Deep Blue (The Mermaid Chronicles Book 1)

by J Turbett

  “The doctor will never be enough for her, you know. She’s in love with the ocean, dearie.” He loved the look of shock on Ashley’s face, the way the electricity streamed from her. He spun around, leaving the mer to her cave.

  Tommy knew what he was doing, even if no one else did. Why should they? It was the way that Tommy played the game. Sooner or later he would have his checkmate and everything would turn out the way he had planned it. No one ever came to conclusions by themselves.

  Chapter 17

  Good Times

  The next weeks passed in a blur, and soon it was almost February already. Alice was back almost completely. Her parents were beyond happy. Not only was their daughter there, but finally it seemed that even David was taking an interest in the town. Alice had introduced him to the younger Caraway and they were now great friends. Apparently Tommy had even taught David to surf. Of course, what their parents didn't know was that anytime they fell off their boards they went on a romp through the kelp and out further than their parents would have liked. As mer they were fast and sleek in the water, unstoppable.

  Alice and Adam seemed to be an item to outsiders. Really, it was more like they circled around and around each other, never truly connecting. It was a strange dance. Adam felt for her more than he would say, but Alice just wasn't ready for that kind of relationship. Still, the Baileys couldn't have been happier. Alice often met Adam on his boat, but Adam couldn't join her in the water, not the way Alice swam. He felt it, too: it seemed the more time passed, the further she grew from him. He felt exactly how David had. He came up to a wall of glass every time he tried to touch Alice.

  At the same time, Adam was teaching Alice to love the world again. He was showing her things in the world that were worth loving. Alice had loved the ocean first, and now Adam was teaching her to love other things, too. He was bringing her out, putting her back together, ever so slowly.

  When Alice was in the ocean, the water filled and swirled around her heart, beating against the stones she carried inside. One day they were on his boat, just her, Adam, Tommy, and David. They were playing Twister, of all things. Adam and Alice were still on the mat. David was watching and laughing at them, and Tommy was spinning the spinner.

  "Right hand blue."

  "You know, I think you're cheating, Alice," Adam said.

  "Why?"

  "Well, I'm guessing you're not made up of the same thing as I am."

  "You getting stiff, old man?"

  "Don't call me old man!" he said, losing his footing and falling. "Dammit!" They all laughed.

  "And the fish win at Twister!" David yelped. They all kicked back, grabbing beers from Adam’s mini-fridge.

  "So where's your brother, Tommy?" Adam asked.

  "Why you ask?"

  "Honestly, I thought I'd be stitching him up after some kind of fight after Brassila died."

  "Nah, Finn knows how to take care of himself. I think he's avoiding the maids. Pretty sure they've redoubled their efforts, now that he’s technically the clan leader. I heard a visiting maid got scratched up pretty bad the other week."

  “She said she cut her hand cooking,” Adam smiled.

  “Must not have known we had a doctor on the payroll, then, eh?”

  "You gonna pair off this year, Tom?"

  "Aw, hell no. I'm trying to beat Finn's record."

  "Finn still hasn't paired," Alice pointed out.

  "Exactly," Tommy said, "Single as long as you can manage it. I thought you, of all people, would understand that, Alice." They all laughed, except Alice.

  “Come on sis, it was just a jape.”

  “I know.” The all heard a splash near the boat and looked over the side. There swam a red head that seemed to follow their group as often as Ashley followed Finn. Alice stood up and moved over to the rail.

  “Kari, what’s wrong?” Alice said after one look at her face. Kari grabbed onto the ladder and used her deceptively strong arms to climb up a couple of rungs, her tail still hanging in the water.

  “Tommy,” she breathed. She had swum at top speed to reach them. Tommy appeared behind Alice, along with David.

  “The Marianas maid,” she breathed, but Tommy already knew what had happened. He didn’t need to hear another word. Adam appeared at the edge.

  “Slow down, Kari,” Adam said gently.

  David took it upon himself to lift Kari up the rest of the way. The two of them fell on the deck exhausted. He wove out from underneath her while Adam got her a towel.

