She nods.
“The clan will not come this far west, but it’s best if you keep your distance. I don’t believe you’ll have any trouble here.” I’d done a lot of researching to figure out the best way for her to wait out her exile. For what would she wait? I hadn’t quite figured out that part yet.
Her head tilts to one side, and her frown deepens. “Why do you care?”
I blink at her for a moment, the question startling me. I’d hardly stopped to ask myself that question. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I glare at her. “Who said I care?”
Her eyes are filled with surprise and even more vulnerability than before. I’m tempted to pull her into my arms and steal her lips. But instead, I grip my spear tighter and turn away. I just need to get away from her—clear my head. The emotions she’s spinning inside me make no sense. I can’t possibly have those kinds of feelings for her. I deny it completely. But then I think of the innocence and unguarded look in her eyes, and my heart flutters again. My jaw tightens, and I swim faster, cutting though the current, blindly. I cannot be feeling this way. One more day and the bottom feeder is on her own. I only need to last the day, and then I’ll be free of her and the mixed-up feelings in my chest.
I RETURN ONCE MORE to the cove. Gabriel is asleep, and Stacia is nowhere to be found again. I frown. Most of the time, the twins are completely inseparable, but over the past few days, I find Gabriel alone more often. And where is the Elder or Gabriel’s mother? I hadn’t seen either of them in the cove since the day of Gabriel’s injury. I settle in the sand next to Gabriel, but my gaze is trained on the man across from him again.
Verona’s father stares off into the distance, like he does every day. His lips continue to move, and though I can’t hear him from where I sit, I know what he’s saying. I blink away the stinging in my eyes. Would he ever see his daughter again, or were they star-crossed like the lovers in the town for which she’s named? Even when she sat beside him, he didn’t seem to know she was there. Did it really make a difference that she’s missing now?
“You’re here again, hmm?”
I glance up at the healer who is standing with a bottle of herbs in his hands. Today he wears a pair of human glasses. I quirk my eyebrow. “Do those things work for you?”
He blinks and then quickly removes them from his face, a blush rising to his cheeks. A sheepish smile tugs his lip before his gaze returns to mine. “Not as well as on land, I suppose, but they do help magnify the labels when I’m struggling to read the fine print.”
I nod; it makes sense. The patina in the healer’s hair has matured past what most older Mer I’d seen. Wrinkles deepen in the corners of his eyes. He is of an age where his vision would have deteriorated to some extent.
The healer swims over to the other side of Gabriel’s nesting and sets a hand on the sleeping Mer’s shoulder. The pressure of the hand wakes Gabriel, and he blinks, pulling himself to sit upright. Gabriel’s glance shoots toward me, and his brown furrows. “You here again?”
I shrug. “Nothing better to do.”
His eyebrow quirks, and a half-smile tugs his lip. “Really? That’s kind of sad you know? Seems my sister has better things to do. And my father...”
“What about your mother?” the healer asks, handing him the bottle of herbs.
Gabriel’s frown deepens as he takes the bottle from the healer and pulls the cork. He places it to his lips quickly as a droplet pulls from the bottle and clouds the water around the top, making it green. Once he tips the bottle back, he sits up and hands it back to the healer. “My mother is gone. I haven’t seen her in over a year.”
I blink. The healer blinks, too. We’d not heard anything about it, and the Elder hadn’t shared that information with the township in general.
"Surprising, isn’t it?" Gabriel asked.
"A little bit." The healer took the bottle from Gabriel's hand and replaced the cork. He seemed to be looking everywhere except to meet gazes with the Mer lying in the nesting.
Gabriel’s eyes met mine. "Everybody thinks the Elder is a great Mer. They expect him to have a perfect family. They expect him to have everything under control. But it's quite the opposite of the truth.”
"You really don't have to tell us all of this. It’s none of our business," I say.
"It's fine. Sometimes it's better to get things off my chest. I'm really tired of hiding." Gabriel sinks back to a prone position.
