Gio hands him the knife, and I watch in fascination as Liam holds the blade against the tree and pounds it with a rock. “This is bamboo, and each of these horizontal lines indicates a separate, hollow section. They’re watertight, so we can fill them with water.”
As he works his way around the stalk, a lock of black hair keeps falling into his eyes, and he runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back over and over again, till he finally gives up and lets it hang there. I want to reach out and fix it for him, but I keep my hands tucked against my body, resisting the urge. Touching them only makes it worse.
With one last thwack, the bamboo falls to the ground, and he smiles — a rare, brilliant flash. “Now we just need to cut this up at the joints.”
The guys take turns whacking at the bamboo with the knife until they’ve divided it up into five containers — one for each of us. We fill them up with water and head back towards the shoreline.
“How are your feet, Princess? You want another piggyback ride?” Gio claps himself on the back and looks at me as his memory flashes back to yesterday, and I nod gratefully. He squats down, and I climb on, wrapping my limbs around his sturdy frame. The others look at us curiously.
“I thought you said to keep our hands off her.” Jude sneers.
“Her feet are a wreck, covered in cuts and blisters,” Gio explains. The others nod but exchange a smirk.
The walk back seems faster, the mood pleasant, and soon we’re back on the beach again. Gio heads for the pieces of wood they were messing with yesterday, and Liam joins him. I sit down to watch.
“Hey guys, wanna hear a sea joke?” Jude asks.
“No,” Gio grouses without looking up. He grunts as he forces the stick back and forth along the wooden plank as fast as his massive arms will move. I stare at the designs drawn on his skin, trying to figure out what the symbols mean.
Avery frowns at Gio and turns towards Jude. “I’d like to hear it.”
Jude grins and sits up, excited. “So there’s two whales, and they swim by this whaling ship that killed the first whale’s father a long time ago. The first whale wants to get revenge, so he says, ‘Let’s swim under the ship and blow air through our blow holes until we flip their boat.’ The other whale agrees, and together they manage to sink the whaler. But then they see that most of the sailors survived and are swimming to shore. The first whale is like, ‘Let’s gobble them up.’ But the other whale says, ‘No way. I agreed to the blow job, but there’s no way I’m swallowing seamen!’ ”
The guys are silent for a second, but then they crack up laughing, even Gio, who is trying his best to ignore what Jude is saying. I laugh along with them, amused by their happiness, even though I didn’t understand what Jude said.
“The natives think I’m funny, right Barbie?” He nudges me with his shoulder, and we share a grin. Making me laugh makes Jude happy, and his brown eyes sparkle as he looks at me. I feel a tingle of electricity like an eel slithering past.
“Hey, why don’t you give me a shot at that, Gio? You look like your arms are about to fall off.” Jude heads over towards Gio and plops down next to him. Gio hands over the wood and flops back on the sand with a sigh.
Jude takes over the motion, putting his whole body into it, his tanned skin glistening with sweat. “Whoa! Whoa! We got smoke here, boys! This sucker’s about to ignite!”
He rubs harder and faster til tiny, gray wisps rise from the pile of wood dust at the end of the channel. Liam kneels closer and blows gently on it till the pile turns black then red.
“Quick, tip it into this.” Liam grabs a pile of dried grass and holds it next to the wood.
Jude slowly turns the wood sideways till the tiny ember drops onto the grass. The gray wisps get larger and suddenly turn bright orange.
Chapter 6
“Look what I have created!” Jude shouts, raising his arms in the air then pounding on his chest. “I have made FI-RE!”
The others laugh and clap him on the back, but I just stare in awe at the blazing sight before me.
Liam shoves the burning tuft under the pile of sticks, and the flames grow larger, quickly licking up the sides of each piece of wood, turning them black. I gasp and move closer, mesmerized by the crackling flames. The heat engulfs me, the smoke stinging my eyes and irritating my throat. Undeterred, I reach out a hand to touch the flames but instantly pull back, yelping as the heat singes my skin.
