Merman's Love (Merman's Kiss, Book 4)

by Dee J. Stone

  “I hope,” I whisper. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Come, let’s go to her house.”

  The door to my house opens a crack, and a woman sticks out her head. “Cassie!” She throws the door open. “Thank good—” She breaks off and gapes at the kids in our arms. “What in the world?”

  “Mom, what are you doing here?”

  “Leah called me late last night and told me I needed to come home as soon as possible. She sounded so frantic. I dropped everything and flew over. But when I asked where you were, she told me not to worry because you were okay, visiting Damian’s family in Arizona.”

  “Is she all right?”

  “Leah? Of course. Why shouldn’t she be? Why are you and Damian carrying Ruthie and Bobby? And what are they wearing?” Her eyes dip to my robe. “What are you wearing?”

  This feels like déjà vu.

  I glance at Damarian, who looks at me. “Um…” I say. “I think it’s time we told you everything.”

  Her eyebrows furrow. “Tell me everything?”

  “Yeah. Can we come in?”

  “Of course.” She steps aside.

  “What has occurred at the beach?” Damarian asks as he and I lower the kids onto the couch. “It is damaged.”

  “I was in New York so I only saw it on the news. A tsunami.”

  “A tsunami?” I ask.

  She shrugs. “A small one. You’re not the only one who was shocked. It literally came out of nowhere. And we hardly ever get tsunamis…”

  Damarian and I lock eyes on one another. No, the tsunami didn’t come out of nowhere. I know exactly what caused it. The war between the sea serpents and the merpeople. We must have caused so much instability in the ocean that a large wave crashed into the shore.

  “Is everyone okay?” I ask.

  “Yes, luckily there were only minor injuries. It has the meteorologists baffled. And apparently, there was lightning in the sky, but it didn’t come from the clouds.”

  I swallow. “Where did it come from?”

  She shrugs. “Some say the ocean. Some say aliens. Who knows for sure?”

  “Yeah,” I mutter.

  Mom grabs a blanket from the closet and throws it over the kids. “Poor things look like they’ve been through a war.”

  “You have no idea,” I mumble.

  “What, Cassie?”

  “Nothing,” I quickly say.

  “Okay.” She sits down on the recliner and locks her hands together. “What’s going on here? Why is this the second time I find you dressed in clothes that look like they’ve been left at the beach? Why are the kids here and where are Mark and Sheila? And why, Cassie, can’t you stop trembling?”

  I look down at myself. She’s right, I am trembling. Because I know that I can’t keep this secret any longer. I knew I would eventually tell my mom I’m a mermaid, and now is the day. Everything is going to change. I’m not sure if I’m ready for it, but I don’t have a choice.

  Sitting down in the other recliner, I take a deep breath and wring my hands in my lap. Damarian sits on the armrest and puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it softly. I take another deep breath and say, “Mom…what we’re about to tell you...” I swallow. “You’ll think we’re crazy.”

  She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me with a bewildered expression.

  “I guess...” I look at Damarian. “I guess it might be better to show you.”

  He nods.

  I get up and head to the closet for some towels. Mom watches me with the most baffled look I’ve ever seen on her face. I check on the kids to make sure they’re okay before saying to my mom, “We need to go downstairs to the pool.”

  “The pool?”

  “Yeah. You’ll understand everything soon. Trust me.”

  It’s a good thing I’m dressed in a bathrobe and Damarian has a towel on, so we don’t have to worry about our clothes tearing to shreds when we transform into merpeople. My heart is pounding so hard and loud I bet they can hear me all the way in England. I’m about to shift into a mermaid in front of my mother. I have no idea how she’ll react, but quite a few scenarios come to mind, anywhere from fainting to disowning me, to having a heart attack.

  She’s a few feet behind us as we climb down the steps to the pool room. I can feel the question marks boring into my back. Damarian takes my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. I’m really glad he’s here with me—it makes this just a bit easier.