The healer's eyes are kind and soften toward his patient. "Everybody needs a support system. Including you, and the Elder."
Gabriel closes his eyes. "I don't think the Elder agrees. He seems perfectly happy without me."
Curiosity got the better of me. "Where did your mother go?"
Gabriel's eyes are still closed, but he shakes his head. "I don't know."
Mermaids rarely just disappear. Sometimes, they join a new clan, or perhaps she passed on. Maybe she’d done one of those things. I don’t mention them, but neither does the healer.
I stay until the setting sun darkens the waters. The tide is lower, and Gabriel is asleep. The healer divides his time between the Gabriel and the Elder patient evenly. Neither one of the patients had any visitors at all. Before leaving for home, I swim over to the bedside of the Elder patient.
"Verona...." he whispers his daughter's name. Did he even do that asleep?
I lean toward him and whisper in his ear, “She’s fine." And then I swim away.
Chapter 10
With the early morning light of a new day, I head toward the schooling reef. Just before I arrive, I see Stacia talking to an older Mer. His form looks slightly familiar, and somehow seeing his presence evokes unease. When I draw closer, I realize why. "Brandeeb."
My brother turns around at the sound of my voice and gives me a wry smile. "Baby brother!" He swims over to me and slaps his hand on my shoulder. My skin stings from his touch. Stacia doesn't meet my eyes. Instead, she keeps her gaze fixed upon my brother.
"Well then, I guess I will leave you two to your learning." His gentle tone and Cheshire cat smile both leave my stomach queasy. I watch him as he swims away until all that is left is the blur of a silver tail.
When I turn back around, Stacia has already left. I frown. When I enter the reef, I feel the weight of Gabriel's absence. Instead of sitting near the back, where the twins and I always remained together, Stacia is sitting halfway through the school reef with the other girls. Normally, she didn't have much to do with them. My frown deepens. Toward the front, where Verona usually sits in the white sand, there is another empty spot. But somehow that absence isn’t a loss felt by myself or anyone else in the schooling. Instead, it only brings a feeling of anticipation to my heart. My eyes keep the measure of the sun’s trail across the bottom of the seafloor. Zenith cannot come fast enough.
Nothing the teacher has to say today can distract me from the other things I want to do. My tail fin taps nervously upon the sand, creating a small cloud that drifts toward the gaggle of girls. When it reaches them, two of the girls shoot a glare my direction. Stacia, however, does not even turn my way. Is she ignoring me? Inwardly I laugh. There isn’t much of me that cares.
When zenith finally comes, the Mer within the schooling reef scatter. I wait behind them so that none can see the direction I go. Once the coast is clear, I slowly head to the east. Occasionally, I peer behind me and double check to make sure no one follows. Once I draw myself far enough away from the schooling reef, I cut through the waters and dart in the direction of my charge.
There is a certain feeling of freedom to swimming along at a fast pace. The waters part for me but not without leaving their pressure and their imprints upon my cheeks and face. The sun is directly overhead, and it leaves no shadows in the waters below. The light dances upon the sand and leaves me with a feeling of joy. It's amazing that the sun can do that all on its own, and lately I've been looking forward to the zenith.
A silver glint catches my eye, and I slow down. Sunbathing near the surface, a t
rout sits. I grip my spear tighter and cut through the current, stabbing it just behind the gills. It struggles for a long moment before it settles down, taking its last few shuttering breaths. Now at least Verona will have something other than crabs to eat today.
Not long before I approach the reef, I see her swimming toward me from the east with a wide grin, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Is she really this happy to see me? Maybe I could come for her tomorrow, too. I could make some kind of excuse.... I scowl to keep from smiling in return. “Why do you look so happy?”
She shrugs and gestures toward the spear in my hand. “I was able to catch a trout today of my own. I’m getting better at using a spear.”
