The Merman Boxset: Gay Merman Romance

by Aratare, X.

  But Johnson and the students have gone in there lots of times! Why would my presence make any difference? He thought, but Casillus caught his words over their bond.

  You are Mer, Gabriel, Casillus said. And you are -

  Special, Gabriel finished for him. I really wish you had told me before I got here why I’m special.

  So do I, but I fear if I tell you now … Casillus’ voice drifted off. There is no time for me to do it and I hope that I am wrong about this place. Your presence may have no effect on it or it on you so long as you keep your visit short.

  Believe me, I don’t want to be in there long, Gabriel said, but he feared that this was partly a lie. That “something amazing” feeling had caught hold of him and wouldn’t let go.

  To try and distract himself, Gabriel turned back to the van and grabbed his half-finished water, as well as a second full bottle. His hands were trembling, but was it with fear or excitement? Shaking his head in dismay at his unruly feelings, he stuck the full bottle in a rucksack that he threw over his shoulder while keeping the opened bottle on hand.

  He took a swig of water. Being out in the heat of the day was like standing in an oven. Sweat had already broken out under Gabriel’s arms and across his brow. He licked his dry lips. He was beginning to feel that terrible thirst, though he didn’t know if it was just his fear of the heat and sun or the changes in his body causing it. Looking down at the nearly empty bottle, he realized he would have to ration the water carefully to make it last throughout their visit. He screwed the cap back on the opened bottle and licked his lips again, unsatisfied. Finally, he turned back to the approaching people.

  Johnson was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a tight black T-shirt that strained across the bulging muscles in his arms and chest. His massive, muscular neck was also shown off to full effect. There was something intimidating about his size. For a moment, Gabriel wondered if there was some reason other than vanity or health for why Johnson made sure he was in tip-top shape. Did he think he needed to be? To protect himself from someone, or something?

  “Gabriel, Corey, you’re here exactly on time,” Johnson said as he clasped his massive hands in front of him.

  Corey rocked back and forth on his heels. “We were really excited to come. Right, Gabe?”

  Corey cast a hopeful look at Gabriel. Gabriel could tell that Corey was trying to overcome his feelings of dislike for Johnson with greater enthusiasm for the settlement. That was Corey’s way, but Gabriel didn’t think Johnson cared whether they liked him or not. He had other concerns. But Gabriel didn’t want to make this visit terrible for Corey so he sucked it up.

  Gabriel’s answering smile though felt like it was a gash across his face, but he managed to make his tone friendly as he said, “Yeah, sure, definitely.”

  “Good. I’m glad.” Johnson then introduced them to the young woman standing next to him, who looked like the epitome of summer with her khaki shorts and white tank top. “Gabriel, Corey, this is Greta.”

  “So you are Jenny’s friends! I recognized you immediately, Corey. Jenny’s description was perfect.” Greta smiled broadly at both young men. When she looked over at Gabriel he flushed, as he could tell she was appraising him when her eyes went up and down his form quickly. “She told me about you, too, Gabriel. You look exactly how she said as well.”

  “Ah, thank you,” Gabriel said.

  Corey elbowed him playfully in the side.

  She thinks you are beautiful, Gabriel, Casillus said mildly.

  That’s because she’s never seen you, Gabriel said with a smile.

  There is something about you, Gabriel, that draws people in. A vulnerability mixed with strength. I believe she would still have eyes only for you even if a million Mer were there, Casillus said.

  Gabriel blushed. You only believe that because you—you love me. Saying those words was electrifying and scary at the same time.

  I assure you that though I am biased, what I am saying is true.

  “Gabriel? You still with us?” Johnson cocked his head to the side.

  “Oh, yes, of course. I am just rather ah, stunned by the settlement,” Gabriel lied. He was going to have to be careful when he spoke to Casillus during this visit. He spaced out when they were in communication, and Johnson seemed incredibly attuned to his mental state.