  Once we step inside, the water from the pool beckons me, and every part of me begs to throw myself into the nourishing richness. “We should probably pour in some sea salt just in case,” I tell Damarian as I walk over to the bucket.

  “Sea salt?” Mom asks, her tone beyond incredulous.

  “Mhm,” I mutter as Damarian and I take hold of the handle and carry it to the edge of the pool.

  “Cassie, this is very strange…” Mom, who’s standing in the doorway, shifts from one foot to the other.

  “Everything will make sense soon.”

  Damarian and I tip the bucket and watch the salt cascade inside. My eyes shut as some of the sea salt lands on my skin. My need to get into that water is so intense I feel like I might die if I don’t do it in the next few seconds. When I open my eyes, I find Damarian swaying. I grab his arm before he tumbles into the pool.

  “Forgive me, my love,” he says.

  “It’s okay. My body yearns for it, too.”

  I turn to Mom, who is still standing in the doorway. “You might want to sit down for this.” I gesture to one of the lounge chairs.

  She gives me an uncertain and somewhat terrified look as she settles down on the chair. I nod to Damarian and step closer to the edge of the pool. I lay the towels close enough to reach when we’ll need them. Damarian slides his hand into mine. “On the count of three,” I tell him.

  He nods.

  I glance at Mom, who is crossing and uncrossing her legs and playing with her fingers, before saying, “One.”

  “Two,” Damarian says.

  “Three!” we both say as we leap into the pool.

  At once, the familiar burning sensation engulfs me. But that’s not the concern on my mind—all I think about is how my mom will react when she sees two sapphire tails in the water. For the first time in my life—and probably the last—I’m not glad when the thirty seconds are over.

  My hand is still gripping Damarian’s. Together, we break the surface and raise our tails in the air so she can see from her location. Just like I expect, she looks at us with the most horrified expression on her face. She’s backing away on the chair, though there’s nowhere to go since the wall is behind her.

  I hold out my hand, then quickly lower it when I remember it’s webbed. “Mom,” I say as gently as possible. “It’s okay. Don’t freak out.”

  She scrambles off the chair and stumbles back toward the door.

  “Take a deep breath,” I tell her. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

  “Not as bad as it looks?”

  I’m pretty sure she yelled that sentence, though it sounds like a shrill to my ears due to my acute mermaid hearing senses. I wince.

  “You have a tail! How is that okay?”

  I look at Damarian. “Well…”

  “It’s him! He gave that to you.”

  “Well…” I can’t really argue with that one.

  “I knew something was off with him. All this time, Cassie? All this time?” She throws her hands in the air. “I can’t believe this. I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming.” She starts pacing around the room.

  “Please help me out,” I ask Damarian. He puts his hands on my waist and hoists me up. I roll out and take the towels, wrapping one around my tail and using the other to dry my arms.

  Mom stops her pacing and gapes at me, her jaw practically hitting the tiled floor. Even though she has complete terror in her eyes, I see the way she studies my tail with a mystified look. I remember how I felt when I saw Damarian for the first time. Even though I was so scared, I
couldn’t help being in awe at such a beautiful creature.

  “Mom, it’s okay,” I say as I reach to help Damarian out. He dries my tail as I dry his. “We’re going to change soon and I’ll explain everything.”

  Mom is shaking her head over and over, muttering under her breath. Well, at least she didn’t faint or have a heart attack.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Damarian and I dry ourselves as much as we can and cover up with the towels. It doesn’t take too long for us to change. Through the fog of pain, I see my mom watching us, and the look on her face can’t be described in words. Once we’re done, I fight the fatigue and get up, stepping closer to Mom who instinctively steps back.

  “It’s okay,” I tell her, tightening the belt on my robe. “It’s still me.”

  She blinks a few times. “I must have been hallucinating.”

  “No.” I reach for her hand, but she twists away from me. Damarian rests his on my shoulder and once again gives it a comforting squeeze. “I know it’s a big shock,” I tell Mom. “I reacted the same way when Damian changed in front of me the first time.”