My heart sinks a little in my chest. Not only did her smile have nothing to do with me, but she doesn’t need this trout, either. I lower my spear and the trout on the end. “Simpleton. It’s not a difficult thing to accomplish for any young Mer. And for you to get so excited by such a small thing... I guess life is easier when you’re not using much of your brain.”
The smile slips from her face at the sound of my scolding, and she looks down toward the sand. I bite my lower lip. She’d made me feel useless, and I took my anger out on her. I’m the one who’s stupid. But it makes no difference. I duck beneath the reef, lying my spear and the fish down in the sand, and retrieve the clamshell of salve.
I find her still sitting in the same position, her eyes toward the sand, lost in her own thoughts. I clear my throat and glare at her. “Turn around.”
Her eyes meet mine, and then she quickly spins and exposes her back to me. I don’t hesitate this time and scoop the medicine into my hand and then begin the vigorous rubbing. The wounds are no longer swollen and angry. The tips of the scratches have already started to scab over. I was right when I said today would be the last day she’d need me. I finish up and then turn to replace the salve at the bottom of the reef. She might hurt herself in some other way and have need of what’s left.
“Some younglings woke me this morning by poking me with a stick.” Her voice is hesitant, and she half-laughs afterward.
I spin around, my frown deepening. “Younglings? You’ve been found already?”
She nods, slowly.
I grind my teeth, my eyes darting back and forth on the seafloor. This is not good news. If she’s already been found by youngling children, this reef is no longer safe. They might have been from another township farther south migrating to cooler waters, but they also could have been from our township, venturing out and exploring the area. If they return home and tell the other Mer in the township what they found, it wouldn’t be long before the hunters would come. And capital punishment is the penalty for the Mer exile who stays too close to the clan. I fix my gaze upon hers, grasp her arm, and pull her toward the northeast. “Follow me.”
I cut through the current as fast as I can, dragging Verona with me the whole time. She doesn’t resist. We go north of the barrier island where the wildlife is, and I take her to the one place I know she’ll be safe. Finally, I release her arm and pull up to a stop. “This is the place.”
Last time I was here, I covered the cave mouth with stones, now I pull those stones away, and reveal an opening in the rock. “My brother and I found this when we were young. I pushed these stones in front of it, hoping to keep the grotto hidden from others. I’m sure no one will find you here.”
She shakes her head and her eyes widen. Fear fills them. Her arms cross over her body and she visibly shivers. “No, I can’t.”
I frown, growing angry. “What do you mean you can’t? This is for your own protection.”
She shakes her head. “What am I being protected from? If it’s younglings and bullies, I can handle it. I’ve been dealing with ridicule my entire life. What difference does exile make?”
In my mind’s eye, I think of all the dangerous things a Mer with bad intentions could do to her. Is she really so foolish that she doesn’t know? “You don’t understand anything, do you? In the clan there are bullies, yes. But they are restrained. Your father has his standing in society, and the Elders are there to keep things in check. But out here, you have no one to protect you. If you are found by the wrong Mer, there is no telling....”
She frowns, her brow furrowing. “I can handle myself.”
I roll my eyes. “You can hardly hunt with a spear—how will you defend yourself?”
She glares at me, the fire in her eyes growing in intensity. “Why do you care? What you’re doing goes beyond mere pity. You cannot protect me from others without making yourself an outcast with me. You should never have helped me at all. Why are you doing all this?”
“I don’t know....” Blood rushes to my face as my heart begins to race. My head spins in a split second of speechlessness. Then my voice cracks, and I whisper, “I don’t know why I am out here helping you. I don’t know why the thought of something bad happening to you makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t know.”
I need to get away from her. I find myself darting away several feet, but her voice gives me pause.
“You can’t keep doing this!” Her tone is distraught, filled with emotions. Maybe she really wants me to go for good.
I clench my jaw and turn back toward her, glaring. “I won’t be returning. Your back is healed enough, and you’ve proven that you’re able to feed yourself. I’ve shown you a place where you can hide if you need it, and there is still some salve left in the shell by the reef. From tomorrow, you’re on your own.”
