Dark Water

by J. A. Armitage

  “Don’t!” I replied quickly as he began to rise from his chair. He sat back down with a thump.

  “My father is busy enough with the press, and I have no intention of telling him about this.”

  The admiral’s face lit up, and he let out a long breath. “You won’t?”

  “No, but I do need to know where he is, so I can find him and bring him home. I’m also going to need a ship.”

  He looked at me in surprise. “I can’t give you a ship. I’ve already managed to lose one, but I can lend you Hayden’s boat. It’s docked at the marina.”

  “Will you help me sail it?” Help was a loose term. I’d never sailed a ship before, and neither to my knowledge had Astrid. If he came with us, he’d be doing all the sailing.

  “Of course,” he replied, standing up. This time I let him.

  We made a funny trio, running through the streets down to the dock. The palace guard was sent back to the palace to let my parents know what was going on. I’d be going out on the ocean again, but this time, with the sea witch being dead and with everything going on at the palace, I figured my mother would be ok with it.

  Hayden’s boat was really no more than a boat for day sailing. It did have a small bunk below deck, but I don’t think Hayden had ever used it for anything other than storage. The sea was calm, although the clouds in the sky above made it dull. Not that it mattered. This was no sightseeing trip.

  “Which way?” asked Henry as we cast off from the dock.

  “I don’t know, let’s just get out to sea and take it from there.”

  I waited for either Henry or Astrid to tell me what a large place the ocean was, but neither did. Henry let the sails out, and Astrid sat near the front, peering out to sea. She was just as desperate to find Hayden as I was to find Ari. We sailed for hours with the wind at our backs. Hayden’s boat might have been small, but it could move. Every time I saw a ship, my heart raced, but none of them were as large or majestic as the one Hayden stole from my father. As the light dimmed and the afternoon turned to evening, I had to make the decision to turn around. We were already going to be home way past dark. We’d survived the day on bottled water and a few provisions Hayden had left below deck, but there wasn’t enough for another day.

  I looked over at Astrid, feeling sad that I’d have to tell her that we were going to head home when her whole face lit up. She turned to me with a sparkle in her eyes and a smile on her face. She pointed outward toward the horizon. I followed the line of her finger and saw in the distance the outline of my father’s missing ship.

  “Henry!” I called back. “Head that way.” He popped his head around the corner and peered out to where both Astrid and I were pointing. We had to hold on tightly while the boat lunged as it turned, almost spilling us over the side.

  I fingered the ruby around my neck as we headed closer to the dark shape. If I was right, and I really hoped I was, it would save all of us and hopefully put things back to normal. The ship itself looked eerie, floating as it was in the purple dusk. There was no sign of life, which was to be expected as there were only two of them aboard, and they were more than likely inside. Even so, the sight of the massive ship looking empty, had me feeling a chill in my heart. Whatever it was that Hayden planned to do, I prayed that he’d not already gone ahead with it.

  Henry docked alongside the great ship and tied Hayden’s boat to it. There was no ladder for us to climb, but there were enough ropes for us to pull ourselves up onto the main deck.

  “What now?” asked Astrid, looking as scared as I felt.

  “Now we find them.”

  Finding them was not as difficult as I thought it would be, or at least, finding Ari wasn’t. He was tied up in the captain’s suite, a gag in his mouth.

  His pupils dilated as he took the three of us in and he made a noise through the gag. I ran to him and untied the rag from around his face.

  “Watch out!” he shouted, but it was too late. I turned to where he was looking to find Hayden standing in the corner with a gun pointing at us.

  “Hayden!” Astrid, gushed, running toward him, but she stopped suddenly as the gun pointed at her.

  “I wasn’t expecting company,” Hayden sneered. “Never mind, you can watch me push this guy overboard. It will be nice to have an audience.”

  “Pushing him overboard won’t kill him,” I pointed out, putting my body between Ari and the gun. “He can breathe underwater.”

