by Munt, S. K
‘Well I’m a bit of a mariner, and I’ve seen what happens when people who don’t know boats try and operate them. You could almost say I’m obligated to help.’
Lincoln snorted softly. ‘I suppose that’s true. I’ve got no business being in the ocean, for sure.’
Ardhi silently agreed as he shoved the boat again, then agilely leapt into it. ‘Besides, if steering you towards Adele is steering you away from Ivyanne, then I’m eager to help.’
As predicted, Lincoln’s head snapped up. ‘Excuse me?’
‘My sister told me, about your little crush. About why you really dumped the blonde.’ Ardhi wriggled his eyebrows, enjoying Lincoln’s shock. He chuckled at Lincoln’s expression. ‘Naw man, can’t say I blame you for trying. I think Ivyanne is absolutely divine.’ He picked up the oar and stroked a few times, pushing off the sandy bottom below. ‘I could marry me a girl like that for sure. You know, if the queue wasn’t so damned long.’
Lincoln looked distinctly uncomfortable. He turned his face away, glancing out at the starry horizon ahead. ‘Yeah well...turns out I have even less business with her than I do on the ocean, so if you want my place at the end of the queue, you’re welcome to it now.’
This piqued Ardhi’s interest. He dropped the oar to the floor of the boat. ‘Sounds like the words of a man who’s struck out.’
‘That they are.’ Lincoln’s hair blew in the breeze. ‘She’s chosen that Tristan prick, so I guess the check-out is closed.’
Like hell it is. Ardhi didn’t know what had gone down between Ivyanne and Lincoln in the two weeks since she’d started working there-but obviously the boss had been making moves on the innocent princess from day one-and somehow-he’d made enough ground to have her bolt into the arms of the devil she knew. For that, Lincoln would pay, then Tristan-then Bane if he tried to interfere.
‘Yeah I was aware of that too. Guess we’re both a couple of losers, huh?’
‘Guess so.’ Lincoln seemed to relax, and Ardhi had to turn away as he pulled the cord on the outboard, which spluttered to life reluctantly. Lincoln was the easiest mark he’d ever met. Yet part of Ardhi respected the guy-that Adele chick had screwed him over with Loveridge, but here Lincoln was, rushing to her rescue regardless. That took character. It sort of reminded Ardhi of his own devotion to Ivyanne.
But Ivyanne was still his, and it was time Ardhi made it clear to everyone trying to steal her from him, just how much it hurt to truly love her. He pulled on the throttle, and the boat began to speed away through the shallows.
‘Is this thing safe?’ Lincoln asked, raising his voice to be heard over the commotion.
Ardhi turned around and chuckled as he steered for Needle. ‘I hired it from your resort!’
Lincoln laughed, but still glanced around anxiously. ‘Right....Sorry. It’s been awhile since I was last on open water.’ Almost on cue, he shuddered.
Ardhi gunned the throttle. ‘Well don’t be. It’s a whole other world out there. Pretty spectacular.’
‘So people tell me,’ Lincoln said, not sounding convinced. ‘But it’s not a world I belong in.’
Ardhi smiled, thinking that Lincoln had no idea.
⁓
Lincoln gritted his teeth as the boat smashed over the water, harder then he’d ever felt before. His fingers were aching from pressing into the steel rail, his backside on fire from the amount of times it got air only to slam back down again. He didn’t like being with Ardhi either. Every now and then, he would look back and shoot Lincoln a crooked smile, as though he was aware of Lincoln’s discomfort and was getting a kick out of it.
Lincoln didn’t know how to take him. Ivyanne claimed that he was her best friend, but hadn’t she mentioned that he’d fallen in love with her, ‘ruined everything’ and forced her to come to the mainland? And that he’d followed? If Ardhi had heard that Lincoln had the hots for her through his sister...then what did he think of Lincoln? And if he knew about her and Tristan, why was he acting like sunshine and passing his time fishing? Why would he linger at all?
Now that his initial panic over Adele was subsiding, Lincoln began to feel more uncomfortable, but tried to write it off as paranoia. Ardhi might be furious with Tristan and Ivyanne, but just hiding it well for the human’s sake-just like Lincoln was hiding his own discomfort at being alone with the striking Indonesian boy.
‘So!’ Ardhi eventually shouted into the wind. ‘Tell me what you think of Ivyanne’s chances with this Tristan guy? Reckon they’re in love?’