Her cold glare suddenly softens and a glimmer of fear flickers within them. Then she nods resolutely. For a long moment, we just stare at each other. I wait for her to change her mind, for her to tell me she wants me to come back, but she’s silent. The sunlight dances on her shoulders and plays in her dark gold waves of hair. Her plain, silver tail barely moves as it grazes the sand on the bottom of the shallow sea. I’m tempted to just grab her and shake some sense into her, but her jaw is set.
Fine. I nod back to her and then spin round and dart away without another word. Blindly, I race back to the township. No, not just the township, but to the only place I’ve found any solace in days. I pass my home reef and continue to the west. When I reach the cove, I stop dead in my tracks and blink in shock.
Only one of the beds is occupied. Gabriel is gone.
I freeze, letting the afternoon sunlight warm my back and shoulders in the shallows. Confusion for this situation and the rejection I’d felt from Verona earlier intermingle within me. A lump forms in my throat. Where is he?
After my momentary shock, I dart into the cove and pass the nestings to the back, where the healer sits with his medicine bottles. His human eyeglasses sit on his nose as he studies a tincture in his hand. When I rush up to him, he peers over the glasses at me and quirks an eyebrow.
“Where is he? Where did Gabriel go?” My throat feels constricted, and the words sound groggier than I’d have expected. My emotions have overwhelmed me. I need to calm down. There is a reasonable explanation for this. Reason always prevails. I will my heart to slow down and my breathing to even out.
The healer’s eyebrow remains quirked as he leans back on his folded tail. “His family retrieved him. I suppose they have taken him to their home reef where they can take care of him themselves.”
I blink. That is an unexpected reasoning. “They took him home?”
The healer nods.
“Are you sure?”
The healer shrugs. “I didn’t follow them. I didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell me. I’m only using conjecture. They did take the anti-inflammatory medication with them.”
If Gabriel’s mother has left them, who would take care of him? His father is always in the court working with other elders to make the township better. What they do exactly has never made any sense to me, but everyone seems to think having a leader is important. Stacia goes to schooling each morning and then spends the rest of the day doing frivolous things. Would she really take care of her twin brother herself?
/> It didn’t make any sense. I find myself turning about and heading toward the exit of the cove without saying a word. Behind me the healer harrumphs, but doesn’t correct me either. As I pass Verona’s father, I glance at him just to make sure he’s all right. It makes me feel better that even while his daughter is gone, he’s being taken care of. I nod and exit the cove. Once I’m outside its boundaries, I cut through the current once more, heading directly for the Elder’s reef.
When I get there, I find Stacia and another Mer standing close together. Momentarily, my heart leaps in wonder. Had he recovered? Was it Gabriel? Then I realize the build isn’t quite right, no, in fact it’s familiar. Brandeeb, again? I set my jaw and continue toward them. Stacia’s eyes meet mine, and for a moment they widen in surprise before they narrow into a glare.
I nod her direction. “Where’s Gabriel?”
That really throws her for a moment. Her half-lidded eyes widen once more, and she blinks several times before she realized what she’s done and gets hold of herself.
My brother turns around. “What? You’re not even going to say, ‘Hi,’ little brother? Shouldn’t you at least show the Elder’s daughter the respect she is due?”
One of my claws bite hard into my palm as my fists clench. I glare at him. “I have no interest in formalities. I’m just here to find out where Gabriel is.”
Tch. Stacia clucks her tongue and rolls her eyes. “Why do you care? What reasonable explanation is there for you to be here right now, asking about my brother?”
I narrow my eyes at them both. They are standing too close together, and their behavior is too familiar. Finally, I glare at my brother. “What are you doing here?”
Brandeeb shrugs. “None of your business.”
My jaw aches from how hard I clench my teeth together.
“Actually,” Stacia says with a smile, “the same goes for Gabriel. He’s none of your concern either.”
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