“Don’t worry. You’ll never have to endure the pain of transformation again,” Faren reassured him. “Your body will remember.”
“I can hear what you’re thinking. How is that possible?”
“The ability to read minds is a gift I passed on to you,” she said with a smile.
David looked around in amazement. “This is incredible.”
The ocean transformed to a mystical place where the word impossible no longer held any meaning. His new-found freedom overwhelmed him. “Tell me more about your world,” he said, gazing down at the hundreds of sand dollars scattered across the sea floor. “Do you have somewhere you call home, or do you just wander around aimlessly?”
Faren swam backward, raking her fingers through the sand. It floated up in a dusty cloud. “My home is hidden from humans,” she revealed. “Atlantis is a beautiful place, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t give to spend a night on the beach.”
David’s mind spun with fantastic possibilities. “I can’t believe the legends are true,” he exclaimed. “I’ve heard so many stories over the years about Atlantis, but I never thou...” He suddenly remembered his nightmare in vivid detail and his good mood wavered.
“What’s wrong?”
“I saw it happen in a dream.” David said in disbelief. “I watched those people die. It had to be Atlantis.”
Faren picked up a sand dollar and swam back to his side. “Here,” she said, handing it to him. “It’s a charm that promotes rest and relaxation. The animal devours bad dreams while you sleep.”
“Oh... just like a dream catcher...” David chuckled when he noted her confusion. “Never mind, honey. Thank you. I love it.”
Faren smiled sweetly. “You know... I’ve also been told that soul mates dream of each other sometimes even before they’ve met. Maybe we could look at your nightmare as a sign.”
“I don’t need a dream to tell me you’re my soul mate,” David said, drawing her near. “I knew that the first time I saw you.”
“You did?” Faren replied, faking surprise. She smiled. “Then that makes two of us.”
When they kissed, David felt whole. It was as if he had been dead until now, and with Faren’s touch, he was reborn.
When they parted, she took his hand. “Come with me,” she said. “I have many things to show you.”
Faren swam up behind David and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Her body trailed behind them as they glided through the silent world. Even beneath the cloudy night sky, the sea retained its vibrancy. David could see his surroundings as if it were the middle of the day.
A swarm of moon jellyfish emerged from the depths like an army of graceful warriors, trailing their wispy tentacles behind them. David could see through their glowing blue skin to the four horseshoe-shaped gonads underneath.
“This is the most fantastic thing that’s ever happened to me... to be here with you,” David said in awe. “I still can’t believe it’s real.”
Faren nestled her face in the side of his neck and kissed his cheek. “It’s real,” she whispered in his ear. “And I’m happy you’re here. I never thought I could be this happy.”
David flipped to his back and looked deep in her eyes. “I’ve waited a lifetime for you,” he whispered back.
“And I you.”
As they kissed, Faren ran her fingers through his hair and wrapped her tail around his legs. David slid his hands over her hips, and when he felt her slick scales under his fingers, he didn’t pull away. He welcomed Faren’s physical differences with exhilarated curiosity. The kiss intensified. It consumed David completely, leaving him gasping for breath. The couple drifted to the sea floor, entangled in each other’s arms. The sand massaged David’s back, and he could feel the powder wafting up around his body. When he ran his hand along the bottom of Faren’s seashells, she let out a small gasp. She arched her back and lifted her chin, revealing her slender neck. David trailed kisses down her throat and over her collarbone.
The current’s sudden tugging broke David from his erotic trance and he gazed around, surprised to see the sunken barge a stone’s throw away. Schools of tiny fish swam in and out of the wreck, and dozens of sea turtles circled overhead, looking for their next meal.
“No,” Faren cried suddenly, staring past the boat. “We shouldn’t be here. We need to go back.”
David followed her eyes, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. “What’s wrong?” And when she didn’t answer, he got nervous. “Faren, what do you see?”
Faren pulled on his arm. “We’re too close to her lair. We need to get out of here.”
“Who’s lair?”
She hauled him away from the boat without saying a word. The warm water rushed past, and the air bubbles caressed their bodies as they escaped an unseen enemy. The wreck grew smaller until it faded into the background and disappeared.
“What was that about?” David asked when they finally stopped.
Faren took a deep breath and revealed to him a secret kept from humans since the beginning. “Eleven thousand years ago, the Spirit cast us into the sea because of our trespasses,” she recalled the stories. “Hundreds of thousands perished during the sinking, and many of our homes and temples were destroyed, but the one who created us gave us a second chance by changing us into mers.” Faren appeared lost in the past, unable to pull herself away from her legacy. “This angered the ocean guardian. Cadence thought the Spirit was weak by not killing us, so he created the sea demons to finish the job.”
“Like mindless robots,” David replied, entranced by her story. He focused on the ripples in the seabed, trying to wrap his mind around the notion of long-time rivalry between ancient species and vengeful ocean guardians.
“Furia is their queen,” Faren delved deeper into a world of horror. “She’s the incarnation of absolute evil, and the largest creature in the ocean. The sea demons watch over her as she sleeps.”
