“You feel her?” He asks, raising one eyebrow seriously, his emerald eyes scorching me with their scrutiny.
“In this moment, here with you, yes I feel her.” I admit, feeling a little silly as though I was going to get teased for my beliefs. Like I was that same girl in high school, who would have done anything to get by without being the centre of attention.
“Let me get Ghazi … hang on.” He flicks his tail once and he is gone, I am knocked back a little with the force of the water displacement and wonder how much faster these mermen can get. Just as I think Orion is speedy I am taught that there is always more power, more speed.
He is back after a few minutes and he is accompanied by a mer I believe I have met before. “Ghazi, meet Callie Pierce. You are going to be testing her to see if she is blessed.” At the word ‘blessed’ my ears prick a little and I wonder what kind of testing he is talking about. I examine the merman that is suspended before me, he looks practically dull in comparison to the radiance of Saturnus, but I can see in his strong features that he is as all mer seem to be, which is attractive. He has dark chocolate eyes and coffee coloured skin; I assume him to have origins in the Middle East as his black hair teases his shoulders and gives away his lineage. He has a small goatee and moustache consisting of black stubble across his face and his skull gives him defined cheekbones and an angular jaw. His lips are large and look incredibly soft as he smiles and takes my hand in his. I look down, drifting through the water forwards and see his grassy green-scaled tail matches the green eye mask that surrounds those deep brown eyes.
“Hi.” I say shyly as he shakes my hand with such force I wonder if my arm won’t fall off at the shoulder socket. He nods in return before Saturnus breaks our eye contact with his words and ushers us outside.
“Good luck young lady.” He offers as he bows his head in parting and retreats back into the large apartment, leaving me alone with Ghazi. I look up at him, our height fairly similar. He is shorter than most mermen I have encountered but I am hovering a little closer to the ornate rug on the floor. He does not speak still but rather gestures to the porthole through which we descend. I swim with him in pursuit, no clue where we are headed, and pass Sophia who has waited loyally in the small lobby for me.
“Hey, what happened?” She questions as we move towards the exit at the base of the turret.
“Don’t ask me, I’m being tested now, apparently, by Mr. Silent over there.” I whisper and she giggles slightly, her hazel eyes full of amusement.
“He isn’t silent, he’s a mute. Or at least we think he is. Nobody has ever heard him speak. His wife is too we think. It does give him incredible focus though when in battle. He has immense strength.” She assures me and as we move outward into the bright light of the street. We turn and wait a few moments to allow Ghazi to take the lead from us and then follow him, I feel a knot of anxiety forming and I sigh: I always did hate tests.
We travel for a few minutes before exiting the city and Sophia explains, “We are leaving the Occulta Mirum so we can truly see any natural blessing. The way in which the city is protected somewhat enhances the blessings for individual mer. This way we will be able to see the bare bones of your power.” She says this matter of fact as though all this is totally normal, not the world of mystical unknowing that I so perceive it to be. I keep the grass green tailfin of Ghazi in my sight and ask her a question, which I am slightly afraid to have answered.
“How long did it take you to get used to all this?” I ask timidly, feeling incredibly inexperienced.
“A few years, it’s a strange way to live. Don’t worry, you will get used to it. You were born to be this way, remember? You were made for Orion and he is pretty special, so there is no doubt you must be too.” She speaks as though this is fact and it makes me feel comforted for the first time. Orion had said this before, but in some way, I felt as though he was always biased by his love for me. Hearing it from someone who is practically a stranger, makes it all the more real to my ears. I am about to respond and thank her as we swim rhythmically side by side, not quite as in sync as me and Orion but fairly in time, as I see Ghazi halt in front of us. We are on the outskirts of the Occulta Mirum, just beyond its protective shield and there is a lone, gargantuan, cylindrical building towering above me. It is made of sandstone just like all the others, except this isn’t speckled with glass bottles that glint in the light, but is rather covered in runes, carved into its constituent stone.