  “No, you are right. A hole in the head before I send him to be fish food ought to do it, though, don’t you think? I’ve been trying to muster up the courage to do this for three days, but now that you are here, I realize it’s not courage I lack. I wanted someone to see me defeat him. I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am that it’s you.”

  I caught Henry’s expression harden as he saw what his son was capable of.

  “Hayden. What are you doing?”

  Henry was rewarded with the gun moving from Astrid to him. None of us would be able to get close to him, not without gaining a hole in ourselves in the process.

  “Hayden. This isn’t you. I’ve figured it all out,” I began. “I’ve come here to save you.”

  Hayden sneered “Save me? I think you’ve got it all wrong. It’s your boyfriend you should be worried about. He’s the one that’s going to die, and maybe one of you if you try and get in my way.” He spat the word boyfriend out.

  “Hayden!” Astrid shouted out in shock, but he ignored her.

  “It’s not Hayden,” I said. Astrid’s eyes went wide as comprehension dawned on her face.

  “Of course, it’s me, you idiots. Who else would I be?”

  “Let me rephrase then,” I said, stepping slowly closer to him. “It is you, but you are under a spell. You’ve been behaving strangely for a while, and a few hours ago, I remembered when your personality change started. You were perfectly happy with Astrid before we went to visit the sea witch the first time. It was only afterward that you became angry. You claimed you were in love with me and were using Astrid, but that wasn’t the case at all.”

  “Shut up. I asked Astrid to marry me. You have no idea what you are talking about.” I could see him wavering as I spoke. His hand began to shake.

  “But you think you love me, don’t you? You only asked Astrid to get her off your back. You had no intention of marrying her. Isn’t that right?”

  I could see Astrid’s resolve begin to crumble at this change of direction. I just needed her to be strong for a few more minutes.

  “Untie Ari,” I whispered to her as I walked past, getting closer to Hayden.

  I heard her move behind me, but Hayden’s eyes were right where I wanted them—on me.

  “You are in love with me, aren’t you? The girl who you pined after for years.” I was so close to him now. If I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him. I could see his resolve begin to crack.

  “Yes,” he whispered. “I’ve always loved you. I never wanted Astrid. It was always you.”

  Behind me, I heard a scream, but it was not Astrid’s voice I heard. It was Ari. I turned to see the look of agony on his face as Astrid untied his legs. The skin on his exposed ankles was almost raw, red and wet with patches of black.

  My heart went into overdrive. The witch had lied to me. I don’t even know why I was surprised, but it left me with a dilemma. The ruby had only enough magic to save one of them. I had to make the decision between Ari and Hayden, and I had to make it quickly.

  “You don’t love me, though. You love that bastard.”

  I turned back to Hayden to see him putting the gun up to his temple. With the speed of a cheetah, I grabbed the Havfrue ruby from around my neck and held it to Hayden’s face. Red light shone out from him as his piercing screams drowned out all other sounds. The gun dropped to the floor, and purple smoke began flowing from Hayden’s ears, eyes, and pores. Seconds later, it was all over. Hayden fell to the floor in a heap. I kicked the gun away from him, although I knew he was no longer a threat
. The spell was broken. Hayden was free. Astrid came running over and fell beside him, smothering him with a hug.

  “What just happened?” asked Henry, a look of shock on his face. I probably should have warned him about my theory before we boarded the ship.

  “He’ll be fine,” I said with a small smile. “Astrid, I’m sorry about all that. I just had to keep him talking while I got close enough to him. I think you’ll find he’ll be back to normal and completely in love with you just as he was before our first encounter with the witch.”

  Behind me, I heard a low moan. I turned back to Ari.

  He no longer had ropes tying him to the chair, but he was, nevertheless, incapable of getting up from it. Blood seeped through his trousers, leaving sticky wet patches.