Gio races over to me and yanks me away from the fire, pulling me tight against him, shaking me. “What the hell are you doing? You can’t touch that!” His voice is harsh with fear and anger. Shadows from the flames make his face menacing, and tears well up in my eyes.
“Hey! You’re scaring her!” Avery rushes over and pulls me from Gio’s grip, scowling at him.
“She stuck her hand right in the fire!” Gio yells.
Avery runs his hands gently up and down my arms and pulls me into his chest then lifts my hand and examines it. The skin is red and burning so much my hand throbs with pain.
“Come on, let’s get this in some water.” He pulls me over to the bamboo containers and hands me one.
I look at it, not sure what to do. Does he want me to drink? Avery pinches his brow when he sees my confused look and sticks my sore hand down into the container. The cool water instantly soothes the sting, and I whimper.
So far, the human world seems a lot more dangerous than the ocean. Maybe it’s just because I don’t belong here. The thought makes me sadder.
I drop to the sand. Avery sits next to me and strokes my back and hair. “Aw, Princess. I’m sorry. I know it hurts, but the water will help. Why’d you try to touch it? Haven’t you ever seen fire before?”
Liam comes over to join us, a puzzled look on his face. “There is one indigenous tribe — the Sentinelese from the Bay of Bengal— who appear to have no knowledge of how to create fire. They preserve embers from lightning strikes, instead. But they still know what fire is, and they know better than to touch it. I can’t imagine her tribe doesn’t have even that basic knowledge.”
Jude sits down next to us. “Maybe she’s like Mowgli, and she’s been living on her own. She doesn’t seem to have any desire to go back to her people. Maybe she doesn’t have any.”
Liam shakes his head. “But you’re forgetting her hairdo. There’s no way she braided her hair like that by herself.”
“Well, technically, she probably could have. Haven’t you ever watched any YouTube hair tutorials?” Avery smirks. “But why would she if there’s no one around to appreciate it?”
“I wish we could communicate with her. We know she’s not mute; we’ve heard her make sounds, but has anyone heard her say anything?” Liam asks, and Jude and Avery shake their heads.
Gio turns away from the fire and heads over toward us. When I flinch, he sits as far away from me as he can. “She hasn’t said any words that I’ve heard, but I swear sometimes she can understand what we’re saying.”
The others nod, but no one has an explanation.
“Maybe we can try to teach her some basic words, get her talking.” Liam knee-walks over to me and picks up my uninjured hand.
“Lee-umm.” He enunciates his name slowly, tapping my hand against his chest. “My name is Liam. Can you say that? Liam.”
I know he’s trying to get me to speak, but I resist. Every time I use my voice, the sound of it unnerves me. I don’t know how to make the sounds he’s making, and I don’t want to look foolish.
Liam frowns and moves my hand to my own chest. “What’s your name?”
That one is even more impossible. I’m positive the sound of my name will seem bizarre to them. I doubt I can even make the right sounds outside of the water.
Liam takes my hesitation as confusion and tries to clarify. He scoots over to Jude and does the same thing, patting him on the chest and saying Jude’s name. Jude repeats it. Liam does the same for each of the guys, then returns to me. When he puts his hand on my chest, my heart flutters, and my mout
h falls open, but only a choked cry comes out.
Liam huffs in frustration. “Even the most undeveloped tribes have some kind of language.”
“Well, it’s okay by me if she doesn’t want to talk. She’s a woman; if she did, she’d probably just find something to complain about, anyway.” Jude chuckles, and Avery scowls at him.
“Kidding! Kidding!” Jude holds up his hands.
“Well, now that I’ve managed to build a fire for you losers, how about if we barbecue some dinner? I’m starving.” The others shake their heads and roll their eyes at him but rumble their agreement.
“Let’s scour the beach for crabs or fish that look fresh. Don’t get anything that looks slimy or half-eaten,” Gio says, rising, and the other guys follow him.
I pull my hand out of the water and stand, wanting to go with them, but the pain immediately returns, and I whimper and sit back down, shoving my hand back in the water. Instead, I watch as the guys head in different directions, each with the same thing on his mind. Fish.