“The runes make this invisible to people who are not brought here. You’ll be able to see it from now on. But if we hadn’t guided you, you would have been looking forever.” Sophia tells me and I wonder why they don’t use this for other things.
“Why don’t you use them for the city?” I ask her and she smiles.
“We’ve never had to. Saturnus never goes on land and his power to project a glimmer is better than any rune.” She enlightens me and I smile back at her, not one to argue with a seasoned pro. Ghazi looks at me and nods, beckoning me inside with his stare. He exudes brutish power, and I cannot help but believe his voice would be a deep one if I could hear it. We swim inside and I note that this building has a larger circumference than the others, the walls are stacked from floor to ceiling with weapons, and a few ledges; presumably for viewers to perch and observe. Natural sunlight falls down from the building’s highest point, bathing me. It reminds me a little of a coliseum, as spears, axes, knives, nets, tridents, and all manner of other terrifyingly sharp and dangerous objects stand hooked onto the walls via curved racks and restraints. In the centre of the floor are three boulders, each increasing in mass. Ghazi swims, haphazardly slashing his tail behind him and leaving me in a torrent of bubbles. Behind me, Sophia laughs at my disconcerted expression, the bubbles tickling my nose. As though he is going to demonstrate what he wants me to do, Ghazi begins by picking up the largest boulder, which looks as though it could weigh nearly quarter of a ton. I don’t know how he does it because he is not a large mer by any standard but is rather tightly compacted. He places it down again, displacing a little sand that covers the ocean floor and then he rises above it and looks down at me gesturing for me to do the same. I give a quizzical look, is this guy crazy? I get tired carrying my school bag between classes, there is no way I can actually lift that huge piece of rock! He persists in a stare, the dark brown of his eyes bearing into my flesh. I roll my eyes and speak aloud, exasperated.
“Fine! I’ll try.” I shoot Sophia a look and she nods encouragingly back, ascending high above me and perching on one of the ledges. I edge forward, moving my tail so the bottom half of me is at a 70 degree angle to the floor, allowing me to get my hands on the base of either sides of the ocean worn chunk of rock. I pull and then realise how massively strong Ghazi must be, having no legs means that I have no leverage on the ground, nothing to strain against. It should be easier than on land though surely I muse as I recall that it’s supposedly easier lifting people up in the water. I try for another few moments before giving up, feeling hot under my skin, an odd sensation considering I’m immersed in cool water. I look up at Ghazi and he demonstrates lifting the next boulder in the line, this one being slightly smaller than the one I just attempted to lift, but not by much. I sigh and roll my eyes once more. It’s going to be a long afternoon.
I am panting, and if I could noticeably underwater, I think I would be sweating too. Every inch of me aches and I can’t help but wonder if it weren’t for my newfound mer form if I would have collapsed from exhaustion hours ago. Sophia has loyally stayed, watching each pointless test that has resulted in the same conclusion: that I am one hundred percent completely useless and that a teaspoon is more blessed by the Goddess than me. Sophia is sat on the ledge still, hugging her tailfin up as though she has knees and resting her chin upon the curved portion of her softly shimmering lilac scales. She gives me a warm and loyal smile and I wonder if perhaps, I may have found a friend in all this madness. Ghazi, seems (frustratingly enough) as though he has exerted
little effort, less than perhaps one would taking a casual stroll around the park on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The sun is hanging low in the sky and I hope to God as he indicates that he is going to attack me for his latest ‘test’ that he goes easy on me, as I have already seen him crush one boulder into dust this afternoon. We circle one another, like lions fighting for their kill and just as I think I spot him relax, he is behind me in an instant with my neck between his hands. I reach up to his arms and as my skin meets his, two out of this world phenomenon happen simultaneously. The first is that I swear for a moment I can hear Ghazi speaking, his voice awkward with an accent from Iran.