  “Help me,” I shouted at Henry, who still appeared dumbstruck with the turn of events. Between us, we managed to pull Ari’s trousers from his legs and hurl him into the sea. In less than a minute he reappeared at the surface, his face no longer ashen, his tail appearing healthy behind him.

  “Henry, can you get this ship turned around? We need to get everyone home.”

  He nodded and left me to steer the ship. Hopefully, Hayden’s boat would be tied tightly enough, so it would float alongside.

  I waved down at Ari, desperate to be in the water with him, but I had to see if Hayden was okay first.

  “I’ll be with you in a minute,” I called down to him. He nodded and disappeared underwater.

  Back in the captain’s room, Astrid and Hayden were still crumpled on the floor, wrapped in each other’s arms. I could hear one of them sobbing, although it was hard to tell which one.

  “Henry is taking us home,” I announced.

  Hayden untangled himself and first pulled himself and then Astrid up. He walked over to me and hugged me tightly.

  “Just so you know, this is just a hug of friendship,” he grinned as he pulled away. Indeed, he did have tears in his eyes. They both did.

  “I’m so sorry,” he began, but I shushed him.

  “It wasn’t you. It was the spell.”

  “I do love you. You are my best friend, but...”

  He turned and took Astrid’s hand. She beamed.

  “But you are in love with Astrid,” I finished for him.

  “I am.” He turned to her. “I really am.”

  They kissed, absorbed only in each other. I was the gooseberry in this scenario. Quietly, I tiptoed for the door. There was somewhere I wanted to be more than with my two best friends anyway. I pulled off my shoes and ran to the deck. Without pausing, I climbed onto the railing and hurled myself into the dark water.

  A warm hand took mine. We swam beside each other for hours, keeping the ship in our sights. As it pulled into the dock, Ari pulled me to the surface. The moon had come out lacing the ocean with a million sparkles. We’d not said a word to each other the whole trip back. We’d been too caught up with the freedom of the ocean, with each other, but now that we were back at the rocks, we had to talk.

  “I don’t know why I believed her,” I said sadly, meaning the sea witch. “She told me that your legs would be better.”

  Ari took my face in his hands. It amazed me how warm he felt even though the water around us was freezing.

  “She gave me my voice back,” he said.

  “It’s not enough.”

  “It doesn’t matter what she said or did. I’m just happy that you are alive. In my whole life, no one has ever done anything for me, and you gave your life for me.”

  As I gazed into his eyes, I knew I’d done the right thing. The outcome was not how I’d imagined it, but I’d do it all again in an instant to stop his pain.

  “I wish I could have done more. I had one wish, and I used it on Hayden.”

  He traced a hand down my cheek, wetting his fingers with my tears.

  “Erica, it was everything.” As he leaned forward to kiss me, I wished I could believe his words, but the truth of the matter was, he was still hurting while on land, and nothing I had done could help him with that.

  “The doctors said that they should be able to manage the pain with medication,” he said lightly as he pulled away from me.

  “The same medication that knocked you out? If you stay on land, you’ll either be in pain or asleep”

  My heart broke as I thought of the next words to come out of my mouth. I wanted to be selfish, to be greedy, and keep him with me always, but to do that would cause him more suffering.

  “You have to go home.”

  He drew his lower lip between his teeth. “We are bonded. We can’t be apart. I don’t want to go home without you.”

  I could feel my heart tearing in two at his words. If he said much more, I’d tell him to forget the whole thing, but looking at him, I knew I couldn’t. The sea witch could have made it possible for us to be together, just as she had for my parents, but the sea witch was dead along with her magic. Her final act had been to make our lives completely impossible. Destined to be together, but forced to live apart. We couldn’t be on land because of the pain, I couldn’t live under the sea because I’d have to be touching him to be able to breathe. We’d never be able to be apart for more than a few seconds at a time.

  I kissed him then. A farewell kiss full of sadness and pain. Leaving him was going to kill me, but as with many things in life, I had no choice.