I could catch enough fish for all of them if I went in the water, but I’m afraid they might see my tail, so I stay put instead, but guilt plagues me, especially when they come back a while later, mostly empty-handed.
“Well, it’s not exactly a feast, but at least it’s something.” Gio grabs a stick and impales one of the small fish they found. Jude does the same. Liam has one of the crabs I wanted to eat my first day here but was afraid to. They hold them over the fire, and the image I saw in Gio’s mind yesterday comes to life.
“The fire will help draw attention, but I think we should try to make an SOS sign out of wood or rocks tomorrow,” Liam says.
I stare curiously at him, trying to understand the picture in his mind. It makes no sense to me, but then, neither does what they’re doing to the fish. Why don’t they just eat them? Why would they want to hurt them by holding them over the fire? The memory brings the pain back to the forefront of my mind again, and I wince.
“I think this one’s done.” Gio pulls his fish away from the fire and pokes at it, and Jude does the same with his.
Liam hands them some large leaves he’s collected, and Gio pulls out his knife and uses it to detach the fish from his stick, dropping it onto the leaves. He cuts off a small chunk and pops it in his mouth. His eyes close, and he groans as he swallows.
“Oh my God, that’s so good.” He quickly cuts the rest of the fish up into small sections and passes it around.
Everyone else pops it into their mouth immediately, but I hold my piece to my lips, feeling the warmth against my skin and letting the aroma drift to my nostrils. It smells amazing. Like fish, but so different. Smoky like the fire, the heat still curling from it in tiny wisps.
I gingerly lay the piece on my tongue and close my eyes as I let my tastebuds take in the flavor. As I chew, I marvel at the difference in taste and texture and the strange sensation of heat in my mouth. When there’s nothing left to chew, I swallow and immediately want more.
When I open my eyes, all the guys are staring at me. Gio smiles and hands me another chunk, the last of it. I moan a little as I savor it.
“I think she likes it.” Jude chuckles.
“If she doesn’t know what fire is, do you think she’s ever eaten cooked food before?” Avery asks.
Liam wraps his hands around his knees. “Doesn’t look like it. Gio, didn’t you say she ate a raw fish yesterday? And she tried to offer Jude one.”
Jude and Gio nod, remembering. Now I understand why they found that odd.
“Oh, I found something else while I was picking leaves.” Liam gives one of his rare smiles and walks towards the woods. When he returns, he’s holding a large, green, oblong object. I have no idea what it is, but the others clearly recognize it and seem excited.
Liam hands it to Gio who stabs it with the knife, cutting a notch out. After a few more cuts, he puts down the knife and starts to tear the outer shell off. When he has a section clear, he jabs the knife in deep then pounds it a few times with a rock till liquid spurts out. Gio smiles and tips the object to his mouth.
“Ahh!” He licks his lips and wipes his mouth with his arm, passing the object to Liam.
When Liam hands it to me, I follow suit and am rewarded with a sweet liquid unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before. My eyes widen, and Liam glances curiously at me. I take another quick sip before reluctantly relinquishing it.
“That’s the last of it,” Avery says after his turn, handing it back to Gio. Gio starts whacking at it again with the rock and the knife.
Eventually, the object splits open, and I sit up on my knees and crane my neck to see what’s inside. It doesn’t look like much of anything, just a white hole in the center of a brown sphere, but Gio starts digging at it till a small chuck pops out. He puts it in his mouth and grins, satisfied, as he chews it.
Gio digs out more pieces, handing them around the circle, and the guys pop them in their mouths right away. But I rub mine between my fingers, exploring the texture, and hold it to my nose to inhale the scent before sticking out my tongue to lick it. The outside seems okay, so I bite off a tiny chunk and chew it. Like the liquid inside, the taste is sweet, creamy, and completely foreign to me, but I like it, and my belly is growling for more, so I quickly down the rest of it.
When I look up, Liam is staring at me. His brow is wrinkled, his mouth frowning, and my own smile falters at his inspection.
“She’s never eaten a coconut before.” He turns his frown towards the others.
“I don’t think I ever have, either. I mean, not whole like this,” Jude says around a mouthful.