‘No.’ Lincoln spat out, almost vehemently.
Ardhi laughed. ‘Sounds like you like him as much as I do. So it must be true-did he shag your ex?’
Lincoln grit his teeth together. He didn’t want to talk about this with Ardhi. ‘Yes. He did.’
‘Ouch. Must smart losing two women to him. Especially Ivyanne. A girl like that could make a man lose his mind.’
Lincoln glanced back at Ardhi warily, wondering how literal the insanity was. Lincoln’s unease from being in the dinky boat was dissolving from being so close to such a sociopath who easily covered what must be his own feelings of rejection with levity. The mermaids were skilled liars. No wonder he’d been surrounded by so many and had never known! ‘Yeah, maybe...but there’s plenty of fish in the sea though, right?’
‘There’s a lot less then there used to be,’ Ardhi joked. ‘I’d know, trust me. A man needs to guard his net from poachers.’
The word poachers had a hard edge to it, one that felt pointed to Lincoln. His gaze slithered to the side of the boat, coming to rest on a bright yellow oar, wondering if it would serve as a potential weapon in a pinch. Getting into the boat with Ardhi had been a mistake. A big one. ‘Are we almost there?’
‘Getting there,’ Ardhi flexed the throttle again. ‘Are you sure she said Needle Island? It’s mostly all rock and a few trees-no beach to speak of. Can I see the note?’
‘Huh?’ Lincoln tore his gaze away from the oar, pushing the hair out of his eyes though the wind blew it straight across again. ‘No. I mean, I left it back at the resort.’
Ardhi glanced back at him, brows knitted. ‘What?’ he snapped.‘Where?’
Lincoln didn’t understand why this seemed to infuriate the other man. ‘Um, on the bed... where she left it.’
Ardhi cursed, suddenly looking behind him-eyes bypassing Lincoln, searching the sea between them and the shore. ‘Fuck!’ he exclaimed. ‘That’s just great!’
‘Chill out!’ Link exclaimed, shifting closer to the oar on reflex, wishing he could reach the anchor instead. ‘It wasn’t a map or anything. I mean, if you want directions-’
‘Yeah right!’ Ardhi said angrily, facing ahead again. ‘Oh well... better hurry it along then, huh? Before people start to worry about you.’
Lincoln’s insides turned to ice at that disturbing and confusing remark. But the alarm bells in his head really started ringing when Ardhi suddenly began to sing in a loud, clear and hauntingly beautiful tenor:
‘Won’t you light my lonely way back home; The Sea is full of misery and woe; Oh woe betide those who say; They don’t need no light to light their way; They think they’re safe enough on their own; Drown in murky depths below-’
Lincoln’s reaction was panicked, instantly furious, as he remembered what Ivyanne had mentioned about singing, and his fear was accompanied by a light tingling sensation behind his eyes.
‘Shut up!’ he hollered, taking grip of the paddle, tensed and ready to act. ‘Now!’
Ardhi whipped around, eyes narrowing into slits. ‘Excuse you?’
‘You heard me,’ Lincoln bared his teeth. ‘One more note and I swear I’ll-’
‘You’ll what, loser?!’ Ardhi’s hand curled into fists, his stance strong, despite how swiftly the boat pulled up. ‘Just what is it about my singing that bothers you, huh?’ And then his eyes widened as an expression of disbelief distorted his previously handsome features. ‘What do you know? What has that bitch told you?!’ The question was ha
lf barked, half hissed, laced with so much anger that Lincoln physically reeled back as though struck.
But then the inertia of the boat through Lincoln forward. Through his panic, Lincoln knew he had one option-if he was fast enough and brave enough to do it. He had no choice. He was trapped with an insane merman in the middle of a massive bay-and now that Ardhi knew that Lincoln knew more than he ought to, Lincoln was as good as dead.
‘Maybe you’re just out of tune!’ he hollered, jumping to his feet, and wrenching the paddle free. Ardhi’s eyes went to it, but before he could react, Lincoln swung it at the other boy’s face. It hit with a sickening crunch, before sending Ardhi hurtling into the deeply dark water.
⁓
Tristan surveyed his destroyed television and dining table with dismay as Pintang and Bane debated the plausibility that mummy’s boy Ardhi had in fact, caused the destruction below deck.
