Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “Yes. Come back soon,” Fin’s mom said, enfolding me in another warm hug. “Don’t worry. Everything will work out.”

  I gave a feeble smile as Fin led me out the door by the hand.

  57 - FIN

  Ash stumbled outside. Her glassy eyes indicated she’d reached information overload—something I’d hoped my parents would avoid.

  “That went over well,” I said with a fake grin. “I told you they’d like you.”

  She nodded but the uncertainty creased her forehead like a paper fan. She stopped and stared at the lake once we got to the Jeep. I turned her to face me. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”

  “Please drive me somewhere,” she mumbled as she opened the door and robotically climbed in.

  I took a deep breath before climbing into the driver’s side and starting the Jeep. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t care.”

  She remained quiet for several minutes as I drove down the secluded lakeside road with no destination in mind. Would this be the time she told me she couldn’t handle this? That she wanted out of the promise? Her silence gnawed at my gut.

  “Please talk to me,” I finally said. “What are you thinking?”

  “Everything …” she stopped.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everything has to change.” She started to sniffle.

  Seeing her tears, I pulled to the side of the road and got out. She remained inside with her door opened a crack, only her foot propped on the running board.

  “Look at me,” I said and put her cheeks between my hands. “I love you and I’m not going to let anything keep us apart, or make things difficult with your parents, or ask you to move away, or assume you’ll want to become a mer, like me. This will all work out.”

  “You love me?”

  “Of course I do.” My shoulders dropped. “I knew it the day I wanted to punch that idiot’s face when he had his hands all over you.”

  She sniffled, but smiled—the first time since we’d left the house.

  “I love you, too,” she said softly.

  My heart expanded, filling with indescribable bliss hearing the words. I pulled her off the seat and into my arms. She whimpered sweetly as I covered her lips with mine, tasting the salt on her skin, kissing away the tears. I never wanted to see her cry again. If the mer life scared her, I’d become a man in a heartbeat. Her happiness was my everything.

  I looked into her green eyes and pushed back the red, loose curls falling around her cheeks, worried how to help. She had no idea she’d fit in perfectly and put all the mermaids to shame with her beauty. She smiled at me, as if she read my adoration of her on my face.

  I pulled her back into my arms, and cradled her body against mine. She finally relaxed.

  “I was thinking,” she said in my ear. “Why don’t I go to college here in Tahoe next year instead.”

  “What? Why?”

  “’Cause—” she nuzzled deeper into my chest “—it would be less complicated.”

  I pushed back, wanting to study her eyes. “Complicated? You didn’t think I’d let you go alone, did you? I’d like to see you stop me.”

  Her lips curled into that adorable grin as her face lit up with new hope. “Tatchi and I specifically picked Florida Atlantic University because it was close to the ocean. And I can get a job and we can live by the sea. Or …” Uncertainty clouded her eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, brushing a curl off her forehead.

  “Am I going to …” Her cheeks flushed as she bit her lip.

  “Are you going to what?”

  She dropped her eyes and rubbed her finger over the promising mark. “This is so embarrassing.”

  “Tell me,” I demanded.

  “Fine.” She let out a quick gust and straightened up. “When am I going to turn into a mermaid?”

  I blinked for a second, confused why she thought she’d spontaneously change. Then smiled, filled with relief. “You mean because we’re promised?” I chuckled.

  “I knew it was silly.” She grimaced.

  “No, don’t feel like that.” I folded her back into my arms and squeezed. “A promise doesn’t make you turn into a mermaid, though I’d really like that—” she giggled. “Our essence does. There’s a spring in Natatoria under the palace that bubbles up a blue liquid from within the earth. If you drank it, you’d transform into a mer. I’m sure you’ve seen it. Tatch has a vial on her bracelet.”

  She thought for a moment. “Oh, right. So, if I drank that, I’d poof into a mermaid?”

