by W. J. May
Brady opened his arms and turned around in a circle. “And just how you gonna get off this island?”
“I don’t know. I just know I need to.”
He nodded. “Well, you let me know how that works out for you, cause I have an interest in leaving too.”
She smiled. “Why? So you can fight?”
His face sobered. “Fighting is all I have.”
“Maybe not.” She chanced a glimpse into his chocolate eyes.
“What are you talking about, Karis?”
“You’ve changed. Tarine even said you have a family line connecting you to Aridam. What if fighting isn’t all you have?”
“You know I can’t believe all that yet. I mean, it’s a little surreal to find out I have some mystical otherworldly blood runnin’ through my veins. What exactly are you? Alien?”
Karis chuckled. “Alien? No. From a different world, a different dimension, yes. I’m really no different than you.”
“Yeah, other than the fact that you’re immortal and have super powers.”
“As well as you probably have, I might add.” She clasped the pendant around her neck and turned away to go back inside.
He grasped her shoulder and stopped her from leaving. “I believe you. I don’t know why or how, but I do. All my life, I felt like I needed to prove I was the best. For my father, I needed to be the best son and fighter. But with you I believe I’m already the best. Like you accept me without me having to prove anything.”
“Brady, I’ve lived here for years hoping and dreaming of contact with another being. You are my blessing. Why wouldn’t I accept you? I mean other than your bizarre attitude.” She playfully slugged him in the shoulder.
“Hey, now. I’m perfectly normal here on Earth, so I’m pretty sure it’s you who’s the weirdo.”
She couldn’t argue with that. It was true. She was the odd one on the island. She opened the door to the house. Tarine’s message still burned in her mind. “Maybe, but at least I’m not alone anymore.”
Chapter Five
“Seriously, woman!” Brady flung himself off the bed and ran after her.
Karis let out a squeal as he gave chase. Pouring water on him while he slept might not have been the smartest idea, but it was good to laugh with someone again. Two days had passed since hearing Tarine’s message, and she needed to let some stress go.
He grabbed her around the waist, pulled her down to the ground, and sat on top of her. “You’re in trouble. I could’ve drowned.”
She laughed even harder. “I’m... sorry.” She gasped for air as he tickled her sides. “I give!”
He stopped tickling her but stayed where he was.
She looked up at him and felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach as he stared back at her. Maybe it was because she hadn’t been around any other men in ninety years, but she loved how her heart sped up any time he was near. She gazed over his body, memorizing the tattoo that traveled up his arm, the scar under his eye, the way his muscles flexed when he helped pull in a heavy fishing basket. Everything about him fascinated her and now here he was, shirtless and sitting on her.
“Karis,” he whispered and leaned down closer.
She tried to focus, but his closeness fogged her senses. It was because she was the only woman around, she told herself. She placed her hands on his chest and stopped him from moving in any closer. It wasn’t hard to notice his breath was just as heavy as hers was.
“I’m sorry.” She glanced away.
He moved off her. “Yeah.”
She didn’t want to hurt him. Rolling to her side, Karis sat up but remained on the ground. “So...” she trailed off.
He held a hand up. “Don’t. Just don’t. I’m going for a walk.”
She didn’t try to stop him, but watched as he walked away, down the forest trail. Her shoulders slumped. What was her problem? A gorgeous hunk of man crashes on the island, and she turns him away? She fell back to the ground and let out a deep sigh.
“Of course,” she whispered.
She laid there and watched the clouds overhead. The little yellow bird family sang as they rested on the tree closest to her house.
How was it that she was on a beautiful island, but her people suffered? Tarine’s message replayed in her mind. He wouldn’t have told her all of that if there wasn’t a way off the island. Would he? She shot straight up. “Brady! Wait for me.”
Karis took off toward the trail. She found him in the cove, by her favorite rock. His knees were up and he leaned over with his elbows resting on them. He stared out over the calm ocean. The soft light of morning glistened on his recently tanned skin, making her all the more aware of how close he was moments before. She stopped to shake off the memory of his chest under her fingers, and began scaling the rocks to be with him.
He never looked her way, but she could see his body tense as she sat down on the rock beside him.
“Brady, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have thrown water on you.” She played with a small tear in her skirt.
“Do you honestly think that’s why I’m upset?” His voice rose as he spoke.
Karis chewed on her lip. It was a nervous habit her father told her to stop, but she never could.
“You know, I don’t get you. You act as if you’ve never been with anyone. I’m sure it’s not that different in Shamike.”
“I don’t understand. I’m with you right now.”
He bowed his head. “You’re like, what? Twenty or twenty-one? Are you telling me you’ve never been with anyone? How old are you really? Twenty?”
She smiled a little. “Something like that.”
He looked at her with a raised brow.
“Twenty.” She didn’t want to tell him how old she was, not yet anyway.
He chuckled. “Yeah, see, that’s not that old.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.” He gave a half smile and smirked.
“Well, to be honest I’m a little more than twenty. More like a hundred,” she said the last part more under her breath.
Brady nearly choked on air. “A hundred? Seriously?”
She nodded and kept her gaze lowered so she couldn’t meet his stare.