A shiver ran up David’s spine. To think that a monster like Furia lived beneath the tranquil surface of the Atlantic frightened him beyond words.
“In the beginning, we were at war,” Faren said, “but over the years, the conflict turned cold. Until now.”
Until now. Those words refused to leave David’s mind. He could just imagine a band of sea demons slicing toward them from out of the dark and…
Faren tore him from his horrifying thoughts. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t want to spoil this for you.”
David shoved the fear as far down as he could and smiled. “You haven’t ruined anything,” he reassured her. “This is our special night.”
Hand in hand, the couple resumed their romantic interlude, watching the sandy bottom of the ocean floor turn rocky with the brilliant colors of the Strip. The multitude of life found along the reef was vast. Faren’s underwater playground overflowed with beauty and enchantment. Everywhere David looked, he saw something new and exciting.
“Thank you for trusting me enough to share this with me. This is a night I’ll never forget.”
Faren squeezed his hand. “I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else.”
The dusky sharks patrolling the area put a damper on the special moment. When David saw the impending danger, he pulled away from Faren and pointed a shaking finger toward the ominous silhouettes gliding through the water toward them.
“They won’t hurt you,” Faren tried to calm him. “You’re with me.”
David listened to her explain why he didn’t have to claw and scratch to escape, but he couldn’t break himself away from the death machines.
“No matter how enticing our scent is to humans,” Faren reassured him, “sharks avoid us whenever possible.”
When David refused to look at her, she spun him around. “Honey, I promise you we’re safe.” When he looked back, the sharks were gone, and he relaxed.
David was in absolute awe of the bustling underwater city. Large schools of bright yellow butterfly fish weaved in and out of dome-shaped brain coral and red and
purple sea fans. Angelfish nibbled on algae, and several hog fish meandered around in a fog.
Many species coexisted peacefully, ranging from cuttlefish to sea snakes, moray eels to stone crabs. Since the moray eels used the light of day to hunt, David was unable to steal anything but remote glances of the animals in action.
A banded coral shrimp came out of hiding and climbed to a high point on the reef. It waved its antenna from side to side, hoping to flag down a customer in need of a good cleaning. When the tiny animal got the attention of a large green and white striped fish, it scrubbed its new friend of parasites and dead scales.
The dusky sharks patrolling the reef no longer scared David. Now he could see the beauty in their silvery gray streamlined bodies slicing through the depths. They resembled torpedoes rather than living creatures.
The cries of a terrified animal traveled through the water, cutting David to the bone.
He looked past the reef, to the vast ocean. “Did you hear that? What was that... a whale?”
Faren put her hand up and listened. When the piercing wail sounded again, she rushed to find the source, eyes wide with horrified recognition.
Chapter 7
The Sea Demons and the Selkie
DAVID STRUGGLED TO KEEP UP WITH Faren, but she was bolting through the water. The gap between them grew until she was out of sight. When the animal stopped squealing, David realized he didn’t know which way to swim. Everywhere he looked, the scenery was the same. He had lost all sense of direction.
“Eek, Eek!”
David heard the sounds again and shot toward them. Up ahead, he saw Faren desperately trying to free a small dolphin caught in an angler’s net. The dolphin thrashed around, only entangling itself more. Other fish caught in the snare were dead, crushed by its heavy body.
“Help me!” Faren cried. “David, please help me get her out! She’s dying!” She pried at the net, but she couldn’t break the tough nylon. The dolphin continued to thrash and click for help, hindering her.
David saw many human hands fishing around in the water. Although distorted, he could hear the fishermen shouting from the surface.
“Hurry!” one of them screamed. “We’re running out of time! She needs air!”
Another hollered, “I’m doing the best I can! She’s twisting the net!”
A small diving knife fell into the water and drifted twenty-five feet to the bottom, landing blade first.
“I lost my knife!” a man shouted. “I need another!”
David raced to the sea floor and grabbed the weapon. He rushed back to where Faren still struggled with the dolphin, and with fumbling fingers, sawed back and forth on the net. But his arm couldn’t move fast enough underwater.
“Hurry!” Faren cried out. She raced around the other side and tugged on the net again to no avail.
The dolphin’s look of terror was one David would never forget. He groaned in frustration, sawing as fast as he could, and with each stroke of his blade, his strength increased tenfold.
As soon as David cut a jagged hole big enough for the dolphin to escape, it swam away, leaving the net a tangled mess.
David pushed Faren under the boat when one of the men jumped into the water. They hid there and watched him make laps around the empty net. He fumbled with the mesh, using his hands to see in a dark world. Even though David and Faren floated right in front of him, he returned to the surface without giving them a second look.
“She’s gone,” they heard him say after his friends pulled him aboard. “Let’s get out of here.”
They dragged the remains of the net into the boat, and a few minutes later, weighed anchor, started the motor, and headed back to the dock.