“Come on Callie! Fight back damn it!” his words will me on, as the second effect of laying my fingers upon his flesh takes hold and I feel his strength flow into me. I do not hesitate as my fatigue dissipates and I am filled with his power. I pull his body through the water easily overcoming the drag caused by its displacement and smash him into the sea floor. I fall backwards, letting go of him and feeling the strength leave my body. Shock washes over me as I notice that I’m breathing hard and that the three slits on either side of my neck are opening and closing quickly. I hit the sand beneath me with a cringe as coarse grains plume up into the water like dust.
“Whoa … what the hell …” I pant, bewildered. Sophia is in-between me and Ghazi in an instant. I sit up and see Ghazi returning to a horizontal floating position in the water, his eyes chocolaty brown, wide, and surprised. He moves through the water towards me, hands outstretched and I move backwards quickly away from him.
“No! Don’t!” I cry out, fearing that next time the strength won’t leave me and I will be stuck, crushing everything I touch. I flee from the training coliseum, away from Sophia and Ghazi, and back to the Occulta Mirum and Orion to seek comfort in the safety of his arms.
It is not until I reach the outside of the training building that I remember Orion and I aren’t speaking after our argument earlier. Damn my dependence on him! I’ve barely known him a few weeks and already he is the only person I can think to run to. Of course my life now makes it a bit more complicated than that, being that I don’t really know that many other mer yet. Well okay, it’s a lot more complicated, but still, I wish his love for me hadn’t infected almost every part of my mind. It’s like no matter what I’m doing, a part of me is always thinking about him; this to me right now is infuriating. I still for a moment outside the entrance to the city, stewing and weighing up my options before looking at the setting sun; deciding I cannot go back and admit that I am sorry quite yet; I need to calm down first.
I swim out into the ocean, admiring the sea life: tiny fish and shoals of larger ones, their scales glimmering in the dimming light. This is my first solo swim out in the open ocean, and I try to let it clear my head. I swim, catching rip tides and letting them slingshot me forward through the ocean, I close my eyes, wanting to remember this feeling, the weightlessness of it becoming intoxicating. Visibility becomes a bit lame after the sun has set, but sure enough, I recognise that I have somehow brought myself back to the very beach where this all began and the last place Orion and I connected before our fight. Maybe it’s because it’s the only route I know other than that to the Sanctum. I swim into the shallow water and know that tonight, because there is no full moon, I have no choice but to drag myself a little way up into the sand, the waves lapping over my tail so I may sit and breathe, and emptying my mind of all things troubling for a while. I pull my tail up to my chin, mimicking how I had seen Sophia sitting earlier while I had been tested. I shiver at the memory again, stopping to really think about what had happened. In a way, I felt like I had touched fire and been burned by the intense power of its flame, but as I looked back, I couldn’t say that I hated the power. It had scared me that much was true, but was that because I had been so completely shocked by it and had not been prepared or expecting it? My mind, while I sit bathed in moonlight and looking around to make sure the beach remains deserted, flicks back to Ghazi and his voice inside my head. Could it be that he was in fact not mute but rather communicated in a different way that no other mer could tap into? I’m then reminded of what Sophia said about his wife as we left Saturnus’ apartment, and I wonder if they can communicate with one another telepathically. I ponder this for a long time, letting the cool San Diego night air wash over my skin, before resigning the voices to my imagination and the strength to an unnatural surge of adrenaline at the shock of imagining such things.
My flesh does not burn as it did upon my flight out of the water in the sunlight with Orion, but now hums delicately in the coolness of the moonbeams that shine from the night sky. I examine my tail as its scales shimmer, opalescent in the light pouring from above. I touch it gingerly. It seemed so foreign at first, but now I realise that I can’t help but adore its beauty; the million pearlescent mirrors outwardly exuding the light once trapped within my mortal coil. I am more myself now than I have ever been and in a situation that feels like drowning, I have never felt more alive, more myself. I lie back, tail in the air as I make patterns with the light upon its many mirrors, allowing the waves to lap at my hair, contented for a while before seeing lights turn on in the beach house up the shoreline and realising that it is time for me to return to the sea. As I wiggle back down the sand and into the waves I smile at the easiness of breathing within their depths. Though not as harsh as during the heat of day, my throat still felt dry when ashore and as I take a deep lungful of air in through the slits in my neck, I become fully submerged. I return to the hidden city and to Orion, feeling more at peace than I have in a while.