  She whips around to face me. “When he changed in front of you the first time?”

  “I want to explain it all to you from the very beginning. But you need to stop freaking out.” I reach to lay my hand over Damarian’s that’s on my shoulder. “I’m a mermaid, Mom. There’s no changing that.”

  “You’re saying it’s permanent?”

  “Yeah.” I look at Damarian. “I mean, the king and queen can take it away, but then I can’t be with Damian. I mean, Damarian.”

  “Damarian?”

  “Um, yeah. That’s his merman name. I named him Damian when he came to land.”

  Mom rubs her forehead. “This is too much.”

  “Perhaps we shall return to the living room so Cassie and I can explain all we can,” Damarian says.

  She looks like she’s in a daze as she follows us upstairs. Damarian and I dress into our clothes before joining Mom in the living room. Thankfully, the kids are still asleep. I tell Damarian to sit down in the empty recliner and settle down on his lap. He wraps his arms around my waist and holds me close.

  I start from the beginning, telling my mom how Leah and I found Damarian unconscious on the beach, how we carried him home, how I roused him from his unconscious state, and how baffled he was when he saw his human body for the first time. I tell her how much we missed each other when he returned to the ocean and how glad I was when he came back. Her eyes soften a bit when she hears how our friendship blossomed to romance, and how much we fought to be together, despite the odds. How scared I was when Kyle threatened to expose him.

  “Kyle threatened to expose Damian?” she asks.

  “Damarian,” I correct. “And yes. He was jealous because Damarian was able to travel back and forth from land and the ocean when he was stuck on land. Because, well…Kyle’s a merman, too.”

  Her eyes get so wide I swear they can swallow up every piece of furniture in the room. “You’re telling me Kyle is a merman?”

  I scratch my head. “Heh. Yeah. His real name is Kyler, and he’s part of the Emerald clan.”

  “The Emerald clan?”

  “We are comprised of five clans,” Damarian explains. “The Sapphires, the Violets, the Emeralds, the Rubies, and the Diamonds.”

  “Sapphire, Rubies, Diamonds.” She shakes her head. “I’m going to bed. Please wake me up so this dream can end.”

  “Mom, it’s not a dream. I know it’s crazy and scary, but this is my life.”

  She rakes her hands through her hair. “This is insane.”

  “I know. Kyle was banished from the ocean and had to live on land as a human. Kiander—Damarian’s brother and the king—was able to lift his banishment and let him come home. And well…” I look up at Damarian. “We were able to live happily. At least for a little while.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Um, you’re not going to like the part I’m about to tell you. I mean, you’re probably not going to like everything else I’m going to tell you.” I bite my lip.

  “You think I like what you told me so far?”

  Good point. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So I changed into a mermaid because....because…” I can’t say it. I know Mom will lose it.

  “Shall I?” Damarian whispers into my ear.

  I nod.

  “Joanie Price,” he says. “I love your daughter very, very much. It was not my intention to wash up on the shore and disrupt her life. It just occurred.” He presses his lips to my temple. “It was fate. Cassie informed me humans believe in fate.”

  Mom sighs. “Yes, we do.”

  “I was concerned of what would occur if we mated. But I have so much love for her and—”

  She shoots to her feet. “Mated? You’re saying…” A look of pure horror flashes across her face. “Are you telling me having sex with a merman made you change into a mermaid?” she demands, her eyes blazing at me.

  I wince again. “Um. Yeah.”

  She turns around. “I can’t believe this!”

  “Mom, I know you’re upset, but—”

  “We tell our kids to be careful. To use protection. Never once did I imagine my daughter would grow a tail! Maybe an unplanned pregnancy, but a tail?”

  “Mom, just stop!” I shout.

  She slowly turns around.

  “Damarian and I are not telling you this so you can judge. I don’t regret any of this. I was in the ocean, Mom. I saw the merpeople colony. I swam with dolphins and was face to face with a blue whale. A blue whale! Damarian’s family welcomed me into their lives. All we want is for you to do the same.”