  “Come this way, then,” Johnson said. “We have a lot to see and the day is already scorching hot, which will affect how much work we can get done.”

  “I bet the temple is cool inside,” Gabriel found himself saying and there was this yearning lurch to his voice. Immediately, he wished he could take the words back, because Johnson’s eyes narrowed with suspicious interest.

  “It is, and I am very anxious to show you the interior of the temple, especially the inner sanctum,” Johnson said. “I think you will be particularly interested in what’s inside there.”

  Greta actually paled beneath her tan. “You’re going to show them the inner sanctum?”

  Johnson looked over at her mildly. “Didn’t I just say so?”

  Greta blanched further and objected, “Even after what happened to Henry?”

  “Henry had no business being in there by himself,” Johnson’s voice was arctic.

  Greta jerked as if he had struck her. “I—I realize that, but—”

  “I assure you that nothing similar will happen to Gabriel … or Corey, though if he doesn’t wish to go into the inner sanctum, he doesn’t have to,” Johnson answered tightly.

  But he wants me to go. He isn’t giving me a way out. The string that ran between Gabriel’s chest and the temple thrummed. And I don’t want a way out. I want to see what’s there. Even if it’s bad. What is wrong with me?

  Nothing is wrong with you, Gabriel. Nothing, Casillus assured him, but there was a thread of worry in the Mer’s voice.

  Corey’s brow furrowed as he asked, “What about Gabe? What if he doesn’t want to go into the inner sanctum? You’re not going to drag him in there or something, are you?”

  Johnson smiled in a way that showed too many of his sharp, white teeth. “I think that Gabriel will want to go no matter what.”

  The tug on his chest abruptly increased, as if confirming Johnson’s words. Gabriel clapped Corey’s arm to assure his best friend, who was looking incredibly uncomfortable and confused, that it was fine. He whispered into Corey’s ear, “Don’t worry, Corey, Johnson can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”

  “If you’re sure, Gabe,” Corey whispered back uncertainly.

  I do not like this, Gabriel, Casillus whispered. I do not understand his insistence on you being there. He cannot possibly know anything.

  What could he not possibly know, Casillus? Gabriel asked.

  But the Mer did not answer and Gabriel knew he had to say something to Johnson, Greta and Corey. He found himself saying, “It’s fine. Really.”

  But is it fine? It doesn’t feel fine, but I’m doing it anyways, Gabriel realized.

  Johnson guided them back to the flight of wooden stairs, which led down to the bottom of the crater. Greta hung back to walk beside them. She was already chatting with Corey as they stepped onto the stairs. The wooden boards creaked under their weight. Gabriel wasn’t surprised to see Corey grip the railing so hard that his knuckles went white. Sweat formed on his best friend’s upper lip, and it wasn’t the heat causing it. Corey hated heights. Heights and unkindness were his two least favorite things.

  “Are you okay, Corey?” Greta asked, noticing his unease.

  “I’m just a little nervous about -- about the distance between us and the ground. Gabe, can you tell her why I hate heights?” Corey asked as he looked over the railing and quickly drew back again.

  “Because you hate falling?” Gabriel asked as he squeezed Corey’s shoulder gently.

  “Exactly. Because falling leads to things breaking like bones and stuff. Add breaking bones to things I don’t like either, Gabe.” Corey moved as close as he could to the side of th
e crater and away from the railing.

  “I’ve walked up and down these stairs a dozen times a day for weeks. They’re safe, guys, really,” Greta assured them.

  Gabriel thumped Corey’s back. “We won’t let you fall, Corey.”

  Though he was acting nonchalant himself, Gabriel wasn’t exactly too keen about the height, either, but the need to get inside the temple, the pull of that string, was too strong to ignore. He actually had to stop himself from racing down the steps ahead of everyone and running into the temple by himself. His hand tightened on the railing. He would not rush ahead. He would not show the interest he felt in that terrible, beautiful place. He would be normal. He had to be.

  Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and were on solid ground again Gabriel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Now there was just two hundred feet of open sand between the bottom of the staircase and the temple. Gabriel found himself walking towards it, outpacing the others, even though he had just said he would act normally. The doors of the temple seemed to pulse. The string tightened. He had to go there. He had to get inside. Something was waiting for him. Something amazing.

  “Gabe? Hold up.” Corey caught his arm.

  Gabriel nearly shrugged Corey off, a snarl on his lips. But then he realized it was Corey. And what was he doing? Cold sweat broke out on his brow as he quickly turned to his best friend.

  “You okay, Gabriel?” Greta asked.

  “Just—just hot,” Gabriel said with a dry smile. The giddy, sick-with-anticipation feeling in his chest increased, but he planted his feet firmly in the sand and refused to move in response to it. He unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and took another small swallow. It wasn’t enough to even touch his thirst, but it helped combat the heat. Sweat was already sticking his T-shirt to his back.

  Calm down. I have to calm down, Gabriel told himself. He hid his sick excitement from Casillus, knowing it would just alarm the Mer. What is special about me that’s causing this to happen? Or am I just off somehow? I was weird for a human, why couldn’t I be weird for a Mer, too?

  At that moment Johnson cleared his throat. All three of them jerked to attention as if they were raw recruits and Johnson their drill sergeant. He stepped in front of them and gestured to the temple. Gabriel felt that he actually looked and was acting like a professor for once.

  “Notice how the temple is fashioned like a layer cake, with each successive layer getting smaller,” Johnson said. “The developers had only scraped the top of the highest layer, the tip of the iceberg, if you will, when Grace cried out for them to stop the excavation.”

  “Wow that Grandma G recognized what it was and stopped construction. I mean, that’s amazing,” Corey said. “But then again, she’s amazing as a general rule.”

  “Yes, she is at that.” Johnson pulled out a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  Amazing? Could it be that my grandmother’s Mer blood told her this was here? Gabriel wondered.

  It could be, Casillus said. This temple would call to many, both dark and light.

  Dark and light? What do you mean? Gabriel’s back straightened.

  Good and evil. This entity calls to both equally, but there is only one who can call back without being destroyed.

  Destroyed? Is going inside the temple dangerous? Should I stop everyone from going inside? Gabriel’s heart began to pound. Was this like his parents all over again? Should he stop them from going into the temple unlike he had with his parents sailing to that spot in the ocean?

  No, a brief interlude inside will do nothing, but do not linger, Gabriel, Casillus warned again. But Gabriel wondered how long was too long? How would he know before it was too late?

  What about the students and Johnson though outside of today? They’re spending a lot of time in there, Gabriel pointed out.

  We cannot save everyone.

  But they’re—

  Gabriel, the more they know about the temple, the worse it will be for them. And you … you cannot risk telling them the truth, because then they will guess who and what you are, Casillus said.

  I don’t like this, Casillus. It feels wrong, Gabriel said mulishly.

  I know, Gabriel, and I wish there were another way, but I do not see one, Casillus said.

  Johnson’s gaze was speculative as he stared at the temple and said, “You might be interested to know what Grace told me about why she acted that day the temple was discovered. She said that it was more than just her normal quick thinking that had her shouting out for the developers to stop the digging. She said she felt compelled to act.”

  Compelled? That’s like what I felt when I directed where we sailed that day, Gabriel realized.

  There was a momentary beat of silence before Corey asked, “Do you believe a building could compel her?”

  “Perhaps compel is not the right word. Maybe Grace’s instincts alerted her,” Johnson said as he turned his gray eyes on Gabriel, and not Corey, speculatively. “I am a big believer in instincts. They have helped me out of more than one bad situation.”

  The back of Gabriel’s neck prickled as Johnson continued to look at him with that searching, almost pleading gaze.

  My instincts are telling me you’re dangerous, Johnson, but I don’t know why, Gabriel said to himself. I don’t understand you at all. On the one hand you seem to want to protect me, but on the other you want to challenge me somehow.

