they fluttered against my neck, but I couldn’t get enough oxygen.

Merrick’s mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes turning as black as the zombie mer’s as black veins spread everywhere throughout his body.

Calypso wasn’t healing him; she was making him just like the other zombie mer.

And I couldn’t breathe.

I slapped a hand to my gills, but met only smooth skin. I thought desperately of my need to be here with Merrick, to save him from her, but nothing happened. My body didn’t respond.

The magick she’d taken from me didn’t just include my voice; it was all my siren magick.

Once again I was a boring, stupid human again—a boring, stupid human drowning under the ocean.

I surfaced in her tiny cave, gasping silently for air. I hacked and threw up as my lungs adjusted to breathing again. Just as my heart rate returned to normal, cold hands grabbed my ankles and yanked me back under the black waters. All my air escaped my lungs in a gasp of surprise.

Then I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t even see . I stopped struggling, realizing I was only wasting valuable oxygen. I had no sense of direction as I was yanked through the water, my mind full of the image of Calypso leaning over Merrick, turning her into one of her lackeys.

I might as well die right now, then.

Cold, textured lips met mine and my mouth opened automatically. Cool, crisp air raced into my lungs, and I gulped it greedily.

It was Caspian.

He held me in a death grip against his chest, his mouth pressed to mine as his tail beat frantically below us. Little by little, the darkness eased until we raced out of the cave and into open water. He didn’t stop, though. He shot toward the surface, only stopping once we broke through the top. Silent tears streamed down my face as I breathed in the fresh air, taking in nothing but the open sea around us.

He dove under me and surfaced right in front of my arms, nudging my arms until I hooked them around his neck in reflex. Without waiting, he took off, swimming at a breakneck pace right along the top of the water with me on his back like I was nothing more than a light backpack.

Damn, this dude was strong.

I’m sure he swam for a while, but I wasn’t aware of how much time passed. All I could see was Merrick dying in my arms, and Calypso smirking and cooing at him in my voice. I’d almost drowned again, and the weird zombie mer (Caspian, his name was Caspian) was the only reason I was still alive.

My tears were hot as they burned two twin trails down my cheeks.

Eventually, Caspian stopped swimming abruptly, drawing my attention. I gasped as the familiar coastline rose in front of me, one lone dinghy fishing boat bobbing along helplessly in the waves. Caspian gently pried my arms from his neck and pushed me toward the boat.

I understood. He was trying to save me before Calypso realized I was gone. Or maybe she didn’t even really want me—just my voice or whatever magick I’d stupidly given up.

It hadn’t even saved Merrick.

I turned toward him and opened my mouth, wanting desperately to thank him but unable to.

Caspian blinked and dove under the water, and just like that, he was gone.

The water felt suddenly cold around me, and I foolishly tried to scream. Of course nothing happened. My hands and arms flailed in the air, and I desperately willed the people in the boat two hundred or so yards away to see me.

By some miracle, they did.

I heard shouting and cries of alarm, and suddenly the small boat was racing toward me. I cried silent tears of relief and shame as I realized I was naked in the water except for my bra. A small fishing boat crammed with nine people reached toward me, one face sticking out from the rest.

Javi!

I mouthed his name, but of course no one could hear me. He pushed his way to the front, his tanned face whiter than normal with fear and anxiety.

One yelled, “Get the blankets! Move Javi, and quit gawking!”

The boat bobbed wildly in the rough waters as I reached up toward the sea of faces, all of them sharing characteristics with Javi—some with his same square jawline, and others with the same slightly rounded nose. All of them shared his dark coloring and hair.

“Jesse! Girl, you know how to give a man a heart attack,” Javi said.

I sputtered in silent laughter as his arms reached mine and our fingers entwined. He pulled me up, and two larger women pushed aside the men as they grabbed my waist and shoulders, making quick work of hauling me into the back of the boat. A warm wool blanket was passed over and quickly wrapped around my waist and then another around my shoulders. The only cold I truly felt was the ice wrapped around my heart.

Javi said, “We found you. I can’t believe it. We’ll need to call 911 and have an ambulance meet us at the docks. We—”

I shook my head furiously, willing him to understand.

“You’re not OK, Jesse. Have you lost your voice?”

I nodded yes to that, then vehemently shook my head again for the rest.

Javi blinked. “Well, all right. You seem … oddly fine for being out here for … two days now.” He eyed me and shook his head.

I gestured to the swarm of people around me.

Javi blushed, then straightened proudly. “The Coast Guard and the police gave up for the day. I couldn’t do that, you know? Mi familia es tu familia. ”

Everyone around me nodded and chattered excitedly at that last point, and I lost it. I bawled silent, heaving sobs, collapsing as their kindness warmed me more thoroughly than these blankets ever would. The disparity of Merrick’s clan trying to attack me was so at odds with Javi’s family that it hurt all the more.

I mouthed ‘thank you’ at them all, and one by one Javi shooed them away. “We’ll get you to the docks. You’re sure you don’t want to go to the hospital? Not even to get your voice looked at? I need to at least tell the police we found her.”

I shook my head again.

Javi sat down next to me as the boat slowly turned, and headed toward shore. “You know, sometimes the body does weird shit after traumatic events. What happened to you ,Jesse? You fell off Mike’s boat and that Merrick guy went after you, then all the other guys went after you, and it was all Mike and I could do to get the boat back to shore and report the whole thing. You know the weirdest part?”

I shrugged my shoulders, already having a good guess.

“No one reported any of those guys missing. No one came looking for Merrick. You were the only one we could really file a report on. It’s like those guys just went into the ocean and disappeared. No bodies, no nothing.”

Javi went quiet, staring out at the water for a while. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I’ll take you home, but the police will probably ask questions. You were in the water for a long time , Jesse, and you look like you’ve only been gone a few hours. You should be dead.”

I had nothing to say to that, literally and figuratively.

Javi sighed, and I leaned against him. He gathered me into a hug, and it was exactly what I needed. I clutched onto him as my last remaining lifeline above the water.

“You’ll tell me when you can, yeah?” he asked softly.

I nodded as we raced toward the shore.