‘I’m going to kill him!’ he announced. ‘This boat is only two weeks old!’
Above them, the engine roared to life. So swiftly did Ivyanne throw forward the throttle that Tristan had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling flat on his face in shattered LCD crystals.
‘He couldn’t have!’ Pintang insisted. ‘This is just so unlike him!’
‘Unlike a guy who just trashed a restaurant right in front of you?!’ Tristan demanded.
‘Ardhi did it!’ Bane exclaimed. ‘I saw the whole thing Pintang. In fact, it’s kind of my fault. If I hadn’t recognised the boat-’ he cringed. ‘I tell you-boy went lolo.’
Tristan glared at him. ‘You owe me a new T. V when we get through this Bane.’
Bane cocked his head. ‘Big attitude for someone who tapped the virgin princess a few hours ago, don’t you think?’ He smirked. ‘If you’d kept it in your pants-’
‘Shut up Bane!’ Ivyanne called from above. ‘You too Tristan! If you guys start carrying on like royal pains in the ass, I’ll turf you both off, got it? I haven’t guessed where your shirt is from yet Bane, but I don’t think it’ll matter once it’s underwater!’
Tristan looked at Bane questioningly.
Bane rolled his eyes and stage whispered: ‘She asked why I cared so much about getting her dirty, teary face all my new shirt earlier, and asked where I got it from anyway. I said: ‘Guess,’ and then she said she didn’t have a clue. And then we bumped into you before I could break it down for her.’
Tristan snorted. ‘Are you serious?’
‘As an earthquake,’ Bane smirked. ‘Once you domesticate her, bring her round so I can buy her a clue, okay? The girl is wearing thrift-shop flip-flops and a forty thousand dollar anklet. She’s been hidden from society for far too long.’
‘Deal.’
‘This is unbelievable! Even the gay one is all about Ivyanne!’ Pintang exploded, making a beeline back to the stairs leading above deck.
Tristan was suddenly crippled with guilt for everything she must have gone through since Ardhi had first shown up that evening and interrupted what she must have thought was a ‘date.’ ‘Pintang-wait-’
She turned, and held her hand up to him. ‘Don’t apologize, Tristan. It’s insulting. Just leave me be.’ She marched off, back up the stairs, shoving past Bane, who grimaced at Tristan.
‘Did you shag her too?’ He mouthed.
‘No,’ Tristan mouthed back.
Bane cupped his hands in prayer and looked heavenward. Tristan rolled his eyes and looked away, assessing the damage to his beautiful, brand new home away from home, thinking that he could hold Ardhi underwater for at least fifteen minutes if he had to-five minutes longer than Ardhi could hold a breath.
⁓
Ivyanne glanced at Pintang as she ascended the stairs and flopped herself down on the bench seat across from where Ivyanne was at the control panel, letting out a massive sigh.
‘Are you okay?’ Ivyanne asked her, concerned. They’d gotten Pintang up to date on the run down the beach, and Ivyanne felt awful to have dumped the sordid tale on her friend like that. ‘I know this must be a lot to take in... for what it’s worth, I lost him too. My best friend, I mean. I have no idea what he’s thinking anymore.’ She increased the throttle, and the boat shot forward again.
‘I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing.’
Ivyanne was taken aback by the trace of malice in Pintang’s tone. ‘What?’
Pintang sighed again, studying Ivyanne unhappily. ‘You’ve changed too, you know. One year ago, Ardhi was your world. How would you feel if the only person in the world you needed suddenly up and left you, like you left him?’
‘But, he was being so-’
‘I know!’ Pintang cut her off. ‘But still.... two weeks on land and you’re in Tristan’s bed? Who wouldn’t be devastated by that?’
Ivyanne felt guilty tears prick her eyes as she recalled her conversation with Tristan earlier. ‘Is this about my feelings for Ardhi...or yours for Tristan?’
Pintang glared at her. ‘I care for Tristan, but that’s not the point.’ She looked away. ‘You’re my princess, so I’ve held my tongue. But you broke my brother’s heart. And then you stole away the one guy I cared for, while lying to us all about your history with my boss-who you’ve managed to crush for a second time apparently.’ Pintang’s blue eyes were blazing. ‘Two men weren’t enough for you?’
Ivyanne was completely tongue-tied. ‘It didn’t happen just like that.... okay?’ she frowned. ‘And why is it suddenly so wrong for me to be torn between two guys, when I was asked originally to choose between three?’