  The walk back across the rocks was excruciating. I didn’t look back as I walked. I couldn’t bear to see that look on his face.

  I saw the ship at the docks and three figures stepping off in the dark, two of which were holding hands. At least, something good had come of all this. Hayden and Astrid were now able to be together without anyone forcing them apart. My mother had been reunited with her father and would probably go and see her sisters soon, and the kingdoms of Havfrue and Trifork were now no longer mortal enemies. To top it all off, the witch who had terrorized the underwater world was dead. If I looked back at the events of the past few weeks, a lot of good had happened, and yet, my own life had derailed. I’d met the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with, and circumstances made it impossible for us to be together.

  I plodded slowly to the palace, past the guards on duty and to my room where I fell on my bed. There were no tears, just a heart so heavy I thought it would sink me right into the mattress itself. I probably wouldn’t have minded if it did.

  I wondered if the pain I was feeling was something to do with the bonding. Ari had told me that the further we were apart, the more painful it would feel. I wasn’t sure. I had a feeling I’d hurt like this even if we weren’t bonded in a magical way. I’d never had a broken heart before, but this sure did feel like one.

  With a sigh, I realized I’d feel this way always. The bonding had sounded so romantic when Ari told me about it, but now it was nothing more than a curse.

  I closed my eyes and willed sleep to come to let me escape the pain I was feeling. The next morning, I woke late. My mother didn’t come to wake me for my studies. Someone must have told her what happened, and she decided to let me sleep in. I dragged myself out of bed. There was no point wasting the day, no matter how awful I felt. My relationship with my mother had been mended somewhat, thanks to me bringing her father to her, but there was still a long way to go. I decided to go find her and ask her if she wanted to spend the day with me. We could sit outside in the gardens and just talk. It was way overdue.

  I found her in the grand hall ordering workers to move boxes of stones and weird decorations. She had such a smile on her face. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so happy.

  For a brief second, I wondered if she had gone loopy again and was planning another wedding, albeit one with a strange theme.

  “There you are sleepyhead,” she smiled as she turned to me. She looked radiant. “What do you think?”

  I gazed around the room at huge pieces of coral and boxes of sand that were being stacked up against the wall.

  “Nice, what is it for?”

>   She came running over to me and slipped her arm in mine. In a quiet voice she spoke “My father came to visit me last night. He asked if my sisters could come visit. I’m planning a big family reunion. Half of Havfrue is coming. It’s going to be huge.”

  Just then, I heard a noise. It sounded like a truck was parking outside.

  “That will be the tank,” she said, clapping her hands together. I followed her outside to where a massive tank was being placed in the gardens. It was huge and currently empty.

  “The people from the Trifork Aquarium are setting it up. It needs pumps and filters for the fish, and it will take a week or so to fill with water, but everyone will feel at home.”

  I shook my head at the scale of what my mother could achieve when she put her mind to it. The woman never ceased to amaze me.

  I felt an elbow digging into my side.

  I looked at my mother, whose grin was now even larger if that were possible. “I think there is someone who’d like an invite. Tell him the party is on the fourteenth.”

  I looked to where my mother was pointing. Ari was sitting on the rocks, his tail dipping in the water.

  Despite everything, despite the fact it was impossible for us to be together, I still ran to him.

  “We are broken up,” I sang, a smile on my face. My heart already felt a million times lighter. Maybe this bonding thing really did work.

  “I know.”

  Without a goodbye, he dove neatly beneath the perfectly flat surface of the water, barely making a splash.

  I waited for him to resurface, but the water remained almost glasslike, barely rippling.

  My heart began to beat wildly. Was that it? He’d surely come to see me. Had he only come to say goodbye. He’d not even managed that.

  I could barely catch my breath, now that he’d gone. There was no goodbye kiss, no farewell, nothing.

  And then he breached the surface and held his hand out to me.

  “You coming?”