The dolphin came back, and Faren made their formal introductions. “This is Lola,” she said, patting her side. “She’s my favorite dolphin… and a little hyper, as you can see.” The beautiful creature wagged her body back and forth and clicked. “She follows me everywhere,” Faren said, snuggling her. “I guess you could say she acts as my bodyguard. She’s saved my life more times than I’d like to count.”
Lola chirped at David again, smiled and rushed into the hazy blue.
“Thank you for helping her,” Faren said. “I’d hate to think about what could have happened if you weren’t here.”
“It was my pleasure.”
David followed Faren back to the surface. The fishing boat was getting ready to dock, and several groups of teenagers gathered around bonfires on the beach, chatting excitedly. Faren focused on a couple playing in the surf. She looks wistful, David thought.
“Faren... are you okay?”
“They look so happy.”
David put his head down. He didn’t want to witness her heartache. He knew Faren was picturing them in the couple’s place, but what could he say to make her understand she didn’t need dry land to have a fulfilling life? She had everything and more already.
“It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be,” David mumbled, looking back at the group mingling around the fire.
“What?”
“Being human.”
Faren closed her eyes. “You can say that because you are human,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re taking for granted because it’s all you’ve ever known.”
“I could say the same about you.”
Faren thought a moment. “You’re probably right,” she said, forcing a smile. “I guess it’s only natural to want something you’ll never have.”
David was determined to make Faren see just how great her life was. “Your world is filled with beauty, innocent beauty you can’t find on land,” he said. “I wish I had what you have. The ocean is dangerous, wild, free… but pure.” Minus the sea demons. He looked back at the beach. “It may look like we live the good life, but purity is something we lost a long time ago. It’s all a mirage–the laughter, the good times.”
Faren kissed him. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For making me feel like the most important thing in the world, and for loving me when I need it most.”
David pulled Faren close and rested his face on the top of her head when she nuzzled against his chest. “How could I not?” He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. “You’re easy to love.” They kissed and sank beneath the surface wrapped in each other’s arms.
Lola joined the couple with fifty friends. Bottlenose and spotted dolphins surrounded Faren and David, clicking and whistling. With the danger behind them, David could see that Lola was a spotted dolphin, but looked different than the others. The large black spot covering most of her back set her apart from the group.
Faren answered them in their language. To witness it was beyond anything David had ever expected. At once, it hit him how lucky he was to witness such a unique connection between species. He watched the miracle in amazement.
The dolphins circled the couple, flipping their flukes and clicking. A couple of them twirled, stomach to stomach, on their way to the surface. They leaped from the water before diving again.
A young dolphin made bubble rings with his blowhole and swam through them begging for attention. He hurled them at anyone who would pay him any mind. A large bull found himself the target of the mischievous juvenile when he looked up to get a face full of bubbles. He chased the juvenile away. The calf looked like he was smiling when he swam past David with his pursuer hot on his fins.
A large bottlenose cow paid special attention to David, circling him and flipping on her back to perform acrobatics he had only seen at Sea World. Her clicks of excitement echoed for miles.
“I think she likes me,” he told Faren with a laugh. The dolphin kissed him. “Hey, now, I don’t think I’m your type.” The dolphin kissed him again. “Faren, look at this,” David said, ducking the animal’s lips. “I think I have an admirer.”
When Faren didn’t answer him, he turned to look for her. She was nearby, playing with Lola. Whatever Faren told the dolphin to do, she did. When Faren twirled in circl
es, instructing the animal to follow, Lola chased her hand. On command, she flipped onto her back. Faren latched onto her front flippers, and they shot through the water.
The cow saw this and nudged David’s side. When he failed to understand her the first time, she swam off. When she returned a few minutes later, she bumped him again.
He finally got the hint. “I’m sorry. Do you want to play?”
David grasped the dolphin’s dorsal fin and held on tight as they rocketed through the water. He felt like he belonged with the dolphins. He watched the others swimming past and smiled. He couldn’t imagine living as these graceful animals did.
For the next two hours, Faren and David played with the dolphins.
“Do you want to go with them?” Faren asked when the pod moved on.
“Yeah, absolutely.”
David latched onto his dolphin and followed Faren and Lola’s lead. When they resurfaced, his first breath of air shocked him. It felt harsher than he remembered it; it had somehow become more natural to draw breath from the sea.
Soon, they were speeding across the surface of the water atop their mounts, the wind whipping through their hair, leaving twin wakes behind them. David looked over at Faren. She looked so elegant atop her dolphin, like an enchantress of the sea. She seemed completely at peace with the world around her.
He opened his mouth to call out to her, but he decided against it. He didn’t want to be the one to tear her from her solace. Instead, he gazed around at the beauty surrounding him. The ocean looked like black satin, and the moon a magnificent guardian looking down on the world.
The dolphin took David back underwater, twisting her body as they dove deeper. End over end, his world tumbled. When they neared the sea floor, the dolphin dashed toward the surface again. She jumped high in the air, dove, jumped and dove again. David’s stomach was in his throat; he could barely tell which way was up. He held on as the living, breathing roller coaster took him for the ride of his life. After they surfaced again, they glided through the ripples without a care in the world.
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