  “Something like that. I’ve never actually seen it happen. It’s a fashion statement for mermaids to carry it around. They continue to drink it—like it’s a fountain of youth.”

  I laughed, but suddenly realized we might not have brought back any essence with us.

  “That’s kind of cool,” she hummed as she leaned against my shoulder.

  I kissed her temple and inhaled the honeysuckle scent in her hair. “Just know I don’t want you to feel any pressure. I can become human, if it comes down to that.”

  “There’s a way to do that?”

  “Yes,” I said and took her hand. “The bond of our souls might go away, but we’ll be together on land without any mer restrictions.”

  “But you’ll have to leave your family and you won’t be able to go get Tatchi.”

  “Then I’ll go get Tatch first. My family will still be around. Maybe they’ll take up residence in Florida, too.”

  “That’s huge,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t want you to have to choose between me and them.”

  My chest tightened. “It won’t be like that. It’ll all work out.”

  She looked down and traced the raised emblem on my ring finger that signified our eternal connection. “Will this go away, too?”

  I grimaced. “I don’t know. Possibly.”

  She sighed again and laced her fingers with mine. “I don’t want it to go away.”

  I moved our hands up and brushed her tattooed finger against my lips, kissing it. “Maybe I’ll put something else in its place.”

  She smiled, her expression warm. “Are you proposing to me?”

  My heart thumped wildly in my throat. This wasn’t how I wanted to ask her. Not without a ring. “What?” I said and looked away with a sheepish grin.

  “Brat.” She hit my arm and I grabbed it to pull her toward me again, brushing my lips against her neck.

  “I like being your brat.”

  “This is all so crazy,” she whispered in my ear. “But as long as we are together, I’ll do and go where you want me to.”

  “Music to my ears,” I whispered back and swayed with her body as we heard music. “It would be nice to be able to be free from always worrying about the sun setting.”

  “Tell me about it,” she said as she moved in for a kiss.

  ***

  The afternoon flew by faster than I wanted and after another wonderful dinner with her family, the eventual decision of who would leave whom became heartbreaking to think about. Ash fidgeted and hid her left hand under the table during dinner. Once the sky turned rosy and cast long shadows across the kitchen floor, we both looked at each other in sadness. Another early good-bye.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I moved a stray lock of red hair from her face and peered into her green eyes. “I hate leaving so soon.”

  “Can I meet you later at the dock? I’d love to see your—what do you call it?”

  “It’s just a fin. I’m appropriately named for my appendage,” I said with a wink. “How about later this summer, when it’s warmer? I’d hate for you to freeze outside.”

  She curled her lips downward and pouted. “Please?”

  I laughed. “We’ll see. I’ll call in an hour, how’s that?”

  “Fine. I guess.”

  I kissed her irresistible lips again before dashing to get home. I didn’t want to ruin another pair of jeans.

  “Finley,” Mom said
as I walked through the door, “she’s adorable. What did you two decide?”

  “Nothing yet, Mom,” I said and went towards the basement stairs, “but I want to talk to Dad.”

  “He’s downstairs fixing one of the soda taps on the bar.”

  “They broke that too?”

  “Among other things. They have no clue how to use or work anything around here.”

  Dread hit me. I hadn’t thoroughly checked my room yet. Did Colin break anything of mine? I went to my room, but knew I wouldn’t have time to look. Scales had already begun to appear on my legs. I slid out of my jeans and sat on my bed. My tail burst from my skin like magic and I wondered what Ash would really think of my fishy side. The time spent living as separate species would make for an interesting relationship.

  I slid across the floor and maneuvered down the stairs. Mom was testing out the new tap, while Dad moved to fix the filter.

  “Son,” Dad called out, waving a wrench in his hand, “I like her.”

  “She is something special.”

  Mom dangled a vial filled with essence on a chain for me to see. “I can’t wait for the day she officially becomes one of us.”

  I exhaled, relieved she grabbed some before we left, but felt a pang of dread after spending such a great time with Ash’s family.