Liam pinches his eyebrows and his frown deepens as he glances at Jude. “But you don’t live on a tropical island.”
Jude shrugs and sticks another piece in his mouth, gnawing. “I live in Florida; that’s kind of tropical.”
Liam rolls his eyes at him. “My point is, how could she live on an island full of palm trees and never have eaten a coconut before? Things just don’t add up with her. I don’t think she’s native.”
“So, where’s she from? And how’d she get here?”
Liam puckers his brow and stares at me again, and I shiver a little under his gaze. “That’s a mystery I’d like to solve.”
I’m not sure what Liam is thinking, but I know it’s something about me, something that has him puzzled and on edge. Does he suspect I’m not a human? If so, he doesn’t seem to have any idea what I really am. So far, none of the guys have projected any thoughts about mermaids. Do humans even know about my kind? Liam may be curious, but I think my secret’s safe for now.
Gio hands me another piece of the coconut, and I savor it slowly, trying to make it last. I’m still hungry, but the food is all gone. I know the guys are in even worse shape. They’re bigger and need a lot more food than me.
For a moment, I contemplate going off on my own and catching a fish, but I’m pretty sure at least one of them will follow me if I leave. I’ll just have to wait for a better opportunity.
As the sky grows darker and the air cooler, the five of us huddle around the fire, grateful for the warmth. I stare at the flames, jumping and waving, and watch the wood turn black and crumble. Strange how something so destructive can be so useful and beautiful at the same time. The orange glow casts chaotic shadows on the guys’ faces, distorting their expressions, but at least I can still see them. Tomorrow is my last day here, and I want to absorb every moment of my time with them.
My hand still throbs, and I hold it up, trying to examine the wound, but it’s hard to see in the dim light.
“How’s your hand, Princess?” Gio reaches for it, tracing his fingers gently around the redness. “I don’t see any blisters. Hopefully you got it out of there before you could do too much damage.”
I gasp at the picture that pops into his mind — black, oozing skin, peeling off in big chunks. Is that what could’ve happened to me? No wonder he was so freaked out.
“We should take turns watchi
ng the fire so it doesn’t go out,” Gio says when the guys start to stretch out and get more comfortable. “I’ll take the first shift.”
The others mumble in agreement, and soon the rest of them are sleeping. I stare at him, wishing I could communicate. There are a million things I want to ask, but instead, I just gaze around, wishing. Gio smiles at me and shakes his head.
“You don’t have to keep me company, Princess. Go ahead and get some sleep.” In his mind, he pictures me dozing, so I know what he wants, but how can I explain that I don’t want to miss even a moment of my last night here?
Instead, I lay down, resting my head on my arms, and try not to fall asleep.
When I open my eyes again, Gio is snoring along with the others. I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but the sky is still black, so it must still be nighttime. I sit up so I won’t fall back asleep, and I stare at the guys, admiring them.
Gio is strong and powerful, with giant muscles that flex and ripple every time he moves. He’s gruff and moody, and I was afraid of him at first, but he’s done everything he can to protect me. Now, his strength makes me feel safe.
Jude is just as big, but not as strong, but his lighthearted nature and his giant smile always make me laugh, even when I don’t know what he’s saying.
Avery is kind and gentle, like Muriel, only in a gorgeous male body that’s close to perfection. He makes me feel treasured in a way no other man has before. If any of the guys could love me, I think it might be him.
Liam is beautiful, too, with shiny, black hair and those stunning, green eyes. But it’s the intelligence behind them I find most attractive. His mind is always whirling with thoughts I can’t even begin to understand.
They’re all so different; how could I ever choose between them? It doesn’t matter, though, because I’ll never get the chance.
My face drops, and pressure builds behind my eyes, threatening to leak out as I think about them. I want so badly to stay. For a moment, I hate my grandfather for cursing us, but I understand why he did. No wonder my mother couldn’t resist the pull of the human world. I also understand why Grandfather never allowed me to come to the surface. He knew exactly what would happen if I did — I would be drawn to the humans just like my mother was. He was right.
The Mermaid's Escape Page 6