Back in the Occulta Mirum the streets are aglow with lamps fuelled with bioluminescent algae, giving the whole space an aqua glow. I see patterns of light from the surface above moving across the ocean floor in wavy illusions, catching the bottles embedded in the path, and making them glisten. The city seems to be most beautiful at night: hundreds of twinkling, dimming, and multihued lights making it seem as though the Milky Way has come down from the sky and made a new home for itself beneath the waves. I move quickly back to Orion and my apartment, ready to apologise for how wrong I was in getting upset at his overprotective nature earlier, especially after what he showed me of the demons that he has battled. As I embrace the peacefulness of the total silence that the water provides at this time of night, I hear the chimes of harp strings being danced over by Orion’s fingers, growing louder as I ascend up through the levels of the surface scraper, and I smile. I can’t help but wonder if the sadness of the tune reflects his mood, and my heart patters sadly. I enter through the front door and as his eyes set upon me, I watch relief take him as his shoulders, which were acutely upright as I entered the apartment, slouch with a large outward breath.
“Where have you been?” He asks, sounding sulky.
“Training this afternoon and then for a swim up to our beach.” I reply smiling, a carefree smile. He looks instantly concerned but I watch him restrain himself.
“Saturnus told me you went to see him. I wish you’d told me you were going so far.” He acknowledges with a cold expression. I ignore him and try not to let him ruin my mood.
“Yes, I met Ghazi and then we discovered I have absolutely no natural blessing whatsoever. So I suppose I won’t be joining The Guardians after all!” I lie a little, seeing as imagining voices and getting an unnaturally strong rush of adrenaline seems hardly worth mentioning.
“Are you okay?” Orion asks, swimming over calmly from the harp stool.
“Yes, I think I could do with having a bit of a sleep to be honest, to sort everything out that’s going on in my brain. But first, I am sorry about earlier.” I apologise as his arms wind around my waist and I look up into those oh so familiar icy blue eyes. He places a kiss gently upon my lips and sighs out a little.
“I’m sorry too. I just love you so much, I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. It would break me.” He confesses looking down, clearly still upset. I place two fingers on his angul
ar jaw and lift his eyes so they meet my own. I stare into them determinedly.
“Nothing is going to happen to me. Stop worrying!” I try to convince him and his lip curves before kissing me once again as some kind of acceptance of this fact. He states, his eyes are weary.
“I think I need a mental sort out too. I haven’t really slept since I met you in all honesty.” He admits and I look at him quizzically.
“You have so slept; there was that time on the beach before we first kissed!” I accuse raising one eyebrow teasingly.
“I didn’t sleep. How could I when I had the one person I had been waiting for finally in my arms?” He mimics my casual tone and his caramel soft voice wraps around the words with sensual prowess. I roll my eyes and catch the bookcase out of the corner of my eye.
“You go sleep; I’ll be there in a bit. I want to do some reading for a while first.” He rolls his eyes back at me, exasperated at my indecision over what I’m planning on doing next and then kisses me on the forehead.
“It’s okay, I’ll wait up. I wanted to continue playing for a while anyway.” He whispers as I nod my head gently and closing my eyes at the touch of his lips.
I’ve been looking over the books for a little while now when I come across a particularly interesting passage on mer mortality or lack thereof. It reads:
‘Mer are as strong and immortal as the sea itself. They cannot be killed other than by beheading, de-scaling (which is most painful of all), and by prolonged exposure to direct, undiluted sunlight. Their strength is rivalled only by those who possess a direct link to a magical source as powerful as that of the oceans of this world.’
The Kiss That Killed Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 1) Page 30