  “Don’t bother,” Tommy said. “The Marianas maid is dead.” Kari looked up at him, her big blue eyes full of terror. Adam turned to him from his place attending to Kari. David stood far away from everyone, and Alice hadn’t moved at all.

  “The one I…”

  “No, it was the other visiting maid, the prettier one,” Tommy said, his face all annoyance and seriousness.

  Adam clenched his teeth, “Finn, I never…”

  “It wasn’t Finn.” Tommy said, looking at Kari.

  “Ashley,” Kari said.

  “Tommy, you’re…”

  “I’m not the clan leader. I can’t do anything,” he smiled. “Someone has to talk to my brother.”

  “I’ll do it.” David said. Everyone turned to him.

  “You don’t know my brother,”

  “Tommy, why can’t you just do it?” Adam asked, looking at a cut on Kari’s wrist.

  “My brother would have no qualms taking me down, at this point,” he turned to look at Alice still hanging by the rail. All eyes followed his.

  “Oh, hell no. How could you even…?”

  “This is a serious problem, Alice. Who do you think she’ll come after next?”

  “Not me!” Tommy smiled that infuriating smile at her. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who can, Alice.” She scoffed.

  “Fine, but you owe me.” Alice pulled her shirt over her head and removed her pants. She didn’t wear underwear anymore, but she was in the water before anyone could notice.

  “Oh Alice, take this with you.” She surfaced as Tommy tossed the short-sword into the water. It floated on the surface of the water for a few seconds before it started to sink Alice grabbed it and went off in the direction of his island. Tommy was right; she was the only one who could talk to that monster. She certainly wouldn’t let David face him, and David was the only other person who understood exactly what Finn was mourning.

  “Stop,” Kari said to Adam. She moved to the edge of the deck.

  “Where are you going?” David asked.

  Kari turned, “If she’s going to talk to Finn, I’m going to find Ashley. Maybe I can talk to her.”

  “You probably can’t, you know,” Tommy said.

  “Someone has to try.” Kari flipped herself backward over the edge of the boat.

  Alice was in Finn’s territory, but she saw no one on the island. She had almost turned around when she felt the blade against her throat. She was meters from the little island and his strong arms were around her. She felt the shock, she felt the knife, but it didn't scare her anymore. She shocked right back and spun around to face his perplexed blue eyes.

  "What are you doing here? And why are you carrying that?" he pointed to the sword. Alice spun away from him and headed toward the island. It irritated him, the way she took the liberty of crawling onto its beach. He followed her all the same.

  She pulled her tail up onto the beach and out of the water. He came up after her and she threw the sword at him. He dodged, but pulled it out of the surf before the waves could steal it. He looked down at it and looked at the matching emerald shining in her hair.

  “Tommy sent you.”

  “Ashley’s killed one of the visitors,” Alice said

  “What concern is that of mine? I gave this to Tommy.”

  “You are the clan leader! You need to do something about this.”

  “Actually, I’ve been considering leaving entirely.”

  "Yet you just can‘t leave your isl
and," she said sarcastically.

  "I would be well within my rights to execute you for encroaching on my territory."

  “Yes, Tommy said you would do that if he showed up. Really, Finn? You’d kill your own brother, after losing your grandmother? Oddly enough, I didn’t doubt you would.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You’ve obviously met my brother,” he paused, considering the maid, “You need to leave.”

  “You need to stand up for your own clan. You can’t let her get away with this, Finn. I was there, I met your grandmother. You’ve been out here for months, living all by yourself. It doesn’t work; trust me, I’ve tried.” He looked up at her.

  "I'm hiding from maids like you."

  "Look, you arrogant brat, I'm not chasing you. I just want that clear."

  "Oh, that's right, you have a human. You know, when you make it official, you'll be out of my ocean forever."

  Alice was bristling. This was stupid. She was trying to help! She understood what Tommy was saying. Why couldn’t Finn do anything about this? This woman was dangerous. Just because she cared about Tommy didn't mean she had to deal with this mess.