  “One thing at a time, Mom,” I said quickly. “I’m not in a rush to take her away from everyone who loves her. Don’t you remember what it felt like to leave your humanity? What would you think if I chose the opposite? To become a man instead?”

  Her smile pulled into a frown; a tear glinted in her eye. “I’m sorry, Son. You’re right.”

  “It’s not an easy decision,” I dropped my eyes, “for now she’s going to finish high school and go to college. It’s near the Atlantic in Florida. And once she graduates, things will change. You guys managed it.”

  Mom looked to Dad with a faint smile on her lips. “Yes, we did.”

  He swam over to her and hugged her shoulder. “You endure much to be with the one you love.”

  Mom sniffled and I swam away from them, over to my floating lounge chair, needing to escape the tension. Dad had reattached the arm to the seat.

  “Thanks,” I said and tested it out by relaxing back and closing my eyes. All I wanted was the hour to pass quickly, so I could call Ash and not feel pressure to make these tough decisions.

  “How Colin managed to break so much stuff in such a short time, I’ll never know. Why I’m even bothering …”

  I sat up at the sudden silence. “What do you mean?”

  Dad sighed. He crawled into the closest floating lounge and paddled over to me. “Since we’re going to be leaving, I don’t see the point. Mom and I are planning to get out of here once I wrap up the business and our finances. Florida is actually where we’d planned to go. It’s close to home base.”

  Home base. I’d forgotten about the mer safe house for runaways Dad had set up a while back, unbeknownst to the King.

  I ran my hand through my wet hair. “Badger gave me an earful while you were gone—”

  Dad laughed lazily. “I’m sure he did.”

  “You didn’t tell Tatch and me anything about anything …” My cheeks burned. “It was quite embarrassing at times.”

  “Well,” he scratched his belly before Mom swam over and handed him a beer from the tap, “ever since you were little merlings, I’ve been contemplating leaving the colony. I didn’t want you too attached and interwoven into a life that I’d have to uproot you from. And with Phaleon in control, it’s become too unstable. The so-called secret mission I was on was actually to find his runaway daughter and he didn’t want anyone to know.”

  “What?” I laughed under my breath. “Wow. Now that says a lot.”

  “Yeah.” Dad chuckled, too, while Mom handed me a Coke. “And I wanted to bring you along, but I needed you there for your mom and your sister. I had a feeling Phaleon would twist things around to his advantage in my absence somehow, but—” he groaned and slapped the water “—Azor stealing Tatiana’s promise should have gotten him stripped of his fin. If it were anyone else—”

  “We’ll get her back,” I interrupted.

  “I know. But I can’t help but think this is all my fault. I should have talked with her earlier, let her go to home base when we had the chance. She, of all people, shouldn’t have to endure Natatoria. All she craved was human life. She constantly got in trouble for gallivanting all over with Ashlyn and staying out ‘til the last minute. Have you seen her room? It’s covered in posters of human boys and her bookshelves are filled with those gossip magazines. I just thought we’d have more time.”

  Mom swam up and touched Dad’s arm. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Fin’s right. We’ll go back and get her. I’m sure Azor is treating her fine.”

  I gritted my teeth to keep from responding. Mom didn’t know what Azor was really like—what an animal he was. I could just imagine his treatment of her—more like a possession than a person. Even with the promise binding her to him, I had a feeling once the lovey-dovey feelings dwindled and real life set in, he’d have her locked up in his compound to do chores for him all day—and night.

  Dad and I exchanged hard looks. He clenched his jaw and nodded. We knew the truth and we had to get her out.

  “Once I find out what happened after we left and get my men together, we’re going in,” Dad said, softening his expression and placing his hand on top of Mom’s. “I’m not leaving her there any longer than I have to. And Fin, you’ll get to escort Azor out of Natatoria. How’s that?”

  A malevolent grin spread across my face. “With pleasure.”