  She looks like I slapped her. Then her face starts to soften and her eyes fill with regret. She moves closer and places her hands on my cheeks. “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t mean to sound judgmental or critical. I’m just so…I don’t even know how I feel.”

  “I know how scary it must be for you. But you’ll come to accept it in time. I love my life and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

  She gives me a small smile as she tucks some hair behind my ear. “Okay. I’m glad you’re happy.” Her eyes trek to Damarian. “I’m sorry if whatever I said offended you. You have to understand that I only want what’s best for my daughter.”

  “Yes. That is all I wish, too.”

  Her eyes move over him carefully, like she’s studying him for the very first time. “So let me get this straight. You didn’t grow up in Europe and your parents didn’t die, nor were you put in a foster home?”

  Damarian shakes his head.

  “Well, that certainly explains a lot,” she mutters.

  “I’m sorry we lied,” I say. “We couldn’t tell you the truth. I knew I would one day, but I wasn’t ready back then.”

  She nods before sitting back down in her chair. “I guess there’s more to the story?”

  “Yeah. Try not to freak out.”

  I tell her how I felt sick after Damarian and I slept together and how I craved water and fish. How I changed for the first time. Her eyes fill with wonder when I describe swimming in the ocean for the first time and hearing the fish. When I tell her about the shark attack, Damarian’s failure to return from the ocean, and how I went into the ocean looking for him, her face fills with alarm.

  “We have an unbelievably strong bond,” I tell her. “All merpeople do. I was able to sense him and lead his Dad, Syren, and the others to the rebels’ location.”

  I tell her exactly what the rebels were after, how they wanted Damarian on the throne. “I know,” I say. “How crazy is it that Damarian is the true king?”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “The rebels were really following the orders of an ancient race,” I tell her, then swallow as I glance at the sleeping Ruthie and Bobby. “Sea serpents.”

  She throws her hands up. “Sea serpents? Are you expecting me to believe sea serpents exist?”

  “Yeah.” I sw
allow again. “Because Dad and Sheila were sea serpents.”

  She gapes at me.

  “And Ruthie and Bobby, too. But luckily, they weren’t fully-formed yet. We were able to save them.”

  “Save them?” she asks slowly, like she’s afraid to hear what I’m about to say next.

  “Yeah,” I say in a grave voice. “Dad and Sheila are dead.”

  Her eyes snap shut.

  I tell her everything that happened, about Dad kidnapping Damarian and me, how it was due to our mating that the sea serpents were able to go into the ocean, and how they forced me into salt water so they could draw out my sea serpent side. Then I tell her about the war, how we had no choice but to kill Dad and Sheila, how we won the war, and how we managed to save my little brother and sister.

  I get up and take Ruthie’s hand. “I’m the only family they have left.”

  Mom just sits there, staring at the floor.

  I put my hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  “I…I don’t understand. They’re dead?”

  “They weren’t themselves. It’s like they turned into totally different people when their sea serpent sides grew stronger. We had no choice. They would have caused so much havoc on both sea and land.”

  “The children of the sea battled them many moons past,” Damarian says. “They thought they had eliminated the threat. But there were survivors.” He lowers his head. “Many of my brethren have fallen.”

  Her eyes brim with tears. “I’m sorry, for everything. For the loss of your people,” she tells Damarian. “And for the loss of your father and stepmother,” she says to me.

  My own eyes fill with tears. I rub my arm against them. “We need to figure out what to do with Ruthie and Bobby. They are my top priority.”

  “Of course.”

  “I was thinking…how would you like to be a mother again?”

  “What?”

  “It’s either you or me, Mom. And since I’m only eighteen and have no means to support two kids, not to mention the fact that I need to swim in sea water every so often or else I’ll die…”

  She slowly gets to her feet. “You can’t expect me to care for them, Cassie. My job requires me to travel often and I don’t think I have the time or energy…”