  "Tommy's a much better leader than you."

  "Perhaps he is. That’s why I left him the sword." He tossed it back at her. She just stared at him, seething, bristling with electricity. She leapt into the water and disappeared. She swam back to shore. She wanted to be away for a while and, besides, she had work later. The tourists had begun coming in. They had to be more careful. They were required to use the private beach to disembark.

  On her way out of what was well known as Finn's territory, a pair of eyes watched her and turned dark.

  “Ashley,” the mer spun to face the red-head.

  “You,” she narrowed her eyes, “how dare you return here?” Ashley pulled her knife from its place in a scabbard at her side.

  “Ashley, please. I just came to talk.”

  “That’s what you say. That’s what they all say.”

  “I don’t want Finn!”

  Ashley moved close to the young mer who refused to draw her blade. “You follow the transform now.”

  “I don’t follow anyone…” Ashley moved like a viper and there was blood in the water, Kari’s hand flew up to stem the flow from her cheek. She stared at Ashley with wide eyes. One thing Kari had never expected was that Ashley would kill her, but the look in her eyes brooked no argument: the intent was there, the intent to kill. Kari fumbled to draw her blade as the other mer came at her.

  David crashed into Ashley at that exact moment. His blade was against the mer’s throat, and Ashley’s back was against the wall of her little cave. She had nowhere to go. She smiled evilly at the boy.

  “She’s not worth it,” David slowly withdrew his knife and Ashley swam away, toward shore.

  “Thank you,” Kari said softly.

  David turned and looked intently at the red-head, straight into her deep blue eyes.

  Finn relaxed. He was back on his rock and the sun shone bright above and reflected off his scales, but Finn was lost in a world as gray as the one Alice knew so well. Finn was a leader now, a position he had never wanted. He knew he couldn't be single much longer, and yet he couldn't stand the company of anyone. He stared at the sword by the tree, in the spot where Alice had been sitting only moments ago. Brassila had known instinctively how to lead. Finn knew nothing but his own world, and the fact that he did not want to lead. He couldn't stand the thought of being in charge.

  "You're an idiot, Finn." Finn turned suddenly. Tommy had surfaced not too far away.

  "Tommy, you know the rules. You have no excuse to be here."

  "No reason, except to call you an idiot," Tommy said with his characteristic sarcasm.

  "What do you want, Tommy?"

  "Finn, you been like this since mom died. Get over it. Both mom and grandma would call you an idiot. Since they're not here, I'm doing it for them. Grow up, Finn."

  "Brassila would never call me an idiot."

  "Nope, but she'd be thinking it." Finn gave him an irritated predatory look. If it were another of the folk they would have left in an instant, terror in their eyes. Tommy just sneered at him and disappeared under the waves. Grudgingly, Finn slipped into the water and started swimming toward the shore. It was better when he slept in a locked house where no one could bother him, except, of course, Tommy. He was tired of the beach anyway.

  They just wouldn’t let him be. The maids had redoubled their efforts. They knew very well that no mer had ever led a clan by himself. This murder; he knew it was because of him. The other clans heard things. Wanderlusts were known to come in and out, they would spread all kinds of news over what was left of their ocean.

  Brassila had led alone after the death of his parents. Then again, his grandmother was unlike anyone he had ever met. She was strong, capable, and independent. They didn’t make people like that anymore, and it had always been a rare trait. The women chasing him wanted the power he symbolized without any of the drawbacks that went with it, and he knew that Ashley would stop at nothing to be with him. That didn’t mean she was his problem. Let her mate with Tommy instead.

  Sooner or later he would be forced to mate, but he wanted it to be his choice, and he certainly didn’t want a vindictive, murderous maid. But he wasn’t about to deal with her, either. She wasn’t his problem. He had named Tommy the leader, but Tommy had the gall not to tell anyone. Until the point where they forced him, though, he thought he would enjoy his last moments of freedom.