  He is a warrior who is not sure whether you are friend or foe. He hopes friend but he fears foe, Casillus said.

  I think you’re right. It makes his shifts between gentle and aggressive make sense.

  “Do you have any instincts about this settlement?” Corey asked Johnson.

  “I do, and most of them have been confirmed by what we have found,” Johnson said. He began leading them towards the temple again. Gabriel found himself eagerly following. He hated the eagerness, but he could not shake it. Johnson continued, “We concentrated on unearthing the temple first. We guessed that this was the most crucial structure and that it would help us anticipate the organization of the rest of settlement, which would tell us where to dig next. Why don’t you tell them a bit about that, Greta?”

  Greta cleared her throat and straightened up as she hurried ahead of them all like a tour guide. “Notice that the temple is closest to the sea. No other structures have been discovered further seaward than it. We believe the temple to be the exact center of the settlement, and that the rest of the buildings fan out from it almost like a peacock’s feathers. It is the focal point of the entire settlement.”

  “Good, good,” Johnson said, and Greta beamed as if he had patted her on the head. “Now the structures we have identified are the temple, obviously, and the two tombs flanking it, which are where high ranking people of the land tribe were buried.”

  “So the central point of the settlement is a graveyard?” Corey asked. His chubby face screwed up in distress. “A graveyard facing the sea?”

  Greta was the one to answer. “Yes, and what is even more interesting is that the settlement seems to have been designed to be seen from the water. The structures where people lived are actually much farther back.”

  “And the tribe did not live here year round, either. It was only during certain seasons from what we can tell,” Johnson said. “Summer being the high season.”

  “Any idea why?” Gabriel asked as he looked from the settlement to the sea.

  “We think it was the best time to go into the water and—and it was mating season,” Johnson said.

  “With the seafaring tribe?” Corey perked up.

  Gabriel shook his head even as his chest tightened at his best friend’s words. “Corey, put the Cupid persona away.”

  Johnson flashed a smile. “Actually, Gabriel, Corey is right … or so our theory goes.”

  As soon as they stepped into the shadow of the temple Gabriel’s head began to pound and his vision blurred. He blinked his eyes furiously and gripped
the water bottle in his hand. Were these symptoms related to his transition? Then out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw movement. It looked like feathers waving in the wind, yet they seemed to be floating six feet above the ground. When he turned his head to look at them, there was nothing there but sand and the ruins of the settlement. No feathers.

  Was that real? Or a trick of the light? Gabriel wondered.

  You saw something, Gabriel? Casillus asked.

  I thought I saw … headdresses. Feathered headdresses.

  He turned back towards Johnson and Greta. They were saying something about the tombs. Suddenly he thought he heard faint drumming and chanting. His head jerked to the right again as he tried to follow the sound and find its source, but he couldn’t. It kept moving all around him.

  Do you hear that, Casillus? He knew that the Mer was listening through his ears and seeing through his eyes.

  Hear what? The Mer asked, sounding confused.

  The drums. The chanting. The sound grew in volume.

  No. Do you hear it now? the Mer asked.

  Yeah. You really don’t? It felt like someone was banging a drum right beside him. He reached out and actually brushed a hand through the air where he thought it was being played, but he felt nothing.

  It could be that the sound is not physical, Casillus said slowly.

  What do you mean?

  You might be hearing something that happened long ago here. I cannot hear it because I do not have your gift, the Mer answered.

  I’m hearing something from the past? Something that happened here?

  Like an echo of the past, Casillus answered.

  Gabriel knew whatever Casillus was edging around had something to do with him being special even for a Mer. He really was looking forward to having Casillus explain some of these mysterious things about him, though he was completely unnerved by the thought that the waving headdresses and phantom chanting were from some long forgotten past. He decided to ignore these ghosts of the past as best he could.

  “Where are all the rest of the students?” Corey asked. His best friend peered around the temple towards a line of smaller, but still impressive stone structures that rose one, two or three stories up from the ground.