1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Blue

M usic. Drifting through the water and finding its way to me at the bottom of the pool. It's tinny and distorted, but the tune is pleasing and the beat enticing. It's calling to me. I want to hear it properly. I want to know what it is.

I swim upwards and then hesitate. I'm pretty sure it is the human newcomer that is up there, playing music. The mundane human. The one everyone else seems to trust. The one that smelled of other men when he first arrived. He's been used. He is not a user. He is like me and the other harem boys.

I don't need to be scared.

This is my pool, my territory, my element. In here, I am stronger. Far stronger than one human. I can dive away from him. Ensorcell him. Drown him. I am safe.

Gathering all my courage, I swim up to the surface until my eyes are peeking over the water. The human is lounging on one of the sun chairs, face tilted up towards the hot summer sun. He is wearing only a pair of red shorts and his pale skin gleams. His body is slender and short.

His head lifts up and blue eyes fix on me from under a mop of golden hair. He is pretty.

"Oh. Hi!" he smiles, flashing white teeth. "Blue, isn't it? I'm Sammy."

I can't think of a single thing to say. It's been a very long time since I spoke to a mundane human. In the harem I was kept masked, my voice silenced. Sometimes my mind forgets I'm free to speak now, even when I'm with the other boys. And right now, here alone with this strange human, I'm in uncharted waters. It's all too strange and unknown.

"Oh shit, is my music too loud?" he asks.

He leans over to the chair beside him and picks up his phone.

"No!" I say suddenly, rising more out of the water so he can hear me speak. Seems I have found my voice after all.

The human freezes and turns towards me with a questioning look on his pleasant face.

"I like it," I explain, and now I'm pretty sure I'm blushing.

His blue eyes widen. His smile intensifies, and he leans back into his chair.

I watch him closely. He seems so at ease. Comfortable and confident in his own skin. Relaxed. I wonder how he does it? What is his secret?

I swim a little closer. His smile brightens as if he is delighted I'm approaching.

"You like ABBA?" he asks.

My head tilts in confusion. I do not know that word.

His blue eyes widen, and his pink mouth drops open. "You've never heard of the greatest band on Earth?"

Oh. I know what a band is. It's a group of people who make music together. He must be talking about the creators of the song he is playing on his phone.

I swim a little closer. He sits up straighter and picks up his phone.

"Oh my god, oh my god. I have to play you all their best songs!" he babbles frantically as his fingers fly over the screen of his phone.

A new song begins to play. The rhythm dances in my heart. The human's blue eyes sparkle like the Caribbean sea.

"You like it?" he beams .

I nod and drift up closer. I'm right by the edge of the pool now. I could reach out and grab his leg and pull him under. But he doesn't seem nervous. I don't think he understands what I am.

"Oh, oh. Oh! I have to play you Waterloo!" he gasps.

His full attention goes on his phone. I really, truly hope he is not this trusting of everyone. How has he survived so long in this world with his innocence intact? It doesn't make any sense.

He looks up at me in excitement as the new song plays. I stare into his eyes. I'm close enough to see him properly now. Eyes are the window to the soul, and I search his. I see all of him and I see I was wrong.

He is not innocent. Not at all. There are dark shadows in his eyes. Hurt. Fear. Pain. He knows the horrors of the world. He is alone and lost and broken.

Yet here he is smiling at a stranger over a song.

What a strange and bewildering person.

He taps his foot to the beat of the music. Then he starts to sing along. Off key and too fast, but with so much enthusiasm that somehow it's still utterly captivating. I could listen to him for hours.

I feel my lips twist up into a smile.

Suddenly he stops singing. His pretty eyes widen and he clamps his hand over his mouth. The music continues to play unaccompanied.

"Oh my god!" he exclaims, muffled by his hand. "I can't believe I was just singing to a siren! That must have sounded awful to you. I'm sorry for assaulting your ears!"

A soft laugh escapes me, and I shake my head. "I liked it."