  Mom tensed. She knew this meant a war—the first of its kind for our people.

  “And we promise to be careful, Mama,” Dad said quickly and gave her a kiss. “So don’tcha worry.”

  They looked at one another; pain of longing in her eyes. “Just bring her back,” she said quietly.

  “I promise.”

  “So,” I said slowly, breaking the tension again. “Did you find Phaleon’s daughter?”

  “Aye,” Dad said. His response made me think of Badger and miss him. “What a mess. We found her, barely alive and in the middle of a botched attempt to become human. There were people and authorities all over her apartment complex. I’ve never had a bigger mess to clean up.

  “Apparently her roommate found her finned up and bleeding to death in the tub. Of course she freaked and called nine-one-one. Poor girl was working completely alone and off rumor. With all the people involved—it got ugly fast.

  “But we managed to mind-wipe the witnesses and erase most of the evidence. But with smart phones nowadays, pictures get on the internet so quickly, it becomes impossible to retract. But luckily, only a few really bad pictures leaked out and they don’t look any different than the mermaid lore online now anyway. We got lucky this time.

  “But I blame Phaleon. His insistence of forbidding the teaching of how to become human and keeping mers trapped in Natatoria just fuels the desire to explore.”

  Mom agreed.

  I shivered at the image. Dad had told us how to switch when we were younger. The visual scared me from ever wanting to do it. The graphic description of allowing yourself to bleed to death, but capturing your blood (like in a bathtub) and lying in it so it can heal you from the outside during the transformation was a horror show in the making. But you weren’t supposed to do it alone, in case of trouble or a complication. And then afterward, a male mer needed to erase your memories so you wouldn’t tell the secret. I wouldn’t have though, let alone imagined doing that, until now. Until Ash became my everything and I’d go through anything to be together, forever.

  I looked towards Mom who watched Dad with empathetic eyes. “Did she live?”

  “Yes, but she’s not going home. We’ve got her in the safe house with friends for now. But if it wasn’t for my connections and computer skills, this could have been our undoing. Phaleon’s fear of humankind
has become his downfall and the mer are no longer satisfied with just having merlings and tending to the colony. One day people are going to revolt.”

  “So then who were those warriors?” I asked.

  “Friends of mine and Badger’s. We’ve been grooming men for such a situation as this for several years under the guise of Azor’s army training. Due to Phaleon and Azor’s poor treatment of their people, the mermen have been eager to join our cause and keep it secret. Even when it came to this mission, I was the only person who was willing or even able to lead it. But what he doesn’t know is that my connections with people on land is what made me successful. He’s got a thing or two coming, especially now that his son has stolen my daughter from me against her will.”

  I looked him straight in the eye. “Mom told me about what happened when you were younger, with Leon wanting Mom but she chose you and then your parents getting banished.”

  “Yes, it was time you knew the truth. I’ve never trusted him fully after that. He’s always wanted to keep me under his thumb, but he’s too much of a coward to do anything directly. That’s why this mission became something to his advantage. It’s too bad his parents aren’t still on the throne. They were true leaders.”

  My chest tightened. “Do you think he’ll seek revenge? How long do you think we’ve really got here?”

  Dad looked to Mom and shrugged. “I’d say a month or two.”

  “Really?” The hope calmed my nerves. Ash could finish school and then we could leave for Florida in June—to get her all set up for college, of course. “This is good news. Ash has been so nervous about when we’d leave and how things would work out.”

  “But I’m going back to get Tatiana sooner than that.”

  “Oh, right,” I said, worried what Ash would think of me leaving so soon.

  Mom touched my arm. “Ash will come around. Just let things marinate. With the promise, she’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”

  “And I her,” I said quickly. “I’m going to tell her now.”

  Mom smiled. “Enjoy your talk.”

  I shimmied up the stairs and checked the time. Exactly an hour had passed. The phone barely rang before she answered.