‘Because you didn’t give them all a fair chance.’ Pintang said quietly. ‘You kicked Ardhi away and welcomed Tristan with open arms.’
‘Because I already knew Ardhi!’ Ivyanne countered. ‘I barely knew Tristan!’
‘So?!’ Pintang demanded. ‘You should have shown Ardhi the loyalty he showed you, and gone back home the moment you saw how miserable you were making everyone here!’
Ivyanne recoiled as though she’d been slapped.
Tristan burst out from below the deck. ‘Are you guys fighting?’ he looked from Ivyanne’s stricken face to Pintang’s snarling one, and instantly put his arm around Ivyanne’s shoulders. ‘Are you okay?’
Pintang let out a growl of frustration. ‘The fairest of them all has won the heart of the fairest of them all....and there’s nothing fair about any of it!’
‘Hey, cool it, okay?’ Tristan chided. ‘Ivyanne doesn’t need this.’
‘No, she’s right,’ Ivyanne wiped at her tears and shrugged off Tristan’s arm. ‘I just want to sort this out and leave this place before I do any more damage.’
Pintang sat back down on the chair and crossed her arms. ‘Fine by me,’ she snapped. ‘The sooner, the better.’
Ivyanne turned back to face the water, blinking away the tears. It was time to stop feeling sorry for herself, and start thinking about what everybody else needed from her. And as far as Seaview went, they needed her to get gone.
33.
Lincoln had counted himself lucky when Ardhi went over the side of the boat, blood spraying from his nose. But that didn’t mean he’d solved his problem. He was in a perilous situation, with no clue as how to get out of it.
The motor! A voice inside his brain seemed to shriek. Rev the engine! Get out of here! Lincoln dropped the oar instantly and clambered to the bow of the small boat, his stomach lurching in time with the heaving ocean beneath him as he tried his hardest not to stare at the ink black water. He went to pull on the lever that Ardhi had, but his sweaty hand slipped straight off.
At that moment, there was a rumble from the sky. Lincoln looked up, surprised to see a flash of blue against fast-forming clouds-clouds which had not been there minutes before. The thunder, the lightning, the rocking of the boat as the water beneath it began to toss more than it had been on the way out-it all sent a shiver of fear through Lincoln. As if he wasn’t out of his comfort zone enough! Now he had a squall to deal with?
The engine spluttered,
like an old man wheezing on a cigarette, and Lincoln panicked. But before he could grab it again, the boat went dead silent. ‘No!’ he reached for the cord and gave it a tug. There was a whir, but it merely ticked over and died once again. ‘Piece of crap!’ He leaned over the outboard, searching for the button Ardhi had thumbed to prime it.
The boat dipped again, and another boom of thunder broke the night. Lincoln had to brace himself on the outboard to keep from pitching over the side. That’s when he spotted the small button, and reached out to tap it. But he was grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and sent flying. Lincoln’s vision blurred and the world tilted crazily, seconds before his back impacted against something cold and unforgiving, rattling every bone in his body.
⁓
‘Is that a storm?’ Tristan pointed out at the horizon. The large moon had started to disappear behind clouds almost the moment they’d left the jetty and seconds before, the sky had lit up a deep purple, silhouetting the hulk of the rocky island before them.
‘There are no storms are forecasted for tonight!’ Pintang said, her eyes widening. She turned to Ivyanne, some of the malice evaporating from her gaze. ‘Could this be Ardhi’s doing? Like you said?’
‘It could and is.’ Tristan said, peering out through the shield. ‘He must be angrier than we thought-look at those clouds piling up!’
‘He’s going to kill him.’ Bane said, matter-of-factly.
Ivyanne whimpered, twisting the throttle again.
Pintang looked like she was turning green. She got to her feet, marching up to the stern. ‘When I find that brother of mine, I’m going to break every vindictive bone in his body! He’s ruining everything! This is my life here! He can’t just show up and start picking people off like a deranged lunatic!’ She glanced back at them over her shoulder, eyes flashing. ‘I’m going to have to leave the resort aren’t I?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ivyanne said softly. Her face was so grave, Pintang wouldn’t be able to doubt her sincerity. ‘I hope not. In the very least, we’ll be able to siren anything Ardhi tries tonight out of Lincoln’s head, so you can stay. Provided we get to him on time.’