Slowly, his hand lowers. A pink flush spreads across his cheeks. "Really?"

I nod.

"I'd love to hear you sing one day," he says.

My smile falters. "I'm out of practice with doing it without enchanting people. "

He nods. "Yeah that must be tricky."

He sounds calm. He looks completely unruffled and not at all threatened. I swear Lello said he is an ordinary mundane human who was dragged into the paranormal world just a couple of weeks ago. How is he taking everything in his stride so well? He is a very strange person indeed. Baffling. I don't think I have ever met anybody like him, and that's got nothing to do with him being human.

"Can I join you?" he says.

I blink at him.

"In the pool. It looks lovely, and it is boiling out here."

I float back away from the edge to give him room. He grins at me and something about the expression makes my stomach feel all funny.

He jumps in carelessly. Limbs all unaligned. The splash it creates is enormous. I look up into the blue summer sky and watch the water he disturbed rain back down. Waves slosh against the side of the pool. That was quite the entrance.

It seems quieter with him under water. Even though the music is still playing. I look over at the house, but nothing has changed there. Sammy is just loud, I guess. His presence takes up room.

He hasn't come up yet. I thought humans needed to breathe air? And why is he churning the water so dramatically down there? I watch the white foam he is creating. Birds are singing and there is a slight, pleasant breeze. It's a lovely day.

He still hasn't come up. Does he want me to join him underneath? I dip down to see.

He is floundering and thrashing. His eyes are bulging. What is he doing? I swear he is the most confusing man I have ever met.

Oh. Does he not know how to be in water? Is he drowning with no one holding him down? Or currents to snare him or weeds to tangle him ?

My heart thuds against my ribs. I reach out and wrap my arms around his flailing body. The contact makes me shudder. I've not touched another since…I can't think about that now.

I lift him to the surface and tug him along to the edge. His hands grip the edge of the pool and he sucks in a huge wheezing breath. Then he splutters and coughs up some water. Then he breathes heavily again.

I hastily back away.

"Thanks!" he gasps. "I didn't know it was the deep end."

I stare at him while he continues to cough and heave in lungfuls of air.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

He coughs again, nods and gives me the thumbs up.

Eventually his breathing steadies. He pushes his wet hair back, out of his eyes and turns to me with a sheepish expression.

"Don't suppose you fancy giving me swimming lessons?"

I stare at him. He looks good with drops of water running over his cheekbones and jaw.

"You can't swim?" I ask, a little dumbfounded.

I thought all humans could. I didn't know it was something that needed to be learned. That sounds awful. It's almost enough to make me feel sorry for the human race.

"Is it that obvious?" he says with a wide grin and a wink.

As if he didn't just nearly die. As if I didn't just save his life. When I don't even know why I did. I hate touching people. I don't touch anyone voluntarily. I could have just let him drown. I had no reason to help him. But I barely hesitated.

I suppose the others might have been mad at me. They might have even thought I lured him in on purpose. And I really don't want that kind of drama. But this human doesn't know that.

He just seems to think that saving him was no big deal.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no. Realization is hitting me like a summer squall. Startling in its sudden intensity and ferocity. How could I have not thought of this? Why, oh why, did I just react so blindly in the moment?

Saving him is a huge deal. A very huge deal. The hugest of deals. A life-changing, life-altering thing that cannot be undone. An action of a moment that I will now live with forever.

I took him from the water. He is a human who was drowning, and I brought him to the surface. This is not the sea, but it's still the goddess's domain. I have a sinking feeling that the premise still counts. I claimed him from her. He is my responsibility now. Mine to protect. He belongs to me.

Cold horror floods my soul. This cannot be happening. It's too big. Too much. I can't cope with it.

I slip under the water. He calls after me, but I ignore him. He is safe. He doesn't need me right now.

Oh goddess, what am I going to do? I can barely look after myself and now I've accidentally gone and taken a mate.

Amphitrite help me.