“Okay,” he said, letting out a deep breath. “I can dig that. Ya, no problem. So you’re like a cougar.” He smiled now and nodded. “Cool.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Cougar?”
He chuckled. “An older woman who digs hot, younger men, like me.”
She stifled a laugh.
He let out a harrumph as he stared out over the ocean. “So ‘twenty’ years old and you’re still a virgin?” He made quotation signs with his fingers when he said twenty.
She nearly choked on the air. “What? I mean, I know what one is, but why are you asking me that?”
“That’s a yes.” He picked up a small pebble and threw it in the water.
“I don’t see why it’s any concern of yours.” Karis folded her arms across her chest.
“Why’d you follow me?” He looked back out over the water.
“Oh!” She reached out and touched his arm. “I almost forgot. There’s a way off the island.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I mean there has to be. Tarine wouldn’t send me messages like that, telling me to be patient, if it weren’t possible for me to leave.”
“For you to leave. What about me?” He shrugged off her hand.
She hung her head. “I hadn’t thought that far, but I am sure once I’m gone the curse should lift.”
“But you can’t promise that. Can you?”
“Brady, come with me.”
He smirked, and his brows rose. “You mean like leave Earth?”
“Yes,” she said hopefully.
“Where to? Back to Shamike and the evil King who wants you dead?”
“Wherever the portal takes us.”
“I don’t know. That’s asking a lot of someone you just met. I’m a fighter. I’m human.” He threw ano
ther rock in the water. “I don’t know if I could do that.”
It was strange to feel disappointment over his response. Somewhere inside, she hoped he would agree to come. That was crazy, of course, since he was right. She’d barely met him days before, but it still made her feel an emptiness about leaving him behind.
Her pendant hummed around her neck. It was the familiar vibration that she lived with since her father placed it around her neck. It reminded her of her true home and her people. She couldn’t allow a human to sidetrack her from finding a way back to Shamike.
“What’s all this?” Karis opened the door to the home she now shared with Brady. He stood on the other side of the bed with her trunk out, sifting through things she had hidden from her sight long ago.
He held up the picture of her and her father. “Who’s this?”
She stormed over to him and snatched the picture from his fingers. “What are you doing?”
“You don’t give straight answers, you want help to get home, and I need to get back to reality. So I came searching for my own answers.”
“This is not yours to go through.” She grabbed the remnants of her life before her banishment off the bed. Carefully, she tucked them back to their places in the trunk.
“Look, I get close to you and feel this... this strange attraction. Obviously you don’t share the same feeling, so I need to find a way to get away. I need to go home. I have fights waiting for me. I could have any girl back in the States, why would I waste my time here.”
She wasn’t sure her heart could hurt any worse than that moment. His words were like piercing daggers to her chest. She did feel a pull toward him—one she couldn’t explain and was too scared to act upon.
“Brady,” she trailed off, unsure what to say.
“What, Karis? What? I crashed here, and there might have been a reason for that. Tarine might have sent me to help you thinking I’m some sort of hero, but I’m not. I’m the same guy I was a few weeks ago. Being stranded on an island was something I never foresaw in my life. Meeting you was something I was obviously unprepared for.” He threw another picture down on the bed. “See? You have me all confused and blabbering like some fool. It’s crazy.”
“I feel it too,” she whispered. “Before you came here, it was like a dark paradise. I was forced to live alone; living with the fact that I’d never love, never have a family, or my friends. I worried that what I felt was just me scared of being alone again.”
He reached for her and pulled her close to him. This time, she didn’t push him away. She could feel her pulse thump under his touch. His warm breath flushed her already blushing cheeks. “It’s crazy, but I think it’s more than that. I think there’s more to us being together than just you being scared.”
“Like what?” Her words came out in a small whimper.
“Tarine said I have a bloodline connecting me to the Aridam people. Whoever they are. What if we’re destined to meet? What if it’s real?”
She didn’t want to think anymore. His closeness disrupted all her focus and nothing else mattered. “Then I’m glad you found me.”
Is this actually happening? Was he the one she was destined to be with? It would explain why she never married before her father’s death. No other man in Shamike ever made her feel that she was meant to be with them.
“I hope so.” She heard his voice but his lips never moved. She never had time to question how before his lips were on hers. He held her close and ran his hand up her back to her neck, where he pulled her in for a deeper kiss.
She was inexperienced in this area, so she let him lead. His motions were warm and exciting at the same time, leaving her wanting more. She wasn’t exactly sure what more was, but she didn’t want the kiss to end. His lips slowly and expertly caressed hers in soft sweeps. Her body tingled with desire. Quickly, her lips mimicked his and she moved her hand to his chest. The kiss felt so right, so natural, so amazing. Nothing could have prepared her for how Brady’s kiss made her feel. Every nerve on her body was on fire and her senses became foggy.
He broke the spell and backed up, his hand still at the nape of her neck. He rested his forehead on hers. His breathing was heavy, and she could feel his body shake.
Maybe she’d done something wrong? She reached up and bravely ran a finger down his face, purposely taking the time to trace his scar. She loved it. It showed he was willing to fight, to protect, and she knew he’d never back down from a fight.