  Chapter 18

  Tom Sawyer

  Alice swam hard and fast and straight for shore. Her muscles ached from the effort, she still hadn’t developed a speed that matched those born mer. She wanted to burst into tears, but she didn’t know why. She disembarked, only to find Ashley there. Alice looked up at the maid, who stared straight back at her.

  “How are things with Adam?” she asked, sickly sweet.

  “Things are fine,” Alice said, grabbing a towel of her own to dry off with.

  “I’m glad. I feel I haven’t been very hospitable to you lately. I thought we could go for a swim tomorrow,” she said.

  “Thanks for the offer, but I have work.”

  “Enjoy!” she said as Alice’s legs returned to her. Alice got up as quick as she could and left Ashley there.

  Ashley knew she was chasing Finn. The thing with the doctor was only a cover. She would have to be sure first, but sooner or later, she would take her rival down. She decided to stalk Alice instead of Finn, just looking for her moment. It wasn’t a long time coming. After only took two days of following her, Ashley found exactly what she was looking for.

  Alice stalked into the house, in full view of the windows of the ballroom, where Ashley could see her perfectly. She wasn’t even trying to hide. Finn was walking down the steps. He saw Alice and began to flee. At least he was doing that right. Fleeing the transform was exactly what he should do. Alice was playing him for a fool, just like she thought she was playing Ashley. But Ashley wouldn’t be fooled; Tommy had confirmed her fears. The sneaky little bitch was going to have to go down. It had started when she stole the Selkie, the little redheaded girl who thought she could come back and spy on Ashley. Ashley had shown her what was what, leaving a mark across her cheek, just as she had the North Pacific girl’s hand. The North Pacificker had been quick to flee when Ashley took down the Marianas girl, who had thought she could sneak past Ashley’s defenses. Ever since the slap in her face when Alice did her little make-over trick, Ashley had known it would come down to this. How dare the transform take the gift of the hairnet-knife that was meant to be hers.

  "Finn."

  Finn started walking the other direction, hoping she would just go away.

  "Finn!"

  He quickened his pace. As soon as he reached a room he could lock the door in her face.

  "Finn, stop." Alice grabbed his wrist. He spun to see her angry face. Oddly, seeing her angry made him less angry. "I was just going t
o ask you where your brother was. He was supposed to meet me and David."

  "Do I look like my brother’s keeper?" Finn asked coldly.

  "No, but you're supposed to be the clan leader. I thought you might know where your people were," Alice snipped.

  He pulled his wrist out of her hand, almost surprised to find it was still there. "I told you, I don't, and never did, want to be clan leader."

  "Too bad for you, you are. Someone once told me you have to deal with the hand you're dealt."

  "That person was either an idiot or a certain doctor that pokes his head in places it doesn't belong." She stared at him fiercely, then stalked away, headed for the ocean. Ashley had already slipped back into the waves.

  "That sounded fun." Alice spun to see who had been talking. Leaning against the wall stood Tommy, complete with a smirk on his face.

  "Where the hell were you?"

  "Don't snip at me princess."

  "You're such a dick sometimes, Tommy."

  "And you all love me for it, so why should I stop?" He ran past her and leapt to the waves, dropping his pants on the way there. Alice grudgingly followed. They met David and went to play under the waves, but Alice wasn't really into it. She was busy looking forward to another dinner with Adam. As she left the boys to return to shore early, Tommy watched her go.

  Alice sat on the shore drying herself off. The scales were almost gone when someone else emerged from the water.

  "You need to leave now, half-breed." Alice looked up. It was Ashley. Her eyes were wild, her hair plastered against her face. “You’ve worn out your welcome ten times over.”

  "What do you want, Ashley?" Alice said calmly.

  "You think you have the others fooled: you and the doctor. I know better. You're trying to throw everyone off. You're after Finn just as much as the rest of us."

  Alice laughed, "You're crazy." Suddenly, Ashley was on top of her, a knife at her throat. Alice stopped short and didn't breathe. She was afraid of Ashley. With the look in Ashley’s eyes, she would be crazy not to be afraid.