He grasped her wrist. “Karis,” he spoke in a husky whisper.
“Yes?”
They had no time to question each other. A loud whirlwind of noise squalled through the island. The trees rustled as a tempest approached.
“What the hell?” Brady darted to the window closest to them.
“There were no clouds or signs of an impending storm.” Karis ran to close the other windows.
“There are no clouds, the sea is calm.” Brady spoke too calmly for her liking.
“What do you mean? Then what is it?” She went over to him.
“That.” He pointed out towards the inlet.
Karis gasped. “It’s time.”
“What do you mean it’s time? What is that?”
She clapped her hands in excitement. “That is a portal.” She ran to the bed, grabbed the photo of her father, and tucked it in the band of her skirt.
He stared out at the funnel of water stationed in the cove. It reached high into the sky, swirling with the clear blue water. He swallowed hard. “That’s a portal?”
She ran over to him, grabbed his hands, and pulled him towards the door. “Yes. Come on. I don’t know how long it will be here.”
It didn’t take them long to reach the tornado of water. It sprang from the pool in the nestled cove. “I haven’t seen one for so long. I forgot how they looked. It’s incredible,” Karis confessed as they stopped on the top of the wall of rocks.
“Then how do you know what it is?” Brady hollered over the wind.
“After being raised with them, and studying many other nations that have the capabilities to use them, I just know.” She smiled at him and looked up at the massive portal.
After years alone on the island, she wasn’t sure why she was so hesitant on leaving. Brady took her hand, and she knew why. If she left him, she’d always wonder what could’ve been, or if he was ever able to leave. So many things pulled at her at once.
The high winds picked up even more, lifting the portal from the ground, revealing an entry to the world that called out to her. A world that opened a way to save her. Now was the time.
She glanced back at Brady, who stared at her. His dark eyes melted into her soul. She kissed his cheek and pulled her hand from his. Her soul ached at the strange realization that they would be separated.
“Karis, don’t go.”
She could see him breathe heavy and it made it harder to leave, but she knew that she must. Her people needed her. A single tear slipped down her face. “I’m sorry. I wish...” She couldn’t say it. It wouldn’t be fair to leave him with her thoughts of regret.
She twisted to enter the portal. Her hair whipped around her face. She closed her eyes and prayed she would be taken away quickly so she wouldn’t see his face. She didn’t want to live with that. It hurt too much.
She stood inside the portal and waited for it to close. Nothing happened. Why wouldn’t it shut and take her to her fate?
“Karis, wait!”
She opened her eyes and watched as Brady ran to her side, grasping her hands. At that same time, the portal shut as if it had been waiting for him to enter all along.
* * *
Chapter Six
Karis blinked as a shimmering light blinded her. The last thing she remembered was Brady running into the portal with her. “Brady?” she called out.
He squeezed her hand. “Right here.”
“You came; I can’t believe you came.” She wasn’t sure where they were yet, but she was certain it wasn’t Shamike.
“I couldn’t let you leave without me. I don’t know. I watched you standing there alone, ready to help your people, and all I could think was that you’d need me. I felt this overwhelming tug in my heart and I couldn’t let you go.”
“Thank you.”
She squinted as she looked up. It was almost as if they were still in the portal, yet she swore there was water over them.
“Karis?” a man’s voice spoke.
“Yes?” She hoped to see who was talking, but it was hard to make anyone out.
“Walk towards me. The brightness in the gateway room is more than most can handle.”
Oh, thank goodness. That made more sense to her now. She remembered a couple rooms when she traveled with her father that were inconceivably bright. She continued to hold Brady’s hand, and they both walked out of the bright light and onto dry land.
Karis looked around. Her skin tingled in euphoria. They were in a world Karis only thought was a myth her people told, like fairy tales told to human children. Her father never told her it was real. Why would he want to keep this world a secret?
Brady rubbed his hands over his face. As far as they could see, water shimmered overhead. The city that spread out before them sat on dry land under the sea.
Colorful homes shimmered in front of Karis, imitating the glistening sheen of the water. In the middle of the aquatic city was a beautiful amaranth castle-like structure that was taller than any buildings around it. The top of the main spire was submerged in the ceiling of water, creating a ripple and a reflective wave over the fortress.
“Ho-ly...” Brady stopped and gaped at the view. “Do you see what I see?”
Karis couldn’t help but smile.
“Is that... a... man? I think I’m seeing things.”
Karis looked around in awe at their surroundings. “No. I’m pretty certain that was what humans would call a mermaid.”
Karis watched in amazement as another merman swam at super speed through the water right over her, headed toward the metropolis.
“A mermaid? Are you freaking serious?”
“Actually, we prefer being called Syrenae.” A man stood in front of them. He appeared to be in his early thirties with beautifully scaled patches on his skin that glistened with blues and reds. His shaved head flaunted a tattoo much like the one on Brady’s arm. His eyes caught Karis’s, and she noted that they were the most intense blue she’d ever seen, bluer than even hers. His chest was bare, but around his wrists were silver manacles. Tight black pants, a material Karis couldn’t make out but reminded her of shiny leather, adorned his lower half. Soft